An Idiot Comes to Oklahoma

So "An Idiot Abroad" is a British travel/comedy show produced by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.  The premise seems to be that they send their buddy Karl Pilkington on wacky adventures across the globe.  I've seen exactly one episode of it so I might not have the best grasp of it.  The second season has a "Bucket List" theme and, as you've probably guessed, it includes a stop in Oklahoma.

This episode's item on Pilkington's Bucket List was to drive Route 66.  He started on the Santa Monica end and most of the episode focuses on the western portion of the Mother Road.  The Brits seemed quite taken with the Western motifs of the culture so there was a lot of shots of cacti as our protagonist did American things like panning for gold, shooting guns and hanging out at a hippie commune.

But there was also a stop in the Sooner State to see the Catoosa Blue Whale.  Since most of the episode took place in California (and possibly Arizona) they never mentioned Oklahoma by name.  If they had, the audience might have noticed they were seeing roadside sights out of order.

He's a deadpan kind of guy but I think he liked the whale...in a way.  He was interested that it was built as an anniversary present by Hughes Davis to his wife but also concerned that future anniversary presents would most likely pale in comparison. 

Other than a few more shots from the road (including the shot above in Chelsea), that's pretty much it for Oklahoma.  Pilkington moves on to hang out with with some Amish folks and do some stunt flying in an American flag emblazoned plane. 

There were only a few minutes of screen time for Oklahoma but I think we made a good impression on our friends across the pond.  Maybe the whale can expect a few more Brits to stop by and say hi. 

As a bonus, here's a look at the Blue Whale's cameo on this season of the ABC comedy "The Goldbergs":