Happy Hour Trivia: Sept. 8

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Next trivia night: September 8. We're taking August off to get married and do some other light chores. The plan is to return Sept. 8, so we hope to see you back in the DC Improv Lounge this fall!

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Welcome to the online home for Happy Hour Trivia -- a one-hour bar trivia quiz held once a month at the DC Improv Lounge (1140 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC). Teams of hopeful brainiacs square off for glory and prizes, in one of the finest comedy venues in the country.

Trivia is hosted by Chris White, a leader of the 1994 Penncrest High School championship Scott's Hi-Q Team. As you can tell from this web site, we think he sucks. But even WE will admit, he runs a pretty damn good trivia night -- beyond standard q&a, there are video rounds, funny videos and a few other surprises every contest.

July 14 Recap

This was just brutally hard trivia, so my thanks to every team that came out and took its licks. Sometimes, we don't know how these things will pan out until the questions start flying -- sorry if it was on the tough side, but it all averages out over the years. Besides, if you do good on the hard stuff, you get a super boost of self esteem, right? Right?

The biggest hurdle was the video round -- "Three's Company" gave teams two clues representing parts of a trio and dared them to find the third. It was WAY TOO HARD -- the high score was 3 out of 9, and the average was 1.25. Yikes. "French Connection" honored Bastille Day with questions about, uh, France (average 3 out of 8). "Disaster!" asked people to name a disaster, given the date it happened (7.25 out of 13) and "Lucky Seven" featured questions about fortune (5 out of 10).

The Yelp-Aholics claimed first place with a 25, Squizzle locked in second with a 23, and We Will Bury You in The Rose Garden came in third with 22. Here they are in order of finish:

June 23 Recap

Chris was very tired and punchy (but oddly enough not drunk), so he particularly enjoyed this edition of Happy Hour Trivia. "A Beautiful Game" played off the World Cup with soccer-inspired questions (what city hosted every match of the first World Cup?) and "Wedding Planning" was based on the various aspects of a ceremony and reception (flowers: what nickname does the huge Titan Arum have, based on its smell?). Our video round was tough -- picture analogies. And the fourth round was a little different -- inspired by the national spelling bee, we had a little spelling quiz of our own called "Spell Yeah." We were shocked at how well teams did on the spelling round. Your winner was the Golden Triangle Gun Club (25), second went to McChrystal's Career Counselors (24), and McChrystal Clear had the best final round (wedding questions) to grab third place (21). And oh yeah -- Montevideo, and the corpse flower.

May 26 Recap

We started HHT on May 21, 2008, so this was our 2nd anniversary edition. We celebrated the traditional way -- with four rounds of kind-of-tough trivia. "Last, First" challenged teams to list the top 10 surnames in America. "In Memoriam" was a tribute to memory (how big was the original floppy disk?), "Roads Scholar" featured questions shot on location during Chris' trip to the Midwest, and "News Clues" was a general-knowledge quiz with twist (the first letters of the correct answers spelled out "Elena Kagan"). The Four King Idiots took top hours with 24 out of a possible 40. Federal Furballz came in a close second with 23. Tied at 22 were two teams, Sqizzle and Those Nachos Look Pretty ****** Good. That meant a dance-off, which Sqizzle won -- but there was supreme effort by both teams, so we awarded two third-place prizes. Here they are, in order of finish.

April 28 Recap

We always have a pretty full house in the lounge, but this might have been the most people we've been able to cram into the room at one time. Fourteen teams, about 80 competitors all told. And as for the trivia ... "Zodiac Killers" had 12 questions inspired by the signs (what American show is an adaptation of the Japanese "Beast King Go Lion"). "Fifty/Fifty/Push" once again gave teams a 50/50 shot (what has more lines, a sonnet or a sestina). "State Collage" was a video of me in various locations -- you had to name the state I was in. And "Lickety Split" had licking-related trivia (how many licks to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop). But Golden Triangle Gun Club had top honors (33 out of a possible 40). Sent From My iPhone tied with Not Necessarily Smart Associates -- both teams got a 31. But the iPhones won a dance-off to take second, leaving third for the Associates. And of course ... Voltron, a sestina, and three.

March 24 Recap

It was a fine, crowded time at HHT this Wednesday, with a lot of new faces there to enjoy ... uh, a game that I might have made a little too hard. Not impossible, by any means, but in a perfect world I think I'd have given a few more hints on some of the pop culture stuff. We had the return of the music round, with "Before Part B" -- given clips of songs with "party" in the title, you had to name the performer. "Part B" tested teams on all things B, such as: which great American invented the geodesic dome? "Pub Crawl" was my humble attempt at throwing the crowd a bone. I gave them 14 fictional watering holes, and they had to identify the movie or TV show for each one. "Everyone loves TV shows, movies and bars," I thought. "This will be easy." Well, I was wrong. It was actually pretty hard. And then we closed with "March Madness," nine questions on marching. Not basketball. Remember, I'm strange. The Golden Triangle Gun Club returned to the top of the mountain with a 27 out of 48. Monkey Pants came in second with a 26. And Joe F***ing Biden tied with We Ain't Dancing This Time at 25.

February 24 Recap

Snow delayed the fun by two weeks, but that enthusiasm just builds up behind the trivia dam. "Speaking of ..." featured 10 general knowledge questions. "Zine-o-File" challenged teams to pick the real magazine titles out of a list filled with fakes. "Broken Resolutions" was a double challenge: given a heavily pixelated image, you had to identify what famous painting was shown AND know its formal title. "Short Stuff" honored the shortest month with questions about short things. "Hurry Up! Curling Starts @ 9 p.m." overcame their obvious distraction to get 30 points out of 41. Plus they were the only team to nail down the bonus, for 34 points and the win. Squizzle and ToyoDUDS both ended up with 32, and a dance-off couldn't settle things -- both teams put in so much effort that they tied for second.

January 20 Recap

The Improv's main showroom was open (the show in there got canceled), so we headed into the bigger space for a supersized edition of trivia. 22 teams competed, with something like 150 total people. So -- not as cozy as usual, but way more competition! We started off with a music round (matching songs to movie soundtracks). "January Jones" had trivia about people, magazines and songs with the name "Jones" included. "20 10" alternated questions about the number 20 and the number 10. And "Your Name in Lights" was a worksheet that gave you the real name of a celebrity, leaving their stage name for your to provide. By virtue of bringing about 300 people for their team, The Cosmo Centerfolds took first place (37 out of 45). Gym, Tan, Laundry put up a 33, as did the Golden Triangle Gun Club -- but the guidos won a dance-off to take the second spot.

December 17 Recap

Everybody knows that it's not the holidays without trivia, so we gathered together in the DC Improv lounge to complete 12 glorious months of competition. "Reindeer Games" had 9 questions, each inspired by one of Santa's cruelly mistreated pack animals (the vixen is the female of what animal species?). "Gift Exchange" had 9 questions about some famous presents (what's on the Statue of Liberty's tablet?). The video round had some random trivia filmed on location during my travels, and "Fifty/Fifty/Push" was a new variation on a classic. Thanks to everyone who made 2009 a great year for Happy Hour Trivia. Steven's Friends Who Did Not Help Him Move were at least kind enough to chip in for trivia night, as they managed 28 out of 40 for the win. The Conniving Knishes scored a 25, as did Cake Farts and Flan. But CFF begged off of a dance-off, yielding second place to the Knishes.

November 25 Recap

The night before Thanksgiving, we emulated the pilgrims and sat down for some pre-feasting trivia. We started out with "Full House" -- teams had to list the top 10 countries in terms of population. "Giving Thanks" had questions based on the holiday (what dance craze did Dee Dee Sharp start?) and "Kids' Table" focused on famous kids (who starred in the 1960s remake of "Kid Galahad"?). Then, the crowd was not thankful for "Bus School," which turned out to be the toughest video round EVER. It was rebus puzzles with a pop culture twist, and while I had a fine time putting it together, it was much tougher than I had guessed. The high score (out of 10) was 4, and the average score was a tick over 1. Live and learn! Schadenfraude managed a 30 out of 40 for a first-place finish. Let's Get Dangerous scored a 27 for second place, and the Menonites landed in third with a 21.

October 28 Recap

Thanks to everyone who dropped off Halloween presents for the kids at Children's Hospital! Familiar teams were at the top of the standings for our Halloween edition, which was only kinda sorta Halloweeny. We opened with "Singing the Blues," where you had to identifly the performers for a bunch of songs with "blue" in the title. "PF I Love You" featured questions about or inspired by P.F. Changs, Peter Fonda, SPF 15 and that sort of thing. "Fill in the Blanks," our video round, had a series of pictures with stuff removed. And "G-G-G-Ghost!" made our token effort at being in season, with great questions like: "What is Dennis Coles' stage name?" Sqizzle came in first with 34 out of 44, Golden Triangle Gun Club overcame illness in the ranks to get second with 31, and Free Salsa Bitches got free salsa with 27.

September 23 Recap

Last month, one attendee told me my questions favored "guy" topics. In her honor, we started off with "Girl Power," filled with empowering lady questions like: "Are bake times longer or shorter at higher altitudes?" We had a very tough worksheet, "Listless," which had teams trying to make an alphabetical list of G8 members, a west-east list of Candian provinces, the last five Best Picture winners and the last five Stanley Cup winners. "The Missing Link" (video) gave teams X and Z, then asked them for Y. And "It's All Your Fault" featured 10 questions about the blame game. Sqizzle got back to the top of the podium with a 26 of a possible 41. Golden Triangle Gun Club just missed a tie with 25. And the Pipers, though only three people deep, got a 21 and locked up third place.

August 19 Recap

Round one was "Caesar Augustus" -- questions on famous Caesars or the month of August. "Points for Clunkers" had teams trying to match car models to car makes (and it featured one goof by me -- I did not realize that the Spider is both a Fiat AND an Alfa Romeo, after Fiat bought Alfa Romeo). "Uhnalohgeez," our video round, had people completing sets of picture analogies: Kyra Sedgwick is to Kevin Bacon as Andrea Mitchell is to ... ? And we finished off with "Cool It," which was standard Q&A about cold things. And then everyone got free Butterfingers. The Four King Idiots (9 people) won the day, with 34 out of 44. The Boozers, The Dining Room Tables and First Line of Haiku were deadlocked at 27, so after a tie-breaker knocked out the Haikus, it was a dance-off. And an epic one at that! So good, in fact, that we made a 2nd-place tie and gave the Haikus third. If you want to see it, here's the Facebook link. Your teams in order of finish:

July 16 Recap

We had a short turnaround from the last trivia night, but another packed house! In honor of Bastille Day, we had a bunch of questions about prisons and prisoners; we also apologized for the nasty June games with "Easy Does It," a round of lightweight questions. On the video side, "On the Road Again" featured questions filmed in Charolottesville, Hyde Park, Detroit and more. And we closed things out with music: naming the singers of 12 different "summer" songs (Mungo Jerry, anyone?). After a rough start, the Wise Ass Latinas got a perfect score on the music round to earn a come-from-behind victory (31 out of 42). The Golden Triangle Gun Club and Sqizzle tied at 28, with the Gun Club taking second in maybe the most inspired dance-off yet (both teams were awesome).

June 24 Recap

This had to be, unintentionally, the toughest trivia night yet. Round one was a "Pop Quiz" -- questions about soda or anything that popped. The "Capital Idea" worksheet was feast or famine -- given a list of 30 cities, the teams had to circle the 10 national capitals. "Fantastic Fours 2" was our video round -- people had to identify the missing member of a famous foursome based on three visual clues. And "Summer Lovin'" was inspired by the start of the season. The members of Sqizzle arrived breathless, three questions into the first round ... and they still managed to pull out the win with 24 out of 40. Ed McMahon's Final Words (here's second place) scored a 23. And the Turtle Necks got a 20 and won the dance-off tiebreaker for third.

May 20 Recap

We made it through a year of trivia! And we celebrated by ... well, playing trivia. Why mess with a good thing. After a (brutal) worksheet round (matching captains to ships -- of a possible 20 points, the average score was 3.5), we got into the anniversary theme. "Give Till It Hurts" had questions based on the traditional annual anniversary gifts, "Happy Anniversary" (video) had people identifying the years of various famous events, and "Team Effort" was inspired by some of our favorite trivia team names over the last year. The Golden Triangle Gun Club came out in force and recaptured the magic that earned them three straight first-place finishes back in 2008 (32 out of 52). Three of the four members of Sqizzle were stuck in traffic at the start, but the guy with the beard held down the fort until their arrival, resulting in a very impressive second-place finish (29 points). And "Three Guys, a Jewish Republican and My Neighbor" filled out the podium (27 points). Oh, and as a special treat for the anniversary, all teams got a signed Chris White headshot. Swank, huh?

April 22 Recap

HHT perfection is unattainable, but one team made a run at it this month. "Peri Peri Disappointed" opened with perfect scores in the first round (naming movies based on soundtrack songs) and the second round ("April in Paris," about ... uh, April and Paris). They couldn't keep up that blistering pace for rounds three and four (a video round of naming "Great Depressions," then questions based on "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"), but their final score of 40 out of 47 was enough for first place. "Splinter Group" (one of our resident Yelp! teams) tallied a 37 for second, and "The Four King Idiots" came in third with 34.

March 25

Some new blood made it to the top this month. Hot Amoeba Action scored a 27 out of a possible 43, then took the dramatic tiebreaker over the Neo Fights (which had a few past champs among the ranks) to take home the crown. By "dramatic tiebreaker," I mean they sang their verse of a karaoke song ("My Girl") with a bit more pizzaz, and then in the ensuing dance break, they brought some serious heat. No disrespect to the Neo Fights, though ... representatives from both teams were starting to disrobe and throw garments in the quest for First Place. It was a fine display of sportsmanship all around. Red Beaver returned to the podium once again, scoring a 26 and then taking out Splinter Group in their 3rd-place tiebreaker (naming Shakespearean tragedies).

February 25

History repeats itself! We had a lot of new teams on board (welcome!), but the winners circle was a carbon copy of January. Red Beaver (hey, they choose their own names) scored 29 out of 42 to nail down first place for the second straight month. Our most tenured team, the Golden Triangle Gun Club, had their usual strong showing with 27, which matched the score of up-and-coming Sqizzle. The Gun Club won second place honors by naming a "Razzie" winner in the tiebreaker. As for the questions? We did four rounds. "Black History" covered almost anything black: African-Americans, piano keys, black holes, and the Black Death. Our audio/video round had teams naming the originators of 10 cover songs. For the first time ever we did worksheet round, daring people to identify 10 Best Supporting Actor winners out a list of 33 nomineees. And finally, "Bailout!" dealt with all kins of bailouts ... financial, nautical, airplane-related, jail ... The worksheet ended up being the bastard round, with most people scoring five or lower. Always nice to have one excruciating game in there.

January 21

The post-inauguration special had four rounds: "Two Face," in honor of the Roman God Janus; "We Are the Champions," in honor of great sports franchises; "Fill in the Blank," in honor of doctored photographs; and "Billy / Bob," in honor of ... uh, Billys and Bobs. Red Beaver came up with 33 out of 44 for the win; Golden Triangle Gun Club finished second and Sqizzle took third. We had our second straight month of tiebreaker hilarity; there was a tie for third place, and I had a list of 20th Century first ladies in hand. The team that got to go first confidently went with Laura Bush, so we were able to use the same tiebreaker to break the deadlock for the top two spots. This was a virtual repeat of December, when one team, with 15 Soviet Socialist Republics to choose from, went with Yugoslavia out of the box. Tiebreakers are awesome.

December 3

The biggest ever Happy Hour Trivia night saw "You Had Me at Free," win one of TWO games. Second went to the honestly named "Couples Staying Together Because of the Poor Economy," and after a dramatic tiebreaker which involved naming Mariah Carey's No. 1 hits, "You have been awarded no points and may god have mercy on your soul" locked up third place. Most people stuck around for game two, which saw "Sqizzle" take the top spot after winning a dance-off with the "Golden Triangle Gun Club B-Team"; both managed 26 out of 33, but Sqizzle had the moves. That's how they roll. The Couples Staying Together snagged third with a 25.

October 1

There was a shake-up at the top, as we have new champions: Pink Eye and the Brain. These young swains scored 22 out of a possible 30 questions with an October theme -- one round of monster questions in honor of Halloween, one round of questions from cemeteries (also in honor of Halloween) and a special "Octoberfest" round. Average scores were down a bit ... the questions might have been a little TOO hard. Maybe.

September 3

The Golden Triangle Gun Club did their Chicago Bulls impression and won their third consecutive trivia night by getting 22 out of a possible 31. They're like Michael Jordan, but less bald, less black and for trivia. We also had a tie for second. The Einsteins Plus 1 (no indication of who the plus is) and 2 Reds and 3 Browns both scored 18. The Einsteins narrowly earned second place by naming more general election losers in a dramatic tiebreaker. The first round was all election-related trivia (what won the Mars Candy election of 1995?) -- people did pretty well with that. The second round was a video where you had to match famous faces to their colleges, and results were once again decent. The final round had questions tangentially related to Chile (headliner Pablo Francisco is Chilean-American, I think), and people did AWFUL. The average score (out of 9) was something like 2.5. I would have guessed that the video round would be the stumper, but I was way, way off. But that's why you play the game!

August 6

The Golden Triangle Gun Club smoked the competition once again, scoring a 21 out of a possible 30. Coming in second was Team Redundancy Team (19) and rounding out the winners' circle was the Dewey Ducks (18). Round one was movie trivia -- teams had to list the top 10 U.S. box office hits of all time (inflation-adjusted, of course). Not as easy as you might think. Round two was a video of "Fantastic Fours." And round three was standard Q&A. Since the show in the main showroom was improv, we had three improvisers, Katie, Katie and Dan, help us out ... they worked the right answers into a couple of classic improv games. Thanks, guys!

July 1

In honor of the Fourth, the theme was "Red, White and Blue" -- and the Golden Triangle Gun Club proved to be the most patriotic team of all, scoring 24 out of a possible 33. There was a tie for runner-up between Their Small is Pretty Large and The Conspiracy. The Conspiracy earned second place in a sudden death playoff, which involved naming Smurfs until one team blanked. Yes, it's that kind of night. The last place team had the best name: The Ringo Death Stars. Major points for creativity, guys. Karma will reward you.

May 21

The tastefully named "Ted Kennedy's Brain Tumor" came out on top (scoring 22 out of a possible 32) in the inaugural trivia night. Congratulations to Chris, Elizabeth, Rich, Ben, Rob and Courtney, who mastered questions on Maine, domes and more.

Why Chris Sucks: Sometimes, he walks to shows, and at a pace much too quick to shadow. Is the subway too good for him?

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