History Series / QI

Standing for "Quite Interesting", the show was originally hosted by Creator/StephenFry and features a group of four panelists, one of whom is always Alan Davies of ''Series/JonathanCreek'' fame; starting in Series N, Fry left the show and was replaced by recurring panelist Sandi Toksvig (currently also hosting the revival of the quiz show ''Series/FifteenToOne''). The other panelists vary from week to week, but a number of recurring guests have appeared over the years. The pool of frequent guests has changed over time, but currently includes Aisling Bea, Jo Brand, Creator/JimmyCarr, Victoria Coren Mitchell, [[Series/NevermindTheBuzzcocks Phill Jupitus]], Cariad Lloyd, Jason Manford, Sarah Millican, Creator/{{David Mitchell|Actor}}, Sara Pascoe, Holly Walsh, and Josh Widdicombe. While the panel is mainly composed of comedians, famous names in other fields have turned up, such as Sir Radio/TerryWogan, [[Literature/CompleteWorldKnowledge John Hodgman]], Creator/BrianBlessed, Creator/GregProops, Creator/DavidTennant, Creator/DanielRadcliffe, [[Literature/BadScience Dr. Ben Goldacre]], [[Music/{{Slipknot}} Corey "The Great Big Mouth" Taylor]], and Creator/CarrieFisher.

* {{Corpsing}}: "Just the Job" includes a clip of Radio 4 newsreader Charlotte Green going to pieces when a piece about the (very silly-sounding) oldest recording of the human voice was directly followed by an obituary.

* UpToEleven: Series G found Stephen Fry attempting to say "Gooooooooooood evening" even longer each episode.

* HistoryMarchesOn: Just a few months after Stephen declared that there was no evidence at all Richard III had a hunchback, his body was discovered and, indeed, he had multiple scoliosis. Likewise, the revisionist view that Richard III was a complete innocent usurped by the evil Henry VIII and besmirched by Tudor propaganda that Fry goes onto declare the truth is generally considered just as inaccurate and unnuanced as the Shakespearian version.

* TheArtifact: The Buzzers for each panellist are only ever properly used in the "General Ignorance" round, or if they're otherwise prompted to specifically use their buzzers. In most cases, panellists will usually shout out the answer to Stephen / Sandi.

** Subverted by the occasional double bluff though, such as "How many brains did ''Film/TheManWithTwoBrains'' have?" [[spoiler:Two, duh.]] David Mitchell was [[RantInducingSlight not pleased by this]]:

* RantInducingSlight: David Mitchell is prone to these. The producers have picked up on this, and tend to use more double-bluffs and other tricks when he's on the show. In the Geometry episode, for example, they "targeted" him with a double-bluff regarding the pillars of the Parthenon, which appear straight because they actually are. Strangely, it wasn't David Mitchell who launched into an epic rant after that one, but ''Johnny Vegas''. On the ''QI'' channel, there is a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6vLp07ZePY compilation]] of David's rants from series A-G.

As with all good {{Panel Show}}s the points are almost entirely [[ThePointsMeanNothing irrelevant]] and merely provide the FramingDevice for the comedy. The researchers, known as the "QI Elves", nonetheless check that everything is as correct as it can be, often sending messages to the host about things they've discovered while the programme is recording (especially if the guests have sent things onto a [[WikiWalk very distant tangent]] to what the question was actually about, which [[OffTheRails happens quite often]]). Sometimes, the Elves come up with new klaxon forfeits on the spot per RuleOfFunny as the panelists go so far off script to inject even more chaos and comedy.

* ParodyNames: While discussing a question about defamation, Stephen brought up a hypothetical novel about a quiz show called ''KI'', hosted by "Simon Dry", with a curly-haired regular on the show called "Andrew Devons", and in it, the latter had a small penis.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Averted. Of all the BBC PanelGames, possibly bar ''Series/MockTheWeek'', this one draws from one of the smallest pools of repeat guests. This is probably due to not having any fixed "theme" to the show, so they're unable to pluck participants from the worlds of [[Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou politics and media]], [[Series/NevermindTheBuzzcocks music]], [[Series/AQuestionOfSport or sport]], and mostly makes do with a limited number of comedians. On the plus side, this gives the show something of a dinner-party feel, with the old favourites who banter well together making regular appearances.

--->'''Alan''': Then why are going there? What's the fucking point?

* MoralDissonance: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] and PlayedForLaughs by Jimmy Carr in the XL version of "I-Spy", where he berates the audience for first laughing at a tale of a murder attempt, and then at a certain point going "aaawww".

* TheUnintelligible: John Bishop, on occasion.

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: "You ''can't'' even ''mutilate a tortoise'' anymore!"

* TakeThat:

* TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat: The ''klaxon'', to many panellists' paranoia.
** In "Greats", Stephen asks the panellists about the Great Disappointment. Jo Brand quips "Have you been talking to my husband?" The klaxon sounds and the screen displays that exact sentence, ''word for word.''

* IAteWhat: Stephen causes some consternation in the panel in "Location, Location, Location" when he asks them to test-taste bowls of what turns out to be pure horseradish. Johnny Vegas claims the unexpected sinus overload has given him superpowers.

** In "Nonsense", when Sandi asks the panel to produce something nonsensical yet seemingly profound, a picture of Creator/RusselBrand appears.

** Eventually, this was acknowledged in "Knowledge" when talking about the half-life of facts. In fact, the panelists were given back the number of points that would statistically be owed to them over the years. Jo Brand received 84.73 points, Jimmy Carr received 43.58, the studio audience got 23.24, while Creator/GrahamLinehan has his first ''QI'' appearance and receives nothing. Alan however was awarded ''737.66 points''.[[note]]And even he continues to get things wrong and ends the episode at 689.66 points.[[/note]]

** Eventually, this was acknowledged in "Knowledge" when talking about the half-life of facts. In fact, the panelists were given back the number of points that would statistically be owed to them over the years. Alan was awarded ''737.66 points''.

--->''Applause'''

** Sandi Toksvig subverts this from time to time, by giving answers that at first glance seem like it's drug-fuelled, but actually make sense and often correct. Examples would be when she answered "What use is a goose?" with "Is it toilet paper?" [[labelnote:*]]François Rabelais indeed wrote in ''Gargantua and Pantagruel'' that the best thing to wipe your behind is a goose's neck. And it ''is'' the answer Stephen was looking for.[[/labelnote]] and "What's the best way to get a [baby] girl?" with "Swimming badges." [[note]]What she meant was sperms are like swimmers, and "boy sperms" are fast but die quickly while "girl sperms" are slow but can endure. No points there though; the answer is diet.[[/note]]

--->'''Klaxon''': WHICH MOON

-->'''''*KLAXON*''''' [[AC:("porn")]]

** In "Literature", they did a round based on the quiz show ''Series/OnlyConnect'', which is hosted by Victoria Coren Mitchell, who was on the ''Qi'' panel that week.

*** Also a bonus for Alan Davies, who was able to put his aforementioned "[[ThePowerOfActing experience]]" as a magician's assistant to good use.

--->'''Alan Davies''': [[ValleyGirl What-ever!]]

-->'''Alan Davies''': "I don't like it in the water w' the eels! Oowwwwwwwwwwwwww!"

** Stephen can't stand willful or apathetic ignorance. Naturally, Alan Davies pushes this button whenever he thinks it [[RuleOfFunny might be funny.]] Creator/LeeMack not only found it in Series H but practically danced on it, exasperating Stephen with his insistence on giving an incorrect answer.

-->'''Alan Davies''': Is it an elephant?[[note]]There was a famous elephant-shaped building at Coney Island; it served as a hotel and later a brothel, and it (''not'' the Statue of Liberty) was the first thing immigrants saw on their way into New York while it stood, but it only existed for about 11 years--1885-1896--before burning down.[[/note]]\\

** Alan Davies does a Mexican Spanish accent... badly. The cartoonish manner is hilarious and deliberate though, and he does pretty much the same accent for his German, this being his Stock Foreign Accent.

** Alan Davies:

*** Even the one time Alan had control of the questions, turning the tables on Stephen, he couldn't escape this; Stephen actually got the first question right, prompting the most crushed expression of disappointment you've ever seen from anyone on the part of Alan Davies.

** Although it's never actually pointed out, both Bill Bailey and Alan Davies have a habit of saying "Shut the front door" when they have trouble believing something, as a PG version of saying, "Shut the fuck up".

-->'''Alan Davies''': The red squirrel can't live with the grey squirrel.\\
'''Stephen Fry''': [[WaxingLyrical Ebony and ivory are together on my piano key... board, so why can't they be?]]\\
'''Alan Davies''': [[SidetrackedByTheAnalogy What, you mean a kind of squirrel-fur keyboard]]?\\

'''Stephen Fry''': The total weight of microbes in the ocean is equivalent to 240 billion African elephants. (...) 35 elephants made out of microbes for everyone on the planet, so each of us have got 35 elephants made of microbes surrounding us.\\

'''Stephen Fry''': Oh dear. I can see that I've not explained myself very well.

** Alan Davies saying that the Gilbert's Atomic Children's Chemistry set contained Uranium.

** Done by Alan Davies to the interlaced telephone directories in the 2011 Christmas special: having been told that the friction between the pages cannot be overcome by any force a human can produce, Alan simply thrashes about with the books until they fall apart.

** As Alan Davis mentioned in a documentary, panelists didn't really know how to act when the show was getting started. They didn't know if this was a serious quiz show and they should try to get the answers right, if they'd look stupid if they got it wrong, or if the points really mattered, etc. It was only later when people realized the show was more about being funny and interesting rather than being correct that it really hit its stride. Also at the start, presenter Stephen Fry was not the national figure he is now (the show itself contributing to his growth in fame).

** The actual record is the "Children in Need" special in Series D, where Stephen Fry multiples all the scores by a million as a gesture of generosity to mark the occasion. The upshot of this is that Alan Davies finishes the show with -29,000,000 points.

** Trevor Noah's knowledge of the Xhosa "click" language in "Killers" manages to get this reaction from both Stephen and Sandi Toksvig.
* GeniusDitz: Alan Davies in later series.

** Using this, evil Alan Davies manages to trick another contestant into a penalty.

-->'''Fry''': What do you suffer from if you're afraid of heights?\\
'''Alan Davies''': Vertigo.\\

'''Fry''': No. It's all Creator/AlfredHitchcock's [[Film/{{Vertigo}} fault]], but vertigo is not a fear of heights; it's a specific condition of dizziness... most people who have a fear of heights have a particular phobia. What's the name for it?\\
'''Alan Davies''': Heightaphobia.\\
'''Fry''': Yes -- usually we use Greek, don't we, though?

* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Richard Osman (6'7") and Lucy Porter (4'11") in 'Little And Large'. Similarly, Osman and Sandi Toksvig (also 4'11") in "Naked Truth".
* HumansAreBastards: Alan Davies invokes this trope [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grq5Yqg2xSM here]].

* InsufferableGenius: When panellists get onto a subject they actually know something about, they can sometimes forget to be funny and take the quiz part a bit too seriously — unwilling or unable to follow other panellists (Alan Davies especially) and feign stupidity to a certain degree for the sake of entertainment. True enough, bantermeisters that often do provide intelligent answers can avoid appearing as this by actually providing jokes (e.g. Sandi Toksvig, Dara Ó Briain).

* LargeHam: Well, BRIAN BLESSED was involved. Whereas everyone else's buzzers were little Christmas bells (with the [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers obvious exception]] of Alan Davies), his was big massive church bells. And everyone cheered!

* NowYouTellMe: After Alan Davies destroys part of his desk with a saw in the Series G episode "Gardens", David Mitchell comments that "I really wish they hadn't made this set out of asbestos."

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Several guests such as Johnny Vegas, Lee Mack and Robert Webb have played with the format of the show by being as obtuse as possible, usually just to drive Stephen up the wall and derail the show. More to the point, this is how Alan Davies fulfills his role of TheFool on a consistent basis. When he wised up to his situation in series D, he started playing seriously, getting second or better three times in the first six episodes. But as his buffoonery is a cornerstone of the show's popularity, he was soon set straight. (He still performs better than he did in the first three series, though.)

* PizzaBoySpecialDelivery: Invoked when the panel was discussing the problems of [[ZeroGSpot sex in space]]. Bill Bailey and Alan Davies started musing about what a porno set in space would be like:
-->'''Bill Bailey:''' I'm here to fix the turbo-thrusters.
-->'''Alan Davies:''' Then you'd better come through to the sleeping module.

* ThePointsMeanNothing: Even the show's creators don't know how the scoring for the questions works -- they apparently hire a man to sit in a room and work it out, and no-one knows how he decides it. The placings can actually be quite important, especially if you're a fan of Alan Davies. Stephen also awards points himself for things that are "quite interesting". There is, supposedly, an actual formula or line-of-thought he uses to do so, but no one has managed to figure out how exactly it works. A lot of this is due to things being cut in the edit, but the points still affecting the end result. It explains why in some episodes people have apparently done well but still lost -- they left a number of forfeits on the editing-room floor. And, of course, they can't re-record the ending to only include points scored in the edited version.

** Parodied on "Inequality"; the points were (unfairly) assigned before the game started (where Stephen said Sandi Toksvig had won despite having a lower score than Clive Anderson), and even more unfairly not announced at the end.

** Everything involving Alan Davies, from his comical buzzer noise to finishing last almost every time. Although since he's the only panellist who is on every show, even though he usually loses he's still won more games than any other panellist...

* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: In a tangent in "Kings", Alan Davies brings up Valiant comic superhero Janus Stark and his ability to fit into any small gaps, and notes that there was always a situation where that became useful.

* TooDumbToFool: As the panellists get more savvy and double bluffs become more common, Alan Davies has been earning points by plunging in with the obvious answer while the others sit back and try to decide what the writers are ''really'' asking.

* TookALevelInBadass: Alan Davies in series D. In series A-C, Alan had a grand total of one win and one second-place finish. In series D alone, Alan had ''two'' wins, one sole second-place finish, and one shared second-place finish. Alan's overall performance has stayed around this level since then, though it has fluctuated a bit (series G was his best ever, while series H was his worst since series C).

** Sandi Toksvig again, that chainsaws were invented as childbirth aids.