Qi

Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of UK panel shows. Many of these are comedy panel shows, with comedians and the odd famous person taking part. The shows can be about anything, from criticizing current news and politics like Mock the Week, all the way to “I literally just told you” hosted by Jimmy Carr. Yes, that is a new show. Yes, it is also literally how the show works. In the middle of all that, we have more crazy comedy panel shows like Would I Lie to You and Taskmaster, as well as a ton of other panel shows. Probably one of the odder shows is 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, which is basically normal Countdown but with comedians.

For me though, I’ve been settling down with an old favourite of mine.

Qi. short for Quite Interesting, is a panel show where the obvious answer is generally wrong, and the questions are often tricks or traps. Each episode of Qi has a specific theme based on the letter of the alphabet. Currently, Qi is on Series S, meaning that every episode has a theme about something beginning with S. The four panelists will have both a buzzer and some loose clothing tied to the theme of the episode. However, the questions asked in Qi are very odd, and leaping in with an obvious or incorrect answer will easily give you a negative score.

For example, one question might ask what is the fastest animal. An incorrect answer would be a cheetah, which is fast but limited to the ground. Wrong answers trigger a klaxon sound, and the person who answered loses lots of points. However, points can be clawed back by giving amusing or almost-correct answers, or simply having a quite interesting fact to share.

In fact, having a story or whatever that’s quite interesting will net you more points than by getting the actual answer to the question. And, of course, with Qi being a show mostly filled with comedians, there’s always a good anecdote or three to be shared. Originally, Qi was hosted by Stephen Fry, a comedian and general fancy smart person. These days, the host is Sandi Toksvig, a comedian from Denmark with a very interesting life. I actually find myself preferring Sandi Toksvig over Stephen Fry because she is much more willing to laugh at jokes, especially jokes aimed at her.

Then there’s the General Ignorance section. General Ignorance rounds off the show by having much more random questions. However you have to be careful, because it’s very easy to trigger the klaxon by giving an obvious answer.

Also present in pretty much every show is Alan Davies, who you might remember from a previous article about UK comedy shows. Alan Davis sits on the panel show, generally getting questions wrong. He provides not just comedy, but also a bit of a springboard for other players to find the correct answer. With Alan Davies often taking the fall or giving a klaxon-triggering answer, he makes the other players a bit more willing to make guesses and give answers as well.

The only downside is that, the show isn’t really the most accurate. All we know, all science and history that we find, they are being changed all the time as humanity uncovers more evidence about the world around us. Because of this though, I’d take the factoids in Qi with a pinch of salt, especially with earlier seasons.

However, Qi is a lot of fun, and also somewhat informative. And that’s never a bad thing.