Q&A with Country Fried Duck trivia expert John Gunn

In the past few weeks, Monday night trivia at Country Fried Duck has been a trending event. From "SpongeBob SquarePants" trivia to last night's "Mean Girls" trivia, the venue has gained a reputation for fun and relatable game nights. Staff writer Joseph Held spoke to Country Fried Duck Manager John Gunn about pop culture, sex trivia and the game itself. 

Daily Tar Heel: Who came up with the idea to have Monday trivia night?

John Gunn: I used to work at Fitzgerald’s, and we did trivia nights on Monday there. So then, when I started working at Country Fried Duck, I just sort of brought the idea over. 

DTH: How do you come up with the themes?

JG: A lot of the time, it’s the people that come in and do trivia. I’ll take suggestions. Other than that, I base it around holidays or significant national events.

DTH: Which themes have worked well in the past?

JG: A lot of the themes connected to popular movies and TV shows, like "The Office" and "Game of Thrones" and "Harry Potter" — things like that tend to do really well.

DTH: Which ones haven’t?

JG: Some of the more, I guess, educational-based ones, like history, sciences — some of those tend to not do so well.

DTH: What’s a theme you hope to do in the future?

JG: We are going to do "Vikings," the TV show on History Channel. I’m pretty excited for that one. 

DTH: What trivia theme would you win?

JG: I studied history in college, and I really enjoy it. So, anything sort of historically based I’m pretty good at.

DTH: Who thinks of all of the questions?

JG: I usually host. We come up with all of the questions ourselves.

DTH: Why do people like trivia?

JG: I think people enjoy trivia because it’s calmer than most nights that we have at Country Fried Duck. It’s good on a Monday because people are just getting back into the week, and it just gives them a place where they can come and hang out and talk with friends while having a couple drinks and a chance to win prizes.

DTH: What’s your favorite part of trivia night?

JG: My favorite part of trivia night is hearing the people's reactions to different answers or them being able to celebrate winning and giving out prizes. It’s interacting with the customers, overall.

DTH: What is your wildest memory from a past trivia night?

JG: A couple weeks ago, we did sex trivia, just as an overall theme, and that was an interesting night.

DTH: Why do you think these trivia nights have been so successful?

JG: I think they’ve been successful because we try to listen to the people who come in and try to cater it to what they want to do and what they want to have trivia about. We also sometimes have food for people, which gives them a chance to get something to eat.

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