QI: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"Welcome to ''QI'', the showoff show that sits at the front of the class shouting 'Me sir, me, me, me, sir, me', while other quiz shows are snogging behind the bikesheds."''|'''[[Stephen Fry]]'''}}

 

 

 

Fry asks questions on the topic of the week—the first few series had no specific theme per week, and their episode titles have been applied retroactively; it was not until Series D that the "topic of the week" really came to the fore. The guiding principle, as indicated by the show's name, is that knowledge should be interesting, and a sufficiently interesting answer will be awarded points even if it's completely wrong. Conversely, an answer that is both incorrect and uninteresting (i.e., if it's the answer anybody would have given) will cause a klaxon to sound and the contestant will ''lose'' points. There are, consequently, two types of question in ''QI'': [[Unexpectedly Obscure Answer|obscure]] questions that give the contestants an opportunity to make interesting guesses before Fry reveals the real answer, and questions whose answers seem [[Schmuck Bait|obvious]] but are not, such as "[[Obvious Trap|How many moons does the Earth have?]]". Davies is the [[Butt Monkey|butt]] of a lot of the jokes on the show ([[The Last of These Is Not Like the Others|last on the introductions and getting a funny comment]], last on the buzzer sounds and getting a corny buzzer sound, being more likely than the others to [[Genre Blindness|get the klaxon]] and usually coming last, although he has the record for most show wins), and acts as a sort of foil for the concept by getting the more obvious answers (i.e. the ones the audiences at home are likely hollering at the TV) out into the open to be trounced.

* Series "L": Spend a Penny - bonus points for identifying the question as being, in some way, related to lavatories.

 

 

It returned for Series F in January 2009 on [[The BBC|BBC One]] (having previously been on BBC 2) after it managed to be the highest-rated show on BBC 4 and Dave. It returned to [[BBC 2]] for the current "I" series; new guests this series include [[Brian Blessed]].

* [[Actor Allusion]]: Among others, Stephen's occasional [[Blackadder|"baa"-ing]], and:

{{quote|'''Stephen''': Where might you run into the world's biggest drip?<ref>i.e. someone who is weak or cowardly</ref>

'''Stephen''': No! }}

** Again in the "Illness" episode of series I. Naturally, this time it showed [[Hugh Laurie]] as [[House (TV series)|Dr. Gregory House]], along with some of his staff.

* [[Anticlimax]]:

** Stephen gets [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUVBXb4XIqE tripped up....]

'''Alan Davies''': [[Valley Girl|What-ever!]] }}

** Whenever someone steels themself for the klaxon... and actually gets it right.

* [[Camp Gay]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WIscxut_ak Wo ist mein Handy?]

* [[Captain Obvious]]: Often used as a way of avoiding the klaxon.

'''Sean Lock:''' What they've said turns out not to be true. }}

 

{{quote|'''Alan Davies''': The red squirrel can't live with the grey squirrel.

'''Stephen Fry''': Ebony and ivory are together on my piano key... board, so why can't they be?

'''Rob Brydon''': That's barbaric. Are you saying you want pianos clad in the pelt of a squirrel? }}

* [[Continuity Nod]]: Rich Hall still resents the "How many moons does the Earth have?" (Two) question from Series A and has made reference to it as late as Series I: "Which moon are we ''talkin''' about?" It is unsure as to whether he will continue with it as he received a forfeit for it. See [[Brick Joke]] above.

{{quote|'''Stephen''': A-bullshit.}}

** And on David Tennant's appearance, after answering a historical question right:

'''Stephen''': (''cough'')He'sacting. }}

* [[Crazy Cultural Comparison]]: Occasionally when [[Eagle Land|Rich Hall or Reginald Hunter]] is on. In the Series D [[Children in Need]] special, subjects in the second half of the episode included ''[[The Clangers]]'' and Oliver Postgate; Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men; the [[Ear Worm|"Crazy Frog"]] [[Memetic Mutation|ringtone]]; [[British Accents|Newcastle accents]]; and [[Eurovision Song Contest|Terry Wogan]]. Right before the end, Rich, having been silent for about ten minutes, buzzed in just to say, "Ever since the Clangers I've been lost. The last picture I recognized was the KKK, and that's pretty sad."

* [[Creator Cameo]]: John Lloyd, the show's creator and original producer, made an appearance on the panel for the 100th-Episode Special in Series H.

** The show at one point addresses a letter calling them out for spreading an urban legend about the Flowerpot Men.

** Stephen says of the Acropolis, where the Parthenon [[Crowd Song|iiis]], that there are no straight lines. He corrects this in a later episode; while curving pillars to make them look straight from certain vantage points is seen in some ancient buildings, the Parthenon is ''not'' one of them.

* [[Daydream Believer]]: Bill Bailey, during David Tennant's guest appearance, jokingly insisted ''[[Doctor Who]]'' was a documentary when Stephen called it a work of fiction. Tennant played along and confirmed that it was all real. "Don't listen to the bad man." And then (at Stephen's prompting) he started waving his pen around like a sonic screwdriver...

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Rich Hall, most notably.

** Not to mention -144 in the Differences episode, after a -150 point penalty for suggesting "Randy" as Gandhi's first name.

** Assuming Alan's above score of -29,000,000 was actually just -29, for the entire series, Alan is currently on a score of -2180.

* [[Exact Words]]: Rich Hall tries to use this to score points in one of his first appearances.

{{quote|'''Rich''': So, wait, we get points for being interesting?

'''Stephen''': That's right.

'''Rich''': ...You said it had to be ''interesting''.}}

* [[Exotic Entree]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k-l1HLj9Nk The giant tortoise], which is currently endangered largely ''because'' it's [[Impossibly Delicious Food|so delicious]].

'''Jimmy Carr''': Phwoo... Is it.. It's my personal collection, isn't it?

'''Stephen''': Of what?

'''Stephen''': I think it knows what you're talking about. }}

** The three men responsible for creating a QI-shaped crop circle for the "Hoaxes" episode were credited as 'cerealogical motif wranglers'.

{{quote|'''Fry''': What do you suffer from if you're afraid of heights?

'''Alan Davies''': Vertigo. ''*klaxon*''

'''Fry''': Yes - usually we use Greek, don't we, though? }}

* [[Godwin's Law]]: Itself discussed in the episode on Germany. Stephen describes the law as stating that as every internet discussion or argument continues, the probability of somebody comparing something or someone to Hitler or the Nazis will reach 1, after which the argument is over. Rob Brydon asked whether this law applied to threads where Hitler himself was the topic.

** Also a common response to his many [[That Came Out Wrong]]s.

* [[I'd Tell You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You]]: Subverted.

'''Stephen Fry:''' Well it's very interesting, I could tell you, but then I'd have to [[Subverted Trope|eat myself]]. }}

* [[Ignore the Disability]]: In one episode of Series F, the guests were penalized for saying a swear word beginning with ''F'', and in the Series G episode on Germany a similar ban was placed on [[Fawlty Towers|mentioning]] "[[World War II|the War]]" (although the Franco-Prussian War was still fair game).

{{quote|'''Sean Lock:''' My neighbor's dog can't remember when I kick it. It still comes up to me.

'''Stephen:''' Awwww.

'''Stephen:''' Aw, ''stop it''! }}

* [[Kneel Before Zod]]: [[Stephen Fry]] actually says this in a D series [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGwfTOzXUWA episode.]

** The XL version of "Green" features a lengthy discussion about assorted comic book superheroes.

** In "Hoaxes" when discussing the QI crop circle, one of the men responsible for it is wearing an [[Xkcd]] t-shirt.

*** As do the reasearchers. Several myths explored on that show have come up as questions (such as what happens when you drop a bullet and simultaneously fire another horizontally from the same height).

* [[Only Sane Man]]: Stephen, obviously. Alan sometimes slips into that role, or David Mitchell during his appearances.

* [[A Rare Sentence]]

{{quote|'''Stephen''': Why might I put my finger up your bottom if you couldn't name seven bald men apart from Yul Brynner? [''[[Beat]]''] That is possibly one of the oddest questions I've ever asked on this show...}}

** Something of an inversion of [[Edited for Syndication]]—a lot of the apparent points meaning nothing (see below) is ironed out in some episodes by massive forfeits and/or correct answers which were dropped in the edit down to a half-hour; the long edit still drops points, however, and at least once dropped a forfeit (in "Health & Safety," when Alan says "you big gorilla, you," the klaxon can be heard coming in, but is not shown). One presumes that even more than this is normally cut. The repeats on Dave for Series F are exclusively showing ''QI XL'' and not the normal version (and in a few cases even got to air the XL version first because the BBC never bothered).

*** Although this might be because it allows them to stretch it to a full hour of broadcasting with [[Money, Dear Boy|three internal ad breaks]] and a more traditional scheduling pattern, as opposed to other BBC shows the channel broadcasts, which remain unedited (save for a straight cut in the middle for one ad break), but as such take up a forty-minute slot. That being said, they're not doing the same for ''[[Have I Got News for You|Have I Got A Bit More News For You]]''

{{quote|'''Stephen''': Now, we have a special forfeit word. If you use a particular "f" word at any stage of this evening--

'''Jo Brand''': [''unimpressed''] Oh, fuck off.

[''the panelists go on merrily dropping f-bombs for the rest of the show, the upshot of which is that the winning score is -24''] }}

** Or this one:

** And Clare Balding who was an accomplished horsewoman on an episode all about horses.

* [[Smart People Know Latin]]: Alan makes a joke about Stephen knowing the Lord's Prayer in Latin, to which Stephen responds by quoting the first line of such at high speed.

{{quote|'''David''': Why don't you just write "Mitchell is a cock".

'''Stephen''': [[Tempting Fate|I wouldn't put it past them]]. }}

* [[Special Guest]]: The roster of panelists is so small and unvariant that any new face probably counts. The ones with the biggest profile are probably David Tennant, Daniel Radcliffe, and [[Brian Blessed]].

** Series I has included a few non-comedian guests based on that week's theme (Professor Brian Cox on 'Incomprehensible' and Dr Ben Goldacre on 'Illness').

* [[Squick]]: In-Universe. In "Idleness", Stephen describes how a man can fake tuberculosis, and the panelists and audience react with disgust.

* [[The Stinger]]: Stephen usually gets one final joke or funny quote after the scores are read.

{{quote|'''Fred MacAulay''': There will be a lot of people watching who will wonder what a true Scotsman wears under his kilt, and I can tell you true Scotsmen will never tell you what he wears under his kilt. He will ''show'' you at the drop of a hat.

'''Stephen''': I've seen dandruff on the shoes. That's a giveaway. Um. But the short kilt-

'''Alan''': ''[waving arms]'' Don't feel good with that information. [[Brain Bleach|...Send me something else. Give me another image.]] [[It Makes Sense in Context|Danish Pastries! Danish Pastries!]] }}

* [[Totally Radical]]: The Series G episode "Groovy" is naturally ''full'' of this. But being QI, it includes a lot of discussion on what era various slang words actually hail from, a lot of them being [[Older Than They Think]].

* [[Treasure Chest Cavity]]: A certain pre-industrial travel guide recommended that travelers prepare for potential theft by making an incision in one arm and hiding a jewel inside the wound, then sewing it up and allowing it to heal. Thus one would have some emergency wealth that robbers wouldn't be able to find.

* [[Unexpectedly Obscure Answer]]: Too frequently to really qualify as "unexpected".

* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: At every opportunity, including in the F series with naval semaphore flags. Alan describing a stale chocolate bar as tasting like "old ladies' cupboards" was not a euphemism, although everyone tried to make it one.

* [[Verbal Backspace]]:

{{quote|'''Rob Brydon''': The only thing I have knowledge of is [[But You Screw One Goatthe|the sheep tied to a lamp]]- no, sorry, I have knowledge of '''Cardiff'''.}}

* [[Westminster Chimes]]:

** Used for the buzzer sounds in a first-series episode—Dave Gorman's buzzer chimed ''mi'', Jeremy Hardy's chimed ''do'', Jo Brand's chimed ''re'', and Alan's [[The Last of These Is Not Like the Others|made a noise like a pneumatic drill]].

 

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[[Category:British Series]]

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