At a bar in Surry Hills on a Monday night, Sydneysiders twerk to pop music in front of stunned bartenders.
Behind them, a man in an eggplant suit claps happily. Disco lights cast bright spots across the crowded venue.
This is not a club night or cabaret. It’s a trivia night.
Here the young crowd drinks margaritas and jokes loudly with the host. When the trivia ends at 21:00, karaoke begins.
Trivia is having a moment if you ask host James Breko, who is dressed as an eggplant.
“Ten years ago, trivia in pubs could be quite dry and technical, just someone on a board,” he says.
“But the industry just boomed. We are in the early stages of something special.
‘It’s like making a TV show’
Breko, a former law student, became involved in trivial matters through the entertainment industry eight years ago. It was difficult; by day he sold barbecues and outdoor furniture, and by night he had a radio show on Oxford Street.
“Trivia wasn’t on my radar in my 20s; it wasn’t really in my mood, I actually thought it wasn’t cool at all,” he says. “But I got addicted to it and loved it.”
If a joke fails we move on to question eight
James Breko
Like many good ideas, it started over dinner at the bar. The host of Sydney’s Eveleigh Hotel announced that it was her last night. Breko told the owner: “I’ll try it next week; give me dinner and $100.”
Over time crowds grew and today it often hosts five nights a week in Sydney’s inner west, east and CBD.
“I have a sixth sense now for what works,” he says. “When I started it was worth a free dinner, but now it’s like you’re making a television show; you have to keep the audience there the whole time.”
Breko’s trivia nights go far beyond questions; It includes everything from dance competitions to elaborate costume changes to sing-alongs and conga songs.
“I get nervous every night, but after the first five minutes you’re in and out,” he says. “The power you have is incredible. And if a joke fails, we move on to question eight.”
‘This is a game; ‘games are meant to be fun’
Janet McLeod – also known as Planet Janet, Trivia Doyen, Professional Dickhead or the Fairy Godmother of Melbourne Comedy (so named by the late Cal Wilson) – has been in the game for over two decades.
Relating to: Local Sydney guide: ‘Nightlife is currently the best it’s ever been’
“I’m approaching you from Melbourne, Australia,” she dramatically calls out, wearing rainbow eyeshadow and dazzling headphones. “Now…it’s my time!”
Before the pandemic, McLeod had attended only two Zoom meetings. But during quarantine, online trivia events became his main source of income, and he eventually began hosting a dozen shows a week.
“I had a lot of people come up to me because the pandemic was so genuine and said a lot of, ‘Thank you, you got us through it,’” he says.
“This was the main punctuation mark on their week. I would be in their living room. “I had the opportunity to get to know their pets.”
McLeod lays down three rules at the beginning: Spelling doesn’t matter, don’t cheat and don’t argue with him; This is an occupational health and safety issue.
Many hosts have contracts with companies that provide bulk questions, such as Quiz Meisters, but McLeod writes his own content and is always on the lookout for facts he can work with on his show.
The sweet spot for your average crowd, he says, is that they know about 70% of the answers – “understandable, but not insulting.”
“Sometimes it’s looking at a piece of information and then finding a way to ask for it,” he says philosophically.
“Can emus swim?” one of his favorites (answer: yes, they look like the Loch Ness monster). She also loves the curly French revolution long tail.
“France abolished the use of the guillotine as a death penalty the same year with the release of one of these songs: A) Put Your Head on My Shoulder, 1958; B) The First Cut is the Deepest, 1967; or C) Shaddap You Face, 1981.”
In his words, it’s easier to find a bad trivia host than a good one (the “old badger in the corner” who has poor microphone technique and doesn’t ask the question twice).
“It’s a game; games are supposed to be fun,” he says. “You’re not playing for Lamborghinis, you’re playing for drink coupons.”
There’s a sense of fun that has kept McLeod running his regular show at St Kilda’s The Local Taphouse for almost 22 years. He saw the children grow up and return with their spouses when they came of age.
Prior to Taphouse, in the 1990s he hosted Quiz International at the International Lounge, which later became the popular Ding Dong Lounge on Melbourne’s Market Lane.
It was a jealous time. He and his friend Toby dressed as an airline attendant and pilot, taking passengers on a sound-filled journey to different destinations each week, accompanied by a DJ and opening credits.
Relating to: How to win pub trivia: ‘A good team is a bit like a political cabinet’
“Oddly enough, a lot of people at that trivia night stuck out. [ABC music show] Spicks and Specks, Myf Warhurst and Alan Brough were regulars.
“Rove McManus came to my place before going on a chat show. It was pretty wild.”
‘I became like family with them’
Neil Lithgow has always been a lover of knowledge. When he was 12, he was gifted a book of incredible facts for Christmas, which he fondly describes as his Bible.
Then life began; in his case, it was a career in finance.
But about 10 years ago he was idly musing: “I wonder what you would look like to host a trivia night.” He googled and found an advert on Gumtree for a weeknight at the Balmain Hotel in Sydney.
It started as a side hustle and has now become his life.
“My other full-time job wasn’t as fulfilling as it should have been,” he says. “Trivia is a lot more fun and a lot less stress; less money, but the other two outweigh that after 25 years in banking.”
Having been perfecting his craft for years, Lithgow now has a “secret formula” for his questions.
He loves questions anyone can ask: “Where did Tim Tams get their name?” (answer: a racehorse) and “Which hand holds the Statue of Liberty torch?” (answer: true).
“Those who support table discussion,” Lithgow says. “If you have no idea, my first question is always 50/50, so you have a 50/50 chance.”
But what attracts homeowners is the community. Trivia is temporary; You can ask the best question in the world, but once the question is asked it should be deprecated.
Relating to: Favorite questions from three of Australia’s best quiz hosts
Customers are the ones who keep coming back week after week, decade after decade.
“You see the same faces every week,” Lithgow says. “I’ve been doing it for 10 years and there are tables that come in for seven or eight people.
“One of them told me recently that they were at the dog park and noticed four different tables and one of the bar staff being represented.”
Some couples met for the first time at Breko’s information nights. Others became lifelong friends.
“I become like one of their family members or the couch in their living room,” he says.
“Some people treat it like a job that needs to be done and done. The best homeowners love it.”