Kirk Heron is a comedian and writer who told me that he would be unfit for my Shelf Esteem column here at Hazlitt because he only keeps one book at home, and it’s a single collected volume of Lord of the Rings. He is perhaps best known as the co-creator and quiz master of Toronto’s most popular weekly trivia night, Brass Facts, but is also a question-writer behind the scenes on the beloved trivial enterprise Cash Cab. The show follows host and cab driver Adam Growe around as he picks up fares in Toronto and quizzes them en route to their destination. Contestants, as you might expect from the name of the show, are given cash for correctly answering each question. Like trivia in general, it’s silly and delightful.
What would you say is the platonic ideal of a trivia question?
I can’t say for sure what type of trivia question Plato would have enjoyed. God, that was a bad joke. I can, however, say that trials have shown that the best trivia question is one that is multi-faceted. Instead of boring and straightforward question like “Who was the King of England in 1767?,” it’s much more fun to ask the same question with more information. A bunch of trivia geeks will know that the King of England during 1767 was George III, but they might not know that he had an affair with a hedge trimmer. I just made that up, of course, but asking “What British monarch had an affair with a hedge trimmer in 1767?” is perfectly confusing.
Does the same hold true for the best kinds of questions you’d write for Cash Cab?
Unlike a trivia night, where teams have time to figure out answers, people in the Cash Cab have much less time to answer. That means the questions Adam asks have to be more straightforward and less confusing. Watching from home, some viewers probably think some of the questions are too easy, but it’s important to put yourself in the cab, consider the pressure of being on television, and the randomness of contestants. Not everyone that gets in the Cash Cab is a trivia nut, so it’s important to write questions that are more universal.
Have you actually been in the cab before? Did you get to take a trivia joy ride before starting on the job?
I haven’t been in the cab, yet. I hope to see it some day. I’ve met the host, Adam, who was an amazingly nice guy, and the guy who sits beside me is the cab’s lighting designer, which he brags about regularly.
I would brag too.
So would I. I guess I’m jealous.
I think you can find a place to play trivia every night of the week in Toronto. How often do you play on a team?
I’ve been trying to hide this from people for a while, and I was hoping you wouldn’t ask... but I play up to four nights a week. On average, though, I’d say two times a week, plus co-hosting a night at the Ossington.
I guess the secret’s out! Any advice for building the perfect team?
You’ve got to be cutthroat, man! I’m actually not very good at trivia, though I somehow manage to weasel my way onto teams. The best advice I can give is find people who have a good knowledge of each of the following categories: music, geography, pop culture, sports, history, science.
Why do you think trivia, inside bars and even cabs, is so popular at the moment?
At the most basic level, I guess people like to be challenged. And, the good thing about trivia is that everyone has a specific knowledge set, whether they know it, or not. So, when you go to a trivia night and you’re able to help out a team with some random fact you know about Chinese gooseberries, you impress people and you impress yourself. It’s also an amazing social experience that involves meeting new people and working with your friends to figure out answers that involve logic rather than inherent knowledge. Sometimes people can push their teammates toward the right answer by asking logical questions. Also, it’s totally fun.
--
Find Hazlitt on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
Image: Cash Cab host Adam Growe
