QI / YMMV - TV Tropes

Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
- Alan being presented with a potato-head version of himself in "Corby".
- At the end of "Justice", after a discussion about nude psychotherapy, all five panelists get out of their seats and get their lads out. Color bars appear and a continuity announcer says something's gone wrong. The show returns to the QI panelists back in their seats, joking about their relative sizes. Unlike other non-sequitur moments intended to segue into the next topic, the only thing left is the reading out of the scores (at least in the regular length version of the show).
Bizarro Episode: "Merriment" is one long series of bizarre events: an overhead light exploding, a fly landing on Bill Bailey's hand and being killed by Alan, the panel composing an impromptu musical based on bathroom puns, Stephen handing out ice cream for no explained reason and the panel arguing over flavors like a dysfunctional family, and at the end, Stephen being inducted into the Magic Circle. And although it made sense in context, the panelists wearing pantomime-themed costumes made it all more surreal.
Crosses the Line Twice: Stephen tells a joke that utilises this in the punchline, and then asks "Why is it so funny?!"
Harsher in Hindsight:
- In "Groovy" they joke about an Osmond brother who was locked away due to his deformity and wrote all the songs. Not so funny when you learn that the Osmonds really do have two disabled siblings (both of the eldest Osmonds were born deaf) who stay out of the public eye.
- There are many instances during the "J" series where Stephen Fry is obviously sick, on medication or otherwise not himself (the whole Jumpers episode being the most obvious example). Later that year, he attempted suicide (again), and in an interview afterwards talking about his bipolar disorder, he said, "There are times when I'm doing QI and I'm going, 'ha ha, yeah, yeah' and inside I'm going, 'I want to f***ing die. I want to f***ing die.'"
- In "Monster Mash", Phil Jupitus makes a joke about Alan Rickman. The episode first aired just after Rickman's death. The same happened two weeks later in "Mix and Match" with Lemmy from Motörhead. Cue fans wondering if they'd mention David Bowie next.
- Several episodes have Alan given a doll, action figure or other such humanoid toy and after several bizarre comments and asides Stephen would jokingly ask him to show on the doll where "the nasty man touched you", which becomes a lot harsher after it was revealed that Alan was molested as a child by his father.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- During the "Green" episode, Danny Baker urged the viewers at home to save electricity by turning off their television sets. That episode had one of the lowest audience figures of the programme's run.
- When David Tennant was on the show jokes were made about Bill Bailey being on the Christmas special of Doctor Who. He did appear in "The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe", albeit opposite Matt Smith.
- In an early series, Alan Davies makes several jokes about being an oppressed and displaced Welsh person. And then, in the Europe episode, he reveals that he's found out that, despite his last name indicating otherwise, he actually has no Welsh ancestry.
- Series I aired in 2011, when discussing the fungus Cordyceps, Johnny Vegas speculates what kind of disaster it would be if it jumped into humans. Cue The Last of Us, a game featuring that exact premise just two years later.
- In the Series F episode Future, Ben Miller's buzzer is the Doctor Who theme. Come 2014, and Ben Miller played the villain in "Robot of Sherwood"!
- In one episode, the panel discusses the fact that Thomas Edison thought fifteen tiny people lived in his brain. Turns out, it's just five.
- In "Ologies", with Strictly Come Dancing presenter Claudia Winkleman on the panel, Bill Bailey says he was once asked to do Strictly but said he'd only do it if he could do it in character as Abu Hamza. He later not only appeared on the 2020 series (not in character), he won it.
- In Series R, John Barrowman and Aisling Bea make Doctor Who references, with Bea even making a reference to Jodie Whittaker. Bea would later appear opposite Whitakker in "Eve of the Daleks".
- The Series J episode Justice featured Kiwi comedian and actor Rhys Darby as a panellist, and the first question was about rules on pirate ships. Fast forward nearly a decade...
Memetic Mutation:
- Referenced by in "International", when Stephen puts on a false moustache and Bill Bailey claims that there'll be a website devoted to it by the time the show finishes airing. (There was one put up a day later, apparently.)
- In an older episode, after Stephen's infamous line "what you need is length and thickness"^note, Alan remarks, "That'll be snipped out, straight on YouTube." He was right, too.
Nausea Fuel:
- The Halloween episodes often go into gross-out territory, as did the episode wherein Stephen tried to cajole his guests to eat candy with insects in them, and got sick after trying one himself.
- In one Sandi episode, she warns the panel to prepare themselves for the footage of a worm that blows its nose—literally. It ejects the entirety of its slimy white nasal passages outwards over a man's finger. Phill Jupitus mimes throwing up and then covers his face with a book when she replays it.
Nightmare Fuel: The occasional segment, but the "Inventive" episode was pretty horrifying for anyone with a fear of ventriloquists' dummies.
- The "Thatcher effect." ^note
- "Reflections": Portraits of the panellists are shown with one side of their face mirrored and superimposed atop the other to create perfect symmetry. Results range from creepily robotic to horribly deformed.^note
Questionable Casting:
- Of all people, Jerry Springer was a guest in Series N. It kind of worked though; he proved to be a good sport, fairly knowledgeable (which is less surprising when you remember he originally rose to prominence as mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio), and actually quite humble.
- Corey Taylor's presence also baffled some people enough for it to trend in the UK when his episode aired, despite him being a genuine fan of the show.
The Producer Thinks of Everything: Some of the panelists' jokey answers set off the klaxon, especially too-obvious jokes. These are often an episode's Funny Moments, and the source of much frustration for the panellists.
Stephen: Name a poisonous snake.
Jimmy Carr: Piers Morgan?
[KLAXON]
At another point:
Stephen: What's eight poles wide and forty poles long?
Howard Goodall: "A regiment in the Polish Army?"
[KLAXON]
- Reached The Tape Knew You Would Say That levels in the XL version of the "Greats" episode, when Jo Brand uttered a particularly long forfeit phrase word for word:
  Stephen: Now, tell me about the Great Disappointment.
  Jo: [buzzes] Have you been talking to my husband?
  *KLAXON* have you been talking to my husband?
- Phill Jupitus has been picked on a few times as well, his Verbal Tic being part of the forfeit:
  Stephen: How long would it take you to bicycle from Land's End to the northernmost part of Britain?
  Phill: What, John O'Groats, you mean?
  *KLAXON* what, john o'groats, you mean?
  [later]
  Stephen: ...What was the name of the- the naturalist on board the Beagle?
  Phill: Charles Darwin, you mean?
  *KLAXON* what, charles darwin, you mean?
  Phill: Oh- FRY!
  - Although on the third attempt a little later on in the same show—the question was which country worshipped jackal-headed dogs and the forfeit was what, egypt, you mean?—another panellist set it off instead.
- They're also quick to respond to a bit of snark.
Jimmy Carr (just taken a forfeit): Does someone get paid whenever that goes off?
*KLAXON*: YES
Jason Manford: They've been waiting fifteen years to do that gag!
Retroactive Recognition: Trevor Noah appeared as a panelist on the Series K episode "Killers" one year before joining The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and two years before taking over from Jon Stewart.

YMMV / QI

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