Funny you should mention the Bloomsbury crowd. My entering grad school class was somewhat like that, only with a lower degree of wit. I finally stopped hanging out with them because I got tired of always having to deliver the withering one-liner or the most blasé comment in the face of something genuinely interesting and exciting. There's something to be said for having a real conversation from time to time, not just a verbal tennis match.

Interesting about Tony Kushner. If I were going to pick a name to go with "Maurice Sendak," I don't think I'd have picked Kushner.