No Such Thing as a Fish by James Harkin, Andrew Hunter Murray, Anna Ptaszynski and Dan Schreiber, [Online Resource]
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Way back in 2003 Stephen Fry began hosting the delightful comedy trivia quiz show QI. The most visible stars of that show were the host, Stephen Fry, and the many witty panelists who joined him each week. But the hidden stars of the show were the researches who provided Stephen with a seemingly endless supply of “quite interesting” things to talk about. Those researchers quickly became know as the QI Elves, and since 2014 four of them, James Harkin, Andrew Hunter Murray, Anna Ptaszynski and Dan Schreiber, have hosted a weekly podcast crammed full of quite interesting facts, speculations, and banter.
No Such Thing as a Fish is wonderfully entertaining. Each of the four hosts picks a favorite fact of the week, which might sound like a recipe for a rather short podcast, but each host also comes prepared with a list of their favorite facts on the topic of their cohost’s facts. That would make for a minimum of 12 facts, and most episodes have far more. A recent episode included information on ancient Roman toilets, paint colors in Pompeii, flag burning, the origin of the word the word “prat”, and what we do and do not know about human intestinal length. All the while we are treated to jokes and puns and humorous anecdotes.
Most episodes of Fish are between 40 minutes and an hour long, and the episodes can be enjoyed in any order. Some listeners may want to seek out the episodes with special guests such as Stephen Fry, Cariad Lloyd, and John Hodgman. (The latter is, I must say, perfectly suited for the show.)
