January 14, 2020, was a huge day for people hoping to one day hear the words “Maynard James Keenan” exit Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek‘s mouth. The Jeopardy! answer referencing Tool’s 2019 album Fear Inoculum appeared during the long-running game show’s “Greatest of All Time” champions tournament, and was answered correctly by contestant James Holzhauer. (Fans of the game show likely remember his impressive 32-game winning streak from 2019.)
The Jeopardy! answer read: “In 2019 this hard rock band led by Maynard James Keenan released its first album in 13 years and it went to No. 1.”
Unfortunately for Holzhauer, his Tool triumph was a Pyrrhic victory, as Ken Jennings won the tournament and thus bragging rights over being the game show’s greatest player of all time. We reached out to Jennings to find out how he’s handling missing the Tool question, and here’s what he told SPIN:
“I feel terrible about it. Thank you SO MUCH for bringing it up again,” the GOAT said. “I had the chance to briefly chat with Alex Trebek about Tool … and I missed it. For me, Tool is ALWAYS the correct answer.”
Of course, the prog metal musicians appear to be pretty stoked about last night’s Jeopardy! cameo. The band shared a screenshot of the answer on their Instagram page.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7WJjh0FUvT/
What is Hoobastank, indeed.
Clearly the pressure is now on Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak to use one of the band’s song titles in a puzzle, preferably “Stinkfist.”
