[4][5] The show recommenced on 15 June 2009[6] with Lyttelton replaced by three hosts: Stephen Fry, Jack Dee and Rob Brydon.

[9][10] I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue developed from the long-running radio sketch show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, the writers of which were John Cleese, Jo Kendall, David Hatch, The Goodies trio Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor and especially Graeme Garden who suggested the idea of an unscripted show[11] which, it was decided, would take the form of a parody panel game.

A panel game with no competition was not itself a new idea: the BBC had a history of successful quiz shows designed to allow witty celebrities to entertain where winning was not important.

[citation needed] The pilot episode (at that time titled I'm Sorry, They're At It Again) opened with Graeme Garden and Jo Kendall singing the words of "Three Blind Mice" to the tune of "Ol' Man River" followed by Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor performing the lyrics of "Sing a Song of Sixpence" to the melody of "These Foolish Things".

It has a large following among professional comedians such as Armando Iannucci, who turned down opportunities to work on it as he preferred to remain a listener.

[19] On 18 April 2008 the producer of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, Jon Naismith, announced that, owing to hospitalisation to repair an aortic aneurysm, Humphrey Lyttelton would be unable to record the scheduled shows and that they would have to be postponed.

[21] In a eulogy in The Guardian, Barry Cryer did not allude to the future of the programme but said that there's "got to be an agonising reappraisal" and that Lyttelton was the "very hub of the show".

[24] In the Clue mailout for February 2009 Naismith announced that Stephen Fry, Jack Dee and Rob Brydon would host two shows each, to be recorded in April, May and June 2009 respectively.

Guest pianists are called in when Sell has been unable to attend (or the ISIHAC team have "won the coin toss" as Lyttelton once said on the show), including Neil Innes, Denis King and Matthew Scott.

[13] On one occasion when Innes was guesting, Lyttelton outlined the musician's career, concluding that this "has brought him to where he is today: standing in for Colin Sell."

[19] Since 18 May 1985 (in the episode in which Kenny Everett made his debut), the show has included a fictional and completely silent scorer "whose job is eased by the fact no points are actually awarded".

Lyttelton would describe Samantha's social activities, usually in an apology received from the unseen character who had been detained, often with a "gentleman friend".

During early episodes of Samantha's appearance on the show, it was not completely clear that she was a fictional character, garnering complaints about the sexist and humiliating treatment she received.

The names and phrases on them are conveyed to "listeners at home" by the "mystery voice", alluding to the 1960s radio programme Twenty Questions.

Popular games include "One Song to the Tune of Another", "Mornington Crescent", "Sound Charades", "Late Arrivals", "Double Feature", "Cheddar Gorge" and "Uxbridge English Dictionary".

"One Song to the Tune of Another" is always introduced using a complex analogy, despite its self-explanatory title, often ending with a joke at the expense of Colin Sell.

The I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue version once employed the famous actress (and fan of the show) Dame Judi Dench in this role and the renowned television gardener Alan Titchmarsh.

For example, in a round based on suggesting television programmes from biblical times: In "Uxbridge English Dictionary" the panellists contribute humorous redefinitions of words; "Puny: the Roman Catholic equivalent of tennis elbow".

[37] The show draws to a close with the chairman imparting some final words of wisdom intended to evoke time, destiny, fate and eternity, undercut with silliness.

For example: "...And so, as the hunter of time blasts the moose of eternity, and the dairy counter worker of fate sighs and grabs her mop..." Lyttelton's final sign-off on the show, shortly before his death in April 2008, was: And so as the loose-bowelled pigeon of time swoops low over the unsuspecting tourist of destiny, and the flatulent skunk of fate wanders into the air-conditioning system of eternity, I notice it's the end of the show.Most of the humour is detached from the real world.

The game "Complete George Bush Quotes" was once played, in which the teams had to supply endings for phrases that George Bush had begun (see Bushism), the teams complaining that they couldn't be any funnier than the original; similar rounds with guessing or completing quotes of other well-known public figures and personalities have also been played.

The mere mention of Lionel Blair often brought roars of laughter in anticipation of an outrageous double-entendre based on his supposed homosexuality (he was not gay).

[40] Similarly, particular mention of points scorer Samantha or her male replacement Sven (neither of whom actually exists) will typically bring anticipatory laughter in anticipation of a sexual double-entendre.

Graeme Garden and Barry Cryer frequently played the characters of two Scots, Hamish and Dougal, whose skits usually began with the phrase "You'll have had your tea?

Lyttelton's successor, Jack Dee, continued with and expanded upon this, mimicking Parsons while he was still alive by constantly emphasising the long experience of some panellists, and the fact that the programme can be heard all over the world.