NYC quiz recap: The Big '90s Quiz Thing just cannot be stopped!

Oh, boy, last night was pretty insane. But great—The Big '90s Quiz Thing was a tremendous success, with a packed house at Littlefield, fantastic karaoke action courtesy the ace Rock Star Karaoke (and you, of course). Writing this now on a friend's computer; a preshow mishap means I sacrificed my laptop to the gods of trivia and karaoke. And oh yeah, the Brooklyn monsoon meant that the venue was, um, flooded. But monstrous props to the staff at Littlefield, who came through excellently in the midst of would-be crisis. Stuff happens, it's how you deal with it, my grandma used to always say.

First things first: Because of the complications, we had to do a low-tech version (as EdP appropriately put it, "doing it '90s-style") of an awesome four-part question, "Bill Clinton was Such a Nice Gentleman." But I share it with you now nonetheless; stay tuned once the computer situation is (more) resolved…

"Mr. President, the country wants to know: Is it sunshine or lollipops?"

More video fun came with "Three Degrees of the '90s"—e.g., "MMMBop/Bop-It/It's Pat"—and "The Internet: The Crappy-Looking Years" (AltaVista: The search engine of choice). And the audio round, "'90s One Hit Wonders One Word at Time" went over great, once you figured out that we would play it for you a whopping eight times. You're smarter (and have better memories) than you realize.

But the night would not have had half as much spectacularity without the talents of Rock Star Karaoke. Thanks to Kelly Cooper and her crew, true pros (check out their schedule and details at rockstarkaraokenyc.com; tons of opportunities to sing with them week in and week out), and thanks to so many of you for mounting the stage, grabbing the mike, and making the magic happen. So glad that of all the songs that could get an encore performance, it was "Mother" by Danzig. Which technically came out in 1988, but didn't hit till the '90s. Another barn-burner last night: the '70s classic "Bohemian Rhapsody," returning to prominence in '92 thanks to Wayne's World. Just because you haven't watched it in too long…

Despite the good vibes all around, it wasn't the biggest night for Smart-Ass Points, but attention must be paid to the best received of the night: the short-lived breakfast cereal BLANK-Os, where BLANK was a teenage sitcom character, was "Clarissa Explains It All-Os" ("Screech-Os" was funny too, though several people guessed it.)

No, you weren't dreaming

And it all came down to the finale: returning champs Cash Cab 4 Cutie (known this evening as Cash Cab 4 Crumbelievable! Oh!), perennial champs Incontinental Congress (under the moniker of Kurt In-Cobain-Tinental, and featuring birthday boy Matt, ironically the only member of his team who didn't tear it up on the karaoke stage), and semi-newcomers You Had Me at "Helloooooo, Nurse!" (merely a trio, and actually came because they're Rock Star Karaoke groupies). And impressively, Jeremy of YHMAHN claimed victory in two straight questions: he knows Tamagotchis, and he knows baseball.

I was wasted, without a drop of booze

More photos from the night on our Facebook page.

The standings:
1. You Had Me at "Helloooooo Nurse!"

2. Cash Cab 4 Crumbelievable! Oh!

3. Kurt In-Cobain-Tinental

4. The Joisey To-mah-tos

5. The Fantastic Fournicators

6. Gerard Depardouche

7. Strippers for Stephen Hawking

8. Night of the Living Tamagotchis (my favorite team name)

9. Urethra Franklin

10. 9.0210 x 10^4

And hey, thanks to our supreme lineup of sponsors: Quiet Events, the Skate Truck NYC, Cougar the Musical, The Banana Monologues, Peter and the Starcatcher, Murder Ballad, iLuminate, The Brooklyn Museum, The Brooklyn Brewery, Birch Coffee, and—of course—Littlefield. 

NEXT: Now that we've survived that, the laser focus is on this:

Tuesday, July 9, we introduce our pride and joy, the Big Quiz Thing TV show, to the world. I know, right? Tickets for our Sneak Preview TV Screening and NYC Quiz are on sale now: the Highline Ballroom, tremendous prizes, fantastic fun. You really, really, really do not want to miss this.