"So you go home at night, like me, smarter than you were when you woke up in the morning."

September 17, 2009 10:20 PM

Andy Richter destroys Wolf Blitzer in Celebrity Jeopardy (twice, if you count the rehearsal show). Of course, Richter is no stranger to the game.
posted by Rhaomi (78 comments total)

I haven't watched Jeopardy in a few years, but it's still damn compelling. It's got a rhythm to it.

Though, I've been playing 1 vs 100 on the xbox, and I'm convinced that's the future of game shows. Not that particular game, but something like it is going to be a huge huge hit.

Also, is anyone surprised that a news anchor is an empty suit? I mean, come on, he didn't know LBJ decided he wasn't going to run in 1968? That was a slow pitch right up the middle of the plate for him.
posted by empath at 10:34 PM on September 17 [1 favorite]

Holy shit; Richter absolutely dominated. Dominated!!!
posted by mr_roboto at 10:35 PM on September 17

holy crap.

I thought celebrity jeopardy was supposed to be easier than usual. Richter and Delaney can obviously both kick my ass at trivia. I'd rather play trivial pursuit with Mr. Blitzer.
posted by 256 at 10:38 PM on September 17

I would pay a tidy sum to watch Andy Richter, Norm MacDonald and Conan O'Brien play a round of Jeopardy.

Also, queue the complaints about Hulu not being viewable outside the US.
posted by cgomez at 10:39 PM on September 17 [4 favorites]

I'm complaining because Hulu is not being viewable outside the US.
posted by milquetoast at 10:42 PM on September 17 [2 favorites]

Someone I love demolishes someone I can't stand. Jeopardy left me a present.
posted by EatTheWeak at 10:47 PM on September 17 [7 favorites]

Look, we didn't pay TV license frees so you could mooch our fine, government produced programming off of Hulu for free.
posted by empath at 10:48 PM on September 17 [1 favorite]

Oh ho ho, wow... I love it when nerdy funnyguy-types extend their claws.
posted by voltairemodern at 10:49 PM on September 17 [1 favorite]

We should make this a 'name your fantasy celebrity jeopardy lineup' thread.
posted by empath at 10:50 PM on September 17

Best Moment: Wolf Blitzer losing $800 when the judges bust him for adding an "s" to Julia Child's name.
posted by EatTheWeak at 10:58 PM on September 17

One thing was that Richter is a writer and a lot of those questions were related to writing; "The Gilded Age" "Hemingway", etc. Though that doesn't really excuse Blitzer on dropping the ball on politics (though, he just might not do the quick 'thing'-- the other thing Richter is is an Improv actor!)
posted by blenderfish at 11:05 PM on September 17

We should make this a 'name your fantasy celebrity jeopardy lineup' thread.

Jon Stewart, Neil Gaiman and Snoop Dogg
posted by 256 at 11:06 PM on September 17 [13 favorites]

I thought celebrity jeopardy was supposed to be easier than usual.

It was. I think most MeFites would probably consider the questions asked to be "slowballs." Blitzer ended up in the negatives at the end, and they had to give him pity money so he could play the final round. Richter, on the other hand, dominated. He won 18k over what they were giving the champion. (Well, the champion's charity.)

In all fairness, it's all for fun and charity. And Richter is probably a little more used to thinking on his feet.
posted by Avelwood at 11:10 PM on September 17

It doesn't matter, you guys. It's all about the buzzer, and those little trigger things are faulty as shit. It's rigged.

[NOT BITTER-IST]
posted by padraigin at 11:13 PM on September 17 [3 favorites]

Wolf was panicking at the end! Trying out "crash" as an answer when the word was in the clue? Sloppy, sloppy.

I'm glad they noticed the Julia Childs error... I heard that too and wondered if the judges would catch it.
posted by painquale at 11:14 PM on September 17

padaraigin has the right idea. Insider accounts of "Jeopardy" always discuss how difficult it is to win the race to the buzzer. You can't assume that Blitzer didn't know just because Richter outbuzzed him and answered the question. Trebek even acknowledges this at the end of the clip.

Although it's definitely a lot more fun to believe that the veteran newsman was trounced by a mere talk show sidekick.
posted by chrchr at 11:20 PM on September 17

And my fantasy lineup would be Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Socrates.
posted by chrchr at 11:23 PM on September 17 [2 favorites]

chrchr: Mere talk show sidekick? Andy Richter has been doing comedy for two decades, is hilarious, and adds quite a bit to Conan with The Tonight Show and previously on Late Night. As for Blitzer – veteran newsman? Have you watched the calamitous calamity that is The Situation Room? If you can find something that resembles real news reporting on that program, please let me know.
posted by cgomez at 11:30 PM on September 17 [5 favorites]

chrchr, unfortunately those three have a previous commitment in San Dimas.
posted by ooga_booga at 11:36 PM on September 17 [21 favorites]

Andy Richter does control the universe, you know. This was not unexpected.

Seriously, go Andy! Crush Wolf and his pseudo journalism!
posted by ooga_booga at 11:38 PM on September 17

Wolf Blitzer apparently would be flipping burgers if not for that awesome, fucking awesome name.
posted by autodidact at 11:39 PM on September 17 [3 favorites]

"Since 1990, Wolf Blitzer has covered every major story for CNN, including the 1991 Gulf War and Hurricane Katrina."

Phew! I'm glad CNN didn't forget to include him in those two situations.
posted by Corduroy at 11:53 PM on September 17 [2 favorites]

Okay, so my comment makes it look like I'm sticking up for Wolf Blitzer. Let me clear this up. He's a hack and a cancer on the once proud Third Estate. You can tell that by watching his horrible, horrible show. Andy Richter is smart and funny, and you can tell that by watching his show. This "Jeopardy" clip has more to say about how these two guys play "Jeopardy" than it does about their relative smarts.

Still, it's satisfying to see that pompous, self-important, humorless jackass take such a beating.
posted by chrchr at 12:42 AM on September 18 [1 favorite]

Jesus, Blitzer's no Fisk or Ed Bradley or Murrow, or even Brian Williams but don't act like he's a total villain because of his hacky news show.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:58 AM on September 18

He has a great name (and beard) to be a villain...
posted by wendell at 1:09 AM on September 18

I didn't know anything about Delany, but figured Blitzer and Richter would be good players. Boy, was I half right on that one. Here's the game on j-archive but without any info yet.

This is the Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational. There's going to be Celebrity Jeopardy the third Thursday of each month through May, then Richter and the 8 other winners are going to compete in a week-long tournament (to close out sweeps month, I guess), with the winners of each of 3 games competing in a 2-game final.

All the participants have played before . Here are Richter's, Blitzer's, and Delany's two previous appearances. (Richter won his; Delany won one of hers.)
posted by Zed at 1:18 AM on September 18 [1 favorite]

Insider accounts of "Jeopardy" always discuss how difficult it is to win the race to the buzzer.

Which of course explains why Blitzer ended up at negative five thousand dollars OH WAIT
posted by mightygodking at 1:29 AM on September 18 [5 favorites]

There is a show which has better production, music, contestants, anchor, in fact, almost everything, including the name.

Seriously, do you guys really enjoy stuff like this or is this some elaborate sarcasm plot?
posted by Laotic at 2:05 AM on September 18 [4 favorites]

To be fair, this is a Celebrity Jeopardy UBERTOURNAMENT for $1 million, so I think they've made it a bit more on par with "real" Jeopardy, instead of "try-not-to-embarrass-celebrities" Jeopardy.

Also, Laotic, thank you very much for introducing me to wordwang. I have no idea why I find it hilarious, but I do.
posted by disillusioned at 2:35 AM on September 18

That's Wordwang!
posted by Pronoiac at 2:51 AM on September 18 [1 favorite]

Disillusioned, much obliged, but don't thank me, I only got introduced to That Mitchell and Webb Look/Sound quite recently, but it's had a very healing effect on my soul.
posted by Laotic at 3:02 AM on September 18

I saw this. Buzzer timing or no, he called a picture of mostaccioli "fettuccine." At best, he froze and his sphincter tightened so hard it seized up his brain. At worst, he's a vapid moron.
posted by stevis23 at 3:50 AM on September 18

And my fantasy lineup would be Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Socrates.

You'd probably enjoy Meeting of Minds.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:52 AM on September 18

Jesus, Blitzer's no Fisk or Ed Bradley or Murrow, or even Brian Williams but don't act like he's a total villain because of his hacky news show.

Since that's what he does, I'm afraid that's what he gets judged on. If you want to tell us about how he gives huge money to noble causes and loves his family, that might make some difference.


Maybe.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:57 AM on September 18

Jesus, Blitzer's no Fisk or Ed Bradley or Murrow, or even Brian Williams but don't act like he's a total villain because of his hacky news show.

One of the top 5, maybe top 3, biggest problems in the US is crappy corporate "journalism". He's got a big show and a brandname position in that lineup and participates enthusiastically. That puts him pretty high on the list of villains.
posted by DU at 4:53 AM on September 18 [1 favorite]

And my fantasy lineup would be Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Socrates.

Those guys are going to suck on the pop-culture categories.

Answer: Like a Virgin, True Blue, Like a Prayer, Erotica

Lincoln: What did you call me? Ow, my head hurts!

Bonaparte: Ou suis-je?

Socrates: *chugs poison*
posted by Pollomacho at 5:07 AM on September 18 [13 favorites]

Insider accounts of "Jeopardy" always discuss how difficult it is to win the race to the buzzer.

Which of course explains why Blitzer ended up at negative five thousand dollars OH WAIT

In the first round, he was completely locked out of all but around two or three of the questions due to the buzzer. In the second round, it was pretty obvious that he was just focusing on hitting the buzzer on every question, whereas Richter was able to buzz in on the questions he knew and avoid buzzing in on the ones he didn't know. That led to Blitzer mostly getting to answer the most difficult questions in the whole game, such as the ones from the triple E category. There were only a few questions that Blitzer guessed wrong on that anyone else ended up getting instead (like the mostaccioli one). Richter mainly won because he was able to answer pretty much all of the easy questions.
posted by burnmp3s at 5:26 AM on September 18 [1 favorite]

That fucking buzzer. Also? A game goes by so damn fast it's unbelievable. Ken Jennings warns about it in his book but it doesn't really prepare you. People like Jennings and Bob Harris have nerves of steel.
posted by kmz at 5:41 AM on September 18

What is fettuccine?
posted by KathyK at 6:06 AM on September 18

Mark Twain, Groucho Marx and Phil Hartman.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:33 AM on September 18 [2 favorites]

So we're all in agreement, then: the new word for an intense and sudden attack shall henceforth be "richt".
posted by Greg Nog at 6:47 AM on September 18

MetaJeopardy first round categories include: Admin Hoped Me, What's That?, Eponystericity, Fabulous Flameouts, LOL???ians, and Potpourri.

Second round categories: Famous Amputation Threats, Pancakes, Sarah Palin, This Idea Had No Merit, Potent Potables, and Overused Quotes from The Simpsons.

Final Jeopardy category: Plate of some things.
posted by cog_nate at 7:02 AM on September 18 [2 favorites]

What is fettuccine?

That's WordWang!
posted by explosion at 7:06 AM on September 18 [3 favorites]

Perhaps it is Andy Richter that should be anchoring a news show and Blitzer who should be doing comedy?
posted by SirOmega at 7:23 AM on September 18

chrchr: Party on, Dude?
posted by eabomo at 7:26 AM on September 18

cog_nate, clearly Final Jeopardy should be:

Should I eat this?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:30 AM on September 18 [2 favorites]

Better news name: Wolf Blitzer or Stone Phillips?
posted by shakespeherian at 7:35 AM on September 18

Burhanistan : but don't act like he's a total villain because of his hacky news show.

Exactly. Treat him like a villain because he lives in a hollowed out volcano and once tried to extort a million dollars from the UN by threatening to blow up the Eiffel tower with a dirigible based death ray.
posted by quin at 7:48 AM on September 18 [1 favorite]

Trying to learn more about the WordWang phenomenon, I found this beauty on Yahoo Answers (text a bit NSFW).
posted by exogenous at 7:55 AM on September 18

Exactly. Treat him like a villain because he lives in a hollowed out volcano and once tried to extort a million dollars from the UN by threatening to blow up the Eiffel tower with a dirigible based death ray.

Well, he was on the show to win... One Million Dollars!
posted by Servo5678 at 8:26 AM on September 18

Nicely done. :) Gotta love Andy Richter.

A while back, The Weakest Link did a Star Trek show. The actors did quite well. A spoiler article for the show explains.
posted by zarq at 8:38 AM on September 18

All-time favorite picks for Jeopardy: Nikolai Tesla, Leonardo da Vinci and Stephen Hawking.

Current Celebrity favorite picks for Jeopardy: Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert (either is fine with me) representing Comedy Central, Christiane Amanpour for CNN, Glenn Beck to see him get annihilated.
posted by misha at 9:14 AM on September 18

I think that Jeopardy must be as much about having good buzzer skillz, because those questions were not particularly hard. Lots of times they give away the answer in the way that they phrase the questions.
posted by jb at 9:18 AM on September 18

A bit more difficult than average Celebrity Jeapordy, but there were a lot of giveaways. Every category had some easily primed questions. Such as "Einstein" being the answer under the science category.
posted by autodidact at 9:26 AM on September 18

"Lots of times they give away the answer in the way that they phrase the questions."

That's why they're called clues and not questions. Also, the response is the question for the answer in the clue.
posted by autodidact at 9:29 AM on September 18 [1 favorite]

Whoa, that was not clear at all. Let me try again:

That's why they're called clues. And they're not questions, they're answers. In Jeapordy, you respond to the clue with a question it would answer.
posted by autodidact at 9:30 AM on September 18

Is it just me, or are Celebrity Jeopardy questions really easy?
posted by lexicakes at 9:34 AM on September 18

All conservatives aren't dumb people, but all dumb people ARE conservatives....
posted by GreyFoxVT at 10:08 AM on September 18

That Star Trek-Weakest Link is awesome. LeVar Burton is now top at my list of dream trivia/Jeopardy contestants - he's brilliant. Reading does really pay off.

autodidact: Yes, I'm aware of the silly pretension of "answers" that read like questions, and "questions" that are otherwise just answers. I have been watching the show on and off for about 30 years.

What I was complaining about is that getting the correct response isn't a matter of knowing the subject - as it is on other challenging quiz shows such as Mastermind - but being able to work out the often quite obvious wordplay. I love knowledge quizzes, not puns, and I would rather see harder questions which require real knowledge. Asking for the "colourful" name of the Eirik who discovered Greenland is a just a baby question -- if you have heard of a Viking, you know it, because Eirik the Red is the most famous Viking. It's the sort of thing that belongs in a children's quiz game. In an adult game, you should ask for the name of the Viking leader who supposedly discovered Greenland (according to the sagas, he didn't - he just settled there, and was the father of a significant family).

I'm also sad that they didn't do more in the 900s A.D. category - I just studied the tenth century and was ready to rock that one.
posted by jb at 10:30 AM on September 18

(LeVar Burton is also on my dream team because I so want to meet him - he's like Mister Rogers, only cooler.)
posted by jb at 10:31 AM on September 18

Greg Nog: So we're all in agreement, then: the new word for an intense and sudden attack shall henceforth be "richt".

"Wolf Blitzer just got richt-rolled!"
posted by Pronoiac at 10:34 AM on September 18 [2 favorites]

Is it just me, or are Celebrity Jeopardy questions really easy?

It's not you. I wanted to watch, but I couldn't make it past 3 questions without barfing.
posted by mrgrimm at 12:38 PM on September 18

... but they're called "clues." You have to give a clue to the correct response otherwise it wouldn't be called a clue.
posted by autodidact at 1:49 PM on September 18

... and I always thought one reason Jeapordy has been around so long is because they give clues. Instead of relying on participants to have perfect recall, it triggers the memory through vague associations and unconscious pattern recognition. In other words it allows the audience at home to have several "a ha!" moments per show.
posted by autodidact at 2:00 PM on September 18

Is it ... Ghostbusters 2?
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:34 PM on September 18

Yeah, by the end of the show I was embarrassed for the wolf.....

My husky dog, who we often refer to as "wolfish dog", is now insisting on being compared to a moose.
posted by HuronBob at 3:14 PM on September 18

Ken Jennings warns about it in his book but it doesn't really prepare you.

Somebody read Ken Jennings' book?
posted by sayitwithpie at 6:18 PM on September 18

Stellar post.
posted by thescientificmethhead at 6:27 PM on September 18

Somebody read Ken Jennings' book?

How dare you.
posted by dnesan at 7:28 PM on September 18 [1 favorite]

autodidact:
A bit more difficult than average Celebrity Jeapordy, but there were a lot of giveaways.
posted to MetaFilter by autodidact at 9:26 AM on September 18, 2009 [+]

That's why they're called clues. And they're not questions, they're answers. In Jeapordy, you respond to the clue with a question it would answer.
posted to MetaFilter by autodidact at 9:30 AM on September 18, 2009 [+]

... and I always thought one reason Jeapordy has been around so long is because they give clues. Instead of relying on participants to have perfect recall, it triggers the memory through vague associations and unconscious pattern recognition. In other words it allows the audience at home to have several "a ha!" moments per show.
posted to MetaFilter by autodidact at 2:00 PM on September 18, 2009 [+]

Look, I don't want to be all autopedantic here, but you might want to check that the word "jeopardy" is in your spellcheck dictionary...

I do agree with your clue theory, though. Most of the time the questions are laughably easy because they are as jb mentions above the kind that pretty much free-associates to the first thing that pops into anyone's head. It makes people feel smarter than they are. "Colourful" viking, followed by any text whatsoever, really only has one answer. Hell, they should have a daily double if a player can even name another famous viking.
posted by hincandenza at 8:07 PM on September 18

Doesn't everyone know about Leif the Lucky (aka Ericson?)
posted by Lemurrhea at 5:56 AM on September 19

"Name the famous viking that nobody knows about."

The "giveaway" wordplay clues are scattered in the low-value clues and let viewers feel clever without often affecting the result. I can't stand the spam categories where some sponsor writes five dumb-ass clues about their product.
posted by Bokononist at 6:46 AM on September 19

Jesus fucking christ.

/shame.
posted by autodidact at 7:42 AM on September 19

No one watching Wolf Blitzer on CNN could have stumbled onto Jeopardy! thinking he'd know anything.
posted by adoarns at 8:33 AM on September 19

Blitzer's claim to fame was hiding under a desk in Iraq during Gulf War I, which he parlayed into a stellar career of reading other people's opinions off the teleprompter.

Every time he's polled for his actual, personal opinion on something, he's vapid and incredibly uninformed. I have no idea why anyone thought his appearance here would be any different.

He's a perfect cable news anchor: literate, presentable and utterly vacant.
posted by Aquaman at 8:42 AM on September 19 [1 favorite]

A Viking that no one fewer people know about would be Skalla-Grímr Kveldulfsson. Eric the Red is someone who I a) heard about when I was a little kid, and b) has a movie named after him.

People are right that the give-away puns are probably to make people feel smarter at home - but it undermines the expectations of the quiz show. And I'm really miffed that they have just about impossible questions regarding celebrities and sports stars, and then ask completely mickey mouse questions on history or geography, like the Eric the Red one. That said, the river-lock question in the same category (900s) was properly hard - there I needed the clue that it was a "key" innovation in river navigation in China. But they should have just asked "This important innovation in river navigation was invented in China in the 900s" - and if you don't know, you guess.

(and then they didn't even do the rest of the 900s category, which I had been looking forward to all game.)
posted by jb at 9:17 AM on September 19

Leif the Lucky is just about as famous as his father, but when I was a kid I always heard him referred to as Leif Ericson.
posted by jb at 9:20 AM on September 19

Jeopardy! controversy: despite a strict rule that you can only be a regular Jeopardy! contestant for your one run (plus any tournaments you're invited back for), a player in Monday's game had appeared previously ten years ago. It seems he simply lied about it, and wasn't caught ahead of time.

This was much too thin for its own post, but I thought it might be of interest to Mefites interested enough in Jeopardy! to have participated in this nearly-closed thread.
posted by Zed at 8:10 AM on October 15