An Idiot Too Many

Today I'm having a rant. On Friday night, my boyfriend (who has a very different sense of humor to me) put on An Idiot Abroad. And I have seen it before, but now I want to moan about it.
Why do people find it so hilarious? Fair enough, he's not the brightest bulb in the box but why has Ricky Gervais decided to take advantage of this and broadcast it to the world? In the episode last night he was sent to Alaska, and he was only interested in seeing a whale. Fair enough. And of course Ricky gives him every task he can think of that he knows Karl would hate. And to be honest, would he enjoy doing any of them? I doubt it. The result is a very, very sea sick Karl struggling to appreciate his chance o see some whales.
I don't now how staged it is, I don't know how much of it Karl knows is coming up and I don't know if Ricky gears him up to act so dim, but I do know it is all very irritating.
Even on the Ricky Gervais Show it gets under my skin. Sometimes, you can see where Karl is coming from with his ideas and comments. Ricky and Stephen could acknowledge that there's some foundation to his thoughts. They could say "Oh yeah, you mean like that common theory that people often refer to." But no, they don't do that. Ricky decides to shoot a horrendous laugh from his now animated mouth and say "What! No! Don't be so stupid Karl! Nobody on this whole entire planet knows what you're talking about!" Where is the need for it? And where is the humor in it?
I'm glad I have seen such small amounts of each show, I doubt I could see much more without screaming. But if you do like it and you do think it's funny, please tell me why! I just don't get it.