QI

For the episode you watched, state the series (this will be a letter), channel, day and time of broadcast:

The episode of QI that I have watched is the BBC Christmas Special episode nine series N, broadcasted on the 22^nd of December 2016 at 10:00pm.

State the genre of the programme:

The Genre is comedy.

State the names of the host and panellists:

The host of this QI is, Sandi Toksvig. The panellists include: Josh Widdicombe, Susan Calman, Matt Lucas and Alan Davies.

As the host, how does Sandi Toksvig relate to the other panellists?

Sandi Toksvig and the panellists are all on the show with the same intentions- to entertain the audience. They all want to succeed in being humorous resulting in making the audience laugh. Sandi Toksvig, Josh Widdicombe, Susan Calman, Matt Lucas and Alan Davies all have experience of being on a comedy chat show before so therefore know what type of jokes and phrases make an audience laugh, making Sandi Toksvig relate to them.

What is 'quite interesting' about the extract that you watched?

‘Quite interesting’ facts are very important and are used a lot throughout this chat show. They are facts you are told for entertainment reasons rather than knowing and getting the answer correct. BBC believe that the most “boring” facts can be made interesting if you go about it the right way.

An example of a ‘quite interesting’ fact is one about reindeer. Sandi Toksvig told us that reindeer have a layer of tissue behind their retina that reflects light so they therefore do not need a red nose to “guide father Christmas’s slay” in the night.

What makes you laugh in the episode?

Throughout this episode, the thing that amused me the most was the childish, English Christmas game called, “Are you there Moriaty”. I found it funny watching grown men and women hitting each other, blind folded with a rolled up newspaper. The most humorous part of this game was when Alan Davies and Josh Widdicombe are playing. Alan takes off his blindfold and Josh is completely oblivious to this. This results in Alan being able to hit Josh on the head every time and avoid getting hit by confused Josh.

How is Sandi Toksvig's erudition (the extent of her knowledge) shown?

The extent of her knowledge is shown by her ability to explain the answer to every question with no trouble and minimizing the amount of times she looks down at her cards. She also cleverly shows the extent of her knowledge by asking questions you would think you know the answer to. Instead, you are proved wrong by Sandi making her look very clever. An example of this is when the “mash up” of “All I want for Christmas” was played. Sandi asked the panellists and the audience if they could hear people singing. Some hands were raised in the audience but Josh, Alan and Matt all thought that was ridiculous as they couldn’t hear any voices. They were then explained the reasoning behind it by Sandi and were blown away but now understood.

Are the audience passive consumers or active participants?

Although there is one interactions between the panellists and the audience, for the rest of the show, they just sit and watch and the only clue that they are there is from the sound of their laughs. Therefore, I believe they are passive consumers.

What is the role of Alan Davies and how does he contribute to audience pleasures?

Alan Davies is very funny and clearly knows how to please the audience. He was given humorous attention and stood out from the start by making the sound of his buzzer funny and different to the others. He is also a middle-ages common-looking man- like a lot of the audience making him a panellist some may relate to. Alan makes a number of childish jokes for example, one about a bird farting as he is taking off. This type of humour appeals to children resulting him in giving all ranges of audience pleasures.

How far does the programme fulfil its Public Service Broadcasting remit to inform, to educate and to entertain?

In my opinion, this episode of QI successfully informs, educates and entertains. This is because the viewers are informed on a lot of facts continuously throughout the whole episode but there is never a dull, boring moment. We are always engaged and listening to the facts as we find it funny and all questions and answers usually end in a comedic discussion. Because I was never bored watching this episode, most of the facts have stayed in my head. All facts were made interesting and they were all informative.

How is the audience positioned: as omniscient or powerless?

Because of Sandi Toksvig being so knowledgeable, it makes both audiences, (the live audience and the audience watching at home) feel powerless because they feel they don’t have much knowledge compared to her. However, this is equalled out when the panellists almost always get the answers wrong making the audience feel equal or even omniscient compared to them.