Ten hours is a looooooooooooooooooooooooong…[huuuh]…time. So this Sunday, at our Tenth Anniversary Quiz Marathon, we're going to keep you well fed. And drinked. And caffeined.
One of the reasons we went with 92YTribeca as a venue is because, foodwise, it's hard to find a better showroom in the city. Cafe 92YTribeca is first-rate: delicious, healthy, not too fancy. They also specialize in wacky flavored juices—a pineapple-basil combination once changed my life in profound ways—and, best of all to some people, it's all completely kosher. (Milchig, specifically.) The menu is here. Plus, some specials!
Bloody Marys…
BTW, the Bloody Mary was essentially invented here in NYC…under the name "the Red Snapper." In fact, its birthplace, the King Cole Bar on East 55th Street, still serves it under that original name.
They'll also have mimosas (made with fresh OJ or grapefruit juice), bagels served with house-made gravlax, a brain-food bowl of quinoa with roasted veggies and lemon vinaigrette. And, of course, coffee…
…for only $1! Care to join me in mainlining it?
Also, this seems a good spot to give a shout-out to 92YTribeca for adding to the insanely large prize haul we have on tap for the show. They're throwing in a pair of tickets to a film screening, a pair of tickets to a music concert, a pair of tickets to a comedy show, a $25 gift card to the café, free drinks, a various other swag. How can you not come to this damn thing?!? Buy your tix, friends.
The tales were amazing (heh), and brutal: Early previews of the show said it was an epic disaster, with an incomprehensible plot and a damning number of high-flying cast injuries. But the producers stepped back, retooled it, and now the damn thing will run on the Great White Way until only cockroaches are left walking the earth.
I was fortunate enough to see the show recently. It's not Tennessee Williams, but it's a thoroughly entertaining Broadway spectacular, with fantastic special effects, an energetic and exciting cast, fun music by these guys (they're gonna go places, I tell ya!), and the genuine thrill of seeing Spider-Man himself swinging high above your head. Tourists are snapping up the tickets like crazy, and like everything on Broadway, they don't come cheap, but we've got a couple for lucky Marathon-goers. In fact, I'm calling it now: This will be part of the second-place prize. (First being $1,000, of course.) Nice, huh?
Also, let me take a moment to shout out to Allison Prouty and her team at Second Bolt, the production company that's been working with us on making the Marathon a reality. She procured this and all the other prizes (and is the one who took me to see SM: TOTD), and has been an invaluable addition to the BQT machine.
Learn more about Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark here; buy your Marathon tickets here. And now, just because you know you want it…
The BFC is an old-timey yet unstoppably spectacular variety-arts troupe that has thrilled millions worldwide. They juggle, they clown, they stilt-walk, they acrobatize, they ventriloquize, they contort, they eat and spit fire—variety is indeed the proper term. All the fun of classic carnival entertainment, without the risk of swindle-by-loathsome-carny. (Though no, despite the members' surnames supposedly all being "Bindlestiff," they are not a true family. I'm reminded of a story the Ramones once told a reporter, about how they all met by happenstance in an elevator one day and decided to form a band when they realized they all had the same last name.)
Keith Bindlestiff is the cofounder of the company, its driving force, and a man of numerous talents. I've seen him juggle vegetables, spin plates, block his head, and change water into wine (quite possibly, that part is hazy). The man is fascinating to behold, and he'll be thrilling us with a set of I-can't-tell-you-what during one of the Marathon's performance breaks. Check him out at the Bindlestiffs' monthly variety show in Brooklyn (which I've taken part in a few times with a unique quiz challenge or two) in the video below:
I cannot do this, I have no idea why anyone would decide to learn to do
this (other than to entertain people); then again, I am quizmastering
for ten hours straight. Learn more about the Cirkus here; more about the Marathon here, and tickets are still on sale here.
No! St. Mark's Bookshop—a literary legend well beyond the East Village—is still alive. The story briefly: Its landlord, Cooper Union, jacked up the rent, SMB saw its days numbered, but the community flew into action and put together a massive petition, and this fine, fine bookstore survived. For now, of course; this is New York City. (More of the tale here.)
Places like St. Mark's stir in me the best kind of nostalgia: There aren't enough independent bookstores anymore, particularly ones that are a true pleasure to browse, and browsing book and/or record stores was how I spent 90% of every vacation during college (my parents moved around a lot). Every genre you could imagine, helpful staff, all that jazz, plus a true E-Vill character; I mean, seriously: Of their top five bestsellers, two of them are by Patti Smith. Next time you need to waste time in the East Village, trust me on this.
So it's a real honor to have them as a sponsor of our upcoming Tenth Anniversary Quiz Marathon. They're tossing in a gift card as a prize, but you really should go there anyway and buy a few books. (I know you, you haven't gotten around to getting a Kindle yet.) Besides, I'll make you a deal: If you pick up a pointy-headed novel by Jeffrey Eugenides or whoever, I won't judge you for also buying Glee: The Official William McKinley High School Yearbook.
St. Mark's Bookshop is at 21 Third Avenue, just off St. Marks Place, which works out nicely. Find out more here (shop online, even), and look at that! Tickets for the Marathon are on sale!
Hey, everyone: Sex! Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex…[vocal drum roll sound]…SEX! (Thanks to that sentence, this blog will come up whenever anyone googles "sex." Totally.)
I logged on to MoSex's website just now, and I was confronted by an image of a cartoon Wonder Woman giving…how shall I put this in SFW terms?…both oral and mammillary favors to an unseen gentleman, as part of an exhibit called "Universe of Desire." Nearby, Bert's doing Ernie, Leela from Futurama is going down on Homer Simspon. So know what you're getting into.
Other exhibits, past, present or future. All are exactly what they sound like, and all look fascinating:
When I was in college, a rabbi told me that I was one of the funniest people he'd ever met. "Have you considered being a stand-up comedian?" he asked me. I had in fact, one of many things I thought might be my ticket to a life of attention-hogging. And hey, if the rabbi says so…
So for about three years, I lived the life in the trenches of NYC comedy clubs and downtown alt rooms. And then, realizing one day that I was probably never going to ride the stand-up train to stardom, let alone financial solvency, I quit. Oh, I had my moments—I had a great joke about Boar's Head turkey, and more than once, I got a crowd on their feet (though way more than once, I had a room full of uncomfortable people staring at me as if I were being led to the guillotine)—but quitting was the right choice for me. I mean, hey, quizmastering, way more secure and sexy.
One of the many results of my comedy adventure was that I have a huge appreciation for people who not only survive in the stand-up maelstrom, but thrive in it. And such a man is Liam McEneaney.
I met Liam back in the good old days, as we both trolled through the open-mike scene. I must have seen him perform hundreds of times, and while he was merely average at first (and brutally young; dude was like 17 when I first saw him), I watched him develop into one of the most reliably funny performers on the scene. Then I quit, didn't see him for years, and suddenly caught his act again and saw that the guy had taken a quantum leap forward, just killing it on every level. Household-nameness is merely beyond the horizon.
He is, however, right now a huge name on the local scene. He's been on Comedy Central and VH1, has performed all over the world, and is the host and producer of Tell Your Friends!, a beloved weekly stand-up show on the LES that regularly attracts seriously big names (I believe he's dating Janeane Garofalo currently, but don't pay attention to what I believe). We ran into each other last fall at New York Comic Con, as I was doing a comic-booky BQT and he was doing a comic-booky comedians' panel, and I decided he'd be a good fit for a future BQT event.
First off, a clarification/reiteration: As I stated in my post about strategy for our Tenth Anniversary Quiz Show Marathon Spectacular, we're not asking anyone to stick out the full ten hours (though you're welcome to, nerd boy). Furthermore, we'll be giving out prizes all day. So show up anytime, and maybe win something. Including, perhaps…
THEATER!
We've got a ridiculous number of show tix to give out throughout the Marathon. Some of the options…
Old Jews Telling Jokes:The Web series sensation—and how could it not be?—has just opened as a stage show, a hell of a lot more entertaining than Passover Seder with Uncle Bob (though I've learned to appreciate that). A company of five non-Goyim shares classic humor, original comic songs, tributes to the delightfully crusty MOTs of the past, and much more, now playing at the Westside Theatre. Much more at oldjewstellingjokesonstage.com. And now for something completely different…
Sistas: The tag line is "Sistas: The Musical: The story of African-American women through Top 40 music." There aren't many more American things than that, really—everything from "I Will Survive" to "I Am Not My Hair."Now playing at St. Luke's Theatre; explore at sistasthemusical.com.
And we have a sole Broadway production in the lineup…but I'm going to keep hush about that for the moment. Let me just say it's big, and whoever finds themselves with these tickets will indeed find themselves with great responsibility. Stay tuned…and buy your Marathon tickets now!
Noah Tarnow is the creator and quizmaster of the Big Quiz Thing, America's premier live trivia game show. Combining supremely smart content with top-shelf stage production, the Big Quiz Thing is the live trivia game show that you get to play! Check our calendar to find out when and where you can take part, or e-mail booking[at]bigquizthing.com to schedule your own event!
