No Such Thing As A Fish is a weekly podcast in which QI researchers Dan Schreiber, James Harkin, Anna Ptaszynski and Andrew Hunter Murray share the most bizarre, extraordinary and hilarious facts they’ve discovered over the last seven days.
Since its launch in March 2014, No Such Thing As A Fish has become a bonafide cultural phenomenon, and has released over 550 episodes, had over 500 million listens, won multiple awards, been named one of Apple Music’s most downloaded podcasts of 2016, 2017 and 2018, and Amazon Music's Best Podcasts of the Year in 2022. It was also one of Apple's Top Shows of 2022, won the Heinz Oberhummer Award for Science Communication in 2019, and been declared one of the Top Podcasts of the Decade by Spotify.
The show has also been transformed into the topical BBC2 series No Such Thing As The News; been adapted into three bestselling books, The Book of the Year 2017, 2018, and 2019; performed live to sell-out crowds in the UK and abroad, from The London Palladium to the Sydney Opera House; and spawned a no.1 chart-topping, behind-the-scenes documentary Behind The Gills.
My favourite geeks. Hilarious. Sideways. Brilliant.
TIM MINCHIN
THE TEAM
JAMES HARKIN has been a writer and script editor on 18 series of QI, produced four series of BBC Radio 4's Museum of Curiosity and co-written 14 books. They include 1,227 Facts to Blow Your Socks Off which was a New York Times bestseller, and, most recently, A Load of Old Balls which was nominated for a Charles Tyrwhitt Sports Book Award. Alongside Anna, Dan and Andy, he is part of the award-winning podcast No Such Thing As A Fish which has had over half a billion downloads and has enjoyed sell-out tours around the world.
ANNA PTASZYNSKI is a script editor, writer, and researcher for the hit BBC TV series QI. With her fellow podcasters she is co-author of The Book of the Year 2017, 2018 and 2019, published by Penguin Random House, as well as being co-presenter on two series of the BBC TV show No Such Thing As The News. In 2023 she joined host John Lloyd as curator on the 17th series of BBC Radio 4's Museum of Curiosity. Most recently, Anna has co-authored A Load of Old Balls with James Harkin, which was released in paperback in June 2024 and shortlisted for the Charles Tyrwhitt Sports Book Awards.
ANDREW HUNTER MURRAY was a writer on BBC2's QI for 14 years. Outside his work on the podcast he's also part of the writing team at Private Eye, Britain's biggest satirical magazine, and hosts the Eye's podcast, Page 94. Andrew's first novel, The Last Day, was published in 2020 and became a Sunday Times bestseller and one of the top 10 fiction debuts of that year. His second novel, The Sanctuary, was published in 2022, and his third, A Beginner's Guide To Breaking And Entering in spring 2024.
DAN SCHREIBER is a presenter, writer and producer. As well as being part of No Such Thing As A Fish, Dan has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows which include fronting his own documentary special The Great UFO Conspiracy on Channel 4, and, co-hosting Animal Planet's Monster Week alongside Jumanji star Rhys Darby. He is the co-creator and producer of the Rose d'Or award- winning BBC Radio 4 series The Museum of Curiosity (running for 17 series) His most recent work includes his debut non-fiction book The Theory of Everything Else, his interview podcast series We Can Be Weirdos, and his non-fiction children's book Impossible Things, published by Hachette in July 2024.
MILESTONES
SELL-OUT TOURS
In 2014 the podcasters took the show to the stage and have been playing live ever since, with sell-out shows at The London Palladium, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and at the Sydney Opera House. They have toured the UK, Europe, USA, Australia and New Zealand.
COMIC RELIEF MARATHON PODCAST
In March 2021, NSTAAF hosted a marathon 20-hour podcast to celebrate 35 years of Comic Relief. Dan, James, Anna and Andy welcomed 35 different guests, including Tim Minchin, Stephen Fry, Shaparak Khorsandi, Sandi Toksvig and Carey Mulligan - each of whom brought along a fact of their choosing. In total, they raised over £155,000.
A SPIN-OFF BBC TV SERIES
In 2016 the BBC commissioned No Such Thing As The News, a topical version of the podcast that took a look at interesting and funny news stories from the week. The show, produced by QITV, ran for two series.
THREE BESTSELLING BOOKS
In 2017, The Book of the Year: The Weirder Side of 2017 was released and shot into the Amazon Top 10 chart. Upon release, the 2018 sequel also became an immediate Top 10 Bestseller. The Book Of The Year 2019 was published, unsurprisingly, the following year.
NO.1 CHARTING DOCUMENTARY
In January 2018 the team were the subject of a behind-the-scenes documentary, Behind The Gills, which followed them on their 2017 UK tour and interviewed them along the way. The documentary debuted at number one on the iTunes
TV charts.
THE FIRST UK PODCAST ON VINYL
In 2015 NSTAAF signed with indie-rock label Alcopop! Records to produce a specially recorded show on vinyl.
No podcast makes me laugh as consistently as No Such Thing As A Fish. Clever, stupid, strongly recommended.
RICHARD OSMAN
PRESS
Knowledge-packed and riotously funny.
THE TIMES
Hooray for No Such Thing As A Fish!
OBSERVER
The QI Elves drop so many facts your head will spin.
GUARDIAN
Expect to be amazed...
TELEGRAPH
This intelligent quartet serve as a welcome reminder that comedy does not have to be dumb.
EVENING STANDARD
Fascinating, fun learning on everything from history to biology and culture.
NEW YORK TIMES
Brilliant and funny... educational as well as entertaining. A rare but valuable combination.
HUFFINGTON POST
Intellectual hi-jinx…The four have the easy intimacy of squabbling siblings – quick to riff on each other’s material and tease each other mercilessly.
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
What a bunch of dorks.
ANONYMOUS INTERNET USER