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The lawprof on "Jeopardy."

Going back to that Saturday post reminds me to link to the rest of the "Jeopardy" series by my colleague Shubha Ghosh. Part II:

At various points during the green room briefing, each of the contestants was called into a side room for make-up.  Our make-up artist also does Vanna White and had just come back from a shoot in the Philippines with the hostess and famous right of publicity plaintiff.  Between applications of powder and eyeliner, I learned that make-up artists in Los Angeles are all free lance and look around on a day by day basis for gigs like the one in Jeopardy.  I wish I had more time to talk with the make-up artist, and not only about how better to highlight my features....

Ha ha. (Shubha is a guy.)

... I have to admit my heart skipped several beats as the door was opened and a short walk down the hallway revealed the Board and the glaring neon blue and silver of the contemporary Jeopardy stage.  Recent repeated viewings of the broadcast had imprinted  the design, totem-like, on my brain.  The set had a familiarity beyond the television viewings....

Part III:

... We saw how the Board was set and  reset, where the videoclues were displayed, how the sidelights came on and off indicating when we could buzz in... We practiced a game with easy questions, some involving Sony products, to get used to the feel of the buzzer, the flash of lights, the cadence of the questions as they filled the sound stage. I fumbled with the buzzer, kicked myself for not getting ?what is a walkman?,? and ever so briefly worried whether I had on too much make-up....

Part 4:

... At one point, the judges stopped the game for an interminable period of time to see if my answer ?prehistorical? was close enough to what they wanted ?prehistory.?  What the??...

At the end of it all, a dollar separated me from a tie with first place....

As they tape the end credits, the contestants stand on the stage next to Alex Trebek and engage in banter.  Alex asked me what kind of law I was involved with, and I said intellectual property. ?That must be really interesting with the Internet and all, ? he said.  ?Yes, the Internet and other things,? I replied, launching into a law professor shtick on the reasons intellectual property is interesting. He interrupted me: ?Well, I think all you need to protect intellectual property is a good gun.?  I stared back at him: ?Yes, well, that seems to be how the rap industry operates.?  Blank stare back.....

Wow, awkward banter with Alex Trebek! How many people get to do that?

Full post as published by Althouse on May 05, 2010 (boomark / email).