History YMMV / QI

** At the end of "Justice", after a discussion about nude psychotherapy, all five panelists get out of their seats and get their lads out. Color bars appear and a continuity announcer says something's gone wrong. The show returns to the QI panelists back in their seats, joking about their relative sizes. Unlike other non-sequitur moments intended to segue into the next topic, the only thing left is the reading out of the scores (at least in the regular length version of the show).

** At the end of "Justice", after a discussion about nude psychotherapy, all five panelists get out of their seats and get their lads out. Color bars appear and a continuity announcer says something's gone wrong. The show returns to the QI panelists back in their seats, joking about their relative sizes. Unlike other non-sequitur moments intended to segue into the next topic, the only thing left is the reading out of the scores (at least in the [[JustForPun regular length]] version of the show).

-->"""*KLAXON*''': [[AC: YES]]

-->'''Jimmy Carr''' (just taken a forfeit): Does someone get paid whenever that goes off?\\

* WTHCastingAgency:
** Of all people, ''[[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]]'' was a guest in Series N. It kind of worked though; he proved to be a good sport, fairly knowledgeable (which is less surprising when you remember he originally rose to prominence as mayor of Cincinnati, UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}}), and actually quite humble.
** [[Music/{{Slipknot}} Corey Taylor]]'s presence also baffled some people enough for it to trend in the UK when his episode aired, despite him being a genuine fan of the show.

** There are many instances during the "J" series where Creator/StephenFry is obviously sick, on medication or otherwise not himself (the whole Jumpers episode being the most obvious example). Later that year, he attempted suicide (again), and in an interview afterwards talking about his bipolar disorder, he said, "There are times when I'm doing ''QI'' and I'm going, 'ha ha, yeah, yeah' and inside I'm going, 'I want to f***ing die. I want to f***ing die.'"

* AcceptableEthnicTargets: Like all good English TV, [[CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys France]], [[SelfDeprecation England]] and [[{{Eagleland}} America]], (and occasionally [[{{Oireland}} Ireland]], UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Wales}}) are constantly the butt of jokes.
** Although in the episode about France it was pointed out that the French have a very solid military record, refuting the CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys stereotype, and an episode on "Germany" instituted a special "[[Series/FawltyTowers Don't Mention the War]]" penalty (only for Stephen to go on to break it himself with a question about WWII).
** Creator/RobBrydon often takes umbrage at what he (jokingly) calls Stephen's offensive stereotypes with regard to the Welsh.
** Stephen once made the mistake of mentioning his prep-school tailor, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpvOBxZdOYg with obvious results]]
** Colin Lane's appearance in Series L had Stephen making several comments about Australians, which Colin took (joking) offense to. Naturally, his reaction ensured a lot more jokes at Australia's expense for the remainder of the show.
** With Sandi Toksvig taking the helm, there have been a lot more jokes about Scandinavians.
* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: The show once got complaints from Conservative [=MPs=] in reaction to jokes about Margaret Thatcher that the complainants felt were treating the former PM as this: "Lady Thatcher has been treated like this by the BBC for the past 30 years.”

* CrossesTheLineTwice: Stephen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUn7zy8Ya20&t=1m34s tells a joke]] that utilises this in the punchline, and then asks [[LampshadeHanging "Why is it so funny?!]]

* BizarroEpisode: "Merriment" is one long series of bizarre events: an overhead light exploding, a fly landing on Bill Bailey's hand and being killed by Alan, the panel composing an impromptu musical based on bathroom puns, Stephen handing out ice cream for no explained reason and the panel arguing over flavors like a disfunctional family, and at the end, Stephen being inducted into the Magic Circle. And although it made sense in context, the panelists wearing pantomime-themed costumes made it all more surreal.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Rob's awful, awful pun "philately will get me nowhere" in Holidays. Cue audience groans and an utterly unimpressed Stephen. Luckily, he redeemed himself by [[ItMakesSenseInContext going back in time and correcting himself]].

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:

* HarsherInHindsight: There are many instances during the "J" series where Creator/StephenFry is obviously sick, on medication or otherwise not himself (the whole Jumpers episode being the most obvious example). Later that year, he attempted suicide (again), and in an interview afterwards talking about his bipolar disorder, he said, "There are times when I'm doing ''QI'' and I'm going, 'ha ha, yeah, yeah' and inside I'm going, 'I want to f***ing die. I want to f***ing die.'"

'''Phill''': Creator/CharlesDarwin, you mean?\\

* BrokenBase: Defied; The bombshell that Creator/StephenFry would leave as host after Series M would naturally cause this reaction, but in comparison to other shows, the base didn't break apart, as soon afterwards the host for the show was revealed to be Sandi Toksvig, herself a knowledgeable person who frequently appeared on QI, and won quite a lot of episodes she appeared on. The general consensus among fans is that if Stephen can't be the host then Sandi was the best possible choice to take over, and nobody batted an eyelid after Series N aired.

** In Series R, Creator/JohnBarrowman and Aisling Bea make ''Doctor Who'' references, with Bea even making a reference to Creator/JodieWhittaker. Bea would later appear opposite Whitakker in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2022NYSEveOfTheDaleks Eve of the Daleks]]".

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U_VjxQBhoo The "Thatcher effect."]] [[note]]Due to how humans recognize faces, a vertically flipped image of Margaret Thatcher is actually more recognizable with inverted eyes and mouth than a completely unedited one. When shown the right way up, however, ''hello'' UncannyValley![[/note]]
** "Reflections": Portraits of the panellists are shown with one side of their face mirrored and superimposed atop the other to create perfect symmetry. Results range from [[UncannyValley creepily robotic]] to horribly deformed.[[note]]The idea was to subvert the myth that human faces are symmetrical, or at least a truly beautiful one ''should'' be.[[/note]]

** In early series, Alan Davies makes several jokes about being an oppressed and displaced Welsh person. And then, in the Europe episode, he reveals that he's found out that, despite his last name indicating otherwise, he actually has no Welsh ancestry.

* MemeticMutation: Referenced by in "International", when Stephen puts on a false moustache and Bill Bailey claims that there'll be a website devoted to it by the time the show finishes airing. (There was one put up a day later, apparently.)

* LaserGuidedKarma: Series A through M: Phill Jupitus [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsRDhZU_0E makes it his mission]] to get Stephen [[HoYay as flustered as possible.]] Series P: Phill gets seated next to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHv2lJCyeL0 Teri Hatcher.]]
* MemeticMutation: And referenced by in "International", when Stephen puts on a false moustache and Bill Bailey claims that there'll be a website devoted to it by the time the show finishes airing. (There was one put up a day later, apparently.)

* TheScrappy:
** Johnny Vegas. Considered TheWoobie by some fans, although for others the series [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap actually made them warm to Johnny Vegas]], because he displayed an actual wit and warmth which is pretty noticeably absent from a lot of his stand-up and other stuff. Also, when [[CreatorCameo John Lloyd]] came on [[StopHavingFunGuys and started arguing quite seriously with Stephen about the definition of sound]], Johnny came out with an ArmorPiercingQuestion that shredded his argument.
*** Or when Johnny's wit was the only thing that rescued the "Fight or Flight" show from Pam Ayres.
** Ronni Ancona doesn't seem to be very popular, either. [[TheSmurfettePrinciple And now that the BBC are requiring at least one female on every panel show...]] Luckily for those who don't like Ancona, she's not the only female comedian in Britain. (Since Series N, of course, Sandi satisfies the requirement, though there's usually at least one woman on the rotating panel; Aisling Bea, Cariad Lloyd, Susan Calman, and Holly Walsh seem to be the favourites now.)
** Nina Conti's appearance in Series I resulted in an episode that, for some people, is difficult to rewatch. Forcing ventriloquism into every segment was a gimmick that a lot of viewers found painfully unfunny.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Trevor Noah appeared as a panelist on the Series K episode "Killers" one year before joining [[Series/TheDailyShowWithJonStewart The Best F#@king News Team Ever]], and two years before [[Series/TheDailyShowWithTrevorNoah taking over from]] Creator/JonStewart.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: In "Monster Mash", Phil Jupitus makes a joke about Creator/AlanRickman. The episode first aired just after Rickman's death. The same happened two weeks later in "Mix and Match" with Lemmy from Music/{{Motorhead}}. Cue fans wondering if they'd mention Music/DavidBowie next.