Dave Oliver

President & Founder

Dave simply isn’t human. It is widely speculated that he never sleeps, but if he does, there is no doubt he continues to design trivia answer sheets in his dreams. As President and Founder of Trivia, AD, his tireless leadership and vision is what keeps this business growing. Being married to his beautiful wife, Kara and a dad to his two amazing boys has left him searching for the meaning of the word “balance” within his life. He’s a huge New York Yankees fan, lover of Pearl Jam and started Trivia, AD with his love of Seinfeld. Dave strives for perfection in everything he does, including his hair, although he inexplicably insists on covering it with a baseball hat more often than not.

Kara Oliver

“The Boss"

Kara eats, sleeps, breathes, and dreams Disney, and has been a super fan since her first visit in 1977! She knows a dream is a wish your heart makes as she is in her 5th year as a travel agent specializing in Disney, thrilled to help hundreds of families add value, not cost to their Disney vacations. You’ll find her on Facebook and Instagram at Fairytale Journeys by Kara, and in Disney World 4-6 times a year with her husband and 2 boys. A long-time trivia buff, Kara has been with Trivia AD since 2010 when she met the owner, marrying him in 2011. Originally from upstate NY, Kara has lived in the NYC area for 20 years, and considers winning Cash Cab the highlight of her trivia “career.”

“LP”

Jedi Princess

LP is Trivia AD’s longest running host and is a Jedi Princess, proud Ravenclaw and huge Disnerd. She can recall minor details from TV shows, books and movies from years past, yet ask her what she had for breakfast? Not a clue. LP has been living in Hoboken and working in NYC for over a decade now. She is so full of random fun facts and pop culture knowledge, that there is no room for actual things to help her daily life. Thank the Seven Gods she’s so ridiculously good looking (and humble). LP’s random knowledge however, has made her a game show winner, lead her to appear on PBS and write and host trivias at a few of her favorite places like New York Comic Con and Liberty Science Center. When she’s not hanging out in the NYC area, you can find her in any of the Disney Parks around the World. She loves working for Trivia AD because while we all may not be into the same fandoms, the passion people have for theirs is intoxicating and amazing.

Kirsten Messier

The Captain

Kirsten’s alter ego is Batman, Adam West’s Batman to be specific. You could never tell by her rural surroundings that she grew up just twenty minutes away from Taylor Swift’s new swanky Rhode Island pad. When her grand plan to become Maroon 5′s manager fell through, she decided to take a gig instead at an advertising agency putting all those catchy hits and jingles you love to hate into commercials. Proving her allegiance to the US’s greatest city, Kirsten supports all things Yankees, Giants, and Rangers. Kirsten unabashedly enjoys listening to Josh Groban and still has faith that he might just be “the one.” She always knew that, one day, her vault of useless knowledge would bring joy to others.

Tom O’Beirne

Master of Domain

Tom passed his dreams so long ago, they’re now chasing him. He has a 3rd place trophy for “competitive jogging in place” and countless participation ribbons. He’s been fired from more jobs than he’s been hired for and was recently allowed to sit at the adult table at his family’s Thanksgiving. In addition to being hilarious and charming, he’s hilarious and charming. His retention of Seinfeld knowledge exceeds anything he learned anywhere, ever. A reformed Van Buren boy, he is currently aspiring to the level of enlightenment only attainable by completing the Ron Swanson “Pyramid of Greatness.” He is currently on “Skim Milk: Avoid it.” Tom read a book once. Yada yada yada – and then he joined Trivia, AD.

Allison St. Rock

Moment Capturer

Allison hails from Mystic, CT but is proud to call NYC her home of nine years (and proud of her sweet Brooklyn/Rhode Island hybrid accent to boot). She graduated from Rhode Island College with a BA in Musical Theatre and has also studied at The Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Allison is a composer, playwright, and performer, and when she’s not hosting trivia events and binge watching her favorite shows (Buffy, HIMYM, and the L Word, among others), she is probably writing music, tap dancing, or drinking wine.She’s written two full-length musicals, and her first single is now available on Spotify, iTunes, and all music platforms, and she is currently working on her first EP, to be released mid 2021.

Edan Stanley

Jersey Girl

Edan is a born and raised Jersey native and proud of it. She uses her blinker on every jug handle and feverishly defends taylor ham. By day, she’s an editor and will annoyingly correct your grammar. But by night she will also correct your grammar while cooking up a tasty meal because hosting is one of her favorite things to do. At home with her ferocious mini house panther, a delightfully tubby cat named Willa, she can be found binging television shows and movies in unprecedented timing. All time favorites include Gilmore Girls, Harry Potter, Parks and Rec, and obviously, Twilight. Go ahead and @ her. #TeamEdward4Life. With Trivia AD, Edan embraced her inner theater kid and found the perfect balance of being a super fan and an insufferable know-it-all. She is thrilled to be a part of such a great team and hopes to bring some joy to the events she works.

Darryl Mayhand

The Office Guy

If you ask me do you want to form an alliance with me or do you want to do trivia the answer is the same: Absolutely I do! After winning a couple Trivia, AD events, Darryl Mayhand is a musical theater turned trivia nerd, and The Office is life….he lives by a very specific creedo: Bears, Beets, Battlestar Gallactica. Born and raised in NYC, he is infatuated with his home city and brags about it endlessly. When not shouting Office quotes, song lyrics, or all sorts of city facts, Darryl can be found acting on a stage near you with Round The Bend Theatre, giving you jazz you’ve never imagined with his band Brasstracks, or just looking for the next good thing to eat in his neighborhood.

Kyle Stover

Voice Actor & Dungeon Master

A Minnesota transplant and a massive nerd, Kyle’s been living in Brooklyn for almost a decade and employs his Theater degree and improv training to host lively trivia events and fantastical games of Dungeons & Dragons each week. While he can’t tell you anything about Sports, he can talk to you all day about Marvel, video games, anime, Renn Faires, and the latest TikTok trends.
What he loves most about trivia is that it’s a place where your very niche knowledge finally gets real world application.

Genna Matarazzo

MCU Supernerd

Genna attended her first Trivia, AD event in the fall of 2018, was immediately hooked, and joined the hosting team a year later. She watches too much TV and an excessive amount of movies, but claims it’s “research” since she holds a degree in film production and works as a freelance writer. Genna loves musicals, is a huge Disney fan, a proud Ravenclaw, an MCU supernerd, and a member of house Stark (according to a Buzzfeed quiz). She loves food and sometimes wishes she was a hobbit so that she could get away with eating seven meals a day. Genna is delighted to be hosting Trivia, AD events virtually and sharing her love of movies, TV, and trivia with so many others.

Adam Pacecca

H.E. Pennypacker

Hailing from a small town in Rhode Island, Adam came to NYC by way of a college career in Albany to come work for New York’s best hospital and, more importantly, New York’s best trivia company. He has always had an affinity for trivia, and got his start becoming the person everyone playing trivia knew as “the guy who plays by himself and gets first place”. After a hard day of screening cells for cancer, Adam can be found watching, studying, and praising the greatest TV show of all time: Seinfeld. In any situation he can find a Seinfeld reference in and is not shy about gushing about it to whoever will listen. When not obsessing over Seinfeld, Adam likes to explore the city, listen to classic rock, re-watch his favorite TV shows and movies without watching new ones, reading and spend time with friends. He knows to always look to the cookie, that it’s not a lie if you believe it and never forgets to put up a Festivus Pole every year in his apartment.

Amber Guarente

Queen of Fandoms

Amber is the queen of fandoms. If there’s a fandom to be adored, she adores it. Dr. Who, Disney, Marvel, Star Trek, Sherlock, LOTR, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries and their spin-offs, Friends, Harry Potter – you name it, she likes it. That includes anime! Speaking of which, did you know she lived in Japan? That’s right, for six years! Sugoi desu ne?! She was teaching English and traveling as much as she could to Hokkaido, Kyoto, Osaka, Okayama, Nikko, Tokyo (where she went to both Tokyo Disneyland and Sea) and more. She also climbed Mt Yamadera, a mountain with one thousand steps and a legend that says if you make a wish at the bottom and manage to make it to the top, your wish will come true. Did her wish come true? You’ll have to drop in and ask her yourself! She’s also an avid reader of romance and fantasy novels, as well as  comics and manga, and is a huge movie buff. She even has a bachelor’s in Film Production! But her schooling journey didn’t end there as she is currently back in school to become a vet tech. AKA, she would love to see all your fur-baby pics!

Steve Bailey

"STEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVE"

Magically endowed with an endless array of fairly useless pop culture knowledge and a signature deadpan frowny-faced voice from a young age, Steve stumbled into TriviaAD some years back and has since used his formidable hosting skills to bring joy to the assorted nerds of the Metropolitan area. When left to his own devices and not devouring the latest from franchises starting in the word “Star” (Trek… Wars… Search… etc.), he plays in several bands in Brooklyn and has been known to do more than a few scissor kicks onstage. He also can’t go a day without someone telling him he looks like Harry Potter. Given how much he knows about the books, movies, etc. there’s certainly been reason to wonder. Also, has anyone ever seen him and Danielle Radcliffe in the same place at once…?

Lauren Rudolph

Lovely Lauren

To say NJ native Lauren Rudolph feels strongly about her love and knowledge of pop culture is an understatement. The self- proclaimed “human-pop culture-google” has such an affinity for entertainment that her proudest moments include when she sang the ‘21 Jump Street’ theme song to Captain Fuller, when she told Reggie Jackson not to shoot the queen, and when she and Tracy Morgan together imitated Brian Fellows. Granted those encounters may not adhere to current mainstream culture, it doesn’t mean Lauren isn’t up to date.

An avid television watcher, she has the most fun as a trivia host when the nights theme is a favorite show. In the seven years she’s been circulating the North Jersey trivia scene for Trivia AD, she has developed amazing relationships with many of the event frequenters.

Outside of hosting trivia, Lauren loves practicing yoga, being a foodie, building her empire, and of course pop-culture.

JT Tranberg

Pop Culture Connoisseur

JT is your friendly neighborhood Pop Culture Connoisseur! He’s a raging PotterHolic, a Drag Race SuperFan, and firmly believes that Cersie Lanister is the greatest female villain of all time. Being a fan of everything Pop Culture since he was a little kid, JT loves quiz shows and anything trivia related. He even started a TikTok account dedicated to daily trivia quizzes (@QuickThinkTrivia). When he’s not hosting for Trivia AD, you can find JT working as an actor in New York City, or plotting and scheming while playing Live Reality Games somewhere in the country! Find him on all Socials @JTDoesNYC.See you at the bar!

Paige Laneve

Jersey Girl

Growing up with game night as an essential family bonding extravaganza, turned NJ native Paige into a fierce competitor with a love for entertainment. After attending (and winning) a few Trivia AD events Paige realized there was finally a place where she can argue her trivia knowledge without being judged (and actually fit in.) Paige is a Tony Stark fangirl, proud Gryffindor, and 5th year resident at Seattle Grace Hospital. If Paige is ever on vacation it is and always will be at Walt Disney World. Outside of using her trivia knowledge Paige is a licensed esthetician, business owner, and baker.

Lauren “LK” Kinney

Occasional HBIC

Lauren or LK was a long time lover of Trivia AD before she started hosting. Buffy, Gilmore Girls, Hocus Pocus, Grey’s Anatomy – proud 2nd place finish for Grey’s led to her favorite side hustle working with the AD team! LK’s been watching soap operas – not ironically – since the womb, and spent random days off hanging out in front of ABC Studios looking to meet her favorite daytime players in high school. She probably pays more for all the streaming platforms than she did for cable, and has a power point presentation at the ready for tips & tricks to seeing Broadway shows without breaking the bank!! She’s been a proud member of the BC/EFA Bucket Brigade for nearly a decade, shaking a literal bucket at tourists for charity. The pandemic allowed for many a rewatch — #texas forever; Lost & GoT are so much better watched straight through without breaks; and teen dramas are still the best ones!

Heidi Gomez

The Friz

Heidi knows things! From sports ball to music and plenty of other useless knowledge in between, the only real outlet for it is shouting it at the TV to endless trivia type game shows… Or talking to strangers… so why not do both and host some trivia! Also known as Ms Frizzle, she loves a good field trip, conversation or ridiculous set of trivia questions. You know what they say… Those who are tired of teaching, host trivia! Heidi from the Heights (Washington Heights) moved from Ohio 23 years ago and only looks back for the chocolate buckeyes, roller coasters and sweet corn. She started as a long-time contestant at a regular triviaAD location and decided to give it a whirl from the other side of the table. Let’s get quizzical!

Marlene Hoffmann

The Newbie

How you doin’? Great, amazing, I’M FINE! This German import never runs out of energy, and if she does it’s probably from watching Friends for the 1000th time. Born and raised in the land of Sauerkraut and beer she moved to the Big Apple to pursue her big dream: hosting Trivia Nights – and being an actress on the side. Having only ever been on the other side of Trivia Nights, she’s extremely excited to join the host-force … and maybe enjoy the luxury of having all the answers a little.

Aaron Weininger

The Sporty Musical Nerd

Aaron has been a bar trivia prodigy since 21 and prides himself on being the anchor to any trivia squad he’s been a part of. Aaron is a classically trained singer with a BFA in musical theater and has performed Stand-up, sketch, and improv comedy all over NYC. He is also a 2x marathon finisher and has a mental encyclopedia of American sports history. Aaron loves to laugh at creative team names and made up answers and is excited to add some spice to your trivia night.

Marla Trinidad

The Lizard King

Trivia MC Trinidad (that is, Marla Catherine Trinidad) is a nineties kid who grew up in the Midwest without cable. Having split her time between school and sitcoms, it’s no surprise that as a New Yorker she now splits her time between sharing her knowledge of the law with kids and sharing her pop culture knowledge with adults. While it was The Office that brought her to Trivia AD, the list of shows, movies, musicals she can quiz and be quizzed on is as relentless as Nandor. Often mistaken for having no sense of humor at all, she has a very dry humor, like Toast some say (she says). When coupled with her bubbly personality, a trivia night emceed by MC is quite goofy indeed and she loves being able to share her silliness with the Trivia AD community.

Emily Mannon

Em!

Emily’s Netflix has grown tired of asking her the question: “Are you still watching?” Whether it’s The Office, The Office, or The Office, she loves a good re-binge session. Her parents think she hosts trivia in an effort to show them her theater degree wasn’t a complete waste of time, but really, it’s because she loves the sound of her own voice. Stop by one of her trivias if you’d like to see what someone who started watching Game of Thrones with the 8th season looks like in real life.

Yasmin Ranz-Lind

Extroverted Introvert

Yasmin is an actor, food tour guide, toddler teacher, Broadway ticket patron servicer, cat mom and now trivia host! The trickiest trivia question you can ask her is “where are you from?” as the child of diplomats and a Moroccan-Israeli mother. She is a recent graduate of Syracuse University where she got her BFA in Acting. She has a frightening and embarrassing wealth of knowledge of Glee, Gilmore Girls, Ghibli and Greek Mythology that she hopes to put to the test in the trivia arena! Afterwards, you’ll probably find her in the back eating several dishes from the menu. Come say hi!

Sage Young

Special Agent Scully

When it comes to Trivia AD, Sage is a longtime listener, first time caller. As an eighth grader in Pennsylvania, her classmates predicted that, in 15 years time, Sage would “play Phoebe in the Friends movie,” but unfortunately the phone never rang. Instead she spends her business hours marketing stuff, at least until she finally hears that “vworp vworp” sound and a blue police box materializes nearby. A part-time pop culture blogger and reporter, Sage is adding Trivia AD to the list of pursuits that legitimize her binge-watching proclivities and passion for uber-geeky fan conventions. One time she met Danny Castellano at an event and he told her her hair was pretty.