Youngster wrangling

A recap of the first ever BQT bar mitzvah. Hoo-boy. I was entertaining the kids only, BTW, no grown-ups, and it was a more deconstructed Big Quiz Thing format: wandering the room asking random questions, plus a finals round. A few observations…

— Boys like trivia more than girls, but that's hardly surprising. Also, it was something like an eight-to-two male-female ration, so the excess maleness was inevitable. The few girls who (briefly) participated went straight to the BlackBerries to google answers, which was more funny than anything, since they didn't even stop to think about whether their answers made any sense (no, Sex and the City 2 isn't the new movie based on a time-traveling video game).

— Children these days are very aggressive. Most of the kids were cool, but there was nothing I could say to keep a few hyperactive screamers from not yelling wrong answers in my ear and grabbing things from my pockets (who knows, maybe I have poor youngster-wrangling skills). One kid whipped me in the head with a lime, which was annoying, but not as annoying as the other kids who kept telling me to kick his ass. It wasn't stipulated in the contract, but I'm pretty sure I would've lost my fee if I'd beaten a child.

— That said, I think a lot of the kids loved it. I was competing with a Ping-Pong table, one of those arcade basketball-shot things, and some pretty delicious nonalcoholic drinks, but I had a really eager crowd around me at all times. It dovetails with something I say a lot about the BQT public show: It's not for everyone, but the people who like it really like it. Sort of like licorice, or the Grateful Dead.

— The DJ company hosting the event seemed great, though I do question the music choice of "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" when the grandparents came up for the candle lighting.

Regardless, it was fun, and an extremely educational experience—I'm definitely using condoms for the time being.

The second BQT bar mitzvah is this Saturday, again in Westchester, but this time adults will be taking part, EDP will be joining me, and it'll be a more traditional format. And I'll be on alert for all flying citrus fruits.