QI

It had to come. This programme has become so popular that this page has been started purely for facts, information and general gossip about the programme.

New Series

The New Series returns with a Hodge-Podge of Hs at 8.30pm on Friday 17th September on BBC1

Here is a quick look at the Pilot for the series which was never transmitted, so enjoy.

A Brief History

Quite Interesting – or ‘QI‘ to its friends – could  be described as a comedy panel quiz. However, none of the  line-up of comedians is expected to be able to answer any questions, and if anyone ends up with a positive score, they can be very happy with their performance. Points are awarded for being interesting or funny (and, very occasionally, right) but points are deducted for answers which merely repeat common misconceptions and urban myth. (Alan Davies has turned this aspect of the game into somewhat of an artform.) It’s okay to be wrong, but don’t be obviously, boringly wrong. In this way, QI tries to rid the world of the flotsam of nonsense and old wives’ tales that can build up in your mind. QI not only makes us look more closely at things, it encourages us to question all the received wisdom we have carried with us since childhood. Think of the program as a humorous cranial de-scaler.

QI isn’t really about pointless information, or shoring up vast banks of trivia, It’s about finding undiscovered connections and seeing hidden patterns, just like the best comedy. After all, curiosity is hardwired in all of us; we just lose the ability to indulge it. “The lust of the mind”, Thomas Hobbes called it, “that exceedeth the short vehemence of any carnal pleasure”. There you have it, and from a philosopher not a press release. QI: better than sex.

Having started in 2003 with all things ‘A’, QI is attempting to get all the way through the alphabet, and then possibly continue through the numbers which are, naturally, slightly more numerous.

© QI Ltd. 2003-2010

For all you QI fans here is a ‘walk on’ by Phil Jupitus: