Pushing the envelope doesn’t seem endemic to the world of trivia quizzes. But in my years of moonlighting on The Big Quiz Thing, I’ve encountered many instances when I felt like I was crossing (or just backed away from crossing) the boundaries of decorum. I once asked the following question: “Put the following man-made catastrophes in order from the greatest number of casualties to the fewest: the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (1911), the sinking of the Titanic (1912), the destruction of the Hindenburg (1937), the Bhopal gas explosion (1984).”* Classy, I know.

This Monday, I renew the BQT’s potential to offend: Our audio round, created by my disc jockey, DJ GB, is titled “Music Is Murder.” Yes, we’ll be asking players to identify songs by popular musicians who were felled by homicide, from Lennon to Biggie and beyond. I guess this is in somewhat poor taste, but you gotta take a chance; no one ever laughed at vanilla ice cream.

(Speaking of bad taste, a helpful source has been this interesting, biblically-suffused Web page, cataloging pop stars whose lives were cut short, presumably because the Lord frowned on their rocking ways. This guy seriously needs to take up knitting or something.)

The next Big Quiz Thing is this Monday, December 7, at 7:30pm at Crash Mansion (199 Bowery at Spring St). $7 cover, with $250 in cash prizes; we’ll also be doing a video round called “Movies of 2009: A Closer Look.” Bring your catcalls.

*The Bhopal gas explosion (18,000–27,000 dead), the Titanic (1,517), the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (146), the Hindenburg (only 37).

They say that the history of rock & roll is written by losers. But one place where music geeks inevitably win is the world of trivia. Knowledge is literally power in the quiz realm, which is why our current trivia renaissance is proof that humanity is getting, if not smarter, at least more knowledgeable. Maybe, I guess, I don’t know.

So in my night job as a quizmaster, I’m always catering to the music geeky, and I enjoy giving them something to chew on beyond the basic Name That Tune format. Thus I designed the audio round that will be featured at this Monday’s edition of my live game show, The Big Quiz Thing: “Three Degrees of Musical Separation.”

For each question, players must name the three artists, played one immediately after the other. The gimmick: The artists’ names are phonetically linked. Thus, you might hear a tune by R. Kelly, followed by Kelly Clarkson, followed by Sonny and Cher. In other words, “R. Kelly Clarksonny and Cher.” Ha!

Try it yourself: Here’s an example from an earlier edition of the game. The juxtaposition of vastly different artists is fun:

Or this one; remember, the names are linked phonetically, even if the spellings don’t match up:

Better yet, come to this Monday’s Big Quiz Thing at Crash Mansion (199 Bowery at Spring St) for ten brand-new ones, and your chance at massive prizes: $250, tickets to Off Broadway’s The Toxic Avenger, other great stuff, not to mention plenty more trivial delights, including the video round, “The Geography Junk Bin.” Monday, November 9, 7:30pm, $7 cover, bigquizthing.com for more info, unabashed plug out.

Throw up your devil horns: This Monday, the 22nd, New York’s live trivia spectacular, The Big Quiz Thing (quizmastered by me, TONY’s copy chief), has a good time planned for you rockists out there. We’re playing something called “Rock Logo-a-Go”—I’ve Photoshopped-futzed with various logos made famous by various rock bands. I show them on the big screens, you name the bands. Example pictured here—I think this one is fairly easy, but such is my technique for luring you in. There, now I’ve given myself away.

Plus, we have four more rounds of NYC’s best live trivia on any and all subjects, delicious cookies and a pro-sports audio quiz. The evening’s winning team gets either $200 in cash or a 1937 vintage guitar signed by Robert Johnson (I get to choose).

The Big Quiz Thing, 199 Bowery at Spring St (bigquizthing.com). Subway: B, D, F, V to Broadway–Lafayette St; J, M, Z to Bowery. Mon 22 at 7:30pm, $7.