Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - WWDTM: 25th Year Spectacular Part V!

Episode Date: August 12, 2023

This week, we continue our 25 year retrospective with appearances from Donny Osmond, Kristen Bell + Dax Shepard, Ina Garten, and more!Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. Still working on your summer tan? Just lie close to the radio and let my voice bronze you. I'm Bill Curtis. And here is your host from the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thanks, everybody. Thank you so much. We have made it to our summer break, and we still have not made a dent in our review of our first 25 years on the air. We have realized it's going to take another 25 years

just to sum them up. Eventually, we'll just be doing retrospectives of our retrospectives. So let's get right to it. Sometimes we are lucky enough to have real-life couples on the show because, as any marriage counselor might tell you, nothing will bring you closer

than the shared trauma of answering questions about things you know nothing about. Here are husband and wife actors Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell, who joined us together in 2012. Hey, we were talking about this. Both of you have done so much in your career so far that it was hard for us to guess what you are most known for. So I wanted to see if we could figure that out right off the top.

So Kristen, would it be what? Would it be Veronicaonica mars would be sarah marshall would be what hope that i think for me it would probably be one of those right what about in the venezuelan community honey you're big as well as have an index how about you well family i think the thing where we're both most known for something that we didn't profit from. It was a YouTube video of Kristen getting a sloth for her birthday. This may have been...

This was like the number one YouTube video of all time, I believe. I love that video. So, Kristen, for those who have not been lucky enough to see it, can you describe it? I am, in fact, an emotional handicap. I have a lot of issues. I really have a love of sloths. I always have. Now, an emotional handicap. I have a lot of issues. I really have a love of sloths.

I always have. Now, wait a minute. Sloths? Yes. Of all things? Sloths? Question mark? Explanation point?

Sloths? I just want to interject that, you know, for most guys, this might have been a red flag that every night they get in the bed. And their bride-to-be is watching a video of a sloth laying in the road in Costa Rica. This is nightly, a nightly occurrence. Yeah, how did you get enamored of sloths? I don't know, because they're so vulnerable. They're so very vulnerable. And I think, I don't know, and they're just, they take their time.

So you really like sloths. I do. All right, so then what happens? I'm... So you really like sloths. I do. All right, so then what happens? And we're show business types, so we have access to animal wranglers who bring, you know, animals to movie sets. So I get a hold of one of these guys

and find out if I can get a sloth brought to the house for the afternoon for her birthday party. All right, so you get a sloth. Well, there's more to it than that. I mean, I have to amend my homeowner's insurance policy that's not a joke really yeah to have this wild animal in proximity to other party goers required an umbrella uh you know in the policy so we get all the proper

insurance i tell her to go into the room on her birthday the surprises arrive take the dogs and by the time i get into the room to invite her out into the living room, she's put it together that since I asked her to take the dogs in the bedroom, clearly there's another animal in the house. Oh, my God, it must be a sloth. And then she's hyperventilating, crying hysterically by the time I come back. And the world knows this because you videotaped Kristen as she figured this out. I had anticipated videotaping her see the sloth in the living room, and I started running the camera when I walked into the bedroom to invite her out into the living room. I didn't expect the show was going to start in the bedroom.

What kind of sloth was it? Was it the famous three-toed sloth? No, it was a two-toed sloth. Which meant we couldn't cuddle it. For the amount that I paid for this thing, I was expecting a little more than cuddling. Yeah. So you guys are a real-life Hollywood couple,

and you went and you made a movie together called Hit and Run. It's kind of a getaway caper. You play Dax. You play Charlie Bronson. Yes. And you're a guy in the Witness Protection program. Kristen is a very nice girlfriend, and the challenge is to get her to Los

Angeles before the bad guys get you. Yes, I'm so in love with her, as I am in real life, that I decided to leave the safety of Witness Protection and take her to her to l a m in the second we leave bradley cooper of the bad guy testified against he finds out tom arnold u s marshall he starts taking us in that is that yet it is an action comedy but at the center of all that is chris and i have uh...

kind of real life relationship on display for all the scene and uh... that she also wrote and directed the movie. Yes, sir. And so was that weird? It was an ego orgy. I can imagine. But I'm also trying to figure out what is it like trying to direct your own girlfriend

as she says lines of affection and love to you that you have written. Well, I guess auto-erotic comes to mind. I'm sorry, can we do that again with more genuine worship, please? I don't believe you. I just don't feel like you're seeing me on the pedestal I'm on. Also in the movie, it's funny because the couple, the characters fight. And they have this very funny, bizarre way of working through their fights.

Is that how you guys work through your fights? Are we seeing your process as a couple? We do things similar to that, yeah. We're big into communication. Yeah, there's nothing we can't talk out for four hours. I mean, someone needs to talk about that. We'll get comfortable and really hash it out. That does explain the nine-hour running time,

as you guys work through your issues. It's exciting. Well, Kristen and Dax, it's a pleasure to talk to you, but we have, in fact, invited you here to play a game we're calling... First thing you're going to need is an adorable collective nickname. Before there was Brangelina, before there was Bennifer, remember Bennifer? There was Dick and Liz. That would be... Dick and Liz, no!

That was Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, the first and greatest of celebrity couples of the tabloid era. Dick and Liz? Dick and Liz. And before we go any further, do you guys have a collective nickname? We gave ourselves one, honey. You want to hit them with it? Cracks.

Love it. Love it. And I'm sure Us Magazine is known as being a cracks addict. They can't get enough of you. Well, we're going to ask you about Burton and Taylor, Taylor and Burton, the Hollywood pair that knew how to live large. Get two right of the three questions. You will win a prize for one of our listeners.

Carl's voice in their home voicemail. So, Carl, who are Dax and Kristen playing for? They're playing for Derek Stacy of St. Louis, Missouri. Okay. Ready to do this? Let's do it. Here's your first question. Now, you've got to be totally besotted with each other, as Burton and Taylor were.

What did Burton once say about the woman he married twice? A. Quote, she'd drive me crazy, Wow. Or C, she has a double chin and an overdeveloped chest, and she's rather short in the leg, unquote. Wow. This does not sound healthy. No. I'm going with, personally, sweetie, I think A, but I defer to you. No, I trust you. Let's go A. The one about whenever she started to drive him crazy,

he'd just tune out and check out her rack? Yeah. Yep. I'm afraid it was C. She had a double-shed and overdeveloped chest. Burton said, quote, this most beautiful woman in the world stuff is absolute nonsense, he said of her.

What a peach. He was an adorable guy. All right. You have two more chances. The Burtons met when they were both married to other people. They had a tumultuous affair in the public eye. They got divorced. They married each other. They had a tumultuous affair in the public eye. They got divorced. They married each other.

They divorced each other. And then they got married again. They decided their second marriage should be more restrained than their first. Where did they do it? A, in a rural village in Botswana. B, Times Square, high noon, Saturday. Or C, in their guest bathroom. Oh, no.

C. You're going to go for C in their guest bathroom? Oh, no. C. You're going to go for C in their guest bathroom? Yeah. They were like, oh, let's just... I'd love to get married in a guest bathroom. Really? Oh, yeah. Would that be appealing?

Well, look, if you get winded, you take a seat on the commode. I already know we've gotten it wrong because we're talking so much without telling us the answer, so I'm going to change my answer to B. Okay. Times Square, high noon, Saturday? Yeah. Because they wanted to avoid attention? Yes.

Yeah. Great. Sounds great, honey. We're taking more time. The moment... The moment... I'm sorry. I like A, the best. I'm not a good test... I'm sorry. This just in. I like A, the best. You know what I really think about A. I'm not a good test taker, guys.

No. She does have some detective skills. You're going to go for A? Yeah, I'm going to go for A. Yeah, it is A. It was a royal village in Botswana. Oh, God. Yay. They were on safari in Botswana.

They decided, what the hay, let's get married again. They found a magistrate in a local mud hut village to officiate. All right, this is the last question. If you get this right, you win. Liz and Dick were known for their luxurious lifestyle. They had mansions, and he gave her enormous diamonds, as is well known. In fact, once they did what?

A. Had Pastrami from New York airlifted to them in Rangoon. B. Rented an entire yacht just for their dogs. Or C. Bought a limousine made of platinum. It's actually, I happen to know this one because I was reading about celebrities who have had food flown in to them. I was just going to say A. Yeah.

Are you crazy? Buddy, good job. You're going to agree on this? Yes. I like that. I like that. How about you stand with each other? Even when you're wrong.

Yeah, we just made that up, sadly. No, the real answer was that they rented a yacht for their dogs. That's absurd. It's not. What happened was, and you guys are animal lovers. Said the woman with the sloth at her birthday party. Yeah, but I didn't buy him a Rolls Royce. That's true.

What happened was they went to London, and there's a quarantine for pets. They couldn't bring the pets into London. So for $20,000, Liz Taylor rented a yacht, which she moored there right on the river, the Thames, for her dogs to wait out the quarantine. Well, then that's totally understandable. Carl, how did Dax and Kristen

do in our quiz? Peter, they needed at least two correct answers to win for Derek Stacey. They had just one correct answer. Can we get extra points for being a good team? Carl, did they get extra points

for being a good team? No. Sorry. Dax Shepard and Kristen Bill are in love, and they star in the new movie Hit and Run, opening on August 22nd. Dax and Kristen, thank you so much for joining us. Yay!

When we come back, the barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten on her high school crushes, and Mindy Kaling on being crushed by high school. That's when we come back with more Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR. From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater and the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Bill. I don't know what you all like to do during your summer vacation, but there's nothing we love more than sitting inside and listening to recordings of things we said years ago. I tried doing it on a beach once, but sand kept getting into my headphones. In 2017, we talked to Food Network star Ina Garten, better known as the Barefoot Contessa. I asked her to describe her superhero-like origin

story, starting when she worked in the Nixon administration. I worked in the White House. I worked in the Office of Management and Budget, a nuclear energy policy. So were you an enthusiastic cook back then? I was learning how to cook then. I would work at OMB during the day, and I'd go home and cook at night. I've heard that you bought the store, called the Barefoot Contessa out in the Hamptons, without ever having seen it. Is that right? I actually had seen it. I saw it once.

They were baking cookies, and I thought, this is where I need to be. And I made an offer on the store and went back to my office in Washington thinking, well, that'll never happen. And the owner called me the next day and said, thank you very much. I accept your offer. And I just went, oh, Well, tell me about the store. What was the original store like? It was 400 square feet. It was so small that you couldn't get the stove didn't fit into the kitchen. So it was actually in the store. If you wanted to put something in the oven, you had to go into

the store. And it was great. I mean, I always wanted it to feel like a party. And it did. We had great music and we had samples of cookies out and everybody had a great time. They would come in just to see what was going on. Right, right. And how long did you own that store? Well, I owned the first store for three years. Then I bought a bigger store and then I moved to East Hampton to a much bigger store. So the store I owned at the end was 3,000 square feet. Right, okay.

And then you started doing your cookbooks once the store became really known? No, actually, after I sold the store to employees and then I started doing cookbooks. Oh, really? Yeah. You got out of the food business, right?

Okay. And into the, out of the frying pan and into the pot or whatever it is. Ina, I don't know how to cook. And I, this is like a big stain in my life. Yeah.

Tell me the number one thing I need to know to help me start or give me. You know, I make roast chicken. And that is the simplest thing in the world to make. And I met some girls that worked at Glamour Magazine. And they said, we call it roast chicken. And that is the simplest thing in the world to make. And I met some girls that worked at Glamour magazine, and they said, we call it engagement chicken. Because every time somebody in the office makes it for their boyfriend, they're engaged within 24 hours. Wow.

Speaking of someone who loves your cooking, what is it like to be in Taylor Swift's posse? In Taylor Swift's? Well, not exactly in her posse. But I spent it. She came for a photo shoot, and we made a pavlova together, which was wonderful. So you made a what together? Pavlova.

I just talked about this in the bluff. Which is meringue and whipped cream and berries. Is it like Anna Pavlova? Yes. It's named after her. Exactly. I'm assuming just given the way that Taylor Swift looks, after you made it looked at it hungrily Then went back to her diet of carrot sticks and cardboard No she just dove right in

Did she really? What was she wearing? She's a good cook Is Taylor Swift a good cook? I don't know She's a very good cook Is there anything she can't do? No

She's a very good cook, yeah. Really? She's a good cook. Is there anything she can't do? No. Really? Not as far as I can see. She's pretty extraordinary. Do you want to know an interesting, is this true that you went to high school with both Pulitzer Prize winner James Lapine and a legendary baseball manager, Bobby Valentine? I did. How did you know that? Because I know them both and they worship you.

And I adore both of them. What high school was this? Ribbom High School in Stanford, Connecticut. Wow. How extraordinary that a 16-year-old girl chose someone named Jeffrey Garten over someone named Bobby Valentine. Yeah.

It could have gone a different way. Bobby Valentine didn't choose me. He's a hero. Total hero. When he called me up, I was like, oh, my God, I was like a high school girl with heart palpitations. And I was like, I think I was 65 when he called me up, I was like, oh my God, I was like a high school girl with heart palpitations. And I was like, I think I was 65 when he called me.

Well, Ina Garten, we are delighted to talk to you. We have invited you here to play... They're snazzy, but a bit pinchy in the toe box. You are, of course, the barefoot Contessa, so naturally we decided to ask you about shoes. Answer two out of three questions about footwear, you'll win our prize for one of our listeners. Carl Castle's voice in their voicemail.

Bill, who is Ina Garten playing for? Carol Anthony of New Orleans, Louisiana. Alright, you ready to play, Ina? I'm ready. Here's your first question. There are, of course, a lot of specialty shoes. Which of these might you really be able to slip onto your own feet? A. Skiwalkers, shoes that sprout skis

when you want to get down a snowy hill quickly. B, phone holder shoes, which can hold your smartphone in the toe so you can just look at your feet and enjoy some YouTube. Or C, no place like home shoes. You click your heels together three times and a GPS unit guides you home. One of those is true? It's true. One of them is.

What was the first one? Ski walkers, shoes that sprout skis when you want to get down a snowy hill quickly. One of those is true? It's true, one of them is What was the first one? Skiwalkers, shoes that sprout skis And you want to get down a snowy hill quickly How about three? You're going to go for three? Is that your choice? I have no idea Well, three is the no place like home shoes You click your heels together and it lights up

And shows you how to go home No You have to choose one, I'm afraid A phone holder shoe? Phone holder shoes. That's the middle choice. You just put your phone on it. You can walk around, look down at your shoe.

There's your phone. They're all so improbable. I'm going to choose that one. You're going to choose that one. No, it was actually the No Place Like Home shoes. I was there the first time. Oh, it was the third one? It was, yes.

Oh, damn. These are shoes. They're not commercially available yet. But yes, the idea is you click three times, it lights up LEDs and it points you the way home. Are they red sparkly shoes? I hope so. All right, next question. Still have two more chances.

Shoes can get you in trouble as when which of these incidents happened? A, a fleeing drug dealer was caught by police in a nighttime foot chase because he was wearing those light-up shoes. B, 13 models ended up in a basement where the combined stress of their high heels

punched through the runway floor. Or C, a woman's slingback mules got her thrown out of church because of salacious revealing of the toes. The drug dealer. You're right. It's the drug dealer.

Happened in the early 90s when those shoes were popular. Good job. All right. Last question. If you get this, and those shoes were popular. Good job. All right, last question. If you get this, you win it all. Here we go. One day in 2014, basketball player Manu Ginobili's Nike sneakers did something nobody had ever seen before.

What? A, they adhered to the ball, resulting in a scrum of people trying to pull the ball off Ginobili's foot. B, they exploded. Or C, they shot lasers every time Ginobili scored. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. I think lasers.

You think lasers, that he had shoes that shot lasers? No. What year was this? This was just 2014. They exploded? They exploded. Are you going to choose that one? Yeah.

That's what happened. They just exploded. They just spontaneously burst into pieces. They did. Pieces, yeah. They were Nike Airs. Yeah. They just exploded. They just spontaneously burst into pieces. They did. Pieces, yeah. They were Nike Airs, and they exploded air. Like telephones, not allowed on airplanes now, right? That's true.

Bill, how did Ina Garten do in our quiz? Well, here, if you get two out of three, you're a winner, and she did just that. Congratulations, Ina. Ina Garten is the Barefoot Contessa. Her latest cookbook is Cooking for Jeffrey. Ina Garten, thank you so much for joining us. So much fun. Thank you, Ina.

Take care. Mindy Kaling is a writer and actor who first became famous for playing an emotionally needy, socially awkward employee in the office. As she revealed to us when she joined us in 2015, that wasn't too far from the truth. Well, I think when I was younger, I would audition for plays in junior high and high school, and I would always get cast as like the homeless woman or a vagrant. Was that a high school player or a Phil Collins video? I know, exactly. And so my parents would come to shows and God bless them, they would try to muster up

some excitement. They're like, oh, I see you're playing another hobo. And I'm like, yeah. So that would happen like 23 consecutive times until I moved to New York City after college. And then I wrote a play. And after that play, I got hired in the office. Well, it's kind of amazing. I want to stop and talk about that play, which I wish I could have seen. The play was you and a friend of yours who was also female playing Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

Yeah. And you were Matt, right? I was actually Ben. I'm surprised you couldn't have guessed that yeah well you're so come on she's so obviously more of a band i'm so obviously my demeanor my interests i mean um but yeah we played um we wrote this little play a little strange like an hour-long play a comedy play it's just a two-person play where we played matt damon and ben affleck when they were 21 years old.

And the premise of this whole story was that we were, I'm trying to adapt Catcher in the Rye into a movie to star in. It's like my, as Ben Affleck at 21 years old. When you were doing Ben Affleck as a young... I love that beginning. When you were doing Ben Affleck, when you were performing, when you were performing Ben Affleck, When you were performing Ben Affleck. That's not a lot better.

Not that much better. Did you actually try to imitate Ben Affleck? By the way, this is extremely challenging. When you found a 12-year-old girl, that you decide your first professional endeavor is to play a very macho dude. But he was always very missed at Matt. He always felt, the character as we wrote him he was always very missed at Matt. He always felt, the character as we wrote him,

was always very missed at Matt was trying to make other friends and go do stuff. He would always be like, Hey man, I've been waiting at Co-C for two hours. Who are you hanging out with, huh? That was him. Wait a minute, that part right there, that was Ben Affleck and not you?

Hey, listen, okay, I didn't say I was, like, some virtuosic comedian. It was impressive. So you did incredibly well on The Office. You became well-known, and you got your own sitcom. And could you describe the character that you chose to play in that sitcom? You created it yourself, right? Yeah, she's kind of a disaster. Like, she's a very... Mindy Lahiri, the character I play in the Mindy Project,

is, like, very selfish, very wild. Kind of something about the show is that my character has dated more men than I've ever met in my life. Really? Yeah. Like, she's dated... I think she's dated, like...

I think I've certainly made out with, like, 30 men on my show or something like that. I understand that in your book, you reveal that all actors lie about sex scenes in some way. Yes. That is probably my biggest contribution, I think, with my book, is that every actor pretends that they hate sex scenes, and the truth is that they all love them and they're lying. No, wait a minute.

My understanding of the way sex scenes work, and I've never been on a set for a sex scene, but I've read about them, is that you're surrounded by crew, and you're cold, and you have to do it eight times because they didn't get the lighting. It doesn't sound pleasant, but you think that actors actually enjoy it?

Oh, 100%, yeah. I mean, you basically get to make out with a good-looking stranger, and it's like the only loophole in existence where that is allowable within marriage. So, Mindy, I want to ask you about the new Pixar movie Inside Out coming out this weekend. It all takes place or mostly takes place inside the mind of a little girl and you play one of her emotions, you play disgust. So what was it like when they came to you and said, we want you, Mindy Kaling,

to voice disgust? I said, how dare you? I've never been so insulted in my life. I'm a beautiful angel. How could you pick me for Disgust? Frankly, on Disgusted, you would even suggest that. And I was like, wait a second. I like this character. I know what this is about.

The thing with the character of Disgust is she's like a tiny, green, mean girl. She's like a 12-year-old girl who's incredibly impatient and hates everything and is always rolling her eyes. So I feel like I've made a career off of playing versions of this. Right. So this was a character, as they say, that was in my wheelhouse. Ben Affleck, Disgust, these are the two things I can play.

Really? Well, Mindy Kaling, what a pleasure to talk to you. We've invited you to play a game we're calling... It's the Home Improvement Project. So, you do a show called the Mindy Project. No, I understood it and I enjoyed it. Thank you. All right. How stupid do you think I am?

I'm disgusted. No, she's just, I'm just going to assume she's impatient to get to the greater fun of playing the game. But let's just explain for the slower people. You have a show called The Mindy Project. So we thought we'd ask you three questions about different kinds of projects, home improvement projects. Get two of these right, you will win our prize for one of our listeners. That prize, of course, Carl Castle's voice.

Bill Curtis, who is Mindy Kaling playing for? Olivia Otieno from Nairobi, Kenya. Really? Nairobi? Whoa. Yeah, I know. The heat is on. On two separate occasions, this is your first question, on two separate occasions, Home Depot has faced lawsuits

from would-be do-it-yourselfers who were very upset when they went to a Home Depot, and what happened? A, they went to the restroom and found that the toilet seats were strongly, quote, adhesive, unquote. B, floor staffers called them, quote, homo depo sexuals. Or C, they searched the store for someone to help them and realized the place had been completely abandoned for hours. Abandoned how? Like, like Walking Dead style where there's like no one anywhere there? That would be, that would be more helpful. I have

been at the Home Depot looking for help for hours and if I had seen a zombie with the apron, I would have asked the zombie for help. Just one of those things happened twice, leading to lawsuits. Okay, I wish it was the first one, because that's a great image to have in my head, but I feel it's the last

one. The answer actually was the first one. It was the adhesive toilet seats. They feel that the adhesive, this happened once in Colorado and once in St. Louis, and they actually think that the St. Louis incident was a copycat gluer. Somebody heard about the first instance and said, I'm going to do that at my Home Depot. All right. Customers themselves sometimes misbehave down at the Home Depot,

such as the case in which two people did what? A, used one of those pre-assembled storage sheds they got in the parking lot for a private assignation, if you know what I mean. B, had a loud and dangerous lightsaber fight in the aisle with fluorescent tubes. C, tried to give one of the many toilets on display a real-life test. Okay, each image was so vivid that I forgot the question. One of these things happened.

Somebody was arrested for one of these things. Was it when A, two people got into one of those sheds and got busy in the parking lot? Who hasn't done that? I don't know why anyone would get arrested for that, but yeah. You may not have known that was illegal, Mindy, but just for the future.

It is my God-given right to go to a shed at any Home Depot and do what I like. What if it was the first one? What if it was the first one? Yeah. If it was the first one, I'd say you were right. Do you want to pick the first one?

I want to pick the first one. You're right! Hey! right. Do you want to pick the first one? I want to pick the first one. You're right. Hey! This happened in South Carolina, 2013. The couple was removed from the shed and charged with indecent exposure and disorderly conduct. All right, last question, Mindy. If you get this right, you win. There are plenty of celebrity home improvement specialists you can turn to on TV, including which of these

A. Lee Majors, host of The Six Million Dollar Bathroom, B. Mr. T, host of I Pity the Tool, or C. Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet premier, host of Tear Down That Wall and Put Up a New One.

The second one's so silly. That can't be real. Have you seen TV? You're right. I also produced the silliest show on TV. Okay, yeah, maybe the second one. Mr. T, I pity the tool. Is that your choice?

It is true. That is the one. I pity the tool. We'll your choice? It is true. That is the one. I pity the tool. We'll feature it on the DIY network. We'll feature Mr. T demolishing homes before he and some designers collaborate on restoring it. Bill, how did Mindy Kaling do on our show? Mindy got two right. The audience got three right.

So put them together. And Mindy's a winner. Congratulations, Mindy. When we come back, we've always said our quizzes aren't rocket science, so we test it on a real rocket scientist. Plus, Donny Osmond. Yeah, that Donny Osmond. 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, 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 Sigel. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, Bill.

Thank you, everybody. We are almost done with this week's retrospective of our 25 years in the air. And one of the nice things about being around this long is that we were there to talk to people who've been around even longer. For example, in 2007, we went to Salt Lake City, Utah, and talked to one of the most famous performers ever to come out of that state, Donny Osmond, who started, of course, as one of the Osmond brothers. You know, I love Kingsbury Hall. It has a big history with me because that's where I did my very last performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Right.

I did that show for six years. Six years. How often did they clean the coat? I hope you got it dry cleaned at some point. No, it doesn't smell very good. You can't clean a coat like that. That's the amazing thing about it. Can I throw in a fact?

Andy Williams' father discovered the Osmond Brothers. How did you know that? Because I've heard that. I'm a huge Andy Williams fan and Osmonds fan, and I know that the Osmond Brothers were at Disney World, right? That is correct. Tell it. Tell it. It's fun. It's a good story. Well, my brothers went down with my dad to Los Angeles

to audition for Lawrence Welk to try to get on television, and Lawrence wouldn't see them. He was just too busy. So my dad took my brothers to Los Angeles to audition for Lawrence Welk to try to get on television. And Lawrence wouldn't see them. He was just too busy. So my dad took my brothers to Disneyland. He said, well, since we can't see him, let's make a vacation out of this. My brothers were all dressed alike. So they were walking down the streets dressed alike. And this barbershop quartet named the Dapper Dans saw my brothers and said, are you a quartet? And they said, well, yes, we sing every once in a while. He said, well, sing us a song. Well, my brother sang them a song.

The Dapper Dan sang my brother's a song. It was like a competition on the streets. It kept going back and forth and back and forth. And this huge crowd gathered around them like an attraction there at Disneyland. Walt Disney put him on two shows because he loved him so much. And that's where Andy Williams' father saw my brothers. And the rest, as they say, is history that's where they got their national break I hope not too many people hear that story

because it's going to make the Dapper Dan's life hell trying to get through a show at Disneyland and they're still there they are there and they're fantastic by the way but every little kid singing group in the world is now going to go cut their grass. We've got Battle of the Bands every day on Main Street, USA. So I've got to ask you one last question before we go to this.

Now, you, sir, had the honor of once being the subject of a question on this show. We were trying to stump Ken Jennings, Salt Lake City hometown hero. He came on our show. We were trying to ask him about things he may not know about. And one of the questions we asked him about was the way that you, Donny Osmond, like to eat pretzels. And it turns out we actually found a video of you doing this,

so we had it confirmed. I'll cut it out. No, that you, when you're eating pretzels, you said to an interviewer, and you then demonstrated, you like to take the pretzel out of the bag, lick the pretzel, smell the pretzel, and then eat the pretzel. Why did you bring that up? Well, I don't know.

Because people didn't believe us. We actually got emails saying, come on, you made that up about Donny Osmond. And we had to send out the video of you doing it. Hey, don't knock it unless you've tried it. Alright. But it's true. We wanted to get a confirmation. This is how you, Donny Osmond, eat pretzels. Yes. I live a very sheltered life. That's what I do. Well, Donny Osmond, we are delighted to have you with us.

Now, we have invited you here to play a game, a special game we're calling... You may be a little bit rock and roll, but it won't help you now. Donny, as you know, we call this game Not My Job, so we decided to review your remarkable career, music, TV, theater, come up with three questions about which you, Donnie Osmond, would have no clue. Answer two of them right, you will win our prize for our listeners. Carl Castle, who is Donnie Osmond playing for? Donnie is playing for Sean Thompson of Salt Lake City.

Okay, all right. Ready to play? I'm ready to play. Here we go. First Donny Osmond specific topic, being an only child. Turns out Rudy Giuliani was an only child, and like many such children, his parents put a little bit too much pressure on him. Which of these did Mr. Giuliani endure with no siblings to share the burden? A, his mother, frustrated at not having a daughter, would make him wear dresses for, quote, special mommy days until the age of 10.

B, his father, a Yankees fan in the middle of the Dodgers Brooklyn, would dress him in full Yankees regalia and send him out in the streets to be mercilessly mocked by the other kids. Or C, both parents, who never really wanted children in the first place would make him stand alone outside the fancy restaurants where they dined, occasionally bringing him spare dinner rolls to eat. I would say that his dad dressed him up in a Yankees outfit. You're right, sir. Very well. Very well done. Giuliani says of being sent out into the Brooklyn streets while wearing a Yankees uniform, quote, to my father it was a joke. To me it was like being a martyr. It really begins to explain a lot about him, doesn't it? All right, next question,

specially selected for you, Donny Osmond, known, of course, for your clean living. According to the book Alcoholica Esoterica, which of these is the traditional Mongolian cure for a severe hangover? A, eating a pickled sheep's eye in tomato juice. B, killing a goat and rubbing its innards on your scalp while still warm. Or C, digging a hole in the dirt and sticking your head in it. Or D, licking a pretzel, smelling it, then eating it. Or D, licking a pretzel, smelling it, then eating it. Maybe that's why I never have a hangover, because I lick and smell it.

Preemptive hangover, that's great. Well, I would say the sheep with the tomato juice. Pickled sheep's eye and tomato juice, that's your hangover cure of choice? You're right again. Oh, wait. Amazing. Amazing. Gosh. Other hangover cures?

If I ever drink, I know what to do. Exactly. You know what? I think the whole Donny Osmond persona thing has gone down the drain tonight, don't you? This is so preposterous. Don't let it out, Paula. Come on. That you could possibly know these things and not have had a pickled sheep's eye or two yourself.

All right, last question created especially for you, Donny Osmond. A man known for your teeth, the topic is dentures. During the 19th century in Britain, the most prized and valuable kind of dentures were known as what? A, mermaid teeth made from the horns of the rare and elusive narwhal. B, waterloo teeth made from the teeth of soldiers fallen on Napoleonic battlefields. Or C, tea service teeth made by the skilled porcelain masters of Mason, Germany. The porcelain. It's got to be the porcelain. Tea service teeth? Porcelain teeth?

Yeah. No, it was actually the Waterloo teeth. Oh. Yeah. See, here's the problem. Most dentures at the time were made from human teeth, but the problem was, by the time the first owner was done with them,

not usually in good shape. No. Solution, visit the battlefields of Europe where lots of healthy young men suddenly no longer had any need of them. Okay, well, the good news is we believe your teeth are real. Carl, how did Donny Osmond do in our quiz? Well, Donny, you did very well. You had two correct answers,

so you win for Sean Thompson. Congratulations. Well done. Yeah. Legendary pop star Donny Osmond has a new album called Donny Osmond, Love Songs of the 1970s. Donny Osmond has a new album called Donny Osmond, Love Songs of the 1970s. Donny Osmond, thank you so much for joining us. My pleasure. Thank you, guys. Thank you, everybody. Finally, not all our guests are actors, comedians, and musicians. Some of them are just really, really smart.

None of them have been smarter than Tiara Fletcher, the young aerospace engineer who joined us in 2019. Peter asked her if building rockets had always been her dream. Yes, from the age of 11, I decided to be an aerospace engineer. Now, what inspired you to do that? So, I actually had a program at my elementary school that introduced students to the fundamentals of aerospace engineering. I know, that's ridiculous. Since the fourth grade, I have been wanting to be an aerospace engineer because of that program. Wow.

Wow. I love that. So you went to MIT. Yes. And that was a pretty impressive thing. And we're told you graduated with a 5.0 average. Yes, it was a very interesting time there. Yeah. As far as

we knew, the scale goes up to 4. How did you manage that? My parents always encouraged me to just reach beyond what's expected of you. So I just worked hard, worked, oh my god, so many hours, late, late nights. And I just made it happen.

You just made so many parents feel like crap. So, you were like a nerd at MIT, which is already nerd heaven. Wow. I tried to keep a good balance.

I was still very involved in different student organizations. What student organizations were you involved in? So many of the cultural groups, the Black Students Union, also MIT University, and also an African dance team. I tried to mix it up a little bit. That is so cool. Well, you probably understood the dynamics of the movement. Yes, exactly.

Right? Which is almost cheating. Yeah. movement. Exactly. Right? Which is almost cheating. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Would you say to the rest of the team, like, no, you need a 25 degree angle at your knee. Right. Right. All of us as kids maybe drew airplanes

and rocket ships. I did that. Or maybe made paper airplanes or models. But you're like, you were not satisfied. You wanted to make them out of steel and make them fly. Exactly. And I wanted them to be pink. For sure pink. That's great. Really? So you were recruited by, what was it, Boeing right out of school, right? You worked for them before you even graduated. Correct. Yes. And so tell us what your job is.

So I'm a rocket structural engineer. What that means is that I design various parts of the rocket, analyze those parts, and then I'm also doing manufacturing engineering as well to get all of those parts together into the rocket that you'll see. Because you're a girl, they didn't make you do the curtains? Right, yeah. I was very happy that they did not make me do that.

So you're actually designing the rocket engines. And everybody told us that the rocket specifically that you're working on to design is the one that's going to go to Mars. Is that correct? That's correct. Are you guys going to go get the rover back? You know, we could pick that up, Tom.

You could pick it up. We could pick it up. We'd be nice of us to clean up our messes for once. It's so sad. You are a rocket scientist, literally. Yes. That is the absolute cliche for extraordinarily smart person. You know the phrase, it's not rocket science.

So do you intimidate people when they find out what you do for a living? Well, a little bit I guess by the title but I assure them that many people can be a record scientist that's just not true I mean it's very pretty to think so and I want everybody be encouraged. But no. Your husband is an astrophysicist. That's right. He's a rocket propulsion test engineer.

Oh, wow. Wait a minute. What a slacker. So you build the rockets and he tests them? Exactly. It's so cringing. Yeah. Wait a minute.

That seems to me that it might provide cause for tension. I mean, what if you build an engine, he tests it, and it blows up? What's dinner at home going to be like that night? I have to be really careful with my designs because I know that my husband is testing them, and it's just a lot of pressure. It is a lot of pressure. Do you ever say to him, do you want more coffee? And he says, yes. And you go, what's your capacity? We do have those moments, unfortunately. Wait a minute. You do? You actually like, like you do nerd humor with each other? We have a ton of nerd humor. That's funny. Well, Tiara, it is a pleasure to talk to you and we are going to see

if we can stump you because we have invited you here to play a game we're calling We Must Defeat the Mun Stars. Sure, space is your jam,

but what do you know about the movie Space Jam? Oh, no. We're going to ask you three questions about that 1996 movie which starred Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny. Oh, no. We're going to ask you three questions about that 1996 movie which starred Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny.

Oh, man, I was like one year old. Oh, don't say that. You know what? That's not cool. Yeah. If you get two questions right, you'll win a prize phone of our listeners. Bill, who's Tiara playing for? Jonathan McRae of Bangor, Maine.

All right, Tiara, ready to do this? I'm ready. Here is your first question. Space Jam was a huge success in 1996. Its appeal is far-reaching, as proven by which of these? A. In an interview, Neil Armstrong said, this movie is the greatest space thing ever

done. B. There is a VHS copy of the movie Space Jam enshrined in the North Korea International Friendship Museum in Pyongyang. Or C, Smucker sold out of its Space Jam, which was just a jar that's, quote, empty, just like the vastness of space. I might need a little help here.

What is the audience thinking? Who knows? Well, I know who's little help here. What is the audience thinking? A, B, or C? Who knows? Well, I know who's a movie fan. B. We know who's a movie fan. Are we saying B? Is this what you did at MIT, by the way?

We're just saying. I'm kidding. Yes, of course it's B. Of course it's B. We use whatever resource we have. All right. Your next question. Chuck Jones was the original creator of Looney Tunes,

Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, all the rest. He was invited to make a speech to the filmmakers who were making Space Jam, which used all his characters. What happened? A, he challenged Michael Jordan to a game of one-on-one and lost 108 to zero. B, he announced that Porky Pig

had been cured of his stutter and therefore would be speaking perfectly from now on. Or C, he insulted the film with such vigor he had to be escorted off the Warner Brothers lot. Oh, I'm going to go with C. You're right, C. Chuck Jones, who is, of course, a genius, hated the movie,

thought it disrespected his characters, made his feelings known, and he had to be escorted off the lot. Wow. Last question. LeBron James is producing a sequel to Space Jam, starring himself. There's been one problem with the production, though.

What? A, LeBron's co-star, Ky Irving walked off the set after refusing to believe the original Space Jam was not a documentary. B, the guy who voices Elmer Fudd has not forgiven LeBron for leaving Cleveland and keeps adding profane insults to all of his lines. Or C, other NBA stars have reportedly refused to join the cast because they know the movie will just be LeBron dunking on them. Let's go with C. You're right again.

Yes. They don't want to be embarrassed on film by LeBron or Bugs Bunny. Bill, how did Tierra do in our quiz? She got a 5.0. Another success. Tiara Fletcher is a rocket scientist. She's building the spaceship that'll get us to Mars. You can find out more about her by searching for Rocket with the Fletchers on Facebook. Tiara Fletcher, thank you so much for joining us on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Congratulations, Ti you. That's it for this installment of our

year-long stroll through the first quarter century of Wait, Wait. Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago

in association with Urgent Haircut Productions. Doug Berman, Benevolent Overlord, Philip Godica, Red Star Limericks, our public address

announcer is Paul Friedman. B.J. Litterman, composer, theme rock tour manager is Shana Donald. Our program is

produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Dornbos, and Lillian King. Our cabana boy is Peter Gwynn. Technical direction is from Lorna White. Our business and ops manager is Colin Miller. Our vibe curator is Emma Choi. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. The senior producer is Ian Chilock.

And the executive producer of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, that's Mike Danforth. Thanks to everybody you heard on this week's show. That means all our panelists, all our fabulous guests, Mr. Bill Curtis, and of course, our original judge and scorekeeper, the immortal Carl Castle. And thanks to all of you for listening. I am Peter Sagal. We will be back This is NPR