Quizmaster Chris Don’t Need No Stinking Badges!

Picture 9It is no secret that if there one thing we take delight in, it is reading Quizmaster Chris when he goes off on a moral crusade. Who can forget the time he accused a large company of being “morally challenged mother-stabbers and father-rapers” because they made him fill out a W-9? Or the time he got into a rivalry with Big Daddy Graham? Or when he got himself into the middle of the greatest Scotland is/is not a country debate that has ever taken place, on earth, ever?

So when we read that Chris nearly came to fisticuffs while working at the polls last week, and that the brouhaha had shut down the polls for heaven’s sake, we got the popcorn and the hot cocoa ready. We figured that the show was about to begin. Good old fashioned Philly political corruption (at the Mummers Museum no less), and Quizmaster Chris was smack dab in the middle of it? This had Instant Classic written all over it. But so far, nothing on his blog. Thankfully, the Daily News story itself had some real gems in it.

(Quizmaster Chris) Randolph got into a shouting match with the man who was sitting in the seat reserved for the minority judge of elections. Randolph told him to give up the post.

“Shut the hell up!” said the man, who declined to give his name. “I’m tired of looking at your face and listening to your fat mouth.”

The argument escalated when Michael Harrison, a volunteer for the Democratic ward leader Ed Nesmith, asked Randolph to produce a badge or credentials.

“I have a court order,” responded Randolph. “I don’t need credentials. We don’t need no stinking badges.”

“Don’t disrespect me like that,” said Harrison, who leaned close to Randolph’s face. “This court s— here, don’t mean s— to me! I will f— you up!”

Harrison and Randolph appeared eager to take the fight outside, but two police officers arrived about 1:15 p.m. and a sergeant ordered the polls shut down to sort out the dispute.

My favorite part is when the guy says, “Don’t disrespect me like that.” What? Was he wearing a sombrero at the time? Otherwise, how could he have been offended by a line from the Treasure of the Sierra Madre? That being said, great comeback from Quizmaster Chris when asked to produce a badge.

There is somewhat heated back and forth with someone in the comments section of the article, but mostly just between Chris and some guy who just seems keen on ruffling his feathers. QC doesn’t really fall for the bait. Nonetheless, we want to hear, from Quizmaster Chris, what happened on that day. Our popcorn is getting stale.

Doogie Horner to Host 50/50 Round at Autumn Invitational

doogie_hornerI am very excited to announce that local comedian, author, and flowchart aficionado Doogie Horner is going to be hosting our 50/50 Round on Sunday. Doogie has just released a book, Everything Explained Through Flowcharts, which I bought last weekend and which I cannot say enough good things about. This is pretty much the ultimate resource for nerds like you. Do yourself a favor and buy this book (The link above will send you to the Amazong page.). Who knows? It might even come in handy on Sunday. Anyways, I thought it would be fun if Doogie’s unique view of the world was part of the festivities on Sunday. A Motown One Man Band and a star from America’s Got Talent. Sunday’s show is starting to shape up to be very interesting.

RELATED: Here’s a hilarious flowchart Doogie did for Fast Company which explains your facebook status portrait.

The Autumn Invitational Standings Are Posted as We Head Into the Final Week

autumninviteThe standings for the JGTAI through 7 weeks can be seen here, and wow, are things getting tight. The battle to be the 10th and Final team to have a chance at the $100 bonus prize is extremely close, with numerous teams within striking distance. Right now the Ear holds a one point advantage over the Exhausted Nihilists. But much more dramatic are the teams vying for a invitation at all. The 20th place team, the Inglorious Barristers, have 14 points.  8 teams are within one victory from tying them or getting ahead of them and getting a guaranteed invite. I am going to the City Tap House today to work on audio. I will also see exactly how many teams we can seat. We may be able to sit 22 or 23. But until I know for sure, the cut off point is 20. Which means that it all comes down to this week. Where’s your best shot of winning? I would say undoubtedly O’Neals. To be honest, things have been pretty remarkably quiet there the past few weeks. You get a good team together tonight, and I can all but guarantee a Top 3 finish. Your 2nd best shot? Ugly American. That’s not to say that the other venues are impossible. The City Tap House has had three different winners in the first three weeks. Both Black Sheep and the ‘Vous had winners who had 1 JGTAI point going into last week.

Of course, if you are on the bubble you can also all but assure yourself of a spot in the mix by earning some last chance points via the physical challenge on facebook. I am giving each team the opportunity to score up to 4 extra bonus points this week by posting pics of any of our previous physical challenges. So get your team together and get out to quizzo this week. We’re going to have a lot of fun on Sunday. I’d hate for you to miss it.

The Game of Snap-Dragon

raisinsI have a book called 255 Party Games to Play that was written in 1934. A very fun book of old parlour games. One that has particularly caught my interest is one called Snap-Dragon. Has anyone ever heard of this? Here is the description:

Snap Dragon is at least a century old-it was played way back in Merrie England, yet it has zip enough in it to satisfy the most hilarious of our much touted “younger set”.

Essentially a Halloween game, it can be used for any kind of a party. You need only a large pan, some alcohol, and a package of raisins. Pour the alcohol in the pan and light it with a match. Then throw the raisins into the burning liquid-and let the adventurous ones snatch out raisins as best they can.

That’s right folks, a book that encourages young children to stick their hands into fire. Man, I bet the 1930s were awesome. Ok, so it gets better. According to wikipedia, there was a snap-dragon song!

Here he comes with flaming bowl,
Don’t he mean to take his toll,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
Take care you don’t take too much,
Be not greedy in your clutch,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
With his blue and lapping tongue
Many of you will be stung,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
For he snaps at all that comes
Snatching at his feast of plums,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
But Old Christmas makes him come,
Though he looks so fee! fa! fum!
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
Don’t ‘ee fear him but be bold —
Out he goes his flames are cold,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!

Question of the Week

stempelzOn November 2, 1959, Charles Van Doren admitted to a Congressional committee that he had been given the answers in advance on the game show Twenty One. Who was his opponent (above) who threw the game, later regretted it, and blew the whistle on the rampant cheating that was going on in TV game shows?

Perfection, Inception, and Rejection: The Week That Was

Satan's Perfect MinionsA wild, wild, Spooktacular week. Steak Em Up finishes 3rd twice, Satan’s Minions (above) get a perfect score, I blow a tie breaker at O’Neals, and two new teams win for the first time ever.

We start at O’Neals, where I didn’t realize until I was announcing final scores that we had a tie. I ran over to Insert Topical Team Name Here and said “When was Dracula born?” Not knowing that it was the tiebreaker, one of them started looking it up on his phone. They were disqualified. Bad call by the ref: In a rush, I had neglected to tell them it was a tiebreaker. Savage Ear got the win. A tough loss, but the fact that they tied means they only lost one point on the JGTAI. Also getting a win on Tuesday night? The Tubular Two, whose City Tap House win was their first ever victory.

No tiebreakers needed at the Black Sheep the next night, as Satan’s Minions went 40 questions up, 40 questions down to record a perfect 120. Remarkably, after 7 years and over 350 quizzes without a single perfect game ever at the Black Sheep, we’ve had two in the month of October (Duane’s WOrld had one a few weeks ago.) It’s a funny sport.

Earlier in the night, 1022 kept their incredible hot streak going. Through September 10th, these Rendezvous regulars had won three times all season, and hadn’t won since early June. In the last 6 games, they’ve won 5 times.

Onto Thursday, where the serial killer wild card round was an instant classic (The Ghost Movie Speed Round, on the other hand, not so much. A fair amount of anger over what constitutes a ghost). And when the dust settled, the Exhausted Nihilists were the 2nd team this week  that won their first ever quizzo.

Then to a packed Bards, where incredibly 4 teams finished within two points of each other. Eschaton escaped with the win. Lots of surprises in the Halloween Spooktacular. Going to be interesting to see how the standings shake down on Monday.