Not enough lateral thinkers in your life? Fear not: Karl Pilkington is here. More precisely, Karl’s in London, recording The Ricky Gervais Show, a podcast that is quickly becoming something of an international phenomenon. For fans of the BBC original series, The Office, it will be enough to say that the co-creators of that show, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, are hosts. However, the fact of the matter is that the third wheel, Karl Pilkington is the star of the show. A few random thoughts from Karl (from rickygervais.com and his fansite):

Isaac Newton did not contribute much to human civilization as discovering gravity did not affect us as it had always been there. Had everyone been floating about then he would rightfully deserve the amount of credit he receives. Einstein’s contribution to humanity is similarly unimpressive as Pilkington has never had to use the theory of relativity, whereas, in contrast, whoever invented the video recorder has received no recognition despite the fact that he watches one a week.

Gay people go out too late at the weekend. In reference to the Rod Stewart song ‘The Killing of Georgie’, they wouldn’t have as much trouble if they were in bed by ten.

Were those presents the three kings brought Jesus for Christmas or his birthday?

An infinite number of monkeys using an infinite number of typewriters for an infinite amount of time, could not produce the complete work of Shakespeare, unless they have read it.

Chinese people age badly in comparison to other races.

You never see old men eating Twix bars.

And my personal favorite: On a hypothetical meeting between Karl and his doppleganger: “How would I know which one I was?”

The podcasts are available from iTunes and Audible.com. Justin and I found Audible supremely annoying to use, so be warned. They’re a steal at about $7 for 6 hours of the first series (all 12 episodes), and the same for a subscription to the second series.