Author: Stuart

This week we certainly weren’t in Kansas anymore! It was a Wizard of Oz Special, and Shaun was dressed as Dorothy. That alone was worth the price of admission!

Everyone was dressed – Amanda as the Tin Man, Charlie as the Lion and Josh as the Scarecrow. The guests were announcer John Blackman (BB), dressed as the Munchkin Mayor, “comedian” Kate Langbroek (Gen X) as Toto and actress Sophie Monk as Glenda the Good Witch (Gen Y). There was some confusion over if it was Kate or Stuart the Meerkat who was playing the role of Toto.

The first game was Chicken or Egg, followed by Spoilers Ahoy. Shaun used a picture of Harpo Marx to indicate the viewer should mute to avoid hearing the answer and wreaking the end of the movie. However the round decended into the teams just shouting names of movies until Sophie used the magic word – ‘the’. She then got a special question: What wasn’t Rome built in? Answer: Paris. (or Day, if that’s how you prefer to think)

The four buttons celebrated the children of Judy Garland: Liza Minelli, Lorna Luft and Michelle Gratton (actually a political reporter). Plus of course Trust Me!

• Charlie’s soft spot for Michelle meant they played ‘Watch Your Mouth’. Shaun made some vague cracks at his failed tonight show before Kate put her face in the styrrup and impersonated people for Charlie.
• Josh liked Liza, which was Name That Tune – all show tunes.
• John pushed the team into Trust Me which was Human Fairy Bread, and nominated Amanda as the ‘manacle-ee’, which she wasn’t pleased about. John failed on the first two questions, leading Amanda to be covered in flour and butter. The last question Shaun initially gave as wrong, causing Amanda to get the sprinkles too – but then he realised his mistake and gave her two bits for fairy bread to make up for it.

The Your Gen topic was something we all live in – Cities! (Not a Yurt Yert) Bert Newton (disguised as a Winged Monkey) delivered the envelope describing the challenge as Which Generation is Best at Winning. The teams had to complete a number of ‘fair-ground’ challenges such as assembling the yellow brick road, shooting a target and dunking a witch.

Gen X won the trophy – a 2003 Typing Award donated by Mindy Wilmhurst of Brisbane.

Guests this week were actor Bill Hunter (BB), chef George Calombaris (Gen X) and actress/comedian Celia Pacquola (Gen Y), who starred in Laid with Shaun.

Shaun wasted no time making fun at Josh’s expense, by comparing him in lack of talent to Roger Taylor from Duran Duran. He (with Stuart the Meerkat’s help) presented George with a Croque Monsieur – or a burnt cheese sandwich.

Games played included TV Spin-offs (guess the original show from the spin-off), Tell-tale Titles (guess the celebrity author) and As Quick As – which involved Tamsin Lewis running 7 laps of the studio as the timer.

The four button options in the Magic Window were great inventors: James Watt, an unknown caveman and Rubin Skells(?); plus Trust Me.

• Gen Y chose Watt, which was “What Just Happened?”, where they were shown a re-imagined Batman TV series clip, with Shaun playing the Joker and Francis as an OH&S rep. The questions then (sort-of) came from the clip.
• Gen X picked the caveman, playing “Draw That Movie”
• The BB decided on Skells and got a new game – “Guess the Guest”. While blind folded, they asked questions of the mystery guest – Glenn Robbins – who (pretended?) to disguise his voice with helium.

Shaun snuck in a quick Hindenburg reference before a round of Your Gen, which was on the topic of Redness.

For end game, a water buffalo dressed as Maurice Chevalier delivered the envelope – the challenge was “Which Team is Best at Carving an Ice Sculpture.” Due to pesky OH&S, the teams received help with the chainsawing, but could create whatever they wanted. Y made Stuart the Meerkat, X created a replica Logie for Shaun and BB made a ‘B’. For reasons best known to Shaun, BB won the 3rd Prize Trophy for Twilight Bowling 1999/2000, donated by Chris Neil of Cranbourne.

Oh, and Shaun promised to propose but never did! 🙂

Guests this week were comedian Jeff Stilson (for the Baby Boomers), former basketballer Andrew Gaze (for Generation X) and singer Brooke McClymont (for Generation Y).

To begin, Shaun enjoyed mocking Josh’s hair style, getting Andrew to shoot a hoop and having Stuart the Meerkat present the McClymont album. First game was “Accessory Before the Fact”. Four Shaun’s sang the “What’s a Doodle Do?” song, but the segment turned into a series of “joking” advertorial.

In the four buttons round, the choices were people who haven’t been thought of recently: Les Gock (guitarist from Hush), Chiang Kai-Shek and Pauletta Washington (Denzel’s wife) – plus “Trust Me”.

• Gen Y picked Les Gock which was Draw that Book.
• Gen X chose Chiang – “What Am I Smelling”. During the explanation, Shaun snuck in a Proust reference with a hint of Python.
• BB decided on Pauletta, playing “You Say Various Things”, but that game was too stupid – so it was swapped for “Who Am I Doing?”

The Your Gen topic was “Australian Popular Music”, an acknowledged well travelled subject on Australian quiz shows.

A cloud of gas delivered the end game envelope – the challenge being “Which Generation is Best at a Black Ops mission?” Teams had to crawl through a series of “lasers” (ie. string), climb a tower, make their way to a secret ball and get the combination to a safe. Phew!

Gen X won, getting the 8th Division Runner-Up Badminton trophy from 1984, donated by Diego Fratenelli from Clovelly Park SA – who looked suspiciously like a young Shaun!