A frown turned upside down, it’s comedy tonight!
Relax, park your derriere at Seinfeld’s central space,
But be careful about being led astray like Sid’s Big W,
Your Show of Shows will end in a Coupe de Vaudeville race.
Bumbershoot Connection
Comedy is the focus of this clue and the many wonderful comedic artists who perform at Bumbershoot each year! Of the many, we chose two, each representative to our large demographic that participates in our Search each year. Seinfeld performed in 1988 right before the beginning of the mega success of his soon to be released eponymous show. In 1990, Sid Ceasar & Imogene Coca reunited at Bumbershoot for the first time since the end of one of the first great television comedies ‘Your Show of Shows’. A last comedic reference is made using Vaudeville, both a type of comedic performance shown at Bumbershoots past as well as a direct reference to One Reel, the festival producer, that started as a Vaudevillian troupe when it first performed at Bumbershoot.
Clue Themes: Car & Park
Often, the Medallion has been hidden within the confines of one of the many Seattle Parks. This year, the Medallion was hidden next to a Parking Lot. So in this clue, we wanted to indicate both the idea of park but to reference it toward cars and parking. So, in this clue we begin by referencing “parking” your derriere at Seinfeld’s central space. The show is a definitive NYC comedy and the central space is indeed Central Park. However, while at first glance it sounds as though we might be referencing an actual ‘park,’ (i.e. Central Park), we are actually referencing car-related trivia. The third line refers to the classic movie “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” in which Sid Ceasar appeared (Show of Shows is used to clarify which Sid). That movie is a rally race to find hidden treasure, which ends up to be buried in a park under a huge “W” formed by palm trees. In our case, since the answer is about a ‘parking lot’ we specifically warn players not to be ‘led astray’ and the final line tells you that this year’s search will end near a car, i.e. Coupe de Ville.
Some fun scenes from 1963’s “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”
Coincidentally there was a also a Seinfeld episode called “The Parking Space” in which the entire episode is spent fighting over who laid claim over a parking space on the street in front of Jerry’s apartment .