We Need Answers 2008 - The grand final

"We Need Answers" is a quiz with a difference. Top ranking comedians take part in a knock out quiz to find out which one of them is the smartest, funniest, best at limbo dancing, and all round know-it-all. Led by Mark Watson, Tim Key and Alex Horne, all the questions put to comedians were ones that had been texted to AQA 63336.

17 Aug 2008

Last night was the Grand Final of We Need Answers 2008, and was held in the considerably larger venue, Pleasance 1. The place was packed out with fans of Josie Long (with face paint to indicate allegiance) and Kristen Schaal. There were also quite a few people who appeared to have turned out purely to see Question Master Tim Key do his "stuff", having garnered quite a fanbase over the last couple of years and emerging as an unlikely Fringe sex symbol.

The show was always going to be hotly contested, especially with Josie competing, and she was beating Schaal by over 10 points by the end of the first round, despite not being able to calculate the length of time it would take someone to spin round 1 million times (including lunch breaks).

The highlight was the physical challenge when once again the contestants were forced to compete using the medium of "stuff from Lidl". Last night's task was to create a wedding dress, and both Josie and Kristen managed admirably. Josie constructed a fine Georgian style floor length gown from a bed sheet and masking tape, with a bonnet and veil made from a bath mat and bubble wrap. Mark Watson noted however she resembled a strange "Grim Reaper". Kristen went with a collapsible lampshade for a hat and ended up wrapped in gold holographic gift paper. The effect was dazzling, if only because she was so highly reflective. Even Josie assented that Schaal looked more ready for a wedding than herself, and so Schaal regained some ground with the points.

In the end though, Josie was destined to win and claim her rewards. Her prize this year, after Paul Sinha rejected his mobility scooter, was an entire bathroom suite. Josie posed gleefully in the bath and washing her hands, and then Key draped her in her well-deserved bathroom mats. Josie took a gamble though and went for a further prize of a £200 shopping spree with Mark, Tim and Alex. The question was, "What tattoo did Winston Churchill have, a dove or an anchor?" After a few moments of nail biting tension, Josie correctly asserted that it was an anchor and was covered in the beautiful glitter and confetti of success.