Proust's Handshake Bluff | QI

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This clip is from QI Series H, Episode 2, 'H Anatomy' with Stephen Fry, Alan Davies, Bill Bailey, Gyles Brandreth and Sue Perkins.

[@RobinWildlife]

Telling a long convoluted anecdote about the wrong person is very Gyles Brandreth.

[@stevevasta]

🤣🤣🤣

[@echognomecal6742]

Delightful, loved it!

[@drhenrywaltonjonesjr]

“I know your party’s behind you” is brutal.🤣

[@meldamo]

Is it a particular reference?

[@tamoorfromthe5ive]

​@@meldamojust the state of politics, really

[@barneylaurance1865]

@@meldamoGyles Brandreth used to be a Tory member of parliament.

[@helipeek2736]

“A Tory member” you say………….

[@safebox36]

​@@meldamoone of the more likeable Tories

[@fourfoldway]

‘I don’t want to name-drop, but…’ is the funniest thing Giles Brandreth has ever said. He’s a *shameless* name-dropper. ‘A hundred and fifty years ago in Cairo I was having brunch with Jesus and Leonardo da Vinci, when Alexander the Great walked in. “Al,” I said, “come try the hummus.”’ The man’s a caricature of himself, by this point. (And what Desmond Tutu has to do with North Africa, I have no idea. Might as well interrupt a conversation about Japanese culture with an anecdote about Yemen, because ‘they’re both in Asia’.)

[@wolfgangmcq]

Considering that North Africa also had nothing to do with Proust, I think the Archbishop fit right in here...

[@Aoderic]

It's also complete nonsense that they have limp handshakes in Africa. I've literally travelled North, South, East, and West, and they have different handshakes, but nothing like Gyles did.

[@lucasade1234]

Thanks for making me laugh and laugh and laugh at this 😂

[@GedMaybury23]

I can say with utter certainty that every person i met in Papua New Guinea (indigenous persons; that is) shook hands exactly that way: very soft, lingering, and very 'connecting' - is if that moment was not only a reading of my 'aura' but also a deep sense of welcome. Inclusion. Embrace. A sort of 'We are, and have always been, Soul-Brothers' vibe. VERY disconcerting for a white boy from macho mid-century New Zealand!

[@janerkenbrack3373]

The old double bluff. Frankly, he should have done the jive handshake, complete with gimmie five, on the side, in the hole, now you got soul. No one would have any idea.

[@Elesario]

I remember shaking hands with someone where it felt like he'd put a limp cold damp lettuce leaf in my hand. Even after it had ended the sensation lingered most unpleasantly.

[@tamoorfromthe5ive]

It's literally all i remember from this entire episode, is Gyles holding Sue's hand for a long time

[@myhatmygandhi6217]

Sue has a knack for sucking all the fun out of shows.

[@severalgotthatname6356]

@@myhatmygandhi6217I didn’t realise that at all…still don’t

[@lenaoxton3999]

A Double Bluff? Marcel Proust would make an excellent QI host!

[@lilymarinovic1644]

You mean a double blerrrf

[@AllenKnutson]

AhOOga ahOOga

[@blackbird5634]

Fry's ''as it were'' affectation and his sucking great gobs of spit and wind through his teeth are hilarious!!🤣😂He should fix that busted beak!!😂

[@Ramian1]

"Oh, we all tried that" was delivered perfectly, chefs kiss😂

[@lhfirex]

Stephen's thoughts during this clip: "Poor Mel, having to deal with that handshake from Gyles."

[@slake9727]

You mean Sue?

[@tamoorfromthe5ive]

​@slake9727 that's a reference to a moment in a Series G episode. I forget the title but I think it's the Halloween one

[@oscarcacnio8418]

​@@slake9727 No, I think that's Victoria?

[@Metallix37]

@@oscarcacnio8418 No it is Sue, episode was Gothic with her Jimmy Carr and Jack Dee, they were talking about Zombie bites and outbreak

[@easylee]

Mel and Sue were my favourite show back in the day... and i always got their names switched ... she looks like a Mel, i would say to myself.

[@aidanhoward213]

Stephen was wrong in suggesting that André Gide may have coined the word 'homosexual' in his book 'Corydon', since the book was published in 1920, and the word 'homosexual' had been around prior to (i.e. Oxford considered it Standard English by) 1897, and existed in German psychoanalysis during the 1880s, and even appearing in Hungarian (where a Doktor Benkert probably coined it) in 1869.

[@The_House_Of_Stu]

Hate to “umm actually” Giles, but Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu is famously not from North Africa.

[@andrewklang809]

What was the name of that other guy Stephen mentioned, André something? He pronounced it too precisely for me to catch either the last name or the book.

[@terryhunt2659]

André Gide, 'Corydon'.

[@andrewklang809]

@@terryhunt2659 Merci beaucoup.

[@espeka1207]

Assuming that all the people on the 2nd largest continent on the planet all have the same handshake is a bit silly

[@malahammer]

I have some spent time in Africa and you need to get used to the African handshake.

[@reniusfasul4762]

Uncanny resemblance with Stephen and Marcel Proust.

[@williamjones7163]

Well Gay. New term to use at my next party!

[@definedphotography]

or an "invert"

[@traceygrace7945]

Even as a life long leftie liberal, I've always adored Giles.

[@catatonicbug7522]

As soon as they said he was a writer, I assumed he had carpel tunnel, weakening his grip!

[@john.premose]

So you never heard of Proust before? Americans 🙄

[@reshuram4353]

@@john.premose I've never heard of Proust before either, and I'm a swede!

[@john.premose]

@@reshuram4353 that's pretty sad. Maybe you should move to murica.

[@Tao_Tology]

​@@john.premoseSnob

[@john.premose]

@@Tao_Tology horror.

[@john.premose]

And also, what does "being gay" have to do with going to north Africa? That remark seemed to just be accepted and I've no idea why.

[@WilliamSmith-mx6ze]

Tangiers particularly was a haunt for European gay men because the young boys would prostitute themselves for Europeans with large amounts of money (by Tangiers standards), and the authorities would turn a blind eye to it. Read Joe Orton's diaries for how this was still a thing in the 1960s.

[@alfnoakes392]

Historically it is where literary (and other) types went to seek Pleasures they could not risk seeking at home. As in the (allegedly) Arab saying " for a child a woman, for pleasure a boy". Certainly recall one of Kerouac's mates being known for his visits to North African cities for this reason. Can other contributors give other examples of figures 'known' to have visited North Africa for this reason?

[@Tao_Tology]

​@@alfnoakes392I refuse to believe for even a nanosecond that a gay man in France or anywhere else in Europe 'had to go to Africa' to indulge in gayness.

[@VanessaMagick]

​@@Tao_Tology It wasn't to "indulge in gayness", exactly, it was to indulge in gayness with children. Gide insisted that men who were into adult men were sodomites, where he was only interested in little boys.

[@RossBradley-vd5rc]

@@alfnoakes392 Wilfred Bramble, (Steptoe) went to North Africa for the reason you mention. Joe Orton and Kenneth Williams (so he could be away from his mother, whilst he got up to escapades). You also forgot the best part of that saying, " Women for duty, boy for pleasure and melon for ectasy."

[@foxbat8895]

That woman just can't stop interrupting can she? I'm The Main Character.

[@pallasproserpina4118]

for those who don't know, stephen fry is openly gay and has been married to a man since 2015

[@Tao_Tology]

Well....sure, he is openly gay but is he _well_ gay.

[@dgphi]

He is a world-class homosexualist.

[@NewMessage]

Clearly he had limpywristydosis.

[@cruz1ale]

Surely double bluffing only makes sense if it's plausible for a straight man to bluff to be gay

[@BachelorChowFlavour]

Needs to be a youtube filter to mute that unfunny woman

[@JJONNYREPP]

Proust's Handshake Bluff | QI. 4.3.24. he fell, his hand bent back and he couldn't get anyone from emergency services to deal with it, the ambulance service too busy driving about to impress their other.....? ummmmm..... steven has a tendency to whimsy. adios.

[@Jayfive276]

What are these comments?

[@JJONNYREPP]

@@Jayfive276 what is this b.s????

[@Jayfive276]

Just so everyone knows, this weirdo tried to leave a massive load of gibberish on one of my own video. "jonny" - if you are not some AI experiment get help. There is something very wrong with you. No-one knows what you are on about. I suspect you don't either. I'm concered you may become a danger to yourself and others. Get off the internet and seek professional assistance.

[@RConnickJr]

Gyles is sort of a bore.

[@john.premose]

What does Desmond Tutu have to do with north Africa? Tories just can't help being casually racist.

[@WilliamSmith-mx6ze]

Brandreth says "When I went to Africa... the African handshake lingers", not "the north African handshake". Tutu was African, you concede? Listen properly before jumping to your conclusions.

[@john.premose]

@@WilliamSmith-mx6ze so everywhere in Africa is the same to you then. You've just proven my point.

[@john.premose]

@@WilliamSmith-mx6ze so anything that you would say about someone from Poland or Greece applies to anyone in England, because they're all in Europe. Right? No? Ok then why does something a South African does apply to someone in Morrocco?

[@Tao_Tology]

​@@WilliamSmith-mx6zeNo, he started with "Being gay, [Proust] spent a lot if time in Africaaaaa" The premise was that Proust's sexuality was the reason he went there.

[@john.premose]

@@Tao_Tology yes, for once you got it right.

[@mepatton]

Back in the day when QI was still "I"... and funny