- Hi, I'm Geoffrey Baer.

This is the great Chicago Quiz Show.

Coming up, contestants from all over Chicagoland show us what they know - Look at that, how good are we together?

- But am I wrong?

I'm so nervous - Or don't know about the city and suburbs.

Tonight, we see how well you know your Chicago alphabet.

You know, your As, your Bs, your "yous".

We ask what a bread shortage in Puerto Rico has to do with a Chicago delicacy.

And we learn what Abe Lincoln did in his spare time.

Okay, all that's coming up in a minute, but first as we do each week, we start with a pop quiz just for you at home.

So don't get comfortable yet.

You ready?

Here's your quiz.

What letter of the alphabet is used as Chicago's municipal logo seen all over town on city buildings and infrastructure.

Is it a C, an M, a Y, or a T?

The answer?

That's coming up next on the great Chicago Quiz Show.

(upbeat intro music) - Hello, and welcome to the great Chicago quiz show.

The rules of this game are simple, have fun but if you get three wrong, you have to move to St. Louis and become a Cardinals fan.

All right, we're going to kick off the competition in a moment, but first the answer to that pop quiz I gave you a minute ago.

What letter of the alphabet is contained in Chicago's municipal logo seen on city buildings and facilities?

Did you know?

It is a Y, it is the letter Y What in the world does that have to do with Chicago?

I wonder if our first contestants know?

let's meet them right now (upbeat music) introducing the first round All right here, to put a smile on your face is someone who worked for me for years and then decided to become a clown.

- Yes.

Geoffrey Baer inspires clowns.

- We are now in the presence of Chicago Rock music royalty Nicholas Tremulis.

What does it say on your shirt there?

- It says, "My unyielding melancholy brings all the existentialists to the yard."

I think that all the time (laughs) - Next, we have the hardest working man in Chicago theater.

Wardell Julius Clark.

Hello Wardell.

- Hi, how's it going friend?.

Hi Ian.

- Hello, Geoffrey.

- [Geoffrey] All right, Now what did you have to do with the 2016 world series Cubs?

- [Ian] I was behind the wheel of one of the very first trolleys to roll through the streets.

And it was just an amazing day.

I did shake David Ross's hand.

I did say hi to Kyle Hendricks.

I don't think Theo Epstein remembers me saying congratulations, but I, I definitely did.

- [Geoffrey] Okay.

So Kristie, you're a trained journalist but you were so funny.

I said, you are a clown - Honestly, you are the first one who ever said it to me.

And I was like, what do you mean?

And it took me on a whole journey.

Seriously.

- I take all the credit, or the blame So wait a second.

You're really a clown, like a birthday party clown?

You scare kids and that kind of stuff.

- think more of like Patch Adams type.

- "Have you seen Ralph?"

- [Kristie] I started a theater company and we bring clowns or we call them comedic performers to nursing homes and children's hospitals and we help them find their joy with our funny antics.

I'm usually Gigi.

- Oh, here we go.

- Gigi loves feathers.

She loves hats.

- Okay well, listen, we better get to asking you some questions.

So we just learned that Chicago's municipal logo is not a C it's actually a letter Y sometimes upside down.

So why is our municipal symbol or device a Y?

Does it represent A., the railroads extending in all directions from Chicago?

B. the confluence of the three branches of the Chicago river kind of near the Merchandise Mart there.

C. Yankee doodle, a hero of Chicago's first settlers from the East or D., no one knows?

What do you think?

- I think C. and D. sound a little far-fetched.

- because it's been around so long.

I'm gonna say the river - My first instinct was the railroad.

So I'm going to go with B., the rivers.

- That is correct.

Never trust your first instinct.

- Okay.

- Yes, it is the three branches of the Chicago river.

And of course it's not Yankee Doodle.

I made that one up.

(rock music playing) - [Geoffrey] So, you've worked with some pretty well-known musicians in your career, yeah?

- Yeah yeah, all over the place.

Sonny Stitt was the first one I ever played.

Oh, Curtis Mayfield, Keith Richards.

- What was that like, playing with Keith Richards?

- I was one month sober and I stayed there for three days.

I called it my baptism in fire, and I made it through.

He made me feel more at ease than I felt around musicians I'd played with for 20 years.

He's just that type.

- [Geoffrey] Unbelievable.

All right.

Question number two.

What Chicago born writer was the first African-American woman to win a Primetime Emmy for outstanding writing in a comedy series?

Was it A., Shonda Rimes creator of Grey's Anatomy B., Robin Thede creator of A Black Lady Sketch Show on HBO C., Lena Waithe, creator of The Chi or D., Sherri Shepherd, co-host of The View.

- Holy moly.

Oh well Sherri's really funny.

- Is it Shonda Rimes, A.?

- Well, you know, you would think so.

'Cause she's like so famous and she's from Chicago, but no it's not.

It's not Shonda Rhimes.

- Was it B.?

- You Know, there's actually three more letters you want to just like, keep guessing all of them?

- Let's say B B, okay, that's Robin Thede and it is a Black Lady Sketch Show, which is comedy, but it is not her.

- Okay - I'm gonna say Lena Waithe - And why do you think that?

- I like award shows and I remember her acceptance speech.

- There you go.

And you are correct.

It was Lena Waithe.

She won for writing an episode of master of none.

- Thank you Academy for this.

We love y'all.

- [Wardell] The Thanksgiving episode of Master of None one of the best episodes of television.

- All right.

So you nailed that one.

I understand you're the hardest working man in Chicago theater.

Cause you're in like 16 plays or something right now.

- Well, I directed 16 plays in one year at one point.

- "Five , six, seven, eight."

- [Wardell] And even during the pandemic, I've been just generating ideas and manifesting and pushing things out.

I like to entertain people and you know, do my artist social justice work through it.

- [Geoffrey] That's wonderful.

Okay.

Third question.

What is buried in Red Gate Woods Forest Preserve in southwest suburban Palos Hills?

A., a time capsule from the 1933 World's Fair.

B., the world's first nuclear reactor.

C., the murder weapons from the St. Valentine's Day Massacre or D., 7,000 Confederate POW's from the Civil War.

- Oh, well it's not going to be 7,000.

POWs that's for sure.

- It's not the time capsule.

- [Geoffrey] This is out in the Southwest suburbs, far from Chicago where it might be safe to put something dangerous - Murder weapons.

- Those are dangerous for sure.

- I'm going to say the nuclear reactor - And you are correct.

- Oh, nice.

- That would be the most dangerous out of all those things you said actually.

That makes the most logical sense.

- Well, I don't know if it's logical.

It's kind of crazy.

And here's the answer Picnickers in Red Gate Woods are greeted by a rock inscribed with the words "Caution: Do Not Dig".

The world's first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile 1 was moved here in 1943 from the University of Chicago, twenty miles away.

Physicist Enrico Fermi's team had built it under the grandstands at the school's abandoned football field as part of the super secret Manhattan Project.

After successfully splitting the atom, the physicists and the Feds moved the primitive pile of graphite and uranium into the suburban forest to continue their experiments in safety and secrecy.

They code named the facility "Site A", later called Argonne National Laboratory.

When it moved again to a new location the defunct reactor was dismantled, encased in concrete and buried.

Over the years, monitors detected traces of radiation in the forest preserve and even found a small chunk of uranium, leading to a full remediation of the site in the 1990's.

So if you're hoping to nuke your hot dogs when you picnic there today, you're out of luck.

All right, Ian Cox you are such a superstar that we are going to keep you with us here for a few more minutes.

And we're going to give you a true/false lightning round.

(thunder booms) All right.

You ready?

Here we go.

- Okay.

- The Chicago fire was started by a cow kicking over a lantern in Mrs. O'Leary's barn - False - False, Yes.

The old water tower is the only building to survive the Chicago fire.

- False.

- False, you bet.

The South suburb of Blue Island really was once an Island.

- True.

- That is true.

In prehistoric Lake Chicago.

Mobster Baby-face Nelson was gunned down outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago.

- False.

- False, it's Dillinger.

Jesse Jackson ran for mayor of Chicago in 1979.

- False - False.

Very good.

The official state beverage of Indiana is water.

- True?

- It is true.

Unbelievable.

Half-day road in the Northern suburbs is so named because in frontier days it was a half-day's journey from Chicago.

- False.

- False, It's named for an Indian chief.

Prior to emancipation some early Chicago residents owned slaves.

- Ooh.

I'd hate for it to be true.

- Ah, Time's up.

What were you going to say?

- False - Actually, sadly it is true.

- Ah - Yeah.

- Well, nonetheless, you did great.

You got seven right, Congratulations.

- Thank you so much Geoffrey Baer.

A pleasure meeting you.

- Hello - Hello!

- Oh, wait, I gotta get my questions for you.

Sorry.

I came on without my props.

And now the second round.

By the way is that Hamilton behind you there on the shelf?

- Yes, that is my daughters are a fan of the play and I've seen it twice.

- And you didn't have to go into debt.

I could use a few tips on, on dancing.

Is there any kind of dance number I could add?

- I think you could do some really excellent tie-ography like grab your tie shift it from right to left.

Yes!

- Like that?

Use what you got, make it work.

- All right.

We are going to meet a food writer with a highly educated palate who tells us that we should not be afraid to grab a handful of bugs and throw them in our mouths as a snack.

David Hammond.

You're not serious?

- I'm like a one bite insect guy.

I mean, I'll throw it in my mouth and I'll chew on it but I don't want to make a meal out of it and have a, you know, a beetle the size of a hamburger on my plate.

But when you fry it, it just becomes like fried snacks.

It's inexpensive, it's high protein.

It's not going to kill you.

I mean, it may sound icky, but it's just, you know, another hunk of protein.

- Well you've given me a lot to think about, I think I think I'm going to change gears here and ask you some questions.

This first one is, is a sports question - I love playing.

I love seeing, I love supporting sports.

Love it.

- All right.

Good.

Here we go.

The Chicago American Giants dominated the Negro leagues between 1911 and the 1930's, originally playing in a wooden stadium called South Side Park.

Later, they moved to what field of dreams where they played all the way up until the 1950's.

Where did they play?

Was it A., U. S. Steel South Works Employee Ballpark B., Alonzo Stagg Field at the University of Chicago C., Comiskey Park or D., Wrigley Field.

- Wow.

Remember when I talked a big game about knowing so much about sports?

Thank you for instantaneously humbling me.

- Because I work at the University of Chicago.

I don't remember reading or hearing about anything happening at the University of Chicago.

- I was leaning towards A, but am I wrong?

I'm so nervous.

- No, it was not U.S. Steel South Works Employee Ballpark - So it's just between Comiskey and Wrigley.

- My gut response was Comiskey.

- And you're correct.

- Wohoo!

- All right.

- They used to play there until the 1950s.

They would play while the White Sox were out of town.

So Comiskey was pretty busy.

Uh, By the way, you named your daughter something in honor of Chicago?

- I did.

So my daughter is four years old.

Her name is Sasha Honoré.

After Bertha Honoré Palmer.

We go to the Art Institute a lot and I've admired the collection.

She went around the world and collected and donated - So, Bertha Honoré Palmer of course was the wife of Potter Palmer.

The great real estate magnate.

Did you know he actually built the second Palmer house as a gift to Bertha?

- Oh, that's sweet.

So that's what's standing there now?

- No, that burned down four days later in the Chicago fire.

All right, Next question.

In the 1986 John Hughes classic film, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Ferris and friends skipped school to visit multiple downtown Chicago icons.

You may remember that.

They visited all of these, except for one.

Which one did they not visit?

A., Millennium Park.

B., The Art Institute.

C., The Board of Trade or D., Sears Tower, now Willis Tower.

- Well, Millennium park didn't exist when that movie was made.

- Yes, that's true.

- So it's that.

- It is that, you're right!

- Because it didn't start until what, 2001?

- Actually 2004.

- Took them longer to build it then they thought, okay.

- Yeah, it missed the millennium by four years.

Okay.

So you are a choreographer.

What do you choreograph?

- I am a choreographer.

I'm also a director and an educator.

And I work in the arts, dance, theater and music.

I try to activate all different parts of the world and of space as much as I can - Even in your daily life.

Like, do you think about that?

Just like walking down the street - Without a doubt, actually When I go for daily walks and I'm listening to music, I won't lie, sometimes my body just wants to move.

Got to keep the arts alive one way or another.

- Wonderful.

Well, we got to ask you one more question here.

See if you can get this one.

The world's first Ferris wheel was such a hit at the 1893 World's Columbian exposition.

That immediately after the fair closed it was moved and reopened somewhere else.

Where did the Ferris wheel go immediately after the fair?

A., Riverview Amusement Park on the North Side, B., St. Louis C., a quiet residential street in Lincoln Park or D., the White City amusement park on the South side.

- Oh, I think it did go to the White City amusement park, Didn't it?

- My guess is D. - Well that would make sense, you know?

'Cause it was only a few blocks away.

And so therefore it's wrong.

- I'm going to say Riverview.

- Well, they were famous for roller coasters, not Ferris wheels.

- Oh, okay.

- I believe it's B., St. Louis.

No?

- It's a trick question.

It did go to St. Louis for the world's fair but it went somewhere in Chicago first.

- Don't tell me it went to Lincoln Park!

- You have struck out, It was the quiet residential street.

- You're kidding me.

- No, here's the story.

- [Geoffrey] Imagine a 26-story tall Ferris wheel on a residential street near Lincoln Park Zoo.

Actually, you don't have to imagine it.

The Lumiere brothers made one of the world's first motion pictures showing it in action.

The Ferris wheel was named for its 34 year-old inventor engineer George Washington Gale Ferris.

He had answered a challenge from organizers of Chicago's 1893 World's Fair to Out-Eiffel the Eiffel Tower which had dazzled Paris fairgoers four years earlier.

The wheels streetcar-sized gondolas held 60 people each.

That's more than 2000 riders at a time.

World's fair goers in Jackson park loved it.

But when Ferris moved it to the North side after the fair closed, the neighbors said, no thanks.

They voted their precinct dry ruining Ferris's business model.

Embroiled in lawsuits, Ferris went bankrupt.

His wife left him.

He got sick and died at age 37.

The wheel was sold into receivership and reassembled in St. Louis for the 1904 World's fair.

After that, it was dynamited and sold for scrap.

- [Geoffrey] Art Del Muro.

You have done such a great job that I'm going to ask you to stick around for a lightning round.

(thunder booms) - Now, both of your parents grew up in Mexico, is that right?

- My grandfather on my dad's side, immigrated to the South side in the early 1900s right there by the slip where U.S. Steel used to be.

- [Geoffrey] And they have these big concrete walls called the Ore Walls.

They were the only things left standing from South Works, 'cause they were too big to tear them down - [Art] Exactly Right.

So that is the steel mill that my grandfather had his entire career in.

And my father worked there a little bit before he joined the army.

- Yeah.

So you got a lot of history going there.

Okay.

When I say go, I want you to name as many professional Chicago sports teams as you can.

- Okay.

- One minute.

Ready?

Set.

Go.

- Chicago Bulls.

Chicago Bears, the Chicago Cubs the Chicago White Sox, the Chicago Fire, the Chicago Sting the Chicago Blackhawks.

- The Sting is not one of them.

- Oh, but current ones?

- Current!

There you go.

Sorry.

I should have said that.

- The Gary Railcats.

- Yes.

Very Good.

- There's a DuPage one too.

DuPage cougars?

- Yes.

Kane County cougars.

Good.

I'll give you that one And time.

- Oh, oh the Hockey team.

Dang it.

- What was the hockey team?

- The Wolves.

- The Wolves!

There you go.

- You got nine.

That was awesome.

- I thought you said all types.

And so I was trying to go back into the history there.

- Sure.

Blame the host.

- Sorry.

- All right.

We are about to meet someone who has performed on Letterman on Colbert.

Pat McGann, you've paid your dues.

You've now arrived at the big time.

The Great Chicago Quiz Show.

- You look great, man.

You look like a game show host.

- You know what?

I am.

- [Geoffrey] Ana Belaval, WGN Morning News.

You really get around.

- I get around town, pun intended.

My friend Geoffrey how are you?

- The White Sox, ESPN, all the time on our TVs every day, Jason Benetti.

Do you ever sleep?

- I'm a big like, hour nap in the afternoon guy.

- Does that really work?

It never works for me.

- If it's too short or too long, I wake up cranky.

- [Geoffrey] We are now going to meet a Golden Apple award winning teacher.

- Hi, what's up!

- Say hello to Carla Stone.

- Hi Geoffrey.

Woop Woop!

- [Geoffrey] It's the third round.

Weren't you doing, like your act from your house and like the worst audience was your kids.

- Yes, I was doing shows every night.

- "You guys are so fun.

Thank you so much."

- [Pat] All of a sudden I was like, I'm not doing shows.

I started doing like one minute pop-up shows.

I would ambush my kids.

- It's the Saturday late show.

Anyone from out of town?

- [Kid] What?

No, you're all from here.

- [Pat] And then they'd lose their minds and I would just do like a minute.

Yeah.

They really loved it.

- All right, Pat.

We're going to ask you some questions.

By the way, you know who else is in this round with you?

- I know - Ana - I've been texting her, side bets.

- I'm not gonna challenge Pat, because Pat is from the South side of Chicago.

- Do you have any trash talking for Ana right now?

- No, because, you know what I'm kind of nervous about the fact that I was, like, born and raised here.

And if I lose then... - All right, we're going to we're going to lower expectations here.

All right, here we go.

This statue in Chinatown of late Illinois appellate Judge, Laura Liu, is one of only three public monuments to actual historic women in Chicago.

The other two monuments honor whom?

Is it A., Jane Addams and Gwendolyn Brooks B., Jane Byrne and Mahalia Jackson.

C., Ida B.

Wells and Bertha Palmer or D., Frances Willard and Mary Todd Lincoln.

- Oh my goodness, so - I want to say C. - C., Ida B Wells and Bertha Palmer?

- I'm Just going to go with Ida B Wells.

- Oh, I'm sorry.

No.

- Oh!

- Which one is it?

- My first inkling was Jane Addams.

- Good instinct.

- Then you said Ida B Wells.

And I thought, wow, that would make sense as well.

but I'm going to go with A.

- You're right.

- Woo!

Jane Addams Monument is uh in a Prairie Avenue, historic district over by Clarke House.

It's actually these hands coming up out of the ground.

It's called "Helping Hands" by Louise Bourgeois.

And there's a Gwendolyn Brooks monument.

That was just unveiled last year in Gwendolyn Brooks Park - Gwendolyn Brooks.

Okay.

Mea Culpa.

- [Jason] We're one for one, Awesome.

- Yes, because you like the whole score, keeping thing - I, I can't avoid it.

- You Really do.

You have your dream job, right?

Like you've been dreaming about this since you were, like, eight.

- There was an assignment when I was in elementary school.

That was, "What are you going to be when you grow up?"

And my mom plucked this out of some bins somewhere in 2016 when I got the job, and I had written that I wanted to be the voice of the Sox like Hawk Harrelson.

What people don't know is, I wrote 50 of those and they ranged from, like, assistant manager at Marshall Field's, to space cowboy, and we just found the one that fit.

- All right.

I could talk to you all day, but I got to get to the questions here.

- We're on a show after all.

- All right, here we go.

Question number two.

Abraham Lincoln is the only president to have a patent.

What is it for?

A., a device to bind documents for easy searching B., an improved rail splitter C., a precursor to today's ballpoint pen or D., inflatable bellows to free riverboats that run aground - Wow.

This one's tough - You can give me your like, you know, reasoning.

I'd like to see behind the scenes.

- I know he was a lawyer before presidente, so - the ball point, I would know, 'cause I use pens.

- I think you're right.

Let's throw that one out.

- The rail splitting sounds very Abe-ish.

- He was the rail splitter.

That's true.

Then, definitely a rail splitter.

- You are correct.

No, no.

Wait, wait, wait.

Rail splitter?

I was so ready for you to get it right.

I didn't even hear what you said.

- Then what I'm going to choose is answer D., the bellows.

- And that is correct.

- Okay - McGann didn't get that one.

He doesn't know history.

- Oh, he got it wrong too.

So tell me something.

After the hurricane in Puerto Rico you really kind of made it your mission to tell that story, right?

- My family lives in Puerto Rico, and when Hurricane Maria hit my news director said, "would you like to go?"

"I'm going to send you, but emotionally, can you handle it?"

And I went down there and we covered the aftermath of hurricane Maria and was able to check up on my parents and my family and see how Chicago sent provisions there.

And we went to show people where the donations had gone.

And I started bridging a gap between the community on the mainland and the community on the Island.

And let me tell you, Geoffrey, I won an Emmy for that story.

And it's my most special of the four I have.

Not that I'm trying to throw, you know, like, humble brag here, but it was my honor.

- Ana, this third question we picked precisely for you.

- Ay Jesú, okay.

- This is Rigged.

So you're telling me it's rigged?

- It's Chicago, man A Puerto Rican Chicagoan named Juan 'Peter' Figueroa created a sandwich craze called the - Jibarito!

- Jibarito!

And they come in lots of varieties, pork, chicken, vegetarian but they have one thing in common, no bread.

Right?

So instead, a Jibarito is made on what?

A., Flattened fried plantains, B., Banana leaves C., Flattened, baked yams, or D., Pickled mango skin.

- Ooh.

- Have you ever had a Jibarito?

- I've not.

- They are delicious.

- Is that something you eat sober?

- I would think it'd be excellent.

As a late night snack.

- I'm going to go with banana leaves.

- Oh no.

- Ana, this is why I didn't talk any smack.

- Geoffrey.

If I didn't know this, they would take my Puerto Rican card away.

Jibaritos, instead of bread, they use dried flat plantains.

- Absolutely right!

- (mimicking bell) - Why have I not had one?

That's awesome.

- They are so good.

- Now you make me want one Geoffrey.

- Run out and get a Jibarito.

(latin music playing) Take a green plantain.

peel it, smash it flat, deep fry it.

And you have the essential building block to make a jibarito.

The word jibarito is slang that roughly translates to little hillbilly.

That's how Juan "Peter" Figueroa once described himself.

He's from the center of Puerto Rico where bread wasn't always so easy to come by, but there were plantains aplenty.

Peter didn't exactly invent the idea of using plantains instead of bread.

He read about it in a Puerto Rican newspaper.

He perfected his own recipe, originally with steak, melted cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo and garlic oil (hungry yet?)

and started serving it at his restaurant in Humboldt Park.

Soon, customers were lining up out the door.

Today jibaritos are on the menu at restaurants all over Chicago, as well as New York, LA, Florida, and yes, even Puerto Rico.

All right, before we go, it is time for a segment that we call the Contestant's Revenge (dramatic organ sting) where we turn the tables and one of our contestants gets to ask me a question, which is always a source of great stress for me.

And to do this, we are bringing back Kristie Vuocolo.

Kristie, You have a question for me.

- All right, yes I do.

- Oh gosh.

All right.

- We all remember Cows on Parade.

It was inspired by a similar exhibit in what country?

- is it A., Brazil, B., Wisconsin.

C., Switzerland or D., Iceland.

- Okay.

So Wisconsin is not a country.

So that one I can rule out.

I believe it was Switzerland.

- Yes, you are right.

That's too easy.

- No, I like that because I screwed up and did not get the good ones at all last week.

So at least I've redeemed myself.

And that's a good question because I think most people don't know that.

All right, Kristie Vuocolo thank you so much for joining us and thanks to all of our contestants and to you at home.

And don't forget to tune in next time for the great Chicago quiz show.

(upbeat outro music)