Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - Wait Wait goes wild on spring break

Episode Date: April 11, 2026

This week, we're celebrating spring break with our friends Rhea Seehorn, Delroy Lindo, Andy Richter, and Jon M. Chu. Plus, the panel gets in on the fun with some of our favorite questions from this past year. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below: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 seven-time winner of the Fort Lauderdale Wet Blazer Contest. Bill Tartis. And here is your host at the Studebaker Theater of the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois, Peters. There you go. Thank you, Bill. Thanks, everybody. It is spring break.

And just like we did in college, everyone on our show is taking. the opportunity to stay home and catch up on our homework. Speak for yourself, Dweeb. I'm at a karaoke bar in Cabo, absolutely lit on tequila, singing chapelrone at the top of my lung. Okay, fine. While Bill is having fun,

the rest of us are reviewing our notes from the past year or so. Delroy Lindo may not have won an Oscar for his role in the movie Sinners, but I am sure he was just as happy to join us back in January to talk about his amazing. career. Thank you. I'm such a big fan of yours. I feel like I've seen you in movies and

TV for a very long time, but I don't really associate you with one role. And I was wondering, do other people, do people recognize you mostly for one thing or another? One thing or another, meaning different audience members have different references for me. Yeah. Based on what they've seen me do. not one part in particular. That said, it has always occurred to me, watching you in all kinds of different things, that your characters have a certain quality that they all share. And I actually heard you tell a story you were on stage quite recently with your good friend,

Denzel Washington. And you told a story about how early on in your career you were approached by a guy on a bicycle. I think it was like you were getting your car. And that guy seemed to nail it. So I was wondering if you could tell that story to us. So it's okay to curse on this show, right? I think people get us asked. Go right ahead.

We have beeps. So I was parking my car on Park Avenue. This is many, many, many years ago in New York City. And a bicycle messenger passed me, young African-American gentleman. He stopped, backed his bike up, came to me and said, hey, man, you had actor, right? And I said, yeah, brother, yes, I am. And he said, you know what I did? about you in the movies, man? And I said, what, brother? He said,

did nobody ever put you in the movies, bro? And that, am I right, guys? Yes? And as I explained to Denzel, for me, I interpreted that as him having a certain kind of respect for whatever it is he had seen me do. Yeah, it's true. As we have mentioned, you and Denzel, known each other for years. Students together at the American Conservatory Theater in

San Francisco, where a lot of great actors came from. He says that you gave him one of the greatest bits of advice you ever got as a young, starving actor. You said you could survive. What was it on a loaf of wheat bread, a jar

of honey, and a jar of peanut butter? That's how I did. It's when I needed to. Yeah. When I was The point being, that was a kind of a go-to that you could, that one could get protein and get all of the nutrients that one needed. Yeah. And I want to ask immediately, though,

when you first started making money, or maybe just the first time you got a paycheck for acting, what was like the good thing to eat, the first thing that you bought? Okay, you will learn this about me. I'm not going to answer the question, but I will give you an answer to them. Oh, please.

So when I first made a little bit of money as an actor, the thing that gave me the most joy was to be able to send money to my mom as proof that not only was I gayfully employed, but I was sufficiently gainfully employed that I could send her some money. You know, I don't think you're doing that well, and I would like to adopt you.

Your mother, if I'm not mistaken, was a Jamaican immigrant to Great Britain, where you respected you in the first year. That is correct. So I'm assuming, like, all immigrant mothers, she wanted you to make a nice living, like become a doctor, a lawyer, something respectable. It might have been appalled. Apparently, you know, when I was two and a half, I said when I grew up, I want to be a doctor, ma. And my mom never let me forget that. Right.

You promised me. And what's amazing, another story I learned about you, is that you caught the acting bug at the age of five. I did. I did. You've done your homework. Yeah, as a result of being in the nativity play at my, in my elementary, my primary school. That is correct. What character in the nativity scene did you play? The Black King, bro. I want to talk you about sinners, which is an amazing film,

one of the biggest movies of last year, which will hopefully reap a lot of awards. This is a movie, again, filled with music, brilliant music, and you play a musician. Yeah. A singer and piano player. Did you have to learn? Was that a talent you brought to the table when you walked on set?

No, I received a lot of instruction. I had one, two, three brilliant musicians, New Orleans-based musicians who worked with me on my relationship. relationship to the keyboard. Right. And I also had instruction on the harp, the harmonica. So I had a lot of instruction. Yeah.

Do you still play now that the movie is all wrapped in in the past? No, I have, God bless them. The producers gave me one of the keyboards. I've been so busy, frankly, I haven't had a chance to get back to it. I don't know, man. If you don't practice, you may not... Absolutely. Yeah, I know, it's true.

I want to ask you this before we move to our... our game, which is, we understand that one of your legacies as your youth in Britain is that you were a big fan of soccer. I am. Man you, right? All day long. All day long, man, you. I mean, you're a pretty prominent guy.

Has the team honored you? Have they had you there? I mean, they have a lot of fans, but you're pretty... Man, they have not, and give them a call. I will. If only I'd known. Are you then very excited for the upcoming World Cup? I am.

Yeah. I really really am. Yeah. very, very much, so I'm not sure. I don't have tickets yet. Anybody in the audience who has influenced there and give me a call.

Yeah, I'm really excited. I'm really excited. Yeah, it's a sad thing when you, someone like you has to ask us. Yeah, right. Do you have any divided loyalties? You grew up in England? You live here, is where your career's been.

Are you going to be rooting? You know who you're in for? Actually, that's a really good question. And I would say the answer do I have divided divided loyalties? I would say I'd like to see

the English team do well. I'd like to see the American team do well, so I guess I've got my feet on both sides of the fence there. Okay, you're going to be torn if it comes down to those two teams. It will not. Yeah, I was about to say, no, no way.

It's not going to happen, man. No, that's not. I'm hardly a fan, and even I know that is not going to happen. It's not going to happen. No. Well, Delroy, Lindo, it is a pleasure to talk to you, and we have invited you here today to play a game, and we are calling it... Sinners Meet the Saints.

So you star in the movie Sinners, as said, so we thought we'd ask you today. Three questions about Saints, specifically the New Orleans Saints of the NFL, which, if you're not a fan, in this last season, 2025, improved on the prior... year's five and twelve record by going six and eleven. So if you answer two to three questions correctly, you will win our prize, one of our listeners, the voice of anyone from our show they might like on their voicemail. Bill, who is the great Delroy Lindo playing for? Kevin Harmon of Detroit, Michigan. Here's your first question. The Saints have been playing in the NFL since 1967, and for the first few decades, they weren't very good. After a one and 15 season in 1980,

disappointed fans in New Orleans started calling them what? A, the New Orleans. Ains. B, the New Orleans taints. Or C, the Houston Saints. I'm going to say the New Orleans Taints. I wish it were, but it was the New Orleans Ains, I'm afraid. They took the ass off. New Orleans Ains, they ain't very good. Here's your next question. You still have two more chances.

The Saints are credited with an innovation in pro football. What was it? A, they were the first team to hire a choreographer for their end of zone dancers. B, they were the first team to have a fan in the stands where a paper bag over his head from embarrassment, or C, they were the first team to make uniform pants tighter to increase fan appeal. Am I allowed to ask for the right answer from somebody in the audience? You are welcome to poll the audience, but the audience is yelling, the audience is yelling B. I'm going with B also. That is B, yes. The man first to put a bag on his head. And

out of embarrassment while watching a football game was named Mike Dilberto. He was a Saints fan and sometimes broadcaster. He was the first to do it, but hundreds soon followed. All right, here's your last question. You get this right, Delroy, you win it all for one of our listeners. The Saints, at one point, seemed to have a rather unlikely fan, who was it? A, Pope Francis, who regularly accidentally tagged the team while trying to tweet about the other kind of saints.

Be a very popular burlesque dancer in Nola, who changed her name to the nude Orleans saint, or see a man who remained loyal to the team despite proposing to three different women on the Jumbotron on three different occasions and getting rejected by all of them. The Pope. The Pope is right.

Yes, Pope Francis. Devout man, devoted to the Catholic Saints, but not very good at Twitter, he kept tagging the New Orleans. Orleans Saints whenever he would praise the Saints of the Catholic Church. Bill, how did Delroy Lindo do in our quiz? Two out of three is a winner which proves don't F if it's Delroy. When we come back, Paula Poundstone gets called out by our celebrity guest, and we are joined by the People's Princess himself.

That's when we return 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. This is Wait, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. me the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Peter Segel. Thank you, Bill. Thanks, everybody. So like I said, we are on spring break and we are spending the time reviewing our past work just in case anybody gives us a pop quiz on it. If that happens, I'll just sit next to you and copy your answers, nerd. I hope we get tested on our conversation with Ray Seahorse.

the star of Better Call Saul and Pluribus, because I have practically got it memorized anyway. What can I say? I'm a fan. So much so, in fact, that Peter Asker, if it was true that in Better Call Saul, she went from being a supporting player to a star because creator Vince Gilligan liked her so much.

I mean, I don't know all of the inner workings of it. I do know that they told me after the fact that they weren't sure how long I would be there or if I would just end up being, you know, the one that got away to Jimmy or some, you know, mythological thing that he wished he had risen to. I do think they enjoyed my performance, but I also think they realized it was a very good storytelling tool. Right. You could have just admitted to sucking up,

but that also was a lovely story. Better Call Saul, for people who don't know, was this prequel to Breaking Bad, and your character, Kim Wexler, is not in Breaking Bad. So like every other fan of Better Call Saul, I was terrified every episode that you were going to get killed, right? As was I. Well, that was the question. Because I wondered, was it like on the Sopranos where like every actor famously would open the script that week, wondering if like that was their number had come up? Yeah, exactly.

I mean, I'm thinking the Game of Thrones people had it even worse. Yeah, sure. Yeah, my good friend Patrick Fabian and I would just, the first couple of seasons, I would say, we would get our scripts and just call each other flipping through and just go, I'm not dead, I'm not dead, I'm not dead. And he didn't tell me that he knew he was going to die in that last season. I got surprised reading the script. And we all, Bob and Patrick and I lived together for most of the seasons of shooting.

And I ran upstairs. I was like, I can't believe you kept this for me. And he even kept it from his wife. who watched it, watched it when it aired and was like, what? This isn't my situation, or it doesn't sound like kids, but I can't imagine being in a marriage

where you're like, how does she react when she sees me die? Just watching to see if there's like an unconscious grin. Did you just giggle? You have to talk about pleuribus, which I love and am just so excited when every episode comes. One of the things...

Thank you. I hear Paula won't watch it. Yeah. It's not that I won't watch it. Listen, I love Ray Seahorn to death, and I would watch anything you were in. I would watch like a cleaning product commercial with you, but I don't know how to do streaming or any kind of paid television. So I watched Better Call Saul so many times that I know so much more about it than what any of

you are saying, because I watched it on DVD. So if it doesn't come out on DVD Or there's not like a puppet show version of it I don't I'm gonna buy you in Apple TV And then paint it to look like a VCR Oh it could also come out on VHS Ray

Because I have a VS I still have a VCR I was just with Vince this morning doing an interview And told him I was coming on He says hi he also loves this show And literally said Paula He's gonna find out if there's a way for us To make VHS tapes of the show

Oh, thank you. In addition to being a huge fan of yours, I respect you immensely because you spent a lot of times in the trenches in theater and doing what work you could, and I wondered if you knew at this juncture what your first listed credit on IMDB.com is. What does IMDB say? The IMDB says your first credit as a professional actor

was playing the tutorial sorceress in the Magic the Gathering video game. That was a very early. early job, yes. Yes. So in the original game, in the original like, it was, it was software that you of the game of the card game. And, um, but it came with a tutorial and on the back of the box, but it would be like a teeny tiny window on your screen would be the tutorial about how to navigate through the game. And me and an action name, Reggie, we were playing sorcerer and sorceress. And it was so low budget that they didn't have shoes, but they wanted us to look like we were wearing kind of gladiator. sorcerer boots or whatever. So we're just wearing tube socks with electrical tape in crisscross fashion. Oh, wow. Yeah, so if you look carefully at Gladiator, that's what Russell Crow wore.

That's true. Right. It's on YouTube. You can watch the whole thing. Oh, get out. If you are a Ray Seahorn completist, it's out there for you. Well, Ray Seahorn, it is such a joy to talk to you, and we have, in fact, you here to play a game. We are calling it this time. It's Christmas Carol. So as everybody on earth in pluribus knows, your character's name is Carol. So we thought, given the season, we'd ask you about Christmas carols. Answer two or three questions. You won our prize for one of our listeners, the voice of anyone. They might choose giving holiday greetings on their voicemail. So, Bill, who is Ray Seahorn playing for?

Alex Johnson of Seattle, Washington. All right. First question. Just this year, A famous person tried to put their own trademark on a new Christmas carol. Was it, A, Tyra Banks' song, Santa Smize. B, Dwayne, the Rock Johnson's, can you smell what Santa is cooking? Or C, Rick Astley's, I'm never going to give you gifts. I'm going with A. You're going to go with A, Tyra Banks' song Santa Smize. You're right.

Wow. Named by the Washington Post is one of the first. five worst Christmas carols of the year. So, all right, that was very good. An instinctual. Very good. All right. Next question.

In 1953, a child singer named Gala Peevy recorded and released a song called I want a hippopotamus for Christmas. Big hit. What was the result? A, the response to the song was so negative. She eventually became a nun and took a vow of silence. B, stuffed hippos were going in the black market for $5,000 into. today's money, or C, somebody actually gave her a hippo. I think C.

You're right, it was C. Yes. It was a huge hit. She sang it on the Ed Sullivan Show, and somebody gave her a hippo, and she eventually donated, said Hippo, to the Oklahoma City Zoo. Okay, you're being perfect to this, as you have been in all things. Here's your last question. John Denver put out a Christmas album once, Rocky Mountain Christmas,

which included which of these less than Mary. Christmas songs. A. Please, Daddy, don't get drunk this Christmas. B, my gift for you is my love, parentheses, because that's all I can afford. Or C, poisoned

by the mistletoe. Wow. With A. You're going to do with A. Again, please, Daddy, don't get drunk this Christmas. You're right again. That is. Pretty impressive. People that are caroling should add

that John Denver song Yeah, I think it'll bring some issues to the forefront. I think honesty is what we need. Bill, how did Ray Seahorn do in our quiz? She was perfect. She got them all right. Ray Seahorn is nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in Pluribus.

I am betting the first of many such nominations. You can stream it on Apple TV now. It's amazing. Don't read a word about it. Watch it. Ray Seahorn, thank you so much for being with us on. Wait, wait, don't tell me. We're such big chance.

Thank you. Thank you. This is a dream come true. Thank you. It was for us. It's such a wonderful show. Take her bye. Love you, way. Everybody loves it when their friends do well, right?

Which is why we were so happy when our friend Andy Richter had an amazing run on the most recent season of Dancing with the Stars. And we were even happier when Andy joined us live on stage in Phoenix in December. We were delighted to see our friend Andy Richter on this season of Dancing with the Stars in which he inspired a whole lot of supporters online to call themselves Fandies. He and his dance partner, Emma Slater, lasted far longer than most expected into the competition with Andy being dubbed by the judges, The People's Princess. We are delighted Her Highness could join us here on stage in Phoenix.

Andy Richter, welcome back to Wait, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you, thank you. So, and I should say, it wasn't the judges. It wasn't the judges. It was just somebody online started calling me the People's Princess. Okay. Yeah, which is incredibly flattering. It really is, yeah.

I really am hoping for a TR. for Christmas. Why not? So I have to ask, were you, were you, Dancing with the Stars has been around for a while? Did you always want it to be on it? Uh, no, quite the opposite. It always seemed like a terrifying prospect. Um, and then, uh, I didn't work very much for a little while and it seemed kind of a good idea. Yeah, really. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, did you seek them out? Did they call you? No, no, I got it, it was way back in April. I got a, I got an email from my agent saying, you know, they've offered you this. And I've told this before. My first instinct was say no and don't tell my wife that they asked. Right. Like just because, you know. And then a

minute later, I felt like, I have to do this. And so I said yes. And then as it got closer, I just thought, oh, I've made it terrible to stay. Tell me about your dance experience and expertise before this all began? I'll just tell it to you in an anecdote that my wife reminded me of when I said yes to Dancing with the Stars. For our wedding, my only requirement for our dance was that the song be the shortest one possible. Right.

Because I just, I wasn't comfortable. I mean, I can dance with some drinks at a party. What was the song? Was it like the boot-up tone from Microsoft Windows? What was it? Yeah, it was just. It was my ringtone. Yeah.

And so what was the preparation? So, like, you show up, you say, I've been to the jam, I've been doing my cardio. Yeah. You start dancing. You start being taught a routine. Did you get assigned a partner in your case, Emma? I was lucky enough to get Emma Slater, who is an angel and really an amazingly talented person, an amazing choreographer. She understood me.

She understood, like, how to teach me. because I don't enjoy being pushed. Right. You know, like the hard line kind of thing, I just say, F this, goodbye. So I need to be treated, you know. And also, she's very fun. And she also, part of her genius,

was that she said, oh, and by the way, every day we're going to make two or three TikToks. Uh-huh. And I very quickly, she would point and say, look how many views this got. And I'd be like, 1.3 million? Right.

Like, that's what? And this is, that number has never been connected to me other than for taxation purposes. I watched a lot of your dances, and I'm saying this with complete love and respect, speaking as a man that for good reason has not danced in public for 25 years, but it kind of seemed like your job was to stand still and watch with amazement while your partner did amazing dance moves sort of around you. Andy, I would do. Don't let him do you like that. Yeah, yeah. Don't let him do you like that. But, but, and here was the charming part,

you made a lot of very expressive faces. Yeah. As you watched her dance about. No, no, no, no. You make it sound like, I mean, you weren't entirely. Yeah, I moved from one point to the other, and there was footwork that I had to remember. Really?

Yeah. Yes. Yes. I learned to cha-cha a fox trot. You know, I pulled off a fox trot. You know, I pulled off a fox truck. So yeah. Thank you.

Thank you. And by the end, too, I was with each new week's dance. I would learn it in one rehearsal. It was like one rehearsal. You did have the ability. I can remember, yeah. Wow. You sort of learned that muscle.

It's like, thank you. I tried to emulate the real dancers because I would do the dance that we were doing that week and think, I really nailed that one. I really got it. And then we would look, because we'd record it on our phones, and I'd look at it on the phone. I'm like, look at that old man stomping around, waving his arms.

Yeah, I would try to, I tried, you know, in different times to sort of emulate the sort of more sort of fluid movements. And it's, you know, I was a rhino in a gazelle contest. I'm never going to be a gazelle. There you go. The People's Princess. Well, Andy Richter, it is always such a pleasure to have you on our show. And as always, we'd like you to play a game that this time we are calling Gotta Dance.

So given your performance on Dancing with the Stars, we thought we'd ask you about somebody who was really good at dancing, Gene Kelly. Answer two to three questions about the legendary song and dance man, and you will win a prize for one of our listeners. Also, who is Andy Richter playing for this time? Firma and Barry Kipnis of Prescott, Arizona. Nice. Not far from here.

All right, you ready? Here's your first question. Jean Kelly went from being a dance instructor in Pinsknotice. Pittsburgh to one of the biggest movie stars of all time. What was among his many secrets of success? A. Custom-made motorized tap shoes. B. Pants that were one size too small to accentuate his butt. Or C. Whatever the music you heard watching him on screen, on set, he was always dancing to the same song, Home on the Range.

I think it's the butt pants. You're right. And if you've ever seen him, you know that's true. Not only did he have his pants made a little tight, he would sometimes make sure his male co-stars' pants were a little loose. Okay. Kelly went on after his own career on screen to be a director. He directed the movie Hello Dolly.

And the star of that film, Michael Crawford, said that he got the part after Kelly said which of these to him. Was it A, quote, you remind me of a young me before I knew how to dance. B, quote, we can shoot somebody. with talent from the waist down and edit it in. Or see, quote, we're looking for an attractive idiot. My wife thinks you're attractive and I think you're an idiot.

Boy. I think maybe the third one. The third one. Yeah, about the wife and the idiot. You're right. You know this business. You know these people. That's exactly what he said.

And he is kind of an attractive idiot in the film, so it works out. All right. Last question. You could be perfect here. Gene Kelly and his wife hosted these massive parties for his famous friends in Beverly Hills, and a mainstay of those parties was what? A, Kelly's toe tap and punch, which was just as it turned out, grain alcohol and red food coloring. B, Kelly challenging any guest there for the first time to a dance off or see a cutthroat version of charades that could

last for 24 hours straight. It's got to be the charades. It is the charades, Andy. A man who's been to his Hollywood parties. 24 hours of charades. It would sometimes, it was called, it was called, it It was known as The Game. We're going to play The Game. Wow. Yeah. True story. Also, how did Andy Richter do in our quiz?

He danced his way to a perfect score, three out of three. You did. Thank you. There you go. Andy Richter was the people's princess on this year's run of Dancing with the Stars. He is the host of The Three Questions with Andy Richter podcast, which airs Mondays on the Sirius XM app or wherever you might get your podcast. Please give it up to our friend, Andy Richter.

Thanks so much. so much for being with us, Pugh. When we come back, our panelists go all out to earn their meager paychecks, and John M. Chu, the director of the Wicked Movies, explains how it really isn't easy being green. 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, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis, and here's your host at the Studebaker Theater and the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Peter Sagle. Thank you, Bill.

So we are not the only ones enjoying a deserved spring break, so are our panelists. Do you know how hard it is to appear regularly on a quiz about the week's news, sometimes for years, and still never seem to know the answers to the questions? Here's some proof. Joyelle, yes. Joyal, the Consumer Electronics Show was this week. That's the big show where all the tech people bring out their cool new tech products for people. And one new gadget caught our attention.

It's called the Eye Polish. It's the name of the device. What is the eye polish? The eye polish. It doesn't polish things. It takes the place of a kind of polish. Oh, like for bald men's heads? No.

No one cares about that. I care? It'd be like you'd be saying to your boyfriend, oh, hold on. Before we go out, let me download my French manicure. Oh, it's for nail? Yes, it's digital nail polish. Oh, all right?

So I polish. The product is digital press on nails. You never have to paint them. They display up to 300 colors just with the push of a button. Wow. So, twing. Yep, exactly. That sounds useful.

That's all beautiful. You know, panels, the shape like fingernails, that light up in whatever color you choose. And someone who bites my nails, and I do, I think would really help it if every time I did it, I was electrocuted. It's just, you know, when you hear about, like, that's the product that's catching people's eyes and that's the great thing that's coming. coming out of the world of technology. It's hard to believe that the international world rules-based order

is on its way out. It's just like... If you read that in the paper, like if that was the headline, it just seems like... How can we even be thinking about that? Yeah. With everything else going on.

So it'll be living in this dystopian orwellian hellscape, but we will have like light brights on our fingernails. Exactly. Right. What's a paper? Palance this week, we read a term in the news that was new to us, and you each get one guess at what it means.

What are clanker balls? Peter Gross. Clanker balls? Those things in offices that you clank and they knock into each other and they go, that's the first thing I thought of. Why? What are the other implications? Joyel, what do you think clanker balls means?

The type of parties, truck. I'm gonna have it in the ballroom. Rachel, where'd your mind go with it? I don't want to say right away, but Clanker is AI, usually a term for AI usage, right? Am I close? Please.

Yeah, no, you're close, but that's not. I'll tell you, they're... Oh, can I guess again? Is it the things that go on the back of a truck? Those are... That's also a really good guess, but those are truck nuts. Duh, sorry.

Yeah, sorry. Truck nuts with a Z. So, okay. Clanker balls are balls that hang above a road before a low bridge to warn trucks they're going to crash. So if any of you guessed that, you're right, but you're also boring.

Like Peter. Did something happen this week where it was like... I think what happened this week is that the wait, wait, wait, don't tell me why writers were like, oh my God, you guys, have you heard of Flinker balls? I think that's what happened this week. I'm confused though. They're hanging from the bridge that's, they're like right in front of

the bridge before you. Yeah, so they're like a block before some amount of space before the bridge. Oh, okay. So then you, they're called clinker balls because they're engineered to let out a loud clang when something crashes into them, which differs from the sound you hear when something crashes into regular balls crying. There's no exit after the clanker. They just let you know you're about to die. I think, you're about to experience a world of pain. No, I guess there's like enough room for you to break and then turn around or whatever.

Sounds like standard highway behavior. You love that. Just turning around a truck. Oops. But to your point, Rachel, earlier, like a while back on this show, we actually talked about how clinker is a derogatory slur term for robots. which would suggest another meaning for clanker balls. And if you think the idea of those clanker balls is absurd, you've never taken a look under R2D2, huh?

Am I right, ladies? So we're not supposed to say clanker with a hard R? Paula, a question for you. It is spring cleaning season, but this week, real simple magazine warned that when you're decluttering, you should not be tempted to declutter what? well, money.

Yeah, do you have a hint for me, Peter? I do. I mean, you need to get this around because you've run out at home. You can't ask someone to hand you some under the stall divider. Oh, oh, toilet paper? Toilet paper. Who would get rid of old toilet paper? Get rid of your toilet paper. Apparently enough people are doing that that real simple had to tell you not to.

That's absurd. Why would anyone get rid of toilet paper? Exactly. I mean, if it's used, that's different. That's ridiculous. Apparently this is a problem enough. They declared you should not get rid of your toilet paper. This is true now. It's always been true.

That's why in ancient Egypt, when someone died, they would wrap that person and they're left over toilet paper. This sounds like something that Costco's pushing. Really? Oh, yeah. Do people get to an age where they don't use toilet paper anymore? I mean, I'd say like on my deathbed I might roll over to somebody and say, you can get rid of that toilet paper now. Finally, I grew up on movie musicals, a form that died out years ago when everyone realized that in real life, people don't just burst into song. So, I was grateful to talk to John M. Chu, director of In The Heights and the two wicked movies who might have single-handedly revived the genre.

But he didn't grow up singing and dancing. Instead, he worked in his family's legendary Chinese restaurant in the Bay Area. 56 years later, my dad's still there. He's 82. It's called Chef Chuse, and he's there all the time. He loves to work and loves to eat. Wow, yeah. And were you ever tempted to go into that business? Never.

Not once. Not even a little bit. You know, a restaurant being raised in a restaurant, it's great because it's a house of stories. Everyone's telling stories to my dad. My dad's telling stories to them about me, and it's the people in that restaurant because it was in Palo Alto in Silicon Valley that people from Adobe gave me software to edit with, gave me cameras, gave me computers.

So it was a very beautiful thing. Wow. Yeah, and that's what I meant. that you were identified pretty early as somebody with a flare. Yeah, so you went to film school, and you made a short film, which got a lot of attention, and I was able to find the trailer for it online. Oh, man. It's called When the Kids Are Away, right?

Yes, yes, it is. If I understood correctly, because it's just the trailer, the idea is little kid leaves for school with all his friends leaving for school, leaving their housewife mothers, they're all sort of traditional housewives. And as soon as they're gone, the housewives break out into these fabulous big choreographic. musical numbers. Yes, what they do when the kids are away. And I watch this and I'm like,

oh my God, it was true. But the twist of the movie is at the end, I'm just going to ruin it for people, but at the end, because you'll never find it. The end of it is that this kid gets found and he starts to share his moves. He thinks he's in trouble, but he shares his moves. And he actually

introduces new moves to them. And we find out that he's actually little Michael Jackson and that it's the passing on of the old musical to the new musical because from then on he knows how to do that. Wow. I'm just thinking... It was very deep. It was very deep.

Yeah. It was very deep. You were a dancer. You studied tap dance for a long time, right? I did. I mean, I was forced to tap with my sister because my mom didn't... I was in the car when she would take all of other sisters to different dance things. So I did tap with my sister.

I didn't want any other people at our class. So me and my sister did our local talent show, our school talent show every year. Wow. Were you any good? If by tapping well, you mean like glitter and gloves, and I did this one, me and my shadow with my sister, and we got in a fight right before we're doing it in front of our school, and my mom brought in the wood panels, and my sister and I are fighting, and so I, and she's really shy, and I don't sing along with her, so she had to sing in front of our whole school by herself.

and I'm in this big black Unitarred as her shadow, and so I haven't lived it down since then. Really? I actually still feel very guilty about that. And she's never seen any movie you've ever done because she's still mad, right? So you grew up on musicals, and so you must have been excited

when you got to direct the movie version of probably the biggest musical of the last 20 years, right? Wicked? Yeah, I was psyched. I saw Wicked before it was ever on Broadway when it was at San Francisco, because we had season tickets, and my mom called me up. I was at USC at the time.

She said, come watch Stephen Schwartz's new musical. So I got to watch it sort of as patient zero before anyone knew anything about it. I just have to ask to personal reasons, when you were watching Wicked, were there any middle-aged men in the audience sobbing at defying gravity? Did that happen at all?

We were all sobbing. Okay. So I have to ask you about this, especially with the first installment, Wicked, there were so many marketing tie-ins. There was Wicked branded Crocs, Wicked Mac and Cheese Cups, Wicked Barbies, Wicked Stanley Cups,

and Wicked Bilda Bears. I'm assuming you own all of that. Yep. You have it all? Now I know who sponsors this show, by the way. Do you have a favorite one of those that they threw at you? Listen, the Swiffer is pretty cool when you go to Target and you see the,

Elphaba and Galinda's section and they're there. I mean, it's not a broomstick. It's, well, you know, but it's close enough. Wicked Swiffers. It would make sense. Honestly, no. That would be, that's a good way to get your kid to clean the house,

like your kid that loves. Alphabah's like, I'm defying gravity. I got one more question. So I watched before Wicked, some years ago, you made not one, but two movies with Justin Bieber. And I'm watching the second one. I had to.

It's the one that's leaving Netflix soon. And here's the thing. You designed the concert in addition to filming the movie of the concert. And including, which I thought was intensely cool, Justin's entrance into the concert in which he flies in, foreshadowing alphabah, right? With these enormous wings. And I was wondering, speaking to you as a creative genius, If you have any idea that how I can improve my entrance to this day.

Because I just kind of walk out. You need some lasers. Yes. And you need your wings. You know, his wings were made of all his things that he actually knows how to do. It's built of all the things that have carried him. Again, very deep, guys. I'm not to find your wings.

Wow. So my wings, all the things that got me here would be standardized tests and antidepressants. I could see it. I could see it. John Chu, it is a pleasure to talk to you. We have invited you here today to play a game we're calling That's Wicked Good. Since you directed

Wicked for Good, we thought we'd ask you about a famously Wicked Good Place, Boston, Massachusetts. Oh, God. By the way, now that I think of it, Wicked Swiffa, sounds like something they'd say. A wicked Swiffer. Anyway, answer two to three questions correctly. You'll win our prize fund of our listeners.

is the voice of anyone they might choose in their voicemail. Bill, who is John Chu playing for? Joe Robbins of Seattle, Washington. All right, you ready to do this? All right, let's go, Joe. I got you. Okay, man, here we go. Here's your first question. Scientists have tried to study

what makes people from Boston become people from Boston. And one actual study discovered which of these findings. A, Bostonian skulls are 5% thicker than the average Americans. B, 15% of Boston toddlers drink coffee or see all Boston school districts have a unit on how to climb light poles. The one that is like crazy enough but not too crazy would be the coffee B. You're right, John. That's the line.

Here's your next question. Boston sports fans. are known for their enthusiasm. During the parade to celebrate the New England Patriots first Super Bowl win in 2002, what happened? A, the crowd started chanting Yankees suck, even though they play baseball. B, three fans were arrested for trying to throw beer bottles

right into the hood of Bill Belichick's sweatshirt. Or C, fans crowd surfed Tom Brady all the way from his duck boat to a nearby bar. I'm going to go A. You're right. That's what they did. I mean, of course that's what they did. That's what I would do. That seems fun.

Yankee sucks. I got to tell you, I saw it on TV. It was Wicked Swiffer. Here's your next question. Earlier this month, Boston's WBZ News I-Team launched an investigative report after a man had something he'd been saving to pass on to his kids,

ripped away from him, heartlessly. What did that man lose? A, his Red Sox season tickets located where his heckles could be heard on TV, B, a 1981 Pontiac Transam that was missing both axles, or C, 93,000 Duncan Donuts

rewards points. Ripped away from him. I'm just going to go with my what I think is just the most logical. I'll go see. You're right, that's what it was. He had accumulated 93,000 rewards points at Duncan. He was hoarding them to hand out to his children,

is his only legacy, and then Duncan changed the rules, and they vanished. Isn't that sad? It's terrible. It's terrible. Listen, we had a great partnership with Duncan for Wicked for Good. You could get these little munchkin tins. It was great. It's fantastic.

Of course. Munchkins. Yeah. It's right there. Can you talk to them about this guy's points? I think we should talk to them. Come on. Come on.

Chicken donuts. If you're out there, help this guy out. Bill, how did John Chu do an urquist? Three right. answers is wickedly good. Wicked awesome. Wicked awesome. John M. Chu is the award-winning director of the Wicked

Movies. You can stream Wicked for Good Now. John M. Chu. Thank you so much for joining us, and thank you for movies. I cried like a baby. Take care. That's it for our own spring break edition. We'll be back next week, Tand and Erasing a Hangover. But first, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me is a production of NPR and WB EZ Chicago in association with urgent hair cup productions Doug Berman benevolent

benevolent Philip Godica writes our limericks Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman BJ Leaderman composed our theme Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills Miles Dormoss and Lillian King Special thanks to Monica Hickey Peter Gwyn is the only body Will do shots off of Our vibe curator is Emma Choi Technical directors from Lorna White our CFO

That's Colin Miller our production manager is Robert Newhouse Our senior producers Ian Chilog and the executive producer Wait, wait, wait, don't tell me is Mike Danforth. Thanks to everybody you heard on our show this week. All our panelists, our guests, our guest, scorekeeper, Alzo Slade, and of course, Bill Curtis. Thanks to all of you for listening. I'm Peter Sagan.

We'll see you next week. This is NPR.