Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - Best of the First 25 Years

Episode Date: February 25, 2023

We celebrate our 25th anniversary with Mikeael Shiffrin, Leonard Nimoy, Mae Jemison, Stephen Colbert, John Hodgman, and Ozzie Smith.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

From NPR at WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. It's our 25th year on air, which means it's our Bilver anniversary. And here's the man who desperately wants you to believe he's been hosting this show for only half his life. Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill, and thanks, everyone. It's true. It is. 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, a show that launched in January 1998, so long ago we originally broadcast in black and white. It was news quiz noir. So today, as part of our year-long global celebrations, we're going to go back into the archives to present just a few of the highlights from that long history,

and we are starting with one that meant a lot to Bill. It was 2014. I had just joined the show and thought I'd slum it a while before returning to my usual day job, providing the voice of God. But then they told me we were going to Red Rock. While Bill marveled at the legendary surroundings at the Natural Amphitheater outside of Denver, I got to talk to skier Michaela Schifrin, then just a 19-year-old Olympic phenomenon, now the winningest female skier in history.

So you were born in Vail. Is it like when dolphins are born and they immediately start swimming? Right, yeah. So I came out at the top of the mountain and I just skied right down. Slid down, yeah. Yeah.

And the OBGYN is down at the bottom. I'm like, wait, Gilder, OBGYN is down at the bottom. At the launch. Waiting. Harder. Waiting for you to come. But you must have grown up skiing, right? I did grow up skiing. Yeah, I started skiing when I was two years old.

Two years old? Well, I mean. How big are those skis? Standing up skis. How big are those skis? They're really small. They're like really small. Like a ruler?

Yeah, like a ruler. That's like American doll accessories. It is. It would be perfect. I never even thought of that. I have my American Girl doll and the horse and the whole thing, and I should have put her on skis. It would have been awesome.

It would have been awesome. What was I thinking? And how old were you when it was like, oh, she's good. You're good at this. You should have my mom on here, or my dad. Yes, when I was three years old, I thought I was very good at skiing. Really? No.

So I thought that too, but I was really wrong. Well, you're good at this. Did you think you were going to be good at this when you were three? No, when I was three, I was pretty much going to be a skier. Oh. Yeah. Well, I'm sorry. It's all right.

Some dreams don't come true. If somebody said... Nice Olympian talk, by the way. Some dreams don't come true. Here she is. Campbell Soup presents Michaela Schifrin saying, to hell with you losers. Dream big, but keep a small dream too.

No, no. Dream big, but don't be upset if it doesn't happen. Yeah. No, I'm actually kind of serious because I assume in growing up in Vail, everybody skis, right? Mostly, yeah. Right. I mean, it's an expensive sport so you want to be like cautious about saying everybody skis because some people don't have the luxury but i had these two best friends and my

brother was a ski racer so the four of us would ski you know rip around under the chairlifts and people would hoot and holler from the chairlift saying we were really good but we were like five years old so who knew i'd be sitting here yes who knew that such glory would await you? I didn't. I didn't know that. Yeah. I actually hated it. I just got on the mountain for hot chocolate and french fries.

Oh, come on. Seriously. Is that true? Seriously. So you were like this prodigy skier and you didn't want to go, but you're like, oh, I'll go to hot chocolate and then to the lodge. Pretty much. I mean, I had fun skiing and I just, I fell in love with the sport when I started to ski gates. Once I was allowed to start training gates around six years old, then I really fell in love with it.

Six years old? Well, I mean, NASCAR, I don't know. Yeah. But there was that dry period between three and six. Yeah. Yeah. Michaela, you know what I never understood? I thought in the old days when I would watch the Olympics that they weren't supposed to hit the thingy.

That's because... Let me translate from Paula. What she means is that now, when you watch someone like yourself, you're actually running over the pole, the gate. You're knocking it over as you pass it. That's good terminology. Thank you.

But in the old day, I'm trying to explain, but in the old days, it seemed as like you weren't allowed to touch it. Is that correct? Well, yeah. See, in the old days, it was bamboo, and so it really hurt when you touched it. And people still tried, and they got bruises. And now they're plastic, and they have these, I don't know, it falls over when you hit it.

But you still get bruises. So the whole point of the sport is not about hitting the gates. It's about skiing down as fast as possible. Why not use, like, colored snow? Because then you can ski around. Well, I don't know. Actually, I want to talk to you because I've watched a lot of ski racing

and it seems so intense. When you're up there at the top of the mountain and there's always that moment the camera's right on you and there's clocks on it, what are you thinking as you're about to go? Are you thinking what I would think, which is, oh, no, oh, no, oh, no? Yes.

Are you really? A lot of times I'm thinking I'm going to die. Wow. Well, it depends. Most of the time I'm pretty confident because it's, you know, I've been ski racing for a while, so I'm confident. But every now and then there's a moment where you're like, this is, I'm freezing, I'm wearing a spandex suit, so I'm pretty much naked.

I have this really ugly helmet on, and I, you know, I'm painting it to make it look pretty, but everybody knows helmets are not fashionable. Wait a minute, are you telling me you're up there like at the Olympics with literally the eyes of the world on you, and you're getting ready to ski for Olympic gold, and you're thinking to yourself, this helmet does not flatter me.

That's what's going through your head? Yep. This ain't cute. Is that what held you back, ages three through six? Accessories weren't cute. Those were really the dark years. I sensed that. All right, Michaela, we've asked you here to play a game

we're calling... It's the cheese after it. So you might think that downhill ski racing is dangerous. Then you have never seen the Gloucestershire cheese rolling races. For centuries in Britain, competitors have hurled their bodies down a frighteningly steep hill. None of that snow stuff, mind you, to cushion the fall. Chasing a wheel of cheese. Sure, one year, 33 people had to go to the hospital,

but the winner gets to keep the wheel of cheese. Yeah. Beats some metal, doesn't it? We're going to ask you three questions about the great Gloucestershire cheese races. Get two right, you'll win our prize. One of our listeners, Carl Castle's voice on their voicemail. Bill, who is Olympian Michaela Schifrin playing for?

Randall and Beth Ferguson of Denver, Colorado. Sorry, Randall. All right, here's your first question, Michaela. Every spring, men and women gather at the top of this very steep hill in Gloucestershire, and then they race to see who gets the cheese. According to local experts, the best strategy for winning the race is what? Wait at the back of the pack for everyone to fall down the hill and hurt themselves, then slowly walk down the hill to win the race?

B, get drunk first, or C, lie down across the hill and just roll, the strategy being known as being the cheese. I'm going to do B, You're going to go B? Well, okay, here's the reasoning. C, you're rolling sideways down a hill. I mean, everybody did this as kids. You have no idea what's going on. You don't know which way is up or down.

And you always somehow go sideways. And so you'd end up just rolling sideways across the hill, which isn't very good. And then there's always the one crazy person who's going to make it to the cheese. So you can't just wait at the top. Right. You're a true competitor you parsed this out okay so you're going to go for B

you are correct it is get drunk first it is a very steep hill really steep and most people believe nobody entirely sober could hurl him or herself down it. Don't get too drunk, though.

Just drunk enough is the wisdom. That's good. You got one right. There are a lot of injuries. Racers go flying. The videos, like I said, are horrifying. So last year, the local authorities tried to stop the event. They tried to stop it from happening by doing what?

A, telling the 86-year-old woman who makes the cheeses that she would be liable for any injury. B, passing a law requiring all cheeses to be manufactured in a square shape. Or C, just bulldozing that hill flat. A. A. You're confidently choosing A. Yeah. I like your style

you're right yes that's what they did how could you make everybody agree to make cheese in a block shape it comes in the ovular wheel it's a word in my dictionary

I'm 19 I'm 19. I'm in the age of technology and creating your own words. You are right. Diane Smart, 86, has made the cheeses for the event for years and police came to her house and warned her that if anybody was badly hurt, they'd hold her responsible.

She made the cheese anyway. Okay, so question for you. What was her response to that? Her response to that cannot be said on public radio. Although I'm sure it was said in a charming Downton Abbey-like British accent. Last question. The winner this year, Josh Shepard, shocked organizers when he announced, right after he won the cheese, what? A, he didn't mean to compete in the race.

He was going to watch it, but he tripped and rolled down the hill in front of everybody. B, he was a, quote, lactosexual and intended to marry the cheese. Or C, actually, he doesn't even really like cheese. C again,

you're good. You're very good. Confident. So now he has an eight-pound wheel of cheese he's not going to eat. He doesn't really like that. He doesn't really like cheese. Bill, how did Michaela do in this competition? Well, she's 19 years old. She's an Olympic champion, and now she is a champion on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.

Cannot keep this woman down. If anybody has questions about cheese... Cheese racing. Cheese rolling. Or cheese words. You know, if you ever get bored with the whole international elite skiing thing, you could try this. I could.

I have a feeling you'd be very good at it. At cheese racing? At cheese racing. Or hosting a radio show. I would so like to switch places with you for one day. I don't think you would. I really... No, Peter and Spandex? No way.

Yeah. No way. The back part would be good. I would enjoy that. Yes. Michaela Schifrin is the reigning Olympic and world champion in slalom. Michaela Schifrin, thank you so much. Thank you.

Michaela Schifrin! you so much for being with us. Michaela Schiffer! Give it up for her! By the way, if you doubt that we went to do a show at Red Rocks just to convince Bill he should stick around, keep in mind we have never been back. This feels like entrapment.

Coming up, John Hodgman, Stephen Colbert, and Rob Reiner because one way to stay funny for 25 years is to bring in ringers. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR. From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theatre in the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. So this week, we're getting a head start on celebrating our 25 years on the air.

Now, when NPR first launched our comedy news quiz, people didn't think we could do it. I mean, before us, the closest NPR got to comedy was Steve Inskeep chuckling quietly. So, over the years, we've brought in the big guns of comedy, such as John Hodgman, the writer and actor who first became famous playing the PC next to Justin Long's Mac. It adds for Apple. When he joined us in 2008, Microsoft had just launched a series of ads for PCs with an actor who looked like John Hodgman. I have no idea what you're talking about. Come on. You must have seen it. I don't watch television. You know me. It's certainly not ads.

I loathe advertising. I know. But there's a guy at Microsoft who got a job at an ad because he looks like you. Yes, I've heard tell of such things. I'm very happy for him. You know, as somebody who has an accidental television career,

I'm happy to see that happen to somebody else. On purpose. That is so one world view. How, and you talk about this a bit in your book, how has being a famous minor television personality, as you put it, affected your daily life? Well, you may notice I'm wearing a tuxedo. That is exciting.

Yes, very nice. I always dress up for radio. I'm rather surprised to see that you people are not wearing tuxedos. You know why? These guys dress up to listen at home. That's right. That's how fancy they are. They often come in pajamas, John.

Count yourself lucky. But now, because you're a literary guy and author of books, and now you walk around the streets of New York City, and I presume people go nuts to see you. Yes, I used to enjoy the anonymity of being a literary figure and occasionally a public radio figure. Yes. But now people come up to me and they point.

Or they will often say, you look like the guy in those ads. And what do you say on that occasion? There's a reason for that. You should really tell them, no, I'm the guy in the Microsoft ads. I'm the guy who looks like the guy. The fact is, I'm very self-similar.

I am fractal-like. Yes, I see. Thank you, nerds. Let us talk about the areas of your expertise. Yes, please. Of which are immense. That was my old book. That was the old technology.

I'm sorry, but now we've moved on to... The new technology, the upgrade, is entitled More Information Than You Require. See, here's the thing. Your book, as you confess right up, it's all made up. It is a book of trivia, much like the old Ripley's Believe It or Not or the Book of Lists. With the advantage that all of the amazing true facts in my book are made up by me. With the advantage that all of the amazing true facts in my book are made up by me. I was also intrigued and somewhat frightened by your explanation of the tradition of eating oysters.

Oh, yes. Oysters. Well, let me tell you. If you enjoy a food that tastes like snot, after it has been rubbed on rocks and old silverware, then you may enjoy oysters. But do not listen to the killjoys who tell you never to eat oysters in months that do not contain the letter R. May, June, July, August, October. You know.

They say that you should not eat oysters during those months because they are the warm months. They are the traditional spawning season of the oyster, and that, of course, is when the oyster tends to beg for its life while you're eating it, which some people find distracting or embarrassing for the oyster. But I say, if you're going to eat a creature alive,

you have to expect some screaming. That is the carnivore's burden. Don't you think? That is the carnivore's burden. Don't you think? My motto is to live life with no regrets. But one show I do regret missing happened in Brooklyn in February of 2011. A blizzard kept me in Chicago,

so Glynn Washington filled in for me. And when our celebrity guest also cancelled, we found a reasonably good substitute. Stephen Colbert. So excited to be here. We're very excited to have you. You know, I've never missed a show. I've never missed a show. I've gone back on the old

podcast thing and I've listened to like, even the ones where you didn't have an audience back in the day. Which were terrible. Oh, yeah. Now, Stephen has asked us to just ask him the questions that we had prepared for our prior guest without telling him who that was.

So these are the questions that our researchers and myself had prepared. And then at the end of the thing, I guess who it is. Yes, you're done. Yes, yes, yes. You're done. Yes, yes, yes.

It's very exciting. So, here we go. Well, you've done so much. Movies, TV shows, your book. But here's the big question. What's it like being on Taylor Swift's squad? A, it's an honor. B, it's a challenge.

Sure. Because you always have to be on your toes. It's me, uh... Julie Andrews. All the greats. All the greats. Carol Channing, I think. You have to keep your secrets.

You have to keep your secrets. Because, you know, she always wears those very high-waisted skirts. Yes. So you can't see her navel. No. And there's secrets we can't tell about that. And I can tell you guys, because you're not very high-waisted skirts. Yes. So you can't see her navel. No. And the secret, well, there's secrets we can't tell about that, and I can tell you guys because you're not going to tell anybody, right? No.

No. Her navel has teeth in it. Has little teeth in it. Belly button. Gentile. Gentile, yeah. Her body has little sharp teeth in it. And the navel actually, the belly button writes all the songs, actually.

Now, here's the next question we've prepared. A lot of people comment about how much you appear naked on your show and we were wondering you know if if that's something that you feel is important to to get some kind of message across to America this I love my body yes and I love my body. And it's possible I wrote a book about it. Did you? Evidently not. Now wait a second. We should tell Steven this is the one question we were going to ask him anyway.

Just to be fair. I'm going to ask you one last question. Is it weird to have all that awkward sex on camera with Adam Driver? It's not weird. It's not weird. He's very professional.

He's a professional. He's a gentleman. Yeah. I will say the sex is real. Because I'm all about keeping it real. Yeah. And, I mean, as I stand here today. Yeah.

Okay, as sure as my name is Lena Dunham. What I want to say to you. Thank you. We've been around so long that we've actually been able to interview a guest, and then later, that guest's child. For example, back in 2003, we hosted comedy legend Carl Reiner. Then, in 2012, guest host Peter Gross welcomed Carl's son, Rob Reiner. Rob Reiner is an accomplished writer, a director, and an actor.

He's directed over 20 movies, including some undeniable classics. A Few Good Men, When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride, and of course, the movie that my friends and I will quote until we are old and gray, this is Spinal Tap. Rob Reiner, welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you. Thank you very much. It's very, very good to have you.

It's great to be here. You have had, as I said, this incredible career in movies. You've directed so many classics, and you're known so well for all of these things. Have you finally shaken the name Meathead? Clearly I haven't. You have not.

Clearly I haven't, because you just called me that. No, I mean, it's part of my oeuvre, as they say. And obviously something to be proud of. All in the family, it was a terrific show. I am very, very proud of it. Are there people, though, I mean, I guess of a certain generation,

there are people that you're indelibly locked in their mind as this character, right? Yeah, absolutely. And thanks to Nick at Night and TV Land, the legacy continues. Right. Who's the youngest person you've ever had address you as Meathead? I had a fetus one time. It was kind of garbled, though. You couldn't quite make it out.

I knew that's what they were saying. You know, so many of your movies specifically have very quotable lines from, I'll have what she's having, or turn it up to 11, or how many times do you ask a waiter for something and then he turns to you and he says, as you wish. I mean, there's so many lines

from your movies that are quotable. Do you go for that? Do you grab the script and scream at the writer? No, you just make a movie and you put these things in and you never know what's going to... You know, I'll Have What She's Having was a line that Billy came,

Billy Crystal came up with in that scene. We didn't know. My mother, you know, all I have what she's having was a line that Billy came, Billy Crystal came up with in that scene. We didn't know my mother, you know, is the one who delivered that line. Yes, maybe people didn't know that Rob said that. Oh, I didn't realize that. That she is now immortalized along with, you know, frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn

and, you know, I could have been a contender. Marlon Brando, Clark Gable, and Estelle Ryan. They're all part of the firmament. Exactly. She's kind of this one-hit wonder. Well, she wanted to be in A Few Good Men, didn't she? Yes.

And I told her that, you know, I told her, you're not right for the part. She said, you can't handle the truth. She tried to do it. She kept saying it. I said, no, Mom handle the truth. She tried to do it. She kept saying it. I said, no, Mom, I don't think it's going to work. Did you think early on, because you started, you were a writer for the Smothers Brothers show, that's right? Oh, I didn't know that.

And obviously, you know, with your dad being Carl Reiner, for those who don't know, was that... My dad's Carl Reiner? Oh, gosh. Oh, my God. Cat out of bag. I mean, you kind of went into the family business. Did you think, I want to be a comedy guy,

or were you just thinking, I want to get into entertainment. It looks like fun. How did you approach it? Well, first of all, I want to thank my dad for not being a proctologist. Because that's the family business I don't want to go with. No, it was just, you know, I mean, it was around me. And, you know, I looked up to my dad, and I wanted to do what he did. I mean, he tells a story about when I was like eight years old.

I came up to him, and I told him I wanted to change my name. And he said, oh, my God, this poor kid, he can't, you know, the legacy and having to live up to the name. And, you know, he says, what do you want to change your name to? I said, Carl. So I really wanted to be like him ever since I was a little kid. You know what? I want to change my name to Carl Reiner. All right. Oh, my God.

He's so great. You're going to get a really different crowd at your shows of The Mohegan Sun. Now, you have directed two movies, right, based on Stephen King novels, Misery and Stand By Me. Right. And your production company is called Castle Rock Entertainment. Castle Rock is the fictional town where King sets many of his novels. Right, and Stand By Me is set there. Yeah.

Now, would you describe yourself as a fan or a crazy stalker? Somewhere in between, actually. I mean, you know, I actually love Stephen King's writing. I mean, we actually at Castle Rock, we've made seven movies out of Stephen King books. We also did Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile and Dolores Claiborne and a number of them. Yeah.

Most of the movies we've done, though, are one, we've done a couple that are, you know, have supernatural elements to it, but most of them are character-based. Yeah. He does those every once in a while. He's a brilliant writer. If you strip away the horror, you know, aspects and the supernatural aspects of it, he's really a brilliant writer. His characters are really well drawn.

His dialogue is great. So, yeah, I'm a big fan of his. Can you answer a question for me real quick? In the movie Misery, she finds this guy in the snowdrift, right? Yes. Now, was this just her lucky day? I always wondered that. Like, she finds this guy in the snowdrift and takes him home,

and then she's a super fan. Was she stalking him? Well, you know, that's a very good question because it wasn't her lucky day the fact is when our minds in the backstory is she was such a big fan she knew that he would uh write at this silver creek lodge all the time and she moved in that area because she would always kind of stalk him and and look at him so uh i think she was always trying to you know tracking him and trying to you know meet him she was like this crazy stalker fan yeah that's been bothering me for years man all right thank you that's why i cleared that up thank you that has

been cleared up okay well let's move on rob reiner we have asked you here to play a game that we are calling don't stand by me stand somewhere else now we've heard that you feel like stand by me, stand somewhere else. Now, we've heard that you feel like Stand By Me is one of your proudest accomplishments. It is, it is, absolutely. It's a great movie, and to celebrate it, we're going to ask you three questions about people you definitely do not want to stand by. Okay. If you get two out of the three of them correctly, you're going to win our prize for one of our listeners. That is Carl's voice on their voicemail.

Carl, who's Rob Reiner playing for? Rob is playing for Jeff Barney from Sushi Japan. Okay. Wow. Wait a minute. From Sushi Japan? Is that a sister city with Burrito Mexico? Yeah.

Are you ready to go, Rob? Yes, I'm ready. Terrific. Ready as I'll ever be. Here's your first question. One person you don't want to stand next to is Hitler. There are lots of reasons, but specifically we're looking for one. Why?

Is it A, according to newly released records, he had terrible, terrible gas? Right. B, his dander gave people Nazi cooties? Yeah. Or C, he was a very big tickler. I'm going to just go with A. Big, big, big old Hitler. Well, fortunately for us and that hilarious noise, that's correct.

It is? That's old news. Not to us. Did Sushi Man win a prize? Not yet. We're getting us. Did Sushi Man win a prize? Not yet. Not yet. We're getting there. We're getting there.

You're putting the cart before the horse. Exactly. All right. We have some more questions about Franco's halitosis. Okay. So if you get one of the next two, we will win the prize for the man from Sushi. Okay. Okay.

Here's your next question. You would not want to stand next to Gary Busey, of course, because he's crazy. He once showed up to shoot a scene on a movie set made to look like heaven, and what happened? Was it A, he refused to wear pants, saying, to me, heaven means one thing, no pants. Was it B, he refused to shoot, saying,

I've been to heaven and it doesn't look like this. The sofa's all wrong. Or was it C, he mistaken to shoot, saying, I've been to heaven and it doesn't look like this. The sofa's all wrong. Or was it C, he mistakenly thought he actually was in heaven and he said, hey, it turns out you can kill a bunch of guys and still get in here. Oh, God. I'm going to go with B. B, he refused to shoot, saying he's been to heaven

and it doesn't look like this. That is correct. It is? Yeah. Oh, my God. All right, here's your last question, Rob. But I already won, didn't I? You said you have to win two out of three.

Well, I'll tell you. Okay, all right. Let me tell you something also. Here's another piece of inspiration. Your father, Carl Reiner, was on this show before, and he got two. He got two? Okay. It was a chance to beat Dad. It's time to best the old man.

It's time to change your name to Carl, I guess, and best your old man. All right, here's the last question. You definitely don't want to stand next to Gwyneth Paltrow, either. She'd be constantly giving you advice. As in her recommendation for what you should get the man in your life, is it A, a $3,500 rug with a silhouette of his face on it

so he can walk on his own face, B, a $3,500 donation in his name to a charity that has people cut their hair and give it to celebrities, or C, a $3,500 all-expense paid weekend with Gary Busey? Oh, I'm going to go with B. You're going to go with B. The charitable donation. Okay, well, you are equal to your father, Carl,

because that is not the right answer. Not the answer. I'm sorry. It is the face rug. The face rug. The face rug. Somewhere, Chris Martin is weeping into a rug of his own face.

Oh, my God. I know. What a bitch. Can you say that on NCR? Well, the most important part is, Carl, let's check the scores. How did Rob Reiner do? Well, Rob had two correct answers, and that's enough to win for Jeff Barney. That's right.

You did it. Good job. Yay. Rob Reiner, it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much. Bye-bye. When we come back, we go to the stars, including the happiest moment of my nerdy life. That's when we return with more Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR.

from NPR. From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theatre in downtown Chicago, Peter Segel. Thank you, Bill. This week,

we're going over some highlights of our 25 years in the air, and it is time for some personal highlights for me. Now, I grew up with two major enthusiasms, science fiction and baseball, and I've been able to meet some of the heroes of both those worlds. First, a woman who went to both real space and fake space. Astronaut Mae Jemison is a NASA legend, the first African-American woman to go to space. And even better than that, she appeared on Star Trek, The Next Generation. She joined us in 2013.

So you have done a lot of remarkable things, a Stanford graduate, a medical doctor, a teacher, a professor at Dartmouth, and an astronaut. And we've read that you say two things got you into science, Star Trek and pus. Yes. Can you explain the influence pus had on you? Pus is one of the neatest things ever, right? When I was a little girl, I got a splinter stuck in my thumb, and it got infected.

Pus came out of it. My mother told me to go look it up, and then I found out it has all these really cool things in it. It's just the most fascinating thing that your body could do. I don't know. I thought it was cool. So, I mean, it's interesting that people's reaction to your fascination with pus to be like, wow, Mae, someday you're going to be an astronaut. Or was it like, you're an odd little girl? Well, that wasn't the oddest thing I did.

I mean, I made mud pies. I had the whole full science scope going. I pus, mud pies, dance, you know. Wait a minute. Oh, yeah, it sounds like a typical girlhood. Pus, mud pies, dance, sure. And you were a big, well, I don't know if I can use this word with somebody who was on People Magazine's

50 Most Beautiful People in the World, but a science fiction geek growing up. I was a science fiction geek. That lets me know that I come in all sizes and styles. Wow. So you were like Star Trek, the original series, was it? I was the original series Star Trek fan. Absolutely.

Right. And so when you finally got into space on the Endeavor in 1992, were you disappointed in what it was actually like? I mean, the doors don't go whoosh, and there's no cool cafeteria, and there are a few Vulcans. No troubles. No troubles. No, no, no.

It was very exciting because, first of all, you have an opportunity to see the Earth, and it's absolutely amazing. And I remember one time, actually, we flew through the southern lights. You know, they're like the northern lights, and there are these shimmering curtains of light. So there's nothing that you could have ever seen in a science fiction movie that we even come close to seeing that in person. Absolutely stunning. And for me, it was really a childhood dream coming true. It's sort of where the fantasy led reality. And then I got to be on the Starship Enterprise anyway. And the

cool thing was, is I was the only person on this bridge who had actually been in the space. So you came down from orbit on the Endeavor, and then they got in touch with you. They were producing Star Trek The Next Generation, right? Yeah. Someone heard that I really liked Star Trek and they found out whether I'd be interested in doing an episode and I said absolutely. If I was the only person who had ever actually been to space on the set of the Star Trek TV series

I'd be like, you know, in real space it wouldn't be like that at all. Real space, you blew your nose, it would just float all around here. I would lord it over those actors like you wouldn't believe it. What did you do? I just wanted to meet Worf. Oh, who doesn't?

So talk to me about this project you're working on, which is 100-Year Starship. And this is an organization trying to point the way toward long-distance space travel. Well, it is very seriously. 100-Year Starship really is about the idea that if we pursue an extraordinary tomorrow, we'll build a better world today. So all the things that we need to do a successful interstellar mission are the things that we need to live successfully here on Earth. So we talk about energy.

We can talk about recycling, closed environmental life support systems. But there's one thing I want to bring up that sometimes people don't think about when they think about space, and that's how we interact with one another. Oh, sure. So imagine being with your panel for 100 years on a ship. Excuse me? You're all right. I'd be pretty popular. Speaking of Star Trek, if you were to force me to name, say, the top three personal highlights of our 25 years in the air, one of them would have to be a day in 2008 when Leonard Nimoy, Mr. Spock himself, beamed into our theater in Chicago.

Thank you. Thank you. I want to jump right in with the most important question. In the episode of Muck Time, I'm sorry, I'm not going to do that. No, I do want to ask... That was one of our best, by the way. Oh, I think so, too. Yeah, it really was.

Written by Theodore Sturgeon. I'm so glad you mentioned it. Yeah. Spock was in heat. He was. Happens once every seven years. Yeah, that's exciting. Well worth waiting for.

I know. It's interesting because, of course, an actor's question is, what's my motivation? But in that episode Boy Yeah Now what I wanted to ask you about was of course The fame question

A short while after the series went off the air You wrote a book, I Am Not Spock About ten years after that you wrote another book I Am Spock That's also true, yeah So which is it? Are you or are you not Spock? Well, you know, yeah. So which is it? Which is it, Leonard Ewing? Are you or are you not Spock?

Well, you know, it's a question of the duality of the actor's life. I was and I am and I used to be and I still am and sometimes I'm not. Yeah, it depends on the day, I guess. Right, yeah. Have you participated in the great huge fan community? Have you gone to the conventions? I have, I have. How do you find that experience? Well,

it's heartwarming. You see the Klingons at the elevators and take a right. No, it's, you know, the press, the press, obviously, when the press comes to a convention, they immediately go to the people who are in costume for the video. But there are a lot of

normal people. Really? Yeah They wandered in by mistake No, no, no, no, no Don't do that Look, I attended one once I had, when I was a kid, a Mr. Spock jacket Were you in a Klingon outfit?

No, I had a Mr. Spock jacket It looked like your tunic It was blue, indicating a science officer It had a little Federation symbol I was very proud of it That's great We appeal to a wide spectrum of an audience. And as a matter of fact, about a year and a half ago, I was at a political event.

And one of our current campaigners for the office of President of the United States saw me as he approached. And he gave me the Vulcan signal. There you go. It was not John McKinley. I was about to say. I was about to say. There have been, starting with, I guess, Star Trek Next Generation, I guess it was in 87,

so many different spin-offs. Have you been involved in some of them? Have you watched them? Are you a fan of the new Star Trek? No. You're done? No. Really? No.

You know what? Really, what you're feeling about it? No, I don't mean to denigrate. I actually, when I first heard that they were going to do this with a whole new bunch of people, my ego kicked in, and I thought, well, that's not going to work. Yeah, yeah. And then many years later, they were still on the air, and I couldn't understand it.

It's like, wait a minute. We got canceled after three seasons. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, they did very, very well. They did a lot of good work. Yeah, but the later productions were not true. I think

I understand what you're talking about. They weren't real. They didn't go into space. Not like you guys did That's right Like you guys really went to all these other planets That were made entirely of styrofoam That's right Can I ask a non-dweeb question?

Sure The ears Wait It was about the ears, right? So those were like ears, right? Yeah So those were like foam, right? Yeah Something like that

Do you have like a pair on your mantle as a keepsake? Do you really? I do You kept a pair of the Spock ears I do, I have one pair, yeah Wow I have the pair that I wore on the very last day of filming of the original series Right, you took them home

The real series That's. The real series. That's great. The real series. I'm very touched that you asked me that question. I am. I can't believe this. You're not even a fan and he likes you best. I'm so mad.

That's very nice. Thank you. She doesn't even have the jammies. I knew we shouldn't to the stars in space, so here's a star on Earth. In 2019, we went down to St. Louis to meet one of the greatest players of all time, Hall of Fame Cardinal shortstop, Ozzie Smith. So you retired from the game back in the 90s, but you've never left St. Louis? Never left it.

This is why. I know. Well, why would I leave? Do you still follow the game? Sometimes I understand that retired players, they can't enjoy it because they're not playing anymore. Yes, I follow the game. I go to spring training. And I usually go when the pitchers and catchers report.

I visit with the guys for like 10 days, and then when they start playing games, I get out of there, and that way I can't get blamed. Do they come up to you and ask questions, the short stops you're playing the game? What kind of questions do they ask you? They ask, well, how do you get into the flow of it? And one of the things that I always explain to people,

and we learn this in physics, what's in motion stays in motion. So the one thing that you don't want to do is especially as a middle infielder is be stagnated yeah there has to be some type of movement that allows you to go left or right and and that probably is the one thing that when I talk to her when I try and teach a guy is to have some type of movement because that's what allows you to get into the flow of a fielding or ground ball. Right, you're just sort of moving, you're liquid, you're ready to go. That's right. Absolutely, yeah.

Never flat-footed. It's interesting because you mentioned the laws of physics because I was watching some of your highlights, and that was physically impossible, half of what I saw. It just couldn't be done. I always ask this question of elite athletes like yourself. How young were you when you knew that you were good at this? Well, you know, I don't know if you ever really know exactly when that moment is,

but when I was a kid, I used to throw the ball. We had a peak roof. I used to throw the ball up on one side of the roof and run around to the other side in hopes of catching it before it hit the ground. And people are sitting here wondering now. Yeah. Did you ever get there? Did you ever do it? Did you do it? I never did.

You never did it. I never did, but it was that type of determination. Yeah. That made me the player that I became. Oh, I understand. Again, watching you play, it just seems pure magic. It just seems like natural ability that you could leap up in the air, both feet, three feet off the ground,

and peg the first baseman without hardly looking. Let me say this here. It's like Bill. I'm standing back there, and I'm listening to him talk. Bill, you just talk, don't you? I just talk. It's just natural. It's just natural.

It just comes out. It's a gift. It's a gift. I'm sure yours is. It's a gift. It's a gift. What you do with the gift is you try and maintain it as long as you can. You try and share it with as many people as you possibly can and never take anything for granted.

That's absolutely true. Well, Ozzie Smith, we've invited you here to play a game that this time we're calling... We're off to see The Wizard. You were known when you played as the Wizard of Oz, or just the Wizard, for your magical plays at short stops. So we thought we'd ask you about the original Wizard of Oz, the classic 1939 movie. Answer two out of three questions correctly, you'll win a prize for one of our listeners, the voice of their choice and their voicemail. Bill, who is the great Ozzie Smith playing for us?

Drew Richardson of St. Louis, Missouri. All right. Ready to do this? Let's do it. All right. First question. People say they don't make them like they used to, and it's true. The Wizard of Oz is proof of that. Which of these is a real reason that the Wizard of Oz, as it was made, could not be made today? A, the actors who played the munchkins were all paid a fraction of regular wages due to an old pay-by-height rule. B, the Wicked Witch's broomstick, the scarecrow's outfit, and all of the fake snow were made of asbestos. Or C, the 1994 Religious Freedom Act,

which prevents witches or Wiccans from being presented in a negative light? Oh. C. You're going to go for C? Yes. Well, can I tell an anecdote? You may tell an anecdote.

Okay. So I read that, you know, the Tin Man with all the silver, that that makeup was so toxic that it sent the original actor to the hospital. So it's B. So it's B. You're going to suggest B. So it's B.

All right. We got an assist for Amy. It is, in fact, B. B, okay. You got an assist? Woo! I did it. You fed him.

You fed him, as you say in baseball. Very good. Good feed. Good feed. Yeah, it was the asbestos. Like, remember all that scene in the poppy field where they're all sleeping and all the snow falls on their faces and wakes them up? That was asbestos?

Pure poison, ladies and gentlemen. All right, next question. The Wizard of Oz has been, of course, a pop culture treasure since its release in 39. Sometimes things from the movie pop up in unexpected places, as in which of these? A, after Margaret Thatcher died in 2013, the song Ding Dong,

The Witch is Dead re-entered the British music charts at number two. B, Popeye's Restaurant once offered something called The Gizzard of Oz. Or C, Garth Brooks' 2003 Man Behind the Curtain tour in which he sang his entire set in a booming voice from behind a curtain, just like the wizard did. A. They say A, but what do you say? I say A. You're right. That's what happened. All right. Let's see if you can be as perfect in this as you were in just about everything else. There was a fair amount of acrimony on the set of Wizard of Oz with a lot of the hate focused on just one person on the set.

Who was it? Was it A, Scarecrow actor Ray Bolger, who walked around the set saying, actually, I'm very smart and mansplaining everything? B, Vladimir Oskov, a Russian method actor who played the lead flying monkey and, well, decided to act like a monkey on the set, if you know what I mean. Or C, Terry, who played Toto flying monkey and well decided to act like a monkey on the set, if you know what I mean, or see Terry, who played Toto, the dog,

who was paid more per week than most of the human actors he worked with. Was Toto paid? Lassie was paid. That's right. Rin Tin Tin was paid. Rin Tin Tin was the biggest paid star. C!

You're right, it was C. Terry, the dog, who played Totooto brought down like $150 a week, which at the time was the equivalent to about $2,000 today. So he was a well-paid pup. Bill, was Ozzie as perfect as he was here as he was on the field? That is a great score, Ozzie. Thank you. You zipped it.

Ozzie Smith. Thank you. The member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Cardinals legend. President of the Baseball Hall of Fame. A Cardinals legend. President of the Gateway PGA Reach Foundation. Ozzie Smith. The greatest shortstop who ever played. Thank you so much for being with us.

That's it for our first celebration of 25 years on the air. Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is a production of NPR and WBEZ. Chicago in association with Urgent Haircut Productions. Doug Berman, Benevolent Overlord. Philip Godica writes our limericks. Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our tour manager

is Shane O'Donnell. Thanks to the staff and crew here at the Studebaker Theatre. BJ Liederman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Dornbos, and Lillian King. Special thanks to Monica Hickey. Peter Gwynn is our 25-year itch. Our intern is Vaishnavi Naidu. Technical direction is from Lorna White.

Our CFO is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. Our senior producer is Ian Chilock. And the executive producer of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is Michael Danforth. Thanks to everybody you heard on our show this week, all of the panelists, all those wonderful guests, of course, Bill Curtis, and also our wonderful and much-missed original judge and scorekeeper, Carl Castle.

Thanks to all of you for listening and our fabulous audience here at the Studebaker Theatre. You are the best. I am Peter Sagal. We'll be back with a new show next week. Thank you. This is NPR.