In film, television, and radio, British comedy has produced some of the most renowned characters in the world. In it, satire is one of the features of British comedy. Radio comedy in Britain has been almost exclusively hosted on BBC .
58-427: QI ( Quite Interesting ) is a British comedy panel game quiz show for television created and co-produced by John Lloyd . The series currently airs on BBC Two and is presented by Sandi Toksvig . It features permanent panellist Alan Davies and three guest panellists per episode; the panellists are mostly comedians. The series was presented by Stephen Fry from its beginning in 2003 until 2016. The format of
116-596: A "pretty" puppet play being performed in Covent Garden, London . The various episodes of Punch and Judy are dominated by the anarchic clowning of Mr. Punch. Satire has been a major feature of comedy in the British Isles for centuries. The pictorial satire of William Hogarth was a precursor to the development of political cartoons in 18th-century England. The medium developed under the direction of James Gillray from London, who has been referred to as
174-510: A Clue (1972–), and The News Quiz (1977–), which often broadcast a dozen of so episodes a year. Following the success of Hancock's Half Hour and Steptoe and Son , sitcoms became a part of some television schedules. The BBC has generally been dominant in television comedy , but the commercial stations have also had some successes. Other formats have also been popular, such as with sketch shows , stand-up comedy , impressionists , and puppet shows . Notable satirical comedies are
232-435: A Penny" (Series L, lavatories). In addition to assigning tasks, Fry performed scientific experiments or demonstrations during certain episodes. He often did so once an episode in the J, K and L series, where they were called "Jolly Japes", "Knick-Knakes" and "Lab Larks", respectively, and usually occurred towards the end of the episode. Such experiments either used simple objects, various chemical compounds, odd contraptions, or
290-463: A drawing contest, or spotting an item on the video screens and waving a "joker" card (e.g. Cuttlefish.) Several series have had a recurring task spanning every episode, often involving the use of a joker card to respond to a question whose answer fit a specified theme. Examples include "The Elephant in the Room" (series E, elephants), "Nobody Knows" (Series I, for questions without a known answer) and "Spend
348-474: A few weeks in May or June; three episodes are typically filmed per week and sixteen are filmed for each series. Series A–P were filmed at The London Studios , with Series Q onwards being filmed at Television Centre . In the morning on the day of recording, the studio has to be set up. Seven cameras are used to record QI . To check that images, forfeits, buzzers and lighting are working, the first technical rehearsal
406-556: A form of sketch comedy without dialogue in the 1890s, and Chaplin and Laurel were among the young comedians who worked for him as part of "Fred Karno's Army". Radio comedy in Britain has been almost exclusively the preserve of the BBC . In the 1940s and 1950s, variety dominated the schedules, and popular series included It's That Man Again and Much Binding in the Marsh . In the 1950s,
464-532: A forum. A QI Elves podcast, No Such Thing as a Fish , began on 8 March 2014. The title is taken from an entry into the Oxford Encyclopedia of Underwater Life (although in the opening theme of the first 41 episodes it is incorrectly referenced as the Oxford 'Dictionary' of Underwater Life ), which was used on the show. The audio from the first episode in which they discuss how they found this fact
522-407: A loud klaxon and alarm bell, flashing lights, and the incorrect answer being flashed on the video screens behind the panellists. Bonus points are sometimes awarded or deducted for challenges or incorrect references, varying from show to show. QI has a philosophy that "everything is interesting if looked at in the right way". Many factual errors in the show have been corrected in later episodes or on
580-403: A mainstream comedy panel show on British television", and that although she is very different from Fry, she "will bring to the show the same kind of wonderful thing that Stephen does, the mixture of real brains and a hinterland of knowledge, plus this naughty sense of humour." He also said it will give the show a chance to "do things in a slightly different way". Recordings usually take place over
638-495: A marionette to a hand puppet, and he became, really, a spirit of Britain - a subversive maverick who defies authority, a kind of puppet equivalent to our political cartoons." — Punch and Judy showman Glyn Edwards British comedy history is measured in centuries. Shakespeare incorporated many chase scenes and beatings into his comedies, such as in his play The Comedy of Errors . Punch and Judy made their first recorded appearance in Britain in 1662, when Samuel Pepys noted
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#1732787681212696-419: A mixture of all. If an experiment's outcome was too fast to be seen, a short "replay" of it was shown, (sometimes with multiple angles) to reveal precisely what happened. Writer and former BBC producer John Lloyd devised the format of the show, and it is produced by Quite Interesting Limited , an organisation set up by Lloyd. QI was originally seen as being an "Annotated Encyclopædia Britannica ...
754-517: A school desk, and Davies squeezed a toy chipmunk – while in the Series G episode "Green", the buzzers were replaced with whistles so the show could be seen to be eco-friendly. On one occasion, points were automatically deducted from Davies' score solely because the buzzer did not match the theme of the episode, or activated the Klaxon. In a parody of ubiquitous general knowledge quizzes, the final round
812-455: A wall or ceiling to use it as a sounding board. The word "buzzer" comes from the rasping noise that electromechanical buzzers made. A joy buzzer is an example of a purely mechanical buzzer and they require drivers. Other examples of them are doorbells. A piezoelectric element may be driven by an oscillating electronic circuit or other audio signal source, driven with a piezoelectric audio amplifier . Sounds commonly used to indicate that
870-401: Is an audio signaling device, which may be mechanical , electromechanical , or piezoelectric ( piezo for short). Typical uses of buzzers and beepers include alarm devices , timers , train and confirmation of user input such as a mouse click or keystroke. The electric buzzer was invented in 1831 by Joseph Henry . They were mainly used in early doorbells until they were phased out in
928-514: Is hosted by floor manager Guy Smart with stand-ins for panellists. Fry, who was given the list of questions roughly an hour beforehand, hosted the second technical rehearsal at 2:00 pm. Guests may have time to practise with a set of warm-up questions. For earlier series, warm-up comedians were used before recording began, frequently Stephen Grant , credited as the "audience wrangler". However, there have been no warm-ups for recent series. Fry recorded and tweeted audience AudioBooms and introduced
986-438: Is off-topic and called "General Ignorance". It focuses on seemingly easy questions which have widely believed but wrong answers. Whereas in the main rounds of the show, the panellists' buzzer usage is not usually enforced, the "General Ignorance" questions are introduced by the host's reminder to keep "fingers on buzzers". "General Ignorance" was featured in every episode until the I (ninth) series, but featured only occasionally in
1044-455: Is often the panellist who gives these answers. In the first two series, Fry produced the given answer on a card to show the panellists, while it also flashed on the large screens behind them (except in the pilot episode and the first show of the first series, when only the cards were used). Starting in the third series, Fry's answer cards were dispensed with altogether, leaving only the screens as proof that such answers had been predicted. Because
1102-449: Is used as an introduction. Regular elves are Anna Ptaszynski , James Harkin , Dan Schreiber , and Andrew Hunter Murray , with occasional appearances from Alex Bell and Anne Miller . Schreiber is the host of the show. Its theme song is "Wasps" from the band Emperor Yes , which is based on a fact about bees which was used on QI . The song is written as an exchange between the bees, as they defend their hive from attacking wasps by swarming
1160-529: Is used in a QI episode, while other facts may appear in the XL versions, a QI book, on QI ' s Twitter feed or on their website. In March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic , two episodes of series R were filmed without an audience, due to social distancing requirements. Further series R episodes were recorded with a virtual audience via Zoom . The makers of the show insist that the answers are not given to
1218-479: The Red Nose Day website, and parts of each show were shown during five half-hour specials on Comic Relief. The QI episode featured panellists Sue Perkins , Jo Brand , Russell Tovey and David Walliams. Davies admitted through Twitter that he was asked to host the episode when it was not certain if Fry would be available, but Davies declined. Once Fry confirmed his participation, Davies did not hear back from
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#17327876812121276-465: The 1960s series That Was The Week That Was , the 1980s series Not the Nine O'Clock News , and ITV 's puppet show Spitting Image . The show of the 1980s and early 1990s, Spitting Image , was a satire of politics, entertainment, sport, and British culture of the era, and at its peak, it was watched by 15 million people. British satire has also gone over into quiz shows ; popular examples include
1334-537: The BBC was running Hancock's Half Hour starring Tony Hancock . Hancock's Half Hour was later transferred to television. One of the notable radio shows was the double entendre -laden Round the Horne (1965–1968), a sequel to the earlier series Beyond Our Ken , which ran from 1959 to 1964. Later radio shows made use of the panel game format, including the long-running Just a Minute (1967–), I'm Sorry I Haven't
1392-430: The J (tenth) and K (eleventh) series before appearing regularly again in the L (twelfth) series. Due to the large number of "obvious but wrong" answers, panellists—especially Davies—usually incur the greatest point losses in this round. In a number of episodes, either the set, the panellists' clothing, the opening theme, or a mixture of all, are changed to match the episode's theme. For example, in "Denial and Deprivation",
1450-427: The Series C episode "Common Knowledge." From Series D onward, all four sounds are based on the particular episode's theme, such as in the Series F episode "Films and Fame" (sound clips associated with well-known movies, with Davies receiving Porky Pig 's stuttering "That's all, folks!"). The buzzers are always demonstrated at the beginning of the programme, but are usually given a shortened version for repeated use during
1508-407: The Series F episode "Fakes and Frauds", all the buzzers sounded like ordinary household objects, but three turned out to be the sound of the superb lyrebird mimicking the noises. In other episodes, they were sometimes changed to suit the theme of an episode; for the Series D episode "Denial and Deprivation", the panellists had to use unique buzzers – two had bells, one flicked a ruler over the edge of
1566-537: The XL broadcast as their contribution was cut out of the main broadcast. In contrast, the audience lost the fifth episode of Series E, "Europe", receiving a forfeit of −100 when they incorrectly sang the first stanza of the German national anthem , and the fourth episode of Series Q, “Queasy Quacks”, when they received a forfeit for referring to the first patient in a disease outbreak as Patient Zero. Several others have scored points in certain episodes by making appearances on
1624-420: The alphabet, starting with the letter "A". Series are referred to by letter rather than number. The first series started on 11 September 2003, and consisted of topics beginning with "A". The second series consisted of topics beginning with "B" and also saw the first attempts to pay attention to a particular theme throughout one episode, e.g. "Birds" (the over-riding theme did not necessarily begin with "B", although
1682-423: The best jobs on television", but that "it was time to move on". According to Alan Davies, Fry quit because the BBC cut the budget, so that three shows had to be recorded on the same day. "For budget reasons, they ended up making him do three shows in 24 hours", Davies said. Toksvig said that " QI is my favourite television programme both to watch and to be on". Lloyd said that Toksvig will be "the first female host of
1740-450: The companies to be "competitively cooperative" and bring about several piezoelectric innovations and inventions. Early devices were based on an electromechanical system identical to an electric bell without the metal gong. Similarly, a relay may be connected to interrupt its own actuating current , causing the contacts to buzz (the contacts buzz at line frequency if powered by alternating current ) Often these units were anchored to
1798-552: The early 1930s in favor of musical chimes, which had a softer tone. Piezoelectric buzzers, or piezo buzzers, as they are sometimes called, were invented by Japanese manufacturers and fitted into a wide array of products during the 1970s to 1980s. This advancement mainly came about because of cooperative efforts by Japanese manufacturing companies. In 1951, they established the Barium Titanate Application Research Committee, which allowed
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1856-473: The episode, mostly in General Ignorance. Davies "always gets the most demeaning sound" for his buzzer. Sometimes, the buzzers have unique points to them, such as having questions based on them; in most cases they are about Davies' own. For example, one of his buzzer noises in the Series D episode "Descendants" sounded like a Clanger , and the panel had to try and guess what was being said, while in
1914-604: The father of the political cartoon. In early 19th-century England, pantomime acquired its present form, which includes slapstick comedy and featured the first mainstream clown, Joseph Grimaldi , while comedy routines also featured heavily in British music hall theatre which became popular in the 1850s. British comedians who honed their skills at pantomime and music hall sketches include Charlie Chaplin , Stan Laurel , George Formby , and Dan Leno . The English music hall comedian and theatre impresario Fred Karno developed
1972-402: The guests before the show. Recordings start at either 4:30 pm or 7:30 pm and last up to two hours, although only 30 minutes of footage is used for normal episodes and 45 minutes for "XL" episodes. By 10:00 pm, recording has usually finished and the set has been disassembled. Roughly 16 questions are asked and about half of those make it into the show; about 20% of material researched
2030-425: The highest viewing figures for any show broadcast on BBC Two and Dave. Several books, DVDs and other tie-ins to the show have been released, and international versions of QI have been made in other countries. The panel consists of four participants: three rotating guests and one regular, Alan Davies, who has the seat to the immediate right of the host. Davies has appeared in every episode. However, in "Divination" he
2088-552: The host or beforehand by QI researchers known as "The QI Elves". For example, in one episode Davies was docked 10 points for suggesting "oxygen" to the question "What is the main ingredient of air?" Negative scores are common, and occasionally even the victor's score may be negative. Score totals are announced at the conclusion of the show. Fry has said, "I think we all agree that nobody in this universe understands QI's scoring system." John Lloyd, QI ' s creator, has, on one occasion, admitted that not even he has any idea how
2146-436: The job, the producers opted to change the format; Fry became the host, with Davies as the only regular panellist. Root commissioned a pilot and a further 16 episodes after that, although budget limitations reduced the first series to 12 episodes. In October 2015, it was announced that Fry would be stepping down as host after Series M and would be replaced by Sandi Toksvig . Fry described his position on QI as "one of
2204-418: The news quiz Have I Got News for You , 8 out of 10 cats , and Shooting Stars . In the 1980s, alternative comedy was spearheaded by Ben Elton and The Comic Strip group, which included Alexei Sayle , Rik Mayall , and French and Saunders . The 1990s and 2000s also have those that have used editing , surreal humour , and cultural references to great effect. Buzzer A buzzer or beeper
2262-489: The panellists beforehand. The host is given a list of questions about an hour before the show, for preparatory purposes, but the guests are forbidden to ask for preparatory materials or other help. Alan Davies never does any preparation. In a 2010 interview with the Radio Times regarding the current state of the BBC , Fry revealed that one of the regular panellists insisted on seeing the questions before they appear in
2320-1032: The production team. Unlike the classic format of the show where most questions follow a subject, this episode was instead an hour-long General Ignorance round. As of 26 November 2024, the following have all appeared multiple times as one of the guest panellists on the show. This list does not include the unbroadcast pilot, nor the special editions for the Comic Relief and Sport Relief telethons, nor any live stage editions. 47 appearances 46 appearances 43 appearances 41 appearances 33 appearances 27 appearances 25 appearances 20 appearances 18 appearances 16 appearances 15 appearances 14 appearances 12 appearances 11 appearances 10 appearances 9 appearances 8 appearances 7 appearances British comedy "[Pulcinella] went down particularly well with Restoration British audiences, fun-starved after years of Puritanism . We soon changed Punch's name, transformed him from
2378-543: The questions always contained an element that did). The only exceptions to the alphabet system have been the Christmas specials, where the topics are often Christmas-based and do not necessarily correspond to that series' letter (although greater attempts have been made to do so since Series D). Series D was the first to see all the episodes focus upon a single topic or theme, beginning with the series letter (e.g. Danger), and for each to be given an official title connected to
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2436-586: The questions for the show, and one is on set during filming who is able to communicate with the host during the show to provide and correct information. Other people involved in researching questions and compiling the scripts are John Mitchinson and Piers Fletcher , known (along with Justin Pollard, Molly Oldfield, and James Harkin) as the Question Wranglers , whose research uses both Encyclopædia Britannica and Misplaced Pages . The QI website also has
2494-758: The regular show broadcast in a pre-watershed slot with the extended edition remaining within a post-watershed slot. Beginning with the I series, the regular show returned to a post-watershed slot on BBC Two. Syndicated episodes of previous series are regularly shown on Dave . In November 2020, a new compilation series titled QI XS started, with a run-time of 14 minutes per episode. A second series of XS, with an 8-minute running time, started in February 2023. Series of QI are assigned letters in sequence and episodes are themed around topics starting with that letter. The show has received very positive ratings from critics and has been nominated for multiple awards; QI itself has
2552-511: The scoring system works, but there is someone who is paid to check on the scores. According to the Series A DVD, guests are allowed the right of appeal if they believe their score is wrong, but none has so far exercised that right. Panellists are given buzzers to use in signalling a response, each of which produces a different sound when pressed. For the first three series, the sounds were seemingly random things or followed an arbitrary theme in each episode, such as commonly heard everyday sounds in
2610-399: The set or screens; these have included ASIMO (a humanoid robot) and US President Barack Obama . A special stand-alone episode was filmed between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m. (GMT) on 6 March 2011 as part of Comic Relief 's special 24 Hour Panel People featuring David Walliams , who appeared in various old and new panel game shows throughout a 24-hour period. The shows were streamed live on
2668-464: The set was replaced with an auctioneer stand for Fry and school desks or side tables for the panellists, and the lighting was stripped down; while in "Health and Safety", the panellists wore hard hats, safety glasses, and bright yellow work vests and Fry wore a doctor's white coat and stethoscope. In some episodes, an extra task is given to the panellists to complete during the course of an episode, which can earn them extra points. Such tasks have included
2726-582: The show focuses on the panellists answering questions that are extremely obscure, making it unlikely that the correct answer will be given. To compensate, the panellists are awarded points not only for the correct answer, but also for interesting ones, regardless of whether they are correct or even relate to the original question, while points are deducted for "answers which are not only wrong, but pathetically obvious" – typically answers that are generally believed to be true but in fact are misconceptions. These answers, referred to as "forfeits", are usually indicated by
2784-402: The show's blog. For its first five series shown between 2003 and 2007, episodes premiered on BBC Four before receiving their first analogue airing on BBC Two a week later. From 2008 to 2011, the show was moved to BBC One , with an extended-length edition of each episode often broadcast on BBC Two a day or two after the regular show's broadcast under the title of QI XL . Series G and H saw
2842-469: The show's creators expected that hardly anyone would be able to give a correct answer without significant prompting, they instead encourage sheer "interestingness", which is how points are mainly scored. As such, tangential discussions are encouraged, and panellists are apt to branch off into frivolous conversations, give voice to trains of thought, and share humorous anecdotes from their own lives. The number of points given and taken away are normally decided by
2900-454: The show. "There's only one regular guest who always insists on seeing the questions beforehand and prepares for them. I won't tell you his or her name," he said. "It really annoys me. In fact, one day, I'll make sure that person is given a list from another programme because they don't need them." Following this comment, people asked Fry to identify the guest and some posted their own speculations. Fry later posted on his Twitter account that it
2958-413: The studio audience, and six episodes have the distinction of being won by the audience: "Death", the fifth episode in Series D; "England", the 10th episode in Series E; "Flora & Fauna", the 10th episode in Series F; "Greeks", the 14th episode in Series G; "Next", the 15th episode in Series N; and "Quantity and Quality", the 15th episode in Series Q. The audience's win in "Greeks" was only announced during
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#17327876812123016-408: The topic/theme. It also saw Fry modify his introduction of the panellists, by incorporating the theme/topic of the episode, with Davies often getting the "demeaning" introduction. This trend has continued with each subsequent series; episodes from previous series were retroactively given titles. A video podcast (featuring the best moments with some out-takes) was planned to accompany Series E, but this
3074-470: The wasp, and using their body heat to kill the wasps by overheating. A TV show entitled No Such Thing as the News aired for two seasons in 2016, following a similar format based around news stories and current events. In 2018, an online behind the scenes series that followed the podcasters on their UK tour was released called 'Behind The Gills'. In QI , every series takes its theme from a different letter of
3132-421: The world's first non-boring encyclopaedia." As a panel game, it was conceived as a radio show, with Lloyd as chairman. While developing the show with Peter Fincham and Alan Yentob , Lloyd decided that it would work better on television. The three pitched it to Lorraine Heggessey , controller of BBC One at the time. Heggessey passed on the format, opting to commission a similar panel game called Class War , which
3190-458: Was instead turned into a set of "Quickies" featured on the QI homepage of the BBC's website. As this decision was not reached until after recording, the videos are still referred to as "vodcasts" by whoever is introducing them (usually Fry but occasionally a panellist or even the audience.) The series was ended by a special outtake compilation entitled "Elephants". Points may be given to (or taken from)
3248-512: Was neither Davies nor Rob Brydon . In a 2022 Q&A at the Oxford Union, regular panellist Dara Ó Briain said that the guest in question was someone who had since died, but was not Sean Lock . The research for the show is mostly carried out by seven people called the " QI Elves", a team which has included Justin Pollard , Vitali Vitaliev , Molly Oldfield (daughter of Mike Oldfield ), Stevyn Colgan and Jenny Ryan . The "elves" devise
3306-469: Was never made. When Fincham became controller of BBC One, Lloyd pitched it to him, only to be turned down by his former collaborator. Eventually, he pitched it to Jane Root , then controller of BBC Two, who agreed to develop it. When it was decided that the show would air on television, Michael Palin was offered the job of chairman with Fry and Davies as captains of the "cleverclogs" and "dunderheads" teams, respectively. However, when Palin decided not to take
3364-402: Was not able to appear at the studio; he was still able to play "from beyond". Despite frequent wins, Davies often finishes last due to incurring forfeits. Questions posed to the panellists are often misleading, obscure, or very difficult. Providing an "obvious but wrong" answer (referred to as a "forfeit") results in a sequence of klaxons, alarm bells, flashing lights, and a score penalty. Davies
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