Just about everything in a big fat quiz

In 2004, Channel 4 brought together a number of British celebs for the first ever Big Fat Quiz (Monday, C4, 9pm, The Big Fat Quiz of Everything)..

The show featured comic Jimmy Carr as host and three teams made of two panelists each.

Carr asked the teams questions pertaining to events that had happened that past year.

Some questions were pre- taped by big names and a few were presented in adorable dramatic representation by Mitchell Brook Primary School’s theatrical troupe.

The show was a massive success, whichensuredthat it would soon be a yearly thing.

Over the years, though, theprogrammehasreached levels of both legend and infamy. In 2006, during his heyday as the enfant terrible of British comedy, Russell Brand teamed up with The Mighty Boosh’s Noel Fielding.

The two oddballs called themselvesTheGothDetectives andbeganthetradition of purposely writing surreal andridiculous answersin an effort to amuse the audience as opposed to trying to win the game.

This even led to the pair eventually performing a Goth Detectives- themed show for the Teenage Cancer Trust event at the Royal Albert Hall in 2007.

This tongue- in- cheek spirit has continued throughout the years and not only led to funny moments, but also a bit of controversy.

Back i n 2012, James Corden made headlines when he and his League of Their Own pal Jack Whitehall got slightly inebriated ontheprogramme, andeven had pizza delivered, washing it down it with red wine.

At one point, it seemed the two drunk comics were hellbentonmakingthemost randy and puerile jokes imaginable.

In addition to the annual year-end shows, Channel Four has also produced some specials.

Timed to coincide with therun-uptothebroadcaster’s 30th-birthday celebrations in 2012, three episodes werebroadcast, eachfocusing onanentiredecade: the1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

In the past few years, the show seems to have calmed downsomewhat, whichmight explain why they brought on a rampaging dinosaur and let The Great British Baking Show co-host Mel Giedroyc spark a food fight during last year’s The Big Fat Quiz of Everything.

Still, the show is a winner andfor anhourandahalfprovides us viewers with a large slice of escapism and madness. The fact that it probably takes two to three times as long to shoot and the comics go stir-crazy after being held for hours in the same studio perhaps contributes to this.

Thisshow, thefirstofthree editions, sees Carr in charge of three teams who answer questions about everything from the last 100,000 years of human history.

Although to keep things slightly more manageable, the quiz is split into categories such as art, literature, television, music, geography, politics, science and celebrity.

M o n d a y ’s t e a m s a r e