Another week, another Quiz Night. Another week, another standard report about how boss we all are. Another week, another surprise. M&H just hit us with a laughter bomb...
The Peoples Republic of Birkenhead doesn't play by the Quiz Night rules. They don't do a glossy PowerPoint presentation, they don't try and dazzle with their multimedia skills, they hit us with old school quizzing and we all love it. Last time out it was Bullseye where they threw the darts (terribly) for us. Their rubbishness actually added to the enjoyment, they couldn't have planned it better.
This week, amongst the usual high-quality quiz rounds, were questions on the age of Oscar winners (so hard) and an amazingly informative round called 'Dark Side Of The Mersey' all about The Wirral (who knew that Daniel Craig's nickname at school was 'Spud Head'?) Excellent, excellent stuff.
For the first time ever, I jotted down some notes to help me write this piece, to be honest, after M's last round, I needn't have bothered. Things like 'Bo Rap Tony', 'All Mini's Matter' and 'Which serial killers third victim was from Birkenhead?' meant something at the time but they were completely eclipsed by M bringing out the big guns for the final round.
Remember Shooting Stars, the surreal gameshow hosted by Vic & Bob in the '90s? Do you remember 'Songs In A Club Style' where Vic reimagined songs for the guests to work out? Yeah, well M remembered that round too and decided to put his own take on it in an end of the quiz bonanza. The result? The icing on a boss quiz cake and a Hall Of Fame entry!
It is fair to say that the scoring was low in this round but the belly laughs were high. It was a sight to behold to see a clearly drunk M take on some big songs and reproduce them in the club-style. We watched in awe as some stone-cold classics were, well, to be frank, murdered in the name of entertainment!
I have been told I would be terrible at Poker as my face conveys every emotion I feel. I was told by H that, after one of M's performances, I looked bemused! That is being polite!!! M looked and sounded like he was having a stroke then promptly stopped and announced that "we should be able to get the song from that".
It is hard to articulate just how abstract M's interpretations of 'Wild Boys' by Duran Duran or 'Sussudio' by Phil Collins were but, suffice to say, no one got the answer right! I'll be honest, we only got 'Earth Song' by Michael Jackson and 'Bermuda Triangel by the legend that is Barry Manilow right by pure fluke. R&R was the only team to get more than 2 correct if my gin addled memory serves me right.
Thing was, M&H nailed the spirit of Quiz Night with that round. It isn't about getting questions right, it is about having a laugh with friends and relaxing after a long week.
We started off as a bunch of people with a loose connection, now we are real friends. We are planning a Quiz Night Live event, it might end up on a trimaran bought in the middle of the quiz (above - kudos M&G!). My week now revolves around the few hours we have together on a Saturday night, I love seeing all the usual faces - it was great to see T again this week, I'm sure we will see D, C and V next week.
I can't wait for next week, it is my turn to be the host-with-the-most. I've learned from my last outing and have cut the quiz down by 25% and have a strong theme, I just need to squeeze in a 'Songs In A Club Style' round. Leave it with me...
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