Cash Cab returns with a new musical twist

Cash Cab Music is back with a new season on Crave.

Cash Cab is back, humming a slightly new melody.

The game show is releasing its first new episodes in nine years with the original host, Adam Growe, who sat down with CTV Your Morning Calgary’s Jodi Hughes to talk about the show’s enduring appeal and what to watch for in the new season.

Growe -- born in New York and raised in Vancouver -- is a veteran standup comedian who has done a lot of different things over the course of his career but takes special delight in Cash Cab, a game show where unsuspecting taxi customers answer trivia questions and win modest cash prizes in the longstanding tradition of Canadian game shows.

“Cash Cab is my favourite gig of all time and I’ve had a lot of great gigs," Growe said. "I like to describe it as Canada’s representation on the global market of high density fun facts."

Growe said the show is as much fun to host as it is to watch -- and thanks to reruns, it’s created a large, loyal following.

“So even though it had a long hiatus, it was still out there and people were very familiar with it and relying on it for that great joyous break from everything,” he said. “Some people were getting in the cab and I’m surprising them – they’ve grown up on the show or watched it through a really pivotal lens with family or friends.”

The new season features a musical twist, Growe said.

“The new aspect that we’ve added is that we end the show with a double or nothing option that is Cash Cab Karaoke,” he said.

“People have to answer the last question by singing 10 or 15 seconds of a song to prove that they know the song I’m talking about.”

“And if you go to karaoke, you know – its not always the best singing – but they don’t even have to get the lyrics precisely correct," he said, “I just have to be convinced they know the song I’m talking about, whether the question was specifically about a song or the musician or a pop culture question connected to the song.”

It’s a show that relies as much on emotion and energy as the size of the prize -- but put it all together in the close quarters of a taxi cab some weirdly telegenic alchemy takes place, Growe says.

“It’s just a game show,” he said. “I realize that. It’s just trivia. It’s not a huge amount of cash but I’m telling you, when they win $800, it’s like they won a million dollars in the Cash Cab!”

Cash Cab Music airs on Much and Crave.