QI Blog EXCLUSIVE and More News

Next Friday (28th September) you will be able to read an EXCLUSIVE advance review of the new QI Book; The Book of Animal Ignorance. The review will include some brief extracts. The book will be published on Thursday 4th October. Pre-order here.

Also, from this Sunday you'll be able to read a review of this week's episode of QI. Since the show will have been broadcast (twice including Saturday repeat) there wont be any whited out text for the spoilers.

Don't forget to watch episode one (E01) of QI tonight on BBC2 at 22:00 and episode 2 (E02) on BBC4 at 22:30. Following the show you'll be able to watch the QI Vodcast on the BBC website.

(Note: this is the fourth post today, read on for more news)

Series "E" Transmission Dates

Mark those calendars: Series "E" of QI will begin airing on 21 September at 10:00 pm on BBC 2!

There will be 13 episodes: 12 recorded shows and one compilation. According to Piers Fletcher, of (among other claims) a-post-on-this-blog-a-couple-of-days-ago fame:

The 13th (compilation) show features all unbroadcast material taken from the other 12, but I don't think you could describe it as coming from the cutting-room floor because that implies that it's stuff that didn't make the cut, whereas the opposite is the case: we've loaded it up with some of the best material, especially the bits where Stephen loses control.

Order of transmission:

1. Engineering
   Bill Bailey, Rob Brydon, Jimmy Carr, and Alan Davies
2. Electricity
   Jo Brand, Rich Hall, Sean Lock, and Alan Davies
3. Eating
   Jimmy Carr, Phill Jupitus, Johnny Vegas, and Alan Davies
4. Exploration
   Bill Bailey, Rich Hall, Sean Lock, and Alan Davies
5. Everything
   Clive Anderson, Jeremy Clarkson, Vic Reeves, and Alan Davies
6. Europe
   Phill Jupitus, David Mitchell, Dara Ó Briain, and Alan Davies
7. Espionage
   Clive Anderson, Jo Brand, Vic Reeves, and Alan Davies
8. Eyes & Ears
   Jimmy Carr, David Mitchell, Phill Jupitus, and Alan Davies
9. Entertainment - Children in Need special
   Bill Bailey, Pudsey Bear, Jo Brand, Jeremy Clarkson, and Alan Davies
10. England
    Charlie Higson, Phill Jupitus, Sean Lock, and Alan Davies
11. Endings
    Jimmy Carr, Doon Mackichan, Dara Ó Briain, and Alan Davies
12. Empire
    Bill Bailey, Jo Brand, Sean Lock, and Alan Davies
13. Elephants
    All the best bits that couldn’t be squeezed into the E series (without any elephants).

There will also be BBC-style video podcasts to accompany many of the episodes, so watch this space for news on where to find and watch them.

The TV listings at the bottom of this page have now been updated to include the expected transmission dates for the E series. E series reviews have been updated to include their new episode number.

Cutting Masterpieces

Piers Fletcher here, jack-of-several-trades on the show. QI Fanatic thought you might want to hear about the editing process on the show.

The edit is very key. What you see on the screen is the 30-minute distillation of at least 90 minutes' material. I know those guys seem just razor-sharp and button-cute on the show, but, trust me, if you and I had an editor following us around cutting out two-thirds of everything we said, we'd all sound like Oscar Wilde. So, imagine what it's like when you take someone who sounds like Oscar Wilde in the first place, and then edit him to be even sharper and quicker than he already is - you end up with the best conversationalist you ever met: Dorothy Parker or Melvyn Bragg, or the Queen of Sheba or somebody.

Or … Stephen Fry. And that's it, in a nutshell.

The topical panel shows like HIGNFY and Mock the Week need to edit on the fly, recording and editing a show a week, but at QI we record all twelve and only then go into the edit suite. First, we get a transcript of the whole recording, from which we make a 'paper cut', a first stab at cutting fairly big chunks out of the recording - bits which clearly didn't work or where there were technical problems. Then we go into editing suite in Soho with director Ian Lorimer and edit wizard Nick King (who moonlights, literally, as an astronomical photographer - check his work at http://www.synner.co.uk) and work through what's left. We aim to cut each show down to about 35 minutes on the first pass, and then we go through it again to trim it to 29 or so, and then again to take out all the coughs and splutters.

The main work is done on that first pass. Sometimes there are painful decisions to be made; we almost always have to cut something we love. The criteria are fairly obvious: if it's interesting and funny, it's in, if it's neither interesting nor funny, it's out, and if it's either interesting or funny but not both it's up for argument. However, in the next series there will be a compilation show at the end of the series with unbroadcast material from all but one of the episodes. That plus a 7 minute online vodcast after each episode has made some of the decisions to cut sections easier.

It's all done digitally, of course, and Nick works the machines with unbelievable speed and skill. Even so, it takes us many weeks to complete all twelve shows - in fact we're only now delivering the E Series to the BBC so that it can start on the 21st September.

I have to say, however long it takes it always feels like time well spent.

QI E12 Recording Review

*This is episode E12 in the Autumn transmission order.

The last recording of QI series E was a brilliant end to the series with some excellent laughs. I'm now upset that I must wait so long for my fix of QI.

The wrap party would follow the episode, so it was no surprise that there were a lot of production guests. Consequently fewer people from the queue got into the studio and I'm sure that a large number were turned away. Sadly these people will have to wait until the next series to see the show.

Stephen Grant's performance was the best of the series. Some wardrobe issues meant that his warm up was the longest so far. This forced him to move on from his usual routine and to pick on members of the audience. After finding a Jordanian and a 'spy' (the connection was obvious but well executed) he asked for questions from the audience. A lady sat at the back pointed out that Santa was in the audience. I don't know if Stephen already knew this but that person was John Mitchinson's father (I was very fortunate to be briefly introduced before the start). For those that don't know, John Mitchinson is a writer and researcher for the show, as well as co-author for the two QI books of ignorance. The fact that it was a member of the audience who pointed out Mr Mitchinson's resemblance to a white bearded gift distributor probably saved Stephen's bacon. Perhaps for the next series he might find it a good idea to avoid people sat in production guest seats.

On with the spoilers below. Highlight the first paragraph for details of guests, the second for the theme and the last for the questions in the show.

The guests were Sean Lock, Bill Bailey and Jo Brand. Everyone performed well in this episode and Bill did some of his excellent character acting. Sean and Bill had a little banter about their receding hairlines!

The theme of this episode was Empire. This episode was also the Christmas special so the set was decorated appropriately. Each of the guests was dressed in suitable Victorian dress. Fry came onto the set as Oscar Wilde (complete with wig). Sean Lock was dressed as a soldier (based on someone in particular according to Fry but I didn't catch the name). Bill Bailey was dressed as a plantation owner and Jo Brand was dressed as Queen Victoria (she pulled off the look very well). Young Alan was dressed as an Indian Raja, complete with turban.

The subjects discussed were; Mr Bean, Clothes, Victoria's Secret, Erotica (Bottoms), George Tryon, Enquire Within Upon Everything, Boots (research supplied by Rebecca Shawcross, sorry if I got your name wrong), Shoes, Indigenous Japanese, Chinese Funerals, Christmas Inventor, Pianos, Lesbianism, Winterval and Presents.

The show was one of the best in the series with some really hilarious moments. After the pick up the panellists joined around Stephen (as after every recording) and they had their pictures taken. They started joking around and so no one got up and left. Eventually everyone began looking around trying to work out if we were supposed to leave (the large number of production guests didn't help because they are required to remain seated after the show) until someone finally decided to leave. A very surreal moment! However, anyone that did go then will have missed their chance to join in with the QI Vodcast. The entire production staff joined with Stephen and did the "Welcome to the QI Vodcast" in a Christmas pantomime style with the audience delivering an "Oh no it isn't". OK, you didn't miss much if you went early but it was a nice way to end the series.

Apologies for the delay to posting my review. I will be back in the week to bring a review of the entire series. I'll also be trying to dig out a poll for you lot to decide which was your favourite recording. Oh and don't start thinking that because there aren't anymore recording reviews there wont be anything for me to blog about. I'll find something soon :-)

QI E05 Recording Review

*This is episode E10 in the Autumn transmission order.

It finally happened! Episode five of series E was the episode with the 50th guest (finally a new person in the series). Read on to find out who it was (it was a special person too).

I didn't get a good look at the queue last night so I can't tell you how many failed to get in. I was amazed that Loose Women turned away some people though!

Gordon Southern was Stephen Grant's replacement last night. His performance was good and it's nice for the regulars to get a different performance (but we missed Stephen). The audience was suitably warmed up for the show.

A few things that may interest you (they wont be in the final cut). The audience was filled with guests from a school that Fry has been doing a documentary with. Also, the brother and sister of Douglas Adams (a good friend of the producer John Lloyd before he passed away) were sat in the audience.

Stephen Fry has revealed that he is taking Zyban, not as an antidepressant but to help him quit smoking. However, he said that it was having some interesting results with regards to his manic depression.

Lets get straight into the spoilers. As always, highlight the text if you want to read it, otherwise scroll down to the end for some Quite Exciting News. The first paragraph includes details of the guests.

The guests for Episode 5 of Series E were Sean Lock, Phill Jupitus and Charlie Higson. Higson is QI's 50th guest excluding the pilot and Alan Davies. For those that remember, Higson was the plasterer to whom Fry referred to in a story about himself and Mr Hugh Laurie in a previous episode. Charlie certainly produced a good performance in the show. All of the guests hit a large number of klaxons, although Charlie recovered most of his points before the end. The large amount of audience participation in this episode continued.

The theme of the show was England (all of the guests had English flags although Alan promptly switched his at the start of the show to a Welsh flag). Subjects included; Manners, Lakes, Athelstan, 2 Fingers, Eton, Jumbo, Bestsellers, Trades, Nutters, Bedford, Bluebirds, Elizabeth I, Counties, Swans and the Oxford History of England.

The show was good, although I have to say that I felt it wasn't quite up to the par of the first 3 that I saw. That said, I blame the lights which were left on to illuminate the audience that gave me a headache. I suspect that the two best laughs in the episode may fail to make the final cut. The one about Glenn McGrath's wife may not make the cut because his wife had cancer (unknown to Stephen) and McGrath has been known to be very angry when the joke is repeated. The other about the abuse of elderly people probably contained too much unbroadcastable content and whilst it was hilarious, I couldn't help but think of the Panorama episode on the subject.

Stephen revealed that the 5th series will be accompanied by Vodcasts (he needed to do the intro and outro for them at the end of the show) containing extra content much in the same way as the Graham Norton Show uses them. That'll be another thing to look forward to in the Autumn (A whole series, a DVD, two books and now a vodcast. These QI people really are spoiling us).

I am lucky to be able to travel to London again today to see tonight's episode so come back tomorrow for the next review.