Let’s be honest – regular pub quizzes can sometimes get a bit… well, dry. You know the drill: “Who was the 23rd president?” or “What’s the capital of Azerbaijan?” Yawn. But throw in some hilarious questions that make everyone laugh while they’re scratching their heads, and suddenly your trivia night becomes the highlight of everyone’s week!
I’ve hosted dozens of pub quizzes over the years, and I’ve learned that funny questions create those memorable moments where someone laughs so hard they spill their drink (sorry about that, Dave). A good mix of humor and trivia keeps everyone engaged – even that friend who claims they “hate quizzes” but somehow always shows up.
Whether you’re hosting at your local pub, having friends over, or organizing a virtual quiz night, these questions will transform your event from just another trivia night into an evening full of laughs and friendly competition. I’ve organized everything into five rounds to make your quiz master duties super easy!
Round 1: General Knowledge Giggles
Get ready to kick things off with these 25 hilarious general knowledge questions that’ll have your quiz team both thinking and laughing!
- What do you call a bear with no teeth?
- According to a Norwegian study, what’s the average number of times people check if their refrigerator is still closed after opening it at midnight?
- In ancient Rome, what unusual item did wealthy women sometimes use as a beauty mask?
- What animal’s milk can’t be made into cheese?
- In a 2019 survey, what did 7% of Americans believe about chocolate milk?
- What does “Hakuna Matata” mean, and why did it become Disney’s most profitable phrase?
- What bizarre job did ancient Egyptian priests have that involved plucking every hair from their bodies?
- What unlikely animal was once used to deliver mail in Belgium?
- In medieval England, what unusual punishment was given to people who gossiped too much?
- What unexpected item did Queen Elizabeth II request on her visit to NASA?
- Which bird can recognize itself in a mirror and is known to hold grudges against specific humans?
- What food was once prescribed as a remedy for the bubonic plague?
- Which country has a town where it’s illegal to die?
- What surprising animal has fingerprints nearly identical to humans?
- Which world leader was so paranoid that he had eight identical bedrooms and would randomly choose one each night?
- What do dogs have that humans don’t?
- In 1567, what was the punishment in France for being a vegetarian?
- What’s the technical term for the noise your stomach makes when you’re hungry?
- What bizarre product was invented in 1960 to help chickens from pecking each other?
- Which common household pet has three eyelids?
- What color were the original Coca-Cola bottles, and why did they change?
- What strange sporting event in England involves chasing a rolling cheese down a hill?
- What did Vikings use to start their fires that might surprise you?
- What physical feature do armadillos and humans have in common?
- What’s the only food that never spoils?
Round 1 Answers
- A gummy bear!
- Three times on average
- Crocodile dung
- Whale milk (it’s too fatty and thick)
- That chocolate milk comes from brown cows
- “No worries” – Disney has made over $1 billion in merchandise with this phrase
- Hair pluckers – they believed hair was impure
- Cats (in the 1870s for about five years)
- The “scold’s bridle” – a metal cage locked around the head with a spike to hold down the tongue
- A piece of the moon (they had to tell her they couldn’t give her one)
- Crows
- Garlic
- Norway (Longyearbyen – because bodies don’t decompose in the permafrost)
- Koalas
- Saddam Hussein
- Eighteen muscles in each ear
- Death
- Borborygmi
- Chicken glasses/spectacles
- Cats
- Green (they changed because there wasn’t enough copper during wartime)
- Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling
- Mushrooms (specifically, a fungus called touchwood)
- We both can get leprosy
- Honey
Whew! How’d you do on that round? I always find it’s the questions that seem completely ridiculous that turn out to be true. Speaking of ridiculous but true things, did you know that a duck’s quack actually does echo? The myth that it doesn’t has been thoroughly debunked, but people still believe it!
Want more brain-bending questions to challenge your friends? Check out our collection of philosophical questions that will really get everyone thinking!
Round 2: Multiple Choice Madness
Now let’s up the ante with some multiple-choice questions. Sometimes having options makes it even funnier when you realize the correct answer!
- What was the original purpose of bubble wrap when it was invented in 1957?
a) Packaging material
b) Wallpaper
c) Children’s toy
d) Insulation - In Japan, what can you rent if you’re feeling lonely?
a) A robot companion
b) A family
c) A friend to listen to your problems
d) All of the above - What unusual thing did Thomas Edison build for his future wife?
a) A mechanical bird that sang
b) A piano that played itself
c) A talking doll with his voice
d) A chair that proposed marriage - Which of these is NOT a real phobia?
a) Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia – fear of long words
b) Arachibutyrophobia – fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth
c) Nomophobia – fear of being without mobile phone coverage
d) Euphobia – fear of hearing good news - In medieval France, what animals were once put on trial?
a) Dogs who barked during church
b) Cats suspected of witchcraft
c) Pigs who committed crimes
d) Horses who refused to work - What odd thing do male emperor penguins do to attract a mate?
a) Collect colorful rocks
b) Present the female with a fish
c) Sing the loudest
d) Stand completely still for days - In the 1800s, what strange job existed in England that has since disappeared?
a) Professional mourner
b) Knocker-upper (person who woke people up for work)
c) Rat catcher
d) Leech collector - What unusual thing did astronauts have to do before setting foot on the moon?
a) Fill out customs forms
b) Call their parents
c) Brush their teeth
d) Draw straws to decide who goes first - What’s the maximum number of times you can fold a standard piece of paper in half?
a) 7
b) 8
c) 9
d) 10 - Which country briefly had a law that stated everyone had to be happy or face penalties?
a) North Korea
b) Bhutan
c) Thailand
d) UAE - Which of these unusual world records is NOT real?
a) Most snails on face
b) Fastest time to drink a bottle of ketchup
c) Longest time spent watching paint dry
d) Most T-shirts worn at once - What unexpected material was used to make the first Frisbees?
a) Pie tins
b) Garbage can lids
c) Vinyl records
d) Cake pans - Which animal can’t jump?
a) Elephant
b) Hippo
c) Sloth
d) Giraffe - What happens if you sneeze with your eyes open?
a) Your eyes will pop out
b) You’ll rupture your eardrums
c) Nothing special
d) You’ll temporarily go blind - In 16th century Europe, what was considered a fashionable hair color that people tried to achieve?
a) Blue-black
b) Orange
c) Bright red
d) Pure white - What was banned in Indonesia because it was considered “too sexy”?
a) Yoga
b) Minesweeper (the computer game)
c) Dancing
d) High heels - What bizarre law existed in Victorian England regarding umbrellas?
a) Men needed a license to carry one
b) Opening one indoors was punishable by fine
c) Only the nobility could use them
d) They had to be a specific color based on social class - What unlikely animal was once used to deliver film reels to movie theaters?
a) Carrier pigeons
b) Dogs
c) Monkeys
d) Trained raccoons - What was the original filling in Twinkies?
a) Vanilla cream
b) Banana cream
c) Chocolate
d) Strawberry - If you have trypophobia, what are you afraid of?
a) Triplets
b) Opening doors
c) Clusters of small holes
d) The number three
Round 2 Answers
- b) Wallpaper
- d) All of the above
- c) A talking doll with his voice
- d) Euphobia – fear of hearing good news
- c) Pigs who committed crimes
- a) Collect colorful rocks
- b) Knocker-upper (person who woke people up for work)
- a) Fill out customs forms
- a) 7
- b) Bhutan
- c) Longest time spent watching paint dry
- a) Pie tins
- a) Elephant
- c) Nothing special
- c) Bright red
- b) Minesweeper (the computer game)
- a) Men needed a license to carry one
- c) Monkeys
- b) Banana cream
- c) Clusters of small holes
Fun fact: During World War II, Twinkies were originally filled with banana cream, but when bananas became scarce during the war, they switched to vanilla cream – and it was so popular they never went back!
Looking for more fun questions to keep the party going? Explore our collection of random questions to ask a guy that make for great conversation starters!
Round 3: Fifty-Fifty Funnies
Let’s simplify things with some true or false questions that sound totally made up, but some are surprisingly true!
- True or False: Octopuses have three hearts.
- True or False: In Switzerland, it is illegal to own just one guinea pig.
- True or False: The average person will spend six months of their life waiting at red lights.
- True or False: A chef’s hat has exactly 100 pleats.
- True or False: In ancient Egypt, servants were covered in honey to attract flies away from the pharaoh.
- True or False: The world’s oldest piece of chewing gum is over 9,000 years old.
- True or False: A group of flamingos is called a “flamboyance.”
- True or False: Cows have best friends and get stressed when separated from them.
- True or False: In Japan, it’s considered rude to finish all the food on your plate.
- True or False: The inventor of the Pringles can is buried in a Pringles can.
- True or False: When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.
- True or False: The world record for the longest time without blinking is just over an hour.
Round 3 Answers
- True – They have three hearts, nine brains, and blue blood!
- True – It’s considered animal cruelty to keep just one as they’re social animals.
- True – Depressing but true.
- True – They’re said to represent the 100 ways to cook an egg.
- True – They were called “human fly paper.”
- True – It was found in Finland and was made from birch bark tar.
- True – Other fun group names include a “murder” of crows and a “parliament” of owls.
- True – Studies show they form close bonds with specific cows.
- False – It’s actually the opposite. Finishing your food shows you enjoyed it.
- True – Upon his death, some of Fredric Baur’s ashes were buried in his invention.
- True – It’s not actually blood, but a red oily secretion that acts as sunscreen.
- False – The record is just 40 minutes and 59 seconds.
Did I stump you with any of those? The guinea pig law in Switzerland always gets people! They’re such social creatures that it’s considered animal cruelty to keep just one, so the law actually protects them from loneliness. How sweet is that?
If you enjoyed these head-scratching questions, you might also like our collection of math trivia questions that will really test your brain power!
Round 4: Joke-Based Questions
This round is pure fun – the questions set up the joke, and the answers deliver the punchline!
- Why don’t scientists trust atoms?
- What do you call a fake noodle?
- How does a penguin build its house?
- What do you call a parade of rabbits hopping backwards?
- Why don’t eggs tell jokes?
- What did the ocean say to the beach?
- Why did the scarecrow win an award?
- How do you organize a space party?
- What’s orange and sounds like a parrot?
- Why can’t you hear a pterodactyl go to the bathroom?
Round 4 Answers
- Because they make up everything!
- An impasta!
- Igloos it together!
- A receding hare-line!
- They’d crack each other up!
- Nothing, it just waved!
- Because he was outstanding in his field!
- You planet!
- A carrot!
- Because the “P” is silent!
I once told these jokes at a family quiz night, and my uncle laughed so hard at the pterodactyl joke that he choked on his drink. We still haven’t let him live it down! These joke questions are perfect for breaking the ice or lightening the mood if the competition gets too intense.
Want more laugh-out-loud content for your social gatherings? Check out our collection of funny ways to say hello that will bring smiles to everyone’s faces!
Round 5: Food Picture Quiz
For this round, you’ll need to prepare images of the following foods, but presented in unusual or extreme close-up ways that make them hard to identify. I’m providing descriptions of what to show and the answers.
- Show an extreme close-up of the bubbles in Swiss cheese
- Display a kiwi fruit cut in a way that’s not immediately recognizable
- Show the inside pattern of a pomegranate
- Display a close-up of the individual “bumps” on a raspberry
- Show the inside of a dragon fruit without revealing its exterior
Round 5 Answers
- Swiss cheese – Those holes are actually called “eyes” in cheesemaking!
- Kiwi fruit – The seeds arranged in that circular pattern are a giveaway once you know it!
- Pomegranate – Those ruby red chambers of seeds look almost alien when zoomed in!
- Raspberry – Each little bump is actually an individual fruit containing a seed; raspberries are aggregate fruits!
- Dragon fruit – That speckled black and white interior looks nothing like its flamboyant pink exterior!
This round always gets people arguing over what they’re looking at! I remember one quiz where two friends nearly had a falling out over whether the pomegranate was a strawberry or not. Food can be so deceptive when you look at it closely!
Final Thoughts
Hosting a pub quiz should be about creating memorable moments with friends, not just testing knowledge. These funny questions help break the ice, get everyone laughing, and ensure even the “I hate trivia” friend has a good time. Mix these rounds with some of your own questions tailored to your friend group for an even more personalized experience.
Remember, the best quiz masters keep things moving, don’t take themselves too seriously, and make sure everyone feels included. It’s not about how many questions people get right—it’s about how many times they laugh along the way!
So grab some drinks, gather your friends, and get ready for a trivia night they won’t stop talking about for weeks. And if anyone complains about the questions being too hard, just remind them that Google was once almost named “BackRub” – which is absolutely true and will definitely distract them from their complaints!
If you’re looking for even more fun group activities, don’t miss our guide to two truths and a lie ideas that make for another perfect party game!
Happy quizzing!