Welcome, quizlings. Today I've lined up an interview with Quizmaster and nerdling, Sean McNeil. Sean is a host up in Seattle and I'm pretty sure any other QMs reading this might want to take note of the giant geeky shadow he casts and how we are all in it.

QM Eric The Jewish Viking: How long have you been with GWD?
Eight months. That's almost long enough to grow yourself a baby! Alternately, you could follow my example and run 79 pub quizzes.

How'd you end up getting a fantastic job like this one?
What, you don't remember? I auditioned at Ozzie's, along with a double handful other Quizmaster hopefuls who had sent in worthwhile resumes. And a certain Jewish Viking flew all the way to Seattle for the express purpose of heckling us. Gotta to say, you make an extremely convincing drunken asshole.

Hate to burst your bubble, but I flew out there to train Matthew. Although maybe I wasn't a convincing drunken asshole, maybe I WAS that much of a drunken asshole. Either way, that's a good lead in to the next one. Would you consider yourself more geek or more drink?
When I first took this job, I was about 99% geek, but now that I'm doing three or four quizzes a week, I'd say my average blood alcohol rating is about .25, which Wikipedia tells me induces a stupor. So yeah, about 25% drink at this point. So says Science.

What do you do for cash money outside of hosting quiz?
I'm a professional audio visual dude with an Earth/Space Science and Physics BA. I have no idea how that happened. Usually I work freelance around Seattle, but I'm currently in the middle of a 12 month full time contract for the University of Washington, so my time for contract work has been slightly limited. Also, if that didn't sound nerdy enough, here's the geekiest sideline profession of all time: people hire me to run tabletop roleplaying games for cash.

You get paid to GM RPGS? I just popped a nerd boner. Which ones do you run, D&D, GURPS, others?
Let's see, I've run or can run D&D (2nd, 3rd, 3.5, and 4th edition), White Wolf Stuff, Pathfinder, Mutants and Masterminds, d20 Modern, Alternity, and a bunch of other smaller ones. I'm just now picking up GURPS by a special request, that'll probably start up around June or July.

So outside of your geeky jobs, what do you do in your spare time?
In the few moments each week that I'm not working or preparing to work, I sit at home like a James Bond villain, petting my fluffy cats. From the controls at the center of my secret base (apartment), I'm constantly planning the downfall of various quiz teams and admiring my shiny borderline obsessive-compulsive disorder. If you want to see something entertaining, try giving me a single jellybean. I won't be able to eat it. THERE HAS TO BE AN EVEN NUMBER YOU SON OF A BITCH

...I think I was trying to be facetious, but that's actually a pretty good look at Sean at rest.

Seattle's a fun place with interesting characters. Have you had to deal with any particularly fun d-bags?
Obviously, I'm my favorite douchebag at any bar I'm in. But really, nobody ever fucks with this Quizmaster. I don't know if all of my teams are really nice or if it's the incredibly threatening aura of masculinity rolling off of my 5'8'' frame, but all three of my quizzes have a negligible douchebag quotient.

My favorite quiz tale revolves around the Harry Potter quiz I ran up at Forecaster's. A perfect score with no joker that night would have been 63, but we had two teams with 71 at the end (to say nothing of the six other teams who had beaten 64). I slapped the 400 dollar cash prize on the table and ordered both teams to send up their chosen wizard for a duel. Crowd went nuts. Someone pounded so hard on one of the tables that he spilled all their drinks. And then both of them went through four of the tiebreaker questions without flinching. It came down to the final question, but it turned out only one of them could name all three of Harry Potter's kids (the other guy still managed two of them). It had been a long night, but nobody left early. Every butt stayed in its seat to watch these two titans slug it out. Quiz at its best. Also nerdiest.

(Sean E-mailed me just as I was getting ready to post this with a last minute tale of awesome)

As of last night, I have a new favorite douchebag at the bar story. A dude came up to me in the middle of a round and said, "I can totally hear you saying stuff like, 'And now, here's Giiiinger!'" For a second I thought I was talking to a really trashed Gilligan's Island fan. Eventually, he managed to make it clear that he was trying to offer me a job as announcer at his strip club, because he liked my microphone voice.

Later, the same douchebag shouted out an answer and I tossed back a smartass comment designed to discourage that sort of behavior. After the audience was done laughing, he threatened to knock me out, ran into the bathroom, then took off through the front door. So I guess my sexy voice won't be the highlight of any bachelor parties in the near future. Dang.

Has your job as semi-famous nerd entertainer brought you any new understanding of life and the universe?
This is probably going to sound bizarre, but my knowledge of current Seattle sports has shot through the roof since I signed on with the Geeks. Almost half my nights I spend in bars, and we've always got sports on the screen, giving me the chance, for instance, to be embarrassed in real time by the Mariners almost every night lately. Seattle Sounders? The Seahawks? I see it all these days.

Also, I have discovered a new social disease. I call it the Quizmaster's Lament. It doesn't matter what my friends are talking about, at some point in any conversation I suddenly spout random factoids about whatever subject we're currently on. At the moment, the only known treatment is for them to preemptively slap me whenever I say something like, "Dude! Did you kno-" SLAP

Donations to search for a cure may be sent to my PayPal account.

Thanks to Sean for being totally awesome and way nerdier than I am. You can get a double dose of Sean a week, should you be that thrill seeking. Find him Tuesday's at Forecaster's Pub and Wednesdays at McGilvra's. As always, leave your comments and questions for our QM below!