I am increasingly stupid

 

                          --above, BBC 2020 Grand Final

Jeopardy is hosted by wannabees.

The beloved I.Q. is now four failed British comics and someone who is not Stephen Fry.

But days ago, I discover BBC's University Challenge on YouTube and have now gobbled down more than a dozen of them. 

I am addicted to University Challenge.

This despite ...

.  I not only don't know the answers, I usually don't even understand the questions. This is a game show for viewer dimwits.

.  It's only accidentally amusing. But a studio audience laughs in all the right places.

.  I have dream fantasies about Jeremy Paxman, the quizmaster, who is 70. This can't be good. He is dour, direct, unflinching. (I double-checked dour.)

A longtime BBC news presenter, British tabs and the Guardian call him "Paxo." 

Dunf and Paxo. I like it.

 

What is the appeal of a show whose 20-30 year-old contestants spout obscure kings, countries, math theories, authors and forgotten bands?

(I typed "theorums" in that sentence, probably to show off. There is no such word. Google: what is the plural of theory? Theories. Changed.)

Aside from the young brains at work, it's how the whizkids cunningly eliminate the possible wrong answers, and like Sherlock Holmes, track down the best possibility.

And if you don't know, say "Beethoven."

(I just looked up whiz kid. More than one whiz kid is just one word: whizkids. See how stupid? I thought it was two words. Fixed.)

And I think one piece of the UC set is part of the set from IQ in what looks like the same studio. The ghost of Stephen Fry.

A friend signed up for Netflix two weeks ago and has just cancelled. "There's nothing there for me," she decided. I watched Malcolm and Marie last night. I'm not sure why.

If there weren't a pandemic that has exhausted so many options, would I be watching University Challenge?  

I hope so.

I don't want to be this stupid.

Right, Paxo?

There are 10 shows left to this year's 2021 Grand Final. They're up on YouTube as they air.

 LINK: ALL 2021 UC EPISODES 

There's no such word as theorum? That's because I spelled it wrong. The math concept is ... theorem.