Karl Pilkington

Karl Pilkington met his future girlfriend and longtime partner, Suzanne Whiston, in Manchester, where she worked as a producer for the BBC. While Karl is extremely secretive about his life, it is known that he and Suzanne have been dating since the 1990s and currently live together in London.

He has a philanthropist side as well. In 2014, he was among the many celebrities who designed and signed a card for Thomas Coram Foundation for Children. The cards were auctioned on eBay.

Karl Pilkington was born on 23 September, 1972 in Manchester. He has confessed that he had an unconventional upbringing and was frequently absent from school. He studied at the Ashton on Mersey School but left the school and did not collect his results.

After a stint as a newspaper boy and a bagger at the grocery store, he started working at a printer’s shop at the age of 15.

When his father was sick and was admitted in the Wythenshawe Hospital, Pilkington become the hospital radio’s newsreader. He decided, however, to follow his own silly style and focused on issues that weren’t important.

He had a brief role in an overnight phone-in show at Piccadilly Radio in Manchester in the 2 am to 6 am slot, where he spoke to the callers and often held quizzes.

In 2001, after several small attempts at becoming famous, Pilkington moved to London from Manchester to work with XFM as a producer.

After several years with the radio station, he was assigned to work on ‘The Ricky Gervais Show’ as the program producer. Gervais and Merchant’s chemistry would soon include an odd comment from Karl, which showcased his wit. His interludes became popular with the audience.

Gervais and Merchant later include Karl Pilkington as an equal presenter in the show, and he became the hit-program’s third voice. Karl’s persona was distinct and uniquely funny, which made him the main element of these broadcasts.

Karl’s opinions and manner of delivering them allowed the show to dedicate larger airtime to his segment. The topics he spoke were of a diverse range and included controversial opinions, practical jokes, and childhood stories.

The show was later converted into a podcast and Karl’s popularity remained as strong as ever. Many of his catchphrases and statements became a cult hit and are popular on the Internet. He was also described as an ‘Internet phenomenon’ by Reuters.

Pilkington’s most successful and popular show has been his stint with ‘The Ricky Gervais Show’ which ran from 2001 to 2011 in the form of a radio show, podcast, and an animation TV series.