Karl Pilkington (born 23 September 1972) is an English television presenter, author, comedian, radio producer, actor, and voice actor.
Pilkington gained prominence as the producer of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's radio programme on XFM. He appeared on The Ricky Gervais Show, presented the Sky travel comedy series An Idiot Abroad, and made his full acting debut (following a cameo appearance in the final episode of Extras) on Gervais' 2012 comedy-drama series Derek. Pilkington is a co-founder, along with Gervais and Merchant, of RiSK Productions, a television production company. Pilkington also starred in the Sky 1 travel documentary comedy series The Moaning of Life (2013–2015). This is his first show to not have any involvement from either Gervais or Merchant. Pilkington is currently working on a new scripted comedy series, Sick of It.
Pilkington was born on 23 September 1972 in Manchester to Alan Pilkington and Dorothy Pilkington neé Gess. Alan and Dorothy married in Manchester in March 1960. Pilkington has an older brother Mark (b.June 1962) and an older sister Jacqueline (b.December 1960).