History Series / QI

Davies is the [[ButtMonkey butt]] of a lot of the jokes on the show ([[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers last on the introductions and getting a funny comment]], last on the buzzer sounds and getting a corny buzzer sound, being more likely than the others to [[GenreBlindness get the klaxon]] and usually coming last, although he has the record for most show wins), and acts as a sort of foil for the concept by getting the more obvious answers (i.e. the ones the audiences at home are likely hollering at the TV) out into the open to be trounced.

** The buzzers in "Idleness", which all used the same sound effect. [[spoiler: Even [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers Alan]]'s, but his (unlike the others') didn't actually sound until it was ''released''.]]

* LargeHam: Well, BRIAN BLESSED was involved. Whereas everyone else's buzzers were little Christmas bells (with the [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers obvious exception]] of Alan), his was big massive church bells. And everyone cheered!
* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: [[ButtMonkey Alan]] is ''[[RunningGag always]]'' introduced this way.
-->'''Stephen''' (''introducing the panel as "four people who look a bit like other people"''): Please welcome Tony Blair (Rory Bremner)... Tommy Cooper (Phill Jupitus)... Ruby Wax (Ronni Ancona)... and... Alan Davies.
** His buzzers will generally count as this as well, such as one Christmas episode - all the guests' buzzers were Christmas songs, his was "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hava_Nagila Hava Nagila]]".

** Used for the buzzer sounds in a first-series episode -- Dave Gorman's buzzer chimed ''mi'', Jeremy Hardy's chimed ''do'', Jo Brand's chimed ''re'', and Alan's [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers made a noise like a pneumatic drill]].

** Emma Thompson mentioned the stereotype of the British having bad teeth in "Films and Fame" while discussing the EvilBrit trope, while Stephen Fry recalled the Book of British Teeth from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.

--->'''Phill''': I ''hate'' this show!

* TheAce: Sandi Toksvig, who wins virtually every time she's on the show and still manages to be very interesting and humorous. Perhaps that's why she was the choice [[AscendedExtra to take over the show]].

--> '''Alan:''' What happened to [[MI5 MIs 1, 2, 3 and 4]]?

In February of 2015, BBC America aired [[OutOfOrder episodes 4, 3, and 9 of the "J" series']], then it disappeared from the schedule as quickly [[http://www.bbcamerica.com/qi/schedule as it]] appeared. Series I, J & K are currently available to stream on Creator/{{Hulu}}, in the half-hour format only. Creator/{{Netflix}} also streams the show in the 45-minute format.

'''Stephen''': [[WaxingLyrical Ebony and ivory are together on my piano key... board, so why can't they be?]]\\

* KansasCityShuffle: In the Series F episode "Fingers and Fumbs", [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcVAcxayiFM contestants lost 10 points every time they said "fuck", but could win them back by playing RockPaperScissors with Stephen.]] At the start of the episode, [[ChekhovsGun Stephen stated that you should play scissors in such a game, because your opponent expects you to play rock and will play paper]]. This led to a draw every time as both would play scissors, causing Alan to state "somebody play rock!". And then, in the fourth game, Phill Jupitus exchanged a significant look with Alan -- and played ''scissors'', beating Stephen who played paper. Then, in the last two games, Dara and Alan won... by playing ''rock'', Stephen having played scissors.

* FunWithAcronyms: In her first show as presenter, Toksvig told the panellists that the first question she asked would be 'very simple', and proceeded to ask: "WHO is offended by what?". [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Cue panellists making it harder for themselves by failing to spot that the 'WHO' was an acronym]], specifically for the World Health Organisation. [[note]] The answer to the question "WHO is offended by what?" was that the World Health Organisation felt certain decades-old disease names may be insensitive or may give a wrong impression nowadays, such as the notion that Spanish Flu could be only caught by going to Spain.[[/note]]

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Victoria Coren Mitchell, in her first appearance, admitted that she had an anxiety dream the night before airing where she was on the show and Stephen Fry asked her, "Why was [[Literature/AliceInWonderland the March Hare]] so important to the Aztecs?" Flustered, she answered, "Did they worship it?" which gave her the forfeit of "Worship It". Later in the show, as the final question, Stephen gets to ask her the very question after the QI Elves did some digging, and discovered that the Aztecs worshipped rabbits and specifically jackrabbits which are a type of hare.

* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: Repeatedly invoked by Bill Bailey, who uses his biro as a pipe whenever he's impersonating an upper-class type. [[note]] This came naturally to Bill, as he was a pipe smoker for most of his twenties. Ditto for Stephen too. [[/note]] to

* StupidStatementDanceMix: A rare real-time example. Within moments of Stephen messing up the "They say of the Acropolis..." line, the others have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUVBXb4XIqE already created a song around it.]]
** Not to mention "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoFYDlUMGqA Peter Cushing lives in Whitstable]]."

** In the Series P episode "Peril", the panel is stumped by the British Board of Film Censors' classification "Dangerous behaviour, mild threat, innuendo, infrequent mild bad language" for ''Film/{{Paddington}}'', particularly the bad language, until Lee Mack chimes in,