NYC quiz recap: Tuesday, Feb 4

Last night: an absolutely spectacular evening at our NYC home (more on that below) of SubCulture, with another healthy dose of the city's greatest live trivia experience. And, with an especially hefty prize haul of tickets to some of Off Broadway's finest theatrical experiences (details here and here), every top ten team took home something (supplementing the big $200 cash jackpot). That's the Big Quiz Thing: Everyone wins, even the losers (sometimes especially them).

From The Onion. Duh.

From the "NYC vs. Boston" files: Monday night in Mass., one team nearly swept the entire quiz, including proudly claiming a perfect score on our marquee video puzzle, "Cartoon Chaos." Via Twitter, they've since asked if anyone in New York could match their aptitude, and yes, one team did: Cash Cab for Cutie (with a whopping five other squads missing by only a point or a point and a half). So who're the bigger nerds now, Boston, huh? New York, you also did great on our audio round, "Okay, We'll Give You the Eltit" (song clips including the title, albeit reversed), which led to a fierce debate between EdP and myself over whether Patty Smyth of Scandal (not Pat Benatar, and not Patti Smith) was actually offered the frontperson slot in post-Roth, pre-Hagar Van Halen. (Read on.)

And her heart. And her heart can't stand the strain…

Excellent night for Smart-Ass Points: One of the cartoons was Birth of a Nation; one dead chicken yields 35 buffalo wings; Gina Rinehart is the Eastern Hemisphere's bitchiest woman; and, continuing that theme into the winner for best SAP of the night, Alvin and the Chipmunks' most celebrated song was "Bitches Ain't Shit." (Actually, the correct answer was this, perhaps the most awesomely weird video of all time.)

Somehow they left that one off…

Despite a welcome infusion of new blood, the finale boiled down to very familiar faces: returning champs Incontinental Congress, buttkickers Cash Cab for Cutie, and longtime BQT dominators the Fantastic Fournicators. Though it didn't take long for lead FFer Steve to break it down and win on a question about the Jewish name that titles both a current sitcom and a very old sitcom. Thus, with bad lighting…

The standings:
1. The Fantastic Fournicators
2. Cash Cab for Cutie
3. Incontinental Congress
4. Silence, Nerd!
5. Roe v. Wade v. Predator
6. Oh Noah, You Didn't
7. Gerard Depardouche
8. Juggle Deez
9. Four Kinds of Nuts!: Top new team; won free admission to a future BQT
10. Phallic Baldwin

Extra-mega-special thanks to the massive list of theatrical sponsors last night. Once again: The Women's Project Theater's  The Architecture of Becoming; Buyer & Cellar; The New Group's Intimacy; Handle with Care; BEDLAM Theatre's Hamlet and Saint Joan; The Accidental Pervert; Breakfast with Mugabe; Bikeman 9/11; Jonathan Brooke's My Mother Has 4 Noses; Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man; Almost, Maine; and—because it had to be—50 Shades! The Musical. Whew!

NEXT: So, despite our ongoing love affair with SubCulture, due to scheduling shenanigans, we won't be back till May (but then it'll be steady once a month through at least August). Fret not, because in the meantime, there's plenty of BQT to keep you Qing: Sunday, March 2, is the second annual Big Oscars Quiz Thing, this year at Le Poisson Rouge; on Wednesday, March 19, we team up with ToughPigs for the Big Muppets Quiz Thing at Littlefield (details on that in this space soon); and soon after, again at Littlefield, it's another hybrid quiz-karaoke spectacular, as we count down the top 40 music trivia questions of all time, with help from Rock Star Karaoke. Keep an eye on Facebook for more about events, get your tickets, party on…