Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - WWDTM: Bob Costas

Episode Date: September 13, 2025

This week, special guest Bob Costas joins panelists Emmy Blotnick, Brian Babylon, and Peter Grosz. Plus, Oscar-and-Grammy-winner Rhymefest steps in for Bill!Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This message comes from The Extraordinarians. What does it take to be the best at something extremely specific? Celebrated character actors Kristen Schall, Tony Hale, and Matt Oberg are on a mission to find out. Subscribe to The Extraordinarians wherever you get your podcasts. From NPR and WB-B-E-Z Chicago. This is, wait, wait, don't tell me, the NPR News Quiz. Bill Curtis has big shoes to feel, but his stilettos look pretty good on me. I'm Dr. Che Rapheth-Smith, and here's your host at the Studebaker Theater

at the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagle. Hello, thank you all. Thank you, Ronsfus. Thank you, everybody. I feel the same way. Later on, we're going to be talking to legendary sportscaster Bob Costas. But first, we here are so excited to have Rhymefest filling in for Bill Curtis. It's astonishing.

And I got to ask, you're a legend in hip-hop, you're a Grammy, and Oscar-winning, a songwriter, you're a filmmaker. What in the world are you doing here? Well, you know, records stop selling. Yeah, that's a problem. And then I volunteer for the school board. Yeah? And now I'm going to try my hand at a D.4. funded uh uh yeah exactly you're working your way down yeah working my way through lucky us i think

i think you'll fit in uh if you want to be able to say oh yeah one day i hung out with rhyme fest then give us a call the number is one triple eight wait wait that's one eight eight eight nine two four eight nine two four let's welcome our first listener contestant hi you are on wait wait don't tell me hi peter this is shane from parkville maryland parkville maryland that one of the suburbs of Washington? A suburb of Baltimore. Oh, even better. Oh, yeah. What do you do there? I work for environmental compliance centered around using dredge material for restoration efforts. Oh, really? So you're like dredging stuff up from the bottom of Chesapeake Bay? I don't dredge it, but I inspect it and I get kind of mucky with it sometimes. Really?

So the job is like, well, we just drag this stuff up in the bottom of the bay. Come on, Shane. You've got to look at it again. Yeah, pretty much. Welcome to our show, Shane. Let me introduce you to our panel this week. First up, she's the comedian, hosting Trivia Night for Cheaters, a benefit for 826, NYC on Tuesday, October 7th. At Brooklyn Brewery, it's Emmy Blotnick. Hi, Shane.

Inspector Shane. Inspector Shane next. He's our old friend, the Prince of Bronsville, and he's bringing stand-up to the runway at his Paris Fashion Week Comedy Festival, September 29th to October 5th. it's Brian Babelam. Hi, Brian, hey, hey. And an actor and writer who will be appearing at the improv show

2Square at the Cold Town Theater in Austin, Texas, October 17th, and 18th, and the Rockwell in Somerville, Massachusetts on October 24th. It's Peter. Hi, Shane. Hi, thank you. So, Shane, welcome to the show. You're going to play Who's Rime Fest this time.

Rimefest filling in for Bill Curtis is going to read you three quotations from this week's news. if you can correctly identify or explain just two of them, you'll win our prize. Any voice from our show you might choose for your voicemail? You ready to go? Not even a little, but I'll try my back. All right, here you go. Let's see what we can dredge up.

Your first quote is a line from a song you may soon no longer be able to hear on TV. Oh, oh, oh, ozypick. I'm sorry. That was a certified... That was, oh, wait a minute, I'm sorry, I'm just getting the news in, you just got another Grammy. They invented a category, you got it. That was from a particular kind of ad that may soon disappear from TV, ads for what?

Medication. Yeah, pharmaceuticals. They're going to take away the pharmaceutical ads. Damn it. Oh, you're excited. I'm upset. Now I'll never find out what Sky Rizzy is. This week, President Trump directed the government to re-institute a 1990s-era policy that would sharply restrict pharmaceutical ads.

Now, I have moderate to severe sadness about this news. Ask your doctor. No, this is going to change everything. Like, there are going to be big protests from the union for elderly but very attractive people good at smiling at farmers markets. Yeah. Well, here's the thing, though, nobody in those commercials talks, and people don't realize a lot of, actors who can't speak are going to be out of work. Really? Yeah.

They were very instrumental in the silent movie era and then Farma ads. Or is it like singing in the rain, they have really funny voices? Like if you look at like that handsome silver fox and all like the I have flags orionists. Yeah. Yeah, the guy

in the Seattleist ad is like, I can't try to take Seales. Otherwise, I can't have sex. Well, you know, I told you, I had an audition to be in We Govi ad. like a month ago. That's the, of course, the Weight Loss program. Are you going to be the before or the after?

No, I was going to be the husband of the wife that lost a weight, and I had a box like, yeah, my baby did it. And that was supposed to be my, yeah. Look at her. She lost all that weight. Good job, baby. And I was, you know, I had to, like, emote that without words. Yeah, really, again, no speaking.

That's the fact. Exactly. I, for one, will be sad to lose the ads because they're like the best way to get great ideas for dates that aren't like a movie. You know, like, oh, kayaking, hot air ballooning, playing together in a jug band. I should repot my plants. Yeah.

My son, that Ozempic song that Rhymefest sang, my son heard that song, whatever, 10 times watching CNN. And then we were in the car and we heard, oh, oh, oh, it's magic. And he was like, oh, the Osempic song. I was like, no, it's the other way around. All right, Shane. Shane, your next quote is what a lot of Catholics are saying this week. What would Carlo do? That, in particular, was an eighth grader at a Catholic school here in Chicago,

talking about Carlo Acutus, who this week was canonized. That's the first ever millennial what? A saint. Yes, the first millennial saint. Point out, once again, Gen X skipped over. Were we? Yeah, there's no, huh. Oh, well, because we didn't care.

Who cares? Who cares? I know a lot of people who were saints, but it was like ironic and they didn't really care about. Yeah, exactly. It's only like the Pope now. It's not a big deal. Exactly. When St. Carlo, as he is now officially known,

St. Carlo, when he was alive, he was known as God's influencer. That's because the 15-year-old in Italy spread his love at the Catholic Church all over the internet, and also because he got a bunch of free stuff from God that he had to link in his bio. but wasn't he like he he came up old school internet yeah he was like my space back in the 2000s yeah so like that was some hard work you know javascript yeah yeah he was tough but he did he created websites and sort of spread the well gospel of the catholic church and so now he is a saint the first ever from that generation and it's got to be tough for him up in like the saints section of heaven because he's got to be helping all the other saints

with their computers. It's like, Carlo, can you type this email for me? My stigmata are acting up again. You know what he says? Just reboot. Just reboot it. Just reboot it. The one thing we do know is that St. Carlo

will be the first person to wear a halo who played Halo. All right. Here, Shane, is your last quote. I tend to watch where he goes in the yard. we sometimes make eye contact while he completes the act. That was a writer at the Atlantic arguing that who needs more privacy than you're currently giving them. Your dog. Exactly right, yes.

This week, the Atlantic suggested that animals deserve more privacy, especially our pets. Well, maybe. But the only reason dogs want privacy is because they're in the next room eating out of the garbage. out of respect I don't read my dog's diary but I do smother him physically do you really

I can't I can't leave him alone yeah well that's kind of the problem apparently they get used to too much stimulation and then when they don't have it well the argument is and he talked to a dog expert

a well-known woman I didn't think you were going to say expert in that sentence I talked to a dog he talked to a dog he talked to a dog and apparently your dog seems excited to

you all the time. But she says, actually, dogs don't mind being alone. It's just you've been away for so long. They've had enough time to forget how problematic you really are. What is a dog expert? What is that? It's somebody who pretends that they can talk to dogs. Thank you. That's the thing. It's somebody who has studied in a scholarly and scientific fashion, the behavior of dogs. Okay, don't say it like that if you do like, you know, it's actually no Harvard. Brian, it's somebody who is over $100,000 in student tests. Yeah. Gone to school. Fats. Rhymefest. How did Shane do in our quiz?

Well, insane in the membrane. Can't complain. He got all three right. Give it up for Shane. Congratulations, Shane. You could ask us to do a voicemail for you. You could just use that. Like to use that. Yeah, exactly. Thanks so much for playing, Shane. Take care. Thank you. better off alone. Spider-whips, it tangled me. You're not a run-up worry-free. Anyone with eyes can see

I'm better off alone. Right now, panel, it is time for you to answer some questions from this week's news. Peter, New York City, as I'm sure you know, has banned all cell phones in schools, and New York State is rolled out a program to encourage students everywhere to put their phones down,

and to convince them to do it, the governor this week introduced the centerpiece of that campaign. What is it? A signed picture of Kathy Hokel that says, you're doing a good job. Oh, what student wouldn't do anything to get that? I'll give you a hint.

It's based on the success of convincing Philadelphians to be fanatics. A mascot. A mascot. Who's better? Yes, a mascot. We love mascots. Who's better to convince kids to get excited about giving up their phones than a six-foot-tall fluorescent green furry.

His name is Frankie Focus. Frankie Focus, and Frankie Focus looks a little bit like the Grinch, but with glasses. Get it? He's got glasses. His message is, you can be a nerd and still be terrifying. I thought Frankie Focus was an Adderall dealer. Hey, Frankie, you got that stuff? Tell your friends, where you got it.

You got it from Frankie Focus. Frankie to Focus. I've lost my phone. I really need it back. Coming up, our panelists get their inheritance in our bluff to listener game. Call 1-3-8. Wait-Wait-to-play to play. We'll be back in a minute with more.

Wait, wait, wait, don't tell me. From NPR. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and C's Apply. This message comes from Next We Have with Gareth Reynolds. From The Dollop and we're here to help, Gareth Reynolds takes listeners on a hilariously unpredictable ride in his new variety podcast. Subscribe to Next We Have on podcast apps or.

watch on Gareth's YouTube. Hey, it's Mike Danforth, executive producer of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Here's a great way to get the perks of being an NPR producer without doing any of the work. Join NPR Plus. With NPR Plus, you get extended interviews, inside looks at your favorite shows, and more.

All while supporting NPR, and never having to pull an all-nighter. Or if you work on one of the news shows, an all-morninger. Sign up at plus.npr.npr.org. From NPR and WBZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I am not Dr. Dre. I am Dr. Chey. Ryan Fess Smith, we're playing this week with Peter Gross, Emmy Blotnick, and Brian Babylon. And here again is your host at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal.

Danger, Enfest. Thank you so much. Right now it's time for the Wait, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, Bluff, the listener game. Call 1-T-A8 Wait-Wait to play our game in the air. How you were on? Wait, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, I'm Marissa from Cape Coral, Florida. Hey, how are things in Cape Coral? Very rainy.

Aw. Let's all take a moment. Let's take a moment to pity you. Well, that was fun. Well, welcome to the show, Marissa. You're going to play our game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction. Rhymfest. What is Marissa's topic?

This is a moment. my last will and testament. There's nothing fun about a will. Until now. Our panelists are going to tell you about someone who received an unusual and unexpected inheritance that we found in the news this week. Pick the one telling the truth. You'll want our prize, the wait-waiter of your choice in your voicemail. Ready to play? Yes. All right. First up, let's hear from Peter Gross. Jennifer Insel lives in a fancy New York City apartment building in Unit 4D, next to Jeffrey Molinsky and 4C. They've been arch-enemies for 10. years, constantly arguing about the nine squawking parrots in Jeffrey's apartment.

Jennifer would complain to the co-op board, then he would complain about her, then she would sue, alleging intentional infliction of emotional distress, then he would counter-sue, claiming something he called interspecies prejudice. She finally gave up and learned to live with it, figuratively. And then Jeffrey's body gave up and made her live with it literally when he died this week and left her his parrots in his will. Jennifer came home from work on Monday to discover the birds, their cages and 100 pounds of bird food in her foyer.

She was on the phone with her lawyer explaining the whole situation, but when she mentioned the name Jeffrey Malinsky, one of the parrots chimed in, bach, glad he's dead, bach. Jennifer couldn't believe it, so she said his name again. Bac, total jerk, bach. That's why the parrots were so loud. They hated this guy, even more than she did. So now, Jennifer has nine new best friends who spend all day talking smack about her former neighbor. He's rotting in hell.

a woman stunned to be left the parrots owned by the man next door she hated your next story of a willy-nilly will comes from Brian Babylon a Brazilian billionaire has named football star Namar as a sole heir to his estate that's worth about $1 billion and this is without even ever meeting the guy yes some people leave their money that are kids some people leave money to charity. This guy said, you know what? Namar looks like he can use a little

help. And the document, the billionaire wrote, I like Namar. I identify with him a lot. He's not self-serving, and that's something rare these days. Apparently, the man was so touched by Namar's relationship with his father, which reminded him of his only dad. So instead of therapy, he decided to write a billion-dollar love letter. Courts now have to improve the inheritance. Legal experts say that he will have to face taxes and disputes, or as lawyers like to call it, summer vacation money. Namar, meanwhile, not as common.

Probably because he's busy practicing, falling over dramatically when the IRS shows up. A billionaire in Brazil leaves his entire fortune to a soccer star. He had never met. Your last story of a will gone wild

comes from Emmy Blotnik. A deceased Vermont-based man was discovered to have an unusual will, dedicating his entire fortune to just Earth. Complicating matters, the man also requested that his remains be dropped into an active volcano. His declaration is now being reviewed by the court, which will determine if money for Earth should be assigned to an environmental cause or given to one member of the banned Earth, Wind and Fire, should one of them go by Earth?

The will also does not name a specific volcano, but a clearly stated wish for it to be, quote, splashing with magma, by which he likely meant lava, but the point is he's gone. His inheritance is said to have a value in the ballpark of $5,000, which is not enough to charter a volcano helicopter or really do much of anything with a dead guy. So one of these was in the news this week, was it from Peter Gross, a woman who was left the nine parrots she hated that lived next to. only to discover that they hated their owner as much as she did. From Brian Babylon, a Brazilian billionaire who, having no one else to leave his money to,

gave it to his favorite already incredibly wealthy soccer player, who he did not know. Or, from Emmy Blotnick, a man who left his money to the earth with the condition that he be dropped into it. Which of these was the real story of a bequest we found in the news this week? Funny, because my kid's favorite soccer star is Namor Jr., so I'm going to have to go with Namar. You're going to have to go with Namar because if it was up to your kids, they'd give him the money too. All right, your choice is Brian's story. Well, we spoke to an expert on this subject to bring you the truth. I would say this is pretty random.

Most people are not just leaving it to like a sports star. That was Rosanna Royzen, a partner in the Trust and Estates Group, Carter, Kinski and Rogan, LLP, giving her a state lawyerly reaction to the real story of the billionaire, giving all his money to Namar. Congratulations, Marissa. You got it right. You've won our prize. Your kids will be thrilled. It's all good. You won. Namar won. Brian won. We're winners all around. Thank you so much for playing.

Thank you. All right. Take care. And now the game we call, not my job. If you ask somebody to imitate a sportscaster, right, for fun, Chances are they're going to do their best Bob Costas. He has broadcast everything from NASCAR to the NBA, plus most Olympics in the last four decades, 18 runnings of the Kentucky Derby, Super Bowls, plus he's hosted his own interview and talk shows over the years.

We don't know whether to ask him questions or just have him do play-by-play of our show. Bob Costas, welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. It's so exciting. That's a pleasure to finally talk to you after all the years I listened to you broadcasting games. We read, Bob, that you fulfilled a certain cliche of sportscasters in that you tried and failed at every sport you attempted as a young man. Is that true? You know, I wouldn't say that I failed.

I wasn't that bad by schoolyard standards, but I couldn't make my high school baseball a basketball team. And the baseball coach, who was also a math teacher, that's the way it works in high school, he actually said to me something to the effect of you're not bad with the glove and you can run a little bit but I don't think you can hit your weight and I don't think you weigh 130 which might have been true when I was 16 years old

and then he actually said you know you're always talking about baseball and you know more about baseball than any of my players have you ever thought about broadcasting and I said that's pretty much all I think about and he actually said as if it was a movie good try that whoa that's awesome

and have you ever gone and like found to any of the guys who did make the team and say, how long did your career in sports last? One of them, one of them actually pitched in the major leagues for two years. He did make it to the big leagues. The rest of them have scattered to the

four wins, and I'm sure they're aware of me, and I'm not quite aware of where they are, and I don't care. Yeah. And you went off to Syracuse University, right? The Newhouse School, to learn your trade. This is, of course, if you don't know, it is the Harvard of Broadcasting Schools. And, but I'm curious as like, how do you learn to do sports broadcasting?

Like, what are the skills you have to study? You know, you cannot learn it in a classroom. You want to get as good and as well-rounded in education as you possibly can, and to be a reader because it improves your appreciation of language and turns of phrase, and the broader your frame of references, the more you can bring to bear where appropriate in a sports broadcast or any kind of broadcast. but the only way you actually learn to be a broadcaster is by doing it.

You can't sit there in a classroom and learn it. You just have to find out if you have a knack and then you work on that knack as you move along. So, okay, you're a Hall of Fame broadcaster, an absolute legend in the industry. Nobody's perfect all the time. Can you remember a time when, like, you just blew it on live TV? Oh, my, yes. Now, I realize it's NPR. Yes.

Do you want the unedited version of this? Give us the MTV version. I mean, go ahead, Bob. What are they going to do, defund us? Here you go. Now, if everybody clapping could give $5,000. That would be really wonderful. Go ahead, go ahead.

All right, so here's a deal. My first job out of Syracuse, I did minor league hockey, my first senior year at Syracuse, $30 a game. but I was lucky enough right after that at age 22 to go to St. Louis, big station, KMOX, 50,000-watt station, to broadcast the games for the spirits of St. Louis in the old ABA. The first night they play on a Friday night, they have a big lead with about two minutes to go, and the game slips away.

They're up by seven, and somehow the game slips away. Two nights later, they're playing at home again, and they're ahead by five with like a minute to go. and I turn toward the analyst who was a wonderful gentleman named Bill Wilkerson and I said the following Bill it appears as if the spirits have this game well in hand but coach Bob McKinnon taking a time out here wanting to take no chances because the last thing he wants to see is a repeat of Friday night's flowed

I actually said that They did. I actually said that. You know, they blew the game, and, you know, the syntax just got kind of mangled, right? Well, I mean, if you think about it, I mean, it is his job, and if he blew the game, it just sort of comes naturally to that phrase, doesn't it? My thought is I looked at Wilkerson, and he looked at me, and his eyes got as wide as saucers, and the engineer just made that circular thing with the index finger, like, keep on going,

keep on going, we can't have all this dead air. And I was 100% certain that the next morning I'd be on a flight back to Syracuse. But the station manager took pity on me and said, don't ever let this happen again. So I certainly will try not to. A lot of people called in and they were like, can we get more of that Bob Costas? Let me ask you this. Over the years, obviously not just baseball, NFL games, NBA games, horse races. And the Olympics, of course, for many, many years on NBC.

So out of all those things, can you tell me like what the weirdest or most unusual sport is, you've ever had to broadcast and comment on? Well, I didn't do play-by-play as the host of the Olympics, but you're commenting on and showing highlights of almost everything. Curling in the Winter Olympics? You know, think about getting a gold medal, an Olympic gold medal, for an activity in which you can drink beer while doing it. Yes.

Even more so, in the Summer Olympics, race walking is a staple. Now, there may be, I don't know. 200 racewalkers in the United States, but in parts of Eastern Europe, like in Romania or something, you know, racewalkers are like Michael Jordan, apparently. So, 1992 in Barcelona, I'm hosting the Olympics, and there's a package of highlights, and it ends with a bunch of racewalkers. And you know what it looks like, right?

Yeah. It looks like, it looks like, got to go, got to go, got to go right now is what it looks like. 15 minutes shorts who really need to use the restroom. I understand. Right, exactly. So I come off of it, I think it's completely. harmless, and the people on the set laugh, I said, isn't a competition to see who can walk the fastest, a little bit like a contest to see who can whisper the loudest? Eventually, don't you

just, like, cross over and start running? Now, you would think that was completely harmless, but the very small racewalking community wanted my head on a pipe. And that's why you can never go back to Romania. That's correct. Well, Bob Costas, it is such a pleasure to talk to you, and we've asked you here today to play a game we're calling. And the Emmy goes to? We are right now in the eye of the Emmy Storm. The Creative Arts Emmys were last weekend. The Primetime Emmys are this weekend.

So no one is talking about anything but the Emmy Awards. Ooh. We're going to ask you three questions about these JV Oscars. Answer two correctly and we win our prize, one of our listeners. Rhymefest, who is Bob Kost is playing for? Bob is playing for Matt Johnson of Houston, Texas. All right. Ready to play?

Here is your first question. Where does the name Emmy for the award come from? Is it A, it's the initials M.E. for Mamie Eisenhower, who presided at the first awards. Is it B, strangely, it is named after our own panelist, Emmy Blotnick. Or C, it was named for the image orthogon tube, an important big. bit of early TV technology. I'm going with C. You're going to go with C, and you are right.

The Image Orthogne team was known as Emmy. That's what you're named after. Huge advance. TV technology, so much so that Emmy was named for it. And I guess it must have been shaped like a lady with wings holding an atom, I guess. Here's your next question. The whole point of the Emmys, of course, as you know, is to promote TV. But at the 2015 Emmys, Andy Sandberg went above and beyond

to encourage people to watch the HBO show Game of Thrones. How did you do it? A, by wearing a handmade 15-foot-long dragon costume on stage, B, by giving out to the live international audience his actual HBO login and password, or C, by playing a video in which his head was C-G-I'd onto every character in every sex scene from that season. You know, I should know this,

but somehow I missed that particular telecast. I'm just going to guess B. You're going to guess B. He gave out his HBO login and password to the universe. He did. Yes. And people report, everybody first immediately ran over to their televisions or whatever, and it worked for a few days.

All right. Very good, Bob. Two for two. Two for two, right. As someone in your profession might say. Yes. You're bad in a thousand. He is.

He's batting a thousand. Let's see what he does with this pitch. In Dame Helen Mirren's acceptance speech, after winning an Emmy for her performance as Queen Elizabeth the First, she said that her greatest triumph was what? Was it, A, making her Queen Elizabeth the first recognizably different from her Queen Elizabeth the second? B, the voiceover work that she had done for the film

Legends of the Guardians, the Owls of Gablool, for which she was unfairly snubbed. Or, C, she said her greatest triumph was, quote, not falling ass over tit as she climbed the stairs to the podium. It is without questions, see. You're right.

You called your shock, as you might say. And allegedly, the sensors were manning, you know, that bleep button were so charmed by her British accent that the remark made it to air and now, again, to us. Rhymefest, how did Bob Costas do in our quiz? Bob got three for three.

He got them all right. Congratulations. It's the trifecta. It's the hat trick. It is. It's the triple crown. That's a good thing. Part of your job is coming up with catchphrases and names.

What should we call it when someone goes three for three on this game? The Kosti. There you go. He scored a Kostis. Bob Kostis is a Hall of Fame broadcaster, and not coincidentally, the winner of 28 Emmy Awards himself. Bob Kostis. Thank you so much for joining us on Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me.

Thank you, Peter. Thank you, everybody. Take care, Bob. Bye-bye. Go long. In just a minute, RimeFest tells you how to get a free breakfast in our listener Limerick Challenge.

Call 1,88, Wait, Wait, to join us in the air. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait, 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 am Dr. Chey Rinefest-Smith.

We're playing this week with Brian Babylon, Peter Gross, and Emmy Blotnick. And here again is your host at the Scooter Baker Theater in Chicago, Illinois. Give it up for Peter Seigos! Thank you, RhymeFest. Thank you so much. In just a minute, RhymeFest meets our Limerick Fest. A little nervous about having to rhyme things there, Rime Fest? I've never rhymed in Irish.

If you like to play, give us a call, 1-3-8-8-8-8-8-2-4. Right now, panel, I got some more questions for you from the week's news. Brian, a recent study shows you can tell a lot about someone's personality by the style of their what? Come on, man. Not their clothing, no. The style of their, give me a hint. Give you a hand.

It's like, okay, let's start from the beginning. Are you an A-frame or a tight squeeze? Peter, I don't think we should be asking. Yeah, what? Like, the clue's a little racy. An A-frame or a... What? No.

You, I'll put you another hand. I'll give you another hint. I'll give you another hint. Right. Okay. Hey, hold on. Bring it in, big guy. You're right. Oh.

Bring it in. Oh, um, your garage. No. Does anybody know what the heck I'm talking about? Jeans. What? It's jeans. Not your jeans.

Does it A frame a type of hug? It is. It's the way that you hug. An A frame is a hug? You've never heard of that? No, is that where you go. Yeah, the A frame, classically. I mean, you people wouldn't understand it because you're emotionally secure.

What in the Gilded Age are you talking about? This is a thing for people who don't get hugged very much. The study showed that people who were neurotic, it's true. They asked people to hug, and they observed them, and then they surveyed them, and they found that people who were self-described as neurotic or insecure, preferred the lean-in-hug or the A-frame. If you think about it, you're both leaning in, you're kind of hugging in the middle. It looks like an A. I thought you meant the arms created an A somehow.

No, I know people who hug like that. Exactly, exactly. Or people with self-compass. confidence and empathy, like those close-in hugs with lots of contact, and your father prefers no hugs at all. You just have to forgive him. It's the way he was raised. He still loves you. Okay. I'm an O-frame hug, where I just, you don't get any. It's just a serial. The study goes on to say that romantic partners hug on average for seven seconds, while friends, just friends, hug for under three seconds. Across the board, people reported it wasn't the

hug that freaked them out. It was the fact that their friend was timing it. in your ear. One, two, three, four. Yeah, I've never knew about that. Why are you pulling away? Five, six. Would you prefer I count down? One thousand.

See, my thing is I pretty much have a traditional hug, but my thing is anxiety is whether or not to hug, right? Yeah, that's the thing. You know, like, okay, are we hugging now? Are we hugging friends? What about the grab hand, right hand grab, bring body in, left hand hug, so it's a combo handshake. Right, hug.

Oh, I guess this one is for avoidant straight men. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anybody timing that? Peter, as the baseball season comes to a close, more and more fans took the 9-99 challenge this year. What is the 9-99 challenge? Nine beers in nine innings throwing up nine times. You're so close. I missed one of the, nine beers are right.

Nine beers are right. Nine beers are right. What's the other thing that you do at a ballpark? Going to the bathroom? No. No, nine hot dogs. Yes, nine hot dogs. You figured it out.

The nine-99 challenge. Drink nine beers. Eat nine hot dogs in nine innings. It was all the rage this year people trying to do it all over the country in various ballparks that proves that even with the pitch clock, baseball itself is still boring. But an average baseball game is, what, 95 hours? Yeah, pretty much. That's actually not.

That's not that much. Yeah, if you space it out. And you sleep, of course. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you sleep like a 4.5. I mean, it's all fun in games until you get to extra innings, then you die. I'm always just as happy.

Up in the bleachers are behind home flame. Crowds watch channing out. Just as I just count. How many hot dogs I ate. Hey, let's head out to the ball game. 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 1-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-2-4. You can see us most weeks here at the Studio Baker Theater in downtown Chicago,

and you can also catch us on the road. If you're in St. Louis, we will be there too next week, September 18th. Catch us there, and if you happen to prefer Honolulu, we'll be there on October 9th and 10th. Tickets in info or at NPRPresents.org. And if you like our show but wish it was just about eight seconds long, you can find us on TikTok at Wait, Wait, NPR. Hi, you're on Wait Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, this is Allison calling from Beautiful Eugene Oregon.

Beautiful Eugene Oregon. It's magnificent there. What do you do there? I'm an archaeologist and professor at the University of Oregon, where I keep in the anthropology department. I'm an archaeologist. I am an archaeologist. What is your specialty? I work in Southeast Asia, mostly in Cambodia. Wow. Wow, digging up, you know, exploring the ancient cultures there?

Yes, yes, exactly. And because I study and have like a deep respect and love for old things and history, I was really excited to hope to, and was hoping to get to talk to Bill Curtis, but I understand. He's not available today. With all due respect, I came here to speak to Bill. Curtis too. That's true. I seem to have disappointed everyone. All right, well, welcome to the show, Allison. Your job, of course, is to complete three news-related limericks. Rimefest is going to read you the first part of each limerick, but not finish them. That is your job. Do it two times out of three.

You will win our prize. A voice of anyone you might choose for your voicemail. Are you ready to go? I'm ready. All right. Here we go. Here's your first limerick. I scoop eggs. in and off the cuffway at the place I'm pretending to stay. It works out really well at a mid-range hotel. I sneak in for the breakfast. Buffet. Right, very good. More and more people are going online to brag about strolling into hotels. They're not staying in to help themselves to the complimentary breakfast buffet. I get it. It's better. My cereal at home, say, doesn't taste quite the same as when it does when I get it by turning a crank

on a plexiglass box for three minutes. Man, so you get out of your bed, get in the car, drive to a Hampton Inn, and just go to town? Maybe. You're like getting up and you're going to go do something. You need some breakfast. You're happy to be passing by

one of those mid-range change. Mediocre waffles, don't mind if I do. Exactly. They're not, it's not the best breakfast. Can you get a red delicious apple tightly wrapped in That's what I want. All right, Allison, here is your next limerick. Phone and keys anymore, I can't haul it.

If there's need for cash, I don't recall it, because cards, coins, and bills are for outdated tills, and I no longer carry a wallet. A wallet. A new study found that nearly half the population no longer use wallets anymore. Great. Now where am I supposed to carry my COVID? vaccine card for some reason.

Now the change away from Wallace comes both of course with the technology in our phones and from you're being honest with yourself about never ever going to complete that punch card for a free smoothie. Facts. It's true. Here's your last limerick, Allison.

At this wedding, it's easy to mingle. Here's a table where tensions sure tingle. There's a face sheet with facts so I might find a match at the table where guests are all single? Yes, this week's in New York Times reported on the trend of couples

who are giving all the single people attending their wedding a laminated fact sheet with the faces of all the other single people. It makes it an even more special day. You're starting your life as a married person and you're utterly destroying your former circle of friends. Right? But, you know, after, like, a few bottles that cheap wine, reception wine, I don't need no sheet, let's do this, all right? Sheet, schmeat, let's kick it, you know?

Sheet schmeet. I don't need any of, I don't need information or do you should know anything about you. We're at this Hampton Inn, we have breakfast tomorrow, let's have a good time, you know? I don't need help schmeeting people. This is a nice wedding, too, at a hampton. It's an end. Yes. Rimefest, how did Allison do?

There's a show full of winners today. Allison got all three rights. She's a winner. Congratulations. Thank you so much. It was a dream come true. Take care. Bye-bye.

Now it's time for 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 worth two points. Rhymefest, can you give us the scores? Yes. Brian and Emmy each have two. Peter has four. Oh my goodness. Brian, I'm going to arbitrarily pick you to go first. Here we go. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill the blank on Wednesday. FBI director Cash Patel traveled to Utah to oversee the investigation into the shooting of blank. Charlie Kirk. Right. On Tuesday,

the FAA released an advisory that lithium batteries pose blank risks on flights. Explosion risks. Well, fire risk, good enough. This week, pop star Bad Bunny said he left the U.S. off his world tour over fears of blank raids at his concerts. Ice raids. Right. This week, a teacher in Germany sued her school after she was

asked to provide a doctor's note explaining why she had blanked. Pregnant. No, she was asked to explain why she had pregnant? No. Why is she pregnant? No, she was asked to explain why she hasn't shown up to work in 16 years. On Tuesday, NASA's Perseverance Rover found new evidence for potential life on blank.

Mars? Right? On Wednesday, ABC announced that one of the stars of the secret lives of Mormon wives would be the next blank. Bachelorette. Right, this week a German town is finally at peace after the culprit behind a string of ding-dong ditch pranks was revealed to be blank. The teacher who didn't show up for 16 years? No. A small garden slug. Residents of an apartment complex in Bavaria

couldn't figure out why their doorbells kept ringing and they'd run down and there'd never be anyone at the door. It turns out a small slug had been crawling over the doorbells on the building's main entry panel. That's so good. That's so German. It's less a ding-dong ditch, more of a ding-dong-woo.

Yeah. But here's the question for you, Ryan Fester. How did Brian do in our quiz? Brian got five more ripe. For 10 points, a total of 12, Brian is in the lead. Well done. All right, Emmy, you're up next.

Here we go, fill in the blank. On Thursday, President Trump gave a speech at the Pentagon commemorating blank. September 11th. Right. On Tuesday, RFK Jr. released the document of his Make America Blank Again strategy. Healthy. Yes, this week, the 300 South Koreans arrested during an ice raid

on a blank plant in Georgia were repatriated. Oh, it's a... Hyundai. Hyundai plan. According to a new study, childhood blank is now more common than childhood malnourishment. Obesity. Right, yes. This week, Japan is celebrating the life of a racehorse who had spent her 29-year career blanking.

Jumping. No, losing every single race. For the first time, in almost two years, Prince Harry had tea with blank. His father. King Charles, yes, on Thursday. Gmail announced a special tab only for sorting all your blank purchases. Your online purchases. From the internet?

No. Specifically, it's Amazon. This week, a nurse in Kentucky credited her CPR training with helping her save the life of a blank. Oh, that horse that lost all the races. No. She saved the life of a drunken raccoon. That won all the races?

Apparently. Can you imagine how bad that horse felt? The woman was on a walk when she heard strange noises coming from a dumpster next to a distillery. Turns out it was a drunken raccoon having difficulty breathing, so she laid down and started chest compressions. This has to be a tricky moment in the life of a nurse. On the one hand, you know that raccoons can carry rabies.

On the other, when are you going to get another chance to do CPR in a raccoon? Rimefest, how did Emmy do an Riquette? Emmy got five right for 10 points, a total of 12. Emmy and Brian are tied. Now, how many then does Peter Gross need to win? Peter needs four to tie and five to win. All right, here we go. Peter, this is for the game.

On Thursday, European leaders expressed alarm after drones sent by Blank were shot down in Poland. Russia. Right. In her new memoir, Kamala Harris, said it was reckless to allow Blank to make the decision to run for re-election without consultation. Donald Trump.

No, Joe Bud. Right. This week, the NCAA handed permanent bans to three college blank players who were involved in sports betting. Basketball? Basketball. Yes, for the first time since the pandemic,

Blank is no longer a top ten cause of death. for Americans. Oh, COVID? Yes, this week a man in Canada was ticketed while driving a blank. Just the funniest car. It's true, because it was a bright pink Barbie power wheels toy car.

According to a new study, chronic sleeplessness increases the chance of blank in aging brains. Dementia? Right, on Monday, the blanks announced a new cookie flavor based on Rocky Road ice cream. The Girl Scouts? Right, yes.

And what's being called, a first-of-its-a-hast, a honey store in the UK was robbed by a gang of blanks. I mean, it's got to be bears, right? No, bees. Oh. Give it back. Pretty much.

No, the heist was attempted. It was actually carried out by thousands of so-called robber bees. That's a subspecies known for stealing honey from other colonies' hives. The shop's owner was able to lure them into the bathroom where she could trap and release them, and thankfully, only one bee was killed. But wouldn't you know it? He was the old bee who had just gotten back in the game for one more score. This was in England.

What kind of Pixar Balarchy was that? It's like Guy Ritchie directed at Pixar movie. All right, but here's the big question. Rimefest, how did Peter do? Did he do well enough to win? Peter got six right for 12 points, total of 16. Peter gets the plastic apple from the Hampton.

Yay! Coming up, our panelists predict what new drug will be featured in the last ever pharmaceutical ad to be seen on TV. But first, let me tell you, wait, wait, don't tell me. He's a production of NPR and WBECC, Chicago, in association with urgent hair car productions, Doug Berman, the Nevelin, Overlord,

Philip Godica, rides out of Limericks. Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our tour manager is Shane Adonald, thanks to the staff and crew at the Studio Baker Theater. B.J. Leaderman, composed, our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles, Noroboss, and Lily and King. Special thanks this week to Blythe Robertson and Monica Hickey.

Our saint is Peter Mary Gwyn. Our visual host is Emma Choi. Technical Directions from Lauren and White. Our CFO is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse, our senior producer, Ian Chilog, and the executive producer. Wait, wait, don't tell me, is Mr. Hot Mike Danforth. Now, panel, what will be the last pharmaceutical ad we get to see in TV

before they all go away? Brian Babylon. It's going to be Handmaid's Plan B. Emmy Blotnik. A scatavan. It gives you the relaxed confidence to Jazz Skat. Peter Gross. Bone for Life, a pill you take just once that gives you an erection that never goes away for the rest of your life.

And if any of that happens, panel, we'll ask you about it on, wait, wait, don't tell them. Thank you, Dr. Chave Rimefest, Smith. Thanks also to Brian Babylon and the Blatnik, Peter Gross. Thanks to all of you here at the Student Baker Theater. You're fabulous. And thanks for all of you listening wherever you might be. I'm Peter Sagle. We'll see you next week from St. Louis, Missouri.

Now, show me what kind of hug you got. This is NPR.