I’ve noticed that the panellists have been getting more raucous and stupid as the QI seasons have progressed - and as the host and usually the majority of the panellists have been male, it has once too often devolved into laboured knob banter. So I think Sandi Toksvig may remedy some of that.
I am super excited about this. I love her. Fry was getting tired in this role he was beginning to get on my nerves. I’d virtually stopped watching it but Toksvig will renew my interest.
I was gutted when she left The News Quiz but I’ve enjoyed Miles Jupp filling her shoes.
It does need refreshing, though it is still enjoyable. This summer, I re-watched some D, J, and H series episodes and was very much struck by how fresher and funnier it was. Same panelists for the most part, but it felt fresher and lighter.
I think Sandi will bring a renewed engagement back to the material. I will miss Stephen, though.
In a couple years, he should appear as a panelist. Time for Stephen “my bottom is a treasure trove” Fry to lose some points!
What has he filled them with? :eek: Seems like an odd prank.
Very sad to see Stephen go but an excellent choice of replacement. I’m also a huge Miles Jupp fan (apart from the cringeworthy Balamory, a view he probably agrees with) so I’m good all around.
Probably…complete loose stool water. It is arse-gravy of the worst kind.
(viz about "The Da Vinci Code”) 
My bad. I’ve not watched the show I just knew she was the host (from when she had appeared on QI!) and Wikipedia made it seem like the show ended in 2014.
You mean when fuckin’ ROSS NOBLE is on? God he is the worst guest. He brings down the whole show :-/
To each their own! I think Noble is one of the most consistently hilarious guests they have.
I like Ross and think he’s funny but on QI he does seem to dominate the entire show with his antics.
Series M (with Fry) starts tonight in the UK. It’s got Ross Noble, Matt Lucas and Lucy Porter as guests.
Didn’t mean to single anyone out…even Alan can resort to just doing silly actions/voices repetitively, trying too hard to get a laugh sometimes. Fry does eventually tell them to calm down or whatever, but that sort of stuff should not make the edit in my view.
But now you mention it, yeah Ross Noble is one of the worst offenders. He can be funny, but usually looks desperate.
If someone is saying something witty, Ross, just leave them be; there’s no need for you to try to hijack it.
I like Ross Noble. He’s way better than Johnny Vegas at any rate, and actually fairly knowledgeable about some trivia stuff.
Although, surprisingly, I find Jack Dee to be the regular guest I least like (I don’t dislike any of them, though). He just seems surly and not at all like he wants to be there, ever. More so than his usual stand-up persona, even. Plus there was that IMO unnecessary dig at the women panellists, that one time.
I’m old enough to remember the time when every panel game show had two men and two women panellists. Mind you, it did seem to be the law that one of the women had to be Lady Barnett, and the general atmosphere took the gender roles of the 1950s as a given, but nobody thought the balance odd. Having at most one woman on a show is a relatively recent thing.
My understanding is that that’s sort of coming back, as in BBC has mandated at least one woman panellist on every episode. I don’t think Toskvig will count to that total, either.
If you’re referring to the joke I’m thinking about then I totally disagree. It was IMHO one the funniest quips in QI history and was perfectly timed by Dee. Toksvig who was also a guest in that episode found it hilarious.
The bit I’m thinking about:
Ross Noble is fucking hilarious.
Yeah, that bit was all about stereotypes–and started by the women themselves. The joke was that a stupid stereotype happened to apply in this particular situation.
Obviously, it’s hard to get the male comedians to shut up sometimes, too.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I get really, really tired of the surly persona, too. It can make for good jokes occasionally, but it can’t be your only repertoire.
I don’t see enough Jack Dee to get tired of the persona. And I loved the “shut up” joke. It required someone like him to make that funny and not offensive. I think the ladies thought it was great as well.
I disagree. If you watch the whole episode, he’s just generally not happy throughout it, slouched back in his seat and only giving short answers. It seemed to me when I watched it that he was being perfectly serious there.
Like they were going to make a big deal of it in a live show? Then the story would be all about what poor sorts they were, wouldn’t it?
Remember, these guys are working. They aren’t “being themselves”, they’re being funny.