Guess the last line of the limerick - QI: Series L Episode 3 Preview - BBC Two

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Watch the BBC first on iPlayer 👉 bbc.in/iPlayer-Home Programme website: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04lssh0 Alan Davies, Lloyd Langford, Victoria Coren and Jack Whitehall talk about limericks. Alan becomes angry at how bad Edward Lear's limericks where
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[@ExhaustedElox]

I absolutely love that Alan drops his line nearly in time with the rhythm of the Limerick as Steven is reading it.

[@john.premose]

That’s because they had pre-written their lines. 🙄

[@adriansmith2639]

I love how offended Alan gets at such an affront to humor.

[@4231jerome]

May I say, that rant by Alan Davies was David Mitchell-esque in terms of both logical reasoning and hilarity

[@tailortelhais1744]

"Your outrage is commendable."

[@MichaelMarteens]

I thought Fry had said "Your utterage is commendable."

[@DowzerWTP72]

Also, the act of hitting him with the gong would make the noise of striking said gong, which is exactly what they were trying to avoid!

[@ginamcgrosky6472]

DowzerWTP72 true

[@matrixphijr]

Alan has never been so logical.

[@xiphosura413]

He was channeling David there.

[@ScoopMeisterGeneral]

+Caelus5 No wonder Victoria was cracking up.

[@2109917162]

@@xiphosura413 No because David would have noticed that it didn't say they smashed him with his gong. It says they smashed the man. So they haven't taken the gong meaning problem isn't solved.

[@Radenshaal]

​@Michael Duddy the logic still stand, that they could move away or takr his gong away, they don't need to smash the man xD Smashing the man is still the greater crime

[@mancheaseskrelpher8419]

I love how everyone loses it with the word "gong" XD

[@KarstenOkk]

I was mildly disappointed nobody could find a way to get "dong" in there.

[@bigmama828]

Victoria hiding her face during Alan's rant is too perfect

[@austinfernando8406]

has there been a body-swap thing and that's really david mitchell in alan's body?

[@tobymartin2137]

There was an old man with a beard, A funny old man with a beard. He had a big beard, A great big beard, That funny old man with a beard.

[@simonwest9450]

Brian Blessed

[@Shakes-Off-Fear]

There’s an Australian band called ‘the Beards’, you might like them.

[@kilroy987]

I somehow want to know more about this beard.

[@ThisCharmingMan1984]

@Toby Martin ...Mr. Lear, is that you?

[@raymondtaylor6049]

There was an old woman from Harrow Who slept in her bed with a marrow When people asked why Her husband would 😢 cry And hop on a bus down to Jarrow!

[@robclarke3638]

I like Dave Gorman's limerick about Edward Lear: There once was a man Edward Lear, Who made limericks famous that's clear, Though most of the time, He used the same words to rhyme, In lines one and five...the twat!

[@dzonbrodi514]

There was a young man of Japan Whose limericks never would scan When told it was so He said "Yes I know But I always want to get as many words in the last line as I possibly can"

[@ChannelInfinity82]

A philosophical one There was young man who said 'Damn', It appears to me that I'am Just a being that moves In a predestined grooves Not a taxi or a bus, but a tram

[@marinellovragovic1207]

Narendra Sharma Philosophical indeed, that one's brilliant

[@LLlap]

Davies fell for Vicky and started channeling Mitchell =)

[@thomaszaglaras8886]

who gave David Mitchell an Allen mask?

[@poppyorangeflower]

fufufufufufu. Funny.

[@muskatDR]

Maybe he was trying to charm Victoria

[@stiimuli]

seemed to be working XD

[@N.I.R.A.T.I.A.S.]

muskatDR If I got to go home to Victoria Coren I'd be channeling David Mitchell too.

[@tennistank7606]

@@N.I.R.A.T.I.A.S. hahahahahahah

[@enzyl6181]

On QI he got all the action. He could only just do subtraction A question, he heard “What’s the largest on earth” But he said Blue Whale and got Klaxon

[@annabellej9429]

Alan is a gift to the world

[@thisisthemactan]

They’ve cut my second favorite part of this segment, which was Victoria completing a limerick: “There was an old woman of Poole Whose soup was excessively cool So she put it to boil With the aid of some oil-“ “-It was a recipe from Heston Blumen-tool”

[@Didntwanttomakeauser]

Is Allan trying to hit on Victoria by channeling a bit of David Mitchell's angry logic?

[@Jotari]

Regarding the Limricks people are posting in the comment sectionn, I really like that youtube allows four lines before you have to click Show More. Basically gives me a second or two to guess the last line just like in the video.

[@joebleasdale5557]

There was a young man from Calcutta Who had the most terrible stutter He said "pass the h-ham And the j-j-j-jam And then the b-b-b-b-butter"

[@badhombre4942]

Anyone who can make Victoria chuckle and snort I damn well owe a quart

[@marycanary86]

that dry seriousness of his face really drives it home xD

[@Bcsmith333]

Alan really shines in this clip! :)

[@Mothman1992]

this one isn't funny, but it's fun to say a canner exceedingly canny one morning remarked to his granny a canner can can anything that he can but a canner can't can a can, can he?

[@lar3ryca]

A Tutor who tooted a flute Tried to tutor two tooters to toot. Said the two to their tutor, “Is it harder to toot, or To tutor two tooters to toot?"

[@hemiolaguy]

There was a young man from St Bees Who was stung on the arm by a wasp. He was asked, "Does it hurt?" He replied, "No, it doesn't. I'm so glad that it wasn't a hornet."

[@Galerak1]

lol

[@Kabitu1]

Her labia brought her to tears So long they were rubbed raw for years So she had them shorted And the surgeon reported "The burn victim loves his new ears"

[@SuperBenball]

Kabitu1 Simply brilliant.

[@badhombre4942]

..hairy new ears.

[@AbCat4]

The limerick packs laughs anatomical Into space that is quite economical. But the good ones I've seen So seldom are clean And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

[@ShiitakeWarrior]

_"...which, if you haven't hyeard it..."_

[@ties4281]

ShiitakeWarrior That is typically Welsh isn’t it? (Not from Britain)

[@johaquila]

Do we know for sure that the last lines printed in Victorian times were what people actually said? Maybe they were just censored, making it a sport to guess them and swap versions with friends.

[@parryxxlivxx]

They could do an entire episode doing only this

[@nosuchthingasshould4175]

Was the joke perhaps that the prim and proper Victorians would read these and know from the rhyme that there must be a rude ending, so everyone could have a giggle and come up with their own?

[@KingNefiiria]

I imagine that to be so. We all read history as if people didn't have humor back then. That innuendos and toilet humor were never uttered. Honestly I think, even given how pre-industrial eras tend to be portrayed, that this kind of humor is ageless. From the moment we could communicate with each other I'm sure we were making fun of willies and boobs, laughing at poop jokes, and generally joking about anything we fancied

[@howardsmith9342]

@@KingNefiiria Poop jokes go back before Chaucer, so they're at least that old.

[@alanira2971]

lmao People act as though sex, toilet humour, ect, always had to be hidden back then. If anything, people in the past were more open to it, not less open. This idea that we've only just in recent history become "okay" with being open about sex and poo jokes is a complete fallacy. Shakespeare's plays are literally littered with overt"I did your mother" styles jokes. Stuff like, Chiron: "Thou hast undone our mother." Aaron: "Villain, I have _done_ thy mother." People seriously have such a watered down idea of how people in the past were like, it's actually unreal.

[@Picnicl]

Alan fails to realise (as so did I until I looked it up now) that one of the definitions of imprudent , apart from lacking caution and restraint for the sake of the consequences in the future, is 'indiscreet'. ie lacking discretion. The stairs would hardly be a proper and dignified place for a gentleman to be eating.

[@KarstenOkk]

Christ Victorian England was a horrible place.

[@alanira2971]

@@KarstenOkk Why? Most good parents nowadays wouldn't allow their children to eat while sitting on the stairs either...and if you do such a thing as an adult, you deserve to be slapped. It's inconvenient for others in your household, and utterly useless to boot. Living on your own is the only excuse for doing this that won't make you seem like an inconsiderate a-hole.

[@LGD3]

Thank you for that +BBC, and Alan et al.!

[@TotoDG]

Once, an engine attached to a train, Was afraid of a few drops of rain; He went into a tunnel, squeaked through his funnel, And wouldn’t come out again.

[@8523metalhead]

BBC made a slight typo in the description of this video

[@Fcutdlady]

An irish woman i am About limerick i do give a damn It's a town in this state, that's really quite great Now the last line has me in a jam

[@confectortyrannis275]

I truly love Al

[@mikebaginy8731]

Alan is brilliant!

[@curiouscuriouser2670]

Alan could turn a Mother Theresa speech into toilet humour. Brilliant.

[@RIXRADvidz]

so glad to have QI back...I really hope they can hold on until Zed.

[@wordreet]

Hehee, I knew the second one! We have had an LP record of Lewis Caroll and Edward Lear's nonsense poems for several centuries. Funny stuff indeed.

[@Fcutdlady]

On a TV show called QI, there is Alan Davis, oh my, I laugh like a drain, as the jokes down they rain ☔ To avoid the Klaxon he must try

[@cogidubnus1953]

Alan has a David Mitchell moment...

[@mikewilliams258]

Maybe Edward Lear was more clever than they give him credit for. If the old man was sitting on the "apples and pears" as in stairs, and he was eating the "apples and pears" that would be a very imprudent thing to do, because there would eventually be no stairs for him to sit on. It's like sawing a branch off a tree while sitting on it (like in the cartoons). My only reservation is that I'm not sure they had cockney rhyming slang in Edward Lear's day.

[@Fcutdlady]

There was young lady, god bless her, Who flung her leg over the dresser, A rusty nail caused her to fail Catching her new coat made of fur

[@kskekwkek]

I'm so sad the full episode is not available

[@sophiefrancis8295]

I like: There once was a women named Bright Who could travel much faster then Light She started one day In her usual way And came back the previous night!

[@streetlightcultists8973]

i imagine that it was a joke back when they were popular. everyone knew there would/could be a rude ending so the joke was that there wasn't.

[@quadelbirbal4193]

There once was a chap from Queens, That talked about God and such things, But his heart's true desire, Was a boy in the choir, With a bottom like jelly on springs.

[@samuelrobinson205]

Edward Lear's limericks were nonsense poetry, and I think repeating the first line, and giving an adjective like 'imprudent' (which doesn't bear any relation to the preceding lines) makes it, if anything, more nonsense

[@MyPineapple100]

Funny that Alan’s line was infinitely funnier than Jack’s

[@teipeu9033]

In your opinion.

[@crazylizard1889]

The moment I read the Limerick, I knew Alan's would finish with "willy"

[@gayva]

did anyone else see Alan crying later in this episode after stephen and victoria were arguing about the origins of the word luncheon? its not really my place to ask but im very curious..

[@jackloke7606]

Maybe the last line should read: "So they sent that Old Man to King Kong"

[@soslunnaak]

2:08 so then he brought out his bong

[@enzyl6181]

“So then he hit it with his schlong”

[@Tmanaz480]

Alan often channels Gracie Allen.

[@Scudge0]

XD too funny

[@moveslikemacca]

@BBC, there is a little spelling mistake in the description. :)

[@John_Ridley]

Victoria is just thinking "God I hear enough ranting from David, now Alan's at it too."

[@PtolemyJones]

Bang a gong is slang for using opium, if I remember correctly...

[@alexanderm5728]

There was a young lady named Bright Who traveled much faster than light. She set out one day In her usual way And returned on the previous night.

[@alexanderm5728]

If a pendulum's swinging quite free Then it's always a marvel to me How each tick plus each tock Of the grandfather clock Is 2π times root L over g.

[@alexanderm5728]

A dozen, a gross and a score Plus three times the square root of four Divided by seven Plus five times eleven Is nine squared and not a bit more.

[@alexanderm5728]

The integral z squared d z From one to the cube root of three Times the cosine Of 2π over nine Is the log of the cube root of e.

[@alexanderm5728]

A mosquito was heard to complain: "This chemist has poisoned my brain!" The cause of its sorrow Was paradichloro- Diphenyltrichloroethane.

[@alexanderm5728]

There was a young lady of Crewe Whose limericks stopped at line 2.

[@jackloke7606]

One cool starry night in June A lady was eating ice-cream under the moon Then a strong wind came Oh.. what a shame! For it blew away her spoon.

[@alicg7759]

There was a young man from Australia, Who painted his ass like a dahlia, Tuppence a smell was all very well But thruppence a lick Was a failure XD

[@xonxt]

Ali CG I'm not sure I understand that one. Tuppence? Thruppence?

[@alicg7759]

Two pence and three pence, money. When people talk fast and use words in rhymes and songs ect they tend to constrict some to fit into the rythmn of speach.

[@xonxt]

Ali CG No, I already found what these words mean in a dictionary. I just meant that I don't understand the sentences. The smell and lick parts I get, but how do these 'two/three pence' fit into the equation? Sorry, English be no me native language.

[@alicg7759]

No problem :) It just means he was charging people to smell his bum and he was getting tuppence for it but no one wanted to pay thrupence to lick it. The English language can be very complicated, believe me your English is very good. Hope this helps.

[@xonxt]

Ali CG Oh, so that's it. Thanks, that clears it up ;).

[@Fcutdlady]

a limerick started by my late mother and never finished. I can't work it out either. Needs a last line. There was a young lady, god bless her Who threw her leg over the dresser A rusty nail caught in her tail If it was like Edward lear it would say something like that stupid young lady, god bless her but I want a line that rhymes!

[@ThurstonCyclist]

At least that's what she told me, her confessor

[@Fuzy2K]

And her screams woke her college professor

[@nemnyoom]

now, in her bits, tetanus festers

[@azaruto]

What did Allan say?

[@ShiitakeWarrior]

_"...Firing pips out of his willy."_

[@Davsan1]

What the hell is a pip

[@Davsan1]

Oh thanks! Google didnt help there

[@cranbaery5571]

There once was a young woman from Clever, Who could pick up a pencil with her...

[@WalkaCrookedLine]

There was a young man from Beirut Who had seven warts on his root He poured acid on these, and now when he pees He toodles his root like a flute

[@dougharris2650]

It's all very easy criticising Edward Lear guys, because his last line was (usually but not always) similar to the first ... however I note that it was he had the idea and did the hard work, whereas you lot came up with smutty (what an easy hit) content that failed entirely to meet the demands of limerick metrics. I vote for the guy whose Book of Nonsense is still in print 170 years on and has sold 100s of millions of copies.

[@kilroy987]

Alan has just gone off.

[@Fcutdlady]

Alan in this is annoyed. Something he tries to avoid. He gets more agrivated as the last lines are hated Tell me is he paranoid

[@richardowen5321]

Lockdown is sadly not new; It's boring, there's nothing to do; It's taken so much; Live music and such; And the President's still alive, too.

[@jorgeapudortiz8007]

#Chile we are not imprudent, we are most commonly thiefs

[@nadinesmith7174]

lolololololololololololololololololol

[@accmorland5308]

there was a young Louis in limbo who had a liking for lemons and larking his actions no thought, left family distraught. that's why we had to withdraw

[@Shakes-Off-Fear]

It’s AABBA not ACBBD

[@Tmanaz480]

I've heard of tone deafness. This is meter deafness.

[@frederickj.7136]

'Thin' Victoria 🔥 >> Butterball Victoria, methinks.

[@ryanlock2u]

I'm so glad I'm not alone in thinking Edward Lear is shit.

[@AllenKnutson]

Edward Lear is great apart from his irritating limericks.

[@aweescotsdog8358]

The Near-Death of Satire ... Sharpen pencils Iannuci and Fry Please stop saying "satire's run too dry To impart a great thump To the alt-right and Trump" We need all your humour ... please try