QI Elf Emily Jupitus – daughter of Fife’s own Phill – answers questions for a living.
As a researcher (or “elf”) on long-running BBC game show QI, it’s all in a day’s work for Emily, 31, to answer burning questions such as: “Why does red mean stop and green mean go?” and “If spiders can walk on the ceiling, why can’t they get out of the bath?”
And the researcher and illustrator is one of a team of elves who have put together the perfect stocking-filler for your factoid-daft family member.
Funny You Should Ask… Again is the sequel to the Elves’ first question-and-answer book, Funny You Should Ask, which flew off the shelves in 2020.
This year, inquisitive minds young and old can enjoy another bumper series of questions and answers in the follow-up, with …Again released on October 14.
The book also contains a foreword by Zoe Ball, whose radio show The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show originated the questions, with listeners calling in with their amusing, confusing and bemusing musings each week for the past two years.
And to mark the release of Funny You Should Ask… Again, The Courier is thrilled to present our own QI (Quite Interesting) Q&A with Emily. But instead of a letter of the alphabet, like on the show, this QI subject is Emily herself.
Getting To Know You: Emily Jupitus
Rebecca: Emily, you work for QI, a game show based around letters of the alphabet. What’s your favourite letter?
Emily: That’s an excellent question! I think my favourite letter must be Q, because it was the first series I started working on in my capacity as a QI Elf. And it’s just a curious letter – it’s a little unusual, it’s worth high points in Scrabble. It’s always very exciting to play it in Scrabble, because if you get it on that triple-letter, you’re doing grand!
You come across weird and wonderful facts in your job every day – what, if anything, still blows your mind?
Honestly? Just how many things we still find out every day. QI’s been going for years and years, and some of the elves have been working there since the very start, and even those elves are still finding new things every day. You’d think we’d have run out by a certain point!
But the sheer amount of interesting, exciting, fascinating facts that we keep discovering, and the fact there doesn’t seem to be any end to the curiosity, is fantastic and – positively – mind-blowing.
There must be a lot of rubbish to sift through before you get to the ‘fun’ facts. Any research tips for cutting through the chaff?
Some days, when you’re a researcher trying to find fun stuff, you just won’t find anything.
I spent three days researching corn for our Museum of Curiosity series once. I found an interesting thing in the first hour, and after that? Nothing. It was all just dull.
But then you switch topics and suddenly you’ll find ten amazing things in an hour. So rather than cutting through the dull stuff, you just have to get through it, and recognise when a topic is dead. Sometime corn is just corn!
You’re a keen LARPer. What’s your favourite thing about that hobby?
So LARPing stands for Live Action Role Playing and it’s essentially combining re-enactments with Lord of the Rings or Game Of Thrones or something like that. And essentially, you just get to go into a field and pretend to be fantasy warriors for a weekend. It’s great fun.
The role that I think I’ve enjoyed the most was a character who was sort of the quarter-master of the group. So I would go out and collect information and exchange it for money… kind of similar to my QI role I guess! It’s so much fun. It’s very immersive and it’s just an incredible escapist hobby.
Speaking of escapism – what’s the best book you read in lockdown – apart from Funny You Should Ask…Again, of course!
There was one called The Cat And The City, by Nick Bradley, which my mum recommended to me. And it’s about a stray cat wandering through Tokyo. It’s very unusual! It’s all these separate stories of characters who all experience this cat, one way or another.
And I lived in Tokyo for a year, about ten years ago, so I just really like reading about that city – and who doesn’t love a good cat?
What could you binge for a weekend right now?
I must admit, I have a tendency towards murder podcasts. What is it about them? You’d think they’d be so grim and depressing, but some of them are so compelling.
You’re an illustrator as well as a professional researcher. What’s your favourite thing to doodle?
Oh! A cup of tea, or a mug of whatever I’m drinking. There’s something about a mug – people usually have so many, all from different places. And you get all these different shapes, and there’s also something really comforting about it. I’m always happy to draw a cup of tea.
Where in the world are you happiest?
At home.
Favourite part of Scotland to explore?
Pittenweem, in Fife.
What would you have done if you hadn’t followed your current career path?
I would probably be teaching English as a foreign language.
Who inspires you?
My mum.
Your house is on fire, which item do you save?
Probably my iPad – it’s got all my photos on it.
Tell me the theme song for your life.
There’s a song by a band called Steam-Powered Giraffe called Malfunction. And it’s something I connected to more recently because I got diagnosed with MS five years ago. It’s a song about how everybody has their little malfunction, and that’s OK.
Who are your dream dinner guests?
David Attenborough and – it feels a little odd to say as a QI Elf, but – Sandi (Toksvig, QI host). She’s wonderful, she’s cheery and so much fun. And she’s had an amazing life, so I think she’d be able to keep up with David Attenborough in terms of conversational topics.
First thing you’d do if you won £1 million?
It’s a bit cliché, but I’d probably given a bunch to my mum and dad, because they’ve always been so supportive of me. Plus my dad is retiring, so giving them a little bit of pocket money might be fun.
If you could rule for a day, what would be the first thing you would do?
Such power! I guess implementing some sort of universal wage to combat homelessness.
Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know?
Something that surprises people who know me these days is that when I was a child, I was incredibly shy. I lacked confidence and didn’t like talking to people.
And then one day, I woke up and thought: “I don’t want to be shy anymore. I want to be funny, I want to be interesting. I want to be confident.” And from that day forward, I just pretended I was confident. And it stuck!
What makes you happy?
Creativity.
What makes you sad?
Seeing a lack of confidence in great people.
Do you believe in love at first sight?
Hmm. Yes and no. I believe you can have a spark with somebody at first sight – but there needs to be more than that.
Have you ever had a paranormal encounter?
Sadly, no!
What was the first album you ever bought?
This is hard because my dad (Phill Jupitus), being a DJ, was always giving me music. I can’t remember which was the first I spent my own money on, but I imagine it was probably Greenday’s American Idiot.
If you could go back to any point in history, what would it be?
I think being able to watch the moon landing as it actually happened would be really cool.
What is the best advice you have ever received, and who did it come from?
“Never feel small”. It came from my thesis supervisor when I did my masters at the University of Amsterdam in social anthropology. She was a lady called Yolanda. It really resonated with me – I wrote on the front cover of the diary I kept at the time, and every so often, I think back to it.
What do you do to unwind?
I like to watch YouTube videos, usually of a drawing channel of a group of artists who used to work for College Humour. They draw lots of silly, fun things. It feels like you’re sitting down and hanging out with friends.
Happiest memory?
We used to go to Centre Parcs every year in the February half-term, me and my family. We’d got to the big swimming pool and play bowling and things, and so probably just the vague collective memory of all those holidays is the happiest.
And most embarrassing?
Oh, my days! Just a little bit of light trauma now and again, good for the soul isn’t it? I think I might have blotted it out.
What or who are you proudest of?
I guess that five years ago I got diagnosed with MS and I just… kept going.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Don’t let people drown out your fun. I see that so much in the world. It’s a real facet of QI – curiosity, enthusiasm, excitement, passion.
All of these things are allowed in children and as we grow up, we’re encouraged to suppress it. And then being very outwardly excited is seen as quite embarrassing, and I think that’s really sad.
It’s OK to be yourself and have fun and be excited about the things you’re excited about.
Hardest thing you’ve had to give up during the pandemic?
Seeing people! I am an extrovert, I’m a social butterfly. So not being able to socialise is so hard.
Could you save someone’s life if they were dying in the street?
I did take the QI first aid course a few years ago! So maybe.
What have you got in your pockets?
I actually have a bit of sea glass and sea cermanic, which is the stuff you find on the beach. And these ones are from Pittenweem, I collected them when I was last in Scotland. I just have them about on my desk and in jars, and there’s always a bit on the floor. And in the other pocket, there’s a pen.
Where would you rather be right now?
I think maybe in Pittenweem, which is where my parents live. It’s just beautiful and peaceful, and mum and dad live right by the sea. Just having a hot cup of tea and being able to get the sea air right in your face is very rejuvenating.
Can you tell us a joke?
I’m not sure I can! I am the least funny of the Jupituses, by far. I’m good with facts, I’m good with drawings – jokes? Not so much my forte.
Funny You Should Ask… Again is available now from all major booksellers.