No Brains, No Lightbulbs: A Trivia Podcast

Happy Halloween. This episode has ghouls, ghosts, candy, and John Burgess. Burgess runs Purgatorio Video: YouTube's hottest (and only) short-form Horror Host show set in a video rental store in the afterlife. He also left handwritten notes inside the tape cases of a video store's entire horror collection. He's a hoot at parties and he makes a mean soup.

Trivia rounds:

A Halloween Trivia Playlist

Trivia Night Massacre!

A Man Synced

Hollow Wee

➡️ Answer the Homework Question! ⬅️

😱 🔪 Check out Purgatorio Video on YouTube!

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Peter Goldberg bikes way too much, but he did give a technologically enhanced 3x diaper to his wife as a birthday gift. He's won multiple cottage cheese eating contests and he knows his elements. He's a listener who had the misfortune of earning a dubious nickname at our live show last summer, so we invited him on to clear his name. And boy, did he!

Trivia rounds:

(02:18): Blues Clues

(20:20): Build a Bike Workshop

(27:50): The Period Table

(45:10): Alphabet Snakes (Music Edition)

➡️ Answer the Homework Question! ⬅️

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Michael McPherson is a nationally known economist and a locally known father of Steve and Sean McPherson. He knows an uncomfortable amount about higher education and Sean McPherson. He's written more books than his kids ever will.

Trivia rounds:

(02:56): Battle of the Sexes

(19:57): Like Father, Unlike Son

(26:24): Difficult Questions About the History of Higher Education

(36:20): State a State

(48:35): The World Series

➡️ Answer the Homework Question! ⬅️

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Mary O'Regan wants to be friends. And she wants you to walk around the lake with your neighbors. But don't worry, she's got advice that'll help you. And she's very well at grammar.

👬 Follow Mary on Insta and improve your friendships!

Trivia rounds:

(00:52): It Happened 30 Years Ago, KQ Edition

(03:18): If They Played in the NFL

(18:02): Copyedit the World

(24:35): Classic Rock Friends

(39:24): Misplaced Foods

➡️ Answer the Homework Question! ⬅️

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Steve Nelson probably made your favorite radio station or podcast better. He's been a COO at Lemonada Media, and a programming executive at National Public Radio and Minnesota Public Radio. He can juggle.

Trivia rounds:

(03:24): Who You Gonna Call?

(18:02): Get to 2000

(31:31): Call Letters

(47:01): Let Us Get Serious About October 3

➡️ Answer the Homework Question! ⬅️

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Steve McPherson is almost 50 years old. He wrote the theme song for No Brains, No Lightbulbs. Those are the big headlines but if you want to know what else he's up to, you can find him writing The Glean, an awesome newsletter at MinnPost, and playing in the bands Big Trouble, 120 Minutes, and Catfish Blue. He's a gem. We made Steve ask some trivia questions and we tested his knowledge of people who are as equally ancient as he is.

Trivia rounds:

(02:45): Stupid Answers

(27:20): Trivia in Reverse

(41:54): People as Old as Steve

(55:15): SOS Trivia

➡️ Answer the Homework Question! ⬅️

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Mentioned in this episode:

Country Cabin Vol 3 Read Down

Andy Sturdevant is an artist and writer whose creative output is every bit as voluminous and titillating as his facial hair. The author or co-author of four non-fiction books, Andy is also the proprietor of Birchwood Palace Industries, an independent publisher of zines, newsletters, found art, and reference chapbooks. We tested his knowledge of 20th-century U.S. politics and Twin Cities dive bars, which tells you something about his range. We also played a couple of fun rounds about movies and women’s suffrage, and learned about the finer points of partying with monks.

Trivia rounds:

(02:38): Let’s “C” a Movie

(19:49): Tic-Tac-Trivia

(26:55): Watering Holes of the Twin Cities

(52:00): Women’s Suffrage

Buy Andy’s latest book, “Keep Clear: Scenes of Injury and Death in International Safety Signage,” right here!

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Today's guest is Will Johnson! But he's cool with you calling him Wilber. Proudly bald, Will is a long-time Trivia Mafia host and player, a kickball team whisperer, and a physical education teacher who's ensuring that, while future generations might be terrible at trivia, at least they'll be good at dodgeball.

Trivia rounds:

(03:35): Thesaurus Abuse: Video Games

(18:50): Jim Class

(26:55): E-M-O Bands

(48:10): Never Forget/Spellcheck

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Today's guest is jeremy messersmith, debonair Twin Cities singer-songwriter who may or may not be radioactive. The man can wear a pair glasses, and he knows his Star Wars, his ukulele, and his Bible, which is great because that's what we asked him trivia questions about. He also shared his favorite potato preparations and his dastardly plans to seduce Sean's wife and honestly that all sounds just fine.

Trivia rounds:

(02:11): "C" Food

(19:35): Stop with the "Uke" Already!

(24:30): Biblically Speaking

(31:20): Blurt!

(44:54): The 49 Days of Liz Truss

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Today's guest loves long count-offs, pianos over guitars, and basketball. Joshua "Jellyfish" Williams is an awesome musician and bandleader, supporting the likes of Dessa and Lady Midnight. Now watch him squirm as we make him shoot baskets while making him play basketball trivia!

Today’s trivia rounds:

(01:50): Alma Mater Rhyme Time

(14:45): Mystery Round

(22:27): Basketball Trivia

(44:37): Last Name Round Up

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Mentioned in this episode:

Country Cabin Vol 3 Read Down

Today we invite a titan from the baking world (and one of our favorite former regular players) into the trivia studio. Jen Wittes is the reigning champion in the Minnesota State Fair Brownie Competition, which means she knows exactly how to bribe her trivia hosts. She's also an award-winning columnist, a former postpartum doula, and a former high school classmate of one Pedro Pascal. She calls him Peter.

Trivia rounds:

(03:00): August Occasions

(21:40): Cue the Cast Montage: '80s TV Theme Song Trivia

(30:25): The Academy Awards: Trivia About the Academy Awards

(43:10): Wordfinder: U.S. States Edition

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Today's guest is a filmmaker and master improvisor who has 3,000 DVDs in his basement and kids to feed, so he's doing what any reasonable person would do: He's going to open up a video store! Eric Knobel is the man behind The Video Store Mpls and he's fundraising right now. (Edit: He's already met his goal! Wooo!) Eric knows a lot about movies, and if you know more than he does, you should probably volunteer at his store.

Trivia rounds:

(02:30): Let's Catch Some "Zs"

(27:53): Wow, What a Difference! (Questions about Blockbuster Video)

(35:15): A Movie/TV Show Mashup

(53:55): Which Came First?

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Today's guest knows a lot about physics and a little about what topics he doesn't want for trivia. David Cava is a physics teacher, a Trivia Mafia and Initials Game Live host and an awesome human being. He's given an F and he gives an F about the Twins.

Trivia rounds:

(02:33): "F" Words

(16:45): Trivia Baseball

(36:53): Gah Dammit David!

(50:58): Music and Songs

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Mentioned in this episode:

Country Cabin Vol 3 Read Down

Today's guest loves corn, central air, the TV show "Lost" and asparagus. Yes in that order. Amy Siegel is pure of heart and full of joy and she has a long history with Trivia Mafia. She could also break Chuck and Sean's arms quite easily.

Trivia rounds:

(02:41): Destination Unknown: U.S. state tourism slogans

(17:23): Seg-uels: Movie sequels with Amy Siegel

(25:20): Don't Get Lost: Trivia about the TV series "Lost"!

(46:19): And Everything After: Counting Crows trivia

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Mentioned in this episode:

Country Cabin Vol 3 Read Down

Today's guest is an award-winning teacher and a soundtrack savant. Jan Dysart teaches 5th grade, hosts a Trivia Mafia night, and was strong-armed into doing the podcast by her loving husband (who is also a trivia host). Chuck starts off the game in shark-infested trivia waters (02:26). Then we hit "play" on a round about 1980s soundtracks (13:18). Sean checks if Jan is smarter than a fifth-grader, and the answer is a tentative yes (24:03)! He closes the episode by creating some trivial tension with a round dedicated to his brother-in-law (43:49).

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Today's guest is a celebrated writer with great takes and even better Beastie-Boy-related stories. Ali Elabbady is a gifted author who covers music, food, and culture in the Twin Cities and beyond. Chuck kicks things off by creating a face-off between two American staples: hot dogs and apples (02:12). The Chuck sets up a sumptuous pop culture feast for Ali to chew on (16:30). Sean checks whether Ali knows his hip-hop "ands" (24:30). Finally, Sean wraps things up with the debut round of CrossTalk™ (36:07).

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Today's guest runs a Bar of their Own and is certainly in a league of their own. Jillian Hiscock is the founder of A Bar of Their Own, the Midwest's first sports bar to exclusively show women's sports. Hiscock is also a trivia veteran who currently hosts Quizbang from Trivia Mafia at A Bar of Their Own on Thursdays at 7pm. Chuck knocks us out with a soccer inspired round to penalty-kick things off (01:34). After that, Chuck has a round about music and definitely not the WNBA (19:04). Sean steps in with some questions about great women athletes (26:50). We wrap up the episode with an internationally focused round called "From a Different Place" (42:10).

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

Let the trivia fireworks begin! Today we bring on trivia host, blueberry farmer, and perennial optimist John McConville for some rounds! Chuck starts us off with a round all about "Famous Fourths" (02:20). Then he grants John's wish for a before-and-after round built around music and movies (14:20). Sean noodles around with a round about guitars, and then really starts to wail on a round about guitars in movies (18:40). We close things down with a trivial look at the years 1776 (34:40). Quite a year, turns out!

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

It's our first ever live show! Get ready with that big dinger cause we've upped our dinger budget and zeroed out our guest budget. The crowd is the guest and they are awesome. Chuck, Sean and Beth invite players up for some conversation and trivia rounds about Veggie Sandwiches, A 50 Piece, Trivia Bowling, Follow My Names, Happy Birthday and Get the Lead Out. We sincerely apologize to Insufficient Peter, he's actually fully sufficient.

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!

We found the one scientist who has the free time to guest on a trivia podcast on a workday. Dr. Christopher Colpitts knows a lot about plasma and he's not afraid to tell you about it. Well, maybe a little afraid, but not that afraid. Chuck gets us started with a round that only sounds dirty (02:46). Then he combines geography with dad jokes to make sure nobody's happy (17:40). Sean pitches Chris a few questions about his favorite baseball team, the Boston Red Sox (23:42). And we close up the episode with a round that ends "well" (37:50).

👉 No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by the world’s greatest trivia company, Trivia Mafia, in the great state of Minnesota.

📍 Find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!

📥 Sign up for “The Morning Rounds,” Trivia Mafia’s amazing daily Trivia trivia newsletter!

🫶 Join our Patreon for exclusive member perks and other goodies!