We’re excited to introduce you to the Founder & Senior Quizmaster, Noah Tarnow.

Noah , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

What started as a passion project has evolved into a nationally recognized mission to redefine how people connect, engage, and find meaning through knowledge-driven trivia experiences.

In 2002, I launched The Big Quiz Thing with a clear purpose: to create dynamic, high-quality trivia experiences that spark curiosity, foster connection, and celebrate the joy of learning. My goal was simple, but bold: to prove that trivia can be more than bar games and quick facts—it can create meaningful, unifying, and memorable experiences.

More than two decades later, that mission has made The Big Quiz Thing the go-to professional trivia host for events of all sizes. As the demand for smarter, more engaging experiences grew, so did The Big Quiz Thing’s reach. Today it stands out as a trusted corporate entertainment host, producing unforgettable events for some of the world’s top companies and nonprofits.

When the world shifted to remote work, The Big Quiz Thing pivoted with agility, launching innovative, high-energy virtual team-building experiences that kept distributed teams laughing, thinking, and bonding. The BQT has hosted virtual team-building activities for hundreds of organizations, proving that connection and collaboration can thrive even from a distance. Beyond corporate audiences, The Big Quiz Thing has become a favorite trivia-night fundraiser host for schools, community groups, nonprofits, and cultural institutions. Each game is a chance to bring people together, raise funds, and inspire generosity through custom-crafted trivia that blends fun with impact.

Through it all, my team and I remain committed to The Big Quiz Thing’s mission: creating smarter, sharper, and more inclusive events that leave people not only entertained but genuinely connected.

Noah , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a creator, writer, and senior quizmaster of The Big Quiz Thing, the live trivia spectacular and America’s premier provider of custom corporate and private trivia events. A recognized national trivia authority, I have designed and hosted thousands of live game shows for clients from coast to coast, in addition to having starred in and written the BQT’s television adaptation (the world’s first bar-trivia TV show) and having designed the company’s pioneering digital trivia answer system. I also cohost the podcast I Don’t Get It: The Pop Culture Get-Off-My-Lawn-Cast; is a former editor for Rolling Stone and Time Out New York; have written trivia columns for Time Out, American Movie Classics, Mental Floss, Better Homes and Gardens, and Hemispheres; have written for and appeared on NPR’s Ask Me Another quiz show; and competed on both Jeopardy! and the VH1’s Name That Video. In 2017, I raised thousands of dollars for the ACLU by singing 400 karaoke songs in one year.

How Did Noah Start The Big Quiz Thing?

It was 2002, and I—a lover of obscure facts and habitual devourer of quirky reference books—found myself in my late 20s with a middling magazine-editing career and an utterly unremarkable stand-up comedy diversion in New York City. Wanting to put my knowledge to use, and eager to stay onstage in some capacity, I formulated a DIY quiz program—not a staid event like the handful of pub quizzes I saw throughout New York City, but a live trivia game show. (I also drew inspiration from my then-recent victory on an obscure VH1 game show, as well as a crushing loss on Jeopardy!) I convinced a Lower East Side burlesque bar to give me a Monday night, and the first ever edition of the Big Quiz Thing played for a packed house (and earned me more money than I’d ever made doing stand-up). A biweekly residency at the bar followed, leading to press attention, then regular events in other cities, and soon corporate and private opportunities. Since then, The Big Quiz Thing has grown into America’s premier providers of custom corporate and private trivia events.

What Sets Noah and The Big Quiz Thing Apart?

What truly distinguishes The Big Quiz Thing is its exceptional production value, thoughtful customization, and years of experience. Each event is carefully tailored to the audience, with every question crafted in-house to reflect the client’s voice and goals. More than just a trivia show, every moment is designed to foster connection, spark energy, and create a shared experience that resonates long after the final score.

What Is Noah Most Proud Of?

While I take great pride in having transformed my simple trivia geekiness into a thriving career, I am especially proud of unique experiences and stories that The Big Quiz Thing has resulted in. I have hosted thousands of events worldwide, in offices, bars, restaurants, private homes, backyards, bowling alleys, beaches, the backs of moving trucks, and the tops of skyscrapers. I entertained crowds from 3 to 1,000, ages 1 to 100, and for two U.S. governors, providing countless hours of fun to hundreds of thousands of people of every description and every level of trivia fandom.

CanvasRebel magazine readers can learn more about the services The Big Quiz Thing offers & also more about me at https://bigquizthing.com/.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I often say I fell ass-backwards into being an entrepreneur—I didn’t intend to start a business, but it happened when I decided I wanted to write and host trivia games, but couldn’t find anyone to hire me. So I hired myself, and the project evolved into a real business—slowly, carefully—over the past two-decades-plus. And while I have engaged with some business philosophies (I spent several years working with Entrepreneurs’ Organization), I mainly learn by doing and adhering to my principles: Honesty, transparency, and diligence. It hasn’t always been the most efficient way to run a business, but it’s the way that keeps me—and The Big Quiz Thing—going.

And of course, a veteran of many hours of many types of therapy (befitting a New Yorker), I have pieced together a bunch of ideas into my personal philosophy. Susan Jeffers’s Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway was formative, and a major influence on my specific decision to create my own trivia opportunities. I have always drawn wisdom from Kamal Ravikant’s Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It and Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bigquizthing.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigquizthing/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bigquizthing/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-big-quiz-thing/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BigQuizThing
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-big-quiz-thing-san-francisco