Comments on: Kareem, do you like movies about gladiators?

Kareem, do you like movies about gladiators?

Cool Papa Bell — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:57:05 -0800

Epic fail for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but a fun one. The Hall-of-Fame NBA center bricks a Celebrity Jeopardy question seemingly gift-wrapped for him. Kareem wouldn't be a Jeopardy pushover -- he's the author of several history books, but the night's win went to Michael McKean. You know, Lenny.

By: threetoed

threetoed — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:04:31 -0800

You'll rue the day you crossed me, Trebek!

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:11:31 -0800

Who is Lewis Alcindor?

By: Nick Verstayne

Nick Verstayne — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:12:44 -0800

Mike and Mike reckon that Kareem thought that the question was about "who said that?". While it is patently obvious that was not the question, I will also give Kareem the benefit of the doubt coz I always go with what Mike says. Or Mike.

By: Diablevert

Diablevert — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:14:06 -0800

Well, he's also besties with Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer, not exactly a dull bunch.

By: schleppo

schleppo — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:26:38 -0800

"We have clearance, Clarence." "Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?"

By: djduckie

djduckie — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:34:46 -0800

Michael McKean is pretty much my hero. One of the first bands i was ever in, Morris Fletcher, was named after his character on the x-files episodes dreamland 1 and 2 (and he was on a lone gunmen and i think 1 other x file, but i could be wrong).

By: Artw

Artw — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:35:59 -0800

Normally to defeat him you have to kick out all the windows.

By: joe lisboa

joe lisboa — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:39:21 -0800

"Is it Ghostbusters 2?"

By: battlebison

battlebison — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:45:24 -0800

A bit of a derail: I'm surprised to see 4chan lingo making its way onto the blue and into mainstream use. When do I start saying that this epic fail was epic lulz?

By: Artw

Artw — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:46:43 -0800

Have you missed several years worth of fail blogs?

By: cortex

cortex — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:55:18 -0800

and i think 1 other x file McKean has a cameo, as Fletcher I think but not explicitly identified as such, in season five or six, when Mulder and Scully head with the Gunmen off to a security conference. Scully ends up basically roofied, and has a brief cigarette-centric flirtation with Fletcher before Frohicke yanks her away from the crowd of conventiongoers she's charming. Michael McKean is awesome, and the two-parter he's in earlier on is silly and has some problems but is very fun regardless.

By: Mental Wimp

Mental Wimp — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:11:49 -0800

Could it be ABBA?

By: mediocre

mediocre — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:16:21 -0800

Dreamland is the only body-swapping story in TV, movies, or print that I have found anything but asinine. Anyways, I wouldn't expect anything less on Jeopardy from David St. Hubbins, metalheads tend to be trivia dumps as it's a compulsion that lends itself to obsessive gathering and cataloging of data. Yes I am aware that David St. Hubbins doesn't exist.

By: mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey

mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:29:04 -0800

I am so completely jealous of Michael McKean. Good lord, the man is in Spinal Tap AND the Folksmen, he gets to hang out with Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest (who presumably brings Jamie Lee Curtis with him), and he's also married to one of my longest-running crushes, the beautiful and talented Annette O'Toole? Talk about leading a charmed life. Sheesh.

By: Rangeboy

Rangeboy — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:32:44 -0800

McKean has a cameo, as Fletcher I think That is Season Six's "Three of a Kind." He also appeared in the Season Nine's "Jump the Shark" and the "All About Yves" episode of The Lone Gunmen. /your friendly neighborhood X-Files nerd

By: cortex

cortex — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:42:25 -0800

"Jump the Shark" Oh god, that's right. Credit due the writing staff for self-awareness, anyway.

By: Ian A.T.

Ian A.T. — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:47:16 -0800

Mike and Mike reckon that Kareem thought that the question was about "who said that?". I agree with that. The problem with Jeopardy is that the producers seem determined to turn the show into a reading comprehension contest rather than a general knowledge quiz. So instead of "He was the first man to break the sound barrier," you get monstrosities like "You'll have 'the right stuff' if you can name this first pilot to break the sound barrier, played by Sam Shepard in the 1983 movie based on Tom Wolfe's novel." Like: dude, what are you even asking? (Oh, and the category would be something like "Famous Chucks.")

By: Rangeboy

Rangeboy — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:54:24 -0800

Credit due the writing staff for self-awareness, anyway. A couple of seasons too late, I would argue.

By: jeremy b

jeremy b — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:06:38 -0800

This dude at my job came to work as Kareem in Airplane! last Halloween. It was pure awesomeness: pilot's uniform on the upper half of his body, gold shorts, knee braces, and sneakers on the lower.

By: djduckie

djduckie — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:06:44 -0800

Was it the end of "jump the shark" where the lone gunmen died? That was fucking tragic. it was like, sure they are heroes, but at what cost? :(

By: empath

empath — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:10:37 -0800

I'm surprised to see 4chan lingo making its way onto the blue and into mainstream use. You're only two months behind the new york times.

By: Davenhill

Davenhill — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:15:34 -0800

Seems like as good a place as any to bring this up: say Happy 99th Birthday to UCLA's legendary coach, John R. Wooden!!

By: empath

empath — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:18:05 -0800

Earliest use of "full of fail" that I can find on metafilter -- May 2007

By: empath

empath — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:21:11 -0800

Earliest "Epic Fail" - July 2007

By: empath

empath — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:22:08 -0800

Earliest "failboat" - june 2007

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:55:05 -0800

I agree with Nick Verstayne (and Mike. or Mike.) That question was phrased somewhat confusingly (as I read it; didn't watch). I think Kareem just instantly thought "Oh, an Airplane reference" = slam dunk.

By: Horselover Fat

Horselover Fat — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:25:40 -0800

Man, Kareem never really tries until the playoffs.

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:30:24 -0800

A true WTF moment (to use another one of them intarweb catchy-phrases), but for a full half-hour-minus-commercials, it's weak sauce (is that another one of 'em?) compared to when Andy "I Got Nothing to Do, Conan" Richter thoroughly PWN3D (another... aw fuggeddaboudit) Wolf "I Got Nothing to Say, CNN" Blitzer last month. But if somebody can find an excuse to do a Jeopardy! post once a month., I have no objection. And as a lo-o-o-ng time Laker fan (I got the autograph of other-guy-on-the-starting-team-with-West-Wilt-and-Elgin Happy Hairston in a supermarket 35 years ago), I have seen Kareem blow a slam dunk on the court more than once; too bad Chick Hearn isn't around anymore to declare that 'the mustard slipped off the hot dog'.

By: rokusan

rokusan — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:01:51 -0800

I dunno who Lenny is, but that David St. Hubbins guy totally owned that Jeopardy round.

By: juiceCake

juiceCake — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:05:59 -0800

I fail to see the epicness in this fail.

By: giraffe

giraffe — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:07:56 -0800

I think Weird Al wrote a song about this once.

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:09:05 -0800

McKean got his comedy start alongside Harry Shearer and David L. "Squiggy" Lander as part of "The Credibility Gap", not quite following in the radio tradition of "The Firesign Theater" but awesome in their own way. For an earful of McKean, Shearer, Lander and radio-newsman-voiced Richard Beebe (.), here's some audio from Harry's site, plus a pre-Spinal-Tap musical memory masher (Jackson 5 in German jibberish!) "The Who's on first, Guess Who's second, and third? YES!"

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:16:41 -0800

I dunno who Lenny is Not LENNY!

By: Ghidorah

Ghidorah — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:51:22 -0800

To complete the 4-channity, Kareem completes a full facepalm upon realization of his epic fail.

By: xorry

xorry — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:52:07 -0800

In the summer of '05 I got a Netfilx subscription (3 at a time!) and started with X-Files Season 1 disc 1. I finished the final season 9 disc in the summer of '07. There were a handful of super awesome episodes, a great many good ones, some meh ones, and another handlful of total stinkers (and a few that were worse than that). It's all a bit of a blur, but dreamland was ~~one~~ two of the best episodes. Fantastic!

By: randomination

randomination — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:36:31 -0800

So what would have happened had Soledad O'Brien actually finished the game with -$200? Would she have to give Trebeck the money?

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:47:04 -0800

The problem with Jeopardy is that the producers seem determined to turn the show into a reading comprehension contest rather than a general knowledge quiz. There's that and the intrusion of multiple ad placements masquerading as an entire category. The ones where the correct response is a product brand name (or some such variation on that theme.) There's at least one of these categories per-show now. I guess they need to pay for that new, fugly set.

By: Flunkie

Flunkie — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:46:12 -0800

The problem with Jeopardy is that the producers seem determined to turn the show into a reading comprehension contest rather than a general knowledge quiz. So instead of "He was the first man to break the sound barrier," you get monstrosities like "You'll have 'the right stuff' if you can name this first pilot to break the sound barrier, played by Sam Shepard in the 1983 movie based on Tom Wolfe's novel." Like: dude, what are you even asking?

This sort of thing has always bothered me in another way, too: It flies in the face of the premise of the show. The ostensible hook of the show is that you see an answer and ask a question with that answer as its answer. This is fine in theory:

"Who is Chuck Yeager?" "The first person to break the speed of sound." "Oh. Neat! Thanks."

But no, instead it's:

"Who is Chuck Yeager?" "You'll have 'the right stuff' if you can name this first pilot to break the sound barrier, played by Sam Shepard in the 1983 movie based on Tom Wolfe's novel." "Uh... what?"

By: andyg

andyg — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:38:52 -0800

just answering to the user..Lew Alcindors is the great kareem