So You’re a Quizmaster – Now What?

In the summer of 2006, I found myself in a most unexpected position: working a weekly side gig as a “quizmaster” at a local UES Irish pub, while maintaining a full-time job. This side gig was quirky, not too difficult and didn’t pay anything (other than a couple of free beers) but you know what? It was FUN!

My very first gig I was scared out of my mind. I’d never even been BEHIND a bar before, let alone worked there- yet here I was, a little Jewish guy working at a huge Irish pub, getting on a microphone and yammering in front of a couple dozen strangers. The gig was pretty straight-forward, just reading out trivia questions provided by the bartender and keeping score on a piece of paper (hand-scratched gridlines, no less), so I knew I’d be okay. One thing I knew for sure, though: I had to make it fun. From my limited experience on the other side of the pub quiz, I know that if the trivia night wasn’t fun, there was no point in doing it.

So I made it fun.

“Hello, and welcome to The Gael Pub quiz night! I am David your new host, and first things first: you have to come up with a creative & funny team name.”

[Okay, kind of obvious.]

“And if your team name sucks, I’m changing it!”

[Wait- what??]

“And if your answer is ridiculously wrong, I’m going to make sure everyone knows you wrote it!”

[Okay, that’s probably enough…]

“And if you heckle me, I’m gonna come back so hard and fast you won’t know what hit you!”

[If nothing else, I can always fall back on my “dissing” skills developed in Junior High]

“Alright, let’s get started! Here’s question number one…”

In my next post, I will discuss how doing things differently went for me…