Chuckles: Who Put the Bop In the Bop-She-Bop?

The Coach's Girls made good on their promise and transformed themeselves into The Steelers and One Lonely Eagle. Unfortunately, a painful picture round did them in. In fact, it almost did Out of the Vortex in, but they had a stellar fourth round and ended up in first place. The perennial bridesmaids The Price Is Right once again took second. Skirtland, aided by their doo-wop expertise, took third. The Talent Scouts vowed to take fourth and were good to their word. They chose Saved by the Bell as their theme, which tickled Tim of The Incredible Ninja Squirrels of Doom. Then The Unit 2 Meltdown Crew took fifth and chose the US Marines as their theme, which then tickled Billy Warmth (and I need to get that image out of my mind.) Props to Donny and Marie, who were doing well until the last round, along with the Lethal Amoebas who had a spectacular flameout. Favorite prize of the night: a clam knife.

Brew at the Zoo

Or, How I Spent My Summer Vacation. I took a day off from all my jobs to attend the Brew at the Zoo in Norristown. Mixing carniverous animals in cages with a bunch of beer drinkers sounds like a bad idea, but it was a very enjoyable time. My friend Ann particularly liked the sliding board.

Stampeding towards the last free samples of Blithering Idiot. (From my favorite brewery, Weyerbacher.)

Lititz VFW: Sharp-Dressed Men (and Women)

The Newlyweds did NOT want their Maypo, while Shannon and Kim wanted more Monty Python Tunes. Cindy had abandonment issues, so she joined the Incredibles. The Cunning Linguists and the Foreplayers had similarly themed names and similar scores, since they tied for fourth. Their theme choices for next week: the TV show Cheers and type-setting terms. Room Two was third, despite Matt's Tour de France knowledge. Dave and Lisa joined the Posse and transformed them into the more exotic-sounding Le Posse and took second. And the Comeback Kids, D and M + 2 nearly aced the last round and claimed victory!

Bube's: Nose Candy

Brad is modelling some of the Husky Milk Maids prizes: a stylish orange fuzzy purse, a 10 pack of melted crunch bars and a strap-on nose candy dispenser. Other prize-winners included Shari, who won a Paradise fireman's t-shirt; Brian of Eat It Raw, who played magic tricks on the traitorious Chris; and Jordan (of the Exploding Ovaries Surgically Removed to Cyprus team), who won some cinnamon bears (which was the last thing she needed, since she was pretty wound up to begin with). Team Emmy, meanwhile took home the five pound box of Swedish fish. The Phool Phonak Monkey placed fifth and chose U.S. Presidents as their theme. TDC lost the tie-breaker for third and chose the classic Three Amigos movie as their theme. Laura's Captain Jack skills came in handy, as the Toxic Olives took third. The Tesla Death Rays were second and we welcomed a new-to-Bube's team, Linuscratchitt, who claimed the grand prize.

Former Bube's drinkmaster extraordinaire John Devennie is in town for the summer before heading down to Sarasota. You can catch him playing in the mud at the Pennsylvania Rennaissance Fair.

Cafe Chuckles: The Littlest State

A great night with a packed house. Ubersmack brought some secret weapons from New Jersey. K-Cubed only missed the champ's circle by one point. Jason and Kristie from Dead Bear Baby in a Jar scoped out the joint. I Went to CV and I'm OK (Twitch, Twitch) had the best name of the night. The Coach Girls vowed to return with reinforcements. There were some strange noises coming from Skirtland's table as they took fifth. Rhode Island Marge (pictured left) of Out of the Vortex chose her home state as a theme and managed to come in fourth (again). The Toxic (Don't call them Tainted) Olives from Bube's made their first appearance and snagged third. A super-sized Price Is Right team, with guest star Rum-chugging Jean, once again placed second, bested by Gigi and the Drunken Stepfathers. Next week's themes: the Los Angeles Dodgers and '50s do-wop music.

Beans and Pineapples, Together at Last!

Dick from the VFW's Room Two is a bean connoisseur and he gave two big thumbs up to the baked beans I prepared for his team Sunday as part of their cookout prize for placing second in the May mini-tournament. The secret ingredient was crushed pineapple. You can find the recipe here. We had great time eating burgers, beans, potato salad, macaroni salad and Janice's delicious home-made peach pie while listening to Stu's jokes.

VFW: Boxers or Briefs?

Lisa and Carol, distaff members of Mixed Company, were brought on board to help their team with the underwear and hairdo questions. But their former teammates, the Cunning Linguists managed to beat them by one point to take first. Room 2 took third and In Zane in the Membrain once again placed fourth. They chose 70s NFL as their theme. Meanwhile, the B52s, with only two members, managed fifth and chose ZZ Top as their theme. So start growing your beards for next week's show!

Bube's: Here Comes the Rain Again

Once again we had a bad storm prior to the show and getting to Bube's was an obstacle course of fallen branches. Thanks to all who played. (The storm was so bad that it knocked out the power to the Cat's Meow, so fellow trivia host J stopped by for a special visit).

Here's a pic of Dead Bear Bay in a Broken Lebanese Clay Pot, who returned to Bube's after a month-long hiatus. They were a bit rusty in the early rounds, but rose from fifth to first in the finale. Eat It Raw continues their ascent, taking second, while the Hot Mamas took third. The Toxic Olives and the Exploding Ovaries were neck-and-neck throughout the night, but the O's lived up to their name and flamed out in the fourth. The Olives chose Disco as their theme for placing fourth. Meanwhile, Bill of the Fool Minkey beat Missy of TDC for fifth, and chose World Geogrpahy (non-US) as their theme. Also: welcome to Sarah, a new salty ball to add to the original Crabby Dicks; and a warning to our regulars: the selection of beers for the $2 draft special has been curtailed, so check with your server for which beers qualify.

These ladies, known as the Hot Mamas (Wooooooooo!) were enjoying a "girls night out" and played their very first trivia game. Their enthusiasm carried them into the winner's circle, since they took third.

Chrissy, Janet and Jack celebrate their second place victory.

Cafe Chuckles: Beam Me Up!

It was Star Trek night at Chuckles (much to the chagrin of Ubersmack), which helped the all-male version of the Rainmakers get third place. The Talent Scouts' amazing fourth round (9 out of 10 correct) helped them surpass the Price Is Right (by one point!) to claim victory. Out of the Vortex returned to Chuckles (much to the chagrin of the Rainmakers) and placed fourth. New Englander Margie chose Rhode Island as her theme. Last week's champs the Lethal Amoebas fell to fifth and had a long discussion about what their theme should be. They chose the good-old standby, alcohol. Skirtland won a wheel of cheese (as big as one dollar can buy), while Declan knew his punt from his pound. Meanwhile, the Tidy Bowlers were too stuffed with food to think.

VFW: Brenda Lee's Sorry

That's Anita Bryant at the left, looking sad that no one remembered her original rendition of the Marie Osmond classic "Paper Roses." It was early sixties night at the VFW, along with mixed drink trivia. And Dennis and Melanie and Rob and Louise (AKA D and M + 2) were the victors. Room Two was second, then it was the B52s (wishing good health to John, btw). The Posse had a new member who looked like Kirk after a sheep-shearing contest. They chose "undergarments" as their theme. Then it was Inzane in the Membrain, who chose "hairdos." So hopefully you'll have some members of the estrogen brigade on your team next week. Fartosaurus Frank and his teammates were led astray by John and tanked. And a special shout-out has to go to the Foreplayers who aced the picture round, which they usually dread with a passion.

Bube's: Out of Africa

Once I got over the shock that Bube's was temporarily out of Guinness, we had a great night. It featured the world's lamest puns on the picture sheet with the secret theme of Africa (Susan Sarandon + Dan Dierdorf = Sue-Dan).
Eat It Raw had their best showing ever, only two points off the money position. They chose Seinfeld as their theme for next week. They tied TDC, who chose "The Goonies." In third was Sausage and Coach (AKA The Wise Men), second went to the Flaming Moe-rons (pictured above) and first went to the red-hot Tesla Death Rays. The big trashbag winner was Jim of the Stonecutters, who won a talking Homer dashboard figurine (what are the odds of that happening?)

Missy thinks that Mike is "the best bartender ever." (Even though he's a Dallas fan). The fact that he just gave her a Steeler mug had absolutely nothing to do with that statement.

Kate's friend Mr. Iagi hung out with Seth after the show.

Cafe Chuckles: Italy 5, Amoebas, 6

The F'ing Frogs Lost the World Cup team, celebrated Matt's birthday by placing fifth and choosing collegiate team nicknames as their theme for next week. The Rainmakers were stuck at fourth again and chose Star Trek. The Talent Scouts returned from vacation to take third, while the Price Is Right took second. (Am I getting my tenses right?). But it was the Lethal Amoebas, led by Laura's murderous fashion sense that took the prize. And I took a prize, too, when I accepted Johannesberg Quicketymology's bribe of a quarter.

Happy Founders Day

Since I'm still in Fourth of July mode, I thought I'd check in with the Earth Trivia Founding Father himself, Curtis Earth. He's doing extremely well for himself down in Orlando and has been attracting celebrities to his shows. Recently Yackoff Smirnof, Pia Zadora and the stand-in for the original "time to make the donuts" man were rumored to have stopped by. As seen here, we do have documented proof of Miss Orlando 2006's visit.

VFW: Born on the Fifth of July

It was seventies night at the VFW as we saluted 1776 and 1976. Dennis and Melanie waited for the cavalry of Rob and Louise, but to no avail. The Drunken Stepfathers cursed the name of Jimmy Dorsey. The STaR team caught on to the new start time. A bag of habenero Doritos proved too hot to handle. Frank of the Posse tried to forfeit the alligator tie-breaker, but Cal forced him to play honest. So the Posse took first, We're Here for the Beer second and the Stepfathers third. Room 2, in fourth, chose early 60s music as their theme, while the bartending team of In Zane in the Membrain chose mixed drinks for placing fifth.

Bubes: Trivia on Holiday

It was of our more unusual trivia nights, since, due to the holiday, management canceled it an hour before it began! With such little notice, it was hard to get the word out to all of the faithful, so we had an intimate, unplugged game with the four teams who I couldn't reach. The Tesla Death Rays squeaked by Italy 2 Germany 0 to take first. The Wise Men were third and the Avatars fourth. To reward the other three losing teams, I allowed them each to pick a theme, so next week we have three themes: cartoons, Jim Carrey movies (aren't they the same thing?) and African geography.

Karen consoles Lisa and ubersoccergeeks Jennifer and Paul by offering them some patriotic cupcakes.

The Wise Men were ecstatic at the small crowd size and had their highest placing in quite some time. (Hmmmmmm....)

Birthday girl Shari is ready to celebrate one of the big ones.

J's Tuesday night show was legitimately canceled, since the Cat's Meow was closed, so he and Hope headed over to Bube's to enjoy the low-key evening.

And the Counting of the Family Shall Be Three...

Heartiest congratulations to Janay and Mat-t as they welcomed the littlest holy hand grenade into this world: Megan (officially spelled Me-gan and pronounced MAYYYYYYY-GUH-UN!). Thanks also to Janay for timing Megan's debut a day before my birthday (much as I love the little girl, I don't want to share my day).

Chuckles: A Civil War

Our second show at Chuckles had an air of history about it, since the themes were the Civil War and the 1939 World's Fair. It was pretty even, since no one had first-hand knowledge of either event. The All You Can Eat Johanesberg Yis team was happy to see trivia return. Will and Grace stayed for all four rounds, but Asshole did not (that's what he called himself, it wasn't what I called him). Ubersmack made the hop skip and jump over to Chuckles and Sue and Jim called it quits after a disastrous picture round. (Best of luck, btw, to Adam who also called it quits and is starting serving at the Log Cabin next week). Buzzsaw came in fifth and chose "Pulitzer Prize-winning authors" as their theme for next week. Next came defending champs the Rainmakers, who chose "Kevin Smith movies." Besting the Rainmakers by one point was the Lethal Amoebas, who trailed Thinkingaboutit.com by one point. And in first was The Price is Right, AKA Connie's Harem.