Boston quiz recap: Monday, Nov 4

It takes a big man to admit when he's wrong, although I am not a particularly big man (5 foot 10, give or take). But it was gratifying at last night's super-fun BQT at Oberon that the biggest applause of the night came when, confronted with this question…

"What famous American literary family’s last name includes a final letter with a diaeresis?"

Yes, there was a brother.

…a couple of teams asked, "Are you sure they're American?" To which I responded, "Um, I thought I was sure." And via the magic of a smartphone search, and the audience's drum roll, please, I amended the question to…

"What famous British literary family’s last name includes a final letter with a diaeresis?"

…and all was well! (Afterward, sidekick Wes Hazard took me aside and said, "You really should read Wuthering Heights; that book is solid!")

Great, great night of friendly trivia fun. First of all, good to have sidekick Wes Hazard back, telling us about his adventures with a My Buddy doll and his memories of Stefan Urquelle. He was serious, BTW: Don't miss his big event next week, celebrating the 20th anniversary of that most momentous of cultural events, the Family Matters episode that introduced Stefan Urquelle.

And while I'm usually loath to put too much focus on team names (I like it when teams keep the same ones show to show), it was a banner evening for squad monikers, particularly "Playing the Orson Scott Card" and the favorite by acclaim, "What Does Guy Fawkes Say?" (if you're stumped, read this, then watch this). More laughs came courtesy a great bunch of Smart-Ass Points: The evening's winner was during the "Okay, We'll Give You the Artist" audio round, when a team gave one answer as "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" and another as "His Name Is My Name Too." And tonight we had the first ever Smart-Ass Point during the Text Message Challenge, as I forced you Bostonians to dredge up the last name of the guy being elected mayor of NYC today, and one team wrote, "Danger." (Also, I got some personal Smart-Ass Point love when I celebrated the team name "Cockfosters," and declared, "It's Australian for porn.")

Actually, it's this.

I got a lot of post-show compliments on our video puzzle, "The United States of TV" (only time people get Designing Women mixed up with The Dukes of Hazzard), and I enjoyed it too; expect a new edition in the not-so-distant future. And thanks to your sports obsession, I got to present what I assume is the world's first Red Sox–related algebra question.

When the dust settled, as always, we were down to three teams: returning champs the Monstrous Humanoids, George Thornton Kicks Ass!!, and Playing the Orson Scott Card (that team that always almost wins, under a new name each time). And in two solid questions, PTOSC went from perpetual bridesmaid to blushing bride and claimed its second ever victory. Mwah!

The standings:
1. Playing the Orson Scott Card
2. The Monstrous Humanoids
3. George Thornton Kicks Ass!!
4. Bowling for Somerville/What Does Guy Fawkes Say? (tie)
6. Ice Cream Anti-Social
7. We Shaved, Did You?
8. Kim Jong Unruly
9. Demonic Stolen Cakes
10. Just the Tips/Box Full of Tacos (tie)

An extra shout-out to Just the Tips, the Oberon staff team, who besides always being awesome, scored the only perfect score of the entire evening, 14 out of 14 in Round 3.

NEXT: We'll be back in six weeks, December 16, but with a special event: Our Christmahanukwanzyear Spectacular, featuring nothing but fun about the holiday season and the year that was (2013, of course). Still free, still $200 cash jackpot. Meanwhile, check out all the fun stuff Wes is up to, and keep up with us on Facebook and Twitter. Plus, we're busy booking private parties for the holiday season—you could have your own personalized Big Quiz Thing! Miracles do happen, my friends.