Is the UK awake yet? I enjoy panel shows and for some reason never got around to watching QI but now I’m a few seasons in and I have to ask how did that end up being the theme song
Replies
Whimsy.
aug 4, 2025, 7:31 am • 0 0 • view
I mean I’ve heard whimsier
aug 4, 2025, 7:35 am • 5 0 • view
Yeah, I just woke up. It's a simple theme but it's got a quiet dignity about it. It doesn't need to be loud or flashy. They save that for when someone gives the wrong answer! :p
aug 4, 2025, 7:48 am • 0 0 • view
I just assumed the show has been around for decades and that it was like that since the beginning lol. it does feel very... 1994
aug 4, 2025, 7:29 am • 0 0 • view
As an American that's been watching the show for years, I suddenly feel dense for having never even questioned it! I think that maybe I thought it was just... in line with some kind of British sensibility for those types of shows.
aug 4, 2025, 7:49 am • 0 0 • view
Are you acquainted with Match of the Day’s theme? youtu.be/rcuiR0YyajY?...
aug 5, 2025, 2:17 am • 1 0 • view
Honestly surprised you've never been on QI. I'm sure they'd find a seat for you if you reached out. Or if your people talked to their people. You famous types have "people", right?
aug 4, 2025, 8:02 am • 5 0 • view
Its a well-known fact that the writer's department at QI is run by elves. What's lesser-known: The music department is run by fairies! The fairies did it.
aug 4, 2025, 10:11 am • 0 0 • view
i love reggae music
aug 4, 2025, 9:32 am • 1 0 • view
If you like UK panel shows you must search out Shooting Stars with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer - absolute gold.
aug 4, 2025, 7:38 am • 15 0 • view
Shooting Stars is a panel show in the same way The Young Ones is a sitcom
aug 4, 2025, 10:31 am • 8 0 • view
Eranu
aug 4, 2025, 8:23 am • 2 0 • view
Seconded. Shooting Stars was the first show I watched on TV in the UK when I moved here. Immediately knew that shifting my entire life this island was the correct decision.
aug 4, 2025, 8:00 am • 1 0 • view
ever watch 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown? that and Taskmaster (thanks to you!) are my faves. I love the idea of a game show where everyone just goofs around for 20 minutes before they start the game
aug 4, 2025, 7:25 am • 11 0 • view
I’d recommend “Would I Lie To You?” as well, if you haven’t checked it out.
aug 4, 2025, 2:30 pm • 3 0 • view
that one’s great! 👏
aug 4, 2025, 3:56 pm • 0 0 • view
It has never occurred to me how unfitting that theme song is until just now.
aug 4, 2025, 7:18 am • 0 0 • view
Lmao it’s very twee, but after a while you get excited just hearing it. It’s kind of magical.
aug 4, 2025, 12:57 pm • 0 0 • view
The old boy network.
aug 4, 2025, 7:17 am • 0 0 • view
It’s not a whistler, is it?
aug 4, 2025, 7:25 am • 1 0 • view
there’s like. a mandatory level of shiteness that BBC shows in particular have to maintain. for a people who (correctly) don’t believe they deserve good things
aug 5, 2025, 12:02 am • 35 0 • view
PFT on WATT for Panel Shows ep?
aug 5, 2025, 12:19 am • 1 0 • view
How long before he does Taskmaster?
aug 5, 2025, 2:44 am • 1 0 • view
After the success of JV Martoukas, they'll probably want more token yanks.
aug 9, 2025, 5:31 pm • 0 0 • view
Paul, if Mantzoukas can be on Taskmaster UK you can definitely be a guest on QI. Although the current host Sandi Tokvig is a different vibe than the eponymous Steven Fry.
aug 4, 2025, 3:09 pm • 4 0 • view
If Corey Taylor can be a QI guest I think that's precedent enough for almost anyone
aug 4, 2025, 11:32 pm • 2 0 • view
honestly PFT would be magnificent on either show
aug 5, 2025, 3:18 am • 1 0 • view
My question is why did they think it was okay for a show with such a calm demeanour to include an obnoxious, blaring alarm sound every couple of minutes
aug 4, 2025, 9:33 am • 0 0 • view
I wonder why anything becomes the theme tune, as they tend to be composed in a rush. Howard Goodall is a veteran of TV themes through the 80s and 90s and is a friend of QI creator John Lloyd.
aug 4, 2025, 7:19 am • 4 0 • view
Always reminded me of the DK Eyewitness videos that I think might have been broadcast as kids programming on the BBC? I think it's pretty fitting as something that tried to bill itself as an educational-ish program.
aug 4, 2025, 7:39 am • 0 0 • view
When you grow up with theme tunes following the BBC light music standard you kind of don't notice how weird it is
aug 4, 2025, 7:40 am • 2 0 • view
As a Brit myself I can confidently say that it likely happened because we nabbed it from elsewhere whilst drinking tea and eating scones.
aug 5, 2025, 12:04 pm • 1 0 • view
I don’t think it is, but it always reminded me vaguely of a song by The Specials called Do Nothing.
aug 4, 2025, 7:27 am • 0 0 • view
Oh yes! I can certainly hear a similarity.
aug 4, 2025, 8:21 am • 0 0 • view
Paul F Tompkins on Taskmaster please <3
aug 5, 2025, 12:15 am • 0 0 • view
aug 4, 2025, 7:22 am • 4 0 • view
I don't know what was going on with uk TV theme songs in the naughties but it was weird. Check out this 11 second blunder which was somehow for a serious discussion and complaints programme youtu.be/2bcXIqBuVWY?...
aug 4, 2025, 7:33 am • 40 1 • view
"Serious" is maybe a bit much - Points of View has always been somewhat tongue in cheek. Not to the extent implied by that deranged theme tune, mind you, but it wasn't like Late Review or Watchdog or something
aug 4, 2025, 8:46 am • 0 0 • view
This is insane
aug 4, 2025, 7:35 am • 35 0 • view
Goddamn I love the Brits.
aug 5, 2025, 2:29 am • 0 0 • view
youtu.be/Qu62FBIm49k
aug 4, 2025, 8:06 am • 8 0 • view
American here: is that the same guy that did The Beach Boys bit on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown? Adam Buxton I believe? It's so interesting seeing past work from people who I didn't grow up with but am now enamored with in my mid-30's 😂
aug 4, 2025, 12:16 pm • 4 0 • view
Found it! youtu.be/EEKxabm31S8?...
aug 4, 2025, 12:18 pm • 11 0 • view
That's the guy! If you like Adam Buxton, if you're a podcast guy they did a radio show years back, LOTS of it is online and they did plenty of musical jingles. Can find bits and pieces on YouTube, Spotify etc, whatever you use. Just look up "Adam and joe 6 music" and you'll find loads :D
aug 4, 2025, 12:21 pm • 2 0 • view
Definitely look up Adam and Joe Song Wars
aug 4, 2025, 12:25 pm • 2 0 • view
Yes, it's Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish, who came to prominence initially with the DIY-style "The Adam and Joe Show" on British TV in the 90s. This is from their BBC Radio 6 show/podcast from the late 2010s
aug 4, 2025, 12:21 pm • 1 0 • view
Fun fact: The frontman of the band they’re discussing at the beginning of this clip won an Oscar this year.
aug 4, 2025, 8:49 pm • 0 0 • view
This is what Adam Buxton would come up with
aug 4, 2025, 8:03 am • 1 0 • view
I've Googled. He knows about it www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl4-...
aug 4, 2025, 8:05 am • 0 0 • view
Their coverage of this stupid theme is the reason it's still in my head 20 years later. And I also watched this immediately after linking to Paul lol. You're puttin me in an echo chamber of my own nostalgia here, Smeffles
aug 4, 2025, 8:08 am • 2 0 • view
Link had me laughing as much as them, forgot how funny they can be. You just don't get that with RadMac reviewing crisps
aug 4, 2025, 8:19 am • 1 0 • view
Well as long as we are gushing about Adam and Joe, here's the other brain worm they gave me, about Taffin youtu.be/qVFyznuyx8Y?...
aug 4, 2025, 8:22 am • 0 0 • view
Having just seen a production of JCS I have to say and was not able to make that particular connection because what I hear is “let’s get together and be alright”
aug 4, 2025, 11:22 pm • 66 0 • view
Huh... y'know you're not wrong now that you mention it. Now I'm gonna hear it every time, too.
aug 4, 2025, 11:27 pm • 0 0 • view
I have no idea what JCS you're referring to but I'm 100% positive it can't be the true crime YouTube channel.
aug 5, 2025, 1:34 am • 0 0 • view
Jesus Christ Superstar?
aug 5, 2025, 2:26 am • 1 0 • view
It should be the theme song for a children’s show that takes place in the home of an anthropomorphic puffin
aug 4, 2025, 7:39 am • 330 1 • view
...that's just Stephen Fry
aug 4, 2025, 8:16 am • 0 0 • view
Exactly though, it's about whimsy! it's saying "Whimsy! do you like whimsy? I sure hope you like whimsy because it's about to get FUCKIN whimsical in here"
aug 4, 2025, 7:50 am • 5 0 • view
Such a shame that Stephen left. (Sorry spoilers). Because he and Alan had that knife fight.
aug 4, 2025, 8:29 am • 0 0 • view
Hello, yes, we're awake, honest. I think it was orchestrated to lull you into a false sense of security. It primes you for a cosy quiz to deepen the impact when they drop bombshells like light is a type of darkness, Victorians perfected nipple piercings, and squirrels aren't real.
aug 4, 2025, 9:17 am • 2 0 • view
"an anthropomorphic puffin" is very Bill Bailey coded though.
aug 4, 2025, 7:41 am • 22 0 • view
And he does kinda look like an anthropomorphic puffin too.
aug 4, 2025, 8:21 am • 15 0 • view
Have you ever experienced the version they play at Christmas? The bells, the bells...
aug 4, 2025, 11:06 am • 1 0 • view
This sounds pretty condescending to all of the anthropomorphic puffins reading it.
aug 4, 2025, 7:57 am • 0 0 • view
Try Only Connect (not quite a panel show), its theme song sounds like it's from a children's program about an anthropomorphic street pigeon with schitzophrenia making permanent realisations about the shadow government and their hidden mechanisms that control his life.
aug 4, 2025, 8:37 am • 1 0 • view
We do quirky well. Remember, we're the ones that took an Eagles instrumental and made it the theme of a comedy sci-fi series.
aug 4, 2025, 8:38 am • 5 0 • view
Journey of the Sorcerer is best remembered this way.
aug 4, 2025, 10:08 am • 2 0 • view
I have watched QI for most of my life, and I have to say, despite personally loving the theme song, this hits so hard and is so accurate.
aug 4, 2025, 12:16 pm • 3 0 • view
There's a puffin in this house He's best friends with a mouse They go for walks along the lake Then go home and have cake
aug 4, 2025, 7:41 am • 0 0 • view
8am here and I've literally never thought about it, but I kinda like it? For people with no context:
aug 4, 2025, 7:20 am • 0 0 • view
British panel shows are amazing. America needs more.
aug 4, 2025, 7:21 am • 8 0 • view
The UK needs less. To be honest, I think that fad has gone a bit, not to be replaced with anything better. QI is great and there were probably others but we had SO many and they were empty calories although some were great entry points for new comedians.
aug 4, 2025, 7:37 am • 3 0 • view
It's not about individual shows so much. It's having a network of shows that the many comedians out there can work their magic week in and week out.
aug 4, 2025, 8:20 am • 8 0 • view
The UK has a much more ridiculous number of reality TV these days, but if people want empty calorie TV, I say let them have their small joys.
aug 6, 2025, 3:42 am • 2 0 • view
America started the format! But recent attempts tend to suffer from (I think) American producers misunderstanding who should be on these shows. A US Last One Laughing could be great, but I just see them going for the biggest names over folks like Lisa Gilroy, Drew Tarver, Nicole Byer, PFT, etc.
aug 4, 2025, 2:40 pm • 1 0 • view
But: I do recommend Dropout. A good chunk of the programming on there is, essentially, in a panel show format done well.
aug 4, 2025, 2:41 pm • 2 0 • view
Same composer wrote the Red Dwarf theme, which is fast paced and great, so can only assume he wrote the QI theme while listening to reggae in traction on a morphine drip.
aug 4, 2025, 7:58 am • 2 0 • view
A deliberate reference to old genteel and tweedy BBC2 panel game themes, like Call My Bluff and Ask The Family, I think. youtu.be/A1EoZlJIZ4k?...
aug 4, 2025, 7:23 am • 13 0 • view
That’s exactly what I always presumed. Sounds a bit like The Good Life at half speed too.
aug 5, 2025, 7:08 am • 1 0 • view
Call My Bluff youtu.be/Opg3KOZMoY4?...
aug 4, 2025, 7:24 am • 7 0 • view
It's morse code for a website that may or may not still exist
aug 4, 2025, 7:17 am • 27 0 • view
I was trying to remember what it was, I knew it was a message of some sort! Good on you!
aug 5, 2025, 1:35 am • 0 0 • view
TiL:
aug 4, 2025, 7:41 am • 25 0 • view
And here I thought all this time it was the "doot doot" song
aug 6, 2025, 3:39 am • 0 0 • view
I guess it works to some respect, if twenty odd years later it is provoking discourse. Like the show itself, it reminds you of an age without t-shirt cannons, fireworks and million dollar budgets and prizes. Understated, gentle, recognisable and quite British.
aug 4, 2025, 7:33 am • 0 0 • view
Would I Lie to You is my favorite
aug 5, 2025, 2:45 am • 1 0 • view
It’s the extreme other end of the spectrum. “Hey some comedians are gonna tell some goofy stories and you’ll know when it starts when YOUR FACE STARTS MELTING”
aug 5, 2025, 3:04 am • 3 0 • view
Such a good show, I need to catch up.
aug 4, 2025, 10:25 pm • 0 0 • view
okay we're in the final stages of putting together our super nerdy quiz show about common misconceptions, we need a theme song that sounds like something you'd put on while crocheting a hacky sack for a disappointing local reggae festival that will definitely be at least 40% undercover cops
aug 4, 2025, 9:09 am • 17 0 • view
Perfect
aug 4, 2025, 5:19 pm • 6 0 • view
Man I have wondered this so many times
aug 4, 2025, 9:05 am • 1 0 • view
It’s morning there so I imagine anyone between the ages of 0 and death are awake
aug 4, 2025, 7:22 am • 1 0 • view
I think the boring answer is that Howard Goodall is a longtime collaborator as composer with producer John Lloyd (Goodall did the Blackadder music) and it’s also a bit of a take off of the original University Challenge theme which is… jaunty… youtu.be/ZemIQdrrZy4?...
aug 4, 2025, 8:26 am • 4 0 • view
But where he got the idea of adding in a light Reggae Skank (presumably the puffin’s favourite dance), I’ve no idea.
aug 4, 2025, 8:27 am • 2 0 • view
My hope is to see you on TaskMaster
aug 4, 2025, 8:00 am • 1 0 • view
We're just trying to get to "Price is Right" levels of greatness.
aug 4, 2025, 10:33 am • 0 0 • view
QI is such gold
aug 4, 2025, 7:25 am • 2 0 • view
I haven't watched 8 out of 10 cats but did get an algorithm recommendation of Sam Campbell on it and the algorithm got it right for once. youtu.be/PxMHwlD1JwE?...
aug 4, 2025, 8:43 am • 3 0 • view
My assumption is that there's lyrics they never used that go In'tresting In'tresting This is quite In'tresting
aug 4, 2025, 7:22 am • 1 0 • view
The QI Elves will be with you shortly.
aug 4, 2025, 7:56 am • 3 0 • view
It’s not a panel show, but Only Connect is the best quiz show on TV. Hosted by Victoria Coren Mitchell (whom you’ve probably seen on QI), it’s not just Jeopardy-style questions and answers. It requires lateral thinking (and The NY Times stole their Connections game from Only Connect).
aug 4, 2025, 9:09 am • 2 0 • view
Oh man how I would LOVE to see you on Taskmaster or QI.
aug 5, 2025, 12:06 am • 0 0 • view
Seek out the Acropolis outtake.
aug 4, 2025, 9:58 pm • 3 0 • view
What is this a Dan Brown
aug 4, 2025, 11:23 pm • 4 0 • view
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdvD...
aug 5, 2025, 12:20 am • 0 0 • view
They say of the Acropolis where the Parthenon is....
aug 4, 2025, 11:53 pm • 3 0 • view
Its 4:23am in Indiana, Im literally and not literally woke and cant get the thoughts down fast enough Paul. How do you do it?
aug 4, 2025, 8:28 am • 1 0 • view
Skip the covid seasons if you can, ruined it for me
aug 4, 2025, 11:29 pm • 1 0 • view
I believe the two funniest people on the planet are you and Joe Wilkinson. This feels relatively related to what you're talking about, but I'm sorry if it's not.
aug 4, 2025, 8:31 am • 0 0 • view
I have long dreamed of a North American Would I Lie To You done right, with Aukerman hosting and you and Lapkus as team captains.
aug 4, 2025, 9:22 am • 0 0 • view