QI Series G - QI VG: Compilation Show 1 - British Comedy Guide (original) (raw)

The first of two compilation shows featuring the best bits of Series G and some never-before-seen bits of interestingness.

Theme

A mixture of new material and the best bits from Series G.

Topics

- Best Bit: Gardens Tangent - The best way to kill a bee.

- New Material: Green Tangent - Stephen did a Royal Command Performance for which Anthony Newley wrote a song for that everyone in the show had to do, which featured the line: "At the London Palladium, the P-A-double L-adium, the super starry stadium that showbiz calls home." The expression given for adding extra words into a song (like "Have a banana") is the "annoying coda". The singer/songwriter Anthony Newley was one of the first people to play the Artful Dodger. He also won Oscars and Tonys. He won an Oscar for writing the music for Goldfinger_. Danny tells of a story told to him by Newley himself. When Newley won his Oscar for_ Goldfinger_, defeating Henry Mancini, he went to the toilets to see himself in the mirror holding his Oscar. Mancini then came in and asked Newley where he got the melody for the Goldfinger theme song. Newley then released that Mancini won the Oscar the previous year for_ Moon River_, whose theme song is the same tune as_ Goldfinger_._

- New Material: Genius Tangent - Alan talks about cryogenics, saying that it would be a good idea to commit suicide, and then freeze yourself, and then bring you back to live. Dara points out that you do not need to kill yourself to undergo cryogenics. Also, David says that there is a problem with freezing people while they are still alive because it could be claimed to be murder.

- New Material: Ganimals - You would not want Private Gwilym Jenkins of the Royal Welsh Regiment to guard your rose bushes because he is a goat. He is the regiment's mascot and comes from the royal herd at Windsor. Other animal mascots exist, including a penguin in a Norwegian regiment that is currently at the rank of general that was honoured in Edinburgh. The Irish Guards have an Irish wolfhound as their mascot, while the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders have a Shetland pony.

- New Material: Ganimals Tangent - Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea, has a bed filled with the softest down known to man, which is chin of a sparrow.

- Best Bit: Gothic - The correct pronunciation of "Van Gogh".

- Best Bit: Gallimaufrey - Alan and Phill's "definition" of "grog blossom".

- Best Bit: Genius - The Victorians and evolution.

- New Material: Girls and Boys - People of both genders can take more pain from women than they can from men. Another way people react differently with regards to women is depictions in art. People are more likely to faint if they see a beautiful woman in a picture, which is known as Stendhal Syndrome. Painkillers also have different effects. Women can withstand different levels of pain depending on their menstrual cycle. As a result, up unto the 1990s painkillers were not tested on women because it was claimed they did not give an accurate response.

- New Material: Girls and Boys Tangent - American pharmacies are much bigger than British ones. Sandi was once in one where there was a haemorrhoid aisle.

- Best Bit: Green Tangent - Decimal time.

- Best Bit: Geometry - Curry's paradox: the triangle trick.

- Best Bit: Groovy Tangent - The secret Osmond brother.

- New Material: Games Tangent - Stephen was buying some ties and was asked by the man behind the counter if Stephen wanted the ties in a box or in a bag. Stephen went for the bag, but noticed that he could have went with the box and the man behind the counter would have been tie boxing - which is a pun on "Thai boxing". Sean mocks this feeble gag.

- Best Bit: Greats - The reason why it took 300 years for the giant tortoise to get its scientific name.