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Three Things! (Wait, no, actually four...)

2025-11-28 · letter vlog · Hank, Sandi Toksvig · 7:19 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life (also: Projects) · mode: Announcements · tags: self promotion, on location, guest or collab

Opening with footage from a toilet cubicle at BBC Studioworks before taping QI, Hank tells John four things the day after Thanksgiving: his QI appearance, Good Store's Black Friday sale with new compression cancer socks, his new stand-up material at Grace Helbig's Cancer is a Joke livestream, and Focus Friend's Google App of the Year win; he then reflects that being on QI was a dream come true that felt more complex than he expected.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Backstage at BBC Studioworks before taping QI with Aisling Bea, Sandi Toksvig, Alan Davies and Desiree Burch

  • ★★ Hank, in a toilet cubicle at BBC Studioworks, has just had hair and makeup done with Aisling Bea, Sandi Toksvig, Alan Davies and Desiree Burch and is about to be on QI, a show he loves. — 00:00:00
  • ★ Hank knows Desiree Burch from America: she performed at NerdCon: Stories in 2015. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank says he is weirdly unfamiliar with impostor syndrome, but here it is before QI. — 00:00:29
  • ★ The show gave Hank a pocket square; he guesses they thought he was too understated. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:29

00:00:52 — Things one and two: watch QI; Good Store Black Friday sale and compression cancer socks

  • ★★ On the day after Thanksgiving, Hank says the opening was him at QI and points viewers who can watch QI, for example in the UK, to his episode. — 00:00:52 · United Kingdom
  • ★ Hank points to a video on Hank's channel where he rants about Black Friday and Cyber Monday. — 00:01:21 · hankschannel
  • ★★★ Hank announces Good Store's four-day Black Friday to Cyber Monday sale, as always its biggest discount of the year, with profits donated to charity. — 00:01:21 · Good Store
  • ★★ Hank asks viewers to order now, since Good Store likes to get orders early to ship them in time. — 00:01:54 · Good Store
  • ★★ Hank's cancer socks have been repurposed into compression socks with Vim & Vigr, a Missoula company he has long known; it is their first product together. — 00:02:23 · Hank's Cancer Socks, Missoula, Montana
  • ★★ As this year's (2025) cancer product, the compression socks' money helps people who would not normally have access to cancer care get it. — 00:02:23 · Hank's Cancer Socks, cancer
  • ★ Hank recently injured his ankle and has been enjoying the compression socks' extra support. — 00:02:23 · Hank's Cancer Socks

00:02:52 — Thing three: Hank's new stand-up material at Cancer is a Joke, livestreamed December 2

  • ★★★ Hank will do new stand-up material at Grace Helbig's stand-up night Cancer is a Joke, raising money for WeGotThis.org. — 00:02:52 · Grace Helbig
  • ★★ Since tickets have probably sold out, Hank asks viewers to watch the December 2 livestream, linked in the description. — 00:02:52
  • ★ Hank thinks the show starts around six, West Coast time, but does not know for sure. (unsure) — 00:02:52

00:03:22 — Thing four: Focus Friend wins Google's App of the Year and adds new features

  • ★★ Hank warns that his set is not kid friendly; he would call it R-rated. — 00:03:22
  • ★★★ Hank announces Focus Friend has won Google's App of the Year, outright rather than in a category, which he calls wild. — 00:03:22 · Focus Friend, Google
  • ★★ Focus Friend has two new rooms (all users should now have the kitchen), a count-up timer and changeable wallpaper colors. (hedged) — 00:03:53 · Focus Friend
  • ★ Hank tells viewers to check out Focus Friend, which the team keeps working on. — 00:03:53 · Focus Friend

00:04:12 — What being on QI was like: a dream come true that did not feel as he imagined; the note-card souvenir

  • ★★ Hank has been watching QI for probably decades, though not legally back then. (hedged) — 00:04:12
  • ★★★ Hank says being on QI was absolutely a dream come true. — 00:04:21
  • ★★ After being told he could do QI, Hank got cancer and cancelled, actually ghosting them; once better he asked to do it again. — 00:04:21 · cancer
  • ★★ Going to Ireland anyway, Hank stopped in London to record QI, then went straight from the studio to Dublin for his gig the next day. — 00:04:21 · London
  • ★★★ About to tape with the panelists, Hank realized he did not actually want to do it: he wanted the feeling he imagined in that chair, and knew he would not get it. — 00:04:53
  • ★★ Hank spent the whole taping terrified, trying to come up with something clever, and is grateful editing hides people when they are not talking. — 00:05:23
  • ★★ Hank has had plenty of good feedback, finally watched the episode, and thinks he did fine. — 00:05:44
  • ★★ Hank's first real accomplished dream was kissing a girl he wanted to kiss; the moment was everything he dreamed, though the relationship was not the healthiest. — 00:05:44
  • ★★★ Hank says the QI experience was much more complex than that first dream: it did not feel exactly the way he thought it would. — 00:06:09
  • ★★ Hank is sure he looked as confident and cool as everyone he had seen on QI, but did not feel it; it still felt like doing a really cool, fun thing. — 00:06:30 · cool
  • ★★ To make himself go through with it, Hank planned that even if it went terribly he would ask Sandi for one of her note cards as a souvenir; he then asks her. — 00:07:00

Humor (significant)

  • Hank says he is in a toilet cubicle at BBC Studioworks, "working it out". — 00:00:00

    “Just, well, I shouldn't have used that phrase exactly.”

  • Psyching himself up before QI, Hank notices something. — 00:00:29

    “I just realized my mic is on. So that's fun.”

  • Mid-plug, Hank wonders whether 'friends and family' includes boyfriends and girlfriends. — 00:01:54

    “I'm like still talking, fact checking myself from 30 seconds ago.”

  • Hank says he won't point viewers in a direction among all the Good Store stuff. — 00:01:54

    “I'm going to point you in one direction.”

  • Hank says he has watched the British show QI for probably decades. — 00:04:21

    “And you will note that there was no way for me to be watching it legally decades ago.”

  • After getting cancer Hank says he cancelled QI, then corrects himself. — 00:04:21

    “I actually just ghosted them”

  • Explaining the QI dream, Hank swerves to his first accomplished dream, kissing a girl. — 00:05:44

    “Is this where you thought it was going to go?”

  • Hank's plan was to at least get one of Sandi's note cards as a souvenir; the clip shows him asking. — 00:07:00

    “Sandy, can I have one of your little cards?”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: QI

Also: People: Aisling Bea · Alan Davies · Desiree Burch · Grace Helbig · Sandi Toksvig

Projects: hankschannel · NerdCon: Stories

Works: Focus Friend · Hank's Cancer Socks

Organizations: BBC Studioworks · Google · We Got This

Terms: cool

Concepts: cancer · dream · impostor syndrome · stand-up comedy

Places: Dublin · Ireland · London · Missoula, Montana · United Kingdom · West Coast of the United States

Events: Black Friday · Cancer is a Joke · Cyber Monday · Thanksgiving

Only in the description or credits: Good Store · Vim & Vigr

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