Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - WWDTM Best of 2021 Bonus Podcast

Episode Date: December 29, 2021

Peter Sagal and Emma Choi reminisce about their favorite WWDTM moments from the past year.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey everybody, it's Peter here, coming to you not from the wait, wait, don't tell me battle dome where we normally record. No, we are here with a special addition to our podcast feed, just for you podcast listeners. And I'm here, not alone, but with our social media superstar, Emma Choi. Emma, say hello. Hi Peter, hi everybody. Now, if you've never been to our Instagram or Facebook feed, you've never heard of Emma's voice before, which means you're probably my age. So, Emma, can you explain what it is you do for Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me?

Well, basically, I just bully you every week into being in a social media TikTok with me, or I just take something that our show does and make it absolutely incomprehensible. And people seem to like it. They do. So what we're going to do today for you podcast feed listeners is we're going to talk about some of our personal favorite bits. I have a few. Emma has a few. I have no idea, by the way, what she is going to say. Nor I. Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me takes on the sacking of the U.S. Capitol and the possible end of American democracy. Your first quote is from the president of the United States in a video he posted on Wednesday afternoon. We love you. You're all very special. The president was saying something he has never once said to his own children, to people who at that moment were doing what?

Bursting into the Capitol, in the U.S. Capitol. They were sacking the Capitol, yes. A mob breached the Capitol building in what NPR is calling an insurrection by pro-Trump extremists, and Fox News is calling a self-guided tour of the Senate chambers. Now, it all looked pretty scary,

but don't worry, the National Guard was on standby, ready to act if any one of those people kneeled during the national anthem i was mightily concerned about the fashions on display from the people trying to do the coup it looked like farm and fleet goes to burning man it was really you know i was looking at it and i love how the capital is so open, right? Like it's the people's house and that's why it was easy to get in. But I have to say, there's a castle on the island that I'm from in Cove and it has like little slits at the top of it to pour hot oil out of. It has what's called a murder hole.

Yes. And it works, you know, it's worked for 2,000 years now to keep out the marauders in their terrible fashions. Did you ever have to, as you were growing up on this island, serve in the castle to defend from marauders? Or does that only happen once you move to America? Yeah, it's funny, isn't it? A lot of people are like, this is not America. And I'm like, but I've only ever seen this in America. And I should also say that like the castle in Cove now, they just project a big Santa Claus onto it at Christmas time. It's not, the murder hole is no longer in use. yet. A couple things I'm proud of there. First of all, we actually, as a joke, ended up predicting something that the defenders of the president would actually do, which is describe the rioters

as mere tourists in the Capitol. That actually happened. Again, another problem we've had for the last few years is trying to outdo reality. You know, I love it when we do really important stories at the top of the show, you know, because it makes me feel like, you know, I love it when we do really important stories at the top of the show, you know, because it makes me feel like, you know, like a real journalist. And actually, I was actually going to bring up another really important Who's Bill story that I think was really important for us to do. Peter, do you remember when we reported on the hot Disney dads? Yes. How could I not? That was our Watergate. Wait a minute. It was our Watergate in the sense of our being like Woodward and Bernstein or our sense of our being Nixon? I don't know a lot of those people are, Peter. Let's just say we're the people reporting the news.

All right. That would be Woodward and Bernstein. Okay. That's what you mean. Okay. All right. I got you. I got you.

We're going to get the Pulitzer. All right. Yeah. Can we hear it? All right, Brent. Here is your last quote. High cheekbones, strong eyebrows, no pores. The guy's a catch. That was a New York Times writer describing someone who he says is part of a trend

of whom getting hotter. Oh, these are the cartoon dads. Yes, the cartoon dads. Very good, Brent. According to the New York Times, which has won 130 Pulitzer Prizes over its long history, released their latest investigation last week into whether or not cartoon dads are getting hotter. And the answer is yabba dabba hubba hubba. The Times specifically cites the dad in Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon, the elf dad from Onward, and the dad from Pixar's forthcoming Bridgerton. I mean, you know, the idea, however, this is a new trend, is disrespectful to the classic Disney dads.

A Little Mermaid wouldn't be half as good without King Triton's ripped abs and absolutely dump truck tail. And don't even get me started on Mulan's father. More like the dang dynasty am i right ladies hey and then there's the old man and up i mean he's not that hot but we do know from the first nine minutes that he is single so yeah those characters widowers peter i remember this episode i will always remember this episode because I remember during the read-through, you didn't want to say absolute dump truck tale. And this is part of the era where I threatened to quit constantly with no leverage. And I was like, Peter, if you don't

say absolute dump truck tale, I will quit this show forever. And you're like, okay. And I realized, I was like, fine. But then you said it on air and I showed everyone in my extended family. There's a thousand of us Koreans, Peter, and I showed every single one. Thousands. There's thousands of us. But oh God, I love that segment. All right. Everybody asked me about who my favorite guests are on the show. And we're always very lucky because thanks to you and the other producers, we get great guests. I can't think of a single one I wasn't delighted to talk to i was really excited to talk

to stephen fry stephen fry is the great oh yeah polymath and actor and writer and quiz show host yes quiz show host and i've always admired him for god knows how many decades and we got into the topic of why you can hear him narrating the audiobooks for all the Harry Potter books, but only in the UK. And I did something that I don't usually do, but I thought I could get away with, meaning I teased him. And it was okay. It was great. This is what happened. and it was okay.

It was great, yeah. This is what happened. I should explain, by the way, that if people are saying, but wait, Jim Dale did the audiobooks for Harry Potter. That was the American version. That's right. We apparently didn't rate you, and I, for one, is a fan of yours.

Nothing against Mr. Dale. I'm a little upset by that. Well, it's a peculiarity of copyright law in the world is that my version of reading the Harry Potter books was on sale in Canada and Australia and all around the world, except the United States. Have you ever seen noticed in books? It says this book is not for resale or even loaning in the United States. I used to say to friends, you get hold of a Penguin book or something and you'd say this book can't even be. I said, if I lent this to an American friend, I'd actually be breaking copyright law.

And that's true. I don't know what it is. But at some point in, I guess, the 1940s, as a result of Bretton Woods or one of those, you know, big conferences, it was decided that all copyright should be divided in the English speaking world between the British and ex-Commonwealth countries, if you want to put it that way, and the United States. So you get your own versions. And do you remember in the early days of Amazon and such like, you couldn't get British books if you were in America. And if you were in Britain, you couldn't get British books if you were in America, and if you were in Britain, you couldn't

get American books. You know, I would never dare to give a man of your achievements advice, but it is possible, it is allowed to, when respond to a comment like, oh, you did the audiobooks in Britain, to just say, yeah, isn't that interesting? Yes, that's true.

It can be done. Are you saying I rather over-elaborated in my answer it was just an interesting part it's like oh maybe our listeners don't know that he did the books outside of america we got jim dale and the next thing we know we're talking about breton woods sir you truly are a renaissance That was amazing. A shattering bore is what you mean. No! The great thing, Emma, was to discover,

and this was a comfort to me in my golden years, to discover that a man who is ten times as smart as I am is also commensurately more insecure. How did it feel to neg your childhood hero, Peter? Well, it was a little weird. I mean, he was going on about Bretton Woods, and I'm like, am I going to say this? Well, I'm not in the same room with him, so he can't hit me. You seem faster than him, too.

Speaking of weird power dynamics, Peter, one of my favorite moments with you and somebody else was in Tanglewood. Remember the lettuce farmer? Oh, God, the lettuce farmer. I should say, by the way, we were all a little bouncy because we were out in front of a live audience and a big one too, like 7,000 people outdoors in Tanglewood. And we had been locked inside for 20 months. So we were running around like maniacs while standing still. So that might explain my attitude toward this caller. But please, go ahead.

Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hey, Peter, this is Nathan from Raleigh, North Carolina. Hey, Nathan, how are you? I'm doing pretty good, you know, chilling. Chilling, oh, chilling. I remember what chilling was like. Nathan, what are you doing in Raleigh? I'm a lettuce farmer.

I farm lettuce. All right, I heard you. I was just reacting in shock. I realize I've been eating lettuce more or less happily my whole life, but it has never occurred to me that someone actually asked to grow it. Lettuce is just something that is. Yeah, it's hydroproponic so how do you get into the hydroponic lettuce business in 2021 uh i rented a room from the guy who ran the farm and then i saw what he did i thought it was really fun so i just told him to hire me and now i've been there for like a few years i'm loving it all right and i'm going to ask this in a spirit of open inquiry. What is fun about growing lettuce? Lettuce doesn't talk back when you are trying to do your thing.

I don't know if you meant it that way, but I'm taking that a little personally. None of us believed he actually was growing lettuce. Just so everybody knows, everybody got the subtext there, you know, lettuce. Yeah, there's a little wink and a smile. Little air quotes there. I'm also the person who screens the caller, Peter, when they first call in.

And I remember when this guy first left his voicemail and he said, and I'm a lettuce farmer. I went, oh, we gots to have this guy on the show. I knew you would get to this point in your brain, and I knew it was going to be matic. Emma, I'm both flattered and a little freaked out that you know me so well. Emma and I have more highlights, personal highlights of 2021 from Wait, Wait for You, and we will be back with them right after this. Bye. Thank you. Hey, everybody.

Here on your podcast feed, it's me, your host, Peter Sagal, along with our social media superstar, Emma Choi. And we are going over our individual personal highlights, the things that made us happy as people from Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me this year. I believe I'm up. Yes, you are, sir. Again, we had a fine array of guests this year. Maybe my favorite kind of guest is the guest for whom we have to do nothing and they just take it over. I kind of love that. You lazy man.

I am. I'm a little lazy. I just love to be able to sit back and let them do all the work that had never been more true in the entire 23 history of the show than when we had on Desus and Mero. Oh my god, yeah. Currently hosts of their show on Showtime, which by the way, is written for by our good friend Josh Gondelman, who was also on the show with them that day. And if you've never heard them, either on our show or anywhere else, well, you were about to find out why they are basically the easiest guests you could ever imagine. Here's Desus and Mero. Okay.

A couple things I want to circle back on. You sat on a pregnant Kim Kardashian at the VMAs. Yes, he did. Sorry, Saint. Yeah. So let me tell you this. So we go to the VMAs. Yeah.

This is the first time ever we've ever been to like invited to anything like this in life. Stop. Wait a minute. Before you start. Key to the note. People don't know this. The VMAs are open bar. We didn't know this.

So we thought we had a pregame. So we had a limo. We took the limo to a convenience store and we just got like liquor. So now we're at the VMAs. We are sauced up. We're taking pictures with the limo driver we're hearing people we're so excited to be there and like you know we it hasn't dawned on us we're on tv as well so what we're doing is just pointing at people like yo vanessa hudges yo oh wow that's beyonce i mean oh that's rita aura all right whatever so we're just running around and we're just bothering everybody you can see they're just

like who are these two everyone like, who are these two? Everyone's like, who are these two people? Why are they talking to everybody? And we're not talking to them like, hey, do we work on a project together? We're going to, hey, Jaden Smith, you're. And they're like, yo, we're trying to record. We're trying to record. And because, you know, we're a little out there, a little drunk, a little smizzy,

I see this got to be like seven feet four tall Russian guy talking down to my guy Mero. You know when you're like a little intoxicated, everything is like hazy and you don't really hear anything. All I'm just like, oh, you trying to fight my Bronx brother? I'll let Mero take it from you. So I see Kanye West and I'm like, this is it. This is our opportunity to get a photo with Kanye West. So I'm just like, hey, I'm like, yo, Kanye, what up? Yo, big fan.

You know what I'm saying? Like, just keep talking, like, hoping that he's like, do I know you? Like, whatever. Then, like, as I said, Zangie from Street Fighter 2 stands in front of me. He's like, my friend, you cannot come any closer to Kanye West. You cannot come. But your boy had had, you know, a little, you know, a little Springsteen juice. You know what I'm saying?

Please feel me. I got very bold. You know what I'm saying? And I grew to his height, magically. And I was like, nah. If Kanye doesn't want to take a picture with me and my man Jesus, I want him to tell me that, not you. And then Kanye's just like, I don't know if it's out of you. And then Kanye's just like,

I don't know if it's out of pity or what, he's just like, he's like, all right, man, come over here, come over here. So then we go over there. He makes no effort to get out of his seat, and so we have to crouch down to take the photo. So as I'm crouching down, I back into a pregnant Kim who's sitting there,

because I did not realize she's tiny. She is tiny in real life. Yes. So then I back into her, and I guess she's like Kanye. She's like that nasally voice. And Kanye turns to me and says the greatest quote. And I want this on my gravestone when I go home. She goes, watch out for my wife, dog.

That's amazing. That's amazing. You know, you think you have talent for broadcasting. You think that you've put in the time and you've learned your craft. And then you run into these two guys and you realize you know nothing. It was terrible. Peter, I love this for so many reasons. They're also on my list.

And I'm very happy we're synced up. But I, okay, I loved that interview. But the part I loved the most out of the interview is when they started fangirling over Bill. Do you remember that? Oh, that was amazing. Amazing. I am told, and I realize I'm jumping on your thing,

but I love this too. I am told that this actually did not make the air. So people are hearing this. No, it didn't. Amazing live moment from that taping for the first time. Desus and Mero, I have a feeling we really could talk to you all day, but we have in fact some business to do.

We have asked you here to play a game that we're calling Knowledge Darts. Try these darts. That voice. Bill. Bill. That voice. Is that Velvet?

Yo, listen. We got to take a moment. We got to take a moment to acknowledge Bill's Velvet vocal. They are made of silk. Bro, that's a 1980s voice right there. That's a guy that's been in the industry. Okay? He's seen things.

That's Velvet. Wait a minute. Guys, apparently you're new to been in the industry. Okay. He's seen things. That's velvet. Wait a minute, guys. Apparently you're new to the phenomenon of Mr. Curtis. You see on his zoom picture right there, you see behind him, there's a standup of Ron Burgundy from Anchorman. That's because not only did Bill Curtis narrate that movie, but I believe that the character of Ron Burgundy was based in part on him. I was literally about to say that.

I was like, are you the Kramer reality tour version of Anchorman? This is great! You're my hero! Anchorman number three will be Desus and Mero! Yes! Yes!

You know what's the best part? I'm hearing that voice and I just want to put it on just a most inappropriate mix to it. I just want to be it on like just a most inappropriate mix. I just want to say inappropriate things while a rapper is rapping. I've known Bill for a while. I think he'd be happy to do that. I'm very glad that everybody now knows that Bill Curtis is, in fact, the funniest person on this show. I love that man.

He's quite remarkable. I've got one more here. I've got a couple more. Please. I'm going to be a little honest with you, Emma. Sure. In that a lot of times we have people on from the world of hip hop. And I am at a loss because I am the least hip hop person in the world. Yeah, that's a fair assessment. And so when they come on and are just amazing, and they make it easy for me, I feel both gratitude and relief.

And I have never felt that more than when we had T-Pain on the show. Oh my God. Yeah. Who was really something. He's amazing. He's amazing. He's also, I think this is fair to say, NPR's favorite hip hop artist with his amazing, yes.

His tiny desk. Tiny desk. Most popular tiny desk ever to that point, which we talked about. But here is T-Pain talking about how he likes to show off his skills in his daily life. Do you enjoy, since so many people know you from the autotune numbers some years ago, to just laying your real voice on them and just like knocking them out? I mean, it's kind of the only way I can do it. It wasn't like it's not like a, you you know it's not like a party trick or anything you know what i'm saying it's like yeah uh you know my my my actual party trick and when it's time to like show off yeah birthdays when it's time to sing happy birthday is that when you let

it rip i'm going up top really that's the mark of a good singer when you can sing happy birthday and people are like that guy's's good. He's really good. That's some range. It's the last one. It's that last happy birthday to you. Woo! And you gotta like, woo! Or if everybody, if there's like a bunch of singers, I'll like throw a harmony.

Happy birthday to you. Like, you know, I'd go that's my time to shine. I know exactly where it's going. I know nobody else is going to divert from the standard cadence. I mean, you know, most people are like, who are you and why are you at my child's birthday party? Is that T-Pain in this Chuck E. Cheese

waiting for someone to start singing? Thank you, T-Pain, for providing a song that will forever haunt my dreams of middle school. Shoddy get low, low, low, low, low, low, low. Apple-bottom jeans, boots with a fur. Everyone on the floor was looking at her. Peter, you must know this song. Oh, absolutely, yes. I'm internally singing along.

Peter, my next one actually ties in nicely to our rap theme that we're going with. Because I remember one of my favorite moments of the show ever, which is I guess the whole thing we're doing here right now, is when we had RZA on and we talked to him about HGTV. We heard, I mean, you are into so many things and so good at many of them, but we did hear you an i will say an unexpected enthusiasm tell me if it's true for hgtv yeah who told you that i have i have a very talented producer whose job it is to research our guests and until this very moment i thought she was pranking me no that's that's that's like me and my wife favorite past time you know really we fall asleep to hgtv that's like at and my wife's favorite pastime, yo. Really? We fall asleep to HGTV. That's like, at the end of the night, we watch everything, turn to HGTV, and bong, bong.

Do you have, like, a favorite show? Are you a Property Brothers guy? I mean... Oh, the Property Brothers rule, baby. Really? I watch them. I feel like we're very close to the collaboration, the song, Pabream,

Property Brothers rule Everything Around Me. They're dope. Love it or less it is dope. I mean, look, we were so into invested Flip It. Yeah. When they broke up, yeah, when they broke up, the couple. Wait a minute. So, okay, so this is a show called Flip It, and it was hosted by this married couple.

Yeah, when they broke up, that was like dinner table talk at my house. Then they got back together. I don't want to say their names, but I know what you can say in this world. Right. But then they get back together, and they're back doing the show again, but they're not married no more. They did a Wu-Tang move. The show must go on. I agree.

So, I agree. The problem with watching HGTV is The problem with watching HGTV, sorry. You get eventually dissatisfied with your own house, right? That's what happens to me. I envy too much. Well, you can also find a nice

lamp. That's how I'm going to think about everything in my life from now on. Whenever I feel inadequate, I'm just going to shrink everything really small. Think about what's within my control and whatever the nice lamp is in that situation, I'm going to find my nice lamp. I love that. We deserve a Pulitzer for that work, Peter. You really broke that story wide open. No, no, wait a minute. As I said in the clip, when I was referring to the producer who had told me that RZA was into HDTV, who I thought was pranking me to that moment, that's you, Emma, and you know that. You were the person who dug that out. So this is my last one, and it's close to my heart because I am a big fan of Broadway,

although I am not as big a fan, as it turns out, as Mo Rocca. We had Andre De Shields, who is one of the great Broadway stars. He was an original whiz in The Whiz way back when. Currently he's Hermes in Hadestown. Yeah, I think his legal name is Broadway legend Andre De Shields. That's true. That's true. It's actually on his driver's license. And one of the great things about having Andre De Shields, in addition to him being a gentleman and a scholar and just a remarkable guy, is Moe's story about how long and exactly how he has idolized Andre DeShields. Now, can I just say, Andre, when I fell under your spell in 1988,

I was an usher over the summer at the National Theater in Washington, D.C. Ain't Misbehavin' came through a revival of the show. So I got to watch you 40 times. And I looked at you and I thought, I want to be your understudy in this show. Will they ever take a look at me for that? Well, that time is coming. I would love to see you play the Viper in Ain't Misbehavin'.

I just don't know that I could actually sing the role. It would just be too, I don't know, it would be too challenging. But Mo, you remember my tour de force moment in Ain't Misbehavin' is... I can't give you anything but love, baby. It's the one thing I got plenty of, baby. Talk about dreamin' a while, screamin' a while. Next. Same reefer song, Viper's Drag.

That's the tour de force. Wait, start it, start it. I dreamed about a reefer five feet long of light immense

but not too strong. No offense, Mo, but I'm really glad I got to see Andre DeShields do that role. Peter, this is crazy because Mo is also on my, he's one of my favorite panelists. He's my mom's absolute favorite panelist. And I also have a moment with Mo and a musical theater legend, the all-time wonderful man, Mandy Patinkin. Can I talk to you about your musical theater life?

No. Can I talk to you about your musical theater life? No. But you have to. You have to let me do this because you don't know this, but when I was 12, we had a very intense relationship. I learned every single lyric of the musical Evita. I became obsessed with it. And I didn't know how professional theater worked. And one day it dawned on me, what if Mandy Patinkin is sick one night and can't be in the show and people show up?

And I know all the lyrics to Che. I need him to know that he can get in touch with me in case he needs to take the night off so all those people aren't disappointed. And I can be a 12-year-old Che Guevara in Evita. So I just want you to know that I'm available. Your mother had called me about this years ago. I've had her number in my book ever since. I tried to get you twice and you were busy. Mo, do you still know the lyrics to the Che part in Evita?

Oh, what a circus. Oh, what a show. Argentina has gone to town over the death of an actress called Eva Peron. You can take it from here. You're one crazy morning all day and morning all night, falling over ourselves to get all

of the misery right. Very good, Mo. I'm not going to say a word. I'm David. Mo, would you do something at my memorial? Oh, I'd love to. I can do it from your Yiddish album. I at my memorial? Oh, I'd love to. I can do it from your Yiddish album.

I'll try that. Okay, I'd love that. Peter, real question. Do you ever think that Moe just treats our show like an audition for Broadway? Yeah, I think that's basically it. One of the things we found out, and it's weird because those interviews happen about eight months apart, Moe wants to be on Broadway, Broadway producers. So bad.

So very, very badly. So if you're out there, throw the guy a bone. I guarantee you he's lovely to work with. He brings snacks. He shows up on time. He's the best. Well, this has been great fun, Emma, to find out that you and I like some of the same things. And like, for example, you both like it when I go in the air and praise you specifically.

That's something we both share. That's really great. Absolutely. I remember, I love this year that, you know, we learned so many things together this year, Peter. I taught you what a weeaboo was. You taught me who those two guys are about Watergate. And then I taught you.

I taught you about... You can't even remember their names, can you, Emma? No, something in Costello or something. Something like that. I don't know. Yeah, those were them. But it's been an amazing year for Wait, Wait. And next year's going to be even better.

Maybe next year they'll even let us out of our houses. Oh, let's not get ahead of ourselves, Peter. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, Emma Choi, our social media superstar. I'm Peter Sagal, and we will be back in your podcast feed with a whole new show next year, which isn't that far away. No, it's not. Happy New Year, everyone.

Happy New Year to everyone and to you, Emma. And to you, Peter.