Line #90 Characters/QI


1	The regulars and frequent (at least two appearances to their name) guests of the [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] [[ChannelHop 2/4/1]] PanelShow ''Series/{{QI}}'':
2
3	----
4
5	[[foldercontrol]]
6
7	[[folder:Regulars]]
8
9	!Creator/StephenFry
10	%%* GentlemanSnarker
11	%%* SophisticatedAsHell
12	* QuintessentialBritishGentleman:
13	** The others regularly make jokes about how ridiculously posh he supposedly is.
14	** In an episode where Fry revealed he owned both a copper teakettle and an Aga stove, an exasperated Phill Jupitus exclaimed "It's no wonder Twinings had you, pal!"
15	** Many of Stephen's jokes work best if, like him, you attended a prestigious public school and an elite university.
16
17	!Alan Davies
18	* ActorAllusion: Other panellists often make jabs at his role in ''Series/JonathanCreek''.
19	* ButtMonkey: Always gets the silliest introduction and the most ridiculous buzzer sound, and his answers are generally the most likely to set off the klaxon. In some episodes, his buzzer is rigged to act very strangely when he presses it, such as not working at all, shorting out the studio lights, or even ''setting off the klaxon'' (and losing 10 points for it).
20	%%* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}
21	* CuriousAsAMonkey: If the panel is handed a fragile historical artifact or common household tool, Alan will play with it. It's gotten to the point where the people who lend out these artifacts [[GenreSavvy add a clause that Alan is not to touch them.]]
22	* DeadpanSnarker: Not often, but has played this role from time to time.
23	* TheDitz: In the first few series particularly, but [[TookALevelInBadass starting in Series D]] he's been getting more wins and second-place finishes. He slipped back into this a bit in Series H (his first with no wins since Series C), but recovered in Series I, especially with regards to the "nobody knows" bonus.
24	* GenreSavvy: According to the behind-the-scenes special, he eventually became aware of the tricks and twists being aimed especially at him and started subverting producers' expectations in the studio, resulting in him starting to rack up genuine victories.
25	* ObfuscatingStupidity: From a special on the making of the show, it seems that he's sometimes obligated to give the "stupid answers" that would make the klaxon go off.
26	* YankTheDogsChain:
27	** Has never managed to get a blue whale question right, but finally got one in the L Series, earning bonus points. Unfortunately, the objective of that episode was to get the lowest possible score, so he ended up in last place by a hefty margin.
28	** As a RunningGag, his buzzer is sometimes rigged to play chants by fans of the Manchester United football club, rivals of his beloved Arsenal FC.
29
30	!Sandi Toksvig
31	-->Area of expertise: Inventive uses of geese
32	* AscendedExtra: Replaced Stephen as presenter as of Series N after having appeared on the show as a guest.
33	%%* DeadpanSnarker: With emphasis on the 'deadpan'.
34	* FakeBrit: Well, yes and no. Danish on her father's side, British on her mother's. She lived in America for a long time during her childhood, but speaks with noticeable and posh-sounding [[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents Received Pronunciation]], as she was educated in England and has long since become a naturalised British citizen. She said on one episode she based her speech on actress Celia Johnson's after being made fun of for the strong Brooklyn accent she had as a girl when she was first sent to British boarding school.
35	* OnlySaneWoman: Has more or less been conscripted into this role since taking over from Stephen.
36	* TheSmartGuy: She won almost every episode she appeared in as a panellist.
37
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series A]]
41
42	!Clive Anderson
43	-->Area of expertise: Law
44
45	!Music/BillBailey
46	-->Area of expertise: Birds
47	%%* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}
48	* RenaissanceMan: Comedian, actor, multi-instrumentalist, bird watcher, former butterfly collector, author...
49
50	!Danny Baker
51	-->Area of expertise: Music
52
53	!Jo Brand
54	-->Area of expertise: Mental Health
55	* ContractualGenreBlindness: On occasion. If she has already received a number of forfeits in an episode, she'll start trying to set the klaxon off deliberately.
56	* DirtyOldWoman: Makes the most dirty jokes of possibly anyone on the show. See "Jumble" for some particularly gross ones.
57	%%* DoesNotLikeMen: PlayedForLaughs, of course.
58	* HenpeckedHusband: Has one, if she's to be believed. PlayedForLaughs. [[spoiler: Of course, her real-life husband is much more attractive than she lets on, and by all accounts, they have a wonderful relationship.]]
59	* HiddenDepths: For all of Jo's crude humour, she is actually well clued up on a number of subjects. (She is a qualified psychiatric nurse, for starters.)
60	* IronLady: Usually the token female panelist, yet is able to put the men down quite easily, and the audience love her.
61
62	!Gyles Brandreth
63	* AbhorrentAdmirer: Gyles was seated next to Sue Perkins in the Hanatomy episode and pushed hard on the line between chivalrous and lecherous, even though he was '''extremely''' the wrong age and gender to interest Sue.
64	* InsufferableGenius: He ping-pongs between these two tropes so often, it's difficult to tell whether he's got his facts straight on something or not. (Probably the safest policy on anything he says is to not trust it unless Stephen specifically confirms that it is correct.)
65	* MotorMouth: He has a tendency to tell extremely long anecdotes, and he seems to have no shortage of them. Whatever the panel is talking about, he is almost always ready to interject with a story either involving himself or one of his ancestors.
66	-->'''Sandi:''' There's literally nothing I could say to you where you wouldn't have an anecdote.
67
68	!Creator/RobBrydon
69	-->Area of expertise: Music/ElvisPresley, allegedly
70	* AttentionWhore: Does not like Johnny Vegas stealing the limelight.
71	* CaptainObvious: He likes to make an OverlyLongGag out of explaining something everyone already knows, starting with his lecture on smoke in "Fire and Freezing."
72	* FeigningIntelligence: Dresses what little he does know up as more interesting, profound and noteworthy than it is in order to impress Stephen.
73	* ManOfAThousandVoices: A few words into an impression, he'll tell you who it is.
74	%%* NoRespectGuy: Has the eyes of prostitution.
75	%%* SelfDeprecation: Anything to do with the Welsh.
76
77	!Creator/JimmyCarr
78	-->Area of expertise: Gentlemen's Special Interest Magazines
79	* BlackComedy: His stand-up makes frequent use of this, so naturally, it carries into the show as well.
80	-->'''Jimmy Carr:''' ''(On the subject of domestic violence)'' It's so stupid; I mean it's ''your'' wife. It's like keying your own car.
81	-->''' David Mitchell:''' Society just got a tiny bit worse.
82	-->'''Jimmy Carr:''' I like to think I can help.
83	%%* DeadpanSnarker
84	%%* TheHyena: He has a very distinctive laugh.
85	%%* RefugeInAudacity
86
87	!Rich Hall
88	-->Area of expertise: The Moon, number of
89	%%* DeadpanSnarker
90	* FunnyForeigner: There have been other Americans on the show, but Rich Hall is the only recurring one.
91	* PutOnABus: Once one of the most common guests, and one of a handful to have appeared in every series to date up until Series J, where he stopped appearing. TheBusCameBack for a single appearance in Series O, but he hasn't been seen since.
92	* RunningGag: "Which moon are we talking about?" Culminated in a forfeit in Series I.
93	%%* TheStoic
94	* WhenHeSmiles: Very rare, true, but when it happens, it's enough to make most people go "D'aaaaaaaw".
95
96	!Jeremy Hardy
97
98	!Creator/EddieIzzard (Pilot)
99
100	!Phill Jupitus
101	-->Area of expertise: Stephen Fry impressions
102	%%* LargeHam
103	* RunningGag: Kestrels, dating from his very first appearance ("Advent"). John Sessions picked up on it in the series D episode "Drinks".
104	** Tries to headbang whenever his buzzer sound is music or singing, no matter what style it is.
105	* TokenRomance: Phill has gone on record (in the making-of special) that his role on the show is to [[HomoeroticSubtext flirt]] with [[StraightGay Stephen]] as much as possible. This may be partly a joke, but he actually does do this to some extent.
106
107	!Sean Lock
108	-->Area of expertise: The Movement of Banana Trees
109	* AxCrazy: PlayedForLaughs. When Stephen says that the moon has nothing to do with lunacy, for instance, Sean's response is, "Then why do I go out killing?"
110	* BerserkButton: Whenever a "Genius" person in the panel's there, Sean's sure to mock that person endlessly.
111	* EpicFail: Currently holds the record for the lowest score by a guest panelist on the show: -76 in the "Germany" episode. (Alan, the lone regular panelist, has done worse: -84 on "Cleve Crudgington" under normal circumstances, and there have been special circumstances where he's gone even lower, such as when the score was given in millions.)
112	* FourEyesZeroSoul: Again, PlayedForLaughs; he talks about kicking dogs and killing people, all with a childish glee on his face.
113	* KickTheDog: Frequently makes jokes about torturing small animals.
114	* MultipleChoicePast: An odd nonfictional example: his fanciful stories about his past experiences of being a "goatherdsman" or a plumber in Israel.
115	* PhraseCatcher: His more offensive jokes are often met with an outraged "Sean Lock!" from Stephen, delivered as if he were scolding a schoolboy.
116	%%* RefugeInAudacity
117
118	!John Sessions
119	-->Area of expertise: The Birth and Death Dates of Artists
120	* InsufferableGenius: He had extensive knowledge of several subjects.[[note]]Both Stephen and Creator/DaraOBriain would later say that ''someone'' - and neither would say who it was - would ask for the questions before each show. Stephen said that it was someone who didn't need them, and Dara said in 2022 that it was someone who had died but it wasn't Sean Lock; Sessions died in 2020 and did appear in a Series J episode with Dara, so there's a ''very'' good chance it was him; that said, because of both Stephen and Dara's reticence on the subject, this is unconfirmed.[[/note]]
121	* ManOfAThousandVoices: Sessions was quite good at imitating voices, and did a very funny Creator/AlanRickman impersonation by "talking without his lips touching his teeth."
122	* TooCleverByHalf: Despite this, he tended to fall into forfeit traps, and has managed only one win in his appearances to date (two if you count his appearance in series J: he was the highest-scoring ''panelist'' that episode, but Stephen Fry "won" that show).
123	* {{Luvvies}}: The "Luvvie Alarm" was installed due to his habit of namedropping.
124
125	%%!Linda Smith
126
127
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series B]]
131
132	!Jeremy Clarkson
133	-->Area of expertise: Cars
134	* ExtremeOmnivore:
135	** Every time he's on he likes to tell people about his unusual appetite. Tortoise leg on toast anyone?
136	** He specifically noted once that he'd tried some puffin because he'd never had it before.
137
138	!Fred [=MacAulay=]
139	* SelfDeprecation: About Scotland.
140
141	!Creator/DaraOBriain
142	-->Area of expertise: Science
143	%%* SelfDeprecation: Occasionally about Ireland.
144	* TheSmartGuy: Science fan.
145	* UnfortunateName: Alan suggest his first name sounds like Diarrhoea. Dara naturally has the response you'd expect.
146	%%* VerbalTic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEQ7Pytnpj0 Eh...]]
147
148	%%!Arthur Smith
149
150	!Mark Steel
151	-->Area of expertise: The French Revolution
152
153	[[/folder]]
154
155	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series C]]
156
157	!Andy Hamilton
158	* DeadpanSnarker
159	* {{Troll}}: Discusses having been this in the Boy Scouts, when he was very young.
160
161	!Creator/{{David Mitchell\|Actor}}
162	-->Area of expertise: History
163
164	%%* CharacterFilibuster: Prone to it
165	%%* DeadpanSnarker
166	%%* HairTriggerTemper: Has whatever the trivia-quiz version of this is.
167	* PutOnABus: Missed Series P, the only time he's done so since his debut. Unlike other panellists, however, TheBusCameBack as he returned as a frequent guest for Series Q.
168	* RantComedy: Many of his responses and reactions; especially prone to this if he gets the klaxon. The [=BBC=] made a supercut of his "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6vLp07ZePY angry logic]]".
169	* SitcomArchNemesis: The klaxon.
170	* TheSmartGuy: One of the few who engages his brain when answering a question and not trying to show off.
171
172	%%!Rory [=McGrath=]
173	%%-->Area of expertise: Latin
174	%%* InsufferableGenius
175
176	[[/folder]]
177
178	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series D]]
179
180	%%!Ronni Ancona
181	%%-->Area of expertise: Obscurity
182	%%* RavenHairIvorySkin
183	%%* WomanOfAThousandVoices
184
185	%%!Vic Reeves
186	%%-->Area of expertise: Pirates
187	%%* TalkativeLoon
188	%%* WaistcoatOfStyle
189
190	[[/folder]]
191
192	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series E]]
193
194	%%!Charlie Higson
195
196	!Johnny Vegas
197	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: By far, the panelist with the most out-there responses.
198	* TheDitz: Invoked; in the QI making-of special, he has gone on record as trying to be dumber than ''Alan''.
199	* OnceASeason: Consistently only appears on one episode every series (except for Series O, where he was PutOnABus).
200	%%* TalkativeLoon
201
202	[[/folder]]
203
204	%%[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series F]]
205
206	%%!Hugh Dennis
207	%%* PungeonMaster
208
209	%%[[/folder]]
210
211	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series G]]
212
213	!Jack Dee
214	* DeadpanSnarker: He has managed to get an entire career out of doing this extremely well, after all.
215	* WhenHeSmiles: It is ''very'' difficult to get Jack to do this or burst out laughing on television (radio is different, but you can't see him in that case unless you go to the recording). If you have got this reaction, you have said something extremely funny.
216
217	!Creator/LeeMack
218	-->Area of expertise: The word 'ceiling'
219	* BriefAccentImitation: Gets called out on it by Stephen Fry and David Tennant. Repeatedly.
220	* TheGadfly: He seems to have an ability to find out and push people's {{Berserk Button}}s.
221	%%* OopNorth
222
223	!Graham Norton
224
225	!Sue Perkins
226	-->Area of expertise: Spilling liquid all over the set
227	* ContractualGenreBlindness: She ''loves'' getting the klaxon, it seems.
228	* PutOnABus: Hasn't been on the show since Sandi took over.
229
230	[[/folder]]
231
232	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series H]]
233
234	!Creator/RossNoble
235	-->Area of expertise: [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi Ewoks]]
236	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: He has a tendency to bring the show on even wilder tangents than normal.
237	%%* OopNorth
238
239	[[/folder]]
240
241	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series J]]
242	!Susan Calman
243	-->Area of expertise: The Smurfs
244	* ButtMonkey: Especially during Sandi's run, since she's one of the few people shorter than Sandi.
245
246	!Victoria Coren Mitchell
247	-->Area of expertise: Jackrabbits
248	* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Dreamed before the show that one of the questions would be "Why was the march hare important to the Aztecs". At the end of the show, this very question was asked. (Of course, it is likely the question was prepared during the show, however, it did in fact have a coherent answer, still fitting the spirit of this trope.)
249	* TheSmartGuy: Has come in first or tied on the shows she's been on.
250
251	!Jason Manford
252	-->Area of expertise: Mr Patel's lessons.
253	* CoolTeacher: Whenever he's gotten a question right, he always credits his childhood teacher, Mr Patel.
254
255	[[/folder]]
256
257	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series K]]
258
259	!Colin Lane
260	* FunnyForeigner: Colin is Australian, and both he and the rest of the panel usually get some comedic mileage out of it.
261
262	%%!Richard Osman
263
264	%%!Sara Pascoe
265
266	!Josh Widdicombe
267	* AManIsAlwaysEager:
268	-->'''Stephen''': Who would bite their arm off to get their leg over?
269	-->'''Josh''': ''(buzzes in, silently points to himself)''
270	-->''[[ForegoneConclusion (klaxon)]]''
271	* SuddenlyShouting: He screams instead of shouting, but he does this in reaction to Stephen smashing a rose dipped in liquid nitrogen on the desk.
272
273	[[/folder]]
274
275	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series L]]
276	!Aisling Bea
277	* BileFascination: Her reaction to Sandi confirming the purpose of [[spoiler:the falcon sex hat]] (followed by a video demonstration) is either this, or CovertPervert.
278	** She had the same facial expressions when Stephen explained the functioning of a male spider's pedipalps... Maybe it's both.
279	* FanDisservice: Interprets Alan's "shark impression" as a badly-faked orgasm noise, and starts trying to one-up him.
280	* ObfuscatingStupidity: Puts on a ditzy persona when Sandi recruits her to help with a mathematical demonstration.
281
282	%%!Lucy Porter
283
284	[[/folder]]
285
286	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series M]]
287	!James Acaster
288	* CloudCuckooLander
289	* SeriousBusiness: Do NOT say that two different types of Quality Street chocolate are the same as each other around him.
290
291
292	!Rhod Gilbert
293	* SustainedMisunderstanding: How much sunlight does Denmark get, again?
294
295	!Cariad Lloyd
296	-->Area of expertise: ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''
297	* DistractedByTheSexy: A discussion of the origins of the Rorschach test ended quite abruptly when Cariad spied a picture of Dr. Rorschach and immediately caught the thirst.
298
299	!Matt Lucas
300	* AwesomeEgo: Apparently considers himself a narcissist and once bragged about the great reviews he got for playing Bottom in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. However, it can be assumed he was at least partly joking on these occasions.
301	* ToiletHumor: After Holly Walsh mentioned that, under law, you can apparently post a gun to someone but not one with bullets in it, he joked that 'you can send a toilet, but not with a poo in it'.
302
303	!Romesh Ranganathan
304	* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: His mother appeared in the audience in one episode where he was on the panel. Sandi kept fact-checking his jokes and stories with her, to the point he remarked that it was like having a 'horrible judgmental Wikipedia' in the audience.
305	* DeadpanSnarker
306
307	[[/folder]]
308
309	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series N]]
310	%%!Nish Kumar
311
312	%%!Holly Walsh
313
314	!Corey Taylor
315	%%* AscendedFanboy
316	* AtomicFBomb: The loudest thing ever shouted was ''not'' "SHUT THE FUCK UP," but he was on the right track.
317	* QuestionableCasting: Yes, that Corey Taylor. From Music/{{Slipknot}}. Yes, that Slipknot. (He fit in [[HiddenDepths surprisingly well]].)
318
319	[[/folder]]
320
321	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series O]]
322	%%!Alice Levine
323
324	%%!Joe Lycett
325
326	!Sally Phillips
327
328	--> Area of expertise: Coconuts
329
330	* ShoutOut: When the topic of discussion in “Random” turned to coconuts, she anecdotally mentioned that they can’t be sent to Fiji via mail. Sandi was utterly confounded why Sally would try in the first place, until she mentioned she did it in the [[Recap/TaskmasterSeriesFive Series 5 finale]] of ''Series/{{Taskmaster}}''.
331
332	[[/folder]]
333
334	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series P]]
335
336	!Creator/TeriHatcher
337	--> Area of expertise: Superman
338	%%* AscendedFanboy: Well, fangirl.
339	* TheTease: Spent significant amounts of her appearance mercilessly flirting with Phil Jupitus.
340	[[/folder]]
341
342	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series Q]]
343
344	!Tom Allen
345	* CampGay
346	* SharpDressedMan: Always appears in a smart suit. When Chris Mccausland joked about the idea of a teenage Tom going to school in a suit with a pocket square, Tom confirmed that he ''actually did that''.
347
348	[[/folder]]
349
350	[[folder:Panellists first appearing in series S]]
351
352	!Ahir Shah
353	* TheSmartGuy: Tends to be this.
354
355	[[/folder]]
356

Context Characters / QI