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Happyslapped by a Jellyfish: The Words of Karl Pilkington Paperback – 1 May 2008

by Karl Pilkington (Author)

4.5 1,425 ratings

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A collection of hilarious and compelling insights and anecdotes, diary entries, poems, ‘true’ facts and cartoons on travel from Karl Pilkington, unlikely star of the Ricky Gervais Show, the world’s most successful podcast – now in paperback.

This is the travel book for people who don’t particularly like travelling, it’s Karl Pilkington, star of The Ricky Gervais Podcast Show, with a suitcase, occasionally with his passport, more often with a bemused suspicion of anything vaguely exotic, and an observant eye for the disappointments, tedium, general weirdness and absurdities of being a tourist abroad and at home. From staring at Mount Vesuvius in case it erupts and the horrors of a Lanzarote nudist beach to the curiosities to be seen in the world’s weirdest museum.

Told with his inimitable deadpan humour, Pilkington’s stories are interspersed with fond reflections on life back in England, from Salford joy riders to what his girlfriend’s mum and dad have for dinner on a Thursday (it’s chops and veg. in case you’re wondering).

Review

This is a very funny book (Sunday Telegraph)

...intentionally or otherwise, this is hilarious. (Zoo Magazine)

About the Author

Karl Pilkington’s accidental path to fame began in 1989 when a trip to a Manchester hospital inspired him to become a hospital radio DJ. After filling news bulletins with strange-but-true stories and using the transmitter to broadcast pirate radio, Pilkington was sacked and moved to Manchester’s Piccadilly Radio, where he hosted a late-night show filled with impenetrably cryptic puzzles. He then moved to Xfm in London, where he was producer and later a star of Xfm’s Ricky Gervais Show, forerunner of the podcasts. Pilkington says that his favourite job to date was his paper round.

Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

DK
Publication date

1 May 2008
Dimensions

18.49 x 13.31 x 1.4 cm
ISBN-10

9781405332996
ISBN-13

978-1405332996
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1405332999
Publisher ‏ : ‎ DK; 1st edition (1 May 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781405332996
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1405332996
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 18.49 x 13.31 x 1.4 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 48,604 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 542 in Travel Writing (Books)
- 6,436 in Arts & Photography (Books)
- 7,437 in Humour Books

Customer reviews:
4.5 1,425 ratings

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4.5 out of 5

1,425 global ratings

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Dr. George Sik

Not sure if he's a genius, but boy is he funny!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 December 2007

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There are some comedians who are just not funny off stage. They hate people spotting them when out and about because they know they'll never live up to expectations. They can 'do' funny but they AREN'T funny - not in real life. Then there are those who can make anything funny, even the lamest joke - Tommy Cooper was one of the best examples. Karl Pilkington is another: he simply IS funny...and he's not even a comedian.

Ricky Gervais, a very shrewd man, spotted this from the off. He's probably even a little envious: while Ricky meticulously plans every aspect of his comedy, Karl just opens his mouth and funny things come out!

No, this book isn't 'well-written' - the grammar is all over the place and it's full of throwaway slang...but that's not a criticism, it's a strength! Ghost-writers of footballers' autobiographies spend ages deciding how much to change the ramblings that have come from the mouths of their often less-than-articulate subjects. The trick is to make it seem authentic yet understandable. However this evolved from Karl's brain to his mouth to the page has been just right: as several of the other reviewers point out, it feels just like he's talking.

So it's 'what I did on my holidays' by a rather odd, yet very likeable and very funny man - and, you have to acknowledge, pretty gifted illustrator. It'll have you in stitches.

72 people found this helpful

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Sid Roberts

Very Cheap, Very Good

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 September 2008

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I guess what struck me first about this book is the weight and feel of the pages. It feels like an expensive book built to last. Fantastic!

It's Karl Pilkington's second book and, although I haven't read the first, I can say that this one is absolute gold. Pilkington's blinkered view on life makes for entertaining reading and his antics prove true to how you know him from podcast/radio shows. There are a few extracts from the diary that have already been read on the podcast but they are very few in number and still pack a punch the second time round. It's also a good light read and I'm trying to avoid reading it all at once.

If I had to gripe, I would have to say about the slang scattered around in this book ("cos", "me mam") but because it's Karl, it's OK.

For those that haven't listened to the podcast, I should warn that this book won't make sense in the slightest and you'll be confused as to it's existence. Listen to the podcasts, understand Karl's humour and then read the book.

Helpful

Amazon Customer

He's a genius, but doesn't know it

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 October 2007

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Karl Pilkington shot to fame as the producer behind The Ricky Gervais radio show on XFM back in 2000/2001. The show featured the pre-Office team of Gervais and Stephen Merchant playing music and talking drivel, so it was the ideal platform for Karl to get involved with.

Gervais soon realised that Karl's occasional involvement with the show was the funniest parts, and soon the show became a regular 3-man show. The XFM show ran for hundreds of shows, and evolved into a show just to hear Karl's fascinating opinions on things. This XFM show was the catalyst behind The Ricky Gervais Podcast series on first The Guardian Unlimited's website, and then through the Audible website.

This book is the second from Karl Pilkington, and has a few similarities with the first. It contains many stories and anecdotes from the XFM shows/Podcasts, but it also contains a lot of unheard material and many original hand-drawn pictures from Karl.

Personally, Karl is a genius. His views on things are child-like, single-minded, but hilarious. His ponderings range from "my eyes get heavy when I'm tired, so can blind people stay awake longer?" to "I hate jellyfish - I hear they're 98% water - why can't we just give them another 2% and have done with them?".

It's genius questions, that you can't really answer. You'd expect a child to ask them, but Karl has a endearing quality because he sounds simple, and doesn't really quite get things. He's happy in his own little world.

To get the full effect from this book, you will have to believe that Karl is speaking from the heart. He's not pretending - he's not saying things for comic effect. It's just his truthful, instant opinions on things, and that makes it funnier.

It would also help if you'd heard Karl before, either on XFM or on the podcasts, as it really does add another dimension if you can hear Karl's whiny Manchester accent in your head while you're reading his words. Without this, the book could seem poorly written.

In summary, if you're familiar with Karl, it's a funny, enjoyable read that's a perfect accompanyment to his podcast material. If you're not familiar with Karl, don't start with this. Download some of the spoken word material, and then buy this book once you've got more of his back-story. You'll get a lot more from it, and find it 100% funnier!

36 people found this helpful

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Joe

Incredibly funny

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 December 2022

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An in depth look into Karls brain with details of all of his travels and holidays, what’s not to like?

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Deepak

Funny, but probably not like listening to his podcasts

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 December 2012

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I bought this book after having followed a few episodes of "An Idiot Abroad" where I was first confronted with the debatable genius that is Karl Pilkington. Some reviews on Amazon said this book was his best, the others being mere transcripts of his radio programs. Karl definitely has an unusually funny way of translating his observations of the world into words. That said, I had to read the book in his accent to find it funny. The book is a combination of his diary entries, snippets of a travelogue and a few comic strips and photographs. The comic strips and photographs were probably the highlights. I would recommend "Happyslapped by a jellyfish" only after one is reasonably acquainted with Karl's speech and if you are good at having his voice run through your head as you read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 October 2011

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I only really became aware of Karl Pilkington by watching an idiot abroad on tv. I liked his sense of humour and he seems like a 'normal' kind of bloke. This book is very funny and had me laughing out loud, it contains diary entries from Karl on things like holiday destinations with photos of Karl who always looks kind of 'bored' apart from when he went to los angeles and went to Ripleys.He talks about normal things like going to his mam and dads and his stay in hospital... it really is a funny book with little illustrations done by Karl. I read it really quickly coz i couldnt put it down, i liked it so much i have ordered more books by Karl. :-)

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SnakeGirl

Hysterical!

Reviewed in the United States on 27 July 2021

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Karl Pilkinton has such an amazing sense of humor and I never help but not only laughing, but laughing so hard that tears are in my eyes. All of The idiot abroad series made me laugh so hard, the moaning of life, all hysterical TV shows but his books are amazing too. But most of his books are just recaps of the TV shows which I've seen a bunch of times. This book is different because he tells of his travels with Suzanne who he never really talks about that much and it's absolutely hysterical. If you are a Karl pilkington fan, you absolutely cannot miss this one. It had me in stitches through the whole book

2 people found this helpful

Hrshl

Absolutely intelligent in a severely dumb way.

Reviewed in India on 6 March 2020

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Witty, smart, dumb in a very sophisticated manner. One of my most recommended books of my life. Worth the purchase.

Larissa

Karl ist Kult!

Reviewed in Germany on 27 May 2017

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Zumindest für meine Familie...

Karl Pilkington reist mit den Seinen (Suzanne, mom, dad und zuweilen Suzanne`s Eltern) durch die Weltgeschichte und macht sich so seine Gedanken über Ibiza, Los Angeles, Teneriffa, Malaga, Lanzarote, Madeira, Brüssel, Australien etc.

Worüber sich dieser "Philosoph des kleinen Mannes" so alles den Kopf zerbricht, ist schon amüsant, regt aber auch dazu an, sich über Alltäglichkeiten selbst einmal seine eigenen Gedanken zu machen!

Das Buch "Happyslapped by a Jellyfish..." ist in einem Englisch geschrieben, das, wenn man denn einmal einige sprachliche "Sonderheiten" (Abkürzungen, umgangssprachliche Ausdrücke etc.) begriffen hat, auch für den "not native-born reader" sehr gut zu lesen ist und - so meine Meinung - Pilkingtons Gedanken noch viel besser vermittelt, als seine beiden Bücher in deutscher Sprache.

Ich habe dieses Buch bei Amazon im Rahmen einer Sonderaktion preiswert erworben und bedaure nur, dass es für die vielen (potentiellen) Leser, die Karl Pilkington nicht in seiner Muttersprache lesen können, leider nur eine sehr begrenzte Auswahl deutscher Bücher (zwei) gibt und hoffe sehr, dass in Zukunft noch weitere Bücher von Karl übersetzt werden...

Für mich ist Karl (wie eingangs erwähnt) einfach Kult und - wenn der Tag einmal wieder nicht so erfreulich war - dann endet er bei der Lektüre von Karl Pilkington wenigstens mit einem Lachen...

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Melissa

Such an easy and fun read (especially for a casual reader like ...

Reviewed in Canada on 13 September 2016

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I am really enjoying this book! Such an easy and fun read (especially for a casual reader like myself). I read this out loud to my spouse as we are both fans, and we have tons of belly laughs :D

One person found this helpful

James

Not Quite As Good As Karl in the Flesh

Reviewed in Spain on 1 March 2013

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I am a huge Pilkington fan and thoroughly enjoy his genius work on TV and podcasting. Somehow, his humour doesn't translate quite as well into text, but I enjoyed the read nonetheless. This book is pretty much exactly what you'd expect.

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About the author

Karl Pilkington

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