On Wednesday night in lower Manhattan, the (supposedly) best pop culture minds of our generation were put to the test with a live quiz show co-hosted by the podcast Shit You Should Care About and Substack at the iconic Joe’s Pub.

Hailing from New Zealand, podcast founder and CEO Lucy Blakiston told Flaunt that she believes fun, relatable content has an important place in news and media, even when the news feels dire. “I feel like I have the privilege of doom scrolling and then doing something about it. Also, Kiwis have a very distinct tone of voice that can make even the hardest thing seem like it’s going to be okay,” she said. “I’d like to say I give people the news without giving them the blues.”

The evening opened with a surprise performance from drag queen Lagoona Bloo, who performed a raunchy rendition of Wicked’s “Popular,” which she snuck into a medley of “Espresso” and “Taste” by Sabrina Carpenter.

Next, contestants Brianna LaPaglia, Brendon Holder, Ali Kolbert, Casey Lewis, Kate Lindsay, Brian Park, Tefi Pessoa, Eli Rallo, and Brittany Spanos were called onstage. A motley crew of writers, comedians, and social media personalities, each was asked about viral images and moments from the corners of the 2010s and 2020s internet, which included having to identify celebrities based on their respective Notes app apologies and hyper zoomed-in photos of red carpet outfits. Throughout the evening, the Substack team continually reminded guests to order food and beverages to “help meet the very large minimum spend,” while Substack’s events lead Matt Starr joked that people had been asking him for a drink all evening (likely due to his all-black choice of outfit).

The final round of “Shit Show” called each contestant up to the microphone to present a personal diatribe against one thing or person they “hated,” with the most persuasive argument to be determined by the show’s audience. Amidst topics like “‘Hello, Goddess’ guys” (Pessoa) “game night at people’s houses” (Spanos), “a guys called West Wilson” (LaPaglia), and “Jimothy the raccoon” (Lindsay), the top contender came to Kolbert, with “People who have families.” “Venmo” (Park) and “New York menu culture” (Holder) were close behind.

When preparing for the show, Blakiston said that she was most excited “to see if it’s going to be a shit show or not.” The verdict? It was, but in the best way possible.