On the 7th of October my friend and I embarked on an evening in the Old Rep watching ‘The Thinking Drinker’s Pub Quiz’. Hosted by the two award winning writers, comedians and drink historians, Ben McFarland and Tom Sandham, the night promised us an interactive comedy show, pairing quality (and most invitingly to us as two broke students, free) drinks and fun facts.

A pub quiz is a much loved, timeless phenomenon. It’s part of classic British culture, the act of trundling to your local pub with your nearest and dearest, armed with an inappropriate team name, getting round after round of cheap pints in and answering bog-standard question rounds such as ‘History’, ‘Geography’, ‘Film’ and ‘Science’. There is most likely a balding 50-year-old quiz master called Dave sat in the corner, a dry and unfunny man who nevertheless cracks the odd, poorly timed, joke. There is also guaranteed to be a team sat close to the front (they’ve sat at the same table for 10 years now you hear one of them proudly mumble), resembling members of ITV’s The Chase, who are undoubtedly going to win. 

From experience, the question rounds usually go on for too long and everyone usually gets too drunk to finish it properly. Did ‘The Thinking Drinker’s Pub Quiz’ follow the same formula? Thankfully not. Although drawing on the two key elements that can make pub quizzes fun; alcohol and question rounds igniting competitive spirit – Mcfarland and Sandham are careful to innovate the pub quiz to new heights, whilst indulging in school boy humour rife with innuendo’s and slapstick.

Rewriting the formula of a quizmaster asking questions and teams answering, the dynamic duo present all of the answers to the quiz as part of their performance. Interesting alcohol related facts are rattled off in a fast paced, electric manner, interrupted only by cheeky digs towards singled out audience members, or banter between the pair. Each of the rounds are complemented by tasters of quality alcohol, and the audience learns information about its origins, ingredients, etymology, and more. 

The in-depth alcohol knowledge that the pair possess is thorough and impressive, offering a history lesson that is far more exciting and engaging than most. There are multiple rounds echoing the classic quiz categories, yet each centre’s the topic on the alcohol that the audience is encouraged to taste. After each round, the audience members are left individually to answer a series of questions on a piece of paper, and the winner is offered an elusive prize. Scrapping the idea of teams, another novel idea, works well for the theatre-space setting, yet nearly every audience member around me was colluding with their peers – and although it defeated the point slightly, it created a fun, chatty atmosphere.

The old fashioned, pun heavy comedy, mirroring British comedic duos such as Morecombe and Wise or Ant and Dec, offered comforting warmth in a lively on-stage spectacle – markedly needed for audience members still haunted by an absence of comedic relief and live theatre throughout the pandemic. Whilst the audience as a whole responded well to the cringe-worthy puns and fancy-dress role play off by the two performers, at times the jokes feel slightly forced and too old fashioned, at times bordering on stereotyping that may not cut the mustard for a modern viewer. 

However, the energy is exuberant and any poor jokes can be quickly forgotten in the fast pace of the show, and are more than made up for in the pair’s clearly passionate love affair with good alcohol and knowledge.

‘Drink less, Drink better’ is the moral of the show, and the pair repeatedly drill this into the audience. This was something that resonated with me; it was enjoyable to taste high quality alcohol, whilst learning about it in a humorous, interactive setting – a concept far removed from standard pub quizzes and drinking culture as a whole. Re-writing the formula worked, the idea of the show felt funny and fresh, even if some of the jokes didn’t quite hit the mark. 

Priced reasonably, the show is definitely worth a go for those interested in alcohol – just don’t be too shocked when the pair start humping each other dressed as chimpanzees or totter out in red high heels. Am I ready to let go of the quiz down the local pub? Probably not. But quizzing and alcohol were shone in an exciting new light, and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

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