Corey Taylor once fulfilled a life ambition to guest appears on QI
The episode was part of Series N
Last updated 15th Jul 2021
Corey Taylor may be best known as the frontman of heavy metal rock band Slipknot, but he once fulfilled one of his major life ambitions... No, nothing to do with the day job - he was super keen to appear as a guest on BBC panel show QI.
While in the UK in May 2016, the Slipknot and Stone Sour singer filmed an episode for the Series N alongside Aisling Bea, Alan Davies and Ross Noble plus host Sandi Toksvig, which aired in November 2016.
Irish comedian Aisling shared a photo of the fivesome pulling sign of the devil horns, writing: 'Dear SlipKnot fans, we've taken your leader & removed his mask.'
She later uploaded a photo of herself and Toksvig wearing hoodies and pulling horns once again, adding: 'So @sanditoksvig and I are totally joining Slipknot now, as long as they do a few Beyoncé and Vivaldi covers. #qi'
Corey is a huge fan of QI (Quite Interesting) and in early 2013 made it one of his New Year resolutions to guest on the show alongside quitting smoking – two things he got to work on in 2016.
When was Corey Taylor on QI?
QI Series N filmed throughout May and June 2016, and Corey’s episode aired entitled 'Nosey Noisy' on 4th November 2016 with the XL edition airing on 6th November.
How can I watch Corey Taylor on QI?
The episode originally aired in 2016, but appeared as a rerun on BBC Two in June 2021, meaning it's currently available to watch on BBC iPlayer until 22nd July 2021. However, there are a few clips on YouTube for you to peruse at your leisure.
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Scroll through to see Slipknot's mask evolution through the years:
Slipknot in 2000
Slipknot wearing trademark white boiler suits and their horrorshow masks in 2000
Slipknot 'Slipknot'
Slipknot on the sleeve of their fearsome, self-titled debut album in June 1999.
Slipknot's in 2000
Slipknot standing in a stairway in early 2000, obviously.
Shawn 'Clown' Crahan and Joey Jordison's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan and the late-great Joey Jordison in their fetching masks in 2000
Sid Wilson's mask
Slipknot's Sid Wilson in his gas mask in 2000
Corey Taylor's mask
Corey Taylor with his dreadlock mask in 2000 - a very different mask to his look today.
Jim Root's mask
Slipknot's Jim Root in 2000 in his Jester mask.
Craig Jones' mask
Slipknot's Craig Jones in his bizarre spiked helmet mask in 2000. This would soon evolve into a spiked gimp mask.
Mick Thomson's mask
Slipknot's formidable and towering Mick Thomson in 2000 in his horror hockey mask.
Paul Gray's mask
The late-great Paul Gray of Slipknot in his Pig Mask in 2000
Chris Fehn's mask
Slipknot's Chris Fehn in 2000. His pointy-nosed Pinocchio-esque mask has been a mainstay of his entire career with Slipknot. The mask is dubbed the Liar Mask.
Craig Jones' mask
Slipknot's Craig Jones in 2001. His part Hellraiser/part Gimp mask has also remained largely unchanged over the decades, except for the odd tweak.
Shawn 'Clown' Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in 2001. Although all of his masks have been clown related, the percussionist has tweaked his mask more than any other Slipknot member.
Slipknot
Slipknot's masks in June 2001
Joey Jordison and Corey Taylor's masks
Slipknot's Joey Jordison and Corey Taylor in 2001
Sid Wilson's mask
Slipknot's Sid Wilson in June 2001. Another variant of his gas mask.
Jim Root's mask
Slipknot's Jim Root in 2001
Shawn 'Clown' Crahan up close
A close-up of Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in December 2001
Slipknot's evolving masks
Slipknot and their masks in December 2001
Chris Fehn's mask
Slipknot's Chris Fehn in his Liar Mask in 2002
Corey Taylor's mask
Slipknot's Corey Taylor in 2002. The dreadlocks still remain.
Shawn 'Clown' Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in August 2002. This mask is more 'fairground clown' than his previous guises.
Corey Taylor's mask
Slipknot's Corey Taylor in May 2004. This delightful look is known as The Scab Mask.
Paul Gray's mask
Slipknot's Paul Gray in 2004. Not quite a pig mask but still animalistic.
Shawn 'Clown' Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in June 2004. This time he adopted a bloody bandage mask.
Slipknot's evolving masks
Slipknot in May 2005. Sid Wilson had dropped the gas mask in favour of a skull mask.
Slipknot at the Grammy Awards
Slipknot on the 2006 Grammy Awards red carpet. Sid Wilson on the far right opted for a death mask, while Shawn Crahan wore a grey mask and eye-catching pink boiler suit.
Slipknot 'All Hope Is Gone'
Slipknot return with new masks for All Hope Is Gone in 2008, including, most notably, Joey Jordison's crucified Jesus mask. Corey Taylor wore a new Blank Face Mask.
Mick Thomson and Jim Root's masks
Slipknot's Mick Thomson and Jim Root in their masks in 2008.
Joey Jordison's 'All Hope Is Gone' Jesus crown of thorns mask
The late Joey Jordison's iconic crucified Jesus mask was brought in for the 'All Hope Is Gone' era in 2008. A crown of thorns and warped stitches were added to his Kabuki mask, whilst some truly off-putting twigs or branches seemed to grow out of his fingers in place of nails. One of the most creepy Slipknot looks of all time, as demonstrated in this incredible photo of Joey on stage at Hammersmith Apollo in London.
Slipknot's evolving masks
Slipknot's Paul Gray, Corey Taylor and Jim Root at the Kerrang! Awards in 2008.
Slipknot's evolving masks
Slipknot suited and booted in December 2008 at the MTV Video Awards.
Shawn 'Clown' Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in May 2009. His long hair perfectly compliments his 'female mask'
Corey Taylor's mask
Slipknot's Corey Taylor pulling tongues in his Blank Face Mask in July 2009
Slipknot's evolving masks
Slipknot's Sid Wilson and Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in July 2011
Shawn 'Clown' Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in his Devil Clown Mask in July 2012
Mick Thomson's mask
Slipknot's Mick Thomson in August 2012
Jim Root's mask
Slipknot's Jim Root in his Jester Mask in 2013
Corey Taylor's mask
Slipknot's Corey Taylor at Download Festival 2013
Chris Fehn's mask
Slipknot's Chris Fehn in 2013 in his tradmark Liar Mask
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in January 2014
Corey Taylor's mask
Slipknot's Corey Taylor in November 2014; the same year he debuted his new Skin Face Mask.
Mick Thomson's mask
Slipknot's Mick Thomson in November 2014. Formidable as always.
Sid Wilson's mask
Slipknot's Sid Wilson in his new Steampunk Gas Mask in 2015
Alessandro Venturella's mask
Slipknot's Alessandro Venturella in 2015. The bassist joined Slipknot in 2014 and adopted his chilling burlap mask.
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in 2015. Since 2014 his guise has been various versions of his .5 Clown mask.
Corey Taylor's mask
Slipknot's Corey Taylor in 2015 in his Skin Face Mask.
Sid Wilson's mask
Slipknot's Sid Wilson in October 2015 in his slightly tweaked Steampunk Gas Mask.
Jay Weinberg's mask
Slipknot's Jay Weinberg in 2016. The drummer joined Slipknot two hours earlier and adopted an almost tribal burlap mask.
Corey Taylor's mask
Slipknot's Corey Taylor in 2016 in his slightly tweaked Skin Face Mask.
Chris Fehn's mask
Slipknot's Chris Fehn in July 2016. Fehn's Liar Mask is complimented by his long flowing locks.
Jay Weinberg's mask
Slipknot's Jay Weinberg flicking the V's in 2016
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in 2016
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan's mask
Another mask worn by Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in 2016
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan's mask
Yet another mask adorned by Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in 2016
Slipknot's new masks for 2019
Slipknot unveiled their fearsome new masks for new album 'We Are Not Your Kind' on 16th May 2019.
Slipknot's 'Tortilla Man'
Slipknot's mystery new percussionist, strongly rumoured to be Michael Pfaff from Clown's side-project Dirty Little Rabbits, was dubbed Tortilla Man by maggots in 2019 because, you guessed it, his mask looks like a tortilla.
Corey Taylor's 2021 mask
Corey Taylor unveiled his nightmarish new mask at Rocklahoma Festival in September 2021 - the band's first concert in almost 19 months.
Jay Weinberg's 2021 mask
Jay Weinberg unveiled his fearsome new mask to maggots around the world at Knotfest Los Angeles in November 2021.
Sid Wilson's 2022 mask
Sid Wilson unveiled this freaky new look in the video for 'The Dying Song (Time To Sing)' in July 2022.
Clown's 2022 mask
Reflecting his love for disco music, Slipknot percussionist M. Shawn 'Clown' Crahan debuted this mirrorball mask in the video for 'The Dying Song (Time To Sing)'.
Tortilla Man's 2022 mask
Slipknot's newest band member went from Tortilla Man to Squashed Tortilla Man in July 2022.
Jay Weinberg's 2023 mask
In April 2023, Jay Weinberg revealed a striking new mask to coincide with the band's performance at Knotfest Japan. He wrote on Instagram: "It's an honour to collaborate with Japanese painter Solid Blackline for my mask this weekend, specially designed for Knotfest Japan. The organic, flowing shapes of his high-contrast designs evoke feelings of mysticism and beauty, balanced within the duality of chaos and order one feels as a visitor in this wondrous country."
Corey Taylor’s 2023 mask
In May 2023, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor unveiled a slight tweak to his 'The End, So Far'-era mask. It features a crudely sawn-off cranium to expose Corey's luscious locks.
Slipknot masks Grammys 2024
Michael Pfaff, Alessandro Venturella, Michael Shawn Crahan and Sid Wilson debuted a fresh set of eery masks at the Grammy Award ceremony 2024.
Read more:
Everything you need to know about Slipknot
Slipknot's masks through the years
Slipknot, Ghost, Buckethead: Rock stars unmasked