Fingers on Buzzers (Weekly Favorites)

On the bus today, I sat behind two teenage girls who were arguing over who loved the British more- one only drank tea, while the other always spelled color with a "u". It seems every generation gloms onto Anglophilia in one way or another, which I get; especially now with the Olympics, recent Queen goings-on and One Direction flooding across the Atlantic in the past few years. I just think it's funny that  people latch onto the tea/favo"u"rite/mind-the-gap factions of the UK, especially 13-16 year olds on endless-scroll based social media. I've seen knock-down drag-out fights on the internet over the correct way to boil water for tea that are ultimately brought to an end with a UK citizen having to tell everyone it doesn't matter (Or, to fuck off).  There is really nothing I find more hilarious than Americans bickering over how much more English they are over their opponent.

While I struggled to not be conspicuous in my combined eavesdropping/laughing at what was basically a large faction  Tumblr come to life in front of me on the bus, I have to admit that if I had actually spoken to anyone when I was a teenager, I probably would have engaged in the same conversation.   Starting in the fourth grade when a friend introduced me to the Beatles, and followed quickly by my parents letting me watch (then strongly warning that I was NEVER to repeat anything I saw) Monty Python in fifth grade, I was swept into my own Anglomania that, though waxing and waning, has not ceased. I don't drink tea often, and I don't pretend to have an accent (which I have witnessed in real life and just thinking about it send my secondhand embarrassment into extreme overdrive), and I don't date things with the day before the month, but  I am no better than those two on the bus.  I like select bits and pieces of their culture without understanding their political structure at all. Well, I mean, I did religiously watch Prime Minister's Questions on C-SPAN during the Blair administration and had a shirt that read "CHARLES KENNEDY IS MY RIGHT HONOURABLE FRIEND" in 9th grade, so... there's that.

Along with music, comedy is one of the main things that divides people when it comes to  on which side of the pond their allegiances lie. It always bums me out when people bitch over which is better- British or American comedy. "British comedy is so pretentious!" "American comedy is for idiots!" (A quick google search just proved my point as the first things when you type in '"American comedy" and "British comedy" is' that pop up are "American comedy is rubbish" and "British comedy is better than american")
I used to agree with this when I was a shithead teenager, but as I've aged (i.e. logged in more hours on youtube) I've come to the belief that humor is transatlantic- there is bad British comedy and there is genius American comedy. One of the main things that the UK beats us Americans out in 2:1 is panel based quiz shows.  I strongly believe that this is something Americans can never successfully do, and should never try. Here is a brief list of my favorites:

QI (Quite Interesting)

Actor/Writer/Comedian/Fact-Enthusiast Stephen Fry leads a panel of five guests and permanent team captain Alan Davies in search of information and facts that may be opposite common knowledge. Points are earned for answers that are unusual or  quite interesting (see what they did there). There've been a couple episodes where the audience walks away with the most points.
Favorite episode: Joints and Food (and the one with Brian Blessed)
Dream panel: David Mitchell, Rob Brydon, Sandi Toksvig, Phill Jupitus

Never Mind the Buzzcocks

Originally presented by Mark Lamarr, then Simon Amstell, now a new host weekly, Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a music based quiz featuring team captains Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding. 

Favorite Episodes: S26E15-Richard Ayoade, S25E10-Cilla Black, S19E5-Simon Amstell

Dream Panel: Host- Richard Ayoade, Phill's team- Sarah Millican/ Martin Freeman, Noel's team- Paloma Faith, John Barrowman

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year

Annual quiz show airing in December wrapping up the year, it's also done '80s, '90s and '00s editions. Hosted by Jimmy Carr and his unbelievable laugh, three teams with increasingly hilarious/insane names (The Speccy Nerdy Fucknuts, The Goth Detectives, The Lisping Ninnies, Hot Shame, ect) compete to remember the events of the previous year.

Dream Panel: Noel Fielding/Richard Ayoade, David Mitchell/Sarah Millican, James Corden/Alan Carr

Eagle-eyed readers may notice the new "weekly favorites" header, or at least they damn well should, as it took me about forty-five minutes in photoshop to make due to the program shutting itself off not twice, but three times.