History YMMV / QI

** When Creator/DavidTennant was on the show jokes were made about Creator/BillBailey being on the Christmas special of ''Series/DoctorWho''. Come the 2011 Christmas special...

** In the Series F episode Future, Ben Miller's buzzer is the ''Series/DoctorWho'' theme. Come 2014, and Ben Miller played the villain in the third episode of Series 8!

'''Phill''': Charles Darwin, you mean?\\

** Johnny Vegas. Considered TheWoobie by some fans, although for others ''QI'' [[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.

** 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.”

** 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.”

* 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 Jon Stewart]].
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Exploited sometimes, to get a reaction out of the panelists. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAySycTIau0 "moonwalking manakin"]] may be the UrExample for the show.

** 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.)

** 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 was originally rose to prominence as mayor of Cincinnati, UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}}), and actually quite humble.

** 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 was originally mayor of Cincinnati, UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}}), and actually quite humble.

** Of all people, ''[[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]]'' was a guest in Series N. It kind of worked though; he proved to be fairly knowledgeable (which is less surprising when you remember he was actually a lawyer and mayor of [[UsefulNotes/{{Cincinnati}} a major American city]]) and was actually quite humble.

** 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.

** Of all people, ''[[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]]'' was a guest in Series N.

'''*KLAXON*''' [[AC:"have you been talking to my husband?"]]

['''KLAXON''']: [[AC: what, john o'groats, you mean?]]\\
''[later]''\\

['''KLAXON''']: [[AC: what, charles darwin, you mean?]]\\
'''Phill''': Oh- ''FRY''!
*** Although on the third attempt a little later on in the same show (the question was which country worshipped jackal-headed dogs and the forfeit was "[[AC: what, egypt, you mean?]]") another panellist set it off instead.

* BrokenBase: The bombshell that Creator/StephenFry would leave as host has naturally caused this reaction. Though, this is downplayed so far in comparison to other shows, as the general consensus among fans so far is that, if Stephen can't be the host, Sandi Toksvig would be the best choice to take over.

* DarthWiki/MostAnnoyingSound: Sean Lock's crying baby buzzer in "Imbroglio". Sure, it was invoked (all the buzzers were purposefully annoying), but while the first two buzzers were annoying [[StylisticSuck in an amusing way]], Sean's crossed the line into this territory. Judging by the reactions of Sean (he doesn't often lose his smile, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness but he did for this!]]), Stephen, ''and'' the audience, they all seem to agree.

* AcceptableTargets: 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.

* MostAnnoyingSound: Sean Lock's crying baby buzzer in "Imbroglio". Sure, it was invoked (all the buzzers were purposefully annoying), but while the first two buzzers were annoying [[StylisticSuck in an amusing way]], Sean's crossed the line into this territory. Judging by the reactions of Sean (he doesn't often lose his smile, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness but he did for this!]]), Stephen, ''and'' the audience, they all seem to agree.

* EarWorm:
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1QofOJ9AjM Peter Cushing lives in Whitstable, I have seen him on his bicycle]]...
** They say of the Acropolis...
** The show's theme tune is pretty awesome.

* TheArtifact: Almost no one ever uses the buzzers anymore, even during the General Ignorance round. Jo Brand might be the only exception.
** The panelists appear to be using the buzzers more now in Series L.

* EditedForSyndication: The BBC America episodes are 40 minutes long (regular episode + commercials) and shown three at a time.
** NoExportForYou: Retroactively: After BBC America got the rights almost all the episodes on Website/YouTube have been taken down.
** [[FridayNightDeathSlot Sunday Morning Death Slot]]: Possibly, though this may not be as much of a problem since people who get BBC America would also likely own [=DVRs=]: switched from 4:30 PM Thursdays to 9:30 AM Sundays, which makes the opening "Goooooooodeveninggoodeveninggoodevening!" a little awkward.
*** They also air only once, whereas in the 4:30 slot they were repeated a few times.
* EnsembleDarkHorse: Johnny Vegas. Considered TheScrappy by some fans.

** In Series I aired in 2011, when discussing the fungus Cordyceps, Johnny Vegas speculates what kind of disaster it would be if it jumped into humans. Cue ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'', a game featuring that exact premise just two years later.
** In the Series F episode Future, Ben Miller's buzzer is the ''Series/DoctorWho'' theme. Come 2014, and Ben Miller is playing the villain in the third episode of Series 8!

* WTHCastingAgency: Of all people, ''[[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]]'' will be a guest in Series N.
**[[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.

** "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.

** Ronni Ancona doesn't seem to be very popular, either. [[TheSmurfettePrinciple And now that the BBC are requiring one female on every panel show...]] Luckily for those who don't like Ancona, she's not the only female comedian in Britain.

** Rob Brydon often takes umbrage at what he (jokingly) calls Stephen's offensive stereotypes with regard to the Welsh.

** NoExportForYou: Retroactively: After BBC America got the rights almost all the episodes on YouTube have been taken down.

* [[TheProducerThinksOfEverything The Producers Think Of Everything]]: Some of the panelists' jokey answers set off the klaxon, especially [[BottomOfTheBarrelJoke too-obvious jokes]]. These are often an episode's CrowningMomentOfFunny, and the source of much frustration for the panellists.

* 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*** die. I want to f*** die.'"

* [[TheProducerThinksOfEverything The Producers Think Of Everything]]: Some of the panelists' jokey answers set off the klaxon, especially [[BottomOfTheBarrelJoke too-obvious jokes]].

* RetroactiveRecognition: Trevor Noah appeared as a panelist on the Series K episode "Killers" two years before taking over from Creator/JonStewart on ''[[Series/TheDailyShowWithTrevorNoah The Daily Show]]''.

* OneOfUs: Bill Bailey has worn a ''Franchise/DragonBall'' T-shirt and a ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' T-shirt on separate occasions on the show. He also once wore a ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' shirt, and Stephen has referenced Zoidberg in other episodes.

* FreudWasRight:
** In one episode, the audience laughed uncontrollably as the formula for paper folding comes up.
--->'''Stephen''': What you need is length and thickness [[spoiler:(to determine how many times you can fold a piece of paper)]].
*** This may qualify as a [=CMOF=], as quite a few innuendos had been delivered by that point and Rob Brydon simply gave Stephen an innocent "Oh, really?" look...
** Not to mention Doon Makichan absentmindedly miming eating a large deep-fried Curly Wurly. ''Two-handed''. [[http://youtu.be/GXeDuoKQtxQ?t=6m50s Linkski.]]

* NauseaFuel: The Halloween episodes often go into gross-out territory, as did the episode wherein Stephen tried to cajole his guests to eat candy with insects in them, and got sick after trying one himself.