A viral sketch from the comedy duo Key & Peele that pokes fun at player introductions in football recently got a shoutout on “Jeopardy!” — specifically a punchline involving BYU.
BYU gets a ‘Jeopardy!’ shoutout
During a “Jeopardy!” game last week, a category tested the players’ knowledge of Big 12 schools.
The first clue in the category: “Key & Peele’s East/West Bowl featured Tyroil Smoochie-Wallace, Jackmerius Tacktheritrix and from this Provo college, Dan Smith.”
Leighanna Mixter, an attorney from Fresno, California, came up with the correct response: “What is BYU?”
The “East/West College Bowl” — one of the most popular sketches from Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele — has more than 65 million views on Comedy Central’s YouTube page alone.
Throughout the sketch, the player names become more absurd and harder to pronounce — with the exception of Smith, the final name of the bunch.
The origins of the sketch, according to an interview Key gave on “The Rich Eisen Show,” started during a writing session when Peele referenced a player named D’Brickashaw Ferguson with the New York Jets.
“That guy is the tip of the iceberg,” Key recalled telling Peele.
A few weeks later, Peele brought in a script that included names like J’Dinkalage Morgoone and L’Carpetron Dookmarriot.
“I think really the only name I added to the script was Dan Smith from BYU,” Key said with a laugh.
BYU also got a shoutout on “Celebrity Jeopardy!” last year with the following clue: “The honor code of this Provo, Utah, university instructs students to abstain from drinking coffee.”
Ken Jennings, the host of “Jeopardy!” and a BYU grad, has seen a number of clues over the years referencing the school and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“When I was a contestant on the show, I wagered $3,800 one time on a Daily Double where the response turned out to be ‘Who is Brigham Young?‘” he told the Deseret News in 2013. “I remember wishing I’d wagered a lot more.”
Jamie Ding winning streak continues
Jamie Ding, a law student from New Jersey, ended up winning the game, marking his 30th victory. He now has 31 wins under his belt and on Monday night could potentially tie legendary player James Holzhauer for fourth place in most consecutive wins.
Currently, Ding is No. 5 for both most consecutive games won and highest winnings in regular season play (over $880,000). He’s also now in the top 10 for all-time winnings on the show.
Early on in his run, during his third game, Ding correctly answered 45 clues — tying a record with Jennings for most correct responses in a game.
Ding is also steadily inching his way toward Jennings’ staggering record of 74 consecutive wins — a record that remains untouched 22 years later. Jennings also remains No. 1 for highest winnings in regular season play ($2.52 million) per the “Jeopardy!” Leaderboard of Legends.
During a recent “Jeopardy!” taping, Jennings told the studio audience he “would be very excited” if Ding beat his record of 74 wins.
“I’m of course perfectly impartial every game, but I actually believe that my record can be beaten,” he said in a clip shared on the official “Jeopardy!” Instagram. “I just hope I am hosting when it happens.”