Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - The Wait Wait 2026 summer spectacular, part 2!

Episode Date: August 22, 2026

This week, we extend our summer break with Ken Jennings, Olivia Munn, Father James Martin, and Bobby Lopez!Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show���s perks include bonus episodes, the chance to be a contestant in those bonus episodes(!), and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.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 WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm the man who looks forward to Labor Day because if you think I look good now, wait till you see me in fall colors. I'm Alzo Slade, and here's your host at the Studio Baker Theater in downtown Chicago, Peter Sago. Thank you all. Thank you, everybody. We are off enjoying the second week of our summer break, but I have got to tell you, we are getting a little antsy. We want to get back to work and start grappling with the week's news again. That's right.

We're idiots. Before we make that terrible mistake, we're going to satisfy our longing with some great moments from earlier this year. In May, I had the pleasure of talking to our old friend Ken Jennings, who, of course, went from Jeopardy champion to Jeopardy host. Peter took the opportunity to talk to Ken about his own appearance on Jeopardy, which, well, it didn't end as well as Ken's did. So, as you know, Ken, as I may have mentioned bitterly a number of times when we've spoken, I myself was on Jeopardy many, many years ago. I did not do as well as you. But one of my memories was during lunch, I sat near Alex Trebek, the legendary host,

and I heard him telling his producers, you know, nobody understands, this is the hardest job in show business. Now that you are in the host's chair or podium on Jeopardy, do you agree? Well, of course it always flatters the person in the job to point out how hard it is. Yes. But I will absolutely back up Alex here. I mean, during the, after he passed away, sadly, you know, during that guest hosting rotation, we have a lot of broadcasters and who had done everything. We had people who had reported from war zones.

And to a person, they all said, wow, this game moves really fast. And I don't mean to imply that a trivia quiz show is as important as being in a war zone. But there is a unique skill set, and Alex was amazing at it, and I don't have anywhere near his level of grace or Riz, but I'm going to try. Now, we heard that during that period, as you say, when many people were trying, they tried a lot of people as the host of Jeopardy, that they went through training to do it. Did you? Is there Jeopardy host training? There is Jeopardy boot camp. The Jeopardy writers, the people who write the clues, impersonate Jeopardy contestants. Just to put you through your paceus. And at first, they impersonate well-behaved jeopardy contestants doing the things we expect.

Sure. As your difficulty level grows, they impersonate increasingly unruly and disobedient jeopardy contestants, just to see what the host would do. Really? So can you give me some of the simulations that they put you through? Well, they don't become cantankerous necessarily, but they become erratic. Like, they'll stop responding to things in the form of a question. They'll see if you know what to do

if they correct an answer late or if they call out a category without being prompted. Just the little niceties of Jeopardy start going unobserved because a lot of these are related to rules. We're a serious game, Peter. I'm not saying that not my job

is not a very serious segment. We take Jeopardy seriously. Yeah, you know, well, we have... Okay, fine. Can you, so you've been doing it for a while. Have, has anybody sworn audibly after screwing something up? I feel confident that Jeopardy has violated the George Carlin rule on a few occasions. That was, it just wasn't me.

I remember when I was on, I think I said all seven at once after one question. You, obviously, because of your extraordinary success, as a contestant must have aspired to be a contestant for a while before you went on the show. Did you also ever want to be the host? No, but over the years, many people would ask me, hey, clearly, if Alex were ever to retire, you'd be on the shortlist, and I would just laugh at them. No, no, no, no, no. That would be a very outside-the-box, kind of a Willy Wonka way to run a game show.

If you invited back the lucky little boy, and gave him the fact. Nobody's going to do that in TV. But it turns out Jeopardy is kind of its own little institution, and it runs by its own rules. Yeah, and there you are. Apparently, if you are the champion, they make you the host. Everybody who watches Jeopardy knows that after the first commercial break,

when we come back, the host, now you, used to be Alex, comes over and talks to the panelists. Is that as difficult as it looks? It's hard for the contestants. I actually really enjoy it. That was always the part of the show that I thought was a little bit cringy. even as a kid, I would sometimes have to leave the room during a boring story. It's like Jeopardy stops for a second and Curbier enthusiasm begins. That's why the theme song changes just at that moment.

The tuba comes in. So I worked very hard on making that a little more engaging. And the fact is, Peter, I've gone my whole life trying to get out of conversations with 20 seconds. So, like, I was made for this. Famously, I believe this is famous. When you did your amazing run of 74 shows after the first, I don't know, 20, you ran out of interesting things to say about yourself. You were a young man.

You'd only done so much so that you just started making stuff up to talk about with Alex. Is that right? I ran out of ideas very early on. Like if you see my fourth game, it's getting a little, the anecdotes are a little things. But what I found out is nobody fact checks these. Really? Have the Yorker's staff, Peter. You shouldn't say you have a purple heart,

but if you tell us you were a birthday clown, we are not going to LinkedIn. Right. I was watching Celebrity Jeopardy, where I expected, because I know some celebrities, the questions to be a little easier. I was very impressed.

The celebrities have gotten good. Do you think so? I feel like the celebrities don't get enough credit. I think generally people assume, I think because of the Will Ferrell sketches, people assume Celebrity Jeopardy is a cake lock where it's like states that rhyme with Schmallowware. Right. And as a result, I think they don't give the celebrities enough credit.

Certainly we want them to play well. We know they're playing for charity. It depends on the category. If it's showbiz, you can ask celebs harder questions, perhaps, than civilians. So it might depend on the category. Yeah, but if it's like working for a living for real, that... Yeah. I'll take not having an assistant for six of them.

Ken, is there any plans for like a dumbass jeopardy? Because I have a request. I was going to say, well, you know, that show already airs and it's called, and then I realized I would get in trouble. So I was like, oh, my God. Well, Ken Jennings, it is always a pleasure to have you with us. This time, we have asked you here to play a game we're calling What is H&R Block?

As some people may remember, your Jeopardy Win streak ended with a question about H&R Block that you did not answer correctly. We're going to ask you three questions about that tax preparation firm. I've listened to Not My Job so many times over the years. Is this the first time you're ever asking the guest about the single most traumatic thing that's ever happened?

All right. If you answer two to three questions about H&R Block, you will win our prize for one of our listeners. Bill, who is the legendary Ken Jennings playing for? Bonnie Powers of Vienna. All right. Here's your first question, Ken. H&R. Block was originally a bookkeeping business

called the United Business Company, founded by Henry Block and his brother. After his brother went back to law school, Henry took out a help wanted ad, which was answered by whom? A, the former head of the IRS under President Truman, who had just been fired by President Eisenhower, B, his mother, who told him he should hire his other brother, or C, no one, so Henry just invented someone with the initial R

so people would think the company wasn't just him. Wow. I'm going to guess B, his other brother? You're right. That's what happened. But he didn't praise it as a question. He doesn't have to. He's off duty. All right, here's your next question.

H&R Block is obviously known for their tax work, but they have another surprising source of revenue. What is it? A, they're majority owners of America's largest chain of Halloween haunted houses. B, they own the copyright for the GIF animated file format, or C, they own the rights to the entire recorded music catalog of Parliament Funkadelic.

I'm going to say just because it delights me, the haunted house. The haunted houses. No, I'm afraid not, although it'd be another seasonal business. They own the copyright for gifts because they bought CompuServe, and CompuServe, way back when, patented the GIF.

Here's your last question. In 2005, H&R Block got in trouble when it was revealed that for the past three years, they had made significant errors when filing whose taxes. A, seven of the nine Supreme Court justices, B, their own taxes, or C, every player in the New York Yankees. I mean, I'm going to say their own, B. You're right. To screw up their own corporate tax return.

And their excuse, but we used turbo tax, did not fly. Bill, how did the quiz master Ken Jennings do on our quiz? Like a champ, two out of three. Congratulations, Ken. Welcome. How does it, does it, I have to, I mean, okay, yes, we did this thing to you. We asked you about H&R Block. Does it feel good, do you finally conquered your demon that is H&R Block?

After all these years, I'm finally back to 500. But, you know, I think of them all, every time I drive past a strip mall, you see that little green square. Yeah. Now, Peter, I'm going to think of them. every time I watch a gift. So you've made my life... Even worse. About them year round.

Ken Jennings is the host of Jeopardy. He's also the author of the Complete Connections Puzzle book, which has eaten up a lot of my week. It's available now. Ken Jennings, thank you so much for joining us again.

I'm way, wait, wait, don't tell me. Always enjoy us to you. Take care. We'll see you on TV. Bye, bye. When we come back, Olivia Munn reveals that she went into acting because she was a failure at TV news, and a Catholic priest commits the venal sin of gossiping about the Pope.

That's when we come back with more Wait, Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me, from NPR. From NPR, NPR, Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Alzo Slate, and here's your host at the Studio Breaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Peter Sago. Thank you, Alzo. Thank you, everybody. And hey, if you're listening at home right now or wherever you are and you think the people here are having a good time and you want to see what that's like, have I got good news for you. You can always come see us live here in Chicago and also on the road.

We'll be at the beautiful Outdoor Rose Music Center in Dayton, Ohio. Enjoy one last blast of summer in the Great Outdoors with us. That's on September 3rd. And we will also be at the Orphium Theater in Omaha, Nebraska on September 24th. And we've got more. Our comedy grab bag show is coming September 9th to the Den Thurton. theater in Chicago, Alzo Slabe will be hosting. You'll hear stand-up from wait-weight panelists and see special guests like me.

For tickets and information to all our live events, just go to nprpresents.org. Okay, so in order to help get through our news quiz withdrawal while we're on vacation, we've decided to relive some moments from earlier in the year. Imagine us all at a resort somewhere ignoring our families, lip singing along to the not-my-job game. Yeah, it's a little sad, really. And on that said, some of these segments are real bangers. For example, here is guest host Nagin Farsad talking to actor Olivia Munn back in April.

She asked Olivia, the star of your friend and neighbors on Apple TV, how her career began. So I graduated college. I majored in journalism. And I always wanted to get to L.A. And I wanted to be an actor. But my mother's an immigrant. And so when I told her I wanted to be an actor, it was like, that's insane. We're not doing that.

You're going to be a doctoral lawyer. and but then I was like, I just love storytelling. So I was like, what about a journalist? And she's like, well, what exactly is that? So I pointed to like the people on the news. She's like, oh, okay, okay, that's okay. And so I go there and then she made me a deal. She's like, you know, I'll support you if you want to go to L.A.

Only if you use your degree for one year. So I worked at this NBC affiliate in Tulsa and I did the assignment desk. And people who have done journalism or have been in a newsroom, the assignment desk is where you get all the calls. You get people calling in like with complaints or nice things, just everything. But there's also all these police scanners, which is like the most important thing for you to do. There's police and fire department paramedics and you're supposed to listen to all of them at once and be able to call it out. And I was the absolute worst person at that job. I'm sitting at the desk and I hear nothing.

And then you just hear a report over there being like, there's a school bus on. fire on 83rd Street. And I was like, there is? And then a year to the day, I went in and I was like, I'm leaving. I'm not going to be staying here anymore. And they go, great. Well, you're, you're now on friends and neighbors. And John Hamm's character takes to robbing his friends on that show, which made me question, which of your friends or neighbors would you like to rob? Oh, yes. Yeah. So, such a good question.

You know, I'm not, when I'm in New York, there are so many more, like, cool, rich, artsy people around. And, I mean, he's not, he's my friend through my husband. So I just have to say that when I say, but, like, don't be like, oh, she's name dropping, because he's not my friend. But I've been to his house. And, like, Steve Martin has, like, like the best art that you can imagine it's just like it's like the coolest stuff like it's really

like everything's cool and curated in this and I'm like eating a kebab like right next to like some like ridiculously expensive painting and I just want to go like that you want to touch it with your kebab sear? I want to get great for it I want to feel what it feels like like that something else it's something you know what I should go

You can't ask me about that and I'm just literally Well Olivia mine We've asked you here to play a game We're calling Our Friends and Neighbors You star in the show your friends and neighbors But what do you know about the NBC sitcom Friends

And the Australian soap opera Neighbors? Answer two out of three questions correctly And you'll win our prize for one of our listeners, the voice of their choice on their voicemail. Bill, who is Olivia playing for? Melissa Hosey of Greensboro, North Carolina. All right. All right, well, we'll start with Friends. Here's your first question. The barista at Central Perk, where the Friends hung out, was Gunther, played by James Michael Tyler. Gunther was only supposed to appear in a single episode, but the producers kept him around. Why? Was it A? Because Tyler was a huge Knicks fan,

so the writers would ask him how to make Joey sounds like a real Knicks fan. Is it B, a network executive thought the way Tyler answered the phone was the funniest thing in the show? Or was it C, Tyler was the only one who knew how to use the espresso machine? Just so you guys know, B and C sound a lot of light. They're saying E. I mean. And you should say banana or cat. Just so you can know.

I do believe they said Cat. Nana and Kat sounds a lot of... Keep going. Okay, they were saying C. Yeah, I feel like that's what they were saying. That's right. The answer is C. Wasn't miming using the espresso machine, but anyway, there it was.

He actually knew how to use the espresso machine. All right, let's jump over to neighbors. Here's your next question. In a 2013 episode of Neighbors, bad boy Kyle Channing became temporarily blind after staring directly at an eclipse. What circumstance led him to look straight at the sun? Was it A, his kidnappers held his eyes open and pointed them at the sun? Was it B, a dog stole his eclipse glasses and ran away with them?

Or was it C, he was trying to win $10,000 in an eclipse staring contest? Okay, the neighbors is a soap opera, right? Yeah, yeah. I'm going to guess it's B. That's right, it's B. The dog stole his glasses, and he just looked anyway. So, all right, back to Friends. Lisa Kudrow won an Emmy for playing Phoebe on Friends,

but she always had a backup plan ready. In the same year that the show premiered, Kudrow also did what? Was it A, published a study in a neurological journal, testing if left-handed people are more likely to get migraines. Was it B, completed an internship at the three Michelin Star Restaurant

the French Laundry, or was it C, received a patent for a leash that lets you walk five dogs at once? It's A, I can see that one. It's A. That's right. It was A. Bill, how did Olivia do on our quiz? Olivia was perfect.

Three right. Olivia Munn is an actor who you can see on Apple TV pluses your friends and neighbors. Season two premiered this week. Olivia Munn, thanks so much for joining us. It's been so much fun. A few weeks later, I took another week off, and this time Tom Papa got to fill in

and talked to our guest, Father James Martin, a Catholic priest, a regular in the late night circuit, and a best-selling author. His latest book is a memoir about all the summer jobs he had as a kid, and Tom got right to the most important question about it. So your book is all about your past summer jobs, starting off when you were a child.

Which job made you believe in God the least? Probably, I was the world's worst catty at a golf course outside of Philadelphia, and I was stuck in the middle of a lightning storm, and my golfer told me to stay there with the bag of clubs under a tree, and I realized that I was standing under a tree in the middle of an electrical storm holding a bag of, lightning rods.

But you have a real nice way of giving perspective. Looking back, these weren't really just dumb jobs. You did learn something along the way. Yeah, I learned a lot about hard work, first of all, but also being kind to people, because when you're humiliated as a busboy or a dishwasher or a caddy, you learn how not to humiliate people. It was as effective as a year's worth of homilies on being kind.

Yeah, I was a bus boy, and they are mean to you, when you were a busboy. I was probably 15 years old and a guy was really mean to me and I wasn't really as poised as you were and when he demanded that I give him rolls, I may have licked one or two.

I wouldn't do that now, father, but back then you are confessing. That's three Hail Mary's. That's right. I absolve you 40 years later. Thank you. Now you made a play to accompany your book, and it has everything from afternoon delight to rock lobster on it,

do you actually make the playlist yourself? And more importantly, what do you consider an afternoon delight? As I say in my book, it was a mark of some distinction if at age 15 in the summer of 1976, you knew what an afternoon delight was. So we consider ourselves very cool. You know, that playlist, actually is from the book. And in each chapter, I mention, you know, a song or two that was popular during the summer. And I tell people, this is not the playlist that I would look back and say,

these are the songs that I like now from that time period. These are the songs that I actually listen to. So including afternoon delight. But, you know, my taste, I would say, develop a little bit more as I get older than the book. I'm Catholic, and I travel around the country as a comedian all the time. And I go into all these churches

when I'm on tour. I try and fit it out on Saturday before the show or before I fly back on a Sunday. And I really have noticed in the last couple of years, these churches all around the country are filling up. There's a lot more activity that seems like from the early days to now, it seems like there are a lot more people going to church. Do you find that true? And do you think having an American Pope has anything to do with that? I'd say a little of it. You know, people have been thinking about this, people who entered the church, you know, for maybe a longer time. then he's been Pope, but he's certainly given people, you know, a real shot in the arm. And it is really something to listen to the Vicar of Christ speak in flawless Chicago English.

Did you know Pope Leo before he became Pope? I did a little bit. I was at a meeting called the Synod, the Synod of Bishops, and I happened to be, we were at the same table, and he's wonderful. He really is wonderful. I mean, I don't have to tell a Chicago audience that. He's kind and smart and reserved and prayerful. I'll tell you a funny story. I was helping out ABC News during the conclave,

and I was so excited because I knew him. It's amazing to see someone you know, dressed up like the Pope coming out in that balcony. Dressed up like the Pope? That is Halloween in Chicago. I went back to the Jesuit community. I was staying in the Jesuit headquarters, and I was so excited, and I said,

I can't believe that he was at my table, and they said, no, Jim, you were at his. One of my favorite lines was among the Italians, you know, he was, it was not exactly a huge surprise, but he was kind of on the second tier of guys who were being considered. One of the Italians said that he was the least American of the Americans, which was a compliment. Well, Father James, we've asked you here to play a play

game we're calling. Don't take confession. Take these concessions. That's right. We're going to ask you three questions about stadium concessions. You know, it's funny. I actually have my PhD in stadium

consensus. The HD stands for hot dog. This is all the food that you can get at sporting events. If you answer two out of three correctly and you'll win our prize for one of our listeners, the wait-waiter of their choice, on their voicemail.

Bill, who is Father James Martin playing for? Lauren Joyce of Chicago, Illinois. All right, here's your first question. There's no concession more classic than Cracker Jack, but in 2012, a new product called Cracker Jacked Powerbytes was not well received. Parents didn't like that the product contained what? A. twice as many peanuts, B, as much caffeine as a cup of coffee, C, venison.

I'm going to say that parents were upset because it was B. You're right. You're right. They were loaded with caffeine. You know, for when you're like, man, I feel sluggish today. I need a bag of cracker jacks. All right, here's your next question. Many attention-grabbing concessions are only sold at one particular concession stand,

which is why a reporter overheard a woman at Yankee Stadium telling her friend what? A, start on the upper deck, don't come back without pokey. B, somewhere here, there's tiramisu and little hats, we have to find it. Or C, keep checking Insta until they post the nacho drop. I'm going to say B, just because I can hear someone in New York saying that. You're right, B. You know, today I walked into a store with my Phillies hat on. I'm from Philadelphia.

And someone said, hey, you expect me to serve you with that on? You feel like you're in a movie sometimes. And then you show him the collar and he's like, I'm sorry. What do you want? That's exactly right. And I want it for free, too. My Lord, give it. All right, you're doing great.

Here's your last question. The most unbelievable concession we found is sold at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons, where you can get what? A, actual falcon wings with buffalo or barbecue sauce. B, a regulation-sized football helmet containing one scoop of ice cream for each of the 32 NFL teams. C, a beer that's only $5. I'm going to say A is probably illegal. B is repulsive.

So I'll say C. That's right, C. Yeah. And a $2 hot dog. Bill, how do Father James do on our quiz? Is there any other answer, but perfect? Nice. Congratulations, Father.

Father James Martin is a New York Times bestselling author and Jesuit priest. His new book, Work and Progress, is available now. Father James Martin, thank you so much for joining us on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. My pleasure. Thank you. When we come back, our panelists tell some of their best lies ever, and we talk to a real egot winner, which is as close as we will ever get to any of those letters. That's when we come back with more of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, from NPR. From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz.

I'm Alzo Slade, and here's your host at the Student Baker Theater in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Peter Sago. Thank you, Alzo. Thanks, everybody. My gosh. We're still on break, but we are so eager to get back to work that we are spending the whole episode reliving our favorite memories. So if you're out there wishing that we'd just do a new show already, so are we. I don't know, Peter. When I took the job, I didn't know I could just sit around and let my past self do all the work. Speaking of which, our panelists never work harder than when they have a chance to lie to you, which they did last May. in this bluff the listener game with Nagine Farsad, Paula Poundstone, and Luke Burbank. Hi, this is Rhonda Graff calling from McCook, Nebraska.

McCook, Nebraska. Where is that exactly? We are smack-dab between Denver and Omaha and home to Senator George Norris. Oh, Senator George Norris? Yeah, you've got to go back away to, you know, electricity. Oh, I'm sorry. And now we're to broadband. The Senator George Norris. Now I know, yes. Well, Rhonda, welcome to the show.

You're going to play the game in which you have to tell truth from fiction. Bill, what's Rhonda's topic? Just one letter. One letter can make a big difference. Consider the priest who told the congregation that all singers go to hell. This week, we heard a story of something off just by one letter, and the consequences were remarkable. Our panelists are going to tell you about it. Pick the one who's telling the truth, and you'll win our prize,

the weight waiter of your choice on your voicemail. Ready to play? I am. First, let's hear from Nagine Farsad. Dr. Mariano Cohen is a well-respected urologist in Argentina who was invited to speak on a local radio station. He was probably flattered that his vast knowledge of urology was going to be useful on a more public-facing scale.

It's about time that the study of the testes, prostate, vast deference, and yes, the seminal vesicles, be taken as a serious matter of public health and not as a serious matter. uncomfortable joke made by dirtbag comedians on silly quiz shows. But when the urologist went live on the airwaves, the first question he got was, where did he study to become a uphologist, as in someone who studies UFOs? Quote, I'm a urologist, not a uphologist, he said, as all the genitals he studied metaphorically shrank. In the end, urologists are still the one doctor no one wants to see, but they're a pretty decent stand-in when it comes to explaining inexplicable orbs with strange behaviors.

A urologist invited on to a radio show because they thought he was a uphologist. Your next alphabet account comes from Luke Burbank. According to a story this week in The Hill, about six months ago, Ben Forstag was at his desk, as regional director of the FBI, the Farmington Broughtwurst Association, a Michigan-based lobbying group representing the Caste Meets industry when he got an email from Cash Patel,

ordering him to look into a series of bank robberies in the area. Why, though, would the FBI director reach out to him? Well, thanks to a typo on his LinkedIn page, his name came up when director Patel googled Michigan Regional Director of the FBI. I. Patel was actually emailing a guy whose real expertise was, how spicy is too spicy when we're talking kilbasa. The even more amazing part, Forstegnabbed the suspect.

With no legal authorization, he staked out the one bank in town that hadn't been robbed yet, and sure enough, he caught the bandit when he showed up, something he said he saw in a Matt Damon movie. Someone listing his job as we... the FBI instead of the FBI, ends up catching a criminal. Your last story of someone playing loose with the letters comes from Paula Poundstone. Tech Tech, who wired magazine,

has put in the top slot of their who-to-watch in Tech List, recently held their spring-fling employee recognition luncheon at the Southport Hyatt in Boston. The round tables were festooned with bouquets of flowers. The event featured an improv teacher who led the attendees in some hilarious group storytelling, but there was something missing. The lunch. In fact, the crowd grew a little restless, digging through their bags for power bars and candy by the last speaker who shook

its head slowly and moaned in response to each disturbance during his somewhat out-of-place testimonial about the challenges of his life as a very tall man, his struggles with depression, and the difficulties of finding work as a butler in the current economic climate. Of course, CEO Watson threatened never again to use. let's have an affair, her go-to party planners, until they showed her a copy of the email asking for the event to include Lurch. Lurch was the butler from the Adams family. So, one of these single-letter typos made it into the news this week, was it from

Nguyen Farsad, a urologist who got invited to talk about ETs and UFOs, from Luke Burbank, somebody who was a regional director for the FBI, being mistaken for someone from the FBI, or was it from Paula Poundstone, a corporate event that went awry because they ended up with this visit from Lurch, the Butler from the Adams family, rather than a delicious lunch.

Well, I love the Lurch idea, and I believe the FAA, I'm going with number one. You're going to go with Nogine's story of the urologist mistaken for a uphologist, Well, to bring you the correct answer, we spoke to someone familiar with the real story. You log on to a call to think you're going to be asked about your medical expertise, and then someone's like, do you believe in aliens? And you're like, how is this relevant?

Yeah. How is it relevant? That was Dr. Rina Malik, a urologist, explaining the mix-up in this week's news. Although, when you think about it, sometimes aliens are reputed to do the same sort of thing that urologists do. Yeah, yeah. At any rate, that means you got it right. Of course, Naguene was telling the truth. You've won our game.

You get to choose the voice of anyone you might like on your voice. Congratulations and thanks for Colin. Thank you. Thank you. Finally, speaking as a theater kid, here's one of my favorite interviews of the last year with the composer, lyricist, and egot winner, Bobby Lopez. Bobby won two of his three Tony Awards for the very irreverent, often obscene musical, The Book of Mormon.

And he told us he never expected it to be a big hit. We're the 10th longest running show of all time. Yeah. How does it feel to be the Andrew Lloyd Weber of F-Bomb shows? That feels good. It feels good. I would never put myself in his rarefied air. No, no.

Now, if you've never seen the Book of Mormon, it is incredibly obscene in the best possible way. And I heard a story. It was actually in Josh Gadd's memoir, Josh Gadd from the original cast. He says he was at an initial workshop. you were working out the show. And he like read or performed one of the songs.

And he actually said to Trey Parker, one of the authors, he said, you can't do this. This is too offensive. People will kill you. Did you ever worry about that? You know, I give him this. When you read the Book of Mormon on the page, you know, there's a convention in writing the scripts out where all the lyrics are in

all caps. Yes. Which looks like screaming. Yes. So when you have the lyrics to Hasidiga Ibuoy filling the page, it really, it jumps out at a different tone than like the music makes it much sweeter. Yeah. And so the music, were you surprised that this musical about Mormon missionaries with

its extraordinary language and themes and sense of humor was the monster hit that it became? we were hoping to run a year and maybe get some protesters but instead instead we became this this long running mainstream right down the middle hit which still baffles me I know it's amazing and the amazing thing is the Mormon church was okay with it right

they kind of got on board yeah they they kind of judoed us they were like let's let's put an ad in the play bill you've seen the show now read the book. Great ad. Are you aware of anybody who came off the streets saw

the Book of Mormon the musical in any of its many iterations or productions and then said, you know what? I think I'll look into this religion. No, but I would love to meet you if you're out there. Before we leave the topic, I understand it in June once the show comes back from its theater catching fire,

the show is going to be doing something called Magical Mormon Mystery Week? Yes, that's so. We're having Josh Gad, Andrew Rannells, and all of the original company kind of come back and pop into the show in random scenes. And I will get to also be in it

with Matt and Trey on certain nights. Really? I think Trey's in it every night. Yeah. Trey's going to play Jesus and Joseph Smith. every night that week. Wow. From what I know of him,

that's kind of a dream come true, right? I mean, he looks like Jesus and Joseph Smith. Famously, you are the youngest person ever to Egot, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony. And you also are the only person, as far as I know, who's done it twice in each category, sometimes more than twice. And we're just wondering,

as the only person in the entire world, who have ever done that? What kind of privileges does that get you? Do you get to cut in line at the movie theater? Oh, let's see. My family, my kids, my kids were very young at the time, and they and Kristen, my wife, got together and made an Egot necklace like the one from 30 Rock out of cardboard and macaroni and glue. Oh, that's awesome. That's great. I hope you... You can see it. It's online, so... That's fabulous. Speaking of your wife, who's astonishingly talented and shared in your Oscars because she co-wrote the songs from Coco and Frozen with you. She is missing that Tony award. So she's a, she's an ego.

She's a big ego. Big ago. Any, any, any, any, any tension around the house or maybe when you're having, you know, those spats like we all do. You're like, well, don't try and get me in trouble now. I know, but Tony says it's your turn to clean the kitchen. Yeah. No. No. Is that tough though to, I mean, because you obviously work very successfully with your wife? Does it like interfere with like your daily life?

Do you pause and go, wait a minute. Is that a song? Did we just write a song? Is that a song? Or is it like you're not going to write a song about this, right? Absolutely. We are on vacation and we end up like running to write something like not a bet not for any project. Just like we wrote lyrics to the, like our kids loved Harry Potter.

back when and we wrote a whole Harry Potter quiz show set of lyrics to the Harry Potter theme. It was, what time is it, you know what time it is. Time for the Harry Potter quiz. And it went on, I got the whole thing. Really? Wow. Well, Bobby Lopez, it's a joy to talk to you. We have invited you here to play a game that this time we're calling.

You are 15 going on 16. It's the 15th anniversary of Book of Mormon, which means it's time to start planning for the show's appearance and the MTV reality show, My Super Sweet 16. That's the show in which America's richest and most entitled teenagers

through extravagant birthday parties and then cried at them. So we're going to ask you three questions about that show. Answer two of them correctly. You won a prize for one of our listeners. Wait, give me a second to watch all those episodes. Please, do that. Bill, who is Bobby Lopez playing for?

Luxem Wong of Gatorsburg, Maryland. All right, there we go. In season seven, as fans remember, birthday girl Sky got upset because all her friends were inside dancing, meaning that none of them could see what, A, her head projected onto Mount Rushmore, which was the venue for the party, be her arrival at the party riding the same giant gold lion

that Katie Perry rode in her story. Super Bowl halftime show, or see her grand entrance in a 20-foot-tall dress with a hydraulic lift built into it to raise her into the air. Well, that sounds like a girl obsessed with Wicked. I think I'll choose C. You were right. That's exactly right. All right.

My Super Sweet 16. My Super Sweet 16 was so popular that it had several spin-off shows, including which of these? A. Exiled. where the parents of teens who had parties in the show send those teens to remote countries by themselves to see if they can survive. Be my super depressing 30

about people realizing they were totally unequipped for adulthood. Or C, I hate them all, interviews with the caterers, waiters, and other people who staff about parties. Wow. They all sound fake. I pick C again. You're going to pick C again. I hate them all.

Interviews with the staff of the parties. No, I'm afraid it was, A, exiled. It lasted one season. They sent these entitled kids, and as far as they know, they all survived and came back. All right, last question. If you get this right, you win. My Super Sweet 16 has inspired other creators,

including which of these, A, your friend, Trey Parker, who made a South Park episode where Satan throws his own Super Sweet 16 party. B, choreographer Twyla Tharp, who created the show called Les Insufferables, or C, actor Nicholas Cage, who vowed that his own kids' birthday party

would be better than any of those parties in the show and subsequently had to declare bankruptcy again. It was A, right? It was A, yeah, Trey Parker made an homage to Super Sweet 16 on South Park. He called, the maker of South Park called My Super Sweet 16, quote, the most disgusting foul show ever made.

Bill, how did Bobby Lopez do in our quiz? He got two out of three, and that's good enough for us. Bobby Lopez is the double Egot winning songwriter and composer of Book of Mormon, which you can see during Magical Mormon Mystery Week at the Eugene O'Neill Theater from June 9th through June 14th. Bobby Lopez, thank you so much for joining us. And wait, wait, wait, don't tell me. What a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you.

Take care. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye, bye, Bobby. That's it for our, we can't wait to wait to wait. We'll be back next week, but first let me tell you, wait, wait, don't tell me. He's a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago in association with urgent hair cup productions, Doug Berman, benevolent overlord.

Philip Bogotaure, Reds, B.J. Leaderman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles, Noriboss, and Lillian King. Our Y fan is Peter Gwyn. Our vibes curator. That's Emma Choi. Technical directions from Lorna White. Our CFO is Colin Miller. Our ops manager is Jaze Rardak. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse, our senior producers Ian Chilog and the executive producer.

A wait, wait, don't tell me as Mike Danforth. Thanks to everybody you heard on our show this week, all of our panelists, Alzo Slate, and that deep basso-profundo voice you heard. Well, that was Bill Curtis. Thanks to all of you for listening. Thanks to our fabulous audience here. You're the best. I'm Peter Sagle, and we'll see you next week with a brand new show. This is NPR.