QI XL: Merriment


10:00 pm - 11:00 pm, Today on U&Dave ja vu (74)

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About this Broadcast

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Merriment
Season 13, Episode 8

Jenny Eclair, Johnny Vegas and Bill Bailey join regular panellist Alan Davies for an extended edition of the quiz show, in which Stephen Fry awards points for the answers he finds most interesting - regardless of whether they are correct. This time, the Stephen Fry prepares for the festive period with some seasonal merriment


HD subtitles 16x9
Comedy Game Show/Quiz/Contest Movie/Drama Show/Game Show

Cast & Crew

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Jenny Eclair (Panellist)
Johnny Vegas (Panellist)
Bill Bailey (Panellist)
Alan Davies (Panellist)
Ian Lorimer (Director)
Piers Fletcher (Producer)
John Lloyd (Producer)

More Information

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Did You Know..

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Stephen Fry (Host)
Born: August 24, 1957 in Hampstead, London
Best Known For: His sharp wit.
Early-life: Stephen John Fry was born on August 24, 1957, in Hampstead, London. He grew up in Norfolk alongside an older brother and younger sister. His father, Alan, is a physicist. Fry attended public schools Stout's Hill and Uppingham (from which he was expelled), and spent time in a Young Offender's Institution after going on a spending spree with a stolen credit card. His writing and performing skills were honed at Cambridge University, where his contemporaries included Emma Thompson, Tony Slattery and Hugh Laurie.
Career: After graduating, Fry and Laurie enjoyed a successful comedy partnership. Fry was a millionaire by 30, thanks to a successful rewrite of the Noel Gay musical Me and My Girl. He has appeared in numerous films and TV projects, including Blackadder, Jeeves and Wooster, Wilde, Thunderpants, Kingdom and The Hobbit. He's also written several books, and is well-known as a charming raconteur. He made his movie debut as writer and director with Bright Young Things, based on Evelyn Waugh's book, Vile Bodies. Fry is the presenter of comedy quiz QI, he has also made several acclaimed documentaries, including ones about manic depression and Aids, and he is the reader for the British versions of JK Rowling's Harry Potter series of audio books.
Quote: "I don't need you to remind me of my age. I have a bladder to do that for me."
Trivia: His distinctive voice has also been featured in a number of video games, including Fable II and Fable III, and as the narrator in the LittleBigPlanet games.
Jenny Eclair (Panellist)
Born: March 16, 1960 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Best Known For: Being a comedian.
Early-life: Born Jenny Clare Hargreaves in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on March 16, 1960, her father served as a major in the British Army. Jenny returned to England when she was two. She went on to study at the Manchester Polytechnic School of Theatre and joined a cabaret group. After moving to London, she found work as a life model and began performing punk poems. In 1989, she was named the Time Out Cabaret Award winner.
Career: Eclair's first break on TV was in the Channel 4 comedy series Packet of Three alongside Frank Skinner and Henry Normal. Since then, she has acted in Holby City and The Bill, but she is better known for her appearances on Grumpy Old Women and Loose Women. Her theatre credits include a touring version of Grumpy Old Women and The Vagina Monologues. She also continues to perform stand-up. No stranger to reality TV, she has been a contestant on Celebrity Fit Club, Celebrity Fame Academy and I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! In early 2014, she was a contestant on ITV reality series Splash!
Quote: "I have a fear of poverty in old age. I have this vision of myself living in a skip and eating cat food."
Trivia: In 1995, Eclair became the first woman to win the prestigious Perrier Comedy Award. Since 1994, she has written a number of books, including the novel Life, Death and Vanilla Slices.
Johnny Vegas (Panellist)
Born: September 11, 1971 in St Helens, Lancashire
Best Known For: His hoarse voice.
Early-life: Born Michael Joseph Pennington in St Helens, Lancashire, on September 11, 1971, he's the youngest of four children. As a child, he wanted to be a priest, and joined a seminary at the age of 11, but left after four terms. He then attended an all-boys grammar school before studying art and ceramics at Middlesex University. Following his graduation, he worked in a bar and went through periods of being unemployed before trying comedy, performing as the character of failed potter and disillusioned entertainer Johnny Vegas.
Career: Vegas's big break came in 1997 when he was nominated for the prestigious Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival. He made his TV debut in the one-off Johnny Vegas TV Show the following year. In 2001, he landed a role in the Paul Whitehouse sitcom Happiness, which won him the Best Newcomer trophies at the Royal Television Society and British Comedy Awards, although it was arguably his appearance in a series of cult adverts with a sock monkey for ITV Digital that made him a household name. Since then, he's been a regular panellist on Shooting Stars, acted in series Tipping the Velvet, Bleak House, Dead Man Weds, Ideal, Massive, Benidorm, Still Open All Hours and presented his own show, 18 Stone of Idiot. He was also in Johnny Depp film The Libertine and The Harry Hill Movie.
Quote: "This is a good job that gives us a good life, you can't expect to turn that off when it suits you."
Trivia: Vegas released an autobiography, Becoming Johnny Vegas, in 2013.
Bill Bailey (Panellist)
Born: January 13, 1964 in Bath
Best Known For: His role as team captain on Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
Early-life: Born Mark Bailey in Bath on January 13, 1964, he gained the nickname Bill at King Edward's School in Bath, where he surprised his teachers by excelling at sport. In his youth, he spent a lot of time listening to Monty Python records, and formed a band called the Famous Five. After landing an associateship at the London College of Music, and working with a theatre troupe, he accidentally wandered into a John Hegley gig, where he decided to become a stand-up comedian.
Career: Bill started touring with the likes of Phill Jupitus and Mark Lamarr, before forming a double-act in 1989 with Martin Stubbs. His big break came in 1995 with the show Bill Bailey's Cosmic Jam, a performance of which was filmed and broadcast on Channel 4. In 1998, he scooped his own comedy show on the BBC, Is It Bill Bailey?, and enjoyed a series of successful guest slots on shows such as Have I Got News for You. Bill also starred in Dylan Moran's Channel 4 sitcom Black Books, before taking over from Sean Hughes as a captain on Never Mind the Buzzcocks in 2002. He's a regular on quiz show QI, and has also enjoyed other acting roles in the likes of Jonathan Creek and Fifteen Storeys High. His big-screen CV includes the movies Saving Grace and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, while his cameo in Hot Fuzz was very well-received. He also continues to tour with his stand-up, selling out arenas all over the world, and has begun a separate career as a presenter of wildlife shows, including the ITV series Baboons with Bill Bailey.
Quote: "I'm not a hardcore vegetarian. I'll eat fish. And duck. They're almost a fish."
Trivia: Bailey supports Queens Park Rangers.
Alan Davies (Panellist)
Born: March 06, 1966 in Loughton, Essex
Best Known For: Jonathan Creek and being the permanent panellist on QI.
Early-life: Alan Roger Davies was born in Loughton, Essex, on March 6, 1966. Together with his older brother and younger sister, Alan was raised by his accountant father, following the death of his mother from leukaemia when he was six. Despite disliking school, he was a bright child and passed 12 O-Levels and two A-Levels before studying drama at the University of Kent. On graduating, he signed on for an Enterprise Allowance Scheme to help fund his assault on the London comedy circuit.
Career: Davies performed his first stand-up gig in 1988, and by the early 1990s was a rising star, picking up rave reviews at Edinburgh. He later gave up playing clubs to concentrate on radio. His Radio 1 series, Alan's Big One FM, led to TV appearances on shows such as One Foot in the Grave, before he was cast as the lead in Jonathan Creek, the light-hearted mystery drama that made him a household name. Other acting work includes Bob and Rose, A Many Splintered Thing, The Brief, Marple, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008), Lewis and Whites. He presented the three-part documentary Alan Davies' Teenage Revolution for Channel 4 in 2010 and was a judge in 2011 on ITV talent show Show Me the Funny. He's also appeared in West End hit Auntie and Me. He has been a permanent panellist on irreverent quiz QI since the show began in 2003.
Quote: "I'm like a fine wine. I'm maturing."
Trivia: In early 2012, he announced his first UK stand-up tour in 12 years.
Ian Lorimer (Director)
Piers Fletcher (Producer)
John Lloyd (Producer)