We are going a bit further West with our latest Host of the Month feature. Host Jim Bensin has the best-attended shows in Phoenix. He’s developed that following due to his talent, humor and knack for connecting with teams. I asked Jim my usual set of dumb questions:
RC: What’s your favorite Last Call Trivia show to host? Feud? Trivia?
JB: I’ve only had the opportunity to do Trivia and I have had a blast doing it!
RC: What question types/categories do you love / always get right?
JB: I love music-related questions. I am also a big fan of current events. I wish we had more of those.
RC: What gaps are in your trivia knowledge / questions you suck at?
JB: I can’t stand history questions. Unfortunately, as I get older the questions that fall into that category tend to be things I actually remember happening! (Those current events pay off eventually.)
RC: What’s the best *wrong* answer a team has given you? (Or even just a few funny ones, if you remember.)
JB: It was a halftime question: “Name four countries that start with the letter ‘L’ “: The team was “Team Um.”
They gave me three real answers but their last one blew my mind…. EL SALVADOR. I guess technically it DOES begin with “L“
RC: What are some of your favorite/funniest/filthiest team names?
JB: All-time favorite: The Rectal Plucking Hucking Fillbillies
RC: Do you try to tailor your setlist to the questions? (Not exactly for clues, but even thematically?)
JB: I like to live randomly so I let my computer figure it out.
RC: Do you have favorite songs to include or theme music that you start with every week?
JB: I have the first 90 seconds of the Van Halen song “Right Now” set up in a loop. I use it as a bed for my intro speech.
RC: What are some ways a team can get on your bad side?
JB: Taking the game too seriously or just not having fun.
RC: What is your favorite power-up in Super Mario Brothers? Fire-flower? Tanooki/Flying Raccoon suit? Star of invincibility?
JB: I always sucked at SMB so I never really had an opinion.
RC: Don’t you hate it when a team folds their answer sheets into something the size of an aspirin with a thousand folds in it, and it takes half a song to unfold it so you can see what their answer is?
JB: I can’t stand trivia origami!
RC: Any favorite / funny stories from hosting? Mispronouncing a keyword in a question? Slamming down hecklers?
JB: I don’t get a lot of hecklers so I don’t really have to do much slamming. I don’t really do full contact trivia anyway – I prefer the two-hand touch variety.
I try hard not to mispronounce questions but I have struggled with a few team names. If you look at my all-time favorite team name that I listed above you can probably guess how THAT name has been slaughtered in the past!