Ianisms

When Ian and I had HBO last year we liked to watch The Ricky Gervais Show on Friday nights, which features Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant (both of The Office fame), and their friend, Karl Pilkington - all three of them in a studio recording their weekly podcast.  It came on after Bill Maher, providing a dose of sweet British humor to lighten the heavy liberal bitterness leftover after Real Time.

You might think that Mr. Gervais drives the comedy behind his show.  Incorrect.  Karl Pilkington is the real star of The Ricky Gervais Show. With his charming Manchester accent, deep voice, and pensive seriousness, Mr. Pilkington's unique character and his unusual way of thinking about the world have made me laugh so hard that my stomach aches and my living room tissue box is empty from dabbing away happy tears.  Here are a few Pilkingtonian gems (and you can find more here):

• On dopplegangers - "How would I know which one I was?"
• On chameleons - "Stay green. Stay in the woods. Stay safe."
• "Neil Armstrong, that spaceman, he went to the moon but he ain't been back. It can't have been that good."

Lucky me, Ian is quite learned in the art of Pilkington humor, and he's been pulling out some chuckle-worthy thoughts of his own recently:

• On the Keebler Elves: “It's a fire hazard to make cookies inside a tree.”
• On scary zombie movies:  “Why do they call them the ‘undead’?  Aren’t the undead us?”
• On family planning, “Shouldn’t it be called Unplanned Parenthood?”
• On an amputation scene in the John Adams mini-series: “They wouldn’t show that on HBO, would they?”
• On the ash crosses people wear on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday: “I’m sure Jesus wouldn’t want you to look stupid.”