Gervais: 'Pilkington was a slack-jawed gimp'

Ricky Gervais has revealed that he thought sidekick Karl Pilkington was a "round-headed freak" when they first met.

The pair teamed up with The Office co-creator Stephen Merchant for a two-hour special for the launch of NME Radio.

Describing his first meeting with Pilkington, Gervais said: "Stephen and myself had returned to Xfm as triumphant heroes. Having done The Office, we were the big shots. We were assigned a 'lackey' and as the caretaker didn't work Saturdays, the job was given to Karl.

"When we first met him, I was first struck by the roundness of his head - this round-headed freak of a man. He had a slack-jawed gimpness about him and no words came out."

He added: "Sometimes when I think of Karl, I see a totally spherical object like a pumpkin or a plate. Or a clay plate that a child has made, or those novelty biscuits."

Pilkington told Merchant: "It was like a triangle. I was looking at Ricky, you were looking at me, all of us thinking 'they're weird'."