I was up in Chicago all weekend auditioning for The World Series of Pop Culture game show. To cut to the chase, we didn’t make it past the written test. We did our best, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
Our team, Worst Episode Ever, headed up to the very cold Windy City to hang out and try out for the show. After the test, we decided that we each missed at least ten of the fifty questions and maybe more. The time limit is short but makes sense because no one gets more than ten or so seconds on the show to answer anyway. Of course, verbally replying to a verbal question and reading a question, and writing your answer do not equate.
Obviously, I can’t post any of the actual questions from the test, nor do I remember all of them anyway. However, it was very broad but only went back no more than 30 years. I thought the questions were significantly more difficult than any of the questions on last year’s show. I really did not expect that.
During the test, I didn’t start off well. I drew a blank on the first question and then the second. I remembered the answer to the first and went back and guessed (wrongly) on the second. The pressure was the time limit, and I was tempted to fly through the test too fast. I felt under-prepared for the test, but I have no idea how anyone could truly study for it other than reading the last two year’s worth of Entertainment Weekly and reading every Wikipedia article on every 80s-era TV, music, and movie hits.
I know you are dying to know more about the questions. I really can’t divulge any of them. However, they were similar in style to these:
1. What’s the license plate on the Ghostbuster’s vehicle?
2. Which one of these actors is not considered to be a member of the “Brat Pack?” Judd Nelson, Rob Lowe, or John Cusack?
3. What’s the name of the club the kids from One Tree Hill hang out at?
4. What city does The Drew Carey Show take place in?
5. What two bands were members of Audioslave originally from?
6. What does the J. in Homer J. Simpson stand for?
7. What’s the name of The Shins 2007 album?
8. The following lyrics are to what song — Now listen up/She’s razor-sharp/If she don’t get her way/She’ll slice you apart
9. What are the songs Ferris Bueler lip-synchs in the Chicago Parade?
10. What was Cliff Huxtable’s college nickname?
How did you do?
I’d say there were about 20–30 teams of three in my session and only two teams made it to the interview portion. They don’t say, but I’d guess they were going for a 45 to 48 out of 50 range on the test. Remember, they don’t want to interview that many teams, and they only need 8 teams to play for the regional winner. I’m guessing they had eight hours (9–6 with an hour for lunch) of auditions on both Friday and Saturday. That gives them a minimum of sixteen teams to interview and ultimately decide which eight would play the game on Sunday.
As we were leaving the audition, we were stopped by a member of last year’s team, Cheetara, to participate in the “Loser’s Lounge.” Luckily, we didn’t get the really short, loud one, but the really cute one. I already forgot her name. My bad. Anyway, she interviewed us for about two minutes about where we were from and how we studied, and were we disappointed. We had shirts with Worst Episode Ever on them, so we showed them off to the camera. So, maybe we’ll make it on the show in some sort of “Loser’s Lounge” segment.
Ultimately, we headed to Dave and Buster’s to drown our sorrows and kick ass on the Trivia Machine there. At least at D&B, we could still earn tickets off unsuspecting marks. As for The World Series of Pop Culture, there’s always next year.
Now on to memorize the Sausage King of Chicago’s name.
