Stand-up comedian Jimmy Carr has been the host and quizmaster of each edition to date. Repeats can usually be found days later on Channel 4's sister channel E4 and/or 4seven.
A second set of 'decades' editions screened in September 2013 as well as a 10th-anniversary special in January 2015 and a Big Fat Quiz of Everything in January 2016, followed by a series of three episodes in August 2016. There has been another at around the end of each year, as well as a special edition in November 2007 for Channel 4's 25th anniversary celebrations and three themed special editions in September 2012, to celebrate Channel 4's first three decades. The first edition was broadcast in December 2004. At the end of each round the answers are displayed and points awarded. Three teams of two celebrities, mostly comedians, are asked questions about the year gone by in various categories, writing answers on an electronic board in front of them. The show is a comedy panel game in the style of a pub quiz. The Big Fat Quiz of the Year is an approximately annual British television programme broadcast in the last or first week of the year on Channel 4. Studio view of the Big Fat Quiz of the Year set at BBC Elstree Centre.
