Actually if you read the thread many people also think that Pilkington is a character and Derek 100% confirms it.
His character in Derek is 100% Pilkington with the same type of script and slowly people are catching on.
Yes he was the producer on XFM who had a few strange ideas but if you listen to the show you can hear how Merchant & Gervais transformed him into one of the best comedy characters in the last decade.
I just don't get how some people still can't see it and actually think he believes in his Monkey News stories.
Well it doesn't confirm anything other than Ricky wanting to have Karl involved in his projects, which he has done for a very long time. Plus the reason why his character is so like Karl is because you are hardly going to find Karl getting roles outside of being a bald manc ****.
They didn't transform anything, Ricky and Steve never bothered that much with XFM and in Karl they initially discovered a free ticket to just turn up every saturday, completely unprepared, and just poke a shaved chimp for it's opinions for 2 hours. It evolved from there.
Karl lived a life you know before he met Ricky Gervais. I don't know what you think he was saying / doing before you believe Ricky began scripting him like some demented version of the Truman show?
Oh, Derek was awesome, Hope it gets a season to round it off.