According to a 10-year-old entry in the Urban Dictionary, Turd Ferguson is a name created in a “Saturday Night Live” sketch — a parody of Celebrity Jeopardy.
On Wednesday’s show, “Jeopardy!” contestant Talia Lavin lost all her money but won instant social media fame with her Final Jeopardy answer: “What is the Love Ballad of Turd Ferguson?”
“It was truly, without a doubt, one of the finest moments in the history of this or any other game show, and Talia deserves every last second of her incoming internet fame,” said one commenter.
i am wrapped in the zeitgeist today like a scallop in bacon #goingviral #15minoffame #increasinglysurrealinterviews
— Talia Lavin (@chick_in_kiev) September 17, 2015
A fact-checker for The New Yorker magazine, Lavin calls herself a reporter, reader, writer, editor — “and general graphomaniac.”
“I’ve traveled widely in Eastern Europe, where I researched Slavic and Jewish literature on a Fulbright fellowship in Ukraine,” she says. “I speak three and a half languages.”
In the SNL sketch, Will Ferrell played Alex Trebek, Jimmy Fallon was French Stewart and Norm McDonald was Burt Reynolds, with Darryl Hammond as Sean Connery. “Alex Trebek” says “Apparently Burt Reynolds has changed his name to Turd Ferguson.” And fake Burt Reynolds replies: “Yeah, Turd Ferguson, it’s a funny name.”
Lavin was interviewed Thursday by fusion.net
“I’m living my 15 minutes right now,” she says. “I’m trying to have a normal workday but obsessively checking Twitter, I’m not going to lie. … People keep saying I’m a hero, but really, I’m just a regular American who thinks oversized styrofoam hats are funny.”
Asked to what extent her Final Jeopardy answer was premeditated, she said: “The whole plan was hatched in about 30 seconds. I knew I was going in with $600, and that I’d lost, so I thought I’d better just make a joke.
“I was trying to come up with a good joke that would be clean enough to air, but would still be funny. [The question] was about censored songs, so my initial idea was to write “F the Police,” then I was going to write, ‘Suck it, Trebek,’ but I worried that I would shame my family — and that those wouldn’t make the episode.”
She says Trebek asked her who Turd Ferguson was.
“I’m honored to be trending on [Facebook] with my homeslices Iggy Azalea and Jeb Bush.” #talia #jeopardy http://t.co/QqBlf61zUg
— Talia Lavin (@chick_in_kiev) September 17, 2015
When I saw that Turd Ferguson was trending, I feared that he had died.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) September 17, 2015
We’ll take the best “Jeopardy!” response ever for $600, Alex — “Turd Furguson.” http://t.co/g10KWaW3XW pic.twitter.com/ginW841qYf
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) September 17, 2015
I don’t care what happens the rest of the day. “Turd Ferguson” is trending and I’m happy.
— BigHeadSports (@BigHeadSports) September 17, 2015
All hail the woman who got Alex Trebek to say “Turd Ferguson” on Jeopardy: http://t.co/qolv9pSOw6 https://t.co/KyrDk0lx5P
— SB Nation (@SBNation) September 17, 2015
My secret service name would be “Turd Ferguson”. It’s a funny name. #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/8IC5CP8It6
— Vlady Gomez (@VladyGomez) September 17, 2015