Richard Ayoade

Ayoade as Maurice Moss in The IT Crowd, playing Countdown.

Richard Ayoade is a contestant on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. He is an actor, writer, stand-up comedian and director.

In his most famous role as Maurice Moss on The IT Crowd, Ayoade's character "appeared" on Countdown in 2010. In the episode, Moss famously declares the nine letters TNETENNBA which already "spells" out a word, and breaks many records. Moss is later invited to a secret club called 8+ and forced to play "Street Countdown" against a jealous former champion, "Negative One", declaring a 16 (OVERNUMEROUSNESS) compared to Negative One's 12, ENORMOUSNESS. The episode featured cameo appearances from Jeff Stelling, Rachel Riley, and Gyles Brandreth.

He eventually made his debut appearance six years later on an actual episode on 22 October 2016. For his sole apperances in 2016 and 2017, he scored three and five respectively. Remarkably the year after, in 2018, he improved dramatically, scoring perfectly in a numbers round and obtained a maximum in a letters round.

He is only the second player in history to have two drawn matches, after Lew Schwarz. The advent of tiebreak conundrums in normal Countdown means this is unlikely to ever be beaten.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
Cats70	22/10/2016	S	Richard Ayoade & Rob Beckett	3 – 48	Jon Richardson & Claudia Winkleman	Jimmy Carr	Rachel Riley					Adam Riches	Susie Dent	70
Cats86	06/07/2017	S	Stephen Mangan & Sean Lock	55 – 5	Richard Ayoade & Katherine Ryan	Jimmy Carr	Rachel Riley					Bill Bailey	Susie Dent	71
Cats102	17/08/2018	S	Richard Ayoade & Sean Lock	42 – 43	Jon Richardson & Jessica Knappett	Jimmy Carr	Rachel Riley					Alex Horne & the Horne Section	Susie Dent	74
Cats108	25/01/2019	S	Joe Wilkinson & Sean Lock	22 – 35	Richard Ayoade & Aisling Bea	Jimmy Carr	Rachel Riley					Tom Allen	Susie Dent	78
Cats122	23/01/2020	S	Richard Ayoade & Sean Lock	44* – 44	Jon Richardson & Katherine Ryan	Jimmy Carr	Rachel Riley					David O'Doherty	Susie Dent	87
Cats128	14/08/2020	S	Daisy May Cooper & Sean Lock	22 – 27	Richard Ayoade & Ivo Graham	Jimmy Carr	Rachel Riley					Adam Buxton	Susie Dent	71
Cats133	04/02/2021	S	Richard Ayoade & Sean Lock	42 – 52	Jon Richardson & Sara Pascoe	Jimmy Carr	Rachel Riley					Nick Helm	Susie Dent	69
Cats143	29/07/2022	S	Joe Wilkinson & Richard Ayoade	28 – 28	Jon Richardson & Lucy Beaumont	Jimmy Carr	Rachel Riley					Finlay Christie	Susie Dent	75
Cats146	19/08/2022	S	Sara Pascoe & Richard Ayoade	11 – 35	Jon Richardson & Chris McCausland	Jimmy Carr	Rachel Riley					Morgana Robinson	Susie Dent	60
Cats158	19/07/2024	S	Katherine Ryan & Richard Ayoade	39 – 28*	Jon Richardson & Dan Tiernan	Jimmy Carr	Rachel Riley					John Kearns	Susie Dent	75
Cats161	09/08/2024	S	Laura Smyth & Richard Ayoade	45 – 46	Jon Richardson & Katherine Ryan	Jimmy Carr	Rachel Riley					Mat Ewins	Susie Dent	89
Cats162	16/08/2024	S	Maisie Adam & Jonathan Ross	41** – 34	Richard Ayoade & Kemah Bob	Jimmy Carr	Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon					Sarah Keyworth	Susie Dent	97
Cats167	31/01/2025	S	Guz Khan & Richard Ayoade	23 – 49*	Jon Richardson & Amy Gledhill	Jimmy Carr	Rachel Riley					Sam Campbell	Susie Dent	64
Cats168	25/07/2025	S	Harriet Dyer & Richard Ayoade	77*+ – 10	Bob Mortimer & Tom Allen	Jimmy Carr	Rachel Riley					Ian Smith	Susie Dent	98

* Includes 5 points from a bonus game ** Includes 11 points from a bonus game and 20 points from the conundrum + Includes 34 points from the conundrum

External Links

• Richard Ayoade on Wikipedia.