Karl Pilkington on Autism

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHF4W378SeA[/youtube]

I do think Ricky is a brilliant comedian, but I always feel really bad for Karl when Ricky and Stephen start harping on him. Karl doesn't know any better; Ricky just usually comes off as a condescending twat. Listening to this particular piece, I actually felt refreshed and encouraged that Karl could see the autism spectrum for its positive aspects, since the rest of the media seems to still be so focused on it as a "disability" or "disorder". I really don't think Ricky tearing into him was all that helpful to the discussion on this specific subject matter.

The cyclops bit was funny, though.

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that Karl is on the spectrum himself, especially after the last episode of 'idiot abroad'. Warwick Davis took him to a swinger's party in Venice that involved a lot of intimate closeness. Karl felt immediately uncomfortable and had to leave. The way Steve Merchant and Ricky Gervais take the piss out of him for his alternative perspective on things strikes a chord with me with the way i was treated in school and dismissed as an idiot because I failed to understand contemporary attitudes and unspoken social rules. I think he is really intelligent, but in a misunderstood way. It would be fantastic if Karl recieved a diagnosis because it would expose Gervais and Merchant for the bullying tits that they are.

heres an american friendly transcription of the autism part.

I should say for the sake of clarity, Eastenders is a British soap opera on UK TV.

Karl: I tell you what is interesting Steve, I didnt know much about it...autism
Ricky: Oh good, we've got some more entertaining stuff...On XMF104 to cheer up people go on then what?
Karl: Have you heard about it? Autism?
Ricky: It scares me to death when he touches on a serious matter, we were talking about wheeling a dead pope around, ginger people are hated,
and now we're going to touch on a really...I mean...my heart is in my throat..Go on then Karl, tell me, tell me your insights into autism
Karl: Right well there was this...on channel 4 good stuff...I dont really like channel 5
Ricky: *laughs* its the attention span i like!
Karl: Theres these people who uh....who have got like this autism thing going on and they're sort of taking in a lot of information and they get so into it
that they know everything about that subject and there was this lad that knew everything about it..about Eastenders...the cameraman was saying to him
"so why Eastenders and that"? He said "I dont know, I just like it" and then he said "I remember when I first watched it, it was a Thursday, it was 5
to 8, Pauline Fowler walked in, she had a pink jumper on" and he remembers everything about it, from that moment on, which is great but the way the
program was making out it was almost like a disability, when in a way, its almost like a...superpower
Steve: Sure, sure, like 'Rainman'
Ricky: *laughs*
Steve: RAINMAN! He has special autistic powers!
Ricky: *laughs*
Ricky: Oh god, I don't know what to do...
Karl: Well what I'm saying is don't be watching Eastenders, sort of why didn't they give him an encyclopedia and sort of say "get into that"
Steve: Sure
Karl: That'll be useful
Steve: Yeah
Karl: Keep him away from Eastenders, he's wasting his time there, but I don't think it is a disability
Steve: No
Ricky: There are other things, autism is a matter of degrees, and from what I know and I'm sorry to have to do this but i feel i have to be the voice of reason as ill-educated
as I am on the subject but i think there are various degrees of autism, some are higher performance than others, there are other issues with it, its not all theyve just
got good memories, they dont go around doing tricks for people cause they can remember stuff, there are other issues with it, d'you know what I mean?
Karl: Like what?
Ricky: WELL YOU WATCHED THE PROGRAM, WHAT DID YOU LEARN?!?! THAT HE KNOWS WHEN PAULINE FOWLER CAME IN?!?!
Karl: Yeah, well there was other bits when they couldnt control their emotions and stuff
Ricky: Oh! That other little bit, yeah
Karl: The main bit of it was that he could soak up information and stuff and I'm just saying, it didnt seem really bad, there are disabilities...where...people say..thats a
bad disability..Its like how people say about...Uh...
Ricky: Its brilliant this, its just like..uh...its amazing to be in a room with this man..its incredible, you just wind him and listen to what comes out, and I'm not going to
defend you or explain anything, tell me about other disabilities that are worse..

My partner says that Karl Pilkington is not really like that, and that he is just acting.

Hahahahahahahahahaha classic Karl.