Noah and I have had an absolute blast hosting trivia at Cause for the past 2 1/2 years. But as with most things, there is an ending - and the end has arrived. Through this time, we've been privileged to work with some of the greatest staff you could imagine, and had the opportunity to provide entertainment for some of the coolest people we have ever met.
When we started, we honestly had no idea what to expect. We didn't even know if we would last longer than a month or two. But from the get-go, people showed up and supported us, made us better, and put up with our lame attempts at "jokes" and "witty banter". Through that, we saw opposing trivia teams interact with each other and form new friendships and relationships - which is really the point of a social gathering like this. Our hope was to entertain and bring people together, and we feel like we accomplished that.
June 11th, we will do our business-as-usual trivia, with DJ Knol on duty.
June 18th, we will rock that motherfucker with our last trivia at Cause. We are still working on details, but expect gift bags, treats, special guests, and tons of other prizes as we rehash 2 1/2 years of trivia in 2 hours. All 3 DJs will hopefully be on stage with us in what we are hoping is the sexiest-stage show of all time - and yes, we're counting Joe's all-nude production of "Guys and Dolls" that he did in 2004. The police investigation is still ongoing.
For now, thanks are in order.
First of all, we are forever grateful for our awesome DJ trio, Knol Tate, Tim Anderson, and Martine Lizama. Every week, they each came prepared with an eclectic playlist of music and entertained people more than we did, and they did it without a microphone. They didn't get a chance to speak much, so these next few weeks make sure you get a chance to talk to them and say thanks. These are some of the coolest, funniest people you are ever going to meet, and are honestly the backbone of what we do. Thanks dudes and dudette - let's go get chocolate wasted, and soon.
Also, thank you to the few people that have subbed in for us when one of us couldn't host - Scott Johnson and Michael Manosack. It was always hard coming back the next week and hearing about how you two were so much funnier than us. We still don't know if you paid people to say that, but it was pretty convincing. Thanks for bailing us out.
Next, we have to give it up for the awesome Cause service staff. The waiters, waitresses, cooks and bartenders all made our lives infinitely easier, all while putting up with our shit - which is no easy feat. When you go out for a social evening on the town, you hope to find a place with workers that have a great personality and are professional. These people have that and so much more in spades. Cannot say enough good things about the service staff there - thank you for making our Mondays better. We owe you. Make sure you stop by Cause whenever you can and show them some love - they'll keep serving up awesome food in the sweet Lake & Lyndale location for years to come.
Thanks so much to Cause's owner Mike Riehle. J&N Trivia and Cause (Sauce!) both started out together and grew up alongside each other. Mike was more than giving with his time and resources to help us succeed, especially in the early going at a point when no one could blame him if he was more focused on the venue and menu. He gave us the opportunity to do our thing and entertain, innovate, and have fun. Dave Cartwright, the first manager we had the privilege of working with at Cause, helped lead us along and build up our audience. We're still friends to this day, and we can honestly say that he is the coolest "boss" we have ever worked for.
Finally, and obviously most importantly - thank YOU. When we started out in November of 2009, trivia was still a relatively new trend in the area. We were lucky to get in on the ground floor, at a time when it was really just us, the fantastic Trivia Mafia, and a few other places doing what we do. But with anything like this, success only happens when people show up and are committed - and right from the get-go, you were there. In the past few years, when the local trivia market became almost hilariously saturated, you stuck by us. Through everything, we found we had an awesome mix of new faces and reliable regulars every Monday night ready to be engaged, give feedback, and have fun. All of our success and longevity is a testament to you being there for us. We will never be able to repay you (figuratively and literally - we're broke Minneapolis dudes), but we sure would like you to know that it was fun getting to hang out with you.
Noah and I will host our final two trivia nights, then take a much-needed break for a few months. We've written over 2,700 questions and 130+ sound/image rounds over the past 2 1/2 years. There is only so many "Twin Peaks", "What About Bob?", Minnesota Wild and "Arrested Development" questions we can think of. We're only human, people!
Sometime this fall we will regroup and consider our next move. We love hosting trivia. We would like to keep it going at a different location, and we already have a few options in mind. We've been fortunate that other businesses in the area have expressed interest in J&N trivia, so we definitely have options. But for now, we would like to close this chapter in our lives with a bang.
If you can, please come out these next (last) 2 weeks. We would love to see you. We also mean this whole heartedly - and not in that "OMG WE'LL BE BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!!!" post-high school kind of way, where you swear you'll hang out that summer but never see each other again - but please please please... don't be strangers. We'll keep our twitter and Facebook accounts open, and we're always very easy to access. Minneapolis is our home, and we're always roaming the area. Don't be afraid to say hi.
Thanks for being there.
Thanks for everything.
- Joe & Noah
joeandnoah@gmail.com
Twitter: joenoahtrivia
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