Karl Pilkington (born 23 September 1972) is an English presenter, actor, voice-artist, producer and author.

He has discussed having a close relationship with his parents, and has shared stories about his mother and father holding multiple jobs.

At the age of 15, he dropped out of school to work as a cassette and disk printer through a Youth Training Scheme programme.

[6] While there, he unintentionally caused Gail Porter to leave the station in tears after only one show; he criticised her performance, which Pilkington defended as an attempt to encourage improvement.

He was eventually included as a main presenter on the broadcasts, with large amounts of airtime devoted to his controversial opinions on various subjects: often due to his misunderstanding of the stories.

Pilkington created many features for the broadcasts, including Monkey News, Rockbusters, Educating Ricky and many others.

In December 2005, Pilkington stood in on two BBC Radio 6 Music shows for Nemone, co-presenting with Russell Brand.

In response to Pilkington's claim, Gervais encouraged his listeners to sample the humorous sound bite and remix it into dance music.

[citation needed] Merchant and Gervais have repeatedly denied claims that Pilkington's persona is their creation.

"[13] Gervais concurred, pointing out that writing a single series's worth of six half-hour episodes of shows such as The Office and Extras consumed as long as a full year of their time.

In September 2010, Pilkington starred in An Idiot Abroad,[18] a light-hearted Sky One travel documentary series produced by Gervais and Merchant in which he visits the New 7 Wonders of the World while participating in various activities along the way.

[23][24] Pilkington made his acting debut on 12 April 2012 in the Channel 4 comedy-drama Derek, portraying caretaker and bus driver Dougie.

Pilkington has also performed voice-over work for such clients as Sky TV, One Stop Office Shop, Freeview, Vodafone, HMV, PlayStation Portable, WHSmith, Wickes, Unilever and SMARTY.

[32][33] In January 2020, he revealed on Sunday Brunch that he had been attempting to eat fewer animal products and described himself as a flexitarian.