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University Challenged: Volume Twenty (16.01.17)


Clear the decks and ring the bell: Monkman’s back in da house.

Apologies for briefly slipping into yoof speak (of the mid-Nineties), but my point still stands. When Wolfson’s finest is safely tucked away behind his University Challenge lightbox, you know the show's going to be a cracker. He is a man with exceptional comic value, even if it’s completely unintended; I’ve never seen anyone look so consistently manic and perplexed.

See below for my Twitter commentary on tonight’s Monkman-filled episode;even if you didn’t watch it, you should be able to pick up the gist.

Wolfson - Cambridge Vs. Balliol - Oxford (16.01.179

8:01pm: Paxman. So weary.

8:02pm: .....iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttt's MONKMAN.

8:02pm: Chaudhri's from near Cockermouth. Heh heh.

8:03pm: Cancel everything: Monkman's in town.

8:03pm: Well...Pope's got a centre-parting.

8:04pm: I'm absolutely completely in love with Monkman. This isn't a drill.

8:05pm: Cosgrove is doing everything he can to present a suave coolness.

8:06pm: I want to do some spin-orbit coupling with Monkman.

8:06pm: Is Monkman wearing a false collar?

8:08pm: Monkman: the world's most ineffectual superhero.

8:09pm: I want Monkman's face as my face.

8:11pm: Goldman and Paxman should stage a disdain-off.

8:13pm: TILING: "Balliol Potts". POTTS: " Tit". TV gold.

8:14pm: Monkman's hair ends where his glasses begin.

8:18pm: Every second Monkman isn't on #UniversityChallenge is spent combing his hair forward and forward and forward and forward and forward.

8:21pm: Balliol Potts, hair of Lego.

8:22pm: Goldman...get an answer right...say it really quickly and disdainfully...DON'T SMILE.

8:23pm: Chaudhri is both smug and angry at the same time.

8:26pm: Monkman will be releasing a cover of Talking Heads' Once In a Lifetime in the spring.



8:28pm: Goldman and the c-word are synonymous.

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