One of my favorite parts of Jeopardy! has been going out on the road occasionally to record the College Championships on campuses across the country. Instead of taping the show in front of two hundred people in Culver City, we’re doing it in front of thousands of people in an arena. There’s always the added excitement of the rivalries, such as USC versus UCLA or Michigan versus Ohio State. They’re good-natured rivalries but rivalries nonetheless. The students in the audience will be cheering as if it were a sporting event.
One of the biggest laughs I ever got was when we visited the Ohio State University (where we definitely learned that it is properly referred to as the Ohio State University). During one of the commercial breaks, I was talking to the audience and taking questions. Most of the questions were what I typically got from audiences: what do I think makes a good contestant, or what I do think of Will Ferrell’s Saturday Night Live impersonation. Then a young lady raised her hand.
“Yes?” I asked.
“Boxers or briefs?” she said.
That got a big laugh. Then everyone quieted down to hear my answer. I looked at her with great seriousness.
“Thong,” I said.
That got an even bigger laugh.