John Lloyd Interview

Back in February John Lloyd, producer of QI, came to the University of York to give an interview in front of 250 students in order to launch the Quite Interesting Society. Watch the interview in these two videos below:

QI Soc: An Interview With John Lloyd (1/2)
Uploaded by sicaroo

QI Soc: An Interview With John Lloyd (2/2)
Uploaded by sicaroo

QI Series F, Episode 2 Review

Lo and behold Mandibles is back with another review for the show.

Having arrived at the studio I enjoyed a chat with some forum friends whilst basking in the sunshine. My bucket of M&S Cornflake crispy bites seemed to go down well and the time flew by until we were moving into the studio. Well done to Matthew of the Applause store who managed to get the queues separated. However, I noticed that a large crowd of Priority members had decided to hang around at the middle of the normal queue until Matthew arrived. They were allowed to join the priority queue before the priority members waiting patiently in line nearer the back were seen to. This maybe something to watch out for in future.

Once again Stephen Grant did a fabulous warm-up and the special C series DVD preview was played.

Onto the fantastic spoilers!

The theme of tonights show was "Future". On the QI set there were 2 large rockets and two pointed paper lights that changed colour from red, blue, yellow and green. These sat either side of Stephen's chair whereas the rockets were at the left and right of the set near the screens. The guests tonight were Sean Lock, Alan Davies, Rob Brydon and a NEW guest Ben Miller (whose startling resemblance to Rob Brydon was not overlooked). Topics covered included Rockets, futuristic languages, speech, time travel and aliens. I was very impressed by Ben Miller's knowledge of advanced physics and time travel and he was awarded a special F series fanfare from Stephen. The interaction between the guests was brilliant, especially between Ben and Rob. One particularly tender moment between them will hopefully make the edit of the show.

I noticed that there were not as many production guests as there were the previous night but all in all it was a very funny show and very interesting.

Thanks to QIFanatic for allowing me to review the show, hopefully it won't be the last one I do!

Bye for now!

QI Series F Episode 1 Review

Hi there folks,
Sorry it has taken me so long to post up these reviews. Only just got back from London. Anyways here goes with my very first QI Review!

The very first recording of the series is always an exiting event and this was no different. The entire queue was buzzing with anticipation as they waited outside. I wasn't in the queue due to being on the production guest list but I did go up front to say hello to some friends from the forum. There were quite a few production guest alongside myself and we were led into the studio at about 6.45pm to take our seats.

Stephen Grant was once again the warm-up for the show. I noticed a lot of new material from him and he was on top form. His warm-up went on for a fair bit longer than usual due to some mysterious happenings behind the curtain. Soon we found out what the wait was for - an exclusive peek into the C Series DVD. Our response to the extra was to be measured to see if they would include it in the show, I hope they do. The QI set was completely bare of props or items giving us no clue as to what the theme of the show was.

On with the spoilers!

The guests this week were Dara O' Briain, Jo Brand, Phill Jupitus and Alan Davies. Some people in the audience stood up as Phill walked out to show their appreciation of him. The theme of tonights show was Features. Mainly bodily ones seeing as most of the questions were related to fingers, faces and feet. This show contained a special forfeit where if any guest said the word f**k then they would lose 10 points. However, if they took Stephen on in a game of "Paper, Scissors, Stone" and won then they would gain five points back. If they lost then another 10 points would be deducted from their score. The special F series bonus is called "Fanfare". If any guest is interesting enough then they earn themselves a fanfare which is very nice for them.
Other topics covered included French kissing, finger lengths, fancy lizards, face recognition, foreskins, feet size and finger muscles.

The show went off really well and the audience were very enthusiastic. After a few pickups the show was done and I headed into the Green Room. It was an excellent experience for me and being able to chat with Piers, John and the stars after the show whilst enjoying a glass of wine was a perfect end to the evening.

Thanks to QIFanatic for letting me review the show!

Edited for certain corrections x

Reviews (Coming Soon)

A quick apology for the delays to the reviews. Due to commitments QI Fanatic is severely limited in the shows he can attend this year so other authors are taking up the slack. Mandibles, a new author, and a fan so obsessed that she has the QI logo tattooed on her arm (which is now property of QI) will bring the reviews of the first two recordings as soon as possible.

QI BoAI at the Hay Festival - 2008

In the QI world, the lord overseers Lloyd and Mitchinson are known, in whispered reverence, as "The Two Johns". Apart from their roles in researching/supervising the TV show, they were the dual authors behind the books of General Ignorance and Animal Ignorance, and run the operation whose mission it is to find something quite interesting in everything--even, dare I say, Chelmsford.

I spiel to you because John Mitchinson, who, by his own admission, doesn't "know what to do with this info!", asked me to advertise the fact that the this dynamic duo is going to be making a presentation about "12 suitably interesting beasts" this coming May, at the Guardian Hay Festival in Wales. If that weren't exciting enough for you, they're going to be dressed to the nines . . . as a sheep and a chicken. In order that some sense of mystery should still be preserved, no revelation will yet be made concerning which is the sheep and which the chicken.

The nitty-gritty details:

What?: The QI Zoo: The Book of Animal Ignorance
Where?: The Hay Festival
Which?: Hay-on-Wye, Wales
Who?: John Lloyd and John Mitchinson
When?: Saturday, 26 May 2008 | 7:00 pm
Why?: Does one really need an excuse to dress up in silly costume and educate the masses?

[The Hay Festival 2008 website and schedule.]

Ticketing: Tickets are free to students who apply successfully through this page. When the programme is released, tickets can also be purchased here.

Recording Dates

The following are provisional dates for the full series of recordings for season F which take place in May and June. Please note that the producers reserve the right to change these dates at short notice.

Monday 5th May
Tuesday 6th May
Monday 12th May
Tuesday 13th May
Monday 19th May
Tuesday 20th May
Wednesday 28th May
Thursday 29th May
Wednesday 4th June
Thursday 5th June
Wednesday 11th June
Thursday 12th June

We're still looking for more reviewers of the recordings. Send an email to qifanatic@googlemail.com if you're interested.

Tickets to F Series Recordings

Applause Store are now taking applications for tickets to the first two recordings of the F series. Please note that contrary to previous years, only online bookings will be accepted and it will consequently be harder to get into recordings.

Tickets can be booked here.

Also, due to commitments for several members of this blog, we will be looking for additional guest authors this year to write reviews of the recordings. The reviews have proved to be a very popular part of the blog with several hundred readers. If you intend to be at any of the recordings and are interested in writing the reviews then please get in contact by sending an email to qifanatic@googlemail.com. We are particularly looking for anyone who has experience of review writing.

The Quite Interesting Society

Updating the blog has been quite difficult for the past couple of months, which I apologise for. However, I've had good reason to be too busy to write new posts. I have been very heavily involved in the creation of the Quite Interesting Society at the University of York. It is the first student society in the world dedicated to QI.

The Quite Interesting Society was launched at the event "An Audience With John Lloyd" where the creator and producer of QI was interviewed by an audience of over 250 students. The society has already been involved with research for the next series and amongst other activities will be taking trips to the recordings. QI speakers will also be coming to York to discuss interesting topics and there's a chance of one or two comedy gigs too.

Click Here to view QI Soc's website

And finally, a reminder that QI's B series DVD is released on Monday. Don't forget to pick up your copy.

The Museum of Curiosity

The Museum of Curiosity is the latest creation of John Lloyd, the creator of QI and it's coming to a wireless near you at 6:30pm on Wednesday 20th February for the next 6 weeks. It is a radio 4 comedy based around the principles of QI where a panel of guests will contribute an item to the museum. John Lloyd takes the role of the professor whilst regular QI panelist Bill Bailey takes the role of curator (at his keyboard).

Having seen the show being recorded, I am very confident that this series is going to be a big hit. It could well be radios' VI to TV's quite interesting since it doesn't rely purely on comedic talent but also on notable talents in many fields (Alastair Fothergill, the producer of Blue Planet and Planet Earth for example). However, the show still benefits from strong comedic talent including Bill Bailey himself and panelists like Kevin Day.

Don't forget to listen next Wednesday at 6:30pm on Radio 4.

Daily Telegraph QI Column - Week 50 and 51

Apologies for the delays in updating the blog over recent weeks. The reasons for this should become apparent within the next week. To bring the news up-to-date regarding the column, click here to read interesting moon facts and click here for six based factoids (without a mention of cricket).