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  1. Ask Me Another

    Friday, May 11, 2012

     Beer, pop culture trivia, and those questionable bowls of Chex mix that you want to snack from, but you're not sure if the people you're sharing with washed their hands after going to the bathroom.  From what I've heard from my more socially outgoing associates, Pub Quiz Nights are a thing!  You answer questions about episodes of Friends and receive laurels and maybe free alcohol! 

    And now you can experience all that Saturday night fun in the comfort of your headphones and without the need to call a cab.  It's Ask Me Another!

    Relevant Links:
    Ask Me Another Main Site
    Ways to download it!
    Apparently a list of Pub Quiz Team Names for your perusal!

    Behind the scenes, everyone's touching things.
                                                      -Contestant


    Content RatingClean, but expect innuendos and such things.

    Average Episode Length:  Since there's only one episode, exactly forty-eight minutes and forty-five seconds!

    Drinking Game:  Seeing how this is fashioned after pub quiz shows, I'd better come up with something. 
    1. Think of those asinine drinking games you used to play in college.
    2. Contemplate how you now have a mortgage and student loans.
    3. Just drink as you damn well please.
    I'm a ton of fun at parties.  

    The games in Ask Me Another are clever and quick, created by Puzzle Gurus John Chaneski, Art Chung  and actor/writer Will Hines.  Host Ophira Eisenberg sets a fast pace as the questions and answers are flung about for the audience's amusement.  There are plenty of chances for witty banter and bad puns, and the guest contestants are willing to give as good as they get.

    Contestants compete in a series of single-round elimination games, where the winner goes on to the final "championship".  The games themselves are super-neat and can include singing the answer, wordplay, haiku and whatever else you can stitch together to make a puzzle. 

    There was stuff that worked and stuff that didn’t, but hey, that’s what editing is for. And really, sometimes my favorite moments of these shows are the parts that go wrong. Mistakes are the best! That’s why I make a lot of them! It’s a live audience and actual human contestants, so there’s always plenty of room for strange things to happen.
                                                                 -Jonathan Coulton writing about the podcast here

    Release ScheduleI have no idea!  There are 13 episodes for this first season, so they should all be released eventually!  Most likely a weekly release.   A new episode each week, with the release on Friday.

    Music:  THEY HAVE JONATHAN COULTON.

    So yes, there is music involved.  Coulton sings songs between the puzzles that provide clues to who the secret guest that appears at the end of the show will be.  And sometimes he just sings songs.

    Unintentionally Good Part:  This podcast is like Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me but with a higher chance of hijinks.  The host, Puzzle Gurus and Jonathan Coulton can reliably provide the wit, while the puzzles and guest contestants keep things fresh.

    Unintentionally Bad Part:  Sometimes the contestants are smarter than I am and figure out the answer before I can. 

    Hey!:  Since I started writing this review, there's a new episode on the NPR site!  Let's go listen together, shall we?

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