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This article was originally published in 2020 and has been updated with 2021s BFQ offerings.
But theyre really competing to see who can make fun of hostJimmy Carrin the most inventive way.
Almost everyone onstage is an old pro, with a very identifiable personal brand that verges on self-parody.
The tapings drag on for hours, and contestants have typically lost their whole-ass minds by the final question.
TheBig Fat Quizis just one beautiful beast in a vibrant ecosystem of U.K. light entertainment.
Comedians across the pond will supplement their tour or limited-series auteur-comedy-show income by guesting on all theseshiny-floor TVshows.
Its a much better system than what we have in America.
How is a rising comedian supposed to get noticed here, insurance commercials?
A 15-minute Netflix special?
Gimme a break.
TheBFQs are also hugely comforting.
Through Brexit, recession, and the war on terror, the jokes keep coming.
(Ive given each quiz a nickname with its most identifying characteristic, a laFriendsepisode titling.
Otherwise, this would be an impenetrable list of numbers.
Brand and Ross returned to the quiz the following year as part of a general apology tour.
Early quizzes, especially, suffer from the aughts particular brand of edgelordy brain worms.
It was a different time, and different things will be the breaking point for different people.
Nobody is canceled, but life is short, and there are so many other quizzes to watch.
Theres a Smart-ass Team thats just there to make jokes.
Everyone manages to give as good as they get from Scary Spice, however.
And the end of the show is just a deluge of Spice Girls lyric puns.
What they really, really want.
Usually its Jon Snow, whom many of the female panelists seem to have residual crushes on from childhood.
Its a terrible year, and a terrible song, but Jon Snow makes everything better.
Her cute (???)
Jimmy offers a joke, Im not being patronizing; Im being condescending.
They cut away from her reaction, but her eyes are on fire for the rest of the quiz.
On the comedy end, Jack Dees dour bit stops the quiz multiple times.
Deadpan doesnt play onThe Big Fat Quiz.
Even Richard Ayoade shouts on these.
Maybe 80s nostalgia just isnt fun in Britain.
Thanks a lot, Thatcher!
Jokes about miners strikes arent the stuff comedy dreams are made of.
Nobody is doing a bad job, but nobody is really on their top game either.
Micky Flanagan dominates the conversation, basically making the whole quiz a two-man innuendo-off with Carr.
OriginalCountdownhost Carol Vorderman has a nice moment whenshe needs the concept of fingering to be explained to her.
But too many of the panelists are quip-shy.
2005 (The Second One)
This one is still very rough around the edges.
Rounds go by month rather than subject, which makes the quiz feel very disjointed.
They still have celebs reading answers and draining the room of its energy.
But Sharon Osbournes enthusiasm pushes this thing to the middle of the heap.
Just cackling like a mad witch and blurting out answers.
One is thrust right back into Iraq War discourse with these early episodes.
David Mitchell and Richard Ayoade are teamed in this one, which is a bit too dry-on-dry.
Its like if you put a slice of toast between two other pieces of toast.
The similarity between Jimmy Carr andMilhouse petting the horseshoe crabis uncanny.
2021 (The One with Chantal)
The second Big Fat Quiz of the COVID Year is weirdly joyless.
EvenChantal, the big doll fromSquid Game,cant save it.
And shes hard to book!
Sarah Millican, who is usually a giggle monster in these, seems angry about getting the gig.
Everyone seemed a little subdued even Jonathan Ross spontaneously generated character, Tommy Petrol.
This outing also suffered from not having a true Brainy Team.
Like the quiz itself, the Ayoade/Fielding double act needed an episode or two to figure out the kayfabe.
Ayoade calls their team-up The Niche Corner, but they arent the Rude Niche Corner yet.
2018 (The One With Michelle Wolf)
Americans are hit or miss on this show.
Michelle Wolf has expressed her love forBritish panel shows, but the quiz format holds her back somewhat.
But Wolf is almost tentative.
She seems aware shes on other peoples turf, which does her brash brand a disservice.
This is also a weirdly low-scoring year.
Nobody seems to know the answers and everyone seems mad about it.
Even a fake Hulk wrecking the set at the end feels somewhat joyless.
The problem with that, however, was that he had been paired with arch silliness impresario Richard Ayoade.
The two had great quiz styles that tasted bad together.
Golly gee, were we wrong.
These quizzes lack the political edge of their yearly counterparts, but they often feature magnificent dumbassJoey Essex.
Its a fair trade.
However, the pairs combined i aint bothered energy more than makes up for this joke reuse faux pas.
Maybe she also gets that half point because these questions are weirdly hard?
At least for an American.
If you watch a BFQ to feel smugly superior, look elsewhere.
Someday we will get one heckuvaCrownseason.
And 70-year-old Jamie Bell is going to crush.
This episode suffers from too many stunt foods.
Things have escalated so in the intervening seven years that 2019 has multiple wicker hampersanda drinks run.
Everyone gets tequila pineapple drinks that just sit on their desks for more than half the quiz.
But at the end of the day, Jon Snow kind of twerks in this one.
Nothing can take that away from us.
Bob Mortimer is a hoot and a half in this episode, bringing his particular brand of surreal filth.
If you havent seen his season ofTaskmaster,you should probably.
Hisstop-motion film about a bananais a thing to behold.
Mortimer has successfully cock-a-lottied next to Napoleons bed, the Treaty of Versailles, and the Bayeux Tapestry.
Watch Richard Ayoade while Bob explains the game.
Weve both exposed ourselves to the Magna Carta.
What are you gonna do about it?
Brooker is partnered with David Mitchell, the resident crank ofThe Big Fat Quiz.
Usually its Carr, but David Mitchell and Charlie Brooker work it perfectly.
BFQE 2018 Special (The One With Vic and Bob)
For the most part, theBFQEs blend together.
This one is memorable for reuniting comedy duoVic Reeves and Bob Mortimer.
But its pretty rare for a double act to be together on the show.
Either way, Im laughing.
2 (The One With Tits and Teeth)
Its a lovely spread of teams this episode.
Aisling Bea and Rob Beckett debut on the quiz as Tits and Teeth, bringing the youth vote.
On the opposite end, we have the Ancient Fucks: Adam Buxton and Jonathan Ross.
In the middle we have the old standbys of Ayoade and Fielding.
Bea stands out, talking mad smack while she and her teammate lose horribly.
They throw candy at each other, candy that belongs to Richard Ayoade.
Bea tries to bury the hatchet by hugging Ayoade, but clearly he hates human touch.
On that show, Lycett commits to the bit.
Helegally changed his name to Hugo Bossto prove that enforcing copyright on the word boss is stupid.
I now hate Hugo Boss more than I already did forthe whole Nazi thing.
Each team brings a fun flavor.
The less established double act of Big Narstie and Katherine Ryan is there, too, bringing the pain.
At one point, Big Narstie falls asleep and blames it on everyone making proper white people jokes.
This is why he got his own show.
U.K. panel shows havelong been under criticismfor their overwhelmingly straight, white male casts.
Often on previous quizzes, there would only be one Token Girl.
Katherine Ryan and Aisling Bea are panel-showmonsters,in the Nicki Minaj verse on the Kanye song sense.
They also brought doggies!
Its fun to track who is petting Megan, the tiniest dog on the planet, throughout the episode.
The more juvenile the humor gets on these shows, the better.
Theres something so pure about your mom jokes.
Theyre entirely untethered from anyones actual mother.
That woman is bendy.
If your mom jokes go on for too long, they take on an absurd edge.
Who is this ugly, sexually voracious woman who sitsaroundthe house?
What is her secret to living so well?
This episode is so jokey that Noel Fielding has to assume the nerd persona and keep the quiz moving.
The joke answers:real answers ratio is really skewed.
Nobody is going to be the Brainy Team.
And Chelsea Perettis apparent disdain for everything going on around her is delightful to watch.
Its not the first time shes made it easy to score, after all.
Nobodys been out of the house all year, so the panelists get rowdy.
James Acaster, in general, is a great add to the madness of a BFQ.
Its the way his face doesnt move, no matter what madness is coming out of his mouth.
Its unpredictable, you never know what hes going to do.
Joe Lycetts prop work also bears mentioning.
He brought curtains, bless him!
She doesnt entirely understand whats going on, but she throws herself into it with enthusiasm.
Schaal is paired withGreat British Baking Shows Mel Giedroyc for Big Fun Aunt Energy.
Nobody throws Baileys like Mel Giedroyc.
This prompts David Mitchell to admit hes terrible at high-fiving, which is lamentably on-brand for him.
This is also the episode where the entire audience gets Champagne.
In all, its a wine moms favorite quiz.
When they score their first point halfway through the show!
they do a victory lap through the audience.
Every team has fun in this episode.
This is the first quiz where chaos reigns.
Lycett is paired with Alan Carr, as the Grindrs and Mincers, the pithiest idiots to ever live.
Alan and Joe brought wigs and fake glasses so they could age as the famously hours-long taping progressed.
But then they saw Jonathan Ross looking a little worse for wear, so they decided against it.
Didnt want to be bullies.
Lycett is wonderfully physical throughout the quiz.
He hits Jimmy, hes chased by Pikachu, and he does the whole Gangnam Style dance.
He even does a spot-onTheresa May dancingimpression while wearing a spot-on Theresa May wig.
This quiz also has the loudest team ever: Claudia Winkleman and Nish Kumar.
Winkleman had been on quizzes since 2008, and she always shouts Oh, yes!
whenever her teammate knows an answer.
Like, every time.
But Nish Kumar is almost as loud.
If you like TV to make sense, this might not be the quiz for you.
2012 (The Tuxedo Pizza Party)
This is one of my most rewatched episodes ofBig Fat Quiz.
Its a great combination of pre-Brexit/Trump everythings fine!
news, stunts, and silliness.
Normally I dont think hot people should be allowed to do comedy, but Russell Howard is an exception.
Dude prepared for the test.
The tuxedo boys give tremendously stupid answers.
The only low point is sports presenter Gabby Logan, whom they obviously hired for her Olympics expertise.
2007 (The One With Banana Battlements, Banattlements)
This is the second quiz with the Goth Detectives.
Russell Brand and Noel Fieldings childish contempt for the quiz is what made this show great.
If aBFQdoesnt have a little bit of anarchy, it falls flat.
Brand and Fielding bring a lot of anarchy to 2007.
David Mitchell calls it out as some Nuremberg shit.
This quiz has everything.
Lily Allen is a delightful loose cannon, minded by Jonathan Ross but still managing to insult Radiohead.
And after four long years, perennial guest Rob Brydon wins a quiz.
Its a Cinderella story, ifCinderellawas about a guy who does impressions.
2015 (The One With Bad Dong)
This is the best episode to fall asleep to.
The chillwave edition of the quiz.
The highest-energy moment comes when Rob Brydon and David Mitchell have a pedant off aboutJeremy Clarksons firing.
Though a close second is when Rob Brydon finds out about the dress live on TV.
Very little fazes him.
Very little, that is, besides the worddong.
Its a childish throwback word,dong.
And once its been let loose, it takes over the quiz.
Chelsea Peretti, the confused-yet-indifferent interloper, is paired with old pro Jonathan Ross.
The moment where Whitehall convinces Giedroyc that her pen is voice activated is devastating in its generation gap.
And Fielding and Ayoade are there to snark and provide surrealist answers.
Each team has at least one member known for shenanigans.
Only Peretti and Ayoade refuse to participate.
But even when pastry isnt flying through the air, this quiz is anarchic.
At one point, everyone talks in Stallone/Elephant Man impressions.
Its a full minute of completely unintelligible mouth sounds.
If youre looking for a fun version ofLord of the Flies,this is the quiz for you.
Jonathan Ross brings his Christmas leftovers to make sandwiches for his fellow panelists.
Of course Jack Whitehall winds up flinging meat across the stage.
Whitehall is in peak annoying little brother mode this year.
The team of Kristen Schaal and Dara OBriain brings a lot of joy to the quiz.
Theyre much peppier than the Bad Boys on either side of them.
Nobody is as simultaneously confident and confused as Big Narstie.
He doesnt know who any of his co-panelists are and he gets two very strange catchphrases immediately: Bong!
imitating Big Ben and Mo Farah Sign, doing what he thinks isthe Mobotbut is actually just a heart.
Each thing drives the ultrapolished Jimmy Carr up the wall.
It is delicious to watch.
He and Noel Fielding are in peak form.
Fielding brought a mask to complete hisconceptual artist Nick Caveesquebejeweled gown.
Brand weighs in on every politician and whether or not theyll make it out alive, come the revolution.
And lets not forget when Fielding demands a blowie off the puppet [Carr] if they win.
The Goth Detectives come close to winning, but at what cost to the integrity of the quiz?
They run through the audience asking for answers, actually bringing an audience member onstage.
But then, Brand exchanges numbers with someone in the audience who crowdsources answers for the Goth Detectives.
It just goes to show: Theres no point in playing by anyone elses rules.
Charisma wins over correctness every time.
A dark moral to draw from the last pre-Brexit/Trump quiz, but there it is.
Mr. Blobby was a parody of childrens characters onNoels House Party, a.k.a.
the show with the gunge.
In 1993 he had theChristmas No.
Little does he know that the Blobster himself will be presenting the last question of the night.
Blobby should be on every quiz.
Beyond the Blobby content, this quiz is blessed with Dara OBriains considerable mime talents.
In theBFQof 2013, he played a motorcycle.
Between him and Blobby, its the quiz with the best space work bar none.
Its so dark, yet in her Geordie accent it sounds like the beginning of a childrens book.
The wind whispers it to me on cold nights.
Then Richard Ayoade tops it by saying he was at home for the entire decade, tapingFriends.
Ayoade looks so smug.
Fielding cant stop laughing.
Jimmy Carr does a good job of pretending to be offended.
This is whatThe Big Fat Quizis all about: mom jokes and IRL cyberbullying.
2006 (The Debut of the Goth Detectives)
The Platonic ideal of quizzing.
Not only does this episode introduce the churlish hipster fucks we know and love, its damn exciting.
David Walliams goes fullFrank Grimes, incandescent with rage that these dum-dums have a chance at winning.
From then on, each team actuallytriesfor the first time all quiz.
It gets tense, almost like watching sports.
