Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - WWDTM: Aleeza Ben Shalom

Episode Date: July 1, 2023

Aleeza Ben Shalom is the star of Netflix's Jewish Matchmaking, and she joins panelists Adam Burke, Brian Babylon, and Roxanne Roberts to talk about how matchmaking is just like a live-action game of Where's WaldoLearn 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. Rub-a-dub-dub, I'm an anchorman in a tub. Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sago. Thank you, Bill. Thank you all so much. We have got a great show for you today. Over the years, we have heard from a surprising number of people who got married after meeting at our show. But we wanted to know what works better,

a thirst trap for nerds or a professional matchmaker. So later on we're going to be talking to Elisa Ben Shalom star of Jewish Matchmaking on Netflix and compare our records. We are looking forward to our first date with you so give us a call the number is 1-888-WAIT-WAIT that's 1-888-924-8924

Hi you are on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me Hi this is Chris from Rochester. Rochester? Minnesota. Rochester, Minnesota, of course. Okay, yes. Not New York. Not New York. I've been to that part of Minnesota. It's remarkably beautiful. What do you

do to enjoy yourself out there? Yeah, I like to go running a lot. We have a lot of natural trails, and Rochester is actually in part of the country called the Driftless, where there was no glacial activity, so you have quite a variety in the geography around here. It is true. People who think the Midwest is totally flat, go to the Driftless, because they have hills 10, 30 feet high. It's really impressive. Well, welcome to

our show, Christopher. Let me introduce you to our panelists this week. First up, he's a comedian who will be appearing at New York's Dead Rabbit July 11th, and CG's Comedy in Bolingbrook July 28th and 29th. There's our friend Adam Burke. Hello, Christopher. Hello. Next, he's a reporter for the Style section for the Washington Post. It's Roxanne Roberts. And finally, a comedian whose new album, The Babylon of Berlin, will be out August 3rd on all music platforms.

It's Brian Babylon. So, Chris, welcome to the show. You're going to play Who's Bill this time. Bill Curtis, of course, is going to start us off with three quotations from this week's news. If you can correctly identify or explain two of them, you will win our prize. Any voice from our show, you might choose for your very own voicemail. Are you ready to play? I am.

All right, let's do it then. Your first quote is from Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of something called the Wagner Mercenary Force. Those who don't give us ammunition will be eaten alive in hell. Lack of ammunition was just one of the many complaints that Mr. Prigozhin had, making him so unhappy he attempted a coup where? In Russia. Yes, in Russia. Very good. Prigozhin is the leader of this mercenary army fighting for Russia and Ukraine, announced he was fed up with military leadership, and he marched on Moscow, and everybody was so excited. Woo-hoo, a new coup. Then, within a few hours, he just called it off.

It didn't even last as long as the latest Avatar movie and was somehow even more disappointing. Can I just say, Peter, the song, Woo-hoo, it's a new coup, sounds very Little Richard. We need to make Woo-hoo, it's a new coup. Woo-hoo, it's a new coup. Prokofiev is a very odd character. He started out as this cook, believe it or not,

who did catering for Putin's events, and then he started a mercenary army to fight his wars. We were wondering, when he was a chef, was he known as a militant? You know, oh wow, this guy's great, you have to try his Molotov cocktails. This is ironic because they sent him back, you know? It's really, I mean, this is just something, it's something that's very hard for us to imagine, a chef going to mercenary leader.

Imagine if Guy Fieri became the warlord of Flavortown. This sounds like a Happy Gilmore or some type of goof crazy movie. For me, I'm getting really strong James Bond vibes because every single Russian general looks like the bad guy in a James Bond movie. They look like the kind of guy who tells you about their horrible plans right before they kill you.

And then they don't kill you. But here's the funny thing. You're right. There's something about him that's like pure movie villain. But in the movies, they fight to the death. What happened in real life was Putin was like, okay, you can go. It's fine.

We'll be friends again. And he was allowed to leave Russia to go to Belarus. And this is supposedly true. We've heard this. He has moved into like the nicest building in Belarus with windows that do not open. He says it's fine. He's got no more beef with Putin and he's looking forward to spending more time with his food tasters. All right. Your next quote is someone on Twitter talking about a famous

conspiracy theorist who has become Joe Biden's only democratic challenger. If I have to see one more image of him shirtless, I'm going to scoop out my eyes with a melon baller. What famous heir to a Democratic political dynasty is so far using his platform to mostly showcase his abs? Is this Kennedy? Yes, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in fact. Very good. Now, if you are not yet familiar with RFK Jr., just imagine his father, Robert F. Kennedy, and then just stop because this guy, whoa. Oh, boy. He is actually polling fairly well against the incumbent President Biden. Pundits say he just seems like somebody you could drink a beer with, except it's not a beer.

It's some weird amino acid supplement. And then he challenges you to a push-up contest. Why do old guys always do push-up contests? You notice that? You know why? Because you're always really close to just like falling asleep. Exactly. You know why? Because you're always really close to just like falling asleep.

Exactly. The reason he's in the news this week is because for reasons known only to him, he posted these videos of himself shirtless, only wearing jeans, exercising, doing push-ups and bench presses, saying he was getting ready to take on President Biden at the debates, because debates apparently now have a swimsuit competition. In response, in response, this is a real challenge. President Biden posted his own workout video, and we have no idea where Biden found a Peloton bike with one of those big old timey wheels in front.

Can I say, I found it to be very unattractive. Really? Yeah. You didn't go for it? I did not. And there's a lot of men who think that they look really good naked or without shirts. And somebody needs to disabuse them of this. No, that's no.

Yeah. Oh, hold on. I'll correct Roxanne. Men know our bodies aren't the best, okay? But sometimes you got to, like, put yourself out there and try to believe in yourself, and that's why we do it. I mean, I'm not really surprised he went topless, because wasn't he also, like, really anti-vax? Yeah.

And isn't a shirt just a mask for your body? It's true. In a weird way. All right. Ask for your body. It's true. In a weird way. All right.

Your next quote is from the New York Times that this week described a dining option that's now back after disappearing during the pandemic. It's a football field's worth of food. So what is back on the menu? What can you go out and enjoy again? Football hot dog. Footlong hot dog. No, no, no. I'll just give it to you because I've already won.

Buffets. All-you-can-eat buffets are back, America. After nearly... Oh, they're excited. After nearly going under during the pandemic, the New York Times reports that buffets are back. It's been a hard three years, really, for people whose favorite food is a dinner roll

six people have already touched. But finally, you can head to, say, your local Golden Corral and once again put a slice of pizza directly on top of a scoop of coleslaw. Yeah, that's the thing with buffets. You see people's creativity and, like, gastronomic... Yeah. Gastronomic stuff.

They're pairing. Yeah, pairing of just like. I think gastroenteritis is what you're thinking of. They pair stuff together. I am a big buffet fan because there's something about the plethora. The options that you can have. The only thing that can stop me is me right now. Exactly.

And you know what? The last thing about buffets, when I used to go, kind of for some reason when I was a kid, I used to think the guy who was in charge of slicing the pot roast. Yeah, the guy who got to wear the tote. The hat. Like, shh, that dude's doing it. Yeah, and just think, one day that guy's going to be the head of a mercenary army. Bill, how did Christopher do on our quiz?

Two out of three right. Christopher, that's a win. Congratulations. I'll see you up there in the drift list someday, I hope. Take care. Absolutely. Bye-bye. Thank you.

Right now, panel, it is time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Adam, come 2024, you'll be able to take a vacation on the world's biggest what? Buffet table. That'd be awesome. I dream of that. Take a vacation on the world's... Oh, the world's biggest cruise ship. Exactly. The world's biggest cruise ship has completed construction

and will set sail next year. It's enormous. It sort of dominates the ocean and written on the stern in 20-foot high letters, what could possibly go wrong? The ship is named the Icon of the Seas. Icon, of course, stands for iceberg coming. Oh, no.

So when I said world's biggest buffet table, I was 100% wrong. You were close. It's enormous. This is enormous. It's enormous. This is enormous. It's so big, it can comfortably hold about 10,000 passengers on 20 decks. Did you see a picture of this thing? It's enormous.

No, it's enormous. It's like a little skyscraper in the ocean. It really is. And I keep thinking of some giant rogue wave coming across and just kind of tipping it over. It's so big that not only will it have luxury cabins, it will have a bad neighborhood. Can I get a rent-controlled cabin, please? No, but you might think there's about like 12 water slides on this. The whole top is all water slides. It better be.

It better be. And just think how cool those water slides are going to be when that giant wave hits it. Oh, my God. Coming up, our panelists hit the club in our Bluff the Listener game called 1-888-WAIT-WAIT-TO-PLAY. We'll be back in a minute 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. We are playing this week with Brian Babylon, Roxanne Roberts, and Adam Burke.

And here again is your host at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thanks, everybody. Thank you all so much. It is time for the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Bluff, the listener game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play our game on the air. Hi, you are on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, this is Rini from Cincinnati, Ohio. Hey, Rini, how are you?

Doing well, thanks. How are you, Peter? What do you do there in the Queen City? I am a speech-language pathologist. Wow. Okay. I tell this story a lot, but I was sent to a speech pathologist when I was a child because I spoke too quickly. And they, she tried to secure me by pairing me with a kid who spoke too slowly. Do you think that was a wise tactic, speaking as a professional? Peter, I'm not sure that was evidence-based, but maybe I just haven't seen the right evidence. There you are.

That is a great response. Rini, thank you so much for joining us. You're going to play the game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction. Bill, what is Rini's topic? Shorty got low, low, low, low. Who doesn't love clubbing? You know, dancing, waiting in lines, trying to get your friend to stop

talking to that Russian drug dealer. We've all been there. Well, this week, we learned about an exciting new trend in the nightclub lifestyle. Our panelists are going to tell you about it. Pick the one who's telling the truth. You'll win the weight waiter of your choice on your voicemail. Are you ready to play? Yeah. Okay, Rini, let's hear first from Roxanne Roberts. What's that sick beat filling dance floors all over the world? Not anything by Taylor Swift or Beyonce. No, the song of the summer, Hava Nagila, the bouncy Israeli folk song. The staple of every Jewish wedding is suddenly all the rage at bars, sporting events, and at the hippest parties where people of all faiths wave napkins and even dance and lift chairs in the air. And apparently it works at a Grateful Dead cover band. New Jersey's Brian St. John dropped the tune into his band's recent gig

and the crowd loved it. Quote, they were a little confused why we were throwing this 100 plus year old Jewish song in our Grateful Dead songs, but they started clapping along. Now he says it's on his regular playlist. Why not? I will play anything that gets people excited. All right. The hot track at the most exclusive clubs and parties, Hava

Nagila. Your next story of some hubbub in the clubbub comes from Brian Babylon. Getting into the hottest, most exclusive clubs can be hard. Maybe your outfit is weird or your vibe is lame or you're just too tired to leave the house. But now,

thanks to tech wizard Viva Cohen, you can always get into the coolest clubs worldwide, all from the comfort of your couch. With the new app called VI Please, AI generates pictures and video of you and your mates partying until the sun comes up at any club in the world. But be careful what you ask for. When school teacher Michelle Ruff was on sick leave, she thought it would be nice to try the app out just for fun. So laying on her couch, looking a mess, she took some selfies, and the app cranked out a lot of cool pics of her dancing, drinking, and having a ball.

Unfortunately, the pics were so real that two days later, she got an email from her head schoolmaster saying that she was under investigation for taking fake sick leave to travel and party in London. She almost lost her job, but she saved it when she took pictures of the headmaster, uploaded them to VI Please, and the app showed him images of himself dancing and doing body shots at Club LIV in Miami. Reporting for NPR, this is Brian Babylon, BBC. Miami. Reporting for NPR, this is Brian Babylon, BBC. VI Please, an app that places you inside the most exclusive clubs in the world, or at least it is true insofar as your Instagram goes. Your last story of a hot club scoop comes from Adam Burke. Wander into Der große

Molton, one of Berlin's most famous dance clubs, and you'll be met by the usual sweaty young bodies undulating furiously to the crashing sound of hardcore techno. But come midnight, the beats ebb away, the strobe lights dim, and the interior of the venue is filled with

the soothing sounds of needing assistance. That's K-N-E-A-D, a mindfulness and bakery podcast by soft-spoken Brit Bridget Cranfield. It started off as a prank, says regular Molotov DJ Johan Kruger, stage name Crispy Biscuit. One of the other guys slipped it into my playlist for giggles, but it had an instant cool effect on the dancers. Indeed, the hour-long program, which features tips for better mental health mixed in with delicious recipes, was a fast hit with most ravers. It's a perfect calming break to the music, and I got a great strudel out of it. Not everyone loves the blend of EDM and CBT,

however. I come here to throw shapes and freak out, says club kid Wagner Kitzler, not to improve myself via cake. All right. One of these things is happening in the hot clubs of the world, even as we speak. Is it from Roxanne Roberts? The big new dance number is Hava Nagila. From Brian Babylon, an app called VI Please, which allows you to pretend that you got by the velvet rope of any club you might choose. Or from Adam Burke, a nightclub in Berlin breaking up their dancing with an hour of listening to a baking meditation app, and the dancers just

love it. Which of these is the real story from Clubland? Oh, I'm not sure, but I'm gonna go with Brian's story. So your choice is Brian's story about that clever app. Well, to give you the real answer, we could do nothing better than bring you this. The audience is into it, yeah. They're carrying Bill around in a chair. That was the Hava Nagila Club Remix by Alex M. and Mark Van Dam, just one of the many club mixes of Hava Nagila club remix by Alex M. and Mark Van Dam, just one of the many club mixes of Hava Nagila that is apparently taking the dance floors of the world by storm.

I'm so sorry, Rini, but Brian did fool you, and he does win a point. Thank you so much for playing. Thank you. Take care. Thank you. And now the game where people with unusual jobs try to handle something even more unusual. The game is called Not My Job.

Netflix has had a lot of success with their dating shows, with gimmicks like isolation chambers and elaborate masks. But eventually they decided, why not hire a professional? Their newest hit show is called Jewish Matchmaking, in which professional matchmaker Elisa Ben Shalom tries to bring joy to Jews, whose maximum level of bliss by long tradition is, eh, not so bad. Elisa Ben Shalom, welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. We have so many questions, but let's just start here. How does one become a professional matchmaker?

Yeah, you know, it's not like any other job. You just say, I'm a professional matchmaker, and like, you're in. It's really not a problem. So you could be one too. No, let me just say this quite seriously. No, I couldn't be. And I know that because I have tried to set up friends with people and it's been a disaster. So were you one of those people who were successful at that? And

you said, oh, I can do this professionally. So yes. And matchmaking goes like this. 99% of the time, everybody fails at matchmaking. It never works. And then 1% of the time it works. Oh my gosh, ma, that's all of your matchmaking. You know, now that I Oh my gosh, you're a matchmaker. You know, now that I think of it, my late mother, blessed be her memory, she fixed up one person in her life, and she never let anybody forget it. Was it somebody else's idea? Was it somebody

said, you know, Aliza, you're really good at this. You should do this for a living. Yeah, I kind of did it as I was growing up and I knew people and I was always the go-between, like, oh, I think there's something here. And they're like, how do you know? And I was like, yeah, I mean, they told me, I see, I know. But then I just started actually as a matchmaker on a dating website where only matchmakers could match people up. Right. Well, anybody who watches the TV show Jewish Matchmaking gets a sense of your approach and how you do it.

Do you sometimes, and I'm not going to say specifically who I'm thinking of, do you ever look at a person and go, dude, yeah, maybe I didn't want to hook anybody up with you. Listen, I personally believe that there is somebody out there for everybody. And I look at people with that assumption. I just know that in the blueprint of creation, your person's in this world. And it's like a game of where's Waldo. I frequently not found Waldo in those books.

Yeah, I know. I have a question, Peter. Have you ever had an instance where things got, like, super, like, dramatic? And I did air quotes. Like, an ex-girlfriend from somebody came, like, listen, girl, don't be trying to set up my man with that new chick and then things get real. You know, like somebody.

I have no idea what you mean. Like some Jerry Spr springer action like that why are you trying to matchmake my ex-boyfriend with this new girl we're trying to work things out get out of here matchmaker we're trying to work things out yeah so i have something that's called mystery in your history that's when we kind of look back into our history and we dig people up or they dig us up and then we reevaluate it and we try it again but sometimes it comes up a little bit messy because they're already dating somebody that we set them up with and then somebody else comes back and we're like, no, wait, pause over here. And we have to kind of regain their focus.

As it were. I wanted to ask you about this. I understand that you are going to be doing live matchmaking. Explain this. How is this going to be doing live matchmaking? Explain this. How is this going to work? Okay, so I come in and I give you a little bit of the Aliza story. You learn about my personal life, Jewishly how I grew up. You learn about matchmaking and how I got into it. A little bit of comedy thrown in there.

I'm not a stand-up comedian yet, but I'm working on it. And the people who bring me in for the talks that I do, they pick randomly two guys, two girls. We bring them up on stage and I meet them for the very first time. I train the audience how to be matchmakers and I tell them, lock the door and nobody's leaving until we set these people up and I'm not doing it. It's all on you. Okay. So we've been talking about how you get people together. Do you have any wisdom about how to break up with somebody? You want to break up with them?

How much do you like them? But we've all been there. You're in a relationship. You feel it's not working. You know the other person is into it and wants to keep going. You don't. We've all been there.

How do you do it? Do you have any wisdom for anybody in that situation? And do you offer this as a service? Yeah, for example. No problem. We got you covered. So the truth is that you probably shouldn't tell them the truth. And the reason is because if you tell them one reason,

they're going to convince you why that reason isn't true and you should get back together with them. But it's never one reason. So you can't just give them a reason. It doesn't work. What's been working for me, Peter? What's been working for you, Brian? Chat GPT, baby.

Amazing. Really? Yeah. Brian, have you actually said chat GPT? Tell me how to break up with what? Oh, chat GPT is it? Yes, twice. Really?

Really. Yeah. Eventually, chat GPT is going to think you're a kind of player, man. Wait, hold on. Did you text the person with the chat? You just copy and paste it, yeah. You text it? Yeah.

I read it like, good job, robot. Wait a minute, hold on. Aliza is agreeing with you. You think this is wise? I'm in. You're okay. It's so good. You put in, I'm not

feeling it. It doesn't work. Can you please act as somebody who's single and breaking up and gently let them down. And then boom, it will give you the perfect thing. Can you have a show after Elisa's called Babylon Breakups?

Yeah, type this. That's like if you're listening. Babylon breakups? Yeah, type this. Netflix, if you're listening. I'm just imagining there's some woman out there, Brian, who goes, yeah, I thought it was going great, but it turns out he was in artificial intelligence the whole time.

The whole time. The whole time. Well, Elizabeth and Shalom, we could talk, obviously, dating with you all day, but we do have work to do. We have invited you here to play a game that we are calling Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me Unmatched. So you are a professional matchmaker, so what better to ask you about than match unmakers or divorce lawyers? We're going to ask you three

questions about divorce. Answer two questions correctly, you'll win our prize. One of our listeners, the voice of their choice on their answering machine. Bill, who is Aliza playing for? Jen Logan of Austin, Texas. All right. Here's your first question. In 2018, Egypt's divorce lawyers noticed a rising epidemic as nearly 17,000 divorce cases listed what as the principal cause? A, arguments about how to load the dishwasher, B, candy crush, or C, wearing flip-flops and socks? You know, on the show, Danny went out with David and he wore his sneakers on the jet ski, so I'm going to go with the flip-flops and socks. All right, so you're going to go wearing flip-flops and socks. No, it was actually the game Candy Crush. What? 17,000

couples in Egypt say when they file for divorce saying he or she is spending all their time playing Candy Crush and ignoring me. Well, don't worry. You have two more chances to win. A divorce lawyer could not find a better client than Tommy Manville, who during his life, early mid-20th century, he got married and divorced 12 times. Why? A, he didn't believe in premarital conversation. B, he was a very committed Henry VIII impersonator. Or C, his family trust gave him $250,000, quote, when he he got married so he did it 13 times to maximize profits. These are terrible.

Okay. Ask for a hint. Ask for a hint. What they said. Yeah, what they said. They said C. You're going to choose C? I would choose C definitely. That's actually what happened. Tommy Manville. Again're going to choose C? I would choose C, definitely. That's actually

what happened. Tommy Manville, again, very famous as a playboy. Whenever he ran short of cash, he would get married and here, because he was a gentleman, he'd split the 250 with the woman. Very funny. It was a deal. It worked out well. All right, last question. If you get this right, you win our prize for our listener. When a particular British man left his wife, she was so outraged that in the divorce, she demanded what? A, that she keep his last name

just so that he had to find a new one. B, that she get his prized record collection just so she could smash every one of them. Or C, that he returned the kidney she had donated to him. Wow, this is terrible. I like my job better. I have to admit,

you picked a happier if less lucrative profession. So what are you going to choose? C, final answer. It is C, yeah. She demanded the kidney back. She did not get it. I'll want you all to know.

Bill, how did Elisa Ben Shalom do on our quiz? It was a marriage made in heaven. Two out of three, and you're a win. Congratulations. You know, as you say. Elisa Ben Shalom is the star of Netflix's Jewish matchmaking. You can learn more about that show and her upcoming tour on her Instagram, which is, of course, at Elisa Ben Shalom.

Elisa, thank you so much for joining us and for your wisdom. Thank you. Take care. In just a minute, we play outside way past our bedtime in our Listener Limerick Challenge. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to join us on the air. We'll be back in a minute 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. We're playing this week with Brian Ravillon, Adam Burke, and Roxanne Robertson. Here again is your host at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you so much. In just a minute.

Thanks, everybody. In just a minute, Bill Curtis orders his Rhyme Teenie Shaken Not Stirred in our our listener limerick challenge. If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. But right now, panel, some more questions for you from the week's news. Roxanne, archaeologists working in Pompeii

say they have discovered proof of the earliest known what? Pizza. Yes, Roxanne. Hey, if you think pizza is better for breakfast the morning after, how about 2,000 years after? Scientists have uncovered evidence of this early ancestor of pizza so old it could have been made by the real Little Caesar. So it would have been a pizza pizza.

It would have been a pizza pizza. It's not an actual pizza. It is a tile mosaic showing a flatbread with a goblet of wine next to it. And then behind it, somebody from New York saying, ah, it's not as good as ours is. Oh, this was the, oh, the volcano people. Yeah, the Pompeii. Yeah. You know, I just realized that.

And I was like, they were like, oh it's almost done Do you get it for free because it's 30,000 years later Brian a study published this week found that female dolphins address their offspring using what? Don't do that. Well, yes, they speak in dolphin speak, dolphin squeaks, but what kind of dolphin squeaks? That high-pitched, annoying voice. Exactly. Baby talk. Dolphins use baby talk. Researchers found that mother bobble-nose dolphins do baby talk, just like we do. They use a higher-pitched squeak than normal when talking to their young. Every dolphin mom in the study was found to address their calves with higher-pitched whistles and also a wider range of whistles, suggesting that they're sort of a dolphin equivalent to both,

oh, you're so big, who's big, you're big. And also, Jonathan B. Porpoise. Get that plastic out of your mouth right now. I have a question. Do they talk to their dogs the same way, too? That is a really good question. Who's it? Maybe, oh, they don't have dogs. They would have, like, I don't know.

Seahorses. Seahorses. Who's against? Oh, yeah. Who's against seahorses? Yeah, you're right, because what I said was ridiculous. Yeah. I'm afraid, Adam, that we, we just can't accept your excuses here, that dolphins have dogs. Adam, brides-to-be don't just need the perfect dress, according to the New York Times. There's a new garment every bride needs now. What is it? Can I get a clue?

Yeah, it's perfect for when, say, the priest throws the rings into the pool and you have to dive in for them. Oh, is it like a scuba? I don't know. I was, you know what's really sad? I genuinely thought I had the right answer there. Is it like a swimsuit?

It is a swimsuit, a bridal swimsuit. Yes. Every bride remembers that heartfelt moment when her dad swims her down the aisle. There's a growing market for bridal swimsuits to be worn at after parties and honeymoons and even oceanside wedding ceremonies. They're especially useful if you get cold feet and become a swim away bride. Wait, so does it have a veil still? Some of them do.

Some of them actually sort of have kind of like, they're all white, of course. And some of them have kind of like a veil-like kind of thing. If you're swimming with a veil on, I would just think you're being attacked by a very lacy jellyfish. That's true. Do we think this is just yet another iteration of the vast wedding industrial complex? Yes, I honestly believe it was because they were sitting around in the horrible mansion at the edge of town where the villainous heads of the wedding industrial At the Wagner Group. Exactly, exactly.

Coming up, it's lightning fill in the blank, but first it's the game where you have to listen for the rhyme. If you'd like to play on air, call or leave a message at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. You can catch us here most weeks at the beautiful Studebaker Theatre in Chicago, or you can see us in Ann Arbor at the Hill Auditorium

on both August 31st and September 1st, and at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles on September 28th. Plus, the Wait, Wait stand-up tour is coming to Charleston, South Carolina on July 14th, and Durham, North Carolina on July 15th, as well as St. Paul and Kansas City in August. Tickets and more information is at nprpresents.org. Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, this is Liz. Hey, Liz, how are you? I am great. I'm here in beautiful Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is beautiful. Oh, we have a contingent, apparently. What do you do for fun? Because I know Minnesotans love their fun. Yeah, I do a lot of camping. I do

painting. I teach Irish dance. I just got out of an Irish dance class. Well, there you go. That's what all Minnesotans do is they teach Irish dance. You know, I saw Michael Flatley's legs, man. They were humongous. All right, I'm going to ask you a question. I once read that the Irish step dancing style where the torso remains still while the legs do all the work is because the British wouldn't let the Irish do things like dance. So they had to come up with something that if you looked through a window, they'd seem like they were remaining still. Is that true? Well, I have heard that as well from at least 15 different people. Really? But I wasn't there, so I cannot confirm. Okay. Back to the matter at hand. Well, welcome to the show, Liz. You're going to play our listener limerick challenge. Bill Curtis is

going to read you three news-related limericks with the last word or phrase missing from each. If you can fill in that last word or phrase correctly into the limericks, you will be a winner. You ready to play? I'm ready. All right, here is your first limerick. Here at Fiat, all colors should slay. They should never make folks feel blasé. You should jump and rejoice, so we've narrowed your choice. We no longer make cars that are gray. Gray, yes. Fiat has announced they will no longer be manufacturing gray cars because they're, quote, boring, despite the fact that gray is the most popular car color in many countries. It's like they always say, don't give the customer what they want. In fact, shame them for it.

You suck, customers. Besides, if they want to make more exciting cars, they should find other ways to do it, make them exciting. Fiat, now one in ten, explode. No, Tesla's already had that. Yeah, true, yeah. Here is your next limerick. As many a city kid knows, after dusk, outdoor playtime just blows. But now fun is incessant.

Our slides incandescent. We play on a playground that... Glows. Yes, that glows. Developers in a suburb of Dallas broke ground on the country's first ever glow-in-the-dark playground. Construction started Monday on the 18,000-square-foot playground, which includes a giant climbing structure, obstacle course, and zip lines, all of which will glow in the 18,000 square foot playground, which includes a giant climbing structure, obstacle course, and zip lines, all of which

will glow in the dark, which is great because who hasn't wanted to shake their kids awake at 2 a.m. to watch them fall off the monkey bars? The park's creators say that it will look cool, will also help families beat the heat, they can go out at night and play, make it safer to hang out

after sunset. The news has parents excited. You know who's even more excited? Moths. And skeeters. Yeah, they'll all be happy about it. All right, here is your last limerick. Pepsi hopes that their nozzles will not clog, because a condiment mess makes your tot sob. A zesty new taste that we all hate to waste. It's a sauce that we squirt on a... A hot dog? A hot dog, yeah. Rejoice, ants of the world.

Pepsi has developed a new condiment they're calling Pepsi Cola Chop. Officially opening the seventh seal. And ushering in the end times. It was created at the Culinary Institute of America and is reportedly enhanced, this is a quote, enhanced with the rich caramel notes and citrusy pop of Pepsi Cola, unquote. What is this? Yeah, it's Pepsi flavored ketchup. And apparently Pepsi is supposed to have notes of citrus and caramel.

I always thought it just had notes of carbon and brown. That's weird. I'm lost for words. Who did that? I believe the Pepsi-Cola Corporation of America. The guy that spilled Pepsi onto his ketchup. And then he didn't want to like this. He just ate it anyway, and he was like, hey, that's not bad. He just had a very sloppy lunch,

and his boss said, what's your idea? I told you I wanted a new idea for a product, and he looks down at his stain in his shirt, and he goes, hey. Bill, how did Liz do in our quiz? Great. You got three in a row. You are the winner. Congratulations. in our quiz. Great. You got three in a row. You are the winner. Congratulations. Well done. Liz, congrats so much. Take care. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.

Now on to our final game, Lightning Fill in the Blank. Each of our players will have 60 seconds in which to answer as many fill-in-the-blank questions as they can. Each correct answer is now worth two points. Bill, can you give us the scores? Ed and Brian are tied with three. Roxanne has two. All right, Roxanne, you're in second-slash-last place, so you'll go first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against Blank in college admissions. Affirmative action. Right. As a preview of his presidential campaign, Florida Governor Blank unveiled a series of potential immigration policies. DeSantis.

Yes. This week, several states saw a dip in air quality as smoke from the wildfires in Blank blew across the Midwest. Canada. Right. On Tuesday, a Senate panel said the FBI missed significant warning signs

leading up to the January 6th assault on blank. The Capitol. Yes. This week, tourists in Indonesia were shocked when an orangutan walked into their Airbnb in blank before taking a soda from their fridge. He filled out a survey negatively. No.

He politely washed its hands with soap. Ah. As a heat wave continues to cover the state, the power grid in blank suffered occasional blackouts. No. He politely washed its hands with soap. Ah. As a heat wave continues to cover the state, the power grid in blank suffered occasional blackouts. Texas. Yes.

On Wednesday, the New York Yankee Domingo German became the 24th pitcher in MLB history to blank. Pitch no hitter. Well, throw a perfect game. I'll give it to you.

This week, guests at a wedding were surprised when the bride and groom asked everyone to blank during the ceremony. Ask them to object. No, ask them to stand knee deep in a river. Arguments erupted at this wedding after the bride and groom asked everyone to stand

knee deep in a river while they stayed on dry land. People assumed it was for the photographs, but that doesn't explain why everyone who chose fish as their dinner option was just given a net. Bill, how did Roxanne do on our quiz? Healthy. Six right, 12 more points, 14 gives her the lead. All right. I am going to arbitrarily choose Brian to go next. So, Brian, please fill in the blank.

On Monday, CNN aired audio of President Trump seemingly showing off a blank. A classified document. You bet. On Monday, environmental regulators tested the waters at Yellowstone after a blank carrying hazardous materials derailed. A train. Yes. This week, judges in two states blocked bans on transgender

care for blanks. Children. Yes. This week, the Indiana chapter of the Moms for Liberty had to apologize after quoting blank on the cover of their newsletter. Hitler. Yes, Hitler. On Tuesday, American auto giant blank announced plans to lay off 1,000 employees. General Motors. No, the other one, Ford.

After 20 years without a case in America, health officials reported that five people have been diagnosed with mosquito-borne blank. Malaria. Yes, this week a teacher in Italy who was fired after 24 years in the job told her employer she had a perfectly good explanation for why she blanked. Why she left the classroom to be Italian. No, for why she didn't come into work for over two decades. know for why she didn't come into work for over two decades. The teacher was completely absent from her class for the first 20 years of her job before complaints from the school district finally got her to show up.

She was eventually fired, but she says she had a perfectly good explanation for her absence. When a local paper asked her about it, she said, and this is true, I'd love to show you the documents, but I'm at the beach right now. Bill, how did Brian do in our quiz? Five right. Ten more points. Very close with a 13, but one behind. All right. So, how many then does Adam Burke need to win? Six to win. All right, Adam. This is for the game. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, salvage crews

recovered debris from the submersible that imploded en route to the blank. Titanic. Yes. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that imploded en route to the blank. Titanic. Yes. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that states do not have unchecked power to make blank laws. Like redistricting? Voting laws? Yeah, election laws. Following a fatal police shooting, protests broke out across blank.

Paris, France? Yeah. On Tuesday, a New York appeals court ruled that the civil fraud lawsuit against blank could proceed. Trump? Yeah. This week, a Lionel Messi superfan who traveled 1,200 miles to see him play with his new team in Miami Pills court ruled that the civil fraud lawsuit against Blank could proceed. Trump? Yeah. This week, a Lionel Messi superfan who traveled 1,200 miles to see him play with his new team in Miami was disappointed to discover Blank. He was with a different team.

No, that Messi doesn't join the team until July 21st. On Wednesday, astrophysicists announced the discovery of a new type of Blank wave. Oh, like a gravitational wave? Gravitational wave, yes. After taking time off to focus on her mental health, gymnastic legend Blank announced plans to return to competition on Tuesday. Simone Biles.

That's her. This week, a woman in West Virginia who walks her dog in the same park every day announced she would be selling blank. Drugs. No, the hundred and... The 155 Frisbees her dog has found in the woods. Grandview Park is an incredibly popular spot for Frisbee golf,

which explains why Kelly Mason's dog Daisy finds a new Frisbee almost every time they go for a walk there. It's proof that either her dog is amazing at finding lost Frisbees or that people in this part of West Virginia are horrible at disc golf. Bill, did Adam do well enough to win? In Chicago, the Irish always win. Adam got six right, 12 more points. He won by one, 15. In just a minute, we'll ask our panelists to predict after RFKA's workout video went viral, what candidate will have the next viral video and what will it be? But first,

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 writes our limericks. Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our tour manager is Shana Donald. Thanks to the staff and crew at the Studebaker Theatre. BJ Liederman composed our theme. Our program is produced

by Jennifer Mills, Miles Nurnbos, and Lillian King. Special thanks this week to Vinnie Thomas, Blythe Robertson, and Monica Hickey. Our new little bundle of joy is Peter Gwynn. Our vibe curator is Emma Choi. Technical direction is Lorna White. Our CFO is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse.

Our senior producer is dad, once again, Ian Chilog. And the executive producer, wait, wait, don't tell me, is Mike Danforth. Now, panel, which presidential candidate's video is the next to go viral and why? Brian Babylon. Mike Pence is going to be caught rapping Eminem while putting hairspray on his hair. I'd watch that. Roxanne Roberts. Chris Christie will take on the winner of the Elon Musk-Mark Zuckerberg cage match.

Adam Burke. Simone Biles will do a TikTok with all the GOP candidates, showing them how to correctly flip on whether or not Trump should go to jail. Well, if any of that happens, panel, we'll ask you about it right here on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you, Bill Curtis. Thanks also to Adam Burke, Roxanne Roberts, and Brian Babylon. Thanks to all of you for listening. Thanks to our fabulous audience here at the Scudericars Theater. I am Peter Sagal.

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