Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - Our (early) endless summer with Lucy Dacus and more!

Episode Date: May 30, 2026

This week, we celebrate an early start to summer by revisiting our interviews with Tiffany Haddish, Taimane, Becca Mann, and Lucy Dacus!See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

From NPR and WBEC Chicago, this is Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me the NPR News Quiz. I'm the only man still allowed to wear white after Memorial Day. Bill Curtis. And here's your host at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois. Peter Sago. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, everybody.

As you know, every summer has an official theme, so we're taking the week off to wait until this year's theme is announced. so Bill and I don't get it wrong again. We were so embarrassed during hot girl summer when Peter and I showed up as lukewarm boys. So while we wait for the official announcement, we're here to offer you some delightful things we did over the last year or so.

Let's start with an extended version of our interview with actor and comedian Tiffany Haddish from November of 2025. Peter asked her, what jobs she took to support herself during her early years? And one answer was a little surprising. An energy producer at Bar and Bat Mitzvahs? Yeah, I did Bar-Bat-Mitza's, executive parties, Christmas parties, Hanukkah parties,

funerals, you name it. My job produced amazing energy. So wait a minute, so you were kind of a hype woman? You were like, got the crowd hyped up? I wouldn't call that a hype woman. What I call it is an energy producer. I produce amazing energy. I got you.

I got you. Yeah, Peter. I'm just, I'm just flashing back. You call it a hype woman? That sounds like flavor-flaved to me. No. This is producing amazing energy. All right, let me try to...

This is my grandma, grandpa get about the cheer of the energy so good. They got to start dancing. All right. So, yeah. So, like, I do, actually. So I'm thinking back many, many years to my own bar mitzvah. This was a very long time ago. And I did not have an energy producer of any kind.

And there was a boring party, wasn't it? It was pretty dull. I mean, I'm, I mean, I'm, I'm pretty dull. So it's too late now, it's too late now. It's never too late. All right. Throw you at a 67th birthday party. We can do that.

And thank you for that estimate of my age. It crippled me. But first of all, so if you had been at my bar mitzvah many years ago, how could you briefly demonstrate how you would have energized the party? So it was not the drab synagogue, assembly room experience. that it was. First, I would go to you and I would go, young Peter, yes. Please take my beautiful brown hand and follow me, darling. And I would lead you out to the dance floor. I would stand you right next to me and I would say,

follow my lead, do whatever I do, okay? And smile the whole time. No matter how it feels, just smile the whole time. And I would start with a side to side step clap, right? And you side to side step clap with me. Peter, do it. That's right, Peter. That's what I'm talking about. Here we go. And then the next thing you know, the whole moment.

I am, retroactively, I am very excited and extraordinarily embarrassed. I am like, because that's, yeah, that, whoa. That's the Jewish way. It is. Well, yes. Yes. Peter, I'm going to be real with you. I've seen Tiffany, she could make a dreidel spin without spinning it.

She's got that energy. She just. And then it just dradles on out. And you did this for how many years? For 11 years. 11 years. Oh, wow. That was just a, it was one?

It was one really long bar mitzvah? No. No, I did 500. Oh, wow. Oh, my God. Oh, there are a rat. I got flued out. I got flued out.

You got flown out. Hold on, people. It's flued out. It's flued out, man. Flued out. You flew out. You flued out. I flewed out.

Were you flued out in a private, What would... No, no, it was definitely a public transportation. Okay, yeah. How come for Wei, wait, don't tell me we didn't flutter in. I should have... He can't afford it. He can't afford it.

I would. All right, I gotta... That's sadly true, but you recently had your own bat mitzvah, right? It was a few years ago. It was a few years ago. Who did you hire? Because we have convinced that. you have convinced me of the usefulness of this.

Did you hire your own energy producer for your bot mitzvah, or did you handle that yourself? I hired the same company that I used to work for. I hired them, and we brought in younger, more vibrant energy producers. And then, like, Billy Crystal did my Elia. No kidding. Silverman's sister, she, you know, officiated my whole bat mitzvah, Susan Silverman. Like, it was the most beautiful.

It was beautiful. I want to ask you, one of the things I also learned is that during your years of struggle, you still had ambitions you knew and you said sometimes in public that you were going to make it, you were going to be big. Now that, well, you have, you became incredibly famous with girls' trip and many stuff since then. What is the, like, the first thing you did when you started making real money? I bought a microscope. A microscope?

Yeah, I bought a $359 microscope that took pictures of bacterias, and I could upload those bacteria's to go. Google and I can find out exactly what it is. To me, okay, so in my mind, it was me developing my relationship with God and just seeing all the things he created. And did you know that some bacterias look just like people?

Really? I mean, I thought there were like some of them were like rod shaped and some of them were squiggly, but you're saying that you look through that. Some of them is ugly as just ugly. And I'm like, oh God, God, I see what you was doing. This guy's a

bacteria like this, right? Like this. Candida. And I know that... And I'm just curious about all this stuff got death. Like, that's why I like swimming with sharks and stuff. Because you see all the plant life

and animal life down there. You're just like, look how creative he is. See, so creative. That could be your last thought just before one of those sharks eats you. I know. I know, right? You know, but see, here go to think.

Sharks don't really like people like that. That's why they bite them and spit them out because we too acidic. So as long as I keep drinking soda, girl, I'm good. Tiffany Haddish, it is a joy to talk to you, but we have invited you here to play a game, and this time we are calling it. Girls Trip, meet Girl Stripp. You start in Girls Trip, so we're going to ask you about comic strips about girls, girl strips.

Get it? Yeah. Answer. Okay. Oh, I thought it was going to be something else. I'm like, I know, I know. I know. I know.

I'm not like the Boy strip clothes. I bet you do. But no, I wanted to clarify that's what we're doing. weekend show for families. So here you go. Okay, family show. Let's go. Here we go. So answer two to three questions right. You'll win our prize for one of our listeners. Bill, who is Tiffany Haddish playing for? Liz Patterson of Atlanta, Georgia. All right. Here's your first question. The most famous girl strip is, of course, Kathy, that long-running strip about a single woman with issues. Kathy ended its run in 2010, but it left its mark on the comic strip industry. How? A, the strip in which she married her boyfriend, Irving, was so bad. The phrase, marrying Irving, now means ruining your comic strip forever.

B, whenever a comic strip writer can't think of something for a character to say, they just say, Ack, like Kathy did, or C, the highest praise one comic artist can say to another is, I thought I was reading Kathy. You're going to go for B, a comic strip writer can't think of anything for a character to say. They just say, ACC? No, I'm afraid it was marrying Irving.

Really? Marrying Irving, because people believe that that completely ruined, that's like the comic strip equivalent of jumping the shark. Here's your next question. The Barbie doll was in part originally inspired by a German newspaper comic strip called Lily. Who was Lily, the character Lily? Was she A, the beautiful wife of an ugly bricklayer named Kenneth, B, a quote, high-end call girl, or C, a beauty pageant winner who became a surgeon, an astronaut, and an Olympic gymnast?

Well, I would like it to be C, but I feel like it's, especially when Barbie came out and all around the time, I would go with A. You're going to go with the beautiful wife of an ugly bricklayer? Wait, wait, so what was the second one? The second one was that Lily, the character on whom Barbie was partially based, was a, quote, high-end call girl. High-end. More of an escort, if you know.

Well, then, I'll go with, I'll go with B. You're going to go with B. Yeah, because the way her makeup was and stuff, and she always had her boobs out. That's right. You have figured it out. That's what Lily was. So Lily was a, you got it right. Lily was a risque comic for adults in the 50s in Germany,

and the company started making dolls of Lily, and the wife of one of the founders of Mattel was in Germany, saw one and said, hey, I can work with that. All right, here's your last question. The comic strip, Little Orphan Andy, ended its run in 2010. What was the adorable orphan's fate in the very last Little Orphan Annie comic strip? Was it, A, she was being held captive by an Eastern European war criminal? B, she discovered her real parents,

were the Romanov's, making her heir to the Russian throne. Or C, she instantly aged the 90 years that had passed since the first strip and crumbled into dust. Like Thanos? Very much like Thanos, yes. What was A again? A again was that she was being held captive by an Eastern European war criminal. Ben, I'm going to go with, she got kidnapped, and that's how they came with the movie, uh, taking. That's exactly right.

Wow. In fact, I believe in the final frame of the final strip, Daddy Warbox is saying into a phone, I have certain skills. No, in the very last strip, Annie, who, by the way, during her life in the comics, was constantly being kidnapped, Annie is being held in Guatemala by a man known as the Butcher of the Balkans. And as far as we know, she is still there. I'm upset. I'm writing a letter.

All right. Bill, how did Tiffany Haddish? do in our quiz. Are you kidding? She rewrote the quiz. There's a winner in everything. You have you have bought the energy in this little right. Peter, I told you. You told me and you did not exaggerate.

She's still going. She's still going. Brian was your advanced man, Tiffany. Tiffany Haddish is an Emmy and Grammy winner. You can see her in her new show. Tiffany Haddish goes off. It is streaming on Peacock now. If it is a quarter as fun as talking to her in real life, it will be amazing. Tiffany Haddish, thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you. You're being with us. You're the best. Thank you, Tim. Thank you. Bye, bye. When we come back, we revisit our trip to Hawaii with a master of the ukulele and talk to a woman who set a record by swimming there. That's when we return with more.

Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, from NPR. From NPR and WBEC Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Wait, No Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater and the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Peter Sego. Thank you, Bill. Thanks, everyone. Thank you so much. So we are spending the week preparing for summer, getting a base layer for our tans, and working on finally achieving that beach body.

Did you know they make suit jackets with matching specials? Speedos? So while we desperately hit the gym, here's some more delightful interviews from the past year to entertain you. In October of last year, we all went to Hawaii, where we talked to one of the great living masters of that island's traditional instrument, the ukulele. Peter's first question to Taimane, how the hell do you pronounce ukulele? Ukule.

Ukulele. Ukulele. Ukulele. You got it. How about if you give it the appropriate, respectful name, and I just continue to screw it up? You know, we could do that for probably like 10 to 15 minutes. We can do that.

That's really great. So you and I mentioned this started playing the ukule at a very young age, right? Yes, I started when I was five, and it was just the instrument that I grew up learning how to express myself. Right. And I so happen to love classical music, metal music, but it's all played on this instrument. I want to get to that because that's one of the things you're known for.

But you were busking, you were out on the streets. At five, you went out with your father? I started actually when I was seven, a little bit more mature. Yeah. That's a very reasonable age to send your child out onto the street to try to make money. Yes. I had a hard work ethic back in the day,

and so I started playing on the streets of Colacawa Avenue. Right, that's the big commercial district in Waikiki with all the business. big shops on it and restaurants, tourists walking up and down all night. Exactly. Exactly. I loved it. And I kept doing it until the age of 13.

Wow. And that's where one of the singers from the Don Ho show saw me playing was on the streets of Waikiki. Yeah. And so I got to meet Uncle Don. I like to call him Uncle Don. Sure. I like to call him Uncle Don. Right.

Uncle Don. Oh, my gosh. He really, you know, he took me under his wing and, you know, really showed me the ropes of how much it takes to put on a show. Right. And so I was with him for five years until his passing, and he really just introduced me to Waikiki, and then from there I started touring all over the world because the ukulele, everyone loves the ukulele.

That's absolutely true. That's absolutely true. So it is true that one of the things you've done is you've really expanded people's understanding of what a ukulele can do, and I was hoping you could kind of demonstrate because you're known, for example, for some remarkable covers.

You just put out a cover of Joni Mitchell's Big I La Taxi. I did. Right? And so is there like anything like people would not expect to hear somebody play really well in a ukulele that you love to play for them? Yes. I'm just going to go ahead and play it. Go ahead. And for those of you, yes.

For those of you listening at home, this could be any of the panelists. You can't see this. Yeah. All right. Here we go. I thought you were going to do like smoke on the water or something, but no. Can you do that? Hey.

Yeah. Yes, stare at it. Wow. Well, Taimane, we have asked you here to play a game we're calling Mini guitar meet mini golf. So. Okay. You like smaller instruments.

We thought we'd ask you about the tiny version of golf, miniature golf. Answer two to three questions correctly. You'll win our prize for one of our listeners. Also, who is Taimane playing for? Jim Joplin of Lawton, Oklahoma. All right. All right, Oklahoma. And you know, they just love the ukulele in Oklahoma.

So here's your first question. Okay. Most historians agree that miniature golf was invented in Scotland in the 1860s for one very specific reason. What was it? A, it was made for women who weren't allowed to play real golf because it was considered improper for them to raise their arms above their shoulders. B, a local aristocrat said, love the game, but can we do without all that walking? or C, so a notorious sports gambler could win a bet that he could finish a whole round of golf in half an hour.

Oh, gosh. You know, I'm not much of a walker myself, so I would love to say, B. B. Bees. Maybe not the vibe. No.

That's not the vibe. You know, there's other, you know, I'm just getting this feeling of A? A. A. A. Back in Victorian Scotland,

you couldn't have ladies scandalizing society by showing their pits. When in doubt, go with misogyny. Exactly. All right, that was very good. Now, back in the early days,

mini golf courses used to be different than they are today. How so? Was it A, instead of mechanical obstacles like windmills, children were hired to leap onto the course and swat away your ball. B, instead of hitting your ball

into the mouth of a fake clown in the last hole. You do it to a real clown. Or see, instead of turf, the surfaces were made of goat hair dyed green. You know, I just keep getting these feelings. Finally, these feelings. Where does it come? The spirit of aloha. You know, I'm going to go with, like, the ocean, like the sea.

The sea, wise choice being this being Hawaii. Yes, it was sea. Died goat hair was the surface of choice. This was before, Astroof, of course. Last question. You can play thousands of mini-golf courses around the world, including in some unusual places like which of these. On the lip of a volcano in Stromboli, Italy,

with real lava providing some of the obstacles. B, 400 feet underground in an abandoned Transylvanian salt mine, or C on the roof of the second tallest building in Dubai, where if your ball goes out of bounds, it really goes out of bounds. I'm going to go with B. You're going to go the Transylvanian salt mine. You're right. It is called Salina Turda, and it's got a whole amusement park down there along with the minigolf.

It's the most popular underground tourist attraction in the world. What's it called? Salina Turda. No smart remarks, Paula. Also, how did Taimane do on our quiz? She's got the vibes. Three out of three. There you go.

Taimane is a singer song. I'm one of the world's most celebrated ukulele players for tour dates, head to taimane.com slash live. Taimane. So when we went to Hawaii, we, of course, took a plane, but champion long-distance swimmer Becca Mann saved on baggage fees and swam there. In addition, it's swimming across the Maui Channel and back. Becca is a two-time national champion in the 10-kilometer swim.

And when she joined us last year, guest host De Guestos de Guillaude Farsad, ask her, what's spending that much time in the water does to a person. So, you know, one of the things that I thought about, like, when thinking about these adventures that you go on, is that you're in the water for a really, really, really, really long time. So what are some of the weird kind of physical side effects of this kind of swimming? So when you're in saltwater, you will start swelling. So, like, about nine hours in, my nostrils were swollen together. And then when I got out of the water, my uvula was hanging on to the back of my tongue,

and I couldn't swallow the rest of the day. It was disgusting. Oh, God. This is where I pretend to really know what a uvula is. It hangs on the back of your throat. Oh, got you. Either way, I sense that this is bad. This again kind of conjures the question of like, why do you do this to yourself?

But what is your, like, what's your big goal now? I mean, you've already done so much. Is there another, like, a record you want to set? Yeah, so I actually took, after that swim, I took five years off of swimming. That was, like, the last thing that I wanted to do with my career because I just narrowly missed my third Olympic team, and I didn't want to end on a failure.

So I love swimming, and I figured, why not just see how long I can love swimming for in one period? And then after that took five years off, and I was just really missing swimming, So I got back into it a year ago and then made the national team again after five months of training. So I'm hoping. Thank you. Baddy behavior.

Yeah. So now I'm just kind of taking it six months by six months and seeing what happens from there. And as long as I keep enjoying getting into the pool every day to train, I'm going to keep sticking with it. When you're in the open water, are there people that are watching you or tracking you in some ways? So you're not completely by yourself, right? Yeah. So there was a kayak that was probably like five to ten feet away from me the whole time. And then a boat that would stay like 200 meters ahead.

And then every like 20 minutes, I'd swim up to the boat. And my mom was actually on the boat and she was violently seasick the whole time. She was not happy. She's never doing this again. And she'd throw me a feed. We call them feeds. They're basically just like liquid fuel. So like a gatorade with like some sort of.

of energy gel melted into it. So yeah, I wasn't fully alone, even though I couldn't touch the boat. Nobody was allowed to touch me, because then you're disqualified if that happens. But there were people nearby in case I need help or anything. OK, so there were people nearby. My question is, what's the most incredible thing

you've seen in the open ocean? Because I won't be going. I need to live vicariously through you. I think I've seen three sharks, and I really love sharks. All of them were, it was too black to be. reef sharks and then one white tip reef shark. And I think that they're just such beautiful creatures.

All of them were like very peaceful and yeah, I love all the animals. They're probably surprised to see you. Yeah. What are you doing at my house? Oh yeah, they have they have a real they have a real reputation for being peaceful. Those ones in particular. I met some nice

ones. Well, so speaking of like fish, have you ever like had a relationship with a fish in this? of my octopus teacher. I can't say that I have. I mean, are you open to that? I'm open to everything. We'll see. We'll hear what?

Do you ever like swim in a hotel pool and just like casually do laps but also smoke everybody and show off? Definitely. Depending on what kind of mood I'm in. Oh, Becca, man. Well, we've actually asked you here to play a game. We're calling...

Tanks for joining us. So, you know all about... Oh, no. Oh, no is right. You know all about open water. So we're going to ask you about closed water, aquariums. Answer two out of three questions correctly, and you'll win our prize for one of our listeners,

the voice of any of us, on their voicemail. Bill, who is Becca playing for? Ryan Campbell of Houston, Texas. All right. All right. I won't let you down, Ryan. Here's your first question. The San Antonio Aquarium has a touch tank

which can provide guests with unique experiences like which of these. Is it A, an archerfish spitting water directly into your boyfriend's eye? Is it B, an octopus grabbing your six-year-old by the arm and trying to climb out the tank to get the rest of her? Or is it C, the

Can You Handle a Lionfish Sting Challenge? I'm going to say C just because I don't know if the aquarium would be able to get away with the first two. Oh, it is B. They got away with an octopus

grabbing a kid. Don't worry. Don't worry, the kid is fine, and it only took three adults armed with ice packs to make the I'm supposed to let go. All right, here's your next question. The San Antonio Aquarium had another situation in 2018.

Oh, boy. When one of their sharks went missing. Fortunately, they were able to track it down quickly because security footage showed what? Was it A, one shark was hiding on the bottom of its tank while another shark buried it in the sand? Was it B, the shark jumping a barrier into the beluga whale tank, where it was now playing with a whale like they were best friends? Or was it C, two people lifting the shark out of its tank,

putting it in a baby stroller and walking out of the aquarium? Okay, I feel like it could be any of these three things. Okay. C seems like it would be the most fun, so I'm gonna go with C. You're right, it is C. Oh my God. the shark from the guy who wanted it for the quote extensive aquarium habitat in his garage. I really see a lot of myself in that guy. All right, here's your last question. According to a

2017 interview, when the sharks at one aquarium wouldn't mate, the staff solved the issue by doing what? Was it A, piping salt and pepas push it into the enclosure on a loop? Was it? Was it? it B, putting jasmine oil into their water as an aphrodisiac? Or was it C, putting lipstick on the female shark? What is it? Okay, what's the audience thinking? A? Okay, I can't say no to that then. It has to be A. Oh my God, that's right. Sexy song.

Wow. What did Becca do on our quiz? Well, she did swim a very long way. So we're going to call her a winner, two out of three. Audience, the true winner, though. Well, Becca Mann is a champion open water swimmer and a writer. Becca, man, thank you so much for joining us on Wait, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. When we come back, our panel continues to do anything other than study for our quiz,

and singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus tells us how she started her career in music as a favor to a friend. That's when we come back with more 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 Theater and the Fight Arts Building in Chicago. Peter Sagle. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, everybody. Hey, if you want to come see us in person, we're here most weeks at the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago.

You can catch us on the road as well. We'll be in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 9th and in Sonoma, California on July 30th. For tickets and information to all our live events, go to NPRPresents.org. Right now, Bill and I are busy getting the playlist just right for NPR's annual beach limbo party. Everybody is surprised by how low I can go. But I'm going to be honest with you, I hope our panelists are spending their week off studying the news because apparently some of them haven't figured out that when they appear in our show, I might ask them about it. Here's some of our panelists covering up for their ignorance by being funny.

Eugene, don't be alarmed, but this week we were assured that your airplane is not actually outdated and old just because it still has what? No engine? No, that would be a problem. Oh, okay. That you should be alarmed. That it still has no smoking sign? Close. not only does it have no smoking signs, which it shouldn't have because nobody smokes in airplanes,

but it also seems to have still what? Oh, the ashtrays? Astrays. Yes. People have been seeing ashtrays in the laboratories of planes and thinking, oh, my God, how old is this plane, right? You think, oh, no. Was this plane built in the 60s? And then you think about how well us people who were built in the 60s are holding together right now, and you start to panic.

But you can relax. the Washington Post reported this week that the FAA still requires that all airplane bathrooms still have ashtrays. That way they can guarantee that the dirtiest thing in there is not the toilet seat.

Why do they have them? The idea is you're not allowed to smoke on airplanes and they tell you when they give the announcement if you smoke in there's smoke detectors in the bathrooms, if you smoke in there it's a crime, don't do it. But what if somebody does anyway? And they want to make sure that if somebody does break the law

and lights a cigarette in there. They want a safe, fireproof place for them to put the cigarette besides a trash can, say, full of paper. And you especially don't want them flushing them down the toilet because that blue stuff in there, that's leftover jet fuel. Wow. So then what happens to the cocaine that I have in there? Well...

You can snort that right off the toilet, see. Yeah. Also, people are upset. About a lot. It's true. Actually, I wasn't even a question. People are upset. No, people are upset in Thailand after a parade there,

went by this museum full of priceless cultural artifacts. And then what happened? They broke in and so... No, no. I'll give you a hint. We don't know why they routed the annual sub-wifur, celebration parade by the National Museum of Tippett Objects. Oh, wow.

Yes. I grew up in the South, and dudes would have these woofers in their cars, and they drive by, and they rattle every dish, every window in your house. And so they just rattled those artifacts and destroyed them. That's exactly what happened. The loud music from the parade shattered priceless artifacts. The parade celebrates this particular province's unique contributions to Thai culture, including Rod Hay.

which is the relatively recent tradition of modifying cars and trucks with, yes, super powerful loudspeakers. Okay, bad enough, but why did the parade also follow those with floats filled with those sopranos singing so high they shattered glass? The noise was so loud, it knocked several priceless pieces of historical pottery off their shelves onto the floor where they shattered. What's the problem? Now, there are a bunch more objects and they're much more reasonably priced. I was going to say. They were priceless before. Now they have a price. Exactly. Now we know. Capitalism. Four for a dollar. I think it's great. More destructive, more destructive parades. I want to see like a Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade where a wind gust makes Snoopy take out the entire metropolitan museum. What? Something close. I used to have this picture that I got from a newspaper and I had it on my notebook for the longest time. It was one time at the Macy's Day parade. You know, they had an underdog.

inflatable. And he had like a menacing look like his eyebrows were, you know, and he was pointing, and a gust of wind caught it. And it went like towards people, and the people scattered. Sure. And it was such a great, so that's actually, I mean, it didn't destroy a museum, but I do feel it's a similar story, and that's why I told it. Katie, according to the New York Times, contrary to the popular belief, held by many pet owners, all dogs are what? Oh, uh, the popular belief is that they're all lovely, so I would say, me. What are we even, what are you even asking me for, Tom?

All dogs are destined for hell? I'll give you a hint, maybe it'll narrow it down. These are the creatures that literally chase their own tails. So actually they're all really dumb? Yes, dumb. I knew that. I knew that about my dog. Yeah, mine too.

Mine's very dumb and she's loud about it. Yeah. The New York Times wants you to know your dog is most likely not a genius. Which is weird because they're always trying to get my dog to sign up for the wordal. Opening word, gher. Josh, you have a pug.

I do. Smart or dumb? Dumb. She's so dumb. We bought her a step so that she can hop up. onto the couch because the couch cushion's kind of high, she sits on the step. And it's like, come on, get me the rest of the way. I have a pug too.

Is your pug smart? No. No. So dumb. So dumb. What does your dog smell like? Your pug smell like? She doesn't smell great. Mine has a very distinct smell. I want to know if this is just a pug thing. Is it, because we've had moments of the Frito smell. Frito!

Yeah. That's all dogs, I think. Yeah, my dog smells like Fritos, too. You smell like Fritos. You're like, this dog isn't that bright. And then you smell them and you're like, I just want him to meet your face. Finally, Lucy Dacus is one of the most popular singer-songwriters working today,

both on her own and with the supergroup Boy Genius. When she joined us in December, I asked her if it was true that she put out her first record as, a favor to a friend. Yeah, he had a school project to do. And my friend was working at Reba McIntyre's studio. Yeah. And he was like, no one's scheduled on this Saturday, should we sneak in?

And so the whole record, we recorded it in one day, illegally. Well, I don't know if it's illegal, but without approval. Right. And I guess the first question is, did he get a good grade? Why never asked him that? Really? He didn't, like, he didn't fail and have to have you record another record. Did he?

Yeah, and that's what historian is. Yeah, exactly. Exactly, that was the second project. So that's an amazing story. You started playing guitar, I'm told it, 12 years old. I would say the correct answer is yes. The correct answer is yes. I like the fact that you're already getting to the quiz aspect.

That's good. I'm not very, I'm still, like, not the best at guitar. I feel like guitar at that time was hardly listenable. Really? But you're actually quite an accomplished guitar, as you were on a list of one the greatest of all time I saw. Yeah.

Yeah. Wow. Do you remember, I'm always curious about this, artists like yourself, like what your first songs were like, when you first wrote a song, do you remember what it was? I had a song called Stupid Cupid,

which was like, why won't Cupid come to me? I was probably like seven years old. What? Yeah, I know. You were already pining for a partner at seven? Yes. Stupid.

Stupid Cupid. I mean, I also had a song that was about people who are upset when someone cheats on them, but it is probably their fault, because why would they cheat on you if you weren't hard to be with? Again, I was probably like eight years old. Oh, my goodness. Wow, you were eight years old. What was happening at your elementary school?

I'm glad I don't remember. You also, in your early days before you recorded that school project and began to become very popular, you worked at a, I didn't even know that he still existed within a young person's lifetime, but a photo processing shop in Richmond, where you grew up? Wow. Richmond Camera. Richmond Camera. Did that experience inspire any of your writing?

Well, it was so mindless, and it was eight hours a day, and so I would sit and do my, like, do-da-da-da-da-da, and then I had a pad of paper, and I would write songs, and I'd get home, and I'd get on the guitar, and I'd write, like, a song a day at that time, which is not, like, what I do anymore. Wow. Have you considered it? I mean, you seem to be nostalgic for when you were that. productive have you considered taking on like a mindless day job again just to

reignite the creative spirit yeah I think you're being funny but I've not I really I'm ready you're ready somebody somebody hire this woman for drudge work so you can reach like the photo counter at Walgreens I think that's exactly how you dress why not in in 2019 you released a song on certain holidays throughout the year and then put out a record of them all called holidays. And I love this record. How did you decide which holidays to do? The real truth is that I had recorded a bunch of things for no reason because it's fun to do.

And I was like, when are these going to see the world? And so I realized that some of them have like a holiday aspect. Others, I kind of could make it up. Like Dancing in the Dark, we just said that Bruce Springsteen's birthday is a holiday. which I stand by. Right. And then like in the air tonight, like that was kind of eerie, so we did it for Halloween. I also wanted to ask, as you say, one of the holidays, Bruce Springsteen's birthday,

and you do think that's a holiday. You're a big fan, right? It was in my house growing up. I mean, it was written out. We had like a big calendar in the kitchen where we put, like, you know, basketball practice, church, Bruce Springsteen's birthday. Wow. Please tell me you called it.

Please tell me you called it the Springs team. The Springsteenth? You're a genius. That's crazy. I have to call my dad. Yeah. I saw a picture of you with Springsteen, so you didn't meet him, right? Did you tell him about the Springsteen's?

No. Oh! I already knew. I'm not that, like, fazed when I meet people, but he, like, is so important. to my dad and to me and I like showed up at a friend's birthday party and like saw him and I was like I need to go

I'm about to make a fool of myself and so I was crying at the bar to a friend and was like this is weird and I should go and so then I turned around and he was right there and he actually like knew me and knew my music

already so I was just like I think you're the best I like yeah and he was he was very gracious and he kind of he seems to be like the guy that you want him to be which is not always true it's always so well lucy day because it is a pleasure to talk to you and we have invited you here to play a game we're calling boy genius meet boy geniuses so your band is called boy genius so we're going to ask you three questions about geniuses who are also boys answer two or three Well, okay, you're rolling your eyes. I did warn you earlier it would be dumb.

I mean, you can be... I feel like genius is opposite of dumb, so... Okay, let's go. Let's go. All right, I appreciate that. That was very charitable. Okay. So, as I was saying, answer two to three questions correctly, and you'll win our prize

for one of our listeners. Also, who is Lucy playing for? Kimberly Ramos of Chicago, Illinois. All right. Here's your first question. Math genius, Suborno-Bari, started at NYU. last fall at the age of 12 when a reporter asked him, do you sometimes wonder at the fact that you're only 12?

What was his response? A, quote, Why wonder at that when there's dark matter to wonder about? B, quote, not really, I've seen my birth certificate. Or C, quote, yes, mainly when my classmates go to a bar without me. I'm going to say the second option. I think it's two. You are right.

It was B, yes. He said yes, I've seen my birth certificate. He is a math genius. He can count to 12. All right. Here's your next question. Doogie Hauser was a fictional boy genius who, in the show, completed med school at the age of 14. But the actor who played him, Neil Patrick Harris, was not a medical prodigy? So how did he get through the scenes where he had to spout a lot of medical jardin while performing surgery? Was it A, he recorded each big word just one at a time, and then the editors would just cut away to the nurses a lot to make it sound like he was saying it all at once. B, he put a card with his lines written on them inside the surgical wound he was supposed to be operating on, or C, the actor playing the patient on the operating table would whisper the lines to him, taking advantage of the fact you couldn't see his mouth under a oxygen mask. I would say B because... You're right.

Yes. It was. All right. Here is your last question. Get this right. You'll be perfect. Boy geniuses from around the country were once invited to participate in a game show. called Our Little Genius, where Prodigies answered nearly impossible questions in the pursuit of winning $500,000, but the show, the recorded never aired.

Why? A, the network had said, people already feel dumb watching game shows. Now we're going to make them feel dumber. B, the phone-a-friend feature failed when every single contestant asked, does my mom count? Or C, it was shut down when it was revealed the kids weren't actually geniuses, producers, were just feeding them the answers right before they filmed. I feel like we live in the world of sea. We do, sadly.

It is a fallen world that we live in, and you are correct. It was C. The whole thing was a scam. It was never broadcast. Also, how did Lucy do in our quiz? She did great. Three out of three. Well done. Lucy Dacus is a singer-songwriter, and one-third of the supergroup Boy Genius.

Her new album, Forever is a Feeling is out now. Lucy Dacus, thank you so much for joining us. I might wait, wait, don't tell you. Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure to talk to you. Take care. Likewise. Bye, bye, bye.

That's it for our spring is the best time to prepare for summer edition. We'll be back next week with beautiful new tan lines. But first, let me tell you. Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, is a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago in association with urgent hair car production

and Doug Berman, Benevolent Overlord. Philip Godica writes our Limericks, our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. BJ Leatherman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles, Dron Boss, and Lillian King. Special thanks, as always. to Monica Hickey, Peter Gwynn, is helping us get sunscreen in that hard-to-reach spot on our backs.

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Our guest, scorekeeper Alzo Slade, and guest host, Nguine Farsat. And of course, Bill Curtis. And thanks to all of you for listening. I'm Peter Sagal, and we'll see you next week. This is NPR.