# There's a ventriloquist on QI this week **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2011, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725 "2011-10-15T10:17:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/21 "2011-10-18T11:56:15Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > It’s a shame, because Nina Conti’s ventriloquism standup act is actually pretty good - not to mention [disturbing and obscene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL7O9O3M1pI). That’s pretty damn awesome. Shame she didn’t bring the monkey (persona) to the show. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/22 "2011-10-18T12:19:24Z")
Yeah, she’s not terrible as far as ventriloquists go, but man, what an awkward fit into the QI format. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/23 "2011-10-18T12:58:30Z")
I thought it was fine. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/24 "2011-10-18T13:24:03Z")
Meh. The show did drag in parts, but it also had some genuinely funny moments. All in all, not nearly as painful to watch as the episode with Ruby Wax. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/25 "2011-10-22T05:02:24Z")
Utter rubbish. May QI learn from its mistake. ---
**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:** [October 22, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/26 "2011-10-22T16:03:50Z")
Yeah, this is the first QI I turned off at around the midway point (this was the XL version). I found “Gran” utterly unfunny, and when they brought out the puppets for the rest of the panelists I just cringed. Actually, Alan’s line re: the guy who squeezed through a CD-sized hole and survived (“only to find out he’s a redundant format”) was the only thing I laughed at. Ah well, they can’t all be winners. A pity, though, because Sean Lock and Bill Bailey are among my favorite guests. My sister and I gave up in the middle and instead went to BBC’s iPlayer to watch the classic “Friday Night / Saturday Morning” featuring John Cleese & Michael Palin vs. the asshats, aka Muggeridge and the Bishop of Southwark on the topic of _The Life of Brian_. (I haven’t watched the _Holy Monty Python_ biopic yet… did anyone catch that? Hmm I think I’ll start a new thread…) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/27 "2011-10-22T16:23:23Z")
I have only moved back to Britain a few months ago after 20 years in the USA, so I have only recently begun to get into QI. I was predisposed to like Alan Davis because I really liked his Radio 4 show (which I got in America via streaming audio from the BBC web site; I have never seen his other television work). Having now seen a few QIs, however, I find myself baffled as to why the QI fans at the Dope seem to hold him in such high esteem. I mean, he is OK as panel-show panelists go, but I am not seeing anything very special there. It is clearly Stephen Fry who makes the show work (and frankly, kids, even Fry is not the man he was back in the ‘80s). Was Davis a lot more interesting back in the early days of QI, or am I missing something? As for the ventriloquist, I thought she (and the whole concept of ventriloquism) got rather more of the spotlight than was deserved, but the show was still fun, comparable to the other episodes I have seen. I do not really understand the ventriloquism hate that several people in this thread seem to feel. These days a ventriloquist is really just a type of comic. Sure, there have been some big-name vent acts that were pretty cringeworthy, but that was essentially because they were bad comics who perhaps got more exposure than they would have done as regular standups because they stood out from the herd by working with a doll. I do not see that there is any reason why it should not be possible for a vent to be a brilliant comic, even though most of the (rather few) vents that we actually do see, are comedically second rate. The only problem is that, compared to comics in general, great comics are rare and vents are rare, so, just because of the statistics, it is vanishingly rare for someone to turn up who is both a great comic and a vent. ---
**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:** [October 22, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/28 "2011-10-22T16:48:40Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Having now seen a few QIs, however, I find myself baffled as to why the QI fans at the Dope seem to hold him in such high esteem. I mean, he is OK as panel-show panelists go, but I am not seeing anything very special there. It is clearly Stephen Fry who makes the show work (and frankly, kids, even Fry is not the man he was back in the ‘80s). Was Davis a lot more interesting back in the early days of QI, or am I missing something? Yes to both questions. 🙂 For the first four series or so, he was terrific. In the later series, he seems to have either lost interest or simply pulled back from his participation. If you enjoy QI you should watch it from the beginning; it’s marvelous. As far as: > [@](#): > > I do not really understand the ventriloquism hate that several people in this thread seem to feel. This is answered by: > [@](#): > > (…)most of the (rather few) vents that we actually do see, are comedically second rate. The only problem is that, compared to comics in general, great comics are rare and vents are rare, so, just because of the statistics, it is vanishingly rare for someone to turn up who is both a great comic and a vent. There you have it. If we were exposed to a host of brilliantly funny ventriloquists, I doubt there’d be the amount of dislike (or in my case, just apathy) toward them. But we haven’t, so we don’t hold them in high esteem. Just as I’m sure there are amazing mimes and skillful artists who paint black velvet clowns as a medium, the crappy ones are more bountiful and thus we think ill of the whole field. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/29 "2011-10-22T17:45:11Z")
This week’s was good. I always like Prof. Brian Cox, wherever he shows up. ---
**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:** [October 22, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/30 "2011-10-22T18:19:15Z")
Yeah Cox should be on QI much more often. Sue Perkins sucked. Her actions after the helium question were embarrassing. Always hate to see Ross Noble. I remember really being impressed with Nina Conti and Monk in the Christopher Guest movie _For Your Consideration_. I think I found some clips of her act after I saw that movie and she was quite funny! ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/31 "2011-10-22T18:38:37Z")
Brian Cox irritates the fuck out of me. He’s like the BBC’s official tame scientist, a position that can seemingly only be filled by one person at a time. Looks like we’re stuck with Brian for the next few years. ---
**Author:** ![Kiyoshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kiyoshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiyoshi)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/32 "2011-10-23T16:21:49Z")
The Nina Conti episode was the first time I switched off the TV half-way through QI. I wasn’t averse to the fact that she was a ventriloquist, but she was utterly un-funny. I hated the way she was constantly laughing and acting shocked at her own “jokes”. I thought Brian Cox was quite interesting (geddit?!), and he certainly has a skill at explaining science in an understandable way to lay-people. But I can’t stand his dopey voice, his permanent grin with those over-whitened teeth, and the fact that he insists on being addressed by his full title, **PROFESSOR BRIAN COX** at all times (even the covers of his books do it!) However, don’t take my word for it. I like Ross Noble, Sarah Millican and Johnny Vegas, and **hate hate hate** Alan Davies’s fake “idiot who asks naive questions and sets off all the sirens” act, so I guess I won’t be too popular here! ---
**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:** [October 23, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/33 "2011-10-23T16:48:13Z")
> [@Kiyoshi](#): > > I thought Brian Cox was quite interesting (geddit?!), and he certainly has a skill at explaining science in an understandable way to lay-people. But I can’t stand his dopey voice, his permanent grin with those over-whitened teeth, and the fact that he insists on being addressed by his full title, **PROFESSOR BRIAN COX** at all times (even the covers of his books do it!) To be fair, he probably has to do it for legal reasons in order to differentiate himself from the [other Brian Cox](http://http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004051/). ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/34 "2011-10-31T00:56:08Z")
OK, I’ve just watched a bunch of old QI on YouTube, and have observed the following: - I cannot understand a word Johnny Vegas says. I assume that he’s speaking some form of English, but it’s like nothing I’ve heard before. Listening to him makes me feel like I’m having a stroke. - A funny thing about watching a lot of old clips in a rapid order is that you can sort of watch Alan Davies speed-aging. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/35 "2011-10-31T13:55:59Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > To be fair, he probably has to do it for legal reasons in order to differentiate himself from the [other Brian Cox](http://http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004051/). I tried your link and the website is banned as a "Malicious "site. Whats going on there ? ---
**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:** [October 31, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/36 "2011-10-31T14:11:02Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > I tried your link and the website is banned as a "Malicious "site. > > Whats going on there ? It’s just a dud link for me? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/37 "2011-10-31T14:12:04Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > It’s a shame, because Nina Conti’s ventriloquism standup act is actually pretty good - not to mention [disturbing and obscene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL7O9O3M1pI). It’s pretty good but she does the same routine too much. I’ve seen her on a few different shows doing exactly the same skit. She’s the Peter Kay of puppetry. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725/38 "2011-10-31T14:24:24Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > It’s just a dud link for me? There is a British actor called [Brian Cox](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Cox_%28actor%29). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-ventriloquist-on-qi-this-week/599725.md?page=1)