UK Panel Shows

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Was it Something I Said?

"Hello, and welcome to Was it Something I Said! The panel show that celebrates the world of quotations. And you can quote me on that.” That’s how the host David Mitchell started one of the shows. And that is basically what it’s about; celebrities answering questions having to do with quotes from other famous people. 

The show aired for one series of 8 episodes in 2011 on Channel 4. It featured two teams with two captains: Richard Ayoade and Micky Flanagan. The show also featured a different celebrity guest narrator for each episode - such as Brian Blessed, Charles Dance, and David Harewood, whose task was to read out the quotes and, of course, chime in on the banter. The contestants are brilliant as well. All these comedians are so very talented: Bob Mortimer, Miles Jupp, Jimmy Carr, Katherine Ryan, Rhod Gilbert, etc.

The programme was broadcast live and included a play-along second screen game based entirely on Twitter. Mitchell asked home viewers to complete a famous quote via Twitter, and the panel had to complete it after the end of the first round. That round, Threesome, had the panel guess which of three celebrities said a quote read out by the guest narrator. The same celebrity could have more than one quote. The next round is Key Words. Here, the contestants are given specific key words from a quote (with its author) and must complete the entire quotation. For example, the words "small" and "giant" would lead to Neil Armstrong’s quote on the Moon. Then, during the What Are They Talking About round, a quote is given out of context and the panelists have to find out the context of why the it was said. And finally, the last round (eponymous to the show’s title) is where teams have to determine if a quote was said by either of the opposing team members, David Mitchell, the guest narrator, or a random celebrity.

“Was it Something I Said?” had the advantage of being about popular culture from the lens of history and interesting trivia. Also, the cast was made up of some of BBC’s funniest and most educated personalities. David Mitchell must get a well-deserved second opportunity.

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Have I Got News for You

A news programme, yes, but also a quiz show. The catch here is that it’s really funny poignant satire that doesn’t need a catch. Proof it works? The show is still going strong on its 54th series! It’s been running since 1990, back when it used to be hosted by Angus Deayton. He was fired in 2002 after he was caught with sex workers and drugs. Since then, every episode his hosted by a different public figures - even politicians. So now, the stars of the show are the two team captains, Ian Hislop (funniest accountant on the planet) and Paul Merton (one of the quickest improvisers this author has witnessed.) Each joined by a different guest every episode.

An episode lasts 30 minutes and usually consists of 4 rounds. Round 1 is the Film Round, where silent clips are played to the contestants who have to identify the news story they’re alluding to. Second is the Tabloid Headlines Round, in which the panelists identify and comment on the more flippant stories of the week. Next is the Odd One Out Round, where four pictures personalities, characters and/or objects are shown to one team that must identify the link between three of the four pictures. The last round is the Missing Words Round, in which newspaper or magazine headlines are displayed, with words blanked out. The panelists then suggest what they could be. Over the years, they have used publications such as Goat World, Arthritis News, International Car Park Design, and Diarrhea Digest.

Have I Got News for You is the cornerstone that started the increasing domination of panel shows in British TV. More than a hundred guest presenters - including every name mentioned on previous posts of this blog - have hosted it so far; most of them fans of the show. It’s basically UK’s Daily Show!

PS: if you like the show, you should watch the longer 40 minute version of it, titled Have I Got A Bit More News for You.

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The Big Fat Quiz of the Year

As its title suggests it, The Big Fat Quiz is an annual show on Channel 4 hosted by none other than Jimmy Carr. Three teams, of two celebrities each, are asked questions relating to events from the last year, in categories. It was first broadcast on December 2004. 

The show has other iterations. There’s The Big Fat Anniversary Quiz, which started with Channel 4′s 25th anniversary. The second spin-off is The Big Fat Quiz of Everything, in which they ask questions around pretty any subject, such as history, geography, films, television, music, science, technology, art, literature, sports and games. And the fourth version is The Big Fat Quizzes of the Decades. They started as part of Channel 4's 30th anniversary celebrations, and have two episodes for the ‘80s and the ‘90s, and one for the ‘00s (or as the British say: “Noughties”.)

This show mainly works because of the quick wit of the quizmaster, Jimmy, and the hilarious chaos that comes out of putting a bunch of competing comedians together in one space. The most frequent guest is Jonathan Ross, but pretty all the usual BBC personalities have been on this show, including Richard Ayoade, Claudia Winkleman, Jack Whitehall, David Mitchell, Aisling Bea, James Corden, Alan Carr... and of course the Goth Detectives, Russell Brand and Noel Fielding. This team is this author’s favorite by far. They single-handedly made the 2007 episode the best one by far by not conforming with the format and giving joke answers every time. The final result would shock you, though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I-3jMQZi-A

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Would I Lie to You?

Would I? Not about Would I Lie to You! This show is as panel-y as it gets. It's hosted by Rob Brydon (one of the best British impersonators), and is composed of two teams of three celebrities. Each team has a captain. One is David Mitchell and the other is Lee Mack. These are two of the best comedians on BBC ever. They truly are a unique pair; as they are both very smart, observational, and witty. Which leads to hilarious and lengthy fake disputes over semantics or a detail in a story. 

Don't be misled by its innocent title, this game more than 10 years old now. The comedy is without wicked intent and flows seamlessly thanks to its simple premise. One at a time and randomly throughout the show, every contestant will read a story on a card about something that may or may not have happened to them. The opposite team then asks them questions, and say if they think it's a lie or the truth. Moreover, in the last act, one contestant is called to take out a possession and tell a crazy story (true or fake) about it. Everybody is looking for clues, nobody knows who's bluffing or who simply telling the truth.

This game show is timeless and will always be on as long as BBC exists. The credit goes to its versatility, which depends on the celebrity and creates spontaneous moments from unique chemistry between famous people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqGSyjz3omc

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Taskmaster

This show is as close as a panel show can get to perfection. The Taskmaster is the host of the show, Greg Davies (not related to Alan Davies.) His sidekick and creator of the show is the musician/comedian Alex Horne. The 5th series just ended, and it’s going strong.

The concept is every series, there are 4 contestants (comedians mostly) that compete in funny and challenging and sometimes tricky tasks judged by the host. The tasks themselves are umpired by Alex And at the end of every episode and every series, there’s a winner - who get Greg’s golden bust. All tasks are pre-recorded and performed individually, except for the last one of of every episode where they do it together onstage in front of the audience.

The first task of every episode is everyone has to bring the most X thing they own. It could be something nostalgic, valuable, or simply a gift to the Taskmaster. Hilarity ensues especially when contestants perform really badly by not understanding the premise of a challenge, or over-achieving and ending up losing. For example, they get asked to throw a potato in a golf hole surrounded by a circular rug, without touching that same rug. So you’d get have one trying to get in one go and failing, another one succeeding, a couple struggling for 30 minutes, and the last one throwing his shirt on the rug and walking to the hole. Some other tasks are just straightforward and challenging, though. Like walking a distance in the least amount of steps possible or fastest to pop a string of balloons on a fence.

This show is pure entertainment. Nobody watching it should get bored because it’s non-stop comedy, suspense, and love! Everyone on it is grateful and supportive, which makes it perfect comfort food because it’s also healthy.

PS: There’s a forthcoming US version with Reggie Watts as the Taskmaster, with Horne returning as the assistant!

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Qi

It stands for Quite interesting. This show is a classic by now; for sure the most high brow on BBC. It’s about mind-blowing facts and events about anything and everything. It was created and is ran by John Lloyd on BBC. Stephen Fry was the host for the first 13 series. Right now, it’s at series 15 and is hosted by Sandi Toksvig. There are four panelists, generally comedians. One of them, the hilarious Alan Davies, is permanent as a sidekick, and the other three change every episode.Every series stands for one letter of the alphabet, and every episode focuses (loosely) on one concept that start with that letter. So you'd have episodes titled “Arthropod”, “Cummingtonite”, “Domesticity”, “Everything, Etc.”, “Gallimaufry”, or "Hypnosis, Hallucinations & Hysteria".

Essentially, Qi is a school of life. I learned of a lot about any field of study I can or can't think of. There's not a lot of special innovative format changes. It's a simple straightforward trivia game. This highlights why they don't care about the competitive side of the show as much as they care about knowledge. Most of the questions are trick questions and most the contestants end up having a negative score. This isn't just because a lot of urban myths are tackled, it's also because whenever somebody answers a question in an expectedly wrong way, a siren goes off and 10 points are taken off. 

All in all, the show is as entertaining as it is informative. Another unique quality of it is its flow. It's very organic for a game show; no multiple rounds, no scoreboard, etc. Hilarity ensues from ignorance usually, especially that of Alan. Some of my all-time favorite guests are the genius nitpicker David Mitchell, the versatile Bill Bailey, the incomparable Sean Lock, and the American Rich Hall.

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8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown is a British panel show that is a mashup of two other ones. The first, Countdown, being one of those old-timey game shows referred to earlier. The second is a hilarious newer one that is hosted by none other than Jimmy Carr. He's the most prolific comedians in the UK. He hosts a lot of panel shows for BBC and tours constantly as a stand-up. 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, on the other hand, has different guests on every episode. It's mostly about the news, but also has surveys on what Brits like; Family Feud-style. 

This format really lends itself to improv gold. It’s a common fact that nothing is truly original. All art needs an already existing structure on which to build. I get bored watching Countdown and I only tune into 8 out of 10 Cats if there's any interesting guest. But I would never miss an episode of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Basically it's countdown with comedians as guests and hosted by Jimmy Carr instead of some boring British Bob Barker. Even Susie Dent (in dictionary corner) and Rachel Riley (in charge of the numbers) from Countdown are there! One addition to the cast is Fabio, the half naked model that brings in the prize at the start of the show, and sometimes participates in Jimmy’s stunts. He is portrayed as dimwitted and has never uttered a word so far. Another difference is the additional comedian that sits next to Susie. Twice throughout the show, they perform a short act involving some kind of prop or sings a funny song. And finally, the last round is a simple nine letter anagram.

Additionally, when the contestants are looking for words or letters during the 30-second countdown, Jimmy does something crazy the generally involves stunt doubles or big props. The two other regulars are both team captains (two teams of two): Jon Richardson and Sean Lock. The latter is my favorite British comedian of all time, after Russell Brand.

It's used to be a huge part of variety shows to get a simple brainy game with a simple premise and simple everything, and just bring in funny or random people to make it entertaining for TV. It starts as a corporate employee to gain consumers without putting in effort in the content, but what the artists do with it on set is what turns a bland premise into a funny show.