A person who claimed to be Quayle accepted his award. However, the acceptant did not quite fit the standard profile of the vice president. The suspect was pre-teen and female.

"He" regretted his wasted college years, and enthusiastically vowed to learn math and science pronto.

Other recipients were unable to attend. Robert Clark Graham, winner of the Biology Award for his Germinal Choice sperm bank, which only accepts donations from Nobel laureates and Olympic athletes, was conspicuously absent. Dr. Strangelove accepted for him. Economics Prize honoree Michael Milken had a 15 to 20 year previous engagement, so Tammy F. Baker accepted in his stead.

However, no one was willing to accept the Peace Prize for Edward Teller, father of the hydrogen bomb and SDI supporter. The band played the theme from "Star Wars" instead.

Perhaps the most jubilant award winner was Alan Kligerman, who received the Medicine Prize for his invention of the anti-gas potion Beano. He talked enthusiastically of his serious product, accompanied by by low cries of "Bean-o! Bean-o!"

Participants came out of the ceremony ready for the upcoming Nobel Prize announcements. As the disembodied voice of absent Nobel laureate Professor Henry Kendall repeated after each presentation, "Congratulations. Your work is an inspiration to all of us."