‘Jeopardy’ Fans Are Obsessed With This Bearded Contestant Straight Out Of A Wes Anderson Movie

Imagine if Zach Galifianakis was kicking butt on Jeopardy.

That’s a solid premise for an SNL sketch (it actually sort of happened already, with “Game of Game of Thrones”), and now it’s happening in real life. Austin Rodgers is taking the game show community by storm, because a) he’s really good at Jeopardy, having won for six straight days, b) he has a lush beard, and c) he’s very sassy. Or cocky. Or enigmatic. Whatever word you want to use for “imagine if Father John Misty excelled at Trivial Pursuit,” he’s that.

Rodgers is a New York-based bartender, obviously, and over the course of his impressive streak, he’s racked up $257,700 in winnings, including $65,600 during Monday night’s episode alone — that’s less than $12,000 short of the one-day record set by Roger Craig in 2010. But lest you think Rodgers is a wallflower with his sensible brown blazer and tie, he’s actually more Royal Tenenbaum than Richie Tenenbaum; he exudes arrogance, and has the prize money to back it up. No wonder he’s become a sensation on social media.

https://twitter.com/jonkrause/status/912819573665255424

https://twitter.com/heyamyfaye/status/912816734687694848

Of course, even after having won a quarter of a million bucks, Rodgers still has a long way to go before he can think about breaking Ken Jennings’ all-time record of $2,520,700. Think how many old fashioneds he could buy with that kind of dough, though.