Sandi Toksvig collapses into laughter over hilarious ‘lesbians’ QI mix-up
Sandi Toksvig (L) and Susan Calman (R) laugh after a contestant on British comedy panel show ‘QI’ thought she heard Toksvig say ‘lesbians’ instead of ‘laser beams’. (TikTok/@theqielves/BBC)
Legendary comedian Sandi Toksvig tried valiantly to hold laughter over a contestant hilariously mishearing the words lesbian and laser beams on QI.
The TikTok channel @theqielves, which is run by the team behind the BBC quiz show, unearthed a years-old clip from QI (short for Quite Interesting for any non-Brits wondering). The TV show is known for its witty banter and for featuring Toksvig, who went down in history as the first female presenter of a British mainstream TV comedy panel show.
In a snippet from a 2019 episode, Toksvig tried to explain a fun fact about laser beams and why humans cannot see the narrow beams of light āside-on at allā.
But before she could finish her sentence, Holly Walsh, an English comedian, chimed in: āDid you say lesbians or laser beams?ā
@theqielves From QI, Series Q, Ep. 7, āQuests: Part IIā with #sanditoksvig #alandavies #susancalman #joelycett & #hollywalsh – #qi #qielves #facts #laser
The audience and panellists immediately burst out in laughter. Sandi Toksvig stopped mid-gesture, with her hands still in the air, and looked down to seemingly fight back laughter.
As the camera panned to the other panellists, Susan Calman, a Scottish comedian and TV presenter, was practically rolling on the floor laughing.
āA Freudian slip that one,ā Alan Davies quipped.
āThatās correct,ā Toksvig jokingly responded. āYou cannot see lesbians from side-on.ā
Getting in on the joke, Calman, who is an out lesbian, proposed an experiment on the set of QI.
āIāll go here and see how many lesbians you can see on the stage,ā Calman joked as she turned to the side.
After a second, she popped back up and faced the audience, saying āI was here all the timeā.
Once everyone calmed down a bit, Sandi Toksvig clarified that people canāt see a laser beam ā not a lesbian ā side on because the ālight is so concentratedā in āone directionā.
She explained some of the light āwould have to be travelling towards your eyeā which happens if it āgoes through dust or fogā because that āscatters some of the lightā.
The people of TikTok loved the laughable gaffe, and the QI clip has garnered over 50,000 likes on the video-sharing app. Several people jokingly declared they will now be known as ālaser beamsā instead of lesbians.
