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No Such Thing As A Fish
No Such Thing As A Fish

S1 Ep612: No Such Thing As The Gordon Ramsay Songbook

December 04, 2025 • 52m

Summary

⏱️ 7 min read

Overview

Michael Palin joins the QI team to discuss his new book about Venezuela, sharing extraordinary facts about ice cream flavors, cable cars, Arctic expeditions, BBC censorship rules, and the peculiar Italian tradition of grumpy pensioners watching roadworks. The conversation weaves through tales of exploration, comedy censorship, and the value of aging gracefully.

Venezuela's Record-Breaking Ice Cream Parlor and Cable Car

Michael Palin discusses visiting Venezuela for his 100th country, including the world's tallest cable car in Mérida that takes passengers half the height of Everest in just an hour. The conversation explores Venezuela's unusual records, including the Heladería Coromoto ice cream parlor which once held the Guinness World Record with 860 flavors, featuring everything from avocado and garlic to trout and Viagra Hope. The team also discusses Venezuela's remarkable oil reserves, unique wildlife like the oil bird and Mérida Cable Car Frog, and the country's former record for the world's cheapest petrol.

  • Heladería Coromoto in Mérida held the Guinness World Record with 860 ice cream flavors including garlic, trout, and shellfish varieties
  • Venezuela is Michael Palin's 100th country visited, ranking around number 3 or 9 in his favorites
  • The Mérida cable car takes passengers half the height of Everest in one hour through four stages, showcasing different environments from river valley to bleak mountain peaks
  • The glacier visible from Mérida has disappeared in the last two years due to climate change, leaving Venezuela with no snow
  • Venezuela had the world's lowest petrol price at one cent per liter in 2016, compared to 110.7 pence in the UK
" I've had a lot of kippers in my time, you know, my legs have been crossed "
" Ron, we threw him overboard. The tins strapped him. He sank immediately. "

The BBC's Green Book and Comedy Censorship

The discussion turns to BBC censorship in 1949, which banned jokes about solicitors, chambermaids, and specifically one Irishman named McGillicuddy of the Reeks. Michael Palin shares personal experiences with BBC censors during Monty Python, including the famous masturbation incident where a director cleverly left a pause after cutting the word, creating an even bigger laugh. The conversation explores how censorship affected comedy and music, from banned songs to the Life of Brian controversy.

  • The BBC banned jokes about McGillicuddy of the Reeks after a real person complained, leading to company-wide restrictions on jokes about solicitors and chambermaids
  • The Green Book prohibited suggestive references to honeymoon couples, fig leaves, ladies underwear, and even baskets, which could be used as sexual innuendo
  • Monty Python's Summarize Proust sketch had the word 'masturbating' cut out but the pause left in, creating a massive laugh when the character listed hobbies as 'strangling animals, golf... [pause]'
  • Life of Brian was banned in many places including Wales, but later overturned by mayor Sue Jones Davies, who had appeared naked in the film
  • George Formby's 'With My Little Ukulele in My Hand' was the BBC's first banned song in 1933
" What are your hobbies? Strangling animals, golf... [huge laugh]. Never has golf got a laugh. "
" So a lot of things in the cable car saying this is how the planet is changing everywhere you go. And Venezuela has no snow anymore. "

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