Clinton's Toronto

On today's very first Trivia Monday's with Clinton's Quiz Night's Terrance Balazo feature, we're re-posting an oldie but a goodie; a gem of an article where Metro Toronto's Lia Grainger interviewed Balazo about his very special quiz themed nights that he's been hosting for years!

The Man With The Questions

by Lia Grainger, Metro News, July 03, 2011 

It’s 9 p.m. on a Monday at Clinton’s Tavern on Bloor Street West, and the back room is packed with unusually quiet patrons. They sit huddled in groups and speak in hushed whispers. On the stage usually reserved for boisterous bands and DJs stands actor Terrance Balazo, reading from the screen of his laptop.
“Yeomen Warders at the Tower of London are commonly known by what other name?” Balazo asks. The crowd ponders the British tradition and then each team scribbles down an answer.
After a minute, Balazo strikes again: “What is the smallest bone in the body?”
It’s pub quiz night and, in Toronto, Balazo is the unofficial king. What started as a part-time gig to supplement his work as an actor and children’s-theatre director has become much more than that. Each week, he personally composes some 160 questions for the three nights he hosts around the city. The longest running is Tuesdays at The Fox and Fiddle, where he has been dealing out stumpers to crowds of up to 150 for more than five years.
“It’s a real community,” Balazo says of his many regulars. “People like to go drinking and they also like to show how smart they are.” It’s a mixed crowd: Everyone from college kids to Bay Street lawyers comes to play. George Stroumboulopoulos even shows up occasionally. (He’s pretty good.)
A British phenomenon that has found a home in this commonwealth country, Balazo says the popularity of pub quizzes has exploded since he started hosting — he estimates there are now 10 to 15 quiz events a week in Toronto.
And his all-time favourite question? “Which famous fashion designer made the Nazi SS uniforms?” He grins while I ponder the answer.
“Hugo Boss.” He shakes his head. “Crazy, right?”
Balazo admits that one of the side-effects of writing thousands of questions is that he sometimes loses his sense of what’s easy and what’s hard. “You want the crowd to go ‘Ah!’ and breathe a sigh of recognition when they hear the answer,” Balazo says.
So, in the interest of scratching that itch, here are the answers to those two Clinton’s questions: “Beefeaters” and “the stirrup” (it’s in the ear). Now go ahead and breathe that sigh.

Tune back in every other Monday for the Quiz Night feature on the Clinton's Blog! Trivia questions, articles written by Terrance himself and more!