QI

I really enjoy QI. It has what most 'quiz' show's lack. It never takes itself seriously, the guests are always witty and have fun making the show.

Back in 2005 I was lucky to watch them record an episode at the London Studios. What a great night's entertainment. The stuff that they leave out is just as funny so although it takes them over 2 hours to record a show the time flies.

Stephen Fry is such a clever man , the best bits are always when the other guests take the pee out of Stephen for being too posh.

GREAT ENTERTAINMENT!

Back in the 60s this genre was handled best on the radio by I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again. There have been several TV attempts to revive that format and this one gets it absolutely right. The best description I have seen is like a really fun dinner party. The quiz part is still central, the questions are real, the answers are real, the points scored are real, but the time is largely taken up by the banter triggered by the questions.

The questions frequently have obvious, "everyone knows", wrong answers which receive a klaxon and a big forfeit and triggering this is occasionally the point of the question.

You're sitting down for an evening with 5 really smart, really quick witted, really comical people playing the pub quiz from hell and you're along for the ride. Wonderful, and archetypally British, entertainment.

Some adult humour, some disrespectful humour, some irreverent humour, lots of good natured teasing, and you still learn something. Great.

Have you ever been watching a game show and thought, "what would it be like if the host just lost control and the celebrity panel took over?" Of course you have... we all have. Well, QI takes that premise and lets the humor fly.

There are right answers which get a couple points, glaringly obvious and often actually wrong answers that get points ripped away, and the main point of the show: Quite Interesting tidbits that get lots of points.

Stephen Fry stumbles through the questions, obviously reading them off of a prompter that is too far away, and completely knows when to just sit back and when to drop his own QI bits in.

Unfortunately not available in the US, this British show is refreshing, wonderfully staged, and a delight to watch.

It is obvious that like another British 'game show,' "Have I Got News For You" this program is shot over a period of many hours and edited down to the best parts. But who cares!?!? The point is not who wins or loses (generally the ongoing panelist, Alan Davies) but how many laughs we get per half hour and how many things you can learn by watching.

Pray for DVDs full of this or at least having BBC America pick it up.

What word could sum up this programme? Wonderful? Fascinating? Hilarious? All of the above.

As the QI Master, Stephen Fry is as brilliant as ever, and his banter with regular panelist Alan Davies is fabulous - their contrasts just work so well. The things that they talk about are genuinely interesting, and all of our family love it. It appeals to all tastes and senses of humour, as the variety of guests makes the dynamics of the show slightly different each week - and it never falters.

I hope that they make 26 series of this - we've just seen series 'C' and I hope they see it all the way through to 'Z'. Marvellous!

I miss the XL versions of this programme, they were so much more fun, but I suspect you can have too much of a good thing & this IS a good thing.

Sandi Toksvig is genuinely one of those people who seems to enjoy her work, I hope she does as I thoroughly enjoy watching her. I'm going to be controversial and suggest Sandi is better than Stephen Fry, who to my mind was less giving to the women.

Each programme gives an opportunity for the 'contestants' though just what is at stake is hardly worth mentioning, to shine in some form.

There is a real mix of people, ages, sexes, sexualities etc.. This gives scope to all viewers to latch on to various parts of the programme. General Ignorance is a great section, especially when the obvious answer, is, for a change, the right one!

Sit back, relax & laugh. BTW, spoiler alert, you may actually learn something as well! Blue Whales rule!