I'm a bigger geek than I thought.
I finally put my knowledge of music, movies, television and other pop-culture to good use while watching Beat the Geeks on Comedy Central.
I'm so geeky that I had nothing better to do on Friday night than visit www.comedycentral.com, answer the "daily geek challenge" and engage in computer-assisted, asocial conversations with some of my fellow misfits.
Beat the Geeks is a game show that gives us geeks a common bond. It's a reminder that we're not alone and that it is possible for our own geekiness to be surpassed by someone with a greater appreciation for useless facts.
"A geek is someone who knows a lot of information about a certain subject," said Beat the Geeks host J. Keith Van Straaten. "This show celebrates obscure knowledge."
And the stars of Beat the Geeks certainly do know their stuff.
Each geek is an expert in one of three categories: music, TV or movies. Guest experts such as the Star Trek Geek, the Sopranos Geek and the Michael Jackson Geek test their knowledge and defend their status of expertise on the show.
Three contestants begin the show in the "geek arena," where they answer questions worth up to 10 points and try to prove their super-geek abilities.
But only one wannabe geek has the chance to win a grand prize package, if they can make it through the "15-second geek-off" and the "geek-qualizer," and successfully defeat an expert geek in the final "geek-to-geek" showdown.
During the geek-qualizer the contestants must determine if certain titles, phrases and words are in the movie, TV or music category.
After these preliminary rounds, the two remaining contestants face the experts for an ultimate challenge.
The expert geeks wear medals worth 20 points, which they must try to defend at all costs, armed with nothing more than their superior knowledge.
If they answer a question incorrectly, the medal and a piece of their pride is turned over to the contestant geek. The geek with the most points at the end of this round moves on to the final showdown.
More than knowledge is required for this final round. The contestants must use strategy to choose the point-value of their question, depending on how confident they feel about the subject.
Paul Goebel, the TV Geek, explained, "The best questions are asked in the final round. It's my favorite part of the game and a chance for the experts to show off."
However, there are times when the experts are unexpectedly baffled by a difficult question or the fact that a contestant knew the answer to an inconspicuous trivia question.
This gives the show's host an opportunity to intervene. "I'm more of a traffic cop than other hosts," Van Straaten said. "I can bust the geeks' chops and make jokes when they don't answer a question right, but I also try to keep things moving along."
Van Straaten, who considers himself a geek in the subjects of baseball and music trivia, gets a little help "moving things along." His enthusiastic co-host, Tiffany Bolton, who keeps the geeks on their toes, has hosted The X Show and also stars in NBC's Spy TV.
Of all the experts, Marc Edward, the Movie Geek, has been named the sexiest by some fans. Edward watches nearly 75 movies per year to keep his geeky knowledge up to date.
The Music Geek, Andy Zax, has as much hair as he does musical insight. When he's not putting down contestants with his witty remarks, Zax spends his time as a freelance writer.
Yet, the expert that hits closest to home for our own geek community is Paul Goebel, the TV Geek. Goebel graduated from the University of Arizona with an emphasis in acting and directing. He began his career in comedy and even worked with ASU's Farceside Comedy Hour during college.
"I'm proud of my knowledge and accomplishments as a TV expert," Goebel said. "The show helps people realize there's no shame in being an expert in something. More geeks are taking ownership of their geekness."
Contrary to popular belief, the geeks are not given any hints as to what the show's questions will be about. They aren't given preparation time, but they do get snacks in between filming.
Host, geeks and co-host film five different shows a day during the season, while the contestants only have to compete and wrack their trivia-filled brains once.
According to Van Straaten this allows him and his co-stars to be "more spontaneous and unpredictable."
"Give yourself a break and watch it," Van Straaten advised, "but don't let it replace learning other things that are more useful."
Watch Beat the Geeks, and you might be surprised at the extent of your own geekness.
Reach Jennifer Ballesteros at jennifer.ballesteros@asu.edu.
