PASADENA, Calif. – Travel broadens the mind — unless there’s no mind there to begin with.
That was the reasoning behind Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s decision to send their intellectually challenged pal and podcast partner Karl Pilkington — the "Idiot" in the title An Idiot Abroad — on a trip around the world, to see the Seven Wonders of the World and to get Pilkington to explain, in his own inimitable way, how the Wonders came into being, and why.
Throughout time, humanity has wrestled with the Big Questions — Who am I? Where am I going? Is there a God? — but to Pilkington, life’s essential mysteries can be boiled down to one basic thought: Why bother to leave home, if everything you need is within arm’s reach? Why bother to do anything?
Gervais and Merchant sold their idea to the U.S. Science Channel as a genuine scientific experiment: an elaborate practical-joke-turned-sociology-experiment. Science can be loosely defined — very loosely, where Pilkington is concerned — as the systematic accumulation of knowledge about the physical or material world, gained through observation and experimentation.
The result, an eight-week trek across continents and too many international borders for Pilkington to keep track of, let alone remember, debuts Friday, Jan. 21 on the Discovery Channel.
Following an idiot around the world may not sound like everyone’s idea of a dream vacation — let alone material worthy of the Science Channel or Discovery — but in a conference via satellite from London, Gervais and Merchant tried to sell their audience on the idea of An Idiot Abroad as a modern-day Gulliver’s Travels, in which Gulliver is a nitwit, as Pilkington sat uncomfortably between them, occasionally scratching his ear and scowling in annoyance.
As anyone who caught Gervais at last weekend’s Golden Globes knows, the BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning comedian — Gervais co-created the original U.K. version of The Office, with Merchant — and occasional award-show host is the master of the deadpan barb. Pilkington has long been a foil for Gervais’ caustic put-downs. The Ricky Gervais Show, Gervais’ podcast with Merchant and Pilkington, has topped the download charts in 14 countries, and has made Pilkington a household name in places he has never heard of, let alone seen.
"I hated it," Pilkington said of his free, around-the-world trip. "But now that I’m back and it’s all over, I think I got a lot out of it."
He particularly enjoyed "Costco, Peru" — actually, Cuzco — and the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu.
"Oh, man, it’s amazing," Gervais said, bursting out laughing. "That’s the science right there. How does it function? How has it lived for 38 years? We don’t know. Let’s ask science."
Pilkington said he occasionally tires of his mates calling him a moron and an idiot, but what can a guy do?
"I think when people watch the program, they will realize that I am not a diff," Pilkington said. "They’ll see themselves in me, I think. For most normal people who go to foreign places, it’s a shock to the system.
"But it does get on my nerves, being called a moron. He’s always annoying me. People always say, ‘Oh, it must be great being mates with Ricky Gervais,’ but it isn’t.
"I’ll tell you what it’s like: It’s like when you get a dog, and it seems like a good idea at the time. You go, ‘it will be great to have a dog around the house.’ But then you realize it’s a pain in the (derriere). It’s (defecating) everywhere, but everyone is going, ‘Oh, what a cute dog.’ People who come around love that dog, but they don’t know what it’s like, the ins and outs of having that dog. And that’s what it’s like having him as a mate."
Pilkington reached for another analogy.
"It’s kind of like having an iron lung," he said finally. "I sort of need him, but I wish I didn’t."
Gervais, for his part, likens An Idiot Abroad to a social experiment.
"It’s my gift to the world," Gervais said, of the show. "I can’t get enough of Karl. I think he’s the most fascinating thing on the planet. Honestly, I treat this as though I’ve found the missing link or something. It’s amazing. There’s no one quite like him. I started the podcast just to be in a room with him. And I knew he would never let me down."
Gervais and Merchant sent Pilkington to Jordan during his travels, but first they made him stop in Israel, where they staged a fake terrorist kidnapping — without telling Pilkington beforehand — during which Pilkington had a bag put over his head and he was thrown into the back of a van.
"He thought it was real," Gervais said. "It’s one of the funniest two minutes of television I’ve ever been involved in."
Pilkington shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
"I don’t need that sort of danger in my life," he said. "I’m not an adrenalin junkie. I’m not the sort of person who likes danger. I don’t do bungee jumping, skateboarding, what else?
"I’m back now. I have been in the jungle and had my legs set on fire in China. I have eaten toads. I have been in the Rio Carnival, and I had to stay with a gay old man. There was a lot of stuff I had to do."
"That’s science," Merchant said.
"We want to show people that science is about curiosity," Science Channel president Debbie Myers explained. "It’s not just about scientists in lab coats working in a laboratory. It’s where you go. It’s out there. It’s asking killer questions and embarking on a journey and prompting you to think and look at the world in a new and different way. We feel (An Idiot Abroad) fits that thought-provoking message."
"I agree," Gervais said. "I think Carl see things differently than the rest of us. Honestly. He does investigate. He does what a scientist does; he — oh, my God, his earpiece has come out. Can you hear us, or is it still in there?"
"It’s stuck in there," Pilkington cried.
"All right," Merchant said. "Don’t panic. Calm down."
"It’s stuck," Pilkington cried.
"But can you hear us?" Merchant said. "Can we get some tweezers?"
"I can see it," Gervais said, peering into Pilkington’s ear. "OK. Right. This happened once before, you know. He went to the shops and he had an earbud sticking out, and he didn’t know until he got home and looked in the mirror that he saw he had been shopping with an earbud. So there’s the science. How does this thing function, for Christ’s sake? That’s the science."
An Idiot Abroad premieres Friday, Jan. 21 on Discovery Channel at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
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