I went to see QI!!

[SongsOfDragons]

Last week Housemate and I went to see the British comedy smart-arse panel show QI being filmed in their London Studios!!

We'd got tickets through the Applause Store - no money involved, it's just the luck of the draw if you get picked to receive tickets I was overjoyed when I got that email ^^

Getting there and waiting wasn't too bad; the studios are right near to London Waterloo, where our train comes in, and although we waited 90 minutes (doors opened at 6:30 we got there at 5pm) they did things quickly and smoothly. As we'd got their early we got some pretty good seats - in the middle of the upper middle section.

The studio has a forest of lights pouring from the ceiling. ^^ The 'QI Elves' were entertaining us as we were sat waiting for the show to start by writing silly/smart things on some TVs which also hung from the ceiling. The floor manager had to do the usual health and safety stuff (he apologised for 'insulting our intelligences' but he had to do it) he also gave the proper reason for turning phones off - "they make the speakers make that brmm brmm noise, and you don't want that to happen because five comedians will bury you."

Then Stephen Fry came in Ahhh pleasing. He's such a wonderful host, welcoming and such. The guests on this episode were Alan Davies (duh) Bill Bailey, Julian Clary and Ross Noble. The theme was Jumping.

They filmed for about two hours - god those seats were becoming uncomfortable by the end >.< - and Housemate and I were trying to figure which bits they would cut for the episode. They also had to do a pick-up to insert a klaxon - SF introduced these Ancient Greek weights that were used for momentum in the Long Jump with the phrase "What could these make six-and-a-half inches longer?" or similar; you could guess what Alan said and then "I can't believe you didn't klaxon that!!"

Oh it was great. If you have access to the new series later this summer look for episode 10, you might hear me squeaking (I laugh so hard sometimes I suck in air hard and make a loud squeaking noise)

I did a silly little cartoon of it. ^^

[ArcticChicken]

My BF will be so jealous when I tell him.

[Jay 2K Winger]

That's pretty cool. I've been to a couple of TV shows that were filmed like that.

INCOMING TANGENT

One is a relatively local game show called "It's Academic." High schools in the DC Metropolitan Area have teams that compete and go on the show to win money for their school. I went because our school's team was on this particular episode.

The other one was "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" when it still had Regis as the host. I was going to the Mercersburg Academy at the time, and a bunch of people from the drama classes got on a bus and trekked up to New York City for the taping. We got to do this because one of the producers of the show was an alumnus from the school.

We not only got to see a show being taped, but we got a little tour and got to meet Regis, too. The taping was kind of fun because one of my classmates, JC, became something of a running joke.

One of the contestants ended up bombing out early on with the question "Which of the following makes up the majority of Earth's atmosphere? A - Carbon, B - Oxygen, C - Helium, D - Nitrogen" (Note-- I may be misremembering the order of the options, but carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen were on the list.) The contestant was sure that "it's not B or D" but he just wasn't sure. So he used the Poll the Audience lifeline, and the majority of the audience told him he was wrong, as they all chose B or D. But he still wasn't sure, so he used his Phone A Friend lifeline, calling up a friend who was "a science teacher." His friend backed him up on it being A or C. But the contestant still wasn't sure, so he used his last lifeline, to remove two incorrect answers. The answers removed were A and C.

You could hear the audience quietly go "Ohhh" when this happened. Regis looked thoughtful for a moment, then asked, "Where did you say he was a teacher again?" which got a huge laugh from the audience. The contestant bowed out at that point. (The answer is D, nitrogen, by the way.) While they reset the set for the "fastest fingers" round, Regis looked over to the section of the crowd where we were sitting and looks to JC, and asked him "Did you know the answer, kid?" To which JC replied, "Of course." Regis gave him a look and said "Smart ass." Another laugh.

During the rest of the taping, if Regis stumbled over a line and they had to reshoot, he'd point at JC and go "It's the kid's fault!" It was all in good fun. He later came over to shake JC's hand for being a good sport about it.

END TANGENT

SongsOfDragons' story trumps mine though. Free tickets that were won by lucky draw, and Stephen Fry > Regis Philbin.

[Lady Legira]

*goes green*

[Bardmaiden]

Quoth Lady Legira

*goes green*

*Joins Legira in the corner with a matching shade of green* My B/f has gone for tickets a few times but he has never been drawn. Sounds like such fun.

[SongsOfDragons]

I didn't realise people would be jealous. I thorry, it wasn't my intention to boast - I was just quite excited. ^^ Mayhaps there's a lot more luck there than I though - we got the late showing too which was good for Housemate.

[Bardmaiden]

Quoth SongsOfDragons

I didn't realise people would be jealous. I thorry, it wasn't my intention to boast - I was just quite excited. ^^ Mayhaps there's a lot more luck there than I though - we got the late showing too which was good for Housemate.

Just a little bit but a very good reason to be excited Does seem to be a lot of luck involved and you got lucky!

[CloserToSane]

Another green person here too, it's never even crossed my mind to do something like that. Now I have something to try and do.

[Soulstealer]

You're so lucky. I haven't gotten picked this round