Smallscreen News

Karl Pilkington Superstar: Ricky Gervais Show wins another season on HBO

By April MacIntyre Apr 9, 2011, 15:24 GMT

Gervais, his longtime collaborator, Stephen Merchant, found comedy gold by asking Karl simple questions and letting him run with his preposterous theories. Gervais\' infectious laughter combined with animation that depicts the three men have been a solid hit.

Karl Pilkington is the spark that launched a thousand TV shows, as HBO has renewed the animated comedy series The Ricky Gervais show based on the record-breaking podcast, for a third season. 

Pilkington is the main reason that the series continues, as his unabated childlike wonder of the world and dubious attitudes towards it are the fuel for Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant to riff raucously and laugh over the Manchester muse.

Gervais, his longtime collaborator, Stephen Merchant, found comedy gold by asking Karl simple questions and letting him run with his preposterous theories. Gervais' infectious laughter combined with animation that depicts the three men have been a solid hit.

Currently presenting new episodes Friday nights (9:00-9:30 p.m. ET/PT), with the second-season finale scheduled to debut April 15, the series has inspired critical praise, with Monsters and Critics previously saying the series "is a no miss animation for grown-ups and delivers big laughs consistently."

The podcast held the record for most downloaded podcast in the 2005 edition of the “Guinness Book Of Records,” when the total per episode was in the hundreds of thousands, and holds the record for most-downloaded podcast or audiobook today.