There was a buzz in the air, as 990 of Bowling Green University's finest packed into Kobecker Hall Thursday to see four "Real World" cast members share their worldly advice with them.

Then Puck belched. And you can guess where it went from there.

Four of the lucky ones (Seattle's Janet, Hawaii's Colin, and San Fran's Puck and Rachel), who were picked to live in a house and have their lives taped and thereby become celebrities and heroes and to forever be remembered by those personas, were in the house to tell the sell out crowd to do things like "wear a condom" and "know your limit when you drink."

But as Puck would have it, the evening took a decided turn to the more casual, as it became abundantly clear that Puck was going to have it his way. And apparently, what Puck says goes.

"I'm a quotable guy," Puck said in a post-event press conference, which was somewhat like Gheorghe Muresan saying "I'm a tall guy." For by that point in the night, Puck had already given us such morsels as "herpes is gross," "I'm black," "I like guns," and "stalkers. I have them."

The evening's format was laid back, and it seemed as if it would consist plainly of the four cast members sitting on a couch and telling the eager crowd (80 percent female, easy) what they've been up to since the show and dispensing stupid advice. But it would soon become the Puck show, with him interjecting into everyone's stories, walking around on stage, exchanging T-shirts with audience members and pulling kids out of the crowd and behind a curtain for what he was calling "his own confessionals," which our crack reporters were unable to penetrate.

It was the first time the four of them had ever been together; only Puck and Rachel had known each other for more than three hours at event time. And the chemistry/lack thereof showed: there was a genuine kinship and understanding between Puck and Rachel, while Puck's abrasiveness seemed to initially rub Janet and Colin the wrong way. And that's just the way Puck wanted it.

Puck was constantly trashing "Real World" producers (Puck to Colin: "What do you really think of Mary Ellis Bunim?" Colin: "Love her." Puck: "Li-ar!"), and bragging of how he's smoked down with most of their moms ("Matt Kunitz' mom rolls a better joint than I do!"). He was also able to engage the audience with stories of ground-up toenails and venison tacos (separate stories, thank god).

But despite Puck's best efforts to steal all of the spotlight, the others were able to divulge bits of information about what they've been up to since the cameras quit rolling. Rachel has since married Sean from the Boston cast and had his baby last Oct. 1; Janet has returned to Northwestern University and has been working for Spin magazine; and Colin spends his time "surfing, working out ...", and he's since dropped out of school, and in what is surely an unrelated incident, is starring in an upcoming NBC sitcom. And no, he doesn't talk to Amaya anymore.

The informal evening continued with a question and answer session with the audience. The questions ranged from the mundane ("would you do it again?") to the inventive ("what did you steal from the house?," to which Janet answered 200 pounds worth of stuff, and Puck justified by saying "dude, they didn't pay us enough not to steal"), to the outright and embarrassingly lame ("can I have a back rub?").

The crowd seemed to lap it all up, and hey, the one dollar they paid to get in went to a good cause (the BG Dance Marathon, whatever that is). A T-shirt autographed by the four cast members was even auctioned off for a jaw-dropping $400. "Charity, that's what it's all about," said Colin.

A post event press conference took a turn for the worse after Puck objected to questions from a reporter from Bowling Green's campus newspaper, and ordered her to leave after berating her and calling her "lame." Puck and Colin ended up walking out early after Puck's one-sided shouting match, leaving a stunned Janet and a seen-it-all Rachel. "I apologize, usually I can control him," said Rachel.

And so the Real World turns, and cast members go on about their anything but normal lives. After all, Puck will be the first to tell you that he "can't even go into McDonalds without signing an autograph." But he'll also be the first to tell you that "everyone's an ass head," "Ricky Martin's gay, by the way," that he "ruled" at Notre Dame, and that you should click on Bigwords.com. And then when you look at that autograph, it just may say "roses are red, violets are bent, when I see your mom, I pitch my tent"