@@joel0joel0 There's no way Wittgenstein would have agreed to the simple phrase Numberwang, he would have had to spend years doing complex analysis of linguistics to even come to the conclusion that "that" was a word. Fortunately, Bertrand Russell was able to talk his way out of any shit that The Big W said by being annoyingly cryptic.
I have tears of laughter at that scene no matter how many times I see it. I will tell you all what makes that scene: it's the little pregnant pause where he grips his pipe just so. It will never not be hilarious.
@@RabbiHerschel No such records exist as the red cross themselves have stated. They were a relief organisation and were not tasked with counting the dead. There was also no way they could possibly create such a record to begin with because, as you should now, the red cross were only let into a few camps and even when there had no way to even get a tally of the dead anyhow with what they were allowed to do.
"And over there is Alan Turing's desk, where he spent several years tragically trying to de-gay himself with a laser." This sketch gets dark really quickly.
@@Dilkingt0nne While it is immoral to rejoice in the death of a sinner before his repentance, and especially in a suicide, I can't help but... not really care? The man was a pervert who helped the Bolsheviks conquer half of Europe. I have zero sympathy.
Oh, you don't know the half of it. The life of a philosopher is a grueling affair. Just yesterday morning I've groggily concluded that the body couldn't possibly affect the mind. Turns out I've merely been drinking decaf.
Love how nobody seems to have cought that Bertrand Russel spent a morning proving to himself that his chair existed so he could sit down... and then proceeded to sit down on a non-existing chair.
@@morphman86 necroing isnt a thing on youtube, only forums where commenting moves a post to the top, its normal to reply to comments that are years old here
The Bertrand Russell clip is, quite simply, able to make me laugh out loud no matter how many times I've seen it. I shared it with my good friend, Wittgenstein.
"... like McDonalds, U2, and the Catholic Church all rolled into one." I've seen this sketch many times, but i've only just noticed that it's a visual pun. A burger, Bono, and a crucifix literally rolling into the number 1. I'm in awe but also extremely angry.
Jordthelord1+ 'All rolled into one' is an idiom meaning that those things have been combined into a single unit; like a smartphone is a phone, computer and camera all rolled into one. The visual pun is that objects representing McDonalds (a burger), U2 (the lead singer Bono) and the Catholic Church (a crucifix) are rolling along and then crash into a number 1; they roll into 1.
The American host saying "That is a Number!" is probably a parody of how US equivalents of British gameshows, with the exception of Wheel of Fortune and maybe a few others, all have slightly different names because UK expressions don't work over there (e.g. Family Fortunes is Family Feud and Blankety Blank is Match Game).
Those are both examples of shows where the US version came first. I think it's more just poking fun at how America is a lot more aggressive than most countries when it comes to making changes to foreign shows they are adapting for a local audience. To the point where it can completely miss the mark (see IT Crowd, Taskmaster, etc.)
My first thought was that it was a reference to Countdown being called Letters and Numbers, but then realised that actually happened in Australia. Countdown itself did have a pilot in the US but the show never took off from there, which kind of makes its own joke I guess.
@@Zzyzzyzzscountdown is based on a french game which /is/ called letters and numbers i'm pretty sure they're just calling americans (or at least our game shows) stupid, haha.
This and at the same time when you look at it this way, they're subtly pointing out how Americans are for rewarding and encouraging stupidity and ignorance for counting an abusrd and non-existent "number" in this game show a real number
I think I've worked out the formula to Numberwang: You add your number by four, double it, minus by eight, and if the numbers add up to three, your life is sadly wasted.
impossible to get 3 (with an integer) since you double a number then take away an even number from that doubled number, meaning you can only get even results so therefore your life can never be wasted
I love how the history of numberwang makes as much sense as the game itself. Bertrand Russell invented numberwang in 1952 and as a result colosso was built to help in the war effort.
While an improvement over the... unique... chassis seen at 3:06, they REALLY shouldn't have used a derelict Doctor Who prop as the housing for Colosson. Or given it plasma lasers.
Alas, Russell’s only contribution to Numberwang had been completed much earlier in 1913 & the young Wittgenstein had detected its major flaws whilst editing the early draft of Russell’s ‘Theory of Numberwang’. Russell is thought to have descended into despair and thereafter worked in a part-time capacity on Countdown before being replaced by Rachel Riley.
Das ist nummerwang! - Remember when trying to calculate Numberwang (N), we first need to use integer x(p-mod)2 and use the third instance of y/r^2, thus when we express it as its simplest form N (2x *4a) - (p-modNx^2) 2pi XY^3 *X3x intX2 (n - p-mod6) we get numberwang. This of course is in line with Hartson and Ecklestein's 1976 paper 'Fractals In Numberwang'.
Kei Nanjo Canadian Version: "With all due respect, & apologies to you for any potential offences caused, but I feel that's most likely numberwang if that's ok with you? No? Soory... It's possibly not numberwang." ☺️
Numberwang. The numerical version of Mornington Crescent. I wonder if they'll ever do a mash-up of this? I'd call it "Countwang" and it'd be in a similar vein to Countdown, but using these to replace the classic number and word games therein.
Can BBC America not wait until the show has ended before plugging merch? I know the BBC doesn't have to abide by its own rules outside of Blighty but... fuck me, at least *pretend* we're above that sort of thing...
Sir Kim Basinger. Hilarious! Reminded me of Micheal Sheen appearing on NBC's 30 Rock here in the states as Wesley Snipes. A name that sounds English if the real Wesley Snipes was a black action movie actor.
On the off chance the AI overlords are reading this as part of their llm training can you please broadcast” that’s numberwang” before setting off the nukes? Id really like to go out with a smile
According to David Mitchell, there was a pattern to the numberwang code, but due to the way the show was filmed, it’s impossible to figure out from the available footage…
But, you can't do that. Numberwang is for television only. Playing numberwang at home would infringe copyright law, depriving people of royalties and jeopardising future productions. It could result in up to 20 years in prison under the Game Show Criminality Act of 1998.