So people who know me well or who have been regular readers here last year will know that I am a big fan of a YouTube show called the Movie Trivia Schmoedown.
At the time I found the show, it was being broadcast on Collider Video’s channel. This may sound very odd from someone who loves a show about movie trivia, but I did not used to be a big fan of movies. Instead I was a big fan of a certain set of movies: Star Wars. This love of Star Wars, both the movies and the wider canon, had led to me finding Collider’s Jedi Council, a show that I have now been watching for years. To make sure that I never missed an episode, I subscribed to the Collider Video channel, but I found myself largely sticking to just the one show. I eventually found myself watching TV Talk though as they were covering a couple of shows that I was watching at the time, and I found that – like with Jedi Council – I really enjoyed the personalities on the show, so I soon found myself watching every episode of TV Talk, Jedi Council and Behind the Scenes & Bloopers.
Being subscribed to the channel also led to me seeing the Schmoedown matches on the list of videos. However not really being a cinephile, the only matches that drew my attention were a special match between Sam Witwer and Freddie Prinze Jr. and the original 2 Star Wars matches: Force Bros v The Council and the Fatal Fiveway at Star Wars Celebration. I found myself really enjoying these matches and not long later I found myself watching an episode of Behind the Scenes that focused on the Schmoedown – specifically the Reilly v Rocha Championship Match – and found my interest piqued.
A few weeks later I saw a couple of Schmoedown matches go up on the channel: The Nerd’s Watch v Team Action, Josh Macuga v Tom Dagnino and Wolves of Steel v The Patriots. 3 matches all containing Collider personalities that I had got to know and love. I really enjoyed these matches and was soon hooked, just in time for Collider Collision. By the end of this event and the follow-up special that saw Bibbiani and Burnett both leave the Horsemen, I soon found myself rooting for John Rocha and Matt Knost – who I hadn’t seen much of but had already shown himself to be have a clever sense of humour.
The months went on and by the end of Season 4, I was well and truly hooked, leading to me starting to write about the show on here and also expanding to watching more Collider or Schmoedown-themed content like the Schmoedown Rundown. I found myself starting to watch more movies when I had a bit of free time in the hope that I could answer more questions when playing along at home. It’s safe to say that the Schmoedown has changed my life. Getting into movies more, I finally found myself starting to listen to a couple of movie podcasts from people I knew from the shows. Obviously being a fan of the team, The Top 10 Show was top of my list to check out.
In those early days of listening, I would stick to the episodes that had a subject I thought would interest me, but I soon found that the back and forth between Rocha and Knost and their tangents throughout the discussion (of which there are many) were too good to miss and for about half a year now I have been listening to every episode. When the guys announced that they were doing a show in London on Saturday 23rd February, I was so excited! With all these guys I watch and love being based in the USA, I thought it unlikely I would ever see any of them in the flesh, but here was a chance to see 2 of the Horsemen in my own country! There had also been a few Schmoedown viewing parties that I had unfortunately not been able to attend due to other commitments, so it was a chance for me to finally meet other people in the Top 10/Schmoedown/Collider etc community. As soon as the tickets were on sale, I made sure that I didn’t miss out even though I still had to arrange the time off work. I got everything planned and then it was just a waiting game, until finally the week arrived.
I’m not one for going to the big cities very often – especially not alone! – so this was a new experience for me and I decided to go down to London on the Friday to make sure I was not rushing around like a headless chicken on the Saturday. I’d deliberately booked a place to stay close to the venue so that I couldn’t get lost (me and directions are not a good mix) and luckily this meant that I was just a short walk from both the venue, Kings Cross station and also a pub where a table had been booked for Top 10 fans during the England v Wales Six Nations match.
The travel down was pretty easy and I didn’t get too lost on the Tube either (result!) and after getting to my room, I set about devoting an evening to Collider Live, which I was behind on due to a busy week. Saturday saw me finish catching up on the Collider Live fun and then it was time for the rugby. Six Nations weekend, there was no way I wasn’t going to watch the rugby if I was able to, so I watched the match between Scotland and France, before slipping into my 5 Horsemen shirt and making my way to a nearby pub called The Fellow to meet my fellow fans and watch the England game. It’s a good job I got there early as the turnout was incredible and I was lucky to get a seat. I was all set to watch the game, but I found that the conversation with my fellow fans was so great I was barely even checking the screen as I was having such great conversations with these people I’d never met before but had a shared love of these shows. It was amazing having conversations about the recent Top 10 shows, the Schmoedown, Collider Live… all of it! I even found myself discussing with a couple of fans about how I’d ended up as a writer for the Schmoedown website. Before I knew it, it was time to make our way to Kings Place, the venue for the show.
The venue was great – we were in room 2, which allowed a 200-strong audience. There was just time to grab a drink from the bar and a Top 10 Live shirt (I definitely did this in the wrong order and needed an extra set of hands), before going into the room and finding a seat. By the time I was in, most of the seats were already full so I ended up towards the back, but even so the view was great!
The show began and I won’t go into much detail, but I really recommend giving it a listen. Suffice to say John and Matt were brilliant, making it a full-on show rather than just going into the usual show. Not just in the opening but throughout the show their comedy was great and I will never be able to look at a “Way Out” sign or a cello the same again! The fan interaction throughout the show was really good and they did a great job of making references to other shows like Collider Live and the even got some of the history behind creating “The Outlaw” for the Schmoedown. And possibly the best bit: they already plan to return next year!
The show itself was about 2 hours, after which the majority of us hung around in the foyer to meet the guys. It was great to get to speak to these guys and get a picture with each of them and I honestly found myself nervous meeting them after watching them on the Schmoedown for so long! We also had an extra surprise while queuing as we realised that another Schmoedown competitor Jeannine “The Machine” was here as well, and having wrote some articles both for here and the Schmoedown site about her faction The Viper Squad, it was great to get to chat to her and get a picture with her too.
From there it was off to a nearby bar called Camino for some drinks with a number of other fans and the guys themselves. It was great to get to chat even more with them and a group of us must have been chatting with Matt about anything and everything (literally everything, including the NBA, comedy, going grey how we found the venue, the potential of a live Schmoedown in the UK and the Great British Bake Off) for an hour or two until the place closed. And that was the night over and it was back to my room and a much-needed bed!
I got myself up relatively early the next morning as I didn’t want to leave it too late to leave London and get back to Gloucester, but before leaving I wanted to make sure I got to watch the inaugural Schmoedown Throwdown that had aired the night before, as the on-demand stream was only available for 24 hours! The event was absolutely amazing: The Odd Couple v Scream Queens was a great undercard and the main event, the Innergeekdom Title Match between Mike Kalinowski and Rachel Cushing, was arguably one of the greatest matches in the history of the league!
Once I was over the excitement of the event, it was time to catch a train back to Gloucester and luck was on my side as I was able to get home just in time to catch Italy v Ireland and bring an end to a perfect weekend.
So thank you, John and Matt, for taking a chance on coming halfway round the globe. I hope you enjoyed your time here as much as we enjoyed having you. See you next year!
Top Ten, Bomaye!
Eyes on the Ball 