Review for The Moaning of Life: Series 2

Karl Pilkington is either a genius or a buffoon. There's really no other way of looking at it. In the first series of Moaning of Life he looked at the main things that affect a person's life and this gave that one a real focus. However, in this new series, it feels like he may have run out of ideas as he looks at such bizarre topics as Art, Identity, How to Live Your Life, the Body, Waste and Time.

I do always feel that Karl is much funnier when he is being put into these situations by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. This and the last series always felt like he was deciding to do something and then chickening out. None of the episodes are particularly memorable and after watching, there was no real feeling to watch again.

Within each episode Karl looks at something such as Art with some bizarre people creating art such as a woman who creates it by swallowing paint and then throwing it up on the canvas (I wouldn't recommend eating while watching this), meets a man with multiple wives, he tries on a wig and becomes depressed as just how good he thinks he looks and even tries out being a superhero in the Kickass-vein. 

Now as I say you either love or hate Karl and I have always loved him. The comments he comes out with are wonderful and he says things that no one could even think of. However, unlike his previous work there is nothing on here that really stands out and even Karl contemplating whether he would get rid of Suzanne if he could find a wife who could fix boilers isn't as funny as it should be. Karl in makeup as an old man upset because a man who was actually in his seventies was able to beat him in a race was amusing, but nothing more. This is a shame as some of the people he met were very interesting, but it felt more like a cheap version of Louis Theroux.

The only Extras available are Deleted Scenes for each of the episodes and I don't understand why they were not just added back to the show. All are entertaining and Karl's comments are always amusing to hear.

The Moaning of Life: Series 2 is not as good as the first series and despite my love for the man with a head like an orange I feel that maybe the luster has gone from Karl. Although I enjoyed them and they occasionally made me smile and laugh it just wasn't enough. This almost felt like the scrapped ideas from the Idiot Abroad series and maybe they should have stayed there. Hopefully in the next series they can bring back Gervais and Merchant and see what other miseries they can put him through to keep the King of Moaning busy.