I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue - Humour

Humour

Most of the humour is detached from the real world. Steve Punt cites it as one of his favourite radio shows because "there's no points being made or targets being attacked." Contemporary references occasionally made by participants are usually asides. The show does occasionally comment on the outside world, though from an innocent perspective. The game "Complete George Bush Quotes" was once played, in which the teams had to supply endings for phrases that George Bush had begun (see Bushism), the teams complaining that they couldn't be any funnier than the original.

At the close of one show, the chairman asked the teams to read the cuttings that they had brought along with them, in the manner of fellow Radio 4 show The News Quiz. The teams proceeded to read their cuttings, but only to themselves. Hence followed some interested murmurs from the teams and much laughter from the audience. This is a good example of double-meanings being used in the Clue comedy style.

Self-deprecation forms a big part of the show's humour. It frequently pokes fun at itself and its supposed low quality. For example, Lyttelton was heard to exclaim at the end of a round:

• "Nietzsche said that life was a choice between suffering and boredom. He never said anything about having to put up with both at the same time."
• "I'm often prone to bouts of misplaced optimism. This round's going to be a hum-dinger!"
• "All good things must come to an end, so let's carry on."
• An introduction to "Sound Charades", a round based on Give Us a Clue, went: "In the TV version the teams were not allowed to speak, making the games both silent and hilarious. Our version differs in just two ways."

After over thirty years on the air one of the most important aspects of the show is its huge stock of running gags which, if not always funny in themselves, can elicit huge anticipatory laughter from the studio audience. The mere mention of Lionel Blair will often bring roars of laughter in anticipation of an outrageous double-entendre based on his supposed homosexuality (he is not gay). In the "Film Club" round any reference by Graeme Garden to Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is sure to cause a similar response. The game "Wobbling Bunnies" was introduced several times by Humph, often with eager anticipation by the panel and audience, but time pressures always meant the game was never actually played. Graeme Garden and Barry Cryer frequently play the characters of two Scots, Hamish and Dougal whose skits usually begin with the phrase "You'll have had your tea, then, Dougal?". The characters were developed into their own Radio 4 show, Hamish and Dougal. Another long-running gag involves one of the panelists putting forward a challenge of "hesitation" when another panelist leaves a long pause in the middle of speaking, a reference to Radio 4's other long-running panel show Just a Minute. (Likewise, occasionally on Just a Minute, a panelist will make a challenge of "Mornington Crescent")