QI: Difference between revisions

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

{{quote| '''Stephen''': Who the hell is that?}}

** They've also brought up ''[[Jonathan Creek (TV)|Jonathan Creek]]'' a few times;

{{quote| '''Alan''': I'm not actually Jonathan Creek, I just look quite a lot like him.}}

* [[Ask a Stupid Question]]: [[Subverted Trope|Not again Allan!]]

* [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny]]: Alan, frequently, but there's also Stephen's example of something not to say in answer to the interview question "what is your greatest weakness" - "I just can't conce- oh look, a squirrel!"

* [[Bathe Her and Bring Her To Me|Bathe Him And Bring Him To Me]]: Joked with when Alan tries on the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYpwbPmUa2E scold's bridle]:

{{quote| '''Alan''' (''imitating Stephen''): Have him scrubbed and brought to my room.<br />

** A case can be made for Stephen's "good evening good evening good evening..." spiel, his "and I use the word <x> quite wrongly", "Oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear" or a loud cry of "Ohhhhhh!" in response to the buzzer, or Alan guessing the blue whale.

*** ''"Blue Whale!"'' '''(''{{spoiler|KLAXON}}'')'''

{{quote| '''Phill Jupitus''': [''as Stephen''] "What one's the odd one out? None of them! Baa. Baa. Baaaa."<br />

'''Stephen''': Hey. Is that me?<br />

'''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.

*** In a series I episode, Dara is given points ''back'' because in a series H episode he said fishes don't have tongues and was told otherwise, only for it to turn out that he was right. Sandi Toksvig then complains that this is unfair, whereupon Dara relates the "triple point" incident above.

* [[Conversational Troping]]: Occurs in Series H "History" with Stephen, Alan, David Mitchell, Sandi Toksvig, and Rob Brydon digitally edited into a photo of a combat squad. David (whose face was in a somewhat goofy expression) mused that he would be [[Red Shirt|killed off early]], while Sandi supposed she would be the woman brought along [[Mission Control|just to work the radio]], but gets [[Action Survivor|forced into flying a plane]]. Stephen would be [[Shell Shocked Senior|the hero]] [[Old Soldier|from]] the First World War, Rob gets [[Retirony|killed off right before the end]] (just when you think he'll make it), and Alan survives the whole thing.

** In Series B, Josie Lawrence talks about how St. Anthony is the patron saint of lost things and guarantees he'll help you.

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

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

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

* [[Cowboy Bebop At His Computer]]: Sean Lock's attempts to convince Stephen he was an expert on snakes.

** Phill Jupitus, that Iceland is Europe's biggest producer of bananas.

** Ross Noble, that a round triangle that makes a square is called a Reuleaux triangle. (Pronounced "rolo"--Ross proposed a "Toblerone-Rolo combo.")

** Nina Conti, that a wooden sticklike device she found in her desk was a suppository.

** Jack Dee in "Illumination":

** 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.

** More cases and possible cases can be found [http://www.qi.com/qi_quibble_blog/ here].

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

{{quote| '''Stephen''': What is the only man-made artifact visible from the moon?<br />

** And:

{{quote| '''Stephen''': What do you call a group of baboons?<br />

*** Oddly enough, he was in the right area as the answer turned out to be {{spoiler|Congress.}}

** Graeme Garden, of ''The Goodies'' and ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (Radio)|I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'' fame.

** All of them play at it sometimes, though, just for laughs. Or at the very least throw out ''completely'' nonsensical answers that are still somehow related.

{{quote| '''Stephen''': What should you not drink if you're dehydrated...?<br />

* [[Don't Explain the Joke]]: In Series F, "Fingers and Fumbs".

{{quote| '''Stephen Fry''': In 1819, a German travel guide to London said, "The kiss of friendship between men is strictly avoided in Britain, as inclining towards the sin regarded in England as more abominable than any other." (''beat'') Queue-barging, presumably. (''general laughter'') That, or sodomy.}}

{{quote| '''Alan''': They've got standards, these people!}}

** In the "Holiday" episode, Rob Brydon's joke about stamp collecting earned pained reactions from the panel and an expression of abject shame from Brydon himself.

* [[Insufferable Genius]]: When panellists get onto a subject they actually know something about, they can sometimes [[Completely Missing the Point|forget to be funny and take the qui part a bit too seriously]] — unwilling to follow other panellists (Alan Davies especially) and feign stupidity to a certain degree for the sake of entertainment. True enough, bantermeisters that often do provide intelligent answers can avoid appearing as this by actually providing jokes (e.g. Sandi Toksvig, Dara Ó Briain).

** Rory McGrath came off as awfully show-offy to many people during his first appearance, to the point where Sean Lock got annoyed with him and started to mock him relentlessly. "You're doing atomic number wheelies, aren't you?" Even Stephen eventually gets fed up with him, smiling and stating "You are just ''beginning'' to try my patience now."

* [[Long Runner]]: Based on the theme naming, it would appear they expect the show to be on for at least 26 series.

** And given that they do one letter a year, by the time they get to Z, Stephen will be 71, and Alan 62.

* [[Malaproper]]: Jeremy Clarkson made a probably-intentional one in the "Green" episode when he referred to the RSPB as the "Royal Society for the ''Prevention'' of Birds" instead of "Protection", "accidentally" getting it mixed up with the RSPCA which stands for "Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals". (He is known to be fond of using deliberate malapropisms to express apathy or contempt toward something; indeed, he used the aforementioned gag on ''[[Top Gear]]'' as well.)

* [[Memetic Mutation]]: [[Invoked]] and referenced by in "International", when Stephen puts on a false moustache and Bill Bailey claims that there'll be a website devoted to it by the time the show finishes airing. (There was one put up a day later, apparently.)

* [[Off the Rails]]: ''All the time'', but only because it's usually the game's entire point. Sometimes, it doesn't just go off the rails but upside down, in a ditch, and on fire. Notably, in the "Gardens" episode when Stephen asks about the best place to find a new species, which somehow led to an "interesting, fierce, [[Sarcasm Mode|and, I think, productive]]" debate on [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|what to do with a starving honeybee.]]

** Another one started with the origin of the word "vegetarian" and moved on to a debate about motorised monster truck-esque turtles -- unsurprisingly, [[Top Gear|Jeremy Clarkson]] was involved. See [[Completely Missing the Point]] above.

* [[One of Us]]: Jonathan Ross is a comic book fan, which gave him a chance to do a lengthy [[Motor Mouth]] gag in the Series D [[Children in Need]] episode about the origins of [[Wonder Woman]], the [[Triang Relations|private life]] of William Moulton Marston, and the evolution of [[EC Comics]] and its subsequent demise at the hands of the [[Comics Code]] Authority (albeit with a repetition of the myth that the word "FLICK" was banned in case it looked like "FUCK").

{{quote| '''Stephen''': Fabulous. I love that. That is brilliant. And to think that almost everyone I know thinks you're a coarse, vain, loudmouthed...}}

* [[Paranoia Fuel]]: Invoked several times as the panellists become more and more [[Genre Savvy]] about "obvious but wrong" answers; David Mitchell noted how worried the panel were to give an answer they were certain of for fear of the klaxon sounding, and after Jack Dee had finished a very long, rambling answer Ross Noble brought up the idea that the klaxon would go off and the screens would display ''everything'' Jack had just said, word for word.

* [[People's Republic of Tyranny]]: Invoked by Jimmy Carr in a discussion about the Democratic Republic of the Congo. If they called themselves 'The Fascist Junta' we might at least respect their honesty.

{{quote| '''Bill Bailey:''' I'm here to fix the turbo-thrusters.<br />

'''Alan Davies:''' Then you'd better come through to the sleeping module. }}

** Parodied on "Inequality"; the points were (unfairly) assigned before the game started (where Stephen said Sandi Toksvig had won despite having a lower score than Clive Anderson), and even more unfairly not announced at the end.

* [[Political Correctness Gone Mad]]: "You ''can't'' even ''mutilate a tortoise'' anymore!"

* [[Precision F-Strike]]: [[Sound Effect Bleep|Unfortunately bleeped out]], but Phill Jupitus loves using these.

{{quote| "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NI-ltHISNk I want feet, meters, anyfing! Throw me a fuckin' bone, Fry!]"}}

{{quote| '''Stephen''': "I think there's a current advert on for some skin preparation for men, it goes on about how your skin can get 'stronger'."<br />

'''Sean''': "Obviously they don't want to market 'moisturiser' to men, so they call it 'face protection'. Like, it's stopping bullets hitting your face! ''*mimics a man being shot in the face, shrugging it off*'' Put this on! It's not to do with making me all soft and lovely, it's actually *BANG* and *BASH* it away. People are throwing kettles at me, I'm going *BING*!" }}

* [[Skyward Scream]] / [[Milking the Giant Cow]]: Phill Jupitus in "Hodge Podge". "EVOLUTION!"

* [[Smart Ball]]: Half the fun of the show is when it turns out that one of the panellists happens to be a massive nerd with regard to a particular subject, the more obscure the better. Examples include Vic Reeves being an expert on pirates, Jonathan Ross being an expert on comic books, Rory McGrath knowing the Latin names of most birds as well as the atomic masses of every element, John Sessions being able to name the birth and death year of many famous artists, and Jo Brand being a psychology expert, although this is helped by the fact she used to be a psychiatric nurse. Surprisingly, she also identified an electron as a probability density function and explained what that means.

** It gets discussed in full in the "Film and Fame" episode.

* [[Worth It]]: Often expressed when a joke answer gets the klaxon, such as when Bill Bailey suggested "[[Take That|Janet Street-Porter]]" for the question "What has large teeth and only one facial expression?", or Sue Perkins said "Iceberg" for "What type of lettuce was served on the Titanic?"

 

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[[Category:Short Titles]]

[[Category:QI]]