Margaret Cho Wins ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’: ‘I Don’t Even Have a GED’
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan can take that degree from NYU and toss it in the trash. Comedian Margaret Cho just kicked her butt on Celebrity Jeopardy! — and the scrawny ass of Robot Chicken’s Seth Green, besides — and Cho didn’t even need a high school diploma to get the job done.
“It was dumb luck for me because I have no education,” she told Jon Hein on a recent Howard Stern wrap-up show. “I didn’t even finish high school. I don’t even have a GED so I can’t believe it.”
Give yourself a break, Cho — you’re not the first person to remember random facts despite a lack of formal education. “I’m such an old stoner,” Cho said, explaining everything. “Things will stick in your brain, like whatever remains. And so I’m grateful for that. But I watched 50 hours of Jeopardy! from like the 1980s to now to get ready to do the show.”
Don't Miss
It wasn’t just sticky trivia that carried Cho to victory. Hein was impressed with her willingness to risk everything on her answers. “You pulled a move that I completely respect,” he gushed. “You went all in. You went full Daily Double not once but twice. I mean, you ended up with over $54,000 in a round.”
Cho played modest even though she absolutely destroyed Green and Brosnihan with her answers about hollandaise sauce and Oscar winner Kathy Bates. After fumbling his own Daily Double question, Green was down to just 400 bucks late in the game. Heading into Final Jeopardy!, Cho had amassed a dominant $47,100 compared to $7,000 for Brosnihan and $2,800 for Green.
The game was already in hand, but why not rub everyone’s nose in it? Cho nailed the Final Jeopardy! question while brainy Brosnihan biffed it. That made the final score High School Dropout $54,100 to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Graduate $1. Cho’s winnings benefitted L.A.-based nonprofit Friendly House, which helps to house women recovering from substance abuse.
Howard Stern Show producer Gary Dell’Abate (aka Baba Booey), a veteran of Rock and Roll Jeopardy!, knows that winning is more than storing a bunch of trivia in your stoner skull. “The buzzer is so important and waiting for the lights to go off,” he explained. “How hard was that for you?”
Yeah, that part was tough, Cho admitted, but “I got a fast thumb. I got fast fingers. Being a lesbian has its benefits so a lot of good tensile strength. Lots of good kinetic energy.”
