The kids are, indeed, alright.
In fact, they may be sharper than I was, and I was on a national-finals team when the high school quiz series was on CBC in the '70s.
On the other hand, though they could find the Gulf Of Aqaba blindfolded, I might have to explain to them who The Who are.
The provincial finals air tomorrow, pitting U of T Schools against Community Hebrew Academy.
Almost as dramatic as the competition is the marked contrast between the hosts. Ex-TVO Kids host Joe Motiki is quizmaster for the provincials, while BookTelevision's Daniel Richler hosts the nationals starting Dec. 15.
Motiki - whose set is reminiscent of The Family Feud - hosts at about 10,000 watts, going all Wayans on the teen academics, calling them "homeboy" and hyping the game at top volume. Richler hosts the previously-taped nationals with the demeanor of an "invigulator" (a Brit term for "exam overseer").
We got Motiki and Richler - who hadn't met - to talk about it.
SUN: So what was your approach to hosting this show?
RICHLER: "Well, Joe is more of an entertainer than I am, that's fairly evident. I tried to be like Alex Trebek from hell with the (black) jacket and cutting looks. I was aiming for gothic fun. I like being an invigulator, and my memories of it (in English private school) are almost Victorian, it was so long ago."
MOTIKI: "TVO wanted high energy from me, so I goofed around and had a lot of fun and tried to make it as loud as I could. I love sports, so to me this is mental sports. 'Oh, they're 20 points behind, but North Dundas is coming on strong!'"
SUN: Were you surprised by what these kids know?
RICHLER: "In the pop cultural area, I was surprised at the gaps. They learn what Ceylon became, but they don't seem to have studied what band Paul McCartney went to or came from. Pop culture wasn't emphasized like geography."
SUN: I noticed a round where they couldn't identify Neil Young. But that's Boomer culture. Is it as important to know who Dickie Betts is, as it is to know the periodic table?
MOTIKI: "Who's Dickie Betts?"
RICHLER: "The Allman Brothers, man."
MOTIKI: "Stuff that was right now, they were on. I remember a question about Nickelback, which they got. But if you went back a bit, they'd be struggling with a question about U2 ... U2!"
RICHLER: "It's an impossibly vast area, pop culture. You can be a fan of arcane industrial dance, and know who made the tea on the remastered 12" of Einstuerzende Neubauten's third release ... but know nothing about Alanis Morissette. That can be forgiven, but I guess you don't forgive Ceylon and Sri Lanka."
SUN: Does it bug you when they buzz in after hearing only a few words of the question? They used to spoof that on SCTV.
MOTIKI "Half Wits! That was funny! Nah, they're eager. That's how you play the game. Everybody likes to compete."
RICHLER: "I'm in awe of their reflexes and powers of retention. But I wonder how useful this kind of learning is. George Steiner said at the Living Literacies conference recently, 'It's not what you learn by rote, it's what you learn by heart.'"
SUN: In other words, you don't retain what you don't like?
MOTIKI: "I'll tell you, I never liked calculus. It never helped me once. I don't remember a bit of it."
RICHLER: "I suppose you could add to Steiner's adage that fear and aggravation will help you learn. I do remember the formula for potassium permanganate - KMn04 - because in class it blew up in a bowl of water and embedded a kid's forehead with 20 little grains of potassium permanganate."
MOTIKI: "Ouch!"
THE TORONTO SUN Entertainment Jim Slotek December 7, 2002
