Boston quiz recap: Monday, Feb 3

Another superlative night of Boston's best trivia experience at Oberon—a considerable dusting of snow could not stop the throngs from packing the club, as usual. Comedian Wes Hazard started the show by sharing the humorous side of his grandma's recent funeral (seriously), and that was it for any morbidity for the evening (if you don't count all the tasteless Philip Seymour Hoffman jokes, and shame on me for even mentioning that).

Preshow. Can you feel the excitement?

Before we go any further, let's cut to the chase: Maxwell's Silver Hummer (the frequently renamed team that won several months ago as Playing the Orson Scott Card) nearly swept the entire quiz, snout to tail. They were a mere two points shy of perfection (that includes the finale and the Text Message Challenge). They were the only squad to ace the "Cartoon Chaos" round…apropos, since preshow, I was asked if I had a defibrillator handy, in case their cartoon-loving member experienced palpitations from joy (I tend to have that effect on people, I confess). But hey, this is the Big Quiz Thing—you don't need to win to have a good time (or even earn prizes). Everyone wins, even the losers. (Especially them.)

"Cartoon Chaos" was tons of fun (extra-special props to EdP for chopping up the pieces in what was a surprisingly poetic manner), the "Okay, We'll Give You the Eltit" audio round was delightfully creepy (Patty Smyth was sexy even when she sounded like Satan), and thanks, everyone, for pointing out my mistake in the "Great Book Title Mix-Up" visual puzzle. (Wow, I always though the book was titled Uneerworld.)

And an absolutely amazing night for Smart-Ass Points. The winner of the evening was the team that said the rhyming title of Quentin Tarantino's aborted film is The Rueful Jew. Elsewhere, one team thought the dictator-heavy Super Bowl ad was for Halliburton; the character of Downton Abbey are currently living in the year 2525; the common factor between Cuba's pre-Castro leader and the recent winner of the WWE's Royal Rumble is that both are irrelevant in the USA; and one of those cartoons was called Rob Ford and Pals.

The finale was quick 'n' dirty; we were dealing with Maxwell's Silver Hummer, after all. A tag team effort, as they knew both the member of rock & roll's 27 Club who's currently the subject of a Broadway musical, and they knew which antisocial philosophy gets its name from the Latin for "nothing." Bra-to-the-vo.

We create happiness

The standings:
1. Maxwell's Silver Hummer
2. The Monstrous Humanoids
3. Demonic Stolen Cakes
4. Everybody Loves a Three-Way
5. Peyton Placeholder/Philip Seymour Hoffman Kicks Ass!! (tie)
7. Brandt Can't Watch
8. Ice Cream Anti-Social
9. Slush Fun
10. And the Prince of Monaco

NEXT: We're back in five weeks—Monday, March 10. In the meantime, Facebook, Twitter, private events, onward and upward.