ZoeStarr1986
Well as that summary says this is officially my first ever (of many i hope) review on something on IMDb.com and boy what an honor it is to review this wonderful mans work! I think this is one fantastic show BOTH seasons so far are so hilarious and had both me and my partner literally crying with laughter. I think its amazing how he voices his opinions in a funny and yet serious way and is still able to keep a straight face (most the time! ha ha) I love how he goes into details with things (especially season one) in each episode because it gives us - the people who haven't had children or got married etc - a good sight on what it COULD be like etc to have babies, get married, be rich, be poor etc (i'm hoping this isn't a spoiler as I've not actually said what happens) I am hoping he carries on to do more seasons for this show, not sure what he can do for each season but hey, i'm pretty sure he will think of something. I could go on and write about Karl Pilkington forever but i shall leave it at that as i have wrote about what i think of this show! Again it was an honor, what a wonderful, brilliant and funny man! Keep up the amazing work Karl! =)
Audrey_L
After watching "An Idiot Abroad", I wanted to see more of Karl's adventures, so I binge-watched "The Moaning of Life" in one afternoon and I gotta tell you - it's even better than what I've expected. In this series, Karl explores five important aspects of life (marriage, happiness, kids, vocation & money and death) as they are dealt with in different cultural contexts. Karl is a bit more relaxed and in a better mood than during the filming of AIA, since he decided where to go, who to meet and what to do. This is a sort of popular anthropology as it is amusing, educational and philosophical at the same time. I share some of Karl's views on marriage and children, so it was fun to watch his musings. It seemed to me that I would probably experience those situations in a similar way as Karl. Too bad that there are only five episodes, I would really like to see more of Karl.
user-847-318571
This is a great and refreshing followup of 'An Idiot Abroad', a documentary style travel show through an unfiltered angle via Karl reflecting (aka whinging) on culture shock and his new confounding environment, and challenging tasks or pranks, always planned by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, with the sole aim of catapulting Karl out of his comfort zone. Physical shtick and hilarity ensues, which would often times lead Karl to ponder philosophically aloud.This time, Karl flies more solo as he investigates life's big questions through the lens of different cultures. He takes his experience as a seasoned traveler and applies it to age-old conundrums like marriage, happiness, money. In the first episode on marriage, he experiences an Indian wedding as a groom assistant, he signs up for pheromone dating, he visits Las Vegas and offers his own satirical take on quickie weddings.I think this is an accessible and humorous pop-culture approach to philosophy or anthropology. Compared An Idiot Abroad, his unapologetic and blunt observations (unavoidable for anyone when faced with unusual human tricks like body modification), stem from earnest and genuine childlike curiosity, rather than mean spirited, or even ethnocentric or chauvinistic compared to the earlier episodes of An Idiot Abroad; maybe travel really did broaden his mind. At the end of the day, he's stating the obvious to the tune of observational comedy (paraphrasing: "he's got wife and kids whose house has no roof, and they're spending all this time running to catch a wooden ball!").One noticeably welcome improvement over An Idiot Abroad: there's less deer-in-the-headlights moments, and more going-along-blending-in-the- crowd attitude. This time he seems more game to be part of experiment rather than a spectator taken hostage. Definitely more enjoyable to watch.
biomark2
This show is even better than Karl's last one. The insights are wonderful to watch as they unfold - evolve - grow. I loved his last series (An Idiot Abroad), with all the comedy. Karl has grown out of his distaste of all things foreign, not quite embraced those cultural differences, yet shows his courage to not only seek to understand the culture, explore the differences - more than that, through his experience - he attempts to apply his brand of practical culture in order to better understand those cultures around him. We all do it - but in his not so eloquent style, he helps us all work our way through it as he shows us how it could be done.What this series does is take it to the next level, to give it that philosophical advantage, without missing the whole point - life and all the things we do are weird, wonderful, and most of all (most of the time) - funny. Great job and I expect it will continue with great success. Kudos.