I was actually surprised at how funny he is - many times I find the personality type that supports being so good at that type of thing tends to be lacking in social skills (broad generalization of course) but he comes off as humble, personable and funny. His answer to the Now do you know how people felt when they were competing against you? question was especially interesting to me.
Ken is super-great. He was a fun and friendly guy when I met him at a book signing. I've become a regular reader of his blog, where he shares random trivia and his love of cinema, hipster bands and the 1980's era of Games Magazine.
And if you noticed he's a computer programmer and you're wondering, the answer is emacs.
Not being from the US (and not getting Jeopardy in my country), i've never heard of this guy. He's incredibly entertaining in this interview, definitely caught me off guard considering how serious and straight-faced he seemed throughout the Watson matches (Thanks, YouTube).
This interview is the funniest thing i've read today (3 hour work commute, I read LOTS.)
Oh, and did anyone else keep wanting to upvote his answers?
Ken Jennings got famous as being the longest-lasting Jeopardy contestant ever. He remained undefeated in Jeopardy for over 70 games, and won over 2 million dollars. He was very likeable on the show as well, especially given that we were able to enjoy so much of the show with him on it, which is unusual for contestants.
He's somewhat notorious in the IT industry because his day job (not sure if he still holds it) was a programmer, which at least endeared him to me.
Ah, OK. Given the negative connotation (at least for its more common usage) I was wondering if there was some Ken Jennings backlash out there that I'd missed.
I watched that match back in high school (his streak corresponded with my own academic bowl team's season), and "What is a hoe?" was my response, too.
I'd never heard that semantic sense of "rake" before, and felt somewhat scandalized that "hoe" would be a response on national television (while in high school, I felt great affinity toward the puritans).
Does anyone else think "hoe" is actually a valid answer there, though? It's hard to tell from Ken's facial expression whether he "purposefully answered incorrectly" or just found himself amused at the situation.
That's odd, I've always thought that given its college-bowl atmosphere, Jeopardy! is uniquely poised to attract people who are both erudite and of quick wit.
The guy who hacked Press Your Luck fits more your stereotype; given its flashing lights and general brouhaha, PYL seems more of a magnet for that sort than Jeopardy!. There are also quite a lot of that sort in The Price is Right fandom (yes, it has a fandom!).
