Kathie Lee Gifford
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50 free Kathie Lee Gifford trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Before the talk shows, the albums and the Broadway credits, Kathie Lee Gifford was a young vocalist on Name That Tune, singing snatches of songs for contestants to identify in the late 1970s. That short stint is still one of the most searched chapters of her career, and it opens this quiz. The questions follow her from a childhood as a military kid through the game show years, a long partnership with Regis Philbin on Live!, and more than a decade on the fourth hour of Today. Along the way they cover the rounds and hosts of Name That Tune itself, her marriage to Frank Gifford, her children, her musicals and films, and the controversies she faced in public. It is pitched for talk show fans and game show buffs alike: mostly friendly, with a few deep cuts for anyone who remembers the original broadcasts.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Kathie Lee Gifford was born in which European capital, where her American Navy father was stationed?
Paris
Paris was her birthplace only because her father, a Navy chief petty officer, was posted to France with his family in 1953. She grew up in Maryland.
Q 02On Name That Tune's Sing-a-Tune round, what did vocalist Kathie Lee put in place of each song's title?
La-las
La-las stood in for the title words, so contestants heard the rest of the song and wrote down its name. The game lasted one season, 1977–78, and was dropped when she left.
Q 03Which future astronaut teamed with child actor Eddie Hodges on Name That Tune in 1957?
John Glenn
John Glenn, then a Marine major newly famous for a record cross-country flight, partnered the young actor. The pairing was later dramatised in the 1983 film The Right Stuff.
Q 04Which Seinfeld character spits coffee on Kathie Lee while promoting a coffee table book on her talk show?
Kramer
Kramer was showing off a coffee table book about coffee tables, complete with fold-out legs, in the 1994 episode The Opposite. Kathie Lee Gifford played herself.
Q 05Which animated series made Kathie Lee Gifford its first celebrity spoof, in the 1997 episode Weight Gain 4000?
South Park
South Park had teacher Mr. Garrison plot revenge on her for beating him in a childhood talent show. It aired in August 1997, in the show's first month on air.
Q 06The Kathie Lee clothing line at the centre of a sweatshop labour controversy was sold by which retail chain?
Walmart
Walmart sold the line, and licensing her name to it was earning Gifford $9 million a year when a labour rights group reported on its factories.
Q 07Which former Dateline correspondent shared the fourth hour of Today with Kathie Lee Gifford for 11 years?
Hoda Kotb
Hoda Kotb was, by Gifford's own account, the main reason she returned to a daily talk show after first turning NBC down. The pair hosted together from April 2008 to April 2019.
Q 08Which All My Children actress took Kathie Lee Gifford's seat beside Regis Philbin in February 2001?
Kelly Ripa
Kelly Ripa auditioned four months into a search that tried out guest co-hosts including Rosie O'Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg. Her first week in the permanent job began on February 12.
Q 09What did Kathie Lee Gifford share with her husband Frank, the Hall of Fame NFL star she married in 1986?
The same birthday
The same birthday, August 16, belonged to both of them, though Frank was born more than two decades before her. They married on October 18, 1986.
Q 10Which drink was a regular on-air prop for Kathie Lee Gifford and her co-host on the fourth hour of Today?
Wine
Wine sat on the desk most mornings, though Gifford said it was mainly a prop that usually went untouched. The habit began in 2008, when cocktails were served to a guest as a joke.
Q 11Which game show host had Kathie Lee as his singing sidekick on Name That Tune in the 1977–78 season?
Tom Kennedy
Tom Kennedy fronted the syndicated show from 1974 to 1981 and went on to host Password Plus. Kathie Lee sang beside him for a single season.
Q 12Kathie Lee Gifford sang in television commercials as the face of which cruise line from the late 1980s?
Carnival
Carnival kept her as its face into the early 1990s, and in 1991 she christened its new Fantasy-class ship, Ecstasy.
Q 13Kathie Lee Gifford's 1978 sitcom, set at a truck stop restaurant, spun off from which country variety show?
Hee Haw
Hee Haw launched the syndicated spin-off Hee Haw Honeys, where guest country stars performed on the restaurant's bandstand. The sitcom was short-lived, made for the 1978–79 season only.
Q 21Kathie Lee Gifford's husband Frank spent 27 years as a voice of which prime-time sports broadcast?
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football wanted him for its 1970 launch, but he still had a year left on his CBS contract, so he joined in the second season as play-by-play announcer.
Q 22Kathie Lee Gifford played Miss Hannigan in a 2006 Madison Square Garden concert staging of which musical?
Annie
Annie came several years after she began working in musical theatre in the late 1990s, writing shows as well as performing in them.
Q 23In 2019, Kathie Lee Gifford and her Today co-host won which award for Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host?
Daytime Emmy
Q 14Which daughter of a former president took over Kathie Lee Gifford's seat on Today in April 2019?
Jenna Bush Hager
Jenna Bush Hager was announced as the successor in February 2019 and began on April 8, three days after Gifford's final show. She was already a contributor to the programme.
Q 15Which Name That Tune bonus round asks the day's winner to identify seven tunes in just 30 seconds?
Golden Medley
Golden Medley has featured in every era of the show since the 1950s, and a player may pass on a tune and return to it if time allows.
Q 16Frank Gifford, Kathie Lee's husband, spent his entire 12-year NFL playing career with which team?
New York Giants
New York Giants fans saw him named the league's Most Valuable Player in 1956, the season the team won the NFL title. He was inducted into the sport's Hall of Fame in 1977.
Q 17Which 30 Rock actress was named host when Fox revived Name That Tune as a primetime series in 2021?
Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski said one reason she wanted the job was to perform in front of a live audience again. The first season was filmed in Sydney with American contestants.
Q 18Kathie Lee Gifford plays herself in the third film of which made-for-television shark disaster series?
Sharknado
Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! was the 2015 instalment, with Ian Ziering and Tara Reid back in the lead roles.
Q 19Kathie Lee Gifford appeared at the White House with which president to support action against sweatshop abuses?
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton stood with her after she moved from defending her clothing line on air to asking federal authorities to investigate and backing laws to protect child workers.
Q 20Name That Tune's co-creator was a daughter of which evangelist, the subject of Kathie Lee Gifford's musical?
Aimee McPherson
Aimee McPherson's daughter Roberta married bandleader Harry Salter, and the couple developed the game together. Decades later Gifford wrote the book and lyrics for a musical about the preacher.
Daytime Emmy success came late: she and Regis Philbin were nominated as hosts eight years in a row, and her first win arrived in 2010 as part of the Today team.
Q 24Which former American Idol judge led the band on Fox's Name That Tune revival for its first five seasons?
Randy Jackson
Randy Jackson also handled the announcing at the start of each episode. A session bassist before his judging days, he was succeeded as bandleader by Robin Thicke.
Q 25Before joining Regis Philbin, Kathie Lee was a correspondent and substitute anchor on which breakfast show?
Good Morning America
Good Morning America used her in the early 1980s, and it was while guest-hosting the same programme that Frank Gifford met his future wife.
Q 26Kathie Lee Gifford studied drama and music after high school at which Oklahoma university?
Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts University, in Tulsa, is named after the televangelist who founded it and had opened to students only in 1965, six years before she finished high school.
Q 27From 1976, the syndicated Name That Tune added which top prize to its title?
$100,000
$100,000 went to a champion who could name a mystery tune played on piano while shut in an isolation booth, and it was paid out at $10,000 a year for ten years.
Q 28Where was Kathie Lee Gifford honoured in 2021 with a star placed five spots from Regis Philbin's?
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame organisers recognised her contributions to television on April 28, 2021, setting her star at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard.
Q 29Which Kathie Lee Gifford musical about a 1920s evangelist closed on Broadway after only 29 regular performances?
Scandalous
Scandalous opened at the Neil Simon Theatre in November 2012 and was gone within a month, despite Gifford promoting it constantly on Today. She wrote its book and lyrics.
Q 30In the original 1950s Name That Tune, contestants raced across the stage to do what before naming a song?
Ring a bell
Ring a bell was the rule: two large ship's bells stood across the stage from the players. A round on the 1974 NBC version recreated the dash.