Carbondale, IL on Jeopardy! Other coincidences...?

[autrefois]

I was watching Jeopardy! (the show) today, and one of the contestants was from Carbonadale, IL, just like on Al's video! I unfortunately missed the first minute or two, so I didn't hear if he was an architect (that would be TOO weird).



I was wondering two things:



1) Does anyone know if there was any reason Al chose Carbondale as the hometown of one of the contestants on the video? I went to Southern Illinois Univ. in Carbondale as an undergrad, so I was surprised when I first saw the video and heard Don Pardo say "Carbondale, Illinois." It's a fairly small town (about 25,000 people) and SIU is a good but not really a nationally-renowned university, so I've always wondered why he chose that town to mention.



2) Can anyone think of any other coincidences like that? Examples of Al mentioning something in one of his songs or videos, and then it actually happens? Obviously there are plenty of things that happened BEFORE Weird Al wrote a song about them...so instead of that, I'm curious about things that happened AFTER the song/video/etc. came out.



Just an example: after Al released "Jerry Springer," a bunch of nude psychic porn star midgets appeared on the Jerry Springer Show. I doubt THAT happened, but there may be other ones that really did.



Anyone have thoughts on either of these things?

[Weird Alan]

No idea...I live in Godfrey/Alton IL, which is relativley close to Carbondale...

[TMBJon]

I don't know why he picked Carbondale. He probably just looked in an atlas and that was a random city that came up. He once mentioned Nutley, NJ on AL-TV which is the hometown of Dave Rossi, which was kinda cool and possibly on purpose.

-jon

[sarley27]

Probably because it sounds like where "Irving Feldman" would live...but if he said "Wait till I tell Dave!" Instead of Kevin that would be cool.

[almost al!]

Why does Carbondale get all the good stuff? Jeopardy, now ALIENS IN A VIDEO GAME?!?!

Aliens have landed in Carbondale and they are killing anything that moves. Your natural instinct is to flee, but a severe mid-winter blizzard has cut off all hopes of escape.

Quick! Grab a gun, a sledgehammer, a scythe, any weapon you can get your hands on. Your only hope for survival is to stand your ground and fight -- in the mall, the old Carbondale high school, city hall, even the sewer system if you have to.

This is a fight to the death and it's going to be bloody.

[autrefois]

I guess maybe that was the main reason: it sounded like a random town in the middle of America.



Or maybe he had a nice experience there when he performed--I know he performed there for the RWS Tour, so I'll bet he probably played there some other time, too. (Or maybe he went there *because* of mentioning it in "I Lost On Jeopardy!")



Thanks for the info and link, almost al. That's really freaky that there are two pieces of Carbondale-related news so close together. Carbondale in a major video game...I'll have to tell everyone about that, they'll think I'm pulling their leg or something.



The big question is if these video game aliens are Slime Creatures with death ray eyes or not! :biggrin:

[Elvis]

1) Does anyone know if there was any reason Al chose Carbondale as the hometown of one of the contestants on the video?

Hey autrefois, I think you've got a good question for Ask Al there!



Dave

[almost al!]

The big question is if these video game aliens are Slime Creatures with death ray eyes or not!

[autrefois]

1) Does anyone know if there was any reason Al chose Carbondale as the hometown of one of the contestants on the video?

Hey autrefois, I think you've got a good question for Ask Al there!

Dave

Thanks for the idea, Dave! Here's what I sent in. I was going to make a joke in my submission, but since he's busy and it was already a little on the long side, I'm sure he'd be pleased with me keeping it (fairly) short.