Let’s not sugar-coat it: the first few months of the pandemic were some of the most trying, uncertain, frightening times that many of us have ever known. Our television screens were illuminated with daily statistics of doom, our four walls were all we knew and our every move embroiled us with uncertainty about whether we were doing enough to keep ourselves and others safe. But they had their silver linings. And a silver lining for me was my discovery of No Such Thing As A Fish.

“Coming to you from the QI offices in Covent Garden,” weekly, Anna Ptaszynski, James Harkin, Dan Schreiber and Andrew Hunter-Murray “gather round the microphone with their four favourite facts from the last seven days.” A remarkably simple concept, that is absolute nectar to nerds like me. The podcast is an hour of escapism, in which to bask in knowledge for the sake of knowledge. An hour in which I am reminded that the world is an interesting, vibrant place. An hour in which I am proud to be a nerd. 

When tickets for their live show – Nerd Immunity – were released, I dashed for my credit card like only a nerd could: misjudging the trajectory of my movement and toppled over, tripping over a copy of “Atlas of Improbable Places” as I went. Then I bought one. 

The show (I attended on the 29th of November, 2021) was completely and utterly joyful. A celebration of all things quirky, eccentric and bizarre, I spent the duration with an enormous grin on my face (below my mask, of course). It had the precise and witty beats of a stand-up show, the spontaneity of a roast and the immaculate PowerPoint slides of a lecture by the most enthusiastic of professors. I do love a good PowerPoint.

There was truly the impression of a shared and mutually understood mindset. That getting excited about the world is a good thing. That deep investment in things you care about is fulfilling. That knowing stuff is fun. It was a room united in the unspoken awareness that everyone was of the same flock, and it was a flock that really likes cryptic crosswords.

Without giving too much away, the first half was a beautifully crafted (if slightly haphazardly lit at certain points, which only added to the comforting, low-pressure atmosphere) scripted comedy set. Each member of the quartet had their time to shine and showcase their roles within the group – Andy’s buttoned-up showmanship, Anna’s effortless dorkiness-laced coolness, Dan’s whimsy and James’ dry cynicism. Littered in were inside jokes for seasoned podcast listeners, which produced many a smug smirk from me. (“I’m one of the cool kids who understands the moss joke,” I thought to myself without a shred of irony.) It also endeavoured to find “the nerdiest person in the room”. My submission of “I can watch Back to The Future Part 3 entirely in my brain” did not come close to winning, however, I realised retrospectively that I could have admitted to my lockdown project of translating the first chapter of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens into the International Phonetic Alphabet, which may have come closer. 

The second half comprised a recording of the festive edition of the podcast, which will be available to listen to some time in the coming month. It was the usual No Such Thing As A Fish fare of animal anomalies, historical oddities and corporate cock-ups. A delight from start to finish.

I would implore anyone with a vaguely nerdy bone in their body to get tickets for No Such Thing As A Fish whenever they can, and of course to trawl the back catalogue of podcast episodes. It is never patronising, never exclusivist and never disappointing. May it continue that way for years to come. 

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