# I love Q.I. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025 "2011-08-09T03:00:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/41 "2011-08-10T09:08:01Z")
Finding non-awful female comedians in the UK is a big ask. There may be a few working the stand up circuit but the mainstream standard is pitiful. We’re talking the level of Dawn French, Jo Brand, Gina Yashere etc. If you know any in the US send them over as they’ll clean up. I like Johnny Vegas but can see he’s going to be desperately bad for a lot of people. He’s got a little bit of that Andy Kaufman style where he does not give a fuck if anyone is laughing. Not great for QI but I like the contrast. His acting stuff is very different, as mentioned by ZipperJJ - quite mainstream and he comes across amiable and likeable. His stand up has a lot of self-loathing, but he’s all the way in with it in complete contrast to your typical Footlights product. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/42 "2011-08-10T09:21:52Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Hislop is also a political centrist, who seems to prefer the Lib-Dems to any other British political party. This probably puts him to the right of most other British comedians, but far to the left of the American political spectrum. > > Could the “conservative gay guy” possibly be Gyles Brandreth? He was actually once a Tory MP and junior minister under Margaret Thatcher. He has certainly done a lot of panel games in his time, including QI (not sure about HIGNFY). > > AFAIK neither Hislop nor Brandreth are actually gay: they are, as American comedians say, _just British_ (and British upper class, more to the point). Brandreth, in particular, has a very fruity upper class accent and affected diction (a large part of his comedic schtik) that could easily be mistaken for gay camp. (Also, IMHO, Brandreth is way funnier than Hislop, although perhaps that is just because I don’t really find Hislop funny at all.) I’ve met Giles Brandreth, he’s just the same in real life but does tone it down a little. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/43 "2011-08-10T09:41:50Z")
I’d like Victoria Coren to be on QI. She’s not a comedian, and really isn’t that funny, but she is a lot more palatable than Giles Brandreth. Another female panelist I like is Liza Tarbuck. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/44 "2011-08-10T13:24:19Z")
One woman I HATED was only in one episode that I recall. She was the horse woman. Ugggggg. The questions were clearly seeded so that she would have something to talk about and look intelligent on. Really didn’t fit the show at all. ETA: And hasn’t John Sessions been on a couple episodes? God I can’t stand him - he always irritated me in Whose Line was well. You know the “Stuck up arrogant fucks” that Otto was always complaining about in “A Fish Called Wanda”? Yeah, Sessions was the person he was talking about. Specifically. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/45 "2011-08-10T13:38:47Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Look, pal, I’m an American. Just be happy I didn’t refer to him as a non-US and leave it at that! Or maybe I was being really clever and I found a way to make a clever pun. > > -Joe Really? I thought you were a Canadian > [@Kimstu](#): > > Oh, and as long as I’m being a quibbling PITA bitch: When it comes to factual accuracy and getting subtle distinctions right, the QI elves are pretty damn good but they are **NOT** Straight Dope calibre. I have found myself yelling “CITE?!!??” at the screen more than once when QI is on, and have looked up some of the statements afterwards and found them, well, let’s just call it “not up to SDMB standards”. I know what you mean. Don’t get me started on “light is invisible” There is a fairly decent QI messageboard (at [http://www.qi.com/talk/](http://www.qi.com/talk/)) where you can quibble their facts and suggest questions for upcoming series. I posted a link about fainting goats on there once, and it turned up as a question a couple of series later. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/46 "2011-08-10T13:57:40Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > Really? I thought you were a Canadian And I thought you were Welsh! TAKE THAT! > [@Bakhesh](#): > > There is a fairly decent QI messageboard (at [http://www.qi.com/talk/](http://www.qi.com/talk/)) where you can quibble their facts and suggest questions for upcoming series. I posted a link about fainting goats on there once, and it turned up as a question a couple of series later. I remember that. Good one! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/47 "2011-08-10T15:12:37Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Agree with all the QI love and particular panelist love stated thus far, esp. Alan, Bill, Jo, David and Rob. And I also have some trouble feeling the love for Johnny Vegas. > > Another regular panelist I like who I think hasn’t been mentioned yet is Sandi Toksvig. > > One quibble: I don’t want to go all PC on the wonderful QI folks, but it sometimes grates on me a bit that the whole panelist atmosphere is whiter than an albino swan in a snowstorm. Yes, I understand that the show’s theme is sort of a grown-up Monty-Python-ish parody of a Victorian or Edwardian public school (in American, private school) classroom with Fry in the role of dotty old form master, and you just can’t get any more traditional-white-British than that unless you’re Prince fricking Charles. And naturally, the panelists who get into that groove most readily are the white middle-class over-35 males who’ve actually done time in a British public school. So I get where they’re coming from with that, I really do. > > But would it really kill the buzz to move the show’s ambience just a **little** closer to the reality of 21st-century multiracial Britain? I mean, jeez, AFAICT Rich Hall (who is part Cherokee) is the closest thing to a non-white regular panelist that QI has ever had. Reginald D. Hunter was on once, I believe, and none of the other panelists really seemed comfortable with him. I think the Indo-British comedians (and spouses) Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar have also made maybe one or two appearances each. That’s not a lot of diversity, especially considering that Britons of South Asian and/or African/Caribbean origins are like ten percent of the country’s population now. > > All right, I’ll shut up now before anybody gets the idea that I want to impose quotas or something, which I don’t (neither for ethnic diversity nor for gender balance, which unlike the former is an issue that’s actually been discussed on the show itself). Let’s just say that I wish QI would have Sanjeev Bhaskar on more often, and leave it at that. I think this is a great post and I agree completely. Also about Sandi Toksvig, who was hilarious with David and Rob in the History episode I just watched last night. (And I’d forgotten about Bill Bailey when listing my favorites! How could I have forgotten about Bill Bailey??) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/48 "2011-08-10T20:16:50Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Well, Fry’s half-Hungarian Jew… Yeah, but we Ashkenazi half-Jews count as white these days. In fact, pretty much all Jews (except those from Ethiopia or Kerala, natch) are considered white these days. Not that skin-color racial categories intrinsically matter a damn, of course. I mention it merely to illustrate why the half-Jewish heritage of the Norfolk-born, Cambridge-educated, tweed-suited, Melchett-and-Jeeves-playing, “quintessentially English” Stephen Fry has no detectable modulating effect on the blindingly white cultural ambience of QI. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > I like Sue Perkins. Oh yeah, so do I, I’d forgotten her. I also agree that the sharp-and-interesting-although-not-particularly-comic Victoria Coren might be a nice occasional addition to the panel. > [@Gadarene](#): > > (And I’d forgotten about Bill Bailey when listing my favorites! How could I have forgotten about Bill Bailey??) Definitely one of the chief purveyors of the awesome on QI. Thanks to **dwyr** ’s post upthread, I just found out about his “Dandelion Mind” show in NYC in September and have booked a ticket! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/49 "2011-08-10T23:36:11Z")
Thanks to everyone for bringing this show to my attention; the clips linked here were hilarious and, indeed, quite interesting. If Netflix ever brings these to streaming, I’m all over them. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/50 "2011-08-11T00:14:33Z")
Victoria Coren’s been on HIGNFY a few times now, and she’s usually good value. Sanjeev Bhaskar is usually pretty funny, too. There’s quite a bit of overlap between the two, really, but then comedy panel shows over here are incredibly incestuous like that. I’m trying to think of more non-white men who’ve been on HIGNFY, but the first person that comes to mind is Germaine Greer, and she’d be terrible on QI. Sue Perkins, if I remember correctly, is also gay. As of course is Fry himself. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/51 "2011-08-11T08:54:47Z")
If we’re needing any racial diversity, Stephen K Amos would be good. And Omid Djalili would be fantastic! He doesn’t really do panel shows, though. ---
**Author:** ![Khendrask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@Khendrask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khendrask)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/52 "2011-08-11T12:03:16Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It’s great except when Fry tried to explain America as caring more about freedom of speech than justice. > > I wish I could watch full shows, though. I hate only getting clips from YouTube. Forever, I thought the whole point of the show was that one round where the common answers are wrong. On YouTube, look for “NickFromFulham”. He has posted all shows so far, and has them organized by season. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/53 "2011-08-11T12:29:26Z")
> [@Khendrask](#): > > On YouTube, look for “NickFromFulham”. He has posted all shows so far, and has them organized by season. Thanks. I actually never thought to try YouTube. I’m used to YouTube pulling everything and having to try other sites. And thanks to **dwyr** as well. ---
**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/54 "2011-08-11T17:34:19Z")
QI is awesome. That and Nevermind the Buzzcocks. Two great shows. I still remember the day when I felt like a hipster… “Ya know Ryan, if you aren’t watching British panel-style quiz shows, you aren’t watching TV.” ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/55 "2011-08-11T18:59:07Z")
> [@Surbey](#): > > QI is awesome. That and Nevermind the Buzzcocks. Two great shows. I still remember the day when I felt like a hipster… > “Ya know Ryan, if you aren’t watching British panel-style quiz shows, you aren’t watching TV.” I still can’t understand why you don’t have any in the US. Dunno if anyone has mentioned it yet, but “Would I Lie to You?” is definitely worth checking out too, also available on youtube. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/56 "2011-08-11T19:01:42Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > I still can’t understand why you don’t have any in the US. They require people who are both (a) famous and (b) capable of spontaneous wit. The intersection of those two sets, for whatever reason, is far smaller in the US than the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/57 "2011-08-11T19:04:42Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > They require people who are both (a) famous and (b) capable of spontaneous wit. The intersection of those two sets, for whatever reason, is far smaller in the US than the UK. I think they tried - which is why you get “Celebrity Apprentice” and whatever the hell show brought Flava Flav back into the public consciousness. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/58 "2011-08-11T19:07:00Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > They require people who are both (a) famous and (b) capable of spontaneous wit. The intersection of those two sets, for whatever reason, is far smaller in the US than the UK. Isn’t that a chicken and egg scenario though? There is no one famous for being good on panel shows, because there are no panel shows. I’ve seen plenty of people being spontaneously witty on during Daily show interviews, you only need to scrape together four or five of them. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/59 "2011-08-11T19:07:14Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > Dunno if anyone has mentioned it yet, but “Would I Lie to You?” is definitely worth checking out too, also available on youtube. Funnier than QI now, IMHO. QI is still worth watching, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025/60 "2011-08-12T13:07:44Z")
Love Q.I. to death and have watched all of the shows, usually several times over. They get me into trouble though, because I pick up on some unusual fact shown on the prog. and either mention it, or post it at a later date but can’t remember where I learned it when called on for a cite. Dave Mitchell is awesome, Johnny Vegas was rubbish. Fry and Davis have done a good job in the past but are getting a little tired now, time for a change. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-q-i/592025.md?page=4)