The Saturday Quiz

On this episode, John is joined by two men who really know their way around podcasts and radio. Matt and Alex hosted Triple J’s highest rating breakfast show for three years and now make the daily podcast All Day Breakfast. But how is their general knowledge? Well, as a matter of fact, they do very well at this week's quiz - only really stumbling when it comes to a question about Latin abbreviatio...

These two old friends claim not to know very much, but with the right hints, they get quite a few correct. Rick Davies pledges not to Google anything, but Ryan isn't so keen on making any promises. Their questions range from geography to crime novelists to botany and vexillology. Keep listening to the end to hear where Ryan got his start in the whole business. And here's the link to Rick's commerc...

Mabel and Benjamin come from opposite ends of the quiz spectrum. Ben has been doing so much quizzing during lockdown that he's had to scale it back a bit and limit himself to pop-culture trivia. Mabel on the other hand, doesn't do any quizzing ever. Together they end up doing quite well. But like everyone, geography proves a challenge. This podcast is made on the land belonging to the Wurundjeri p...

As Petra knows from her own time hosting trivia nights during lockdown, quizzes are a whole lot easier when you're asking the questions. She turns out to be justified in her low expectations of her partner Victoria, and together they struggle through the first few questions. But their optimism keeps them afloat. Every question asked gets them closer to one they might know! And there's a surprising...

Matthew Le Nevez and Brendan Cowell have performed together several times over the years, but arguably never as well as they do here at the quiz. Several questions fall in their laps and there are even a couple that relate back to the last time Brendan was on the podcast. Matt get's to reference his recent experience on Celebrity Masterchef and Brendan plugs his new novel Plum. This podcast is mad...

There is an inordinate number of questions on this episode that have names as their answers. After a rocky start, actors Michelle Lim Davidson and Chum Ehelepola manage to stumble upon quite a few of them. And along the way, Chum learns that Japan still has an Emperor and Michelle remembers what the recent winner of the US Open women’s singles title had for dinner... but alas, not her name. This p...

As self-confessed sports ignorants, Toby and Luke were never going to get the sports question. But after John describes Goalball from the Paralympics to them, they might give it a second chance. However, they do know the what the highpoints of Cape Town and a sailing ship are called. And they both draw on their formative schooldays to find a couple of answers too. This podcast is made on the land...

Two of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet are the guests this episode. Geraldine Hakewill and Mark Winter celebrate the regional Victorian release from lockdown by staying in and doing the quiz. And they do quite well! Mark shares a personal story about his parents to recall some details about the 9/11 World Trade Center attack and Geri uses her father's birthday to get the answer to a...

This week's guests take a little to get going. Maria made her coffee too weak and Corrie feels like a big sack of sighs. But once they get in their rhythm, they do really well. Maria draws on her early Catholic education and Corrie finds an interesting connection with her name and a native Australian animal. This podcast is made on the land belonging to the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. W...

Both this week's guests are award winning comedians and podcast hosts who studied English literature at international universities. But that's not all they have in common. Sami Shah and Alice Fraser are also both quite good at the quiz and neither seems impressed by John's additional facts about Thailand's flag, the past host of Australian Survivor or a long dead Prime Minister. This podcast is ma...

Last time they were on the show, comedians Celia Pacquola and Luke McGregor didn't fare too well. And this time they don't do much better. To be fair, the questions do seem to be a little trickier. It starts with a tricky one about American literature and includes a challenging one about Australian art. Celia stumbles onto the answer for the question about politics, but neither of them are any goo...

Last time they were on the show, comedians Celia Pacquola and Luke McGregor didn't fare too well. And this time they don't do much better. To be fair, the questions do seem to be a little trickier. It starts with a tricky one about American literature and includes a challenging one about Australian art. Celia stumbles onto the answer for the question about politics, but neither of them are any goo...

It is a very tough set of questions that actors Matthew Whittet and Justin Smith come up against in this episode. Although there’s very little excuse for not knowing the composer of Moonlight Sonata. John does his best to clue them towards the answers, but there’s only so much he can do. However, if you know the 16-letter word for sleight of hand, the name of the scale for measuring mineral h...

The son of a writer and a pharmacist’s daughter make for an excellent pair of quiz takers. TV director Amanda Brotchie and writer and actor Adam Zwar are stumped only by the popular music question in this episode that goes from the assassination of a civil rights leader, through gigantic gulfs and floral emblems, to the special theory of relativity. This episode has it all. This podcast is made on...

The creators and stars of a brand new sketch comedy show The Moth Effect , Nick Boshier and Jazz Twemlow, join John to find the answers to some very tricky questions. Most of the answers end up having something to do weird and wacky names… which is appropriate for guys called Boshier and Twemlow. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-saturday-quiz . This podcast is made on the land belo...

Taking a break from their Zoom based rehearsal for the upcoming production of Cyrano de Bergerac at the Melbourne Theatre Company, Virginia Gay and Robin Goldsworthy guess their way through some very tricky questions, but most of the answers are there in their heads somewhere.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-saturday-quiz . This podcast is made on the land belonging to the W...

Recorded prior to the announcement of the latest Victorian lockdown, this episode’s guests join John over Zoom from their dressing rooms between shows at the Melbourne Theatre Company. Michala Banas and Bert LaBonté do very well at the quiz - Bert is even one of the rare people on the podcast who get the sports question without guessing. In fact, he nominates sport as his expert category.  Wh...

Taking a moment away from appearing in the Australian production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Gillian Cosgriff and Tom Wren try their hands at the quiz. And for the first time, someone claims that geography is their area of expertise! However they don’t get to test their proficiency as there is no geography question in this week’s quiz. There are a couple of sports questions though. And a...

Since Alex last appeared on the podcast, she has become a quiz show host herself. And joining her this time is one of the celebrity contestants, Craig Reucassel. They learn that on this show, there’s no such thing as too many clues. And that more often than not, the answer is rattling around in your head somewhere and if you just keep talking, you’ll eventually say it. What is the first name of Pr...

No strangers to podcasts, Alice Fraser and Dan Ilic step in to represent the not quite locked down Eastern suburbs of Sydney. Drawing on his experience working on several Olympics, Dan finds the answer to the sports question. And Alice’s multi-religious upbringing helps her with a question on the Ten Commandments. In relation to diamonds, what are the 4Cs? Which Asian nation is a member of the G7...

Sarah Krasnostein and Charlie Pickering are a couple who clearly enjoy doing quizzes together - they’ve even invented their own trivia based game “Springsteen”. They both get a chance to show of the breadth of their general knowledge on this episode, but unfortunately Charlie’s speciality subject of Scottish terriers doesn’t feature in any of the questions. In which war was the Battle of the Bulge...

One former director of the Melbourne Writers Festival and the current director of the Sydney Writers Festival come together to treat The Saturday Quiz like their own personal pub quiz. They bully the host into giving them a plethora of bonus points and end up with what is probably the highest score possible.  What is the largest continent in the world? What is the currency of Denmark? And in...

Last time Geraldine Hickey was on the podcast, it was before she won Best Show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. This time she’s joined by another MICF Best Show winner (who is also previous guest) Zoë Coombs Marr. They both smash through the quiz - which is, admittedly, not the hardest it’s ever been - and share some stories about nicknames and the films they thought were scary when...

These two old friends are quite the odd couple. To begin with, Nath was late to hop on the Zoom meeting. So that should give you some idea how dedicated to quizzing he is. Tom on the other hand, was prompt and prepared.  Despite being half Italian, Nath has no idea what ingredients make up Soffritto and Tom’s knowledge of musical theatre only slightly helps in regards to the fourth president...

Erik Jensen is the Editor-in-Chief of The Saturday Paper - but I promise that he didn’t see the questions before recording the podcast. Although he does so well, you would be forgiven for thinking he did. As well as a journalist, Erik is a poet and a biographer. He wrote Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam Cullen and he also adapted the screenplay in which Daniel Henshall - the other gues...