# QI, if there was an American Version who would host? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589 "2010-03-15T22:08:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/41 "2010-03-18T19:19:21Z")
Yeah, I was just watching that myself and finding it pretty funny even while thinking “Wait, is there anything here other than accent mockery?”. But, as you say, I think the good-natured silliness carries it. Although (and this is not in the spirit of my complaining about Fry’s authoritatively intelligent reputation, but rather in the spirit of rolling with the joking pedantry), isn’t Alan right to say “Well, they wouldn’t talk like they’re from Oxbridge”? I mean, sure, they wouldn’t speak English prior to European colonization (but if that was the pedantic point, then one might object that they should be speaking Spanish now), but all the same, the stereotypical Mexican accent may well, as far as I know, exhibit some strong influence from the local pre-European accents. It’s not, after all, a stereotypical _Spaniard_ accent… (Or is it? I have no idea what stereotypes Spain suffers from.) ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/42 "2010-03-18T19:30:28Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Plus, with that relativity dealie, he did say, when elaborating on the question, that they were looking for the first ‘idea’ of relativity. Actually, no. During the question phase, he qualifies it as “The first Theory of Relativity”, which Galileo’s never was. ToR is a term coined by Planck in 1908, as the wiki states, to describe Einstein’s work, and wasn’t used to refer to Galileo. Only when providing the answer, does he dress it up as the ‘idea’ of relativity. Of course, the question would have worked as bait if he simply referred to it as Relativity. That word, in isolation, is _plausibly_ more ambigious. But it would still be a dirty bait. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/43 "2010-03-18T21:09:09Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > [And very funny it can be, too.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUVBXb4XIqE) That is, perhaps, the funniest outtake in the history of outtakes. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/44 "2010-03-18T21:38:48Z")
This is one of my favourite QI clips, and like most of the best ones, it’s where they go off on a mad tangent: [Peter Cushing lives in Whitstable](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdTLxyS2bdU&NR=1) ---
**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:** [March 19, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/45 "2010-03-19T00:59:10Z")
I really like the show where [Stephen Fry thinks the horse is really attractive](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c88fBIS-sSY). If you watch the whole clip, there’s a bit more Stephen ribbing at the end. ---
**Author:** ![BMada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@BMada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMada)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/46 "2010-03-27T21:48:45Z")
I wonder if Kelsey Grammar could pull the host job off too. He seems to be eloquent like Fry. Just don’t know how smart he is, he’s played Frasier Crane, but don’t really know how he’d handle the hosting duties. ---
**Author:** ![Claptree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Claptree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claptree)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/47 "2010-03-27T23:41:49Z")
My favourite QI [clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUnBGk2nb3w), which sadly makes me think QI is largely written, because I just don’t see how she could improvize that bit. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/48 "2010-03-28T00:26:14Z")
The contestants do get the questions a bit ahead of time, I’m afraid, albeit not the answers, of course (according to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QI#Production), anyway, which cites the DVDs and which I have no reason to distrust). ---
**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:** [March 28, 2010, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/49 "2010-03-28T04:43:58Z")
Getting the questions ahead of time is pretty standard fare for British panel game type affairs - I don’t _think_ Buzzcocks does it, but that’d be an exception rather than the rule. The general idea is that, even when your guests are comedians, they’re usually going to need a bit of time to come up with a bit of funny stuff. On the other hand, for the most part the most humour comes out of banter, which isn’t prepared in advance for obvious reasons. It’s basically just to ensure the show isn’t unwatchably terrible. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/50 "2010-03-28T14:09:19Z")
The perfect host for a US version would be Teller, of Penn & Teller. _Far_ more erudite and learned than Fry could ever hope to be, very fast and witty, authoritative when he needs to be, and the same combination of sophisticated yet knowingly smutty. Of course, he’d need to actually speak, which he has hardly ever done on TV, but then again in real life he has a very warm, listenable voice which is a pleasure to listen to. A perfect choice. Agreed that Rich Hall should be the regular guest. Easily the finest contributor to the show. Add me to the list of those who feel Fry’s reputation exceeds his achievements. For some reason he’s just a media darling over here. People never seem to tire of giving him work and it has become almost a national crime to fault or criticise him at all. I don’t admire someone from a wealthy, privileged background who was convicted for credit card fraud. I also don’t respect someone who walked out of a West End theatre production in which he was ostensibly the ‘star’, thereby killing a show that a lot of other people had invested in (largely on account of his name), and that many others were relying on for work and income. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/51 "2010-03-28T14:32:34Z")
> [@choie](#): > > My favorite clip of Fry vs. Alan is [this one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpU4mOCLdkw), where Alan pulls his hilarious Mexican accent gag and Stephen snarks at him with history. Alan’s crestfallen face is priceless, as is his “did you ever feel like your weapon isn’t big enough?” to Jo Brand. Then there’s the back-and-forth about Bill Bailey’s knowledge of beetle collecting, and Stephen’s digs about Alan’s wondering how Bill knew that… Just awesome. > > That Mexican accent kills me every time. I don’t know why I tolerate such silly stereotyping when it comes from him, but instead of finding it offensive, I crack up. Maybe because he’s so good-natured? I’ve never seen that bit before. I’m crying laughing here. I just want to brag (as I know I have already) that I was at a pub quiz in the now-bankrupt QI Club in Oxford where they previewed one of the series’ questions before it was recorded. And my team won. Got to have a pint with John Lloyd and £100 put behind the bar with my team’s name on it\*. They awarded us with pins that declare **I’m a hateful little smartass**. \*This started a bit of a feedback loop, because when I went back to drink the £100, I entered again, won again, and got another £100 behind the bar. Not surprisingly, it went bust. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/52 "2010-03-28T14:42:26Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > The general idea is that, even when your guests are comedians, they’re usually going to need a bit of time to come up with a bit of funny stuff. I’d never heard of this show before this thread, but I’ve been watching all of them I can find on youtube. I don’t have the questions in advance, but I came up with the same joke as Alan Davies. I was kind of proud of myself. > [@ianzin](#): > > Agreed that Rich Hall should be the regular guest. Easily the finest contributor to the show. He’s funny, but I don’t know if he has the right sort of good natured quality to his humor to take on Alan’s role. The comments to one of the clips said he was a real-life Moe the Bartender. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/53 "2010-03-28T14:51:10Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > The comments to one of the clips said he was a real-life Moe the Bartender. Moe was at least partly based on Rich Hall. Hall worked with George Meyer in pre-Simpsons days. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/54 "2010-03-28T15:03:00Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > I don’t admire someone from a wealthy, privileged background who was convicted for credit card fraud. I also don’t respect someone who walked out of a West End theatre production in which he was ostensibly the ‘star’, thereby killing a show that a lot of other people had invested in (largely on account of his name), and that many others were relying on for work and income. Yeah, screw him for being depressed and suicidal and having a nervous breakdown! He had a posh background, what does he mean by being all bipolar like that? Also, screw him for being a troubled kid who stole his parents’ credit card and ended up in jail at 17. That’s _definitely_ something we should still bitch about forty years later – the guy’s practically Bernie Madoff! > [@jimm](#): > > I’ve never seen that bit before. I’m crying laughing here. > > I just want to brag (as I know I have already) that I was at a pub quiz in the now-bankrupt QI Club in Oxford where they previewed one of the series’ questions before it was recorded. And my team won. Got to have a pint with John Lloyd and £100 put behind the bar with my team’s name on it\*. They awarded us with pins that declare I’m a hateful little smartass. > > \*This started a bit of a feedback loop, because when I went back to drink the £100, I entered again, won again, and got another £100 behind the bar. Not surprisingly, it went bust Congratulations! Love the pin…I hope you bear it proudly. Though yeah, I can see why the club went bankrupt. Does “put behind the bar” mean you were given £100 in pub credit? The tradition of pub quizzes is fantastic; I don’t think we have anything like that here (that is, something specifically in bars; we have trivia contests, though it’s not really a mainstream thing, I believe). ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/55 "2010-03-28T15:56:46Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > Add me to the list of those who feel Fry’s reputation exceeds his achievements. For some reason he’s just a media darling over here. People never seem to tire of giving him work and it has become almost a national crime to fault or criticise him at all. I don’t admire someone from a wealthy, privileged background who was convicted for credit card fraud. I also don’t respect someone who walked out of a West End theatre production in which he was ostensibly the ‘star’, thereby killing a show that a lot of other people had invested in (largely on account of his name), and that many others were relying on for work and income. It’s a shame there’s a list. I like Fry and I find it difficult not to question the tastes and personality of anyone who doesn’t. Fry is awesome. He deserves more praise than he probably gets. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/56 "2010-03-28T20:31:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by ianzin > Add me to the list of those who feel Fry’s reputation exceeds his achievements. For some reason he’s just a media darling over here. People never seem to tire of giving him work and it has become almost a national crime to fault or criticise him at all. I don’t admire someone from a wealthy, privileged background who was convicted for credit card fraud. I also don’t respect someone who walked out of a West End theatre production in which he was ostensibly the ‘star’, thereby killing a show that a lot of other people had invested in (largely on account of his name), and that many others were relying on for work and income. I’m not a fan of the sycophancy that seems to surround him either or even particularly him, but that is really unfair. He didn’t walk out of the play in some luvvie hissy fit - he was in a state of clinical depression and then tried to gas himself in his garage. Mental illness can happen to anyone whatever their background. Only relatively recently diagnosed as bipolar that could explain (though not necessarily excuse) his conviction when young. I thought “Fry & Laurie” was dull as ditchwater and Cambridge Footlights “comedy by numbers” but he is usually an entertaining interviewee. though the bar in the media has been set pretty low for “intellectual” these days. - ---
**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:** [March 28, 2010, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/57 "2010-03-28T22:41:44Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > It’s a shame there’s a list. I like Fry and I find it difficult not to question the tastes and personality of anyone who doesn’t. Fry is awesome. He deserves more praise than he probably gets. I like Fry too, but his failure on the boards identifies him as a shithouse. This is not really acceptable for a Cambridge song and dance man - You can stink the place out, deliver an absolutely disgraceful performance, but you’ve got to turn up and take the licks. To just fuck off and hide is the mark of the shithouse, and his reputation has never really recovered. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/58 "2010-03-28T23:10:19Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > I like Fry too, but his failure on the boards identifies him as a shithouse. This is not really acceptable for a Cambridge song and dance man - You can stink the place out, deliver an absolutely disgraceful performance, but you’ve got to turn up and take the licks. To just fuck off and hide is the mark of the shithouse, and his reputation has never really recovered. Or someone suffering in the depressive phase of bipolar disorder, which it appears explained - though not necessarily excused - his behaviour. I disagree that his reputation hasn’t recovered. As far as I can tell he’s one of those rare untouchables, like Peter Ustinov was. **choie** , yes, the £100 was bar credit in our name, split between a team of four. ---
**Author:** ![Euthanasiast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Euthanasiast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euthanasiast)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/59 "2010-03-28T23:39:09Z")
The closest I think that we have come to this show was Hollywood Squares. I love QI, but I’m almost certain that it would fail miserably over here. It’s just too smart for the majority of our culture. ☹ I LOVE the idea of Furgeson hosting! Whoppi Goldberg might work as well. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589/60 "2010-03-29T00:25:39Z")
Politically Incorrent was as close as I’ve seen here. Having said that, I think Craig Ferguson would be a good host and Jon Stewart would be a good regular contestant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qi-if-there-was-an-american-version-who-would-host/532589.md?page=2)