Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - Vivek Murthy

Episode Date: October 15, 2022

Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General of the United States, answers three questions about the mysterious and often huge fish, the sturgeon. Also featured are interviews with Jeremy Allen White and Mandy Moore.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

So we're all traveling again and people are dreaming, visiting cities like Paris or Tokyo or Rio and all those places are fine, I suppose. But do any of them have Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Live at the Studebaker Theater? Mais non, as they say in one of those places. Come to Chicago, see Wait, Wait Live and then with the rest of your time, well, I'm told the Cubs are rebuilding. That sounds exciting. More information at Nprpresents.org. From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm that show about New York financiers you don't watch because it's on Showtime.

and Sears you don't watch because it's on Showtime. I'm Billions, Bill Curtis, and here's your host at the Studebaker Theatre at the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago, Illinois. It's Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, everybody. So there is a chill in the air, and given how rare that's going to be for the rest of our lives, we're all running around outside naked, just to revel in the feeling of being uncomfortably cold. When I was a young man, we wore animal pelts to the beach, and we liked it. So, while we enjoy the beginning and end of fall, we thought the show could return to warmer times, just a few months ago, when, for example, we welcomed the most famous Chicagoan of the last year, who is, of course, from Brooklyn.

Jeremy Allen White plays the title role in the hit Hulu show, The Bear. Senator Chicago Italian beef joint. He joined us in July of this year to talk with guest host Tom Papa. Hi, Ananda. How are you doing? Hey, Jeremy. So, Jeremy, thank you for being here. Congratulations on this hit show for the summer. It's going to go much longer than the summer. People really love it.

For our listeners, tell us what The Bear is about. Yeah, so The Bear follows this young chef, Carmi. He comes home because his brother has passed away, and he inherits his brother and family's sort of sandwich shop, like a very sort of blue-collar, beloved kind of greasy spoon spot. Right. And it's about him and his relationship with the other people that work there. Right, right.

You really have served the people in this community, in the restaurant business, very well. They really feel like you nailed it and you really showed the struggle, the hard work. My wife was actually in New York this morning. Yeah. And there was a report on New York One that said that line cooks since your show came out and became so popular, line cooks

are having more sex than ever before. Happy to help. They're posting on their Instagram them cooking and stuff and they're getting so many more responses on social media. I've seen this. I've seen this. Yeah, it was in the New York Post.

Yeah. Why do you think this is happening? I don't know, man. It's weird. We made a show that I think was about family and grief and food. But no, no, Carmi does not have sex. Nobody has sex. The most kind of sexually charged moment on the show is between a character called Marcus and some donuts.

There's no... There's no sex on the show at all. I've had lots of moments like that with donuts. I relate. Okay, so I want to admit something. I've never had an Italian beef sandwich before. Tom, what are you doing? Hey, I'm not in the bear.

You're here, though. I think we need to define it, right? Italian beef. So it's beef, thinly sliced, on a roll. You can do hot or sweet peppers. And then you can really, like, get them wet in jus or leave them dry, and that's the story. That sounds fancy, the jus part.

The jus sounds fancy, but it's not a fancy sandwich, trust me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How many Italian beefs a day should you eat? I don't know about one a day, for your heart, but you could have one a week and do just fine. but you could have one a week and do just fine what's what's fascinating about the show

I would not describe myself a foodie but how intense it is it's like some episodes it's like watching Goodfellas and I'm at the edge of my seat and I'm like someone might not get their sandwich in time. I mean, that's like, there was one episode where I was like, I gotta go outside. I gotta, I gotta start smoking. I'm like so freaked out and the it's yeah.

But that's kind of the way it is in the restaurant world. It's definitely the way it is in the restaurant world. Um, yeah, there's, there's an urgency and there's a pressure and there's an aspect of performance every night. So, yeah, it's serious. I mean, it's people's livelihoods, you know. So, yeah, the pressure is real for sure. But, again, yeah, it is... We are making sandwiches.

Hats off to you and the showrunner and filmmakers. It's a great show and something that maybe a lot of people can't relate to but you and I can probably women are going crazy for you they are

going nuts they want your Italian beef if you know what I mean it is it's a burden They want your Italian beef, if you know what I mean. Yeah, it is. It's a burden, Jeremy. And I carry it in my life. How are you handling it?

I don't know. I feel like I've fooled everybody. I think people are attracted to Carmi. I find his determination attractive. I find his skill, how good he is at this thing attractive. And I also, I'll say it, I think chefs are

hot. They're taking care of you. They're really supporting you. I think, I don't know, it makes sense. All that shoe. Easy you two. Jeremy, The Bear is the show

that we're all watching this summer. What are you watching this summer? Oh, man. What am I? I have a three-year-old and a one-year-old at home. When my wife and I put them to bed, we don't want to think about anything. Yeah. So we're into

The Housewives. We're into Below Deck. That's our speed right now. I thought you were going to say you're watching Cocoa Melon. That's what you're watching. Well, certainly during the day. But once the girls are in bed, we want to turn our brains off. I love the idea of your character watching The Housewives.

I know, but watching it really frantically. Like sweating. Why is she doing this? He needs to turn his brain off too. I mean, he watches Pasta Grannies, which maybe I should get into as well. And speaking of turning your brain off, you're not on social media. Not entirely, I guess. I'm on Instagram, but nothing else. Oh, okay. Alright. So you're seeing the response on Instagram a little bit.

Yeah, I'm seeing some articles and some nice stuff. Yeah. Well, congratulations. It's so great. It's everything an actor wants. You're really doing such a great job. Thank you. Truly. Well, Jeremy Allen White, I mean, it's everything an actor wants. You're really doing such a great job. Thank you, Tom.

Truly. Well, Jeremy Allen White, we've asked you here to play a game we're calling... Oh, right. Chef? Please look after this bear. You're the star of The Bear, so we thought we'd ask you about Paddington Bear, kids' favorite talking bear who isn't Winnie the Pooh. Answer two out of three questions right, and you'll win our prize for one of our listeners.

Bill, who is Jeremy playing for? Loose Ashby of Chicago, Illinois. All right, here's your first question. Paddington famously came to England from darkest Peru, but author Michael Bond originally had different plans for the bear's origin. What? A, Paddington was going to come from Africa until Bond's agent informed him that there were no bears there. B, he was going to be a stuffed animal that came to life when a train hit it. Or C, he was going to be looking for a shadow with his fairy friend Tinkerbell

until Peter Pan stole his idea. That's all of them? That's it. You have three to choose from. Are we going to go with C? Three to choose from. Are we going to go with C? No, we're not going to go with C. So, certainly it's B? Oh, wow. Oh, my God.

Maybe I don't understand this game. A. Final answer. That's my final answer. It's like when a chef, you know, sharpens the knives. I'm just getting started, everybody. It was B. No, I'm only kidding.

What kind of children's book would have a stuffed animal being hit by a train? A. There's one kind of bear in Peru, and that was good enough. Here's your next question. Paddington Bear has fans of all ages, like Jason Chow, who has expressed his admiration how? A, he made a life-size Paddington stuffed animal by ripping up and sewing together all of his other stuffed animals. B, he has photoshopped Paddington into a different movie every day for over 500 days. Or C, a concept album, Pad, which is Michael Jackson's Bad,

but all the lyrics are about Paddington. If you don't get this one. This is real life we're talking about, right? These are real people we're discussing. Paddington's the film. Real people. B.

B! He's at Jay the Chow, and he's on day 508 and counting. Excellent. How old is this person? I hope he puts Paddington in Forrest Gump. He's 75 years old. Here's your last question. Nicole Kidman played the villain in 2014's Paddington movie

and took the part so seriously that she learned knife throwing and other blade tricks. One problem, though. What? A, she insisted on doing them in every single scene she was in. B, production shut down for a month after she got cocky and said, watch me catch this knife in my teeth. Or C. She got too good and the knife throwing was so scary

that it got cut from the movie. I love her. I'm going to have to go with C. You're right. Whoa. C. Wow. Yeah, I was getting one done.

Bill, how did Jeremy do? Jeremy, you got a rare trifecta. All three right. Very good. Jeremy Allen White is the star of The Bear on FX. Jeremy Allen White, thank you so much for joining us on Wait, Wait, Don't

Tell Me. Thank you for having me. Thank you. When we come back, a brand new Bluff the Listener game and the Surgeon General of the United States lands a big fish. We'll be back in a minute with more Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR. 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 in the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago, Illinois, Peter Segal. Thank you, Bill. Thanks, everybody. We are spending our week watching the leaves turn. They haven't yet, but you don't want to miss it when they do. Staring, staring, staring at the trees. Don't blink, don't turn away. So while we do that, we've got some segments we've been saving for a moment just like this.

In August, we went to Wolf Trap, just outside Washington, D.C., and recorded a whole second show. Now, here is our bluff listener game from that show with panelists Karen Chee, Peter Gross, and Luke Burbank, followed by our interview with the Surgeon General of the United States, Vivek Murthy, who last joined us on that very same stage back in 2015. Hi, you're on. Wait, wait, don't tell me. Hello. Hi, who's this? This is Kate from Bardstown, Kentucky, the bourbon capital of America.

The bourbon capital of America. Are you yourself in the bourbon industry? I actually own a restaurant and bar that does not serve hard liquor. A coffee shop. Everyone zigs and she zags. I respect that. They come in, they go, hi, we'd like some bourbon

here in the bourbon capital. And you're like, nope. Well, it's nice to have you with us, Kate. You're going to play the game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction. Bill, what is Kate's topic? Adult friend finder. Making friends as a grown-up is hard. Some people even resort to flying in a panel of three people each week and having NPR pay them to be nice to you. Our panel is going to tell you about another way somebody befriended somebody in the news this week. Pick the one who's telling the truth. You'll win our prize, the weight-waiter of your choice on your voicemail. Are you ready to play? Yes.

All right. First, let's hear from Karen Chee. The first Friday of each month, Larry McAllister hauls his George Foreman grill to the second lane of the 101 by the Sunset Boulevard exit in Los Angeles, where he cooks hot dogs for approximately 30 new friends, which I know sounds nuts. Who has 30 friends? McAllister has actually been doing this since July of 2021, when he got stuck in a particularly bad traffic jam on 101, and cars didn't move for nearly two hours. Late to a barbecue and starving, McAllister took out his grill, popped it onto the trunk of his car, and started grilling up some hot dogs. Nearby drivers initially laughed at him, but then the scent of wiener became too good to

resist. They joined him, offering up bottles of Gatorade and instant coffee, Cheez-Its and half-eaten Subway sandwiches, and had an impromptu potluck. People of all ages and backgrounds made friends through the magic of vehicular congestion. It was so much fun that they decided to meet up again in a month. And magically, they've done it ever since. Oddly, word of his asphalt party has gotten around, so people now plan their commutes to get on the highway at just the right time, which, of course, makes traffic much worse.

Says McAllister, more friends! And then makes his friends by bringing out his barbecue during traffic jams on the 101 in L.A. Your next story of how to amass amigos comes from Luke Burbank. Making friends in adult life can be tough, so when you do hit it off with someone, you want to jump on the opportunity, even if that person has been hired to kill you.

That's exactly what authorities say happened recently in the southern India state of Tamil Nadu. According to the Times of India, a woman who was having an affair decided her life would be a lot easier without her current husband, so she allegedly hired three men to kill him. For around a thousand dollars U.S., the men were supposed to call the victim and have him pick them up in his taxi and then do away with him. However, when the taxi driver slash future dead guy showed up, they

realized he was actually pretty cool and chill. And they decided not to kill him, but instead to go out partying with him. Not wanting to alarm the wife that they hadn't killed her husband, they concocted, well, the kind of solid plan you tend to concoct after being out partying all night. They smeared packets of ketchup all over him so it would look like blood and then took a picture of it. The photo failed to convince the wife, her boyfriend, or apparently the police, and the three would-be hitmen have been charged. It remains to be seen what will happen to the wife as the husband,

now remember, this was the guy she was trying to have killed, has asked the court not to charge her, saying he forgives her. Which honestly is such a simp move, it kind of explains why she never respected him in the first place. The man makes friends with the assassins who came to kill him because he was so cool. Your last story of chasing new chums comes from Peter Gross. Roy and Jillian Lowe of Flossmoor, Illinois, were looking to spice up their marriage, so when they were invited to a 70s-style swinging key party, they immediately said yes.

At the party, Jillian was paired with a man she didn't know, Jack Kaminer, and Roy was coincidentally paired with Jack's wife, Tina. When the lights turned down low and the Barry White started playing, both couples realized there was no sexual connection whatsoever. I just didn't find Jack attractive, Jillian told the HF Chronicle, but he and his wife love hiking and home-brewing beer, and those are two passions of Roy and I, so we figured let's just be friends without benefits. The couples began spending more time together and mostly drunk hiking,

but they weren't comfortable explaining to other couples how they met. Then Jack had a wholesome solution. Tell people they met at church. It was a perfect cover, except neither couple actually belonged to a church, so they joined a new church in town that was actively recruiting members. But when that church turned out to be a front for a sex cult, the couple said screw it and told everyone they met at a key party.

All right, here are your choices. Somebody made friends. It's a happy thing in this day and age. But was it from Karen, a man makes his friends by getting stuck in traffic in the 101 and breaking out the barbecue? From Luke Burbank, a man made friends with the three people his wife sent to kill him? Or was it from Peter Gross, a couple became great friends after meeting them at a swingers party and realizing that swinging was the last thing they wanted to do? Which of these is the real story of a wonderful story of adult friendship? Oh, I really wanted to be the hit man. You really do. Well, the audience wants it too. And I say to all of you, why not live your dream? Let's do it.

Let's do it. You're going to choose Luke's story of, I will correct you, the hit men. That's the story you chose. Well, to bring you the correct answer, we spoke to a podcaster who is following the real story. The husband was so charismatic, he befriended these kidnappers and he sent a picture of the man covering his head in order to convince everyone that he actually was dead. There you go. You were right, as well as the audience were. Luke was telling the truth. For once. You have earned a point for him and you have won our prize,

the voice of your choice in your voicemail. Kate, thank you so much for calling and playing. Thank you. We are friends Friends till the end We are friends And we're going to party tonight. And now the game where we check in with important people and try to distract them with trivia.

We call the game Not My Job. In 2015, we came here to Wolf Trap and talked to Dr. Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General of the United States under President Obama. Now, Dr. Murthy left his post in 2017, found something else to do during the intervening years, and then returned to the post in 2021, which makes us wonder, what did he know

about what was going to happen that we didn't? We are delighted that he's also agreed to return to join us here again. Welcome back, Surgeon General. Thank you very much. So, I am so glad to be back. Let me just say to the audience here,

how amazing it is to see all of you here in person after this pandemic we've been through with family and friends. Kudos to you. Yeah, it's great. Because the pandemic is over. If you say it, it's true. Say it. So we're all familiar with the Surgeon General's warning on cigarettes

and other things. Can you just issue a Surgeon General's warning on anything you want? Like if some guy takes the parking space at Trader Joe's that you were waiting for, can you be like, boom, Surgeon General's warning against you, my friend. On the call.

People know you have that power. You know, it actually requires, either to get nerdy for a moment, either legislative or regulatory authority. Yeah, but you, like, have a bunch of those stickers in your pocket, right? I'll tell you, what I have wondered about in some moments is whether I should issue Surgeon General demerits

to people who can maybe engage in harmful behavior. Are you ever jealous of other Surgeon Generals? Because in Canada, they can put a limp wiener on the cigarette box. Like European cigarettes. They get really real on the packaging. We actually don't have those in the United States the way other countries do, and there are legal reasons for that.

But do I think that they would be helpful? Sure, I do think they would be helpful. You know what would be great? If it was a picture of your face looking really disappointed. And you're just like, oh, I can't upset him. I'm not sure people in America need to see more of my face, but thank you. I appreciate it.

We looked at C. Everett Koop for long enough. I thought that was my stepdad growing up. Dude was everywhere. You really were. Did it ever occur to you that most people's exposure to the Surgeon General, despite your excellent communication staff, is really the phrase,

Surgeon General's warning? Yeah. So like children are like, oh, the Surgeon General, he comes and tells us no. You're like a figure of fear. So it's very interesting you mentioned that because you're right. Most people know me from the warning labels on cigarette packs and alcohol bottles, right? And they're so used to the idea that not just the Surgeon General, but public health figures tell them what not to do, what not to eat, what not to consume, et cetera. But one of the things that I

wanted to emphasize during my time in office is not necessarily something that people should not do, but something that I really think they should do. Hard drugs. Not exactly. If he's in uniform, he can't even joke about it. He's like sweating. Something I think we all need to do more of is actually invest in our relationships with one

another. Now, if you think about this, and I'll tell you why. Because look, we've all been through an incredibly difficult time the last couple of years with this pandemic. But the truth is that in our country, people have been struggling with loneliness and isolation for many, many years. And if you think about who is dealing with loneliness to the greatest degree, it turns out it's young people who have the highest rates of loneliness, despite being connected by technology, which is another reason I worry that our reliance on social media in particular does not always enrich our lives with meaningful connections, but can detract from that. Hey, no, wait a minute. That is a really important point. I'm going to tweet it. Surgeon General

says IRL is totally fire. One thing people don't know about you is in addition to all the other things you do, you are a very successful matchmaker, right? Oh, my God. I'm so single. So here we go.

We should talk after this. Okay. Oh, I'm ready. Surgeon General becomes Yenta General. Well, I started matchmaking when I was in medical school. Because I realized I just love to bring people together and just to see light bulbs go off and sparks fly and to find that people found joy in one another.

And I even got so excited about it, and I started matchmaking with other friends and their networks of friends, et cetera, that I was even working on an idea for building out a platform that would allow people to more easily introduce their friends. And we were on the way to building this platform, but then I ended up getting a call about a job. I love that you were going to build Tinder for friends, but instead you're trying to save America. Yeah, right. Here's the thing. I want you to tell these people what your success rate was,

because it's pretty significant. You told me that out of the 12 or 13 couples you've set up, four of them got married. That's right. Okay. The other eight killed each other. Instantly. I was wondering, Mr. Surgeon General, how often do people come up to you and in public settings and ask, does this look infected? Are you beyond that? Does the uniform let them know that you're not the doctor that they need to ask to look at their foot? Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

No, no. It definitely happens that people will ask me for medical advice. I was once stopped in a restroom by a man who wanted to show me a rash. Declined at the time. I offered to talk to him outside the restroom, but that was a whole other thing. You were like, Mr. President, back in the Oval Office. No, no, no. To be clear, it was not the president. That was funny. You were like,

no, got us. Lost that joke right now. Tomorrow's New York Post. Surgeon General Fingers Sleepy Joe in bathroom question. Well, Mr. Surgeon General, we are always delighted to see you, but you know another thing we always do when you're here is play a game, and this time we are calling it Sturgeon Generalist. You are the Surgeon General, but what do you know about sturgeon generally? We'll ask you three questions about the rare and often huge fish.

Answer two out of three correctly, you'll win a prize for one of our listeners. Bill, who is Vivek Murthy playing for? Adam A. Marshall of Washington, D.C. All right. I'll do my best. Here's your first question. Sturgeon, years ago, many years ago, was once so abundant in the Hudson River during the early years of this country

that it got what nickname? A. Water squirrels, B. Albany beef, or C. People up in that area would call swimming losing your sturgenity. No, no, no. I will go with A. You're going to go with A,

water squirrels? Yes. No, it was Albany beef. Oh, God. All right, you've got two more chances. Here's your next question. If you're wandering a beach in the UK and a sturgeon washes up onto the shore, you should be very wary of going anywhere near it. Why?

A, according to British law, the washed-up sturgeon is considered royal fish and is the property of the queen. B, British sturgeon is covered with sharp spines, which they evolved over the centuries to make them harder to coat in batter. Or C, during World War II, the Germans fed explosives to Sturgeon off the British coast so they'd blow up near the shore. Oh, goodness. All right, I think it's pretty clear.

Let's go with A. You're right, it's A. Yes, thank you, everyone. All Sturgeon and Wales, ladies and gentlemen, all Sturgeon and Wales in the British Isles are by law the personal property of Queen Elizabeth. The whole country? Wow. Yeah, anywhere they are.

And corgis? She gets all the corgis, sturgeon, and whales. And then the people. All right, your last question. Here we go. Now, over in Russia, of course, sturgeons are very valuable because they make caviar, and they're often smuggled illegally by organized crime groups. So Russian officials hired a sniffer cat to catch smuggled sturgeon. That's all true.

And this cat was so good at its job that what happened? A, he became the star of his own TV show, a ripoff of Baywatch. B, Vladimir Putin award him a medal made out of tuna. Or C, members of the Russian mafia put out a hit on him? Wow. Well, given what's happening right now, yeah, part of the world, I'm going to go with C. You're right. That's what happened. And the jokes on the mafia, because when you're a cat, sleeping with the fishes is a dream come true. Bill, how did the Surgeon General do in our quiz?

He got two right, so he's a winner. The Big Murphy is the Surgeon General of the United States. Thank you so much for joining us. What a pleasure to see you. The Big Murphy. When we come back, we put the panel through their paces and even more from Mandy Moore. That's when we return with more Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me 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 in downtown Chicago, Peter Sago. Thank you, Bill.

Right now we're outside trying to catch the very last firefly of summer. So in the meantime, we are sharing some wonderful things from our show in recent months. Here are some questions for our panel that we've never aired before. Paula, this week, gamblers in Russia were betting big bucks on an Indian Premier League cricket tournament. What made this tournament notable was that it was what? Played with real crickets. And teeny little sticks. Did I get it? Did I get it?

Did I get it? Would you like a hint? Sure. Before you make a bet, always double check that none of the players are really cardboard cutouts. So the players weren't real players? They were cardboard cutout players?

The whole game was completely fake. Yes. This makes no sense. Wait a minute. A group of Indian farmers took a big field and set up a fake cricket court or pitch or field, whatever a cricket field

is called. Critch. A cricket dominion. Alley. Cricket alley. Anyway, they made one and then they started a fake tournament which fooled Russian gamblers for over two weeks. They had halogen lights, HD cameras, they live streamed the games on YouTube

with crowd noise and play-by-play from a sound-alike of a famous cricket commentator. Oh, I'm sorry, the only famous cricket commentator. The bettors had no idea that the players were actually the same 20 farm workers and local unemployed teenagers who just kept changing their shirts. And the umpire was actually signaling the players what to do next based on bets that were coming in.

It's like the movie The Sting, which if you don't know the plot of, ask your dad when you have some free time. Wait, so they fooled a bunch of Russian people by creating fake personas? Man, karma's a b****, isn't it? Karen, GameStop employees are complaining that people are using the store as a what? Um, a restaurant? They're using it as, may I have a hint, please? You may have a hint, Karen.

Well, I mean, the question really is, why not let the TV at home babysit them? Oh, they're leaving their kids there. They're actually, yeah, they're using GameStops as daycares. The employees call it, unhappily, GameStop Daycare, where a parent sort of comes into the mall, drops their kid off, like, at the Mario Kart display to play the game, and then leaves the kid to go to other stores

or get their hair done. And the employees hate it. Come on, parents, these people are busy ignoring the actual customers. They don't have time to ignore your kid. I love this story because we've heard so much about helicopter parents. And I feel like as like someone who grew up in the 80s and 90s, where like I had no parenting and I was just alone all the time. Like this is a return to form

where we just don't parent kids. And I feel like those were the days. So you're tired. You're glad that we've gotten away from this overcompensating parents constantly hovering and now you're back to the people raising the children as you were raised with kind of... Forgetting about them entirely. Yes. It is true. Where will we get our next generation of comedians if we don't ignore and neglect the children? That's what I'm saying. If we track those GameStop children and see where they end up, it's like in 20 years they're all

on SNL. It really is true. That said, a kid left at a GameStop long enough will come out an expert at Fortnite and can read Sonic at the 6th grade level. Dulce, we are going to play you some audio. Now these sounds have been heard nonstop on the in-flight PA system

on a number of different American Airlines flights. So here it is. This is the actual audio recorded on the flight. All right. So the question for you, Dulce, is... Why would you give me this question? You know. We're looking forward to your response. The question is, Dulce, what was that?

Ooh, that could be a lot of things. Can you give me a clue? I actually can't. There's no clues? We just wanted to see what I was going to say. Yeah, pretty much. Well. Do you not know? Listen, I have my guesses. I would say

it's either someone having a rough time in a restaurant. Yeah. Or someone having a good time in the cockpit. Those are both good guesses. But do you have an answer? No. Oh, so it's just whatever I think, and I'm going to get a point? Pretty much, because no one has any idea what it is.

It's an airborne mystery. American Airlines, I mean, it sounded, as you all noticed, like a human being in some distress, but American Airlines is calling it a, quote, mechanical issue, and nobody believes them. Clearly, it's that the planes are all haunted by the goose that Captain Sully killed.

Oh. It sounds that way. This is one, this is a lonely pilot. You think? Telling you. You know what it could be? It could be a man about my age just getting up from a chair. But yeah, it sounds like it's either someone getting up or someone getting down. Emmy, a zoo trying to save money started feeding their penguins a lower quality fish, and the penguins responded, how?

They were like, don't even come around me with this horse mackerel or whatever it is, right? They were putting up their little wing and going like, no thanks. Finn, is it a wing or a fin? Yes, I'm going to say you're right i think so too yeah close enough they turned their heads away in disgust due to inflation rates and the economy being bad a zoo in japan switched the fish they fed their penguins to a lower quality option and the penguins totally refused to eat it the The video goes on to show that they were also sending back their wine. If you're a penguin, then what are your options? You call Grubhub?

Like what? I know. Who knew penguins could even turn their heads? Finally, during the dark times, when we had to do our show over Zoom, there was one bright spot to that. We got to talk to our guests face-to-face, albeit on a tiny box on a screen. Which means that when actor and singer Mandy Moore laughed at our jokes, we could tell that either she was genuinely amused or she definitely deserved an Emmy nomination this year. Hello. It's so nice to see you.

Nice to see you too. Thank you so much for joining us. We heard a great story about how you were discovered as a singer going back, going back. And this was in, if I'm not mistaken, Florida? Yes. In Orlando, where I grew up. And we were told that you first got a reputation as the young woman to go to girl for the national anthem at sporting events. Yes. So I saw a young girl my age sing the national anthem at an Orlando Magic Game, and I just didn't even know this was in the realm of possibility. So I figured out with my parents how I sent in a videotape of myself performing the national anthem. that I got the gig and I performed at the Magic Game and then subsequently was asked by every other sports team in the Orlando Arena, as it was called back in the day, the roller hockey, the arena football, the ice hockey. I just sort of ran the gambit of singing the national anthem

for every sports team that was in the arena there. It was fantastic. Did you have a particular twist on the national anthem? Did you do it in a sort of sad way or a sultry way? I mean, I feel like as a 12 year old, you just get away with doing a really simple down the middle version of the national anthem. I had my little pitch pipe. I had my American flag hair bow. I loved it. flag hair bow. I loved it. So you became, at the age of 15, a genuine teenage pop star. Was that something you had wanted to be? I was a musical theater nerd. I loved Bette Midler. I wanted to be on Broadway. I very much knew once I sort of got my foot in the door, well, if I find any bit of success in this realm, I would love to try my hand at acting and doing a whole bunch of other things

I was passionate about as well, just because I had like that theater background, I guess. Speaking of which, this is us. If I'm not mistaken, the final episode is about to be broadcast? Yes, on Tuesday. Yes, sir. Now, for those who haven't seen it, and I apologize if there's anybody in America who hasn't yet, can you briefly describe it? I don't know how

you describe it. It is an ensemble family drama. It tells the story of a family across time, the past, the present, and even looking towards the future. And I have the good fortune of playing the matriarch of the family. And I'm the only actor on the series that gets to portray the same character in every timeline. So I get to work with babies and toddlers and teenagers, and then the adult version of my children who in real life are actually older than me i go through three to four hours of prosthetic makeup um to to look like i'm in my mid-70s and at the end of the series in the future um my mid-80s i saw i saw a photo of you in like said oh here's man i i googled you know many more i wanted to look at a picture of it many more old age makeup and it's like oh look at her Look at this beautiful young woman in the old age makeup.

And I'm like, that looks like my daughter. I mean, I was not, I was like, guys, how realistic, you know? I mean, seriously, put a little more mileage on that lady. But how is it to look at yourself? And we know what makeup technology is like these days. These guys are geniuses. What is it like to look at yourself transformed into yourself many years down the line? Honestly, I do look in the mirror when that makeup is all on and I'm like, I don't know what lotions and potions she uses. I want to do whatever she does. I subscribe to whatever skincare routine Rebecca Pearson has because she does look good for her age.

She looks pretty good. I got to tell you, as someone who is in some cases beyond that age, I'm going to tell you, and I think obviously you're a very well-rounded person who will welcome every year as it comes and take rewards from it. But someday when you're on my age, you will look in the mirror and go, man, I wish this stuff still came off at the end of the day. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You just get some Noxzema and run it on. It all comes off, am I right? Yeah. And then I am just going to assume,

since you have been part of this extraordinarily successful television show as a dramatic actor, that you're going to continue doing that, right? I'd love to, yeah. I don't have anything on the books right now, but I'm excited to figure out what the next job is. I was pregnant with my son during the last season, and then I went back to work when he was a month old. So I'm excited to take a little time off after the road and just be mom for a minute and figure out what's next. Wow. So was there a moment then when you were producing this last season of This Is Us where you were in effect a pregnant 80-year-old woman?

I was, yeah. Wow. A Hollywood miracle. I have many pictures of me nursing my son too while I'm in the older age prosthetics just because, you know, I need those memories. I'm so intrigued. And he's going to need something for therapy those memories. I'm so intrigued. I'm so intrigued and yet so horrified I might ever see them. They're out there on the internet, Peter.

You can Google them. Well, Mandy Moore, it is so great to finally talk to you in person. But we have, in fact, asked you here to play a game that this time we're calling This Is Us. You, of course, you, of course, star on This Is Us, as we have been discussing. But what do you know about the famous snack chip company, Utz? Answer two to three questions correctly and you'll probably get hungry. But you'll also win a prize for one of our contestants. Bill, who is Mandy Moore playing for?

Andrew Carter of Minneapolis, Minnesota. All right. So Utz's logo is a drawing of a girl with a bob cut and a bow in her hair reaching into a bag of chips. But the logo had to be redesigned in the 1970s. Why? A, the daughter of the company's vice president thought the girl was sticking her foot in the bag. B, thanks to drug culture, they had to remove the letters THC from her dress, which stood for That Hearty Crunch. Or C, she had an uncanny

resemblance to Squeaky Frome. I'm going to say A. A, yes. The daughter of the company's vice president thought the girl was sticking her foot in the bag. That is absolutely true. Congratulations. Yes. You got it. The girl's wrist is sort of reaching into the bag, was drawn in sort of a curvy way, so it looks like it's her knee. And nobody wants a foot in their bag of potato chips. Sure. Unappetizing. All right. Your next question.

We all know Utz makes delicious snacks, potato chips and such, but some of them do not sound delicious. Like what particular Utz brand of pretzels? A, regretzels, which are fried in lard and have twice the calories. B, mustard on the outside pretzels, which are coated in wet, sticky yellow mustard. That's a tough one, too. Maybe B, the mustard ones? It's not. It's actually hards. Hard. Utz's hards, because people out there really like those hard pretzels.

So here's your last question, and if you get this, you win. Utz is great. We love Utz chips. But like all chip companies, you get a bag of them and you open it and it's mostly air. But that air in chips bags can be useful as in which of these cases? A, scuba divers will carry a chip bag with them into the ocean. If it pops open, they know they've gone too deep. B, students from South Korea once made a functioning raft by just tying a whole

bunch of unopened potato chip bags together. Or C, scientists were recently able to study air pollution levels in the 1950s using air trapped in a really, really old Utz potato chip bag. These questions are so much easier to answer when you're listening in your car. Isn't it? These questions are so much easier to answer when you're listening in your car. Isn't it? I mean, C sounds a little silly and far-fetched.

I'm going to go B. B is right. You did it. Yay! Yes. Yes. Bill, how did Mandy Moore do in our quiz? She did great.

She got two out of three, and that means in our game, that's a win, Mandy. I'll take it. Mandy Moore's show This Is Us reaches its series finale next week, and she has just embarked on her first music tour in 10 years. Tickets and info can be found at mandymoore.com slash tour. Mandy Moore, you were so delightful, and we were so grateful you chose

to spend some of your time with us. Thank you so much. Thank you guys so much. Thanks for like, this is a huge bucket list check. Thank you. Oh, you're just the best. You're wonderful. You're on ours, so thank you. Bye.

That's it for our Let's Do a Cannonball into a Giant Pile of Leaves edition. 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 Godeka writes our limericks. Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our intern is Vaishnavi Naidu. Our production assistant is Sophie Hernandez-Semirnides. BJ Liederman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills,

Miles Dornbos, and Lillian King. Our steaming mug of apple cider, that's Peter Gwynn. Special thanks to Monica Hickey. Technical direction is by Lorna White. Our business and ops manager is Colin Miller. Our tour manager is Shana Donald. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. Our senior producer is Ian Chilog

and the executive producer of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is Mike Danforth. Thanks to everybody you heard on this week's show, all the panelists, all our wonderful guests, of course, Bill Curtis, and thanks to all of you out there for listening. I am Peter Sagal. We'll be back next week.

Thank you. This is NPR.