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mvet88


Member

Posted Thu Oct 27th, 2011 5:32am Post subject: QI Live Melbourne - review

A 'quick' review of the QI live show that I attended last night with ACSarahAC.

The show took place at Her Majesty's Theatre and by the number of people that were there, I would say the show was booked out. There was various merchandise for sale - all at ridiculously inflated prices of course. I did fork out $20 for the programme as there were some lovely pictures in there.

I was very fortunate to have a front row seat. The panel was set up in a nearly identical manner to the TV show except it was facing straight on to the audience rather than curved in a semi circle

I took this dodgy pic on my mobile before I was promptly told off by an usher

I cannot tell you how excited I was when Stephen came bounding on the stage. As I was overseas the last time he came here, I thought I'd have to wait another 10 years before getting the chance to see him again!

We were treated to about half an hour or so of Stephen doing what he does best - talking! He chatted about the queen, his visit to Australia in the 1980's, Billy Conelly and a couple of jokes to top things off. Having watched so many interviews of Stephen, I am quite familiar with a lot of his stories and quotes but somehow he manages to make it fresh each time.

During the QI live tour, apart from Alan and Stephen there is a rotating panel of Australian comedians and nobody knows until that night who they will be. On that particular night we had Colin Lane, Cal Wilson and Red Symons. I understand that no one outside of Australia will be familiar with these names but believe me, they were well suited to the vein of the show.

Anyone who watches QI would have known the answers to the questions that were asked! Yes, all the questions were recycled but as we know, its not the answer that counts, its the response from the panelists and their interaction with the host that makes the show so enjoyable. I don't think there is anything nicer than having a theatre full of people belly laughing along with the performers! The woman seated next to me was laughing so hard at times that it sounded like she was having a fit!

Fluffettes you will be pleased to know that you got a mention from the man himself on stage! During a discussion about Norwich FC, someone in the audience let out a 'woot!' to which Stephen responded, 'Oh, that must be a fluffette'. I nearly fell off my seat!! I think if I had been sitting next to AcSarahAC, we would have squeed out loud

The show lasted for about 2.5 hours but as with any fluffette I could have listened to him speak for days and days!
Australia was very lucky to be able to convince both Stephen and Alan to tour with this show. I do hope that other places get to experience the QI live shows as well.
My only complaint which has nothing to do with the show itself but more the promoters, was the ticket price.Even for a full time worker such as myself, I found the prices to be very steep. To give you an idea, the prices ranged from $200 to about $100 for restricted view seats.

However, all thoughts of my bank account flew out of my head once we were at the stage door after the show.

Over to you AcSarahAC!

@mvet88

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ACSarahAC


Member

Posted Fri Oct 28th, 2011 1:08am Post subject: QI Live Melbourne - review

Great review! Thanks mvett88!
So now to the second part of the evening - after the show!

Once the show had finished mvet88 and I met at the Stage Door. I was one of the first to arrive so we were standing right next to the door. And the doors had glass panels which allowed us to peer into the foyer area inside.

We were waiting quite a while and a bit of a crowd gathered in a circle around the doors. We decided now would be a good time to get a photo of mvet88 and I together (yay for Fluffette meet-ups!)

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Each of the local guest panellists gradually came out through the doors. The crowd gave them little rounds of applause. A couple of people asked for autographs or photos with the panellists but it was pretty obvious that most people were really there to see Stephen and/or Alan.

After a while the security guy from the Theatre popped his head out the door and said "Just to let you know, they may not necessarily come out through this door. They don't always come out here. Last night Stephen didn't come out here at all. Alan usually comes this way though. He will probably come out. But they might be quite a while. They have some guests in there tonight so they might be another half an hour or 45 minutes"
It was already after 11:00pm when he said that, but we didn't care. We were in for the long haul, whatever happened!

Anyway before too long Alan Davies came out the doors. He seemed really relaxed and friendly. He was chatting to everyone and signing lots of autographs.

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He has been quite sick since he's been in Australia so I was asking him how he was feeling and whether he was any better. He said he is a little better. He had mentioned in the show that a Melbourne Doctor prescribed him lots of drugs so I said "I hope the drugs are helping" and he said "YEAHHHHHH DRUGSSSSSSS"

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More time passed. The crowd was starting to thin-out a bit. Everyone was wondering if Mr Fry would come out through those doors at all. I knew a few Fluffettes had Tweeted him to say we were waiting so I was secretly optimistic that he would come out.

Sure enough, after a little while a buzz started in the crowd. Everyone was peering through the glass doors and saying things like "Yes I'm sure it's him!" "Look I can see the top of his head" "He's coming this way I'm certain!"
I turned to mvet88 and grinned. "It's him. Here he comes!"

When I turned back I saw none other than wonderful Aussie actor Geoffrey Rush standing in the foyer with Mr Fry! More crowd buzz about Mr Rush. Then the poor fellow took one look at all the excitable, grinning fan-faces peering through the glass doors and he beat a hasty retreat!

We could see Mr Fry's hand on the door. Anticipation was building! And finally he pushed open the door and out he came! He apologised and said that he would need to be very very quick as he had people waiting for him. The Production Manager came out as well and said that Mr Fry only had TWO MINUTES!!

He was very quickly trying to sign autographs for everyone. When I saw a gap in the crowd I quickly stuck out my copy of The Fry Chronicles for him to sign.

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When he was signing my book I tried to have a little chat with him. I told him that we are Fluffettes and he said "Oh I mentioned the Fluffettes in the show!" and I said "Yes we heard!" and he said "I was waiting for you to squeal?" and I said "I did a little bit, but maybe I was too quiet"

Then he said "You must have been busy pressing your thighs together"
(I must explain, this wasn't just Mr Fry making random, naughty comments! Haha! During the show when he introduced one of the panellists he mentioned that the chap in question is now on daytime tv and that all the housewives love him and they press their thighs together when they watch him! hehehe! So him saying that to me was just a throwback to the comment from the show)

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The Production Manager was shouting out time counts to Mr Fry "60 SECONDS TO GO"
I think poor Mr Fry had managed to sign about 5 other people's items while he was chatting to me.
Then he had to move off through the crowd to sign more autographs.

As you can see I was extremely happy (or slightly insane it would seem) to have met him and spoken to him

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Mr Fry was working his way through the crowd now signing as many autographs as possible. It was at this point I realised that I hadn't given him the gift I'd brought and probably wouldn't have a chance to. So I dashed across to the Production Manager and said "Can I give this to you to pass on?" and he pointed out the Production Co-ordinator to me and said to give it to her.

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(Lots going on in this one - to the left of frame is me talking to the Production Manager and if you look carefully right down the back you can see Geoffrey Rush!!)

Things were getting a little crazy now. Mr Fry's mobile phone rang so he was trying to talk on the phone and still signing autographs with one hand at the same time. Meanwhile the Production Manager is shouting TEN MORE SECONDS MR FRY!!

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It all happened so quickly! And before we knew it he was wandering off into the night. Leaving us all with massive grins on our faces which are still going now!

____________________________________________________
\\\\\\\"When you look at Velazquez, listen to Mozart, read Dickens or laugh at Billy Connolly you are aware that what they do they do for the world and the results are, of course, magnificent. When you look at Blake, listen to Bach, read Douglas Adams or watch Eddie Izzard perform, you feel you are perhaps the only person in the world who really gets them.\\\\\\\"
__________________________________________________

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ACSarahAC


Member

Posted Fri Oct 28th, 2011 1:16am Post subject: QI Live Melbourne - review

Epilogue: When I went to see the Production Co-ordinator she must have recognised me from my Twitter/Facebook profile picture and she said "Oh I know you! You're the one on Twitter and Facebook who keeps writing 'OMG I'm so excited' and stuff like that"
Anyway she was lovely and very helpful. She took the gift for me and left it in Mr Fry's dressing room. He got it the next night and sent me an extremely lovely Tweet saying thanks.

In the card I had also sent love on behalf of ALL the Fluffettes - so in his Tweet he sent love back to you all

Lastly I just wanted to mention that all the photos were taken by my hubby who is awesome
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trentcsc/

____________________________________________________
\\\\\\\"When you look at Velazquez, listen to Mozart, read Dickens or laugh at Billy Connolly you are aware that what they do they do for the world and the results are, of course, magnificent. When you look at Blake, listen to Bach, read Douglas Adams or watch Eddie Izzard perform, you feel you are perhaps the only person in the world who really gets them.\\\\\\\"
__________________________________________________

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gemini


Member

Posted Fri Oct 28th, 2011 4:23pm Post subject: QI Live Melbourne - review

Thanks for your lovely reports of QI live and of meeting the man in person!! Great pictures as well! Lots of happy faces there, naturally!
@mvet88 Do you recall any details about Stephen recalling the Footlights tour in 1981? Cause I'm a bit obsessed with that.

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mvet88


Member

Posted Sat Oct 29th, 2011 3:08pm Post subject: QI Live Melbourne - review

Hey Gemini, I do recall what he said about his visit here 30 years ago. Unfortunately a lot of it doesn’t translate well into the written word as you really need Stephens narration and expressions to make it truly funny. He discussed how he faced an over from Dennis Lille in Perth (cricket) and was so terrified by the speed of the oncoming ball that afterwards he “wasn’t alone in his pants”

He has the audience in tears with his impression of an aussie announcers accent on a fundraising show. The announcers line was “ideal for gift giving interstate or overseas” but the last syllable was said as if you had acid reflux (Stephen’s words). Subsequently it became a catch cry for him and Hugh during the rest of the Australian tour.

He also recalled checking into a motel in Albury-Wodonga (it’s a country town) and being told by the owner to hang his clothes up in the room. Stephen was rather miffed at this– “I’ll do what I bloody well like” were his thoughts. But then Hugh asked the simple question “Why?” to the owner and as it turned out it was to prevent spiders and other nasty things crawling into the clothes! This prompted Stephen to hang all his clothes on the lights and lampshade and apparently ever since, he has never been able to get a good nights sleep in Australia, even on the 7th floor of a 5 star hotel.

I was fortunate enough to attend another QI live show today and was pleased that it was very different and just as good as the wed night show. QI has the obvious advantage of a rotating panel and varying questions which means every show is guaranteed to be unique. This time around the panellists were Shaun Micallef, Jennifer Byrne (she interviewed Stephen at the Opera House) and Dave Hughes. I have heard a lot of people saying that the aussie panellists were boring and trying too hard to get Stephen’s approval but I personally think they all did a fine job.

The opening introduction talk from Stephen was much the same as Wednesday (except he threw in an extra joke about a duck asking for grapes in a shop) but all the questions were different. At the start of the show a man who had an assistance dog with him yelled out “YOU ARE SEXY STEPHEN” to which he replied “Thank you, just please don’t let your dog loose on me!” The crowd was louder this time and were more willing to shout out answers if the panellists didn’t know. Subsequently, we were awarded second place!

I was interested to hear that when the Americans were approached with the idea of QI they were told that no one there would understand the concept. I know many people on here would have something to say about that Stephen joked that perhaps we were all there in the hopes he would explain to us what the show was about also!

I apologise for my drivel. Thanks to those who read this far.
BTW I’m getting this framed:

@mvet88

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ginj


Member *

Posted Sat Oct 29th, 2011 4:07pm Post subject: QI Live Melbourne - review

Thank you so much ladies for the reviews and sharing of the Melbourne shows. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed the stories and pictures. Sarah, the pictures are just gorgeous, and I suppose I shouldn't admit that one of the autograph signing pics is now my background pic. Mvet88, your retelling of Stephen's stories and jokes made it come alive even more. I really enjoyed this thread, and this trip into the world of QI (which it seems I will never get to see first hand, being an American . Thank you.

Oh and as to your signed photo *thud*


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Fryphile


Member *

Posted Sat Oct 29th, 2011 4:24pm Post subject: QI Live Melbourne - review

OMLPOMLPMOLPOMLPOMLPOMLPOMLPOMLPMOLPOMLPOMLPOMLPOMLPOMLPMOLPOMLPOMLPOMLPOMLPOMLPMOLPOMLPOMLPOMLPOMLPOMLPMOLPOMLPOMLPOMLP

I think of myself as someone who is filled with love, whose only purpose in life was to achieve love. - Stephen Fry

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gemini


Member

Posted Sat Oct 29th, 2011 6:09pm Post subject: QI Live Melbourne - review

@mvet88 Thank you so much! The bits about their 1980's tour made me LOL especially the part about the clothes. I can relate to Stephen's panic when he learned (thanks to Hugh ) why he was told to hang his clothes up. Because I'm shit scared of spiders!

@Fryphile As eloquent as always!

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ACSarahAC


Member

Posted Sun Oct 30th, 2011 8:14am Post subject: QI Live Melbourne - review

Thanks everyone for the kind words. So pleased to be able to share the joy of this experience with you all

And thanks @mvet88 for reviewing the other show you went to too. It was great to hear about how another one went. Also - well remembered with the stuff about the 80s tour. I'd forgotten some of that stuff myself even though I was there when he said it!!

Would just like to make a little addendum: I was in Melbourne today waiting to meet up with my hubby and completely by chance I happened to bump into Alan Davies! I had another little chat with him which was very pleasant indeed. I must say he is an extremely lovely chappy!

Our Dear Mr Fry has now left Melbourne to do the last few shows of the tour up in Brisbane.
I really hope due to the success of the tour that we might be seeing some more QI Live shows very soon!

____________________________________________________
\\\\\\\"When you look at Velazquez, listen to Mozart, read Dickens or laugh at Billy Connolly you are aware that what they do they do for the world and the results are, of course, magnificent. When you look at Blake, listen to Bach, read Douglas Adams or watch Eddie Izzard perform, you feel you are perhaps the only person in the world who really gets them.\\\\\\\"
__________________________________________________

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