An Interview with Hooked on Trivia's Mike Cook
Page 2 of 3

LP: Do you write all your own questions for the show?

MC: I write and produce every single stitch of this show.

LP: How many questions have you had on the show?

MC: I don't know. I've never - it is one of those things where you don't think - (laughs) you don't really - when you first go on the air with something like this, especially the way that I started - I wasn't even in the radio business at the time. I never would've dreamt I'd be going stronger than ever 20 years later practically. Like so many things on TV and radio, you don't always keep track of those things from day one. And many, many years down the road - four or five years down the road - you think "Gee, maybe this would be a good thing to do." You're looking at a mountain of work. I don't know specifics but I'm guessing we're looking at several hundred thousand questions. Probably close to a million or more questions and game elements have been aired in that period of time.

LP: And you've written them all - that's pretty amazing.

MC: And I've created every single word that you hear going out over the air.

LP: Do you ever accept question from outside sources?

MC: Well, in your case, if you were to give me some because I know you're reliable, I would. Sometimes I've had sponsors come in and do trivia regarding their businesses. For example, Ringling Brothers Circus is coming. Other than that I almost never allow input from outside because unless I can verify it I don't air it.

LP: I'm sure you've had quite a few humorous or memorable moments over the years. Are there any that stick out in your mind?

MC: (quickly responded) No.

LP: Really?

MC: I was just asked that by the LA Times San Diego edition, and for the life of me I couldn't come up with a single thing that was unusual about callers and all that. I think it is, number one, we don't invite any kind of unusual element. We're not a shock show or a show that would really tend to invite anything wacky or crazy or weird. So I've been lucky in that regard. The other thing is that there is so much material there that is just hard to comb it all and to think back at those kind of trivialities, if you will. So I'm afraid I'm really bad at coming up with really significant moments, sorry to say.

LP: Getting back to Disney - we have a trivia contest on our site and I talk to a lot of people who are into Disney trivia and there are a lot of those classic Disney trivia questions that everyone seems to come up with. Do you have any favorite Disney trivia questions?

MC: Oh gosh…I don't know. I think I tend to like - well I don't know. Not really. I think the best trivia questions that I tend to favor tend to come from questions about the park when it was new - you know like 50s and early 60s trivia about Disneyland itself. Some of which is not stuff you can find but little innuendo type stuff that I might recall myself. For example - but this probably isn't a very good example because it isn't social proper anymore - but putting out the question "What could people see around the burning cabin that they can't see anymore?" And it was a settler with an arrow in his chest. You know, unusual stuff like that and stuff you aren't likely to find anywhere unless you saw it yourself. And "which ride came first," "which elements in the Park took longer to make," things about the park itself are the most interesting and intriguing.

LP: You're more interested in the park then the films?

MC: Yeah, I think I am.

LP: Did you grow up watching Disney films as well?

MC: Oh yeah. Just like anyone else I went to see all of them and so forth. I wouldn't say that I'm a huge, huge fan, you know. But my favorite film was Lady and the Tramp. I don't think I ever saw 101 Dalmatians growing up. It was - a lot of people don't realize this but that was their most successful film in terms of gross dollars worldwide until the advent of what I call the blockbuster movie starting with The Little Mermaid.

LP: I didn't realize that either.

MC: It had done more than Snow White or any other movie. It was the first Disney movie to go over $200 million worldwide - you have to look at worldwide stats, not just domestic. But you know, Cinderella and all that - it was an event to go watch these movies in the big theater as a kid. It was a huge event.

LP: Do you still enjoy seeing the newer movies today?

MC: Yeah. I really, really enjoyed Aladdin. I'd say Aladdin is probably my all time favorite next to…uh..from a purely child's point of view Lady and the Tramp was always the favorite - still is - but for overall as an adult and so on I think Aladdin is the funniest and just a great movie. Beauty and the Beast is cool you know. They're not quite the same as they used to be - they don't have the same impact obviously as an adult. My youngest child is 15 going on 16…but my grandkids are completely hooked on Disney. I mean totally hooked.

I hate to see it get into such a commercial venture like Atlantis, oh boy, because its not going to do three or four hundred million dollars people get sorrowful.

I mean, it gets ridiculous. So dollar driven and Wall Street oriented now. That's too bad I think.

[Cook added later in an email...] I should have included The Lion King among my all-time favorite Disney films. Did you know that The Lion King is the 6th highest grossing film of all time at box offices world wide? At $771.9 million it is even ahead of such notable films as "ET" which is #7 with $704.8 million. And this does not even include video sales/rentals, trademarked accessories, books, direct to video sequels, TV rights, etc.

LP: You mentioned your favorite films, do you have a favorite ride at Disneyland?

MC: As a kid it was Mr.Toad's Wild Ride. As an adult the Matterhorn Bobsleds still. I swear I've been - I go on all the roller coasters with my kids everywhere, Magic Mountain - I'm not afraid of much, but really the Matterhorn Bobsled is just a great ride still today. I don't think anything can beat it for overall genuine fun without getting all jerked around and wasted. And it's a good long ride and its my favorite.

Matterhorn was the very first major roller coaster I ever rode on.

Disneyland's Matterhorn