Anyone watch the British show QI?

[turtleback]

My sister got me a year's subscription to Acorn TV, which is a streaming service focused on TV and movies from Britain.  An instant favorite of mine is a show that has been running there a long long time and is called QI, which stands for Quite Interesting.  Stephen Fry (of Jeeves & Wooster, and the movie, ironically, IQ) is the host and there are a panel of 4, one of whom, Alan Davies, is a regular and the others draw from a pool of semi-regulars.

It is a very hard show to describe.  Essentially, Fry asks questions as a jumping off point but points are awarded for interesting (even if not, strictly speaking correct) comments but points are deducted if a banal and wrong obvious answer is given.  Doesn't sound all that great, huh?  But it has had moments that are as funny as any I've ever seen on TV.  The panelists are interesting people, generally comedians, we in the States do not know.  In some ways it is like Whose Line Is It Anyway, in that it is set up in a game format but winning, and the points, really aren't the point.  

There are lots of youtube clips from the show if anyone wants to check it out.  If you like British humor, witty repartee, and laughing your A off, you might enjoy this how.

The show also introduced me to Alan Davies, a Welsh comedian I hadn't heard of before but whose humor I really like.

Here is a clip of the show in which they discuss why pigeons would not go to the movies.

 

 

[nevets88]

I posted this show in the favorite tv shows thread. It's a fun show, there's nothing like it in the US. It's been running for 13 seasons. Fry is very witty as are his guests. Even if you have problems w/the accent, you'll get most of the funny bits and learn a lot.

 

[harry hooker]

Great show  been watching it years 

[Zeph]

I love QI! Seen about 12 or so seasons of it. Very entertaining mix of history, science, facts, tidbits and comedy. What really makes the show is Stephen Fry. 

[turtleback]

6 hours ago, Zeph said:

I love QI! Seen about 12 or so seasons of it. Very entertaining mix of history, science, facts, tidbits and comedy. What really makes the show is Stephen Fry. 

I am also unaccountably fond of the music.  I wold love to see some crossover episodes between QI and Whose Line.

I was just watching an old Jeeves and Wooster, with Fry and Hugh Laurie (as very young guys).  Having read those books long before they made those shows I have to say that I cannot imagine anyone playing Jeeves better than Fry.

I am also developing a fondness for Alan Davies.  His youtube clip on cats and the one on marijuana almost had me rolling on the floor.  And then he turns around and is the foil for some educational clips on math, including one where the math guy successfully proves to him that there are an infinite number of primes.  Apparently he is also the star of a legal drama of some sort, but it isn't on Acorn so I have not seen it.