This edition of the show that plays out like a pub quiz was a special with questions about many famous facts from recorded history since the dawn of man, a surprisingly factual and as usual funny show to watch and have fun with. Hosted by Jimmy Carr, with celebrity panellists in three teams: (socially distanced due to COVID-19 restrictions) Rob Beckett and Roisin Conaty (Ts and Teeth), Nish Kumar and Katherine Ryan (All Killer Some Filler), and Rob Brydon and Oti Mabuse (Robot). This quiz focused on all sorts of factual information from history, music, film and TV, science and technology, sports and games, culture and fashion, and pot luck (general knowledge) to answer about. These questions are asked as they are, with video and sound clips, with pictures (including Say What You See), and by celebrity and mystery guests on screen or in the studio, so it really does feel like a proper quiz that you can take part in. Events from history that were questioned and joked about, and mentioned (or pictured) included: Edward XIII abdicating from the throne in 1936, Prince Andrew claiming he couldn't sweat, William Wallace leading the Scottish Resistance in the War of Independence and his death, the criminals who carried out the Great Train Robbery (The Weasel, Napoleon, Chas, Buster and Big Jim), the Greek and Roman names of Gods and Goddesses (ruler of the Underworld = Hades, King of the Gods = Zeus, and the goddess of love Aphrodite / Venus), Victorian slang, the theft of the World Cup in 1966 which was held for ransom and found by a dog named Pickles, journalist Edith Russell who survived the sinking of the Titanic, the musicals of Lord Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, male opera singers in previous centuries being castrated to hit high notes, Go Compare, a Pepsi advert with Beyoncé recreating Carmen, Johnny Cash getting into a fight with an ostrich, Snoop Dogg rapping onstage with a hologram of Tupac Shakur, the lyrics of "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer, the Spice Girls at the BRITs and Geri Halliwell's union jack dress with a peace sign on the back, "Creep" by Radiohead, Tick Tock, Flashdance, Grange Hill, unnamed lead movie characters (The Narrator in Fight Club, The Girl in The Seven Year Itch, Kid or the Driver in Driver, and The Protagonist in Tenet), the Blue Peter cat naming scandal with viewers voting for a kitten to be named Cookie (it was changed to Socks, as the original name was controversial for children's TV), the household chores of Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid, the ending song "Hooky Street" from Only Fools and Horses, memorably excitable and emotional Oscar winning actress speeches (Sally Field, Meryl Steep, Julia Roberts, Halle Berry), movie taglines ("The longer you wait the harder it gets" = The 40-Year-Old Virgin, "He may be dead but he's the life of the party" = Weekend at Bernie's, "His story will touch you even though he can't" = Edward Scissorhands, "Does for sex drugs and rock and roll what The Sound of Music did for hills" = This Is Spinal Tap), Puffing Billy being the oldest surviving locomotive, the first contraceptive pill made by sythesising hormones from yams, Bernard Sadow patenting the wheeled suitcase a year after the Moon landings, Morse code, John Walker inventing "friction lights" better known as matches, the 1970s diagram the Pioneer Plaque made and sent into space for possible alien intelligence, Naked Attraction, the internet, Dyson inventing the bagless hoover, board game Snakes and Ladders (which originates from ancient India), Sumo Wrestling, Dungeons & Dungeons, Bobby Riggs vs. Billie Jean King at Wimbledon, the nicknames of sportsmen (swimmer Ian Thorpe = Thorpedo, cricketer Phil Tuffnell = The Cat, footballer Stuart Pearce = Psycho), Katy Perry re-recording "Last Friday Night" in a weird language for The Sims (the language was Simlish), the pieces to balance in the game Buckaroo, sporting terminology (tighthead, spear tackle, hooker = rugby; flipper, dibbly-dobbler, full toss = cricket, long snapper, nickelback, tight end = American football), iconic print adverts (Hamlet cigars, OXO cubes, Wonderbra), the Eiffel Tower erected in 1889, high heels worn by men for horse riding, the famous black dress held together by safety pins designed by Gianni Versace worn by Elizabeth Hurley, Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle, the dress worn by Monica Lewinsky whilst being sexual with President Bill Clinton, the original names for the attraction Dollywood (Rebel Railroad, Gold Rush Junction, and Silver Dollar City), Andy Warhol and his famous Campbell's Tomato Soup painting, celebrity self-portraits (Adele, David Bowie and Pierce Brosnan), Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, the "peeping Tom" (meaning voyeur) coming from a Tom who spied on Lady Godiva riding naked through Coventry, Victorians not smiling in photographs, Bigfoot, I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, the other names for dinosaurs (three-horned face = triceratops, the double beam = diplodocus, the tyrant lizard king = tyrannosaurus rex, speedy thief = velociraptor), the music of Ceefax, Strictly Come Dancing, onion recommended as a cure for baldness in an 1856 book, Mystic Meg, and the longest Number Ones of the 1970s ("You're the One That I want by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta for 9 weeks), the 1980s ("Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood for 9 weeks), the 1990s ("Everything I Do (I Do It for You)" by Bryan Adams for 16 weeks) and the 2000s ("Umbrella" by Rihanna for 9 weeks). Other celebrity and special mystery guests in the show included the children of Mitchell Brook Primary School in Neasden who act out well known news stories, Jon Snow who reads news related to lyrics from songs of history and dances to it, Charles Dance who reads online negative (and positive) book reviews, Clare Balding, Paloma Faith (who released her album Infinite Things), Roman Kemp, Ralph Macchio (The Karate Kid), Tim Minchin, Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock (The Sky at Night), Billy Ocean, voiceover artist Redd Pepper, the mystery guest Jessica "Jessie" Smith who was the baby girl who played the face of the sun in Teletubbies (and special guest Laa-Laa), and The London Oompah Band who played music based on longest Number Ones in four decades. The jokes and the questions are what make this show so much fun, they chose the right celebrity panellists, and it also works as a funny way to find out and reflect on things you may or not know from history, a great comedy quiz show. Very good!
2 Reviews
The Never-Ending Pub Quiz
owen-watts8 January 2021
I've not been an avid fan of the Carr-fronted long-running "Big Fat Quiz" programmes - and they rattle on in the background of British TV comedy, they go on for ages and take the format of a star-studded version of a pub quiz featuring a glittering array of filmed cameos from celebrities trying to awkwardly promote something. Quite fun to drink along to but otherwise a bit of a slog. This edition is notable perhaps only for the plastic screens due to the pandemic which gave it the unintentional vibe of the "Don't Mention the Event" Quiz skit from Mitchell & Webb.
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