Was It Something I Said? was a British Panel Show broadcast on Channel 4 in 2013, revolving around quotations. It was hosted by David Mitchell and featured team captains Richard Ayoade and Micky Flanagan.
The teams, consisting of the team captain plus one guest pannelist, are pitted against each other in a battle of word play answering questions based on sources including quotations, tweets and autobiographies as well as some of the teams very own one-liners. Featured quotes are read out by a guest narrator every week.
Contestants included Jimmy Carr, Robert Webb, Miles Jupp, Sally Phillips, Reginald D Hunter, Rhod Gilbert, Gabby Logan, Ed Byrne, Jason Manford, Romesh Ranganathan, Bob Mortimer, Katherine Ryan, Charlie Higson, Josie Long, Josh Widdicombe and Vic Reeves.
Charles Dance, John Craven, BRIAN BLESSED, David Harewood, Phil Daniels, Mariella Frostrup, John Sergeant an Kirsty Wark appeared as guest narrators.
Rounds:
Threesomes: The panel has to guess which of three celebrities said a particular quote read out by the guest narrator. The same celebrity could have more than one quote.
Key Words: The panelists are given only specific key words of a famous quote and must complete the entire quotation.
What Are They Talking About?: A quote is given completely out of context and the panelists have to determine the context of why the quote was said.
Was It Something I Said?: Teams play one at a time and have to determine if the quote was said by either one of the opposing team members, David Mitchell, the guest narrator, or a "virtual TV guest" (random celebrity).
The show provides examples of:
- Actor Allusion: In the episodes featuring Charles Dance and David Harewood, Game of Thrones and Homeland respectively were referenced.
- Bad Impressionists: Micky Flanagan thinks he is the Man of a Thousand Voices, but all of his impressions and voices sound unrecognizable.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: Jimmy Carr alludes to this when he talks about large feet. It doesn't go over well with Richard.
- Born as an Adult: Robert Webb about Sylvester Stallone:Robert Webb: As we all know, he didn't go to school, he sprang fully formed from a block of solid rubber.
- Cool Old Guy: John Craven. He even helped out the panelists.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander:
- Brian Blessed. When he appeared as guest narrator, he told a few of his crazy stories.
- Rhod Gilbert claims one of his first memories is of almost drowning in a bowl of ginger beer.
- Deadpan Snarker: Richard Ayoade, as well as David Mitchell.
- Fake-Hair Drama: One quote is about Andy Warhol's wig getting snatched away.
- First Kiss: One quote from Richard Webb is about his awkward first kiss.
- Freudian Slip: Parodied.David Mitchell: This is a quote from Sigmund Freud, life and work, 1955, penis - sorry, hard, hard-on, hardback book by Earnest Wank - uh, Jones.
- Heterosexual Lifepartners: David Mitchell calls Robert Webb his reluctant lifepartner.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: A quote from Nick Hewer is about his nanny allegedly trying to drown him in the bath when he was a child.
- The Host: Presented by David Mitchell who's usually a panelist. Incidentally, a guest contestant is Jimmy Carr, who is more often than not The Host himself.
- Men Don't Cry: Invoked by David Mitchell who revealed he hasn’t cried since 1996.
- No Pokerface: Robert Webb. Miles Jupp correctly guessed a quotation was from him based on his bad pokerface.
- Odd Couple: Richard Ayoade and Jimmy Carrr definely have that dynamic in first episode, but the team captains, the dry-witted Richard Ayoade and the more coarse Micky Flanagan also are one.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Played With. While Charles Dance will wear a suit for professional engagements and everyone is in agreement that he looks good in a suit, he actually prefers to dress down.
- Short-Runners: Cancelled after one season with 8 episodes.
- Shout-Out: A lot, due to the premise.
- Quotations were, amongst others, from Ian Fleming, Idi Amin, Boris Johnson, Sylvester Stallone, 50 Cent, Martin Luther King Jr., Sigmund Freud and Abraham Lincoln.
- Robert Webb commented Stephen Hawking was "bascically a timelord".
- The Smart Guy: Richard Ayoade who revealed he has obscure and some not so obscure knowledge about a number of things. His team also won distinctly more episodes than Micky's.
- The Smurfette Principle: There is usually only one female contestant or narrator.
- Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Lampshaded. After David Mitchell reveals the very lengthy title Idi Amin wanted to be addressed with (His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor, Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular), the panelists point out all the things he missed.
