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Pointless: Difference between revisions
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* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Alexander and Richard both.
* [[Damned By Faint Praise]]: On the subject of [[Billie Piper]];
{{quote|'''Richard:''' More famous [[Doctor Who|as an]] [[Secret Diary of a Call Girl|actor]] now than a singer.
'''Alexander:''' She's a very good actor, actually.
'''Richard:''' Are you implying she wasn't a very good singer?
'''Alexander:''' ...She's a very good actor. }}
* [[Dramatic Pause]]: Used between a contestant giving an answer and the column either starting to scroll down to the number of people who gave that answer, or flashing red with a fail-chord as they've given an incorrect answer.
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* [[Genre Savvy]]: The Central African Republic was a pointless answer four times in the first series and again in one of the celebrity specials. Finally somebody thought to give it as an answer on the basis it had been pointless so many times before in a 2012 episode.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: An ornithological picture round had the hosts making all the [[Double Entendre|'tit' gags]] they could think of, ending with Richard saying, "Think we got away with that."
* [[Hidden Depths]]: Richard will sometimes ask Alexander if he knows the answers after the contestants have had a go, and Alexander sometimes turns out to have unexpectedly detailed knowledge of some subjects (such as comic book heroes and villains).
** He does have a degree in English literature, and so can normally cover any related round with ease. In general he's normally better at the rounds than most of the contestants.
* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: All involving [[Title Drop|working the title into phrases]]. Guaranteed to happen at least once per episode with Alexander always introducing Richard as "my pointless friend..."
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** For the 300th episode, Richard actually got up from his desk to exchange gifts with Alexander.
* [[Mission Control]]: Richard sits at a desk with a computer, giving detail on what answers they'll accept, explaining why wrong answers were wrong, etc.
** When Richard appeared on ''[[Would I Lie to You?]]'', his {{spoiler|true}} story involved him going on holiday with the Banker from ''[[Deal or No Deal]]'', implying that he's in a [[Weird Trade Union]] with other [[Mission Control]] people.
* [[Overly Long Gag]]: The hosts painting an exquisitely detailed picture of Sebastian Faulks settling down with a cup of tea to watch Pointless, seeing "Sebastian Faulks novels" come on, pausing the telly and calling his whole family in to watch it... only to see neither team able to think of a single one.
{{quote|'''Richard''': Poor old Sebastian Faulks. Sitting at home, nice cup of tea, thinking, "Oh, I like Pointless..."
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* [[Pants-Free]]: In the category "types of trouser", a beskirted female contestant complained that she was at a disadvantage, being the only one in the room not wearing trousers. Richard reassures her from behind his desk that he isn't, either.
** This has turned into a bit of a [[Running Gag]] with the number of times he's mentioned it. Fortunately he has turned out to be wearing them on the rare occasions a shot is taken from far enough to one side to see.
* [[Progressive Jackpot]]: £1000 is added to the jackpot every episode if it isn't won. £250 is added for every Pointless answer
* [[Pungeon Master]]: Richard.
* [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]: Richard and Alexander delivered one to both couples in the head-to-head after they failed to remember any Sebastian Faulks novels, asking them to imagine what he'd think if he was watching - see [[Overly Long Gag]].
** Richard will sometimes give shorter ones to the anonymous 100 people in the surveys, in particular when more of them know something obscure about a frivolous subject like celebrities or reality TV than know something obvious about an important subject such as who's in [[David Cameron]]'s cabinet.
* [[Retool]]: The show was revamped for HD broadcast in 2012, with a new set, a slightly changed colour scheme and some modifications to the question scheme: the first head-to-head question is now always a picture round, the second is usually a "Clues to Facts about X" round, and the winning pair have a choice of five rather than three categories for the final.
* [[Rickroll]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SzsM7BCbkQ "Things That Rick Astley Is 'Never Gonna' Do"], with Richard playing the refrain of the song instead of reading off the answers.
* [[Running Gag]]:
** Richard ''Osman'' supposedly being related to [[The Osmonds]].
** The Central African Republic as an obscure answer for any question involving "Name a country that is X", invariably being Pointless. In a recent episode it actually scored 2 points and Richard joked that it was because they had been raising awareness for the country on ''[[Pointless]]'' for so long. Such is its infamy on the show, that on the 300th episode Richard gave Alexander a framed picture of the country as a present.
** Richard offering the opinion that Armstrong's comedy partner Ben Miller is the more talented of the pair, and that Mitchell and Webb are more talented than either of them, to which Armstrong, being the affable chap he is, will invariably meekly agree.
** After the contestants have been introduced and talked about their interests to Alexander, Richard [[Blatant Lies|claiming]] that the upcoming rounds are themed around one or more of the interests they have mentioned.
* [[Rules Spiel]]: Shortened after the first series, which included a demonstration of the answer bar decreasing to varying lengths after different answers, using examples from questions from the previous episode.
* [[The Scottish Trope]]: Discussed and spoofed in one episode, in which Richard said that he couln't understand the big deal about [[Macbeth]]. He proceeded to say it repeatedly, against the warnings of Alexander about all the heavy machinery above their heads, whereupon the studio lights were briefly cut.
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* [[Springtime for Hitler]]: Naturally, trying to score low is encouraged by the format. But this trope comes into play when people can only win by getting a really low score, if not a pointless, so they pick an answer they've never heard of or outright make something up. Winning is spectacular, but it's much more likely you'll end up in the "200 Club".
* [[Studio Audience]]
* [[Throw It In]]: Richard is actually a producer for Endemol, the production company<ref>in fact, it is he who script edits the UK version of ''[[Total Wipeout]]'', and he also serves as executive producer for ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' and ''10 O'Clock Live''</ref>; when they were originally pitching the show idea, he stood in for the role of the [[Mission Control]] guy and the directors liked it so much that they asked him to do it for the actual show.
* [[Title Drop]]: They have [[A Worldwide Punomenon|a lot of fun with it]]. "You've won our Pointless trophy", "Let's see if you can win our Pointless jackpot", "You won't be surprised to hear there are a lot of Pointless [[Take That|Madonna movies/Cliff Richard songs/[insert category here]]]", etc.
* [[Unexpectedly Obscure Answer]]:
** It's always a possibility in a game that revolves around trying to get the unexpected answer.
** [[Inverted]] on several occasions, where all 100 people asked knew the answer:
*** That parmesan was a type of cheese,
*** That the police are one of the emergency services,
*** That one of the characters in [[The Flintstones]] was Fred,
*** That "Italia" was the Italian translation of Italy,
*** That the queen is a piece in chess
*** and recognising the Eiffel Tower in a "Sights of Paris" picture round
* [[Verbal Tic]]: "Lovely low score" (Alexander Armstrong).
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[[Category:Turn of the Millennium/Live Action TV]]
[[Category:Game Show]]
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