Just A Minute

 
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Re: Gyles Brandreth

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Sarah FalkFeb 14, 2007
 

 
In JAM, it's true that the newcomers often finish last, but they are
also often given points very generously by Nicholas and the other
panellists, who do things like purposely buzzing in incorrectly while
the newcomer is speaking. The thing is that the regulars are still so
good that they end up winning anyway . . . but they aren't greedy
about it.

I think part of the reason why newcomers on QI win, as well, is that
you can lose collosal amounts of points by forfeits, and the regulars
aren't afraid to shout out the "obvious" answers for the sake of
comedy. The newcomers generally are trying to "do well".

I haven't watched/listened to any Danny Baker past QI, so perhaps I
haven't gotten the real measure of him. I do like him from what I've
seen, but that cloud thing is worrysome. Someone should ask him what
would happen if a ball was thrown in the air by someone inside a
moving car--according to his logic, you wouldn't be able to catch it
again!

Phill Jupitus is pretty good, in my opinion; not really one of my very
favorites, but he's not a killjoy by any definition. His Stephen
impressions are some of the highlights of the show.

--- In just-a-minute@..., "Nathan Leonard"
<dreadedwoekitten@...> wrote:

>
> Okay, I admit that I didn't actually take note of their scores. Anyway,
> since the total number of points scored in each episode varies so

greatly, I

> think it's probably fair to say that Stephen (or whoever keeps the

score)

> has generous days and harsh days.
>
> I don't think it's the same in Just a Minute at all, though. Most

of the

> people who I've heard on it for the first time (at least in the last

couple

> of series) have finished in "a triumphant fourth place", as Nicholas

puts

> it. That's because Just a Minute is different to most panel games

in that

> there is actually a game involved, and a game that's quite difficult, at
> that.
>
> As for Danny Baker, I don't know why I dislike him so much, he just

really

> gets on my tits for no apparent reason. At least it was for no apparent
> reason, then I downloaded some of his Xfm shows off UKNova, and I

realised

> how collossally arrogant he was, and that he wasn't as clever as he

seemed

> to be. For example, at one point he ridicules a caller while on the

line

> and then repeatedly through the rest of the show because the caller

made the

> (correct) statement that clouds are moved by the wind. Baker

believed (and

> would not be corrected in this) that the clouds always stayed in the

same

> place and the Earth just rotated beneath them. I mean, come on. If

that

> was the case, then the weather forecast would be the same every day.
> Furthermore, the reason the caller called up to mention this was

that Baker

> had suggested that people should travel by flying straight up and

then just

> waiting for the Earth to rotate beneath them before landing again - the
> caller was just phoning up to point out the existence of air and the

fact

> that it rotates along with the Earth, but Baker would not be told.

And that

> was not an isolated incident. In the end I couldn't get through all the
> shows I'd downloaded because of his collossally misguided arrogance, and
> just had to delete them.
>
> I take heart from this because originally, I just didn't like him

because of

> gut feeling, but I was later vindicated. This is the converse of Phill
> Jupitus, to whom I also took an instant dislike, but whom I am now

getting

> into.
>
> On 2/13/07, Sarah Falk <minerva.moon@...> wrote:
> >
> > (I was typing a reply to you and Firefox "quit unexpectedly". No
> > kidding it was unexpected. Ugh. Take two . . .)
> >
> > I don't have anything against Rory, really, but his displays of
> > knowledge were less entertaining and more tiresome than Gyles's were.
> > Danny Baker I like, because you can tell that he's genuinely
> > interested in things. I would cite you examples (and I did in my first
> > draft), but you probably have to watch it to understand what I'm
> > talking about. I find it endearing.
> >
> > In QI, as in "Just a Minute", people generally seem to do well if
> > they're new panellists, mostly because everyone--Stephen, the
> > regulars, the scorers--are easy on them so that they feel relaxed. But
> > I mean that in the sense that newcomers usually win against the
> > regulars, not that they do continually worse. I wouldn't say that they
> > run out of interesting things to say; not at all. I know that Jeremy
> > Clarkson won two games: his first and his last, out of three. And
> > Danny Baker won both of his, and scored higher on the second than on
> > the first!
> >

 
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