7 questions for 'Cash Cab' host

[Trainspotter 0]

7 questions for 'Cash Cab' host

NY DAILY NEWS

March 27th 2008

 

Keivom/News

'Cash Cab' host Ben Bailey

 

 

Ben Bailey

AGE: 38

JOB: Cab driver, host of Discovery’s "Cash Cab" (Mondays at 6 p.m.)

HOURS/WEEK: Over 40

TIME ON THE JOB: Three years

 

On an average day, Ben Bailey drives a yellow cab around New York City, asking passengers trivia questions and doling out dough for his show, "Cash Cab," on Discovery Channel. But Thusday he steps out of the cab to be a featured speaker at the Taxi and Limousine Commission Driver Recognition Ceremony, at Top of the Rock (at Rockefeller Plaza), an event held to salute the best city drivers.

 

You went from limo driver to being host of "Cash Cab," a trivia game show that takes place in an NYC cab. How did you get discovered?

 

They did a nationwide casting call for the host. I was brought in because [the producers] had spoken to comedy clubs in New York, and they said, "Ben Bailey used to drive limos, and he's a funny fellow." So I went in, and I auditioned four or five times, the last of which was in a minivan, which I drove off the curb in the very beginning of the interview. I was like, "Can we start again?"

 

You had to take an official taxi cab test to drive a cash cab. Was it hard?

 

I thought maybe I could just take the test and pass it because I knew the city pretty well, but I was wrong. One of the questions was: "If you're at 161st at Broadway, what bridge do you take to get to Yankee Stadium?" There were four possible choices, and I had never heard of any of them.

 

Did you pass the test?

 

I had to get a 70. I got a 92.

 

What rules wouldn't the average rider know about?

 

There's a law that if I make eye contact with a customer, and it's understood between us that I'm going to pick them up, I can't pick anyone else up.

 

Who was your craziest contestant?

 

I picked up a huge guy, as tall as me, about 6-feet-6, and he probably weighed 350 pounds. He was wearing a purple velour rabbit suit and 5-inch plastic heels. And he kept calling me "babe." He got out and didn't play. He realized what was going on and I guess he didn't want to be on TV in his rabbit suit.

 

Have the lights and music that go on when riders get in the cab ever scared anyone?

 

One time this woman just started bawling. She looked at me, and I said, "You're in the Cash Cab!" and she just started crying. She had just had a really rough day. She was from out of town and trying to get to a job interview and had been dropped in the wrong neighborhood by a cab driver already. So she was at the end of her wits by the time she got into the Cash Cab.

 

What's the largest sum won in the Cash Cab?

 

We have a new record as of about three weeks ago. It's $4,100, [won by] a couple of bus tour guides here in New York.

[Broad St. Belle 0]

I started watching this show about a month ago; it's pretty cool. I'm always hoping to catch him downtown, but he seems to generally stay in Midtown.

[TransitGuy 1]

I love Cash Cab. Its a really cool show and it has a good concept behind it. Hopefully one day I can find the cash cab

[R1Toasty 0]

I watch the show every day. I swear if I got my self, my dad, and his girl friend in it we'd win... they're always answering the questions when we watch it. Too bad we alway take the subway . It'd be cool if they had the cash train...

[KTrainExp 16]

I watch the show every day. I swear if I got my self, my dad, and his girl friend in it we'd win... they're always answering the questions when we watch it. Too bad we alway take the subway . It'd be cool if they had the cash train...

 

That would be really funny if they had a cash train. It would be kinda obvious that the train would be a cash train though. Also, everyone on the subway car would have to get money which would be a LOT of dough going out.

[Harry 1,088]

That would be really funny if they had a cash train. It would be kinda obvious that the train would be a cash train though. Also, everyone on the subway car would have to get money which would be a LOT of dough going out.

 

All about subway trivia.

[sebbieprops 0]

Sure is a great show.