Recap: Hii-YA!

Okay, I'm going to get to the highlight of last night's Big Quiz Thing—that bizarrely awesome Three-Way Finale—but first, the rest.

We had a fun night, back at the lovely Drom, with an interesting arc to the evening. You people were kicking butt for the first two rounds, and I was very impressed how many of you knew not only 1960s novelty curio "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haa!" (in the "We're! Very! Excited!" audio round), but knew the exact artist's name: Napoleon XIV. Chant it with me…

Best Smart-Ass Point of the night: The team in the video round that couldn't puzzle out the African country whose name is a synonym for "bits of paper." Their answer: Congofetti.

And a brief shout-out to my main peeps: EDP (if you haven't noticed, he's now rocking an excellent iPad sound-effects app), Claudia (developing into quite a fine sidekick), and door girl Sherry (who—for shame—I forgot to call out last night).

So, that finale: The topic was food (or, per our BQT parlance, "Foooood!"), and it featured NYC trivia champion Jonathan Corbblah of Jefferson Davis Starship, Stu of Cash Cab for Cutie, and Marie of Rachel Kramer Bussel in Your Hedgerow (sans RKB herself tonight, but bursting from a low placing into contention by being the only team to ace the audio round). The buzzers were in place, of course. And the excitement mounted.

Inside info: I come into every Three-Way with a supply of ten questions. (Wow, that sentence could me misinterpreted. But it's sort of true too.) And usually that's well more than enough. But tonight, we ran close to the edge, as Yes might say, using up them all to identify a winner. JDS Jonathan started strong, IDing the fried sandwich whose name is taken from an Italian island. But then we just had a string of blank faces. Really, no one knows about "hundreds and thousands"? Umm…

And at one point, the disaster: Cash Cab's Stu stone-cold knew the better-known name of banana ice cream and fudge chunks and walnuts, and he slammed his hand down on my beautiful, still relatively new buzzer. And it splintered into so many horrible pieces. I even have an artist's rendition:

Thankfully, the electronics still work, it just needs a new casing (as do the others; they're both showing sides of buckling. Damn you, random electrician I found on Craigslist!). Anyone who thinks they can handle this job, please let me know—the Big Quiz Thing will be in your somewhat-eternal debt, and think how useful that would be!!!

Anyway, following that excitement, I went back to asking a bunch of food questions that no one seemed to know, until someone finally got a second one right. And that was Stu. Your winners (only four on the team, not bad):
The Cash Cab fellas were kind enough to offer up some of their $200 jackpot for buzzer repair, but it was an honest mistake, and I have no idea how much this will cost. I'm reminded of this favorite classic Saturday Night Live sketch (the relevant moment is at 3:35, but it's all gold):

Sabra Price is Right - Funny videos are here

"What am I gonna do with a buzzer from a game show?!?"

The standings:
1. Cash Cab for Cutie: First win in a long time, come to think of it.
2. Jefferson Davis Starship/Rachel Kramer Bussel in Your Hedgerow (tie)
4. Sugah Titz
5. Fantastic Fournicators
6. Fat Kids Win at Snow Angels
7. Segway to Heaven/Strippers for Charlie Sheen (tie)
9. Incontinental Hotel Spa
10. Gerard Depardouche

Next: A lot is happening next…

This Monday, we're back in Boston (well, Cambridge) for the Big Quiz Thing's first ever free event, still at the lovely Oberon, still a $200 grand prize. Tell your friends; help us prove to this venue that we're worth this awesome deal they're making us.

In three weeks, February 21—Presidents' Day—is the next NYC BQT, our first ever Hail to the Trivial Presidential Quiz Spectacular. Vice Presidential Limericks, Fictional Presidents, at least one question on Chester Arthur's sideburns: Your prayers have been answered. Back at Crash Mansion.

And every day, I'm still tweeting a Google-Proof Question. Miss out at your very great peril.