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No Brains, No Lightbulbs: A Trivia Podcast
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No Brains, No Lightbulbs: A Trivia Podcast

Author: Trivia Mafia

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Trivia Mafia co-founders Chuck and Sean have lived and breathed trivia for 18+ years as the leaders of one of the biggest trivia companies in the country. Join them as they hang out with amazing writers/players and personalities from the Trivia Mafia universe and play trivia, ask random questions and generally bring a little bit of the trivia night into your earbuds.
19 Episodes
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No guest today! Just Chuck and Sean and a pinch of Davis, bringing you plenty of great trivia and a little banter. Chuck gets the trivia work started with "-Men at Work" (02:10). Sean exposes Chuck's weak spots in "European Geography" (15:33), and Chuck finds one of Sean's Achilles heels: Trivia about books! (19:47). Sean finishes up with a great round about Latin names flora and fauna called "Binomial Means Necessary" (29:57).No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by Trivia Mafia in the great state of Minnesota. Click the link to find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!
Boo! We're coming to you early this week with a special Halloween edition of No Brains, No Lightbulbs! Trivia Mafia editor and writer Ira Brooker joins the No Brains, No Lightbulbs crew to talk up his idyllic/haunting upbringing and flex his tremendous cinematic knowledge. Chuck celebrates some of the dignified individuals who perished on All Hallow's Eve (02:56). Then he quizzes Ira on some classic movie monsters (15:38), and Sean keeps it simple with a round called "Scary Ass Movies" (19:01). Chuck turns things around with a round about watching scary movies in reverse (21:04). And Sean lives to tell the tell with a round called "Accidentally Scary" (35:19). No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by Trivia Mafia in the great state of Minnesota. Click the link to find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by Trivia Mafia in the great state of Minnesota. Click the link to find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!
Esteemed awesome person Amy Woo joins the No Brains, No Lightbulbs crew to dish on Tinder dates and flex her knowledge of the stage and screen. Chuck starts us off with a cool wordplay round called "X Marks the Stop" (02:04). Then we head to Broadway for some musicals trivia (16:40), and Chuck and Amy speedrace a round about fast-talking TV shows (23:00). Sean wraps things up with a recital of trivia about children's songs (34:50). No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by Trivia Mafia in the great state of Minnesota. Click the link to find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!And more info about Amy’s cheese witch can be found here.
How to Fart in Public

How to Fart in Public

2025-10-1845:28

St. Paul singer-songwriter, former trivia host, and Sean's best friend Martin Devaney stops by the pod to talk sandwiches, great album covers, books, and baseball. Chuck branches out with a wordplay round called "The Trees Are Changing" (4:35). Then we crack open a few "Banned Books" (16:42) before Sean grabs the ball and pitches a tough round of baseball trivia called "Know a Team" (23:20). We finish up with a trivia trip to the great north with "Alaska" (34:21).No Brains, No Lightbulbs is a trivia podcast produced by Trivia Mafia in the great state of Minnesota. Click the link to find a Trivia Mafia trivia night near you!
Liberate the Testes

Liberate the Testes

2025-10-1140:12

One of the elite hosts of the Trivia Mafia family joins Chuck and Sean on the pod today. First, Chuck gets the trivia started with a round that puts Sean in a “State of Confusion” (03:04). Then Ida-Ellen Dabruzzi swings by to flex her knowledge of famous cemeteries for “Grave Concerns” (12:37), and Sean brings a classic Sean round about classic movies (19:00). We finish the episode with a nod to Libra seasons by seeing how Chuck measures up in a trivia round about scales (31:41).
Improv comedy legend Lauren Anderson pays a visit to play a little trivia and talk a lot about elephants. Lauren has starred in more consecutive shows at the Brave New Workshop than any other actor, she hosts a YouTube children's show called "Noodle Pie Island," and she is a wildly dedicated trampoline evangelist. Chuck kicks the trivia off with a trip to "Title Town" (01:54). Then we pose a panoply of pachyderm problems with a trivia round called "Let's Address the Elephant" (18:28). Sean sweetens the pot with a round about candy names (24:30), and then closes the episode with the return of "Alpha-Bets" (34:51).
This week the crew asked Cory Cove, of Initials Game and KFAN fame, to join the podcast and testify his love of chicken tenders, the band 311, “The Office,” and little else. Chuck gets things started with a round of trivia combining Shakespeare and ornithology (02:55). Cory schools us all on The Initials Game and runs the crew through a round of "CS" (15:30). Sean serves up a movie-themed “Before and After" round (22:35), and Chuck tests Cory’s knowledge of “The Office” with a round called “That’s What She Said” (26:51). Sean wraps things up with an initials game of his own called “Alpha-Bets” (39:21).
Nooks v Crannies

Nooks v Crannies

2025-09-2040:31

This week the crew welcomes music booker, cooking enthusiast, and former Trivia Mafia host Cecilia Johnson into the studio to discuss serial-killer-worthy breakfast, penicillin you can drink, and her illustrious career as a QuizBang champion. First they play a quick round of which-is-older: the fictional animals edition (01:52). Then Chuck blows off some steam with a round about train-related idioms (18:01). Sean gets behind the bar to serve up "Lady Drinks" (22:07), and then caps the episode with a rapid-fire round about the Cannes Film Festival.
This week the crew is joined by artist, musician, writer, and actor Toussaint Morrison to discuss which gas station items he can’t travel without, why comic book villains always have the best stories, and where his love of Michael Douglas movies comes from. Chuck sets the trivia table with a serving of wordplay questions called “Word Sandwiches” (02:39). Toussaint tackles a round about Marvel villains called “We’re Not All Bad” (16:38), and then dives deep into one of his favorite actors for “The Many Faces of Michael Douglas” (23:36). Sean rounds out the episode with the return of “Stick to the Subject” (35:23).
This week, the No Brains, No Lightbulbs crew brings in Trivia Mafia's Davis Steen to learn about fall league baseball, witchcraft, and cryptids. Chuck gets things started with a round called “Final ‘E’ Made It” (02:19). We usher in spooky season with “Trivia Golf: The Witch Edition” (13:43). Sean tests Davis's knowledge of cryptid identification (and Chuck questions Sean's definition of "cryptid") with “Cryptid ID” (22:24). Sean closes it out with a rapid-fire round of wordplay trivia called "Ball Sports" (35:10). 
Liam Is a Bully's Name

Liam Is a Bully's Name

2025-08-3046:06

This week, the No Brains, No Lightbulbs hosts formally recognize Beth for once, those jerks. Then the crew invites radio icon Henry Lake into the studio to discuss Atlanta restaurants and colleges, Kansas City barbecue, and the 1997 cinematic classic "Love Jones." Sean labors through some baby-name trivia (2:55), Chuck explores the history of so-called "national teams" (18:22), and Sean tests Henry Lake's "Love Jones" knowledge with our grossest round title yet (24:11). Finally, Sean rallies the proletariat for Labor Day with some semi-rapid fire union trivia to close the show (37:22).
This week, the No Brains, No Lightbulbs team invites Trivia Mafia editor (and our first heckler) Ruby onto the show to stump the chumps, flex her New England accent, and destroy some movie and etymology trivia. Chuck kicks off the trivia with a brainy round called "Yes Brains" (3:32), and then checks in with a fill-in-the-blank round called "Blank Check" (15:23). Sean brings Ruby a word-origins round called "After-and-Before" (19:37), and then he sticks the landing with a round of biopic trivia called "Stick to the Subject" (35:01).
Is Your Dinger Broken?

Is Your Dinger Broken?

2025-08-1641:02

This week the No Brains, No Lightbulbs team invites Trivia Mafia alum Colin Buell to rate things, answer things, and dole out some presidential facts. Chuck starts us off with a trivia round called "-illa Communication" (3:40). Colin packs his bags and goes to movie trivia camp (13:58) and then share some Dai-queries with Sean (19:40). Chuck wraps things up with a visit to "Alliteration Nation" (33:16).
This week the No Brains, No Lightbulbs team invites Trivia Mafia writer, editor and host Megan Olson in to demonstrate her absurd real-names-of-celebrities knowledge and her even absurder love of the '90s band Jellyfish. Chuck cashes in some questions on world currencies (03:48). Sean and Megan get Hamburgled (18:33) and Megan demonstrates her superior knowledge of the real names of famous people (22:08). And to close, Chuck knocks it out of the park in a round called Hometown Derby (32:58).
This week the No Brains, No Lightbulbs crew embarks on a largely accidental Trivia Mafia road trip. Chuck gets us rolling with a round about the geography of art museums (02:32). Steve McPherson—writer, musician and brother of Sean—rides shotgun and answers some deep musical questions (5:56), handles some brotherly trivia (16:04) and crushes Sean's musical genre trivia (21:40). Then Chuck and Sean take the wheel to discuss the many cons and the one single pro of prescription drug television ads (27:00). And Sean steers Chuck through a trivial tour across America to wrap up the trip (31:30).
Ketchup Reputation

Ketchup Reputation

2025-07-2631:57

Chuck gets the trivia started with a round about the origins of sports team names (01:40).Then Trivia Mafia Executive Vice-President Brenna Proczko joins the pod to rate some things on Chuck & Sean’s favorite scale: 1 through 10 no 7s (06:09), while calling out Sean's love of viscous fluids. Chuck combines trees and tears for a trivia round called “Arboretum and Weep” (11:07). Then Sean goes on the record with a round about vinyl (17:14). Chuck and Sean tackle the topic of locker room wang etiquette (22:37) and Sean elects to hit Chuck with some rapid-fire presidential trivia (25:00).
Poet extraordinaire Claire Wahmanholm joins the No Brains, No Lightbulbs crew to discuss crabs, vegetable orchestras, cocaine, citrus fruits, berets... pretty much everything except poetry. Sean celebrates the joys of watching cable TV (01:53). Chuck serves up a recent general knowledge round from Trivia Mafia (07:38) and then gives everybody crabs (mostly false crabs) in a round called "Crabfest Is Back!" (22:38). Sean cooks up some wordplay foodie trivia (31:40), Claire peels off some facts about vegetable orchestras (36:38), and then Chuck just barely survives a rapid-fire round of "Dead or Alive" (39:53). 
Jeopardy Loser

Jeopardy Loser

2025-07-1238:54

 It’s the debut episode! What a treat. Chuck and Sean introduce us to this new thing of theirs, and Chuck grills Sean on some barbecue trivia (04:02). Then they invite Trivia Mafia writer, editor, and social media manager (and Jeopardy alum!)  Mia McGill to play a round of “trivia golf,” whatever that is (15:39), followed by a round of movie before-and-afters (23:22). Finally, Sean makes Chuck answer a bunch of questions while he juggles four balls (33:37). (Chuck made sure we mentioned it was four balls so people wouldn’t think it was only three 🙄)
Trailer

Trailer

2025-07-0901:32

Chuck and Sean, the founders of Trivia Mafia, started a podcast. It's called No Brains, No Lightbulbs. Each week you can play a few rounds of trivia with Chuck and Sean plus a guest. In addition to trivia, the crew will field the sort of goofy questions your trivia team might ask you while you're waiting for your host to score your sheet. It's your trivia night, except now it’s a podcast.
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