Line #20 YMMV/QI - TV Tropes


1	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
2	** Alan being presented with a potato-head version of himself in "Corby".
3	** 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 announce\|ment}}r 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).
4	* 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 dysfunctional 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.
5	* 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?!"]]
6	* HarsherInHindsight:
7	** In "Groovy" they joke about an Osmond brother who was [[MadwomanInTheAttic locked away due to his deformity]] and wrote all the songs. Not so funny when you learn that the Osmonds really do have two disabled siblings (both of the eldest Osmonds were born deaf) who stay out of the public eye.
8	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 fing die. I want to f**ing die.'"
9	** 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.
10	** Several episodes have Alan given a doll, action figure or other such humanoid toy and after several bizarre comments and asides Stephen would jokingly ask him to show on the doll where "the nasty man touched you", which becomes a lot harsher after it was revealed that Alan was molested as a child by his father.
11	* HilariousInHindsight:
12	** During the "Green" episode, Danny Baker urged the viewers at home to save electricity by turning off their television sets. That episode had one of the lowest audience figures of the programme's run.
13	** When Creator/DavidTennant was on the show jokes were made about Creator/BillBailey being on the Christmas special of ''Series/DoctorWho''. He did appear in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2011CSTheDoctorTheWidowAndTheWardrobe The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe]]", albeit opposite Creator/MattSmith.
14	** In an 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.
15	** 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.
16	** In the Series F episode Future, Ben Miller's buzzer is the ''Series/DoctorWho'' theme. Come 2014, and Ben Miller played the villain in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E3RobotOfSherwood Robot of Sherwood]]"!
17	** In one episode, the panel discusses the fact that Thomas Edison thought fifteen tiny people lived in his brain. [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut Turns out, it's just five.]]
18	** In "Ologies", with ''Series/StrictlyComeDancing'' presenter Claudia Winkleman on the panel, Bill Bailey says he was once asked to do ''Strictly'' but said he'd only do it if he could do it in character as Abu Hamza. He later not only appeared on the 2020 series (''not'' in character), he ''won'' it.
19	** In Series R, Creator/JohnBarrowman and Creator/AislingBea 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]]".
20	** The Series J episode ''Justice'' featured Kiwi comedian and actor Creator/RhysDarby as a panellist, and the first question was about rules on pirate ships. [[Series/OurFlagMeansDeath Fast forward nearly a decade...]]
21	* MemeticMutation:
22	** Referenced by in "International", when Stephen puts on a false moustache and Creator/BillBailey 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.)
23	** In an older episode, after Stephen's infamous line "what you need is length and thickness"[[note]]in order to determine how many times you can fold a sheet of paper[[/note]], Alan remarks, "That'll be snipped out, straight on Website/YouTube." He was right, too.
24	* NauseaFuel:
25	** 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.
26	** In one Sandi episode, she warns the panel to prepare themselves for the footage of a worm that blows its nose--literally. It ejects the entirety of its slimy white nasal passages outwards over a man's finger. Phill Jupitus mimes throwing up and then covers his face with a book when she replays it.
27	* NightmareFuel: The occasional segment, but the "Inventive" episode was pretty horrifying for anyone with a fear of ventriloquists' dummies.
28	** [[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'' UnintentionalUncannyValley![[/note]]
29	** "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 [[UnintentionalUncannyValley 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]]
30	* QuestionableCasting:
31	** 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.
32	** [[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.
33	* TheProducerThinksOfEverything: Some of the panelists' jokey answers set off the klaxon, especially [[BottomOfTheBarrelJoke too-obvious jokes]]. These are often an episode's SugarWiki/FunnyMoments, and the source of much frustration for the panellists.
34	-->'''Stephen:''' Name a poisonous snake.
35	-->'''Jimmy Carr:''' Piers Morgan?
36	-->['''KLAXON''']
37	-->''At another point:''
38	-->'''Stephen:''' What's eight poles wide and forty poles long?
39	-->'''Howard Goodall:''' "A regiment in the Polish Army?"
40	-->['''KLAXON''']
41	** Reached TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat levels in the XL version of the "Greats" episode, when Jo Brand uttered a particularly long forfeit phrase ''word for word'':
42	--->'''Stephen:''' Now, tell me about the Great Disappointment.\
43	'''Jo:''' ''[buzzes]'' Have you been talking to my husband?\
44	'''KLAXON''' [[AC:have you been talking to my husband?]]
45	** Phill Jupitus has been picked on a few times as well, his VerbalTic being part of the forfeit:
46	--->'''Stephen''': How long would it take you to bicycle from Land's End to the northernmost part of Britain?\
47	'''Phill''': What, John O'Groats, you mean?\
48	'''KLAXON''' [[AC: what, john o'groats, you mean?]]
49	--->''[later]''\
50	'''Stephen''': ...What was the name of the- the naturalist on board the ''Beagle''?\
51	'''Phill''': UsefulNotes/CharlesDarwin, you mean?\
52	'''KLAXON''' [[AC: what, charles darwin, you mean?]]
53	--->'''Phill''': Oh- ''FRY''!
54	*** 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.
55	** They're also quick to respond to a bit of snark.
56	-->'''Jimmy Carr''' (just taken a forfeit): Does someone get paid whenever that goes off?
57	-->'''KLAXON''': [[AC: YES]]
58	-->'''Jason Manford:''' They've been waiting fifteen years to do that gag!
59	* RetroactiveRecognition: Trevor Noah appeared as a panelist on the Series K episode "Killers" one year before joining Series/TheDailyShowWithJonStewart, and two years before [[Series/TheDailyShowWithTrevorNoah taking over from]] Creator/JonStewart.

Context YMMV / QI