QI Series H

January 11, 2012 8:55 PM

The entire QI (Quite Interesting) series 8 (or is that H) is available on YouTube at this user's account. Some episodes are complete in one video, some episodes are in their regular and XL versions, some are chopped up into segments. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find part 1 of s08e01.

Americans who don't know QI, it's a quiz comedy show hosted by Stephen Fry, and may be the most perfect bit of television entertainment ever created. Watch and enjoy!

posted by hippybear (62 comments total)

We need more panel and quiz shows in the US.
posted by schmod at 9:04 PM on January 11 [3 favorites]

I have been watching these for months. I didn't want to make an FPP because I feared the increased traffic would get it noticed by the authorities. Does the BBC care about this sort of thing?
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:07 PM on January 11 [2 favorites]

Aw, you bastard. The BBC will take them down now. The others are out there as well you know, from about E on. I's a little spotty toward the end, but it's out there.
posted by Diablevert at 9:08 PM on January 11

Loss of revenue by the BBC will result in increased taxes on UK MeFites. Just saying.
posted by vidur at 9:09 PM on January 11

the user quite1interesting has most of the show's entire run available, including this most recent series (9)
posted by selenized at 9:09 PM on January 11

I'm pretty sure that a user's account with videos having 20-40K views of a show which they cannot show in the US for legal reasons has already been noticed and kind of ignored.

If they get taken down, I apologize. But I don't apologize for drawing attention to this great show, and I wish the BBC would get the legal issues worked out so they can run this on BBCAmerica, because it's fucking awesome.
posted by hippybear at 9:15 PM on January 11

As long as we're doing this, by the way, here are some faves:

Ronnie Ancona on Obscurity

Seven minutes of Phil Jupitis making fun of Stephen Fry.

Heaven for Ross Noble.
posted by Diablevert at 9:16 PM on January 11 [5 favorites]

Yeah, the notoriety causes the page to be shut down. For the last 1.5 years or so, a user named nickfromfulham had the entire QI series (with new episodes up about an hour past actual air on Friday nights), and complete series of others like Fry and Laurie, Mock the Week, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, 8 out of 10 Cats, etc.

Alas, he was finally suspended for "multiple and gross violations of Youtube's copyright policy". So quite1interesting is still kickin, but will eventually be shut down too. It's kind of a revolving host on the BBC stuff on YouTube. At least Hulu has the full Mitchell and Webb and Peep Show!
posted by lazaruslong at 9:22 PM on January 11 [2 favorites]

If/when SOPA passes, a post like this could get MetaFilter shut down (if they don't shut down YouTube first, which honestly I wouldn't bet on).
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:26 PM on January 11 [5 favorites]

We need more panel and quiz shows in the US.

I shudder to think what the US television studios would do with a concept like QI.

I just know it would be excessively dumb.
posted by winna at 9:31 PM on January 11 [2 favorites]

I really want to flag this just so my source of QI can't be interrupted. Don't take it personal-like hippybear, but seriously, without my vitamin QI, I might not be able to survive the (finally!) coming winter. If they take these channels down (like they did mickeyman or whatever the mitchell and webb channel was called) I will be so so désolée.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 9:43 PM on January 11

They will always pop up somewhere else, never fear.
posted by lazaruslong at 9:52 PM on January 11

according to this week's New Yorker article on YouTube:
"Within a year, Google had tamed the Wild West of copyright infringement that characterized YouTube’s pioneer days, both through licensing deals with major content providers and through a content-management program, called Content ID, that alerted copyright holders automatically whenever any part of their content went up on YouTube. Owners can choose to remove the content, sell ads against it and share the money with YouTube, or use it as a promotional tool. Content ID generates a third of YouTube’s revenue. " (my emphasis).

which I think explains why every episode of The Larry Sanders Show was up on YouTube as pirate versions (obviously taped from a UK TV network airing by some fan) and lasted for years until HBO finally sorted out the complete DVD package (lots of music rights problems) for retail, and then the YouTube episodes got pulled
posted by Bwithh at 9:55 PM on January 11

Loss of revenue by the BBC will result in increased taxes on UK MeFites. Just saying.

My US ass doesn't have the option of paying the Beeb. Just saying.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:01 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]

I've known about QI for a year or two but I've only been able to keep up with it spottily. Over winter break I decided: I was going to start at series A and watch up until the latest I-series episode. Alas, that lofty goal went unaccomplished, but at one point I'd watched so many episodes in such rapid succession that everything I read I heard in Stephen Fry's voice. This effect has yet to fully wear off. Checking facebook is now 115% more entertaining!

Anyway: yessssss QI! If only US tv could be so hilariously intellectual. Or if it could manage to get licensed on this side of the pond. sobsobsob
posted by clavier at 10:31 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]

H? The latest series is I. It is also on YouTube, on the amazingest BBC quiz panel show pirate channel ever. Shhh.

I shudder to think what the US television studios would do with a concept like QI.

I just know it would be excessively dumb.

Considering the utter shit that is Top Gear USA, I must concur.

(American gas-heads who like rich comedians with questionable hair need look no further than Jay Leno's Garage.)
posted by Sys Rq at 10:33 PM on January 11

Loss of revenue by the BBC will result in increased taxes on UK MeFites. Just saying.

They're not taxes! They're license fees.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:35 PM on January 11

There are other ways of obtaining QI.

Just in case.

Also, Expat Shield (Windows only) and TunnelBear (Mac and Windows) are two simple, free VPN programs that let you watch any "not available in your country" video on any UK website, so you can keep up with QI, or Mitchell & Webb, or any other show that's airing on the Beeb, or ITV, etc. And since they keep the episodes up for a week or so, you don't have to watch them on a certain day or at a certain hour.

(The Sherlock S2 finale is this Sunday, and it's going to wreck me. I just know it.)
posted by tzikeh at 10:41 PM on January 11 [12 favorites]

The 3 FPP-like facts that John Lloyd used to sell the concept of QI:

1. For the first 21 years of basketball the ball went into a basket and had to be retrieved using a step ladder after each point.
2. Kangaroos have 3 vaginas
3. Tardigrades can survive up to a 100 years of dessication before reviving when they are immersed in water.

John Lloyd already had one of the most impressive track records in UK TV before QI. Readers might like to watch The Making of QI to see how it all got started and goes together.

I shudder to think what the US television studios would do with a concept like QI.
But the TED people might be able to make a better run at it.
posted by rongorongo at 11:01 PM on January 11 [3 favorites]

John Lloyd already had one of the most impressive track records in UK TV before QI.

Have you seen the episode where he was a guest? Good lord. Hands down worst. Pompous and not funny. At least John Sessions does a killer Alan Rickman impression.
posted by Diablevert at 11:07 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]

What are these legal issues of which people speak, that means it can't be shown in the US?

It's on here in Australia. Great show.
posted by Jimbob at 11:14 PM on January 11

Hands down worst.

I take it you didn't see the one with the ventriloquist.

Or the one that stops dead for a demonstration of Asimo the Honda robot.

Series J had better have none of that bullshit, is what I'm saying.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:28 PM on January 11 [3 favorites]

They're not taxes! They're license fees.

Aw! You Brits and your cute spellings.
posted by vidur at 11:31 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]

The ventriloquist was unfortunate, however she is pretty awesome unto herself(+monkey).
posted by Cold Lurkey at 11:41 PM on January 11

What are these legal issues of which people speak, that means it can't be shown in the US?

IIRC it's to do with the backgrounds they use.
posted by pompomtom at 12:25 AM on January 12

It's licence fee. Not license. License is a verb, licence is a noun. So it's tvlicensing.co.uk, but you buy a TV licence.

And our taxes won't go up, because the govt hates the Beeb, or at least loves it some Daily Mail & Murdoch support and they HATE the Beeb, so the govt are committed to not increasing the licence fee, so pirate away, it won't cost us a thing!

Of course you could have easily had an FPP which just said, oi if you search for QI on Youtube you'll get the entire series or whatever, and that would have been not a very good FPP, as this one isn't either particularly

As for John Lloyd, if you mean by pompous that he argued (and was correct) with the sainted Stephen Fry, well, that's true. And he's not a professional comedian, still it was a nice touch to get him on, I thought, though no doubt they won't have him back.
posted by criticalbill at 1:22 AM on January 12 [1 favorite]

John 'Pompous' Lloyd explains BBC's import export impasse of QI
posted by criticalbill at 1:35 AM on January 12 [1 favorite]

From criticalbill's link:

"No country in the world has bought the original show and this is partly a matter of cost," Lloyd said. "The pictures in the background of the show are only cleared for UK usage, so until the show is bought by a Stateside TV company and the rights cleared for World, the programme (is) unaffordable by smaller countries."

So either he's wrong, or Australia's ABC, a publically funded broadcaster, is spending vast amounts of money clearing the copyright on the (relatively few) images used in each episode?
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 1:44 AM on January 12

I take it you didn't see the one with the ventriloquist.

Isn't that woman the worst? It's like no-one has ever had the gumption to take her aside and say "Look, I'm sorry, but you're just not funny". She also buggered up Spicks and Specks, and that takes some doing.
posted by pompomtom at 2:10 AM on January 12 [1 favorite]

As long as we're doing this, by the way, here are some faves:

The say of the Acropolis where the Parthenon is....
posted by eriko at 2:16 AM on January 12 [7 favorites]

So either he's wrong, or Australia's ABC, a publically funded broadcaster, is spending vast amounts of money clearing the copyright on the (relatively few) images used in each episode?

It is also shown in New Zealand and South Africa - perhaps the three broadcasters have divided the clearing cost between them?
posted by netd at 2:24 AM on January 12

So either he's wrong, or Australia's ABC, a publically funded broadcaster, is spending vast amounts of money clearing the copyright on the (relatively few) images used in each episode?

If you read the Wikipedia article on the show, as I did, it includes that quote...then in the following paragraph, says that the ABC shows it. Weird.
posted by Jimbob at 2:32 AM on January 12

License is a verb, licence is a noun.
Like practise (v) and practice (n) - but also, happily, like advise(v) and advice(n) - the latter pairing is the best mnemonic for remembering all pairs since it features the same pattern but different pronunciations: "We advise you to get a licence for your practice; discard our previous advice to simply practise until you become licensed.".

Youtube be dammed however - I am pretty sure the biggest pirates of BBC content are those millions of foreigners who are able to pick up the Astra 2 satellite signals used by British broadcasters - but who are insulated from the dreaded predations of the licence detector van by the English channel.
posted by rongorongo at 2:48 AM on January 12 [3 favorites]

I liked the ventriliquist...

Oh, and Expat shield is amazing, you can even get ITV programmes that way ...not that you'd want to, especially...
posted by MartinWisse at 3:59 AM on January 12

I actually got turned on to QI by Metafilter, when someone linked to "Peter Cushing Lives in Whitstable." When quite1nteresting finally gets booted off YouTube I will WEEP. But I will get a lot more done in the evenings.
posted by steef at 5:11 AM on January 12

I watched the first four seasons of QI on YT, 10 minutes at a time, while trying to quiet a colicky baby. For three months. So I owe QI my sanity, or whatever is left of it. But it could never happen in the US, because it manages to be simultaneously too intellectual and too profane for US broadcasting.
posted by Ella Fynoe at 5:38 AM on January 12 [2 favorites]

If anyone else is at work right now, be warned that following any of these short Youtube links is a BLOODY RABBIT HOLE.

"Oh, that one's only a couple of minutes, I'll just watch that one... Oh, a related 1:24? Oh that's nothing, I'll watch that... 7 minutes of Phil Jupiter? Well.... I've already watched about 7 minutes so why not..."

And on it goes. 50 minutes in, I've done nothing today. Bugger. I even watched an episode of QI last night on my laptop and I still can't stop watching.
posted by Brockles at 5:46 AM on January 12

"We can't export the program because we didn't get proper licenses for the unimportant background art, and we will continue doing so!"

At least I can understand it when the same happens for music rights, because I believe BBC gets almost anything super cheap because it's the state broadcaster, and the same wouldn't apply elsewhere.
posted by smackfu at 6:21 AM on January 12

"We can't export the program because we didn't get proper licenses for the unimportant background art, and we will continue doing so!"

I wouldn't call it unimportant --- how many times has Alan Davis gotten distracted by it and started riffing on it? For him alone there's probably two chunks per show you'd have to cut that wouldn't make sense without the pictures, and that's if you could even somehow black them out in post, since they float behind the guest's heads the whole show.

Rights are no joke, by the way --- publication in each country requires its own set of permissions. In another life I once had to call round and get permissions for short excerpts of fiction and bios and essays for a reference book, and IIRC correctly, Zora Neale Hurston's estate wanted $3,000 for about a page and a half of Their Eyes Were Watching God. That was the most expensive --- most of the rest were more like $500 bucks. That was, again, for a small print run reference book. For broadcast rights they'd probably put the screws to you even more, especially American rights. And they probably use a couple dozen pics per episode. So yeah, if it costs an additional $12,000 to $40,000 or more per episode to clear it, especially what will likely be regarded as a niche program.
posted by Diablevert at 7:42 AM on January 12

I mean "unimportant" in the sense that if you told the intern they had to find images that cost under $100 for a worldwide license, the show would still work just fine.
posted by smackfu at 7:50 AM on January 12 [2 favorites]

1. For the first 21 years of basketball the ball went into a basket and had to be retrieved using a step ladder after each point.

According to your link and other websites this is both untrue and misleading.

It's untrue because the metal hoop and open net were introduced in 1906 so at least by that point, 15 years after basketball's invention a ladder wasn't used. Also, one of those websites claims that its a legend that "the gymnasium janitor became very upset with Naismith [the original inventor] for having the bottom of the janitor's valuable peach baskets removed to save Naismith's players the time and the trouble of climbing a ladder to retrieve the ball."

Its misleading because until the 1910 or so dribbling wasn't permitted in basketball. The game was initially played more like Ultimate Frisbee than modern basketball as passing was the only way the ball moved. This made games low scoring compared with today so it wouldn't have been a big deal to retrieve the ball a few times per game.

But, aside from all that, it's ridiculous to believe that a ladder would have been used for 21 years. It doesn't even make sense.
posted by euphorb at 9:05 AM on January 12 [3 favorites]

Euphorb: I'm pig ignorant about basketball (no great expert on kangaroo's vaginas or tardigrades either) - rather I was quoting John Lloyd in the "Making of QI" episode linked. For handling of these sorts of quibbles at source send your email [e-mail] - I suspect they are kept busy.
posted by rongorongo at 9:18 AM on January 12

Can we just have this deleted so that these don't get taken down, this is my nyquil
posted by NiteMayr at 9:33 AM on January 12

Um, I hesitate to post this, but it's my lifeline to the UK television I love...

Google "expat surfer" - for under 10 dollars a month, you can get a proxy connection that appears to originate from the UK. I use it to watch the BBC iPlayer, ITV's on demand player and Channel 4 OD. BBC doesn't keep much online (everything disappears after a couple of weeks), but Channel 4 has EVERYTHING EVER (including all of Derren Brown's awesome specials, which should be shown in the US!).

There's also the awesome uknova.com, where you can download any new programs.

I just want you to know that YouTube isn't the only option. :-)

And yeah, QI rocks. The best panel includes any combination of Jo Brand, Ross Noble, Bill Bailey, Phil Jupitus, Charlie Brooker, David Mitchell and of course, Alan Davies. And if you don't know who those people are, you're really missing out.
posted by guster4lovers at 10:23 AM on January 12

In addition to the above, there's quite a lot of QI already out on DVD (and there's books, and games, which you can often get for pennies if you pay attention [I did have the complete book collection {for under a fiver!}, but ended up using it as a Dies Natalis Solis Invicti present for my dad]), some of which amazon.coms have imported to U.S. America (PAL, admittedly).

Then if you're already pirating via youtube, then the ez Italian has links to most for torrenting.

euphorb has a point: Quite Interesting ...and Mostly Accurate. But sometimes freakonomically out in their pursuit of the counter-intuitive, and occasionally they put forth one particular theory (the quirky one) as the absolute truth, when there are others around with equal potential*.


But really, it's entertainment, and a lovely show to boot. I'd contend that getting in to the habit of doing a quick fact check before expounding your latest brain-joy to everyone you know is a good thing, it's a skill more people need. I like to think that that's why the elves do it.



* I may be wrong and those were valid facts.
posted by titus-g at 11:04 AM on January 12

I don't think Charlie Brooker was ever on QI.

But yes, any panel with David Mitchell is guaranteed win. Any one else is just a nice layer of icing on top.
posted by Seiten Taisei at 11:11 AM on January 12 [2 favorites]

To quote Rich Hall: "A lot of it's lies."
posted by Seiten Taisei at 11:12 AM on January 12

Sorry to turn this into a continuing thread about copyright, but...

In addition to the above, there's quite a lot of QI already out on DVD (and there's books, and games, which you can often get for pennies if you pay attention [I did have the complete book collection {for under a fiver!}, but ended up using it as a Dies Natalis Solis Invicti yt present for my dad]), some of which amazon.coms have imported to U.S. America (PAL, admittedly).

So to show it on TV in the US, they got to sort out the rights. But they can put it on a DVD, a person in the US can buy that DVD and watch it, and the licensing of images doesn't matter anymore? Same photons hitting the same eyeballs...
posted by Jimbob at 11:46 AM on January 12

Oddy enough I can vividly remember seeing Charlie Brooker on QI, but it doesn't seem to have happened (if 5.7 seconds of Merlot fuelled research is any guide), guess it's just crosstalk from R4 Fry/Toksvig/Mitchell/Brooker/Dennis/Mack/.... event horizon...

At some point, after watching/listening to many episodes of:

The News Quiz
Qi
The Unbelievable Truth
So Wrong it's Right
Mock the Week
Just a Minute
Would I Lie to you
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
ISIHAC
etc.


(And yeah, I know I'm missing the obvious HIGNFY from that list, but it is just a sad, bitter, spiteful, and mean show (with valiant exceptions depending on the guest host/stars) since Angus left it)


They all just merge into one.

-----


Jimbob: suspect that's the reason for the *import* label: maintaining the façade that it is somehow different to take the signal recorded on a disc in one encoding and ship it 5000 miles, rather than taking the signal itself 5000 miles and then recording it on a disc in a slightly different encoding. The law is an odd thing, not an honest one though. Also daft.
posted by titus-g at 11:56 AM on January 12

Episodes with Rob Brydon (Uncle Bryn from Gavin & Stacey) are also full of win.
posted by vidur at 11:59 AM on January 12

So to show it on TV in the US, they got to sort out the rights. But they can put it on a DVD, a person in the US can buy that DVD and watch it, and the licensing of images doesn't matter anymore? Same photons hitting the same eyeballs...

Right, but it's also the same people in the same country making money off it.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:14 PM on January 12

Oh, I forgot Reginald D. Hunter and Rich Hall. Love them.

That's so weird...I had such a vivid memory of Charlie Brooker on QI. I guess I just love him so much I superimpose him on EVERYTHING EVER.
posted by guster4lovers at 2:57 PM on January 12

When I see any QI episode featuring David Mitchell, I know it will be Grade A and I will probably end up watching it 3-4 times total.

Any with Phil Jupitus, Sean Lock, Rob Rydon, I know it will be totally great.

Bill Bailey, Alan Carr, Lee Mack, Sandy Toksvig, Jo Brand, Andy Hamilton, Clive Anderson, Dara O'Brien. John Sessions, Ross Noble, Graham Norton probably gonna be decent to good.

Jeremy Clarkson, Johnny Vegas, Rich Hall.....well.....I'm still gonna watch it, of course. But mostly in the hopes that it includes, at some point, all of them being embarassed in one way or another by David Mitchell or Stephen Fry. The only times I've ever clicked the red part to skip past someone talking were Johnny Vegas and that ventriloquist, Nina Conti. Ugh. Reverse schadenfreude, also known as eduerfnedahcs. So embarrassed for them both.

The worst are usually the ones with Random One-Off Person I Don't Know Already. Ughhhhh.

Except for that time Daniel Radcliffe was on and was totally awesomely smart and then got "beheaded".

Or that time mother-flippin' Prof. Brian Cox was on and doing his thing, charmingly and adorably and persuasively droppin' some beautiful science.

Okay so I watch all the QI and love it all and it's my favorite thing on the youtubes and I want to hug it and make it breakfast.
posted by lazaruslong at 2:59 PM on January 12 [1 favorite]

I am remiss in not saying that I would give Alan Davies my childhood d20 if he walked up to me and asked for it, I adore him so.
posted by lazaruslong at 3:02 PM on January 12

Also Brian Cox is awesome on the Jonathan Ross show, here.
posted by lazaruslong at 3:04 PM on January 12

It's so odd that this show (and the other panel shows) have Rich Hall as the token American.
posted by smackfu at 3:24 PM on January 12 [2 favorites]

Fantastic; I have a lot of catching up to do. I've watched every episode that's aired on Dave, many of them several times, but that's only what, the first four or five series?

I do wish panel shows were more popular in the US, they're my favorite part of British TV. Dead cheap to make, varied subject matter every week, often educational, and with the right guests, utterly hilarious.
posted by Gordafarin at 3:38 PM on January 12

It's so odd that this show (and the other panel shows) have Rich Hall as the token American.

I think it's just because he lives in London.
posted by dng at 4:25 PM on January 12

Fantasy QI panel that would yield ultimate strangeness: Charlie Brooker, Adam Curtis, Jon Stewart, and Alan Davies.
posted by hippybear at 10:36 PM on January 12

ooooo fantasy qi panel!

I vote for Alan Davies, David Mitchell, Sean Lock and Brian Cox!
posted by lazaruslong at 7:53 AM on January 13

No love for Jimmy Carr?
Footnote: Hollyoaks is a soap opera.
posted by Superfrankenstein at 8:53 AM on January 13 [1 favorite]

Here's one that has already been taken down. Strangely, it's the 3rd part of 3, and the other 2 still remain up!
posted by Deathalicious at 9:30 PM on January 22