You’re on Jeopardy: what’s your interview anecdote?

Cafe Society
1

Put another way, what line should Ken Jennings (or Alex Trebeck, if the world was fair) feed you to elicit a short, interesting blurb during the brief interview portion of Jeopardy, held during the first round once the show returns from its first commercial break.

I ask this question because I can’t think of anything!

It shouldn’t be offensive, and you don’t want to embarrass yourself. It also can’t be meandering. You’ve only got a few seconds. Ideally, it will elicit a chuckle, and some positive feedback from the host.

What you got?

2

I was thinking of something that would make my weirdness obvious, but perhaps they would not appreciate that.

3

I knew a production team member on Star Trek: Voyager – he took me on a tour of the set, and I had the chance to sit in Captain Janeway’s chair on the bridge.

4

I was in a circus and learned how to eat fire.

5

Yeah, this is where a lot of my anecdotes are disqualified.

6

I met my wife at a coffee shop, where she was playing Scrabble with friends. I pointed out to her that she could spell ‘jeopardy’, hit a triple letter score on the ‘j’ and get the 50 point bonus for using all 7 letter tiles! She was so grateful she agreed to give me her number, and the rest is history.

Never happened, but hey, it’d make a great Jeopardy anecdote!

7

I’ve been to Jeopardy! tryouts twice, and didn’t make it, but I did actually steal some anecdotes from friends of mine. Coming up with five possibly-entertaining anecdotes is HARD.

8

I once tied for first place in a trivia contest. I lost the runoff because I couldn’t remember the last name of the man who originally voiced Donald Duck: Clarence Nash

9

My black cat is Ursala and my red horse is Ariel. They came with those names and I still have never seen The Little Mermaid.”

10

Sailed on a tall ship.
Hiked across the Grand Canyon.
Drove a rental car on a race track in Germany.

Just don’t ask me what I’d spend my winnings on

11

I knew that! :slightly_smiling_face:

12

I used to co-host a drive-home radio show at an American-owned 5000-watt station in Moscow (Russia, not Idaho).

13

So glad to know that I can just make stuff up! That never occurred to me.

But it seems that you had better be careful. If it’s something that is easily verifiable, there’s always a risk that social media could get a hold of it and then you become a viral ignominious meme.

That kind if thing can get a guy fired.

14

I’m the second person to windsurf the Arctic Ocean.

15

I think as long as you’re not bragging about some fake accomplishment, no one’s going to check.

16

Yeah, I just borrowed some whimsical anecdote from a co-worker. I think both times Maggie didn’t ask me about any of those anyway, she asked about my previous game show experience.

17

I’m always amused by the occasional contestant whose interesting factoid is essentially mundane and boils down to “Eats food”, or “Has parents.” Which, to be honest, would be pretty much the case with me.

18

My mom was on Jeopardy in the Art Fleming days and her story was how she had 2 daughters, then a son, then 2 daughters, and she told Art the my brother was the “meat in the sandwich.” I’d have to share that.

(Lucky for bro, her episode aired during the summer, so by the time school was back in session, the anecdote was forgotten.)

19

Whatever your story, PLEASE rehearse it and have an honest friend critique it. Nothing worse than long rambling stories where you can practically hear the director rolling his eyes and looking at the time.

Nothing worse, except a long rambling story that is dumb, or amounts to “eats food”. :slight_smile:

20

That’s it!

Alex (channeling from the grave)

“So, @Moriarty it says here that you eat eggs at night?”

“Yes. Alex. I usually eat 6 about 30 minutes before bed.”