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Well, today was fun Went to see QI being filmed for the third time.
Now, some of our non-UK chums might be wondering what QI is.
Well, for my money it's one of the wittiest, most intelligent tv shows ever conceived. Part panel show, part improv comedy. Points are awarded for giving interesting answers, even if they're not necessarily correctly. Points are deducted if you say the obvious, but actually wrong answer. It's dedicated to rooting out interesting factoids and misconceptions.
For its first 13 years, National Treasure Stephen Fry was our QI Master, and since 2016, Sandi Toskvig has been the QI Master. They both bring different things to the table, and I don't think there's much between them.
I know the whole concept and execution is horribly middle class, but damn it's absolutely the best thing on TeeVee!
Here's a video of some cherry picked bits.
As you can no doubt tell, a good proportion of the humour comes from the panelists winding up the QI Master
If you get the chance to see it being recorded, I highly recommend jumping at that chance. First one I saw was the 2015 Christmas Special, then the one with Corey 'yes, that Corey Taylor, out of Slipknot' Taylor. This year's one was a general purpose panel, but so, so funny!
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/04/26 01:17:21
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QI is definitely the best thing on British. The fact that they made the switch to Sandi and almost none of the criticism leveled at her in the YouTube comments section are the usual "women aren't funny" BS is a testament to the quality of viewers it attracts. I do miss Stephen Fry, but it seemed a bit obvious to me that he wasn't really into it in his last series.
I also watch Cats Does Countdown, although that a bit more hit and miss. Some of their guests are a bit naff.
Buzzcocks hosted by Amstell was great. If the guest was crap he just destroyed them. Sandi's a bit like that, but in a much more cultured fashion, of course.
We were once so close to heaven, St. Peter came out and gave us medals; declaring us "The nicest of the damned".
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
For Fry and Toskvig, I'd say Stephen Fry was the Supply Teacher - well qualified academically, but struggles to maintain control of his charges, who instead just piss about all lesson. Sandi Toskvig is more the well loved Teacher - the one the students know exactly where the line lies, and woe betide whomever crosses said line.
Though much of it depends upon the panel. I find any episode with Jimmy Carr completely intolerable watching. He's not witty, and his comments are usually puerile, adding nothing to the banter. Suffice to say I'm unreasonably happy that none of the episodes I've been to the filming of have features him!
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Jimmy Carr used to be super funny, until his laugh devolved. Its's horrible like someone is molesting a seal or
something. Shame really, as the Big Fat Quiz of the Year is always good fun, you just need to bite through his seal raping.
UK does the best panel shows though, used to watch them all the time back in the day. Fond memories of whenever BRIAN BLESSED was either on as a guest, or joy of joys, guest host.
I think Carr has bought into his own hype a bit, and perhaps his tax avoidance scandal put a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He used to be one of my favorites, and he can still be good, (the Rob Lowe roast), but he does go for the obvious "dick joke" these days. He's usually the low point of Countdown, unless one of the guests is particularly gak.
We were once so close to heaven, St. Peter came out and gave us medals; declaring us "The nicest of the damned".
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
Jimmy Carr's laugh is the laugh of a school bully as they prove how incredibly hard they are by punching the weediest kid in the school whilst his five mates hold the victim down.
I loathe that creature.
I would agree we have the best, but not having see any other country's offerings, that would be presumptuous of me!
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Well you also get quality input from overseas. Rich Hall, Henning Wehn, Ms Toskvig.
Panel shows aren't a thing in North America.
We were once so close to heaven, St. Peter came out and gave us medals; declaring us "The nicest of the damned".
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
I haven't seen a filming, but they did do a 'live tour' down here a few years back that my wife and I went along to. Was mostly rehashed stuff from the series, unfortunately, but was still fun.
Big fans of the show, though. Particularly when they have Bill Bailey or Ross Noble on...
Except any of the ones where Jo Brand is on the panel, I skip those even if the rest of the panel is fine, she is the least funny person ever to appear on television...
But other than that, I can't think of anyone I detest being on there. I can't tolerate any of Jimmy Carr's standup but I think he's ok on panel shows where there's others there to call him out on a lot of his stupidity. Mitchell is always gold, as is Brydon, and there's a certain satisfaction in some of Clarkson's appearances in the earlier series; he's the class idiot, but at least he knows it!
I remember starting to watch the pilot of the original QI series on Youtube once.... they had actual point scoring systems and rules! Shocking!
And if there are any QI fans who want even more useless but moderately amusing facts clogging up their brains, check out the QI team's podcast No Such Thing As A Fish. Surprisingly funny, often informative, and particularly good for tiding you over in the half of the year QI proper isn't on. http://qi.com/podcast/
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/04/26 06:28:53
The one thing that started to annoy me about Jo Brand, but something the QI elves thankfully picked up on, was her reply of "my husband" for most of the questions.
Speaking of Clarkson, he has some fun anecdotes from time to time, this is one of my favourites from QI:
Some of the "celebrity guests" are a bit hit and miss - Carrie Fisher, Jerry Springer, that sort of thing. Perhaps their good bits get left out of the edit in some cases, or they just don't get it. And John Lloyd himself was clearly a better show creator than panellist.
Rob Brydon is brilliant in every panel show he's on - try to find his a capella rendition of Tom Jones' Delilah from I'm Sorry I haven't a Clue.
We wait to watch the QiXL episodes, unless they don't do one for that week. So we get to see some of the bits that didn't get into the shorter episode. Some are dropped due to being bad, but some are the more NSFW answers and comments. It's usually worth the wait.
Some of the panelists are really good, and show how wrong people often are about them. They get to show what they know, as opposed to what their routine is. There've been a couple of musicians on (I can't remember who), and they were great, despite me not liking their stuff much.
Agreed, he's great fun as an entertainer, whether he's doing a serious historical documentary about the war, faffing about in cars or being a guest at a panel show.
H.B.M.C. wrote: There's nothing reprehensible about Clarkson.
And he's always great fun.
Unless his dinner isn't quite as good as he was expecting. Then his dummy's out the pram.
We were once so close to heaven, St. Peter came out and gave us medals; declaring us "The nicest of the damned".
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
What a peculiar article... The ABC had always included a substantial amount of BBC programming. What's killing local talent is a lack of decent local productions.
What's mostly killing the ABC programming isn't the imports, its their budgets getting cut back further and further - and the shows that DO rate AND SELL (to other - int'l markets) get cut regardless.
Aunty ABC has always had a chunk of Beeb programming. Even ITV and channel 4.
I'm OVER 50 (and so far over everyone's BS, too).
Old enough to know better, young enough to not give a ****.
That is not dead which can eternal lie ...
... and yet, with strange aeons, even death may die.
Went to see QI being filmed for the third time.
I do miss Stephen Fry, but it seemed a bit obvious to me that he wasn't really into it in his last series.
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