It's always funny when popular or semi-popular musicians appear as clues on Jeopardy!, and it's even funnier when the contestants get stumped on questions that, at least to the members of the music-nerd community, seem way too easy. Clipse and Snail Mail figured into recent Jeopardy! episodes, and last night's entry in the 2026 Tournament Of Champions was surprisingly heavy on indie-pop.
The first round of last night's episode featured a "Cover Songs" category with a $400 answer about Lucy Dacus and a "Bags" category with an $800 answer about Clairo. Dacus was mentioned on the show last year as part of a trio of boygenius-themed categories, but this was Clairo's Jeopardy! debut. Nobody got stumped on those ones. Dacus' mom texted her about it.
Clairo also her own somewhat unenthused reaction.
Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings, previously the greatest player in the show's history, is a music head who sometimes talks about his favorite '80s jams on the air. (I have it on good authority that he has at least checked out my Number Ones column, and I was very amped to hear that.) Off the air last night, an audience member asked Jennings to name his pop album of the year, and he gave a ringing endorsement of Tennis' recent farewell record Face Down In The Garden.
Our own Scott Lapatine notes that Jennings is wearing a different suit and tie in the behind-the-scenes clip, so that Q&A probably happened during a separate episode that hasn't aired yet. But Scott notes, "It's the suit Hulu used for the Tuesday episode thumbnail so I assume it was Q&A from last night or this week. Detective work!
