UPDATE Wednesday @ 8:01 p.m.: Something Wicked this way comes — Wes Hazard is now 3-for-3 on Jeopardy! contests, and goes for a forth win on Thursday. Hot damn.
UPDATE Tuesday @ 8:04 p.m.: Spoiler alert — Wes Hazard has won his first two Jeopardy! contests, and goes for a third win on Wednesday.
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It has been a hot minute since we’ve had a Jeopardy! contestant we could all rally around and throw our collective support behind. For some, it was the human answer machine known as Matt Jackson; for others it was poker strategist Alex Jacob. Or maybe you fell in love with the handsome Buzzy Cohen. Regardless, it’s been a while since we had a proper personality to cheer on.
A new player emerges on tonight’s episode (July 9), and he’s one we’re excited to watch on our television. His name is Wes Hazard, and the Stoughton native is a Boston stand-up comedian, storyteller, and visual artist.
Hazard has his work cut out for him, as he’ll go up against reigning champ Lauren Kiehna of Steeleville, Illinois, who cleaned up on Friday with a prize money total over $30,000. Ray Coshow, a landscaper from Sacramento, California, rounds out the competing trio.
“Tonight is the night!” Hazard writes. “Watch me fulfill a 20 year dream and appear on Jeopardy! this evening. I’ve barely slept in 2 nights with anticipation, and to celebrate I’m dropping the latest edition of my newsletter here (the best one yet if I do say so myself). Absolutely tune in if you can!”
That newsletter link is a good way to catch up on all things Hazard, who is also a graduate of Boston College and will be appearing at The Gas at Great Scott this Friday (July 13). There’s also word is that Hazard is also working on a new “one man show” about the experience of appearing on Jeopardy!, so whatever happens tonight, we certainly have not heard the last of him.
Here’s Hazard’s bio, lifted from his public Facebook page: “A New England native, Wes Hazard has been named as one of ‘5 Boston Comedians to Watch’ by The Boston Globe Magazine. A writer and storyteller as well as comedian, Wes brings wit, energy and honesty to the stage, qualities that have made him a regular performer in Boston venues as well as at The Boston Comedy Festival and The Women in Comedy Festival. Wes is a multiple-time winner on The Moth StorySLAM stage and he’s appeared as a guest on the Comedy Bang! Bang! Live! podcast and The Story Collider podcast. His debut humor book Questions For Terrible People was published by Simon & Schuster in 2016, and in 2017 he was awarded a New England Emmy for his hosting work on CBS Boston’s The Secret Worlds of Boston Comic Con. He currently co-hosts the national storytelling television program Stories From The Stage, a collaboration between WGBH, WORLD Channel, & the Massmouth storytelling organization.”
Featured photo courtesy of Jeopardy Productions, Inc.