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48 free Get Smart trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Get Smart trivia quiz covers the Mel Brooks and Buck Henry spy spoof from its NBC premiere in 1965 to its final CBS season in 1970, plus the follow-ups: The Nude Bomb, Get Smart, Again!, the 1995 Fox revival and the 2008 Steve Carell film. Expect questions on Don Adams's Maxwell Smart and Barbara Feldon's Agent 99, Edward Platt's Chief, Siegfried and Starker, Hymie the Robot and Agent 13, the shoe phone and the Cone of Silence, the Sunbeam Tiger, the catchphrases ('Missed it by that much!'), the Emmys and the network that called the show 'un-American'. About a third of the questions are easy for anyone who has watched the reruns, a third are medium, and the rest are for fans who know why Max is Agent 86 and what the Chief's first name is. Would you believe... 48 questions? Every one has been checked against an encyclopaedic source and links to the page that confirms it.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which two comedy writers created Get Smart?
Mel Brooks and Buck Henry
Mel Brooks and Buck Henry created it for Talent Associates; Brooks called it 'an insane combination of James Bond and Mel Brooks comedy', while Henry stayed on as story editor after Brooks moved on.
Q 02Who played Maxwell Smart?
Don Adams
Don Adams, a Marine veteran of Guadalcanal turned nightclub comic, landed Max in 1965 and also directed a number of the episodes himself.
Q 03What is Maxwell Smart's code number?
86
86 is bar slang for cutting a customer off or throwing him out, and the creators borrowed it as the number for their bumbling agent.
Q 04Who played Agent 99?
Barbara Feldon
Barbara Feldon had won the top prize on The $64,000 Question in 1957 with Shakespeare as her subject, and was modelling before she landed Agent 99.
Q 05What is the name of the secret US agency Smart and 99 work for?
CONTROL
CONTROL is the Washington, D.C. spy agency whose headquarters hides behind a phone booth with a secret elevator, reached through a corridor of slamming steel doors.
Q 06Which of these is NOT one of the show's famous catchphrases?
Book 'em, Danno
'Book 'em, Danno' belongs to Hawaii Five-O; 'Sorry about that, Chief', 'Missed it by that much' and 'Would you believe...' all entered the language through Get Smart.
Q 07On which network did Get Smart premiere in September 1965?
NBC
NBC aired the first four seasons from September 18, 1965; the show moved to CBS for its fifth and final season in 1969.
Q 08Which network first turned the show down as 'un-American', demanding a lovable dog and Max's mother?
ABC
Brooks fumed that 'Max has no mother. He never had one.' The dog, Fang, made it in anyway.
Q 09How many episodes of Get Smart were made over its five seasons?
138
138 episodes aired between the premiere in September 1965 and the finale on May 15, 1970, across five seasons on two networks.
Q 10Who played the Chief?
Edward Platt
Edward Platt, previously the juvenile officer in Rebel Without a Cause, played the Chief, a former field agent whose code name had been Q.
Q 11What is the Chief's first name?
Thaddeus
Thaddeus is the Chief's real first name, revealed on the show; with outsiders he uses the cover identity Harold Clark, which the agents know is not real.
Q 12Where does Max keep his most famous concealed telephone?
In his shoe
In his shoe: Max has to take the shoe off to answer the phone and dial on its sole, a gag Brooks and Henry built as a spoof of James Bond's gadgets.
Q 13Where does Agent 99 hide one of her concealed phones?
In her fingernail
She pretends to bite her nails nervously while actually talking; her makeup compact hides another one.
Q 21Larabee, the Chief's dim assistant, was played by Robert Karvelas, who was Don Adams's what?
Cousin
Cousin: Karvelas was the star's cousin, and Adams kept him on as the Chief's assistant Larabee through most of the series; Adams's brother also turned up in episodes.
Q 22What does Agent 99 give birth to in the final season?
Twins
Twins, a boy and a girl, arrive in the fifth season after 99's pregnancy was written into the show; the two-part episode 'And Baby Makes Four' covers their birth.
Q 23How many consecutive Emmys did Don Adams win for playing Maxwell Smart?
Three
Three: Adams took the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 1967, 1968 and 1969.
Q 14What is the joke behind the Cone of Silence?
Those inside can't hear, everyone outside can
Those inside can't hear, everyone outside can: the plastic dome muffles the two men under it while their shouted secrets carry across the office, and Max keeps insisting on it anyway.
Q 15Which car does Max drive most often in the series?
A red Sunbeam Tiger
A red Sunbeam Tiger, the Ford V8-powered version of the Sunbeam Alpine, is the car Max drives in the opening of the first two seasons and in many episodes.
Q 16Why does Max drive a VW Karmann Ghia in the opening credits of seasons three and four?
The carmaker became a sponsor
The carmaker became a sponsor: Volkswagen's sponsorship put its Karmann Ghia in the titles, and when Buick took over for season five the car became a gold Opel GT.
Q 17Who played the recurring KAOS villain Siegfried?
Bernie Kopell
Bernie Kopell played Siegfried with a mock-German accent, later played Doc Bricker on The Love Boat through its 1977-86 run, and has a cameo in the 2008 film.
Q 18What is the name of Siegfried's henchman, played by King Moody?
Starker
Starker, the henchman Siegfried bellows at as 'Shtarker', takes his name from the Yiddish for a strongman or tough guy, with a hint of dim-wittedness.
Q 19Which actor played Hymie the Robot?
Dick Gautier
Dick Gautier played Hymie, the robot built by the enemy whom Max wins over on his first mission; Hymie's flaw is taking every instruction far too literally.
Q 20Which of Max's colleagues is always stationed inside absurdly small hiding places like cigarette machines?
Agent 13
Agent 13, played by Dave Ketchum, pops up from cigarette machines, mailboxes and washing machines; Agent 44 did the same job in season one and returned in season five.
Q 24Adams borrowed Max's voice and "Would you believe...?" routine from which earlier role as an inept hotel detective?
Byron Glick on The Bill Dana Show
Byron Glick on The Bill Dana Show was the bumbling house detective Adams played from 1963 to 1965, already using the clipped William Powell-style delivery and the 'Would you believe' bit.
Q 25Which animated bungling cyborg detective did Don Adams later voice in a near-identical voice?
Inspector Gadget
Inspector Gadget, the 1983 cartoon, gave Adams another signature role in the same clipped tones; he also voiced the dog Brain in the 1999 live-action film.
Q 26The actress who played 99 nearly lost the role because of what?
She'd done a deodorant commercial for a rival brand
The show's sponsor was a deodorant soap; her big break had been a much-parodied Revlon 'Top Brass' hair-pomade advert.
Q 27Which talk-show host appeared as a 'special guest conductor' in the episode 'Aboard the Orient Express'?
Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson, then hosting The Tonight Show, played the conductor and came back as a royal footman in 'The King Lives?'; Bob Hope, Milton Berle and Phyllis Diller also did cameos.
Q 28Where did Max supposedly disappear to during 'Ice Station Siegfried'?
Adams was in Vegas paying gambling debts
It's the only episode where the character is close to absent.
Q 29What was the title of the 1980 theatrical Get Smart film, made without Brooks or Henry?
The Nude Bomb
The Nude Bomb has the enemy threatening a bomb that destroys only clothing; Agent 99 does not appear, and the film was retitled The Return of Maxwell Smart for television.
Q 30Max's dog, Agent K-13, is better known by what name?
Fang
Fang, Agent K-13, was a shaggy, unhelpful dog on the agency payroll in the first season, usually more trouble than help to Max.