Boston quiz recap: Monday, Jan 6

And now we can officially put 2013 to bed. Last night, Boston was treated to the Big Quiz Thing's 2013 Flashback Trivia-O-Rama: all that was, trivial and otherwise, in the year that just was. From the Rebus in Peace video round, as we visual-puzzly remembered celebrated folks who left this world last year (no, she wasn't named "Dr. Joyce Twins"), to the "Name the News(caster)" audio game (nice try guessing "Megyn Kelly" for Rachel Maddow), from the funtastic "Damn You, Autocorrect!" game (I was impressed how many of you knew that the guy asking to test-drive a penis for sale on Craigslist really meant to ask about this) to a probing look at the current state of parody music (a Minecraft-themed musical subgenre—who knew? [don't answer that]), we covered it all. It all has been covered. Good night!

But the big news of the evening was this: Due to some miscommunication between myself and my stalwart sidekick, Comedian Wes Hazard (the details are uninteresting), this marked the only Big Quiz Thing event in the past nine years or so that I have not worn a sparkly jacket. Just the tux shirt, though slightly unbuttoned at the neck and sleeves rolled up ever so jauntily. I felt naked. I felt exposed. An incomplete icon, like Superman without his cape. Granted, there is a silver lining: Thanks to the fact that it was an exceptional evening of quiz show fun, even by BQT standards, it confirmed, once and for all, that the Quizmaster Noah magic, as it were, is in the man, not in the jacket. In the end, it is merely a talisman, not the true source of my power (Superman's cape, not Green Lantern's ring). Can you tell it's late and I'm punchy?

The jacket predates even my lack of hair

Fine night for the Smart-Ass Points: "Baauer" was the name of the fellow responsible for what early-'13 fad? Benghazi. The hit song that now stands as tsecond most successful U.S. single by a Norwegian artist is titled "The Happy Little Herring." George Zimmerman's brother was on trial for stalking Hamburglar (dark humor, I know). And the evening's best SAP, winner of the "healthy" granola bars, was about the year's record-busting art-auction sale: the painting Three Studies of Pink by Benedict Cumberbatch. Not sure it makes sense, but it makes the people laugh.

Sold for $124.4 million. That's, like, three private BQT parties.

The finale was a nice change of pace: two teams that had never won before. (Returning champs Phil Everly Kicks Ass!! came in fourth place; perennial powerhouse 1-900-QUIPSALOT placed fifth.) It was Fait Accompli, I Shouldn't Laugh at Your Lawnmower Feet, and—no strangers to the savory flavor of victory—the Monstrous Humanoids. Nobody knew which legendary Hollywood star was in a film last year in which he was the only credited actor (someone cracked that he's a prime candidate for Best Supporting Actor), nor the suggestive, carpentry-reminiscent title of the magazine published by the late Al Goldstein (though a wrong guess—Wood—wasn't bad). But after a volley of questions, ISLAYLF claimed a hard-fought victory of knowledge of the convicted criminal who, despite Internet rumor, was not caught pilfering cookies from the prison cafeteria.

Jaunty, right?

The standings:
1.  I Shouldn't Laugh at Your Lawnmower Feet: A member of the team apparently fell victim to the fate of Guy Mackendrick…when he was two years old, it turns out.
2. Fait Accompli
3. The Monstrous Humanoids
4. Phil Everly Kicks Ass!!
5. 1-900-QUIPSALOT
6. Our Milkshake Brings All the Boys to Harvard Yard
7. Demonic Stolen Cakes
8. Science Oven Double Feature
9. Just the Tips/Newtowne Grill Expats

NEXT: We're on the (mostly) first-Mondays schedule for 2014 at Oberon—next show February 3, then it'll be March 10 (second Monday), then we skip April (alas, though it's looking like I'll be doing the first ever BQT in Texas that first Monday), then May 5. Can't wait that long? Your own custom-made BQT spectacular awaits!