by Laura Ferguson
Turns out Wellington loves itself a pub quiz. Cavern Club is full of us trivia-ninjas and judging from the hubbub of noise punctuated by the odd whoop or cackle, Friday-night fever has well and truly set in and partnered up with its good friend alcohol. Once our host, Alex Love, takes the stage, we are very much to learn How To Win A Pub Quiz. “Well, hello, Wellington, how’re doing tonight?” Love begins, and our responses range from measured to maniacal. “Ooh, you’re going to be a lively one, aren’t you?” he retorts, grinning excitedly before setting up his bell and dinging it.
The bell is Love’s sidekick of sorts. He explains that everytime he is going to say a fact he is going to ding his bell. Ding. Must be true then. The show made up one one half comedy and one half pub quiz. As Love begins the comedy part, I lean in eagerly listening certain that these jokes will contain clues for the answers later on. Love has an easy and good-natured presence on stage, we are laughing at his jovial facts and witty use of implementing those into a comedy routine. He effortlessly eases in facts he learnt at Te Papa and hilarious trivia about his favourite band, dinging the bell with a good sense of timing: often enough to keep us laughing, but not so often it becomes irritating.
Now comes the pub quiz and my spider-senses were right! You do need to pay attention during the comedy routine, but beware mon frère, there are more a couple red herrings thrown in there. It is hilarious and my partner and I were luckily paired up with a couple that filled in our knowledge gaps, we had a great time working together and did quite well. Love had also introduced us to a rule where we could chant, “TAKE ONE OFF! TAKE ONE OFF!” if another team did something like choose a terrible clichéd quiz team name or was being a bit... rambunctious. It was a fun way to keep the crowd controlled but not alienate anyone.
The end comes and we don’t win (boo) but we got second place and I had so much fun along the way. How To Win A Pub Quiz combines my love of facts and with clever comedy. It has fun trip-up questions for that person in your team that likes to “Well, actually…” too often and subjective answers that you have to use social cues to pick up on. My partner and I laughed and chatted about our answers on the walk home, smacking our foreheads with ‘of course!’ moments and pointing out more subtle parts of the show that hinted at the quiz questions later on. I hope that Alex Love comes back for the next Fringe Festival so I can learn How To Win A Pub Quiz again.
Sadly, How To Win A Pub Quiz has finished its run, but if you know anyone in Dunedin that would be interested, this show is playing down there on the 30th and 31st of March. You can find tickets here.