Monday
Great Success
Or, alternatively, Brushes With Fame!
I was just (one of) the winners on the Brian Lehrer Show “Annual News Quiz,” for which I will apparently receive a charming tote bag. I'll try to post the audio for the show, which should be available at that first link in the next day or so, soon after it's added to their website, but in case I haven't gotten around to it and you're really eager to know how funny my voice sounds on the radio (pretty funny, I'd bet) you can listen for a caller “Matt from Manhattan” in the fourth segment, Local News.
The format of the show featured Brian and his guest host for the segment would ask a question of one of the people who were in a queue on hold on the phone. If that caller got it right, they'd be asked another question, and if and when a caller answered three questions in a row correctly, they won. If the caller got it wrong, the same question would be asked to a different caller on hold, and if three callers in a row got a question wrong, that question would be dropped.
The format ended up helping me a lot, because three people in a row missed a question just before I was chosen, and I would have missed that question too. That question was, “What was the name of the escort service which former governor Eliot Spitzer was exposed as using?” If I had been asked this, I would have said: The Premiere Club, the correct answer was: Emperor's Club V.I.P. (the answers are written in white, highlight them with your mouse to read them).
I was first asked how the [name of escort service which was the answer to the previous question] referred to Governor Spitzer on their books. The answer, famously, is: Client Number 9. Second, I was asked what crimes Spitzer was charged with. I answered:Spitzer was never indicted. Finally, I was asked to name two of the charges/topics that a House of Representatives ethics committee is investigating with regards to Rep. Rangel. The two I brought up were: Use of tax shelters in the Caribbean and improper use of rent control or other rent laws for some apartments. The other two are, apparently: soliciting funds for the Charles Rangel Center at City College on House of Representatives letterhead (I'd never heard about this one) and voting in favor of a tax loophole which he had previously opposed after a meeting with an executive of a company that benefited from the loophole and who pledged a million dollar donation to the Rangel Center.
So just think, if you spend absurd amounts of time reading the news, one day you too could make an ass of yourself in public and win a tote bag.
Update: The Brian Lehrer show site is updated faster than I'd imagined, but I haven't figured out how to directly embed the audio. I'm on for around three minutes, starting at about 4:28 in the fourth segment. The question about the name of Spitzer's escort service starts at 3:01. Also, while I know I talk fast, I was surprised to learn that even I wouldn't understand that I'm saying “I'll take advantage of those” in response to Lehrer's mention of bragging rights at a News Year Eve party if I hadn't already known what I said.
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I was just (one of) the winners on the Brian Lehrer Show “Annual News Quiz,” for which I will apparently receive a charming tote bag. I'll try to post the audio for the show, which should be available at that first link in the next day or so, soon after it's added to their website, but in case I haven't gotten around to it and you're really eager to know how funny my voice sounds on the radio (pretty funny, I'd bet) you can listen for a caller “Matt from Manhattan” in the fourth segment, Local News.
The format of the show featured Brian and his guest host for the segment would ask a question of one of the people who were in a queue on hold on the phone. If that caller got it right, they'd be asked another question, and if and when a caller answered three questions in a row correctly, they won. If the caller got it wrong, the same question would be asked to a different caller on hold, and if three callers in a row got a question wrong, that question would be dropped.
The format ended up helping me a lot, because three people in a row missed a question just before I was chosen, and I would have missed that question too. That question was, “What was the name of the escort service which former governor Eliot Spitzer was exposed as using?” If I had been asked this, I would have said: The Premiere Club, the correct answer was: Emperor's Club V.I.P. (the answers are written in white, highlight them with your mouse to read them).
I was first asked how the [name of escort service which was the answer to the previous question] referred to Governor Spitzer on their books. The answer, famously, is: Client Number 9. Second, I was asked what crimes Spitzer was charged with. I answered:Spitzer was never indicted. Finally, I was asked to name two of the charges/topics that a House of Representatives ethics committee is investigating with regards to Rep. Rangel. The two I brought up were: Use of tax shelters in the Caribbean and improper use of rent control or other rent laws for some apartments. The other two are, apparently: soliciting funds for the Charles Rangel Center at City College on House of Representatives letterhead (I'd never heard about this one) and voting in favor of a tax loophole which he had previously opposed after a meeting with an executive of a company that benefited from the loophole and who pledged a million dollar donation to the Rangel Center.
So just think, if you spend absurd amounts of time reading the news, one day you too could make an ass of yourself in public and win a tote bag.
Update: The Brian Lehrer show site is updated faster than I'd imagined, but I haven't figured out how to directly embed the audio. I'm on for around three minutes, starting at about 4:28 in the fourth segment. The question about the name of Spitzer's escort service starts at 3:01. Also, while I know I talk fast, I was surprised to learn that even I wouldn't understand that I'm saying “I'll take advantage of those” in response to Lehrer's mention of bragging rights at a News Year Eve party if I hadn't already known what I said.
