Planet-man

Just want to say, I'm Canadian but learned of QI from some Irish friends of mine. After getting into it, I showed it to my father who's always adored Stephen and the British wit but had never heard of it. He proceeded to watch every single episode of the show that had aired(about Series A - I at the time), loving every minute of it, finishing it long before I did.

He passed away last year, and there are a lot of things I watch for the first time now that I think "Oh man, dad would've loved this". But with Q.I., which I'm still making my way through, I can take endless joy in the fact that every brilliant moment my dad would love, he got to see.

[actual question paragraphs numbered for visual convenience]

1. Are you planning on introducing any more words into the common vernacular? My friends and I have been non-ironically using 'particulus' for a while now, and 'the befores' and 'the afters' are now the canon terms in my head for that phenomenon. I'd love more installments of that one.

I'd also like to mention that the befores/afters bit stands out as provoking some of the hardest, most uncontrollable laughing I've been privy to in the last few years. I was literally in spasms of laughter while reading it over and over for weeks, especially the newspaper headline in the "afters" panel. Ditto with the entire "Corporate Logos" comic. Can't tell you how satisfying that one was. I don't understand how society has allowed terrible, clueless logo updates to become such a widespread menace.

2. Are you ever frustrated with the confines of the average computer/tablet screen as your audience's only window to your works? I'm definitely always itching to somehow stretch my monitor out to poster-sized while reading your comics, and worried about it alienating people when I send them around. At the same time, not knowing how long any given strip is going to be until you're well into it can be fun and interesting and I get the feeling you might enjoy inflicting that.

3. Have you seen the 2009 film Mr. Nobody? One of the most under-rated, under-seen recent movies out there, in my opinion, and an excellent, surreal exploration of the concept in your "Consequences" strip, one of my favourite concepts overall and one I inexplicably have the most trouble getting people to believe in/understand. Seriously.... agh.

4. As a fellow Torontonian, how much of it do you put into your strips? Do you think of Toronto as the setting of any/all of your very urban-centric strips, or just the usual generic New York/Toronto/Chicago/Boston metropolis that pops up anywhere?

Anyway, you're consistently one of the very small list of current artists I'm actually intellectually intimidated by(you, Aaron Diaz, Eliezer Yudkowsky), way more than enjoyable but forced stuff like xkcd, and your stuff is frequently on my mind. "A Christmas Eve In The Future" is one of the better sci-fi short stories I've read and I nearly went nuts trying to re-find it last December to share with a friend(I've it bookmarked now). The sitcom character progression chart should be tacked up on the wall of every TV writers-room in America as a fierce and unavoidable warning. Anyway, this new "Anomalies" comic looks like an instant classic. Off to read it. I'm so glad I saw this AMA because I would've sorely regretted the missed opportunity if I hadn't. Thanks for doing this!

I can't believe anybody would ask irrelephant31's question honestly. I'm 23 and I've already seen the show cycle through downhill and uphill periods repeatedly(granted I've been watching it since I was 6, but still).

Hey David! thbbbt

Wet Hot American Summer is genuinely my favourite film of all time, period, not just as a comedy with a lot of laughs, but as an aching tribute to the entire teenage experience. I was a high school senior in 2007 when I first saw it(having been a Stella obsessee for several years from the show followed by the shorts) and generally felt like I was missing out on everything I wanted from being a teen(especially having never been to summer camp). The film became a lightning rod for all those feelings and it got to the point where I’d just be watching it multiple days in a row, desperate not to leave Camp Firewood, tearing up at songs in the talent show and Ben and McKinley’s wedding scene. It was completely constructive in the long run though and a huge part of how happy I am today stems from years of striving for those great Wet Hot-esque situations with friends, family, locations, etc and achieving them. Every summer I watch that film and love it more and more.

So, my humble questions:

1) Will Stella ever finally do a standup show in Toronto? I’ve been fortunate enough to see MIB and Showalter individually here and they were magical. I’m desperate for the trifecta!

2) If a WHAS sequel were to take place entirely on August 18th, 1991, the reunion day, what would end up happening? I always envision it as the kind of ultimate ‘90s grad student finding themselves movie, the way the original is kind of the ultimate early-80s teen movie.

Thanks for doing this AMA! You’re genuinely one of my heroes and Stella is hugely responsible for the way my entire sense of humour works. NOBODY succeeds at truly absurdist humour the way you guys effortlessly do, though many imitators get too much credit for trying. Will be seeing They Came Together in theaters for sure!