Brooklyn recap: The Christmahanukwanzaayear Spectacular, Tuesday, Dec 11

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa, Prosperous New Year, and Tolerable Festivus to everyone! Our Brooklyn bon voyage at Littlefield last night was perhaps our best show at that venue ever (isn't that always the way?), as a packed house formed the perfect audience for BQT holiday-themed fun. Thank you all.

We looked back on 2012 with our video puzzle, "The Year in Manipulative Movie Trailers" (this On the Media piece about the historic-box-office bombing of The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure is worth delving into the wilds of NPR); we looked ahead to '13 with the Text Message Challenge (yes, 2013 will be the first year since 1987 consisting of four unique digits—vital info); and we pressed our nose against the glass of the present with "Holiday Music—One Word at a Time" (now you're really sick of those songs!).

Along the way, you were a perfect crowd: Smart-Ass Points galore, which is what I love. Including…

 Here in NYC, exactly 11 years ago this New Year’s Day, BLANK became BLANK. And so he remains.
Answer: Puff Daddy become P. Diddy (I learned post-show the team thought that was the real answer.)

Who is this 2012 winning team?
Answer: No one wins in hockey.

Who's the German film director whose name sounds phonetically like a December holiday?
Several SAP answers: Fuhrerestival of Leitz, Franz Kwanzaa, Leni Riefenstahlikkah…

Can you ID the "sparkliciousness" trailer to the aforementioned Oogieloves film?
Answer: Yes, it's Back to the Future IV.

And of course, in the audio round, many teams stumped by the cheery seasonal tunes guessed the hilariously incongruous: "Master of Puppets," "Search and Destroy," "Me So Horny." One team wrote "Frosty" for nearly everything, ending with "FUCKIN' FROSTY!!!"

I was also cheered by your enthusiasm for our special surprise, a stand-up/sit-down game called "Hanukkah or Kwanzaa?" (No, EDP, Judah Macabee did not say that Jesus was psychotic.) Anyone else notice that the big winner was one of the, like, three black people in the room?

The finale: Despite the surfeit of happy new folks, it came down to some of our regulars: returning champs Strippers for Stephen Hawking (represented by John the Beloved Nit-Picker), powerhouse Cash Cab for Cutie, and the nigh-unstoppable Fantastic Fournicators. No one knew the rarely heard second verse to "The Dreidl Song," and Dean of Cash Cab was our resident expert on Kwanzaa's Swahili connection, but it didn't take long for John the BNP to win, thanks to his consummate knowledge of Brady Xmas movies and Christmas Island. And thus, a two-peat:

The standings:
1. Strippers for Stephen Hawking: This team rarely misses an NYC BQT, but this is their first double win since 2007.
2. Cash Cab for Cutie
3. The Fantastic Fournicators
4. Have Yourself an Incontinental Christmas
5. Django Unchained Melody: Top (mostly) new team; picked up two free passes for the future.
6. The Smite Before Christmas
7. The Archnemeses: To whom the BQT will always be in debt.
8. Now I Have a Machine Gun…Ho, Ho Ho
9. Balls to the Wall
10. Brown vs. Bag O' Quaaludes: I don't want to know.

Many folks to thank: Littlefield, for being such a supportive venue in 2012 (we do hope to return not too far into the future); our very special Brooklyn sponsors, the Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn Brewery; Thumbs Cookies, who we hope will stay on the prize wagon in Manhattan; and Claudia Cogan, our comic-tastic opening act (and old friend of the BQT).

NEXT: January 8, we're back in Manhattan, at the stunning Cutting Room. Guest comedy from Christian Finnegan, the Bipolar Movie Challenge, tickets to Spider-Man on Broadway, and much more. It'll be a strong start to an incredible 2013: the Family Quiz, the '80s quiz (complete with live band karaoke), the Oscar quiz, and—of course—the oh-so-long-awaited debut of the Big Quiz Thing TV show. Ah, that's the stuff!