Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - WWDTM: Live at Tanglewood with Paul Giamatti!

Episode Date: August 30, 2025

This week, we're live at Tanglewood with special guest Paul Giamatti and panelists Joyelle Nicole Johnson, Tom Bodett, and Mo Rocca!Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

There's a lot of news happening. You want to understand it better, but let's be honest, you don't want it to be your entire life either. Well, that's sort of like our show, here and now anytime. Every weekday on our podcast, we talk to people all over the country about everything from political analysis to climate resilience, video games. We even talk about dumpster diving on this show. Check out Here and Now Anytime, a daily podcast from NPR and WBUR.

Chicago. This is, wait, wait, don't tell me, the NPR News quiz. Spread my smooth, buttery voice on that baguette. I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Kusavitsky Music Shed at Tanglewood.

The summer home of the Boston Symphony, it is Peter Sagle. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, Tanglewood. It's so great to be back with you. We have a lot of people here inside the music shed, and then many of them out on the lawn. And if those people didn't bring any wine, there's a chance that actor Paul Giamatti, star of the movie Sideways, among many others, might bring some along with him when he joins us later. But first, it's your turn to play our games.

Give us a call. The number is 1-3-8-8-8-8-8-2-4. Hi, you were on Wait, Wait, Wait, Don't tell me. Hi, my name is Merrigan. I'm from Quincy, Massachusetts. Massachusetts. I know, Quincy. I do, actually.

What do you do there? I do, actually. What do you do there? So I work at Suffolk University in Boston, and I work for a research department that does political polling and survey research of national, state, and local elections. Oh, okay.

I'm sorry, but since you work at Suffolk University in Boston, don't you work in a department? Yeah. Yes. My five-year-old daughter knows the word wicked in many contexts. many contexts as well, too. A true native. Well, welcome to the show, Mary. Let me introduce you to our panel this week. First up, she's a comedian who just had the

winning answer on Family Feud and whose album, Yell Joy, is available everywhere. It's Joyle Nicole Johnson. Hey, Mary. Next, he's a writer and the founder of Hatch Space Community Woodshop in school in Brattleburg, of Vermont where fall classes are now available at HatchBase.org. It's Tom Bodette. Hello, Mary. And finally, someone who doesn't offer any woodworking classes

but is a correspondent for CBS Sunday morning. It's Mo Rocca. Hi, Mary. So, Mary, you're going to play Who's Bill this time. Bill Curtis is going to read your three quotations from this week's news. If you can identify just two of them, you'll win our prize, which is any voice from our show you might choose from your voicemail. Are you ready to go? Yes.

All right, then. Here we go. Your first quote is from CBS News White House reporter Olivia Rinaldi on Tuesday as she was reacting live on camera to a news alert on her phone. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. It's huge. The ring is Jean Norma. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. That was the typical reaction to the news of whose big engagement. Would that be Taylor, Swift, and Travis Kelsey? Yes, it would be. It's so exciting. Taylor Swift and, what's his name, are getting married. This news just took over everywhere.

It pushed everything else off the front page. It would have been a great week to release the Epstein files. And it was amazing that this engagement announcement done on their Instagram, it caused chaos. One college professor, this is true, said he had to cancel class, saying, quote, we all need to process this. Another person said she found out when everybody in her grocery store started shrieking at the same time.

time. It's so amazing to see once again the universal love for the tight end of the Kansas City Chiefs. She chose the wrong Kelsey brother. You feel that way. I've heard that sentiment expressed. Jason is more real. Okay. Choosing Travis over Jason, it's like choosing Jeff Bridges over Bow Bridges. That's harsh. I am not an expert in Kelsey's, but isn't Jason the guy who appeared famously shirtless and somewhat drunk on live TV at a football game? I know. Wasn't it hot? The wedding should be the halftime show at the Super Bowl.

That actually would be great. And also, who doesn't love a 12-minute wedding? No, it would be great. Nobody great. A halftime show at the next Super Bowl. 50,000 screaming fans. Blue Angels fly over, right? And the efficient is the Pope featuring Snoop Dog.

Here, here, Mary, is your next quote. We thank our guests for sharing your voices and your love of Cracker Barrow. That was the restaurant chain Cracker Barrel, who announced that after a huge outcry this week, they'd be returning to their original what? Their original logo? That's right. Cracker Barrel, the restaurant chain, caused outrage when they introduced a new logo, just last week, it removed

the former logo which had this iconic old man standing next to a cracker barrel. Even worse, the new CEO said that they had shoved the old man into the barrel and threw him into the river. After a week of complaints from right-wing

influencers that Cracker Barrel was caving to the woke left and erasing their heritage, Cracker Barrel announced they'd be bringing back the old logo with some minor changes. For example, now the old man next to the barrel is Robert E. Lee. I'm sorry. I'm actually, I'm happy

for the old man. I think it was ageist to force him into retirement. And I'm glad that he's been brought out of retirement. And I hate to be controversial. But I mean, a lot of these logos, like the Land of Lakes Indian lady. Sorry. I mean, she was forced into retirement. What is she doing now? Right, right. She's hanging out with Antiamima. But I was feeling, you know, when I heard it, they retired the old guy, I thought, well, it's about time.

He's kind of leaned over on that barrel. He doesn't look comfortable. Yeah. He's got his right hand on his leg, like maybe he's got a little sciatica thing going on. And I thought, all right, the guy needs a break. Yeah. Yeah. I'm happy they gave him a break because the logo was the problem I had with Cracker Barrow.

Yeah, really? If it wasn't for the logo, you'd be dining there in every special occasion. I'd love their rocking chairs. But, I mean, you can't blame Crackerbells. One thing, like, oh, God, we could get boycotted by, you know, like 35% of the nation. But what they really don't want is National Guard in their gift shop. That's true. Here's your last quote, Mary.

It's the London Times talking about a new scientific study. Do you have an irresistible urge to nap? So it turns out that according to science, it is actually a chronic medical condition that causes you to feel what in the middle of the day? Hired, exhausted? Yes, sleepy. Almost a third of the population deals with, and this is a real scientific name, excessive daytime sleepiness or EDS. That is shocking. Two-thirds of people don't.

So it turns out that, according to medical science, needing to take a nap every afternoon, is a chronic illness. Somewhere, the entire pizza you had for lunch is saying, I told you it wasn't me. I can't relate to this because I don't wake up before noon. So I usually don't have this problem. But today, I woke up at 10.30 this morning. so I have ERNS, which is excessive right now, sleepyness. It's funny, so many of the conditions that they're coming up with are exactly the same symptoms of being 70 years old.

Even 60 years old. So I realize I've been sensibly disabled for 10 years. I know. Bill, how did Mary do in our quiz? We're off to a great start. She got three in a row. is a winner. Congratulations. Well done. Thank you so much for calling. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. There's a lot of fun. Take care, Mary. All right, panel, now I have

some questions for you about the week's news. Tom, this week, USA Today ran a big story investigating whether or not you should do what in your underwear. Hmm That's a very narrow list And so we have to pinpoint this Well, I mean We know you can zoom in your underwear We know you can record national radio programs

In your underwear What can't you do in your underwear? Is it can't or not supposed to Or is an inquiry as to whether you should It's an open question Whether you should I don't know, let's say, I'll throw this out, attend your daughter's wedding. I think that would be a pretty brief article in that question, but I'll give you a hand.

This is relevant if you happen to suffer from EDS. Nap in your underwear? Sleep in your underwear. 700 words on whether or not you should sleep in your underwear. Oh, for goodness. Under the headline, should you wear underwear at night? But here's the thing. This article never says whether or not you should wear.

wear underwear at night. Not even in the section with the subhead, quote, should you wear underwear at night? We don't know. They won't tell us. It seems very strange to me. It does. It's like as we don't have enough to worry about it. To pose a question like that. And now everybody's like tearing themselves up trying to figure out if you should or not. I've been sleeping in my underwear for 50 years. Have you? I have actually, probably What else would you sleep in? I don't want to disclose too much

but when you wear underwear to sleep you are more likely to dream that you're being strangled. That's one man's personal experience and we can't generalize from that. What the hell's the matter with you, Mom? Specifically, what is being strangled? Just everything is being strangled. Coming up, our panelists get down on one knee

in our bluff the listener game. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me from NPR. Here at Life Kit, we take advice seriously. We bring you evidence-based recommendations. And to do that, we talk with researchers and experts on all sorts of topics. Because we have the same questions you do. Like, what's really in my shampoo? Or should I let my kid quit soccer?

Or what should I do with my savings in uncertain economic times? You can listen to NPR's Life Kit in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Thorne. What does it take to write a hit album? Good lyrics, catchy melody, sure. But for Heim, it starts with the drums. An album doesn't really start for us until we get the drum sound correct.

Follow this one weird trick to learn how to make a Heim album. It's on Bolzai for Maximumfund.org and NPR. On Code Switch, learning to swim often means overcoming fears older than we are. Her fears are in my, jeans. And when I'm in the water, I really believe it because my mom is deathly afraid

of the water. How having swimming skills today is wrapped up in who was allowed to swim generations ago. Check it out on Code Switch from NPR, wherever you get your podcast. From NPR and WBEC, Chicago, this is, wait, wait, don't

tell me the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis. We are playing this week with Tom Bodette, Joelle, Nicole Johnson, and Mo Rocca. And here to get as your host at Tanglewood in Western Massachusetts, Peter Sego. Thank you, Bill. Now it's time for the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, Bluff the listener game. Call 1-Tri-A-Wait-Wait to play our game in the air,

or you can always check out the pinned post on our Instagram page at Wait-Wate NPR. Hi, you are on Wait-Wate, Don't Tell Me. Hi, how you doing? I'm doing okay. Who's this? I'm Rob, I'm from Springfield. Rob, what do you do there in Springfield other than haunt my dreams with that voice? Wait, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, we had to pause the show.

Joyelle just ovulated. Yeah, and I'm feeling like I'm sounding a little shrill tonight. Rob, you're going to play the game where you have to tell truth from fiction. Bill, what is Rob's topic? Rob, will you marry me? Because you might have heard there was a big proposal in the news this week, but that couple was not the only ones to get engaged. Someone else made headlines for their hard work to plan the perfect proposal.

Our panelists are each going to tell you about it and pick the one who's telling the truth and to win the wait-waiter of your choice in your voicemail. First up, it's Joyelle Nicole Johnson. Before I start, hi, Rob. Hello. Here we go. There are timeless.

ways to say, will you marry me? But Dan Cole, a crypto-billionaire from Silver Spring, Maryland, wanted to give his marriage proposal to his girlfriend, Valentina, a real kick. He contacted her favorite soccer team, Real Madrid, and made an offer that they couldn't refuse. Two months and four million euros later, he flew his would-be fiancé to Spain for what she thought was just a regular match. Then, at the end of the game, when the goalie blocked the final kick for the win, the entire Real Madrid squad tore off their jerseys to reveal undershirts that all read, Chieres Conserte comigo, Valentina?

And a kiss cam zoomed in on the couple as he got down on one knee, so 30,000 fans got to see her look of horror in dismay because her favorite dream ain't Real Madrid, but Atlatico Madrid, the rival team that had just been humiliated by them eights and nil. Thankfully, she took it all in stride. She even said yes, all while glaring at the team captain, Donnie Carvajal, because she hates that dude. The only person upset was the Athletical Madrid team captain who said, quote, I would have told my daughter to say no.

A man arranges to have his girlfriend's favorite soccer team proposed for him, but it's the wrong soccer team. Your next engaging engagement comes from Tom Bodette. Engagements are problematic. There's the whole patriarchy thing and kneeling sucks and then, of course, diamonds. Those that weren't stolen from an impoverished country by some colonial power probably came from someplace worse, like Zales. So when Michelle Fox and her boyfriend Trevor Ballou decided to get married, she told him we're not getting

engaged until I find my own ethically sourced diamond. Turns out the world's only public diamond mine is in, you guessed it, Arkansas. So off to Arkansas, she goes. Fox camped out at Crater of Diamond State Park and dug around every day from eight to four. But on Fox's final day, she noticed a glimmer by her foot. She thought it was just due, but it turned out to be a two-point. point three-carat diamond, the third largest discovered at the park that year. Fox says the stone embodies who she wants to be in her marriage,

a person who spends all day by herself working really long, hard, unglamorous, sweaty, smelly hours at problems that may not be solvable. It sounds like they're also planning a family. Good luck, Michelle and Trevor. A woman ethically sources her own engagement ring diamond by digging it up herself. Your last improbable proposal comes from Mo Rocca. When Boston's Fran Kelly met Tom Wilbur, it was love at first laugh.

Tom was full of pranks and surprises. So when Tom told her he had something big to discuss over dinner one night, Fran was expecting a one-of-a-kind wedding proposal. Instead, Tom told her he was slowly and irreversive. dying from mercury poisoning. It was devastating news for Fran, except it wasn't true. I wanted to give her the ultimate surprise, said Tom. The ruse would end with Tom waking from the dead at his own funeral to propose to Fran. But when Fran arrived at the funeral, she was accompanied by her college crush Mickey Cavuti, who'd heard the devastating news and rushed to her side. Fran and Mickey were

married only two weeks later. Call this comedy, one wedding, and a sort of funeral, except there was nothing funny about it for Tom, who is now old and alone. The end. It's a tough story. All right, Rob. Here are your choices from Joel Nicole Johnson, a rich guy who paid the wrong soccer team to propose to his girlfriend for him. From Tom Bodette, a woman who insisted she would not get engaged until she dug up her own diamond with her own hands. That's not how this works, when people clap for what they think is real. Apparently, it's how it works here.

And from Mo Rocca, a man who thought he'd give his fiancé the surprise of her life when he popped up from his own coffin to pop the question. Which of these is the real story of engagements in the news? I'm definitely going to have to go with sourcing a diamond. Okay. Your

choice then is Tom's story. Well, to find out which story is true, we hear from the bride herself. They come from the ground. What is conceptually stopping us from just getting one ourselves? That was Michelle Fox speaking to Morning Edition about

mining her own diamond in Arkansas, where there really is the only public diamond mine in the whole world. Congratulations, Rob. You got it right. You earned a point for Tom. You've won our prize, the voice of your choice. It's been a pleasure talking to you

and hearing from you. Thank you so much for playing. Bye, Rob. Thank you. Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye. And now the game we call Not My Job, Paul Giamatti is a movie star for all of us. He doesn't play spies or superheroes, but he plays mostly every man. He's built a career playing people struggling with everything from existential regret to

writer's block to being dyed completely blue. And every time we see his performances on screen or on TV, we say to ourselves, yeah, that's me. That's my life because I, too, have been died completely blue. His latest project is a heartbreaking episode of the science fiction anthology, Black Mirror. We are delighted he joins us here at Tanglewood. Paul Giamati, welcome. Thank you very much.

Thank you. You very welcome. Real pleasure. Thank you. When, usually when I talk to actors with extremely long and very careers like you, I ask what role you're most often known for. But in your case, I wanted to ask something slightly different, which is, based on all the roles you've played,

what kind of assumptions do people make about you as a real person? Oh, I mean, the wine thing, everybody assumes I know all about wine. I don't know crap about wine. There you go, okay. Is there like a paradigmatic Paul Giamatti role? Like, who do they, there's a role that they say, we've got to get Paul Giamatti for this. He's perfect. Jeez, I don't know.

I mean, it used to be, I would get a script, and I'd open it, and I'd be reading it, and I would come to a character where they say kind of, disheveled man sort of shuffles into the room. Or something, an angry voice is heard off camera. She's out yelling in the bathroom or something. I was like, this is my part, okay. Get out the highlighter right there.

Here we go. Yep. And so it's, yeah, we're generally, you know, there's an angry middle management type who steps in. Just as soon as you see the line, what the hell are you doing? Exactly. Highlighting.

That's here. Exactly, exactly. Wow. You've got, you started out in, theater. You started it at Yale, and like a lot of actors, you worked your way up. One of your first TV roles, I was told, was Man in Sleeping Bag, on NYPD Blue. That's right. Right. Well, it was, it was one of the first kind of roles I had on television or anything. I'd been doing some legit theater. Well, of course. And then I took a day off to go play Man in Sleeping Bag. Yeah.

What did they have you do as Man in Sleeping Bag? Not Witness the Crime is what I did. Really? Yeah, they came to question us about who witnessed the crime. And I said, not me, man. And that was it. I was in the sleeping bag. And they were, Dennis Franz was going, who saw anything that happened? I said, not me, man. And were you down on the ground? On the ground. Yep. I was down, exactly. I was looking up at Dennis Franz. I went, not me, man. It's amazing. So many years later, you can still remember your lines. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Since I brought it up, I have to mention the movie, Big Fat Liar, in which you were, in fact, died completely blue.

Correct. Can you explain, for those who didn't see that movie, why were you died completely blue? I stole a kid, an idea from a kid for a screenplay. I play a big movie producer. And I steal the kid's idea, and the kid gets revenge on me in various ways, but one way is dumping a bunch of blue dye in my swimming pool. Right.

And so then I go for a swim and I get died blue. Right. Yeah. Listen, man, you know, I made decent money. Yeah. But, you know, listen, you know, I mean, what was I going to do? Say no? Yeah, I know.

And did you lie there? And did you lie there as they were spray painting you blue for two hours? Yeah. Oh, two hours. Saying, I am a graduate of Yale School of Drama. Absolutely. I tell you, interesting little thing about that. They spray you with tattoo ink like that.

It was blue tattoo ink. And every night the guy had to, or somebody had to rub it off of me. It stayed up. It stayed on my feet for about six months. We couldn't get it off my feet. So my feet were blue for about six months. Just a little bit of trivia. Yeah, and did your friends and family just sort of understand this?

Yes, they did. Yes, very understanding people. It wasn't like you went home and your wife was like, Paul, do you have gangrene? Yes, I do. You have, and I'm among them in a larger sense. you have a very devoted fan base. And in fact, they have created the Wax Paul Now movement.

Are you aware of this? Yes, I'm aware of it, yeah. I think it's a thing of the past. I think that train has left the station. I don't think I'm getting a wax statue at Madame Tuss. So that idea was the people, they actually created a movement to get you, Paul Giamatti, star of stage and scream, your own wax figurine at Madam Tussos. Yes, they tried to, and it didn't work.

Right. Yeah. I don't know how you qualify. That's my question. What's the qualification for getting a wax statue? I don't know. If I can't get one, who the hell can get one? I mean, that's true.

For Christ's saying, I mean, my God, right? No, that would have been, that would have been, that would have been, that would have been, that would have been, that would have been like, I'm done, that's good. I don't need any more honors than that. Well, Paul Giamatti, we have asked you here to play a game we're calling. Holdovers? Fine. Leftovers? Yum. So you just started a movie called The Holdovers, which was great, but it made us think of left-oh-out. A lot of people liked it.

Nice, good, great. And that movie made us think of leftovers, which, of course, made us think of Tupperware. Answer two or three questions about the iconic food containers, and you will win our prize for one of our contestants. The voice of anyone they choose for their voicemail. Bill, who is Paul Giamatti playing for? Barbara Jack Litch from Salisbury, Connecticut. All right. Here's your first question.

Ready to go? Yeah. Here's your first question. Okay. Everybody loves Tupperware, including your fellow celebrities, like legendary singer Patty LaBelle. We know this because she recently told an interviewer what? A, that Elton John stole her Tupperware and never gave it back.

B, that her concert rider includes eight quart-sized Tupperware containers so she can take home leftovers or see that she keeps the cremains of her three late husbands in them so they can quote stay fresh oh boy cremaine sounds like something you can eat yeah it does um enjoy cremains yes totally from your dressing room um soft sir now i guess i'm going with that one i guess i'm going with the remains yeah yeah no it was elton john oh wow yes you mentioned that she has big heart. She did back in the 60s when she was pretty big, but Elton Jaum was just a starving young piano player.

He came to her house. Not only did she feed him, she gave him leftovers to take home in Tupperware, and she says 50 years later, never got a back. That's amazing. That's awesome. All right, you have two more chances. Here's your next question. Tupperware isn't just for leftover food. A Tupperware container

was used at one point for storing which of these. A, Queen Elizabeth's collection of favorite earrings. B. Albert Einstein's brain or see two pounds of plutonium left over from making the first atomic bomb. That seems absurd

to me. The plutonium one, that would just melt the plastic. Even Tupperware couldn't do that. Einstein's brain was stolen by a couple of guys, right? Yeah. And they drove around with it in the trunk of their car, I think. I'm going to actually guess it's that one.

Einstein's brain, you're right. Whoa! So what happened was, Einstein's brain was removed from his body after he died by the doctor who did the autopsy, and there was no law against it then. But when he did drive across the country in an attempt to return it to Einstein's descendants, he did put it in a Tupperware. Amazing.

So this is the last question. Earl Tupper, the guy who invented Tupperware. Wow, really? Yeah. Wow. He was a prolific inventor. He also came up with which of these ideas, A, a fish-powered boat. B, a combination belt, buckle, and photo frame.

What? No, that's not interesting. Or C, the jet ski. Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on. This is hard. I want to go with fish-powered boat, because I think that's kind of cool. Your choice is fish-powered boat? He actually came up with the idea for all of them.

Wow. That's true. Quick question. Wow. He left a notebook behind with all these ideas, including all the ones I mentioned, and yes, one of them was a motorcycle for the water that looks just like a jet ski. He never patented it, but he did come up with it. Wow.

There you are. He's like Leonardo da Vinci. He really was in many ways. Wow. Bill, how did Paul Giamatti do in our grade? Two out of three? That's a win, Paul. Yes.

You're the champ. They're celebrating in Salisbury. They are. They are. Showing that's all great. Setting things on fire. Pushing cars over. Paul Diamati is an Oscar nominee

and Emmy winner. You can soon see in Downton Abbey the grand finale coming to theaters on September 12th or the episode Eulogy of Black Mirror available right now. Paul Giamatti, thank you so much for you.

Paul Giamatti, everybody. Oh! Just a minute, Bill pulls out his axe and shreds for you in our listener in Limerick Challenge call 1-88. Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait, to join us on the air. We'll be back in a minute with more. Wait, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, from NPR. It's that time of gear again.

Planet Money Summer School is back. This semester with help from professors, policy experts, and yes, even a Nobel laureate. We're diving into how government and the economy mix. And asking the big questions like, what? role should government play in our economy? Does government intervention help or hurt, and how big should the government be? That's on Planet Money Summer School from NPR, wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Joyal Nicole Johnson, Tom Bowden, and Mo Rocca, and here. again is your host at Tanglewood in Western Massachusetts, Peter Sago. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, everybody. In just a minute, Bill addresses our Limerick game by its full name, the listener Limerickard Challenge. If you'd like to play, give us a call. One triple-8.

Wait, wait. That's one 888-9-24-8-924. But now panel, I have some more questions for you from the week's news. Tom, there's a new trend of place. that offer multiple TV showing sports, pool, foosball tables, arcade games, and other amenities, all just to lure men into doing what? Oh, I know this.

Seeing a doctor. Exactly right. According to researchers, men live shorter lives than women on average, primarily because they refuse to go to the doctor. It makes sense. Medicine is for softies. The bar, die young, men. Since staying alive is apparently not enough of an incentive

to get men to come see the doctor. Some men's medical clinics are trying to lure them in with things like sports on TV and table games. Fellas, get your checkup maxing on at your closest bro-m-D. The waiting room was full of leather and brush steel, and the axe-throwing parlor is attached to the ER. Man, so, I mean, if you're in one of those little robes,

with no butt in it, you know, and you're sitting on the leather furniture. I mean, this is starting to sound like a... Wait, what is it? A robe with no butt? You know, the little gowns they give you. The hospital gowns that don't tie in the back. Picture it on Jason Kelsey. I'm just picturing this sports bar

with everybody in those. Lean over to take a shot at the pool table and everybody looks away. That's not my fantasy. Now, it's not just that because men are apparently so helpless when it comes to the doctor. This is all true that there is a men's clinic in Cleveland that has a staff of eight, quote, Joe's.

That's what they're called, Joe's. And they help patients with everything from scheduling appointments and finding pharmacies to even reminding the clients of things like Mother's Day and anniversaries. They're Joe's? I thought it would be the opposite. Like it would be a Hooters type situation.

Like in a little nurse South Florida. and be like, well, Joe's for Mo, but Hooters for... Yeah, dependent. Thank you. That's very considerate. I see you, Mo. They would have a selection. Yeah.

Joyell, Burning Man organizers are vowing to rebuild after a devastating duststorm this last week, destroyed the dedicated dome there on the playa that is used for what? Orgy! Yes, the Orgy Dome is no more at Burns. Now, it's never right to make fun of people suffering from a weather tragedy they didn't deserve unless it involves an orgy dome. Now, the orgy dome isn't just a diaphragm marketed to millennials. It's a specific place set up at Burning Man every year where orgies are held, and this week a 50-mile-per-hour dust storm tore through the site and completely destroyed the tent.

maybe God is real after all. Yeah. The Burning Man staff says that they will rebuild the Orgy Dome because luckily that part of the FEMA budget wasn't cut. 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 want to play on air, call it'll leave a message at 1-8-8-wait-wait-wait.

That's 1, 888-9248-924. You can see us most weeks here at the Studio Baker Theater in Chicago, or you can catch us on the road. We'll be at the fabulous Fox Theater in St. Louis on September 18th, and Honolulu, Hawaii, can you believe it? On October 9th and 10th, for tickets and information to all of our live shows, go to NPRPRPERS. And if you're really desperate for us,

you can find even more of us on TikTok at Wait, Wait, Wait, NPR. Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell me. Hey, this is Mish from Philadelphia. Hey, Mish, how are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm fine. In my mind, every cool person in Philadelphia is named something like Meech. Yeah, you're not wrong. Yeah, and what do you do there?

I do a whole bunch of stuff, but right now my primary job is I work at a little store that sells board games and card games. Oh, I love board game stores. They're the best. They are the best. Do you have a favorite? Oh, I thought you might ask me that, and I totally should have prepared for that question. All right, hang on. This sometimes helps jog your memory here. Is there a game you hate the most, and is it monopoly? Yes.

Yes, yes, absolutely. Well, Meesh, welcome to the show. Bill Curtis is going to perform for 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, on two of the limericks, you'll be a winner. You ready to go? Absolutely.

Here's your first limerick. My sport doesn't need ball or bat, or even an exercise mat. I strengthen my core, chasing birds out of doors. I run on all fours like a... Like a cat? Yes. The hot new trend in fitness is running around in nature on all fours like a cat.

I guess this is why everybody was reading that book, All Fours this last summer. It must be an exercise manual. The movement is known as quadrobics, and practitioners say it can increase your fitness, help you lose weight, even give you rock-hard abs. So I no longer feel weird about commenting under every cat video, wow, how can I look this hot? Here is your next limerick. This hotel sounds like one big band camp,

because the outlets serve more than a lamp. Let's go to the bar to check out a guitar, because each room has its own marshal. I'm going to hear that one again. Sure, let's hear it again. This hotel sounds like one big band camp, because the outlets serve more than a lamp. Let's go to the bar to check out a guitar, because each room has its own Marshall. I can't hear you.

I appreciate the effort, though. Is it stamp? No, it rhymes with camp and lamp. It has to be with guitars. percent, Marshall's... Oh, an amp! An amp! Yes!

When you check into a ruby hotel, that's a European hotel chain, soon coming to America, guests can select an electric guitar from the collection in the lobby, bring it up to their room, plug it into the amp that every room is provided with,

and shred away. Fun for you. Not so for the person in the next room, who will start banging in the adjoining wall, yelling, could you please have loud, gross sex instead? Can you imagine how many times you'd have to hear stairway to heaven? Oh, my God. All right, here is your last limerick.

In Japan, we're protecting our teens, all the doom scrollers and gossip queens. Two hours at home, you can be on your phone anymore, and we're taking your screens, yes, if you want to look at your phone less when you need encouragement, just move to the town of Taiyake in Japan where they just passed a law meant to limit everyone's screen time to just two hours a day. It's going to be great for people to have this law, one way or another. Either your screen time goes down or your step count goes up

when you try to get out of city limits just to get the latest on Real Housewives of Atlanta. Now, this ban would not have... affect just phones, but also laptops, which is crazy because laptops aren't screens. Laptops are TV, and TV is books. Bill, how did Mish do in our quiz? They got all three winners. Congratulations, Mish.

Thank you very much. Thank you so much for calling and playing. Take care. It's hard. It's true to be without you. I don't complain. It's just insane. It's hard. It's true to be without you, yeah. These days, there's so much news. It can be hard to keep up with what it all means for you, your family, and your community.

The Consider this podcast from NPR features our award-winning journalism. Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a news story and provide the context and analysis that helps you make sense of the news. We get behind the headlines. We get to the truth. Listen to the Consider This podcast from NPR. Now on to our final game, Lightning, fill in the blank. Each player will have 60 seconds now to answer as many fill in the blank questions as they can. Each correct answer are now worth two points.

Bill, can you give us the scores? Mo has one. Joyal has two. And look at the big man. Tom has four. Whoa, how is that possible? I don't know. Catch that.

It's Mo, then Joyel, then Tom. So that means, Mo, we start with you. The clock will start when I begin your first question, fill in the blank. On Monday, the White House followed through on threats to level a 50% tariff rate on goods from blank. India. Right.

On Sunday, the U.S. government announced they had acquired a 10% stake in computer company, blank. Intel. Right. This week, Russia launched a new air attack on blank. Key. Right. On Tuesday, the FDA approved updated blank vaccines

just for select groups. COVID. Right. This week, 73-year-old Bill Belichick and his 26-year-old girlfriend filed a trademark for the phrase blank. Oh, it's the trademark, not robbing the cradle, it's a trademark, uh, uh, sugar daddy, no.

Oh, you're going to hate yourself, ready? Gold Digger. Oh, wow. Sugar Daddy is a synonym for gold digger. It's a trademark. According to a new study, 60% of teachers admit to using blank for lesson planning. AI. Right, on

Wednesday, paleontologists announced the discovery of a new armored to blank. Dinosaur vehicle? Yes. No, just dinosaur. Dinosaur! Dinosaur! This week, a 75-year-old realtor at a concert in the Hamptons was arrested after she allegedly blanked just to get a free t-shirt thrown to the crowd. She

stole from a child. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Who she did what to? She, she, um, did she hit the child I'll give it you. She bit the child. During a t-shirt toss at the Main Beach concert series in the Hamptons,

one very high-end real estate agent got so excited that she allegedly punched and kicked her way through the crowd and then bit the arm of a seven-year-old in order to claim the shirt. It finally answers the question, what do you get for the woman who has everything? Flesh.

There's a reason they're called brokers. Exactly. Bill, how did Mo do on our quiz? coming on strong. Seven more points. He's got 14 and 15, a total for the lead. All right. Joelle, you're up next. Here we go. Fill in the blank. In Israel, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets demanding an end to the war in blank.

Palestine? I'll give it to you, Gaza this week. Prosecutors failed to secure an indictment against a man who threw a blank at a federal agent in D.C. A sandwich. A sandwich. According to a new data, Blank is making oceans significantly more acidic. Shark poop. No, climate change. On Wednesday, NASA said that a building-sized asteroid would miss the Earth but might hit the blank.

Moon. Yeah, that's right. Moon. Following years of constant construction noise, Mark Zuckerberg is finally making amends with his neighbors by blanking. Giving them billions of dollars. No, he's not going to do that. but he will give them all noise-canceling headphones. So Zuckerberg has spent over $100 million buying up 11 homes together

to make a residential compound in Palo Alto, California, including the excavation over 7,000 square feet of underground rooms. So after nine years of constant construction, finally he listened to his beleaguered neighbors and made it up to them by giving them noise-canceling headphones. And the first month of the subscription you need to make them work is free. Well, he's a charmer. He really is.

How to do, Bill? Well, you're in the game. Three right, six more points. You have a total of eight, which is number two. All right. All right. So how many then does Tom need to win, Bill? Six to win, Thomas.

Here we go. On Monday, President Trump signed an order purportingly making it illegal to burn blank. The flag. Right. On Tuesday, Denmark called a meeting with a U.S. envoy over reports that the administration was running covert influence operations in Blank. Greenland. Right. This week, Lucasfilm announced that filming had begun in the new Blank movie. Oh, the Star Wars.

Yes. Following clashes with RFK Jr., the recently installed head of the blank was fired. CDC. Right. This week, Duolingo issued an apology after the app repeatedly taught users to say the phrase blank in German. Um, go yourself. No. It taught them how to say the phrase, quote,

I like the Harry Potter books, but I don't like the author, unquote. Hey. According to a new study, getting better blank increases happiness in young people. Getting better sleep. Yes, getting better sleep. On Thursday, private space company Blank launched 30 more satellites into orbit. That would be SpaceX. SpaceX, yes.

This week, a golfer competing in the BMW championship hit his ball just next to the hole but still managed to score under par, thanks to blank. A passing bird. No. A fly

that landed on the ball and made it fall in the hole. The video, which you can see, is amazing. Zooms in very close. The ball comes to a stop right in the lip of the hole. Then a tiny fly lands on one side of the ball, crawls over

to the other, and it's added weight on that side, tips it into the hole. Awesome. It's amazing. Thanks to these, and this counts, because you know, rule does not say you can't have a fly as a helper. That should be like a shrine. It really should be. Bill, did Tom do well

enough to win? You got six, right? What a winner, number one. Congratulations, Tom. Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. Coming up, our panelists will reveal what did the old man from the Cracker Barrel logo do with his week off. Wait, Wait Don't Tell him.

It's a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago in association with urgent haircraft productions Doug Berman, the benevolent overlord. Philip Godica writes our limericks, our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our tour manager, Shane Adonnell. Thanks to the staff and crew in Tanglewood and everyone here at NEPM.

BJ Leaderman composer, our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Grumboss, and Lillian. King. Special thanks to Mahanid Al-Sheki and Monica Hickey. The director of the Ritzman family singers is Peter Gwynn. Emma Choi is our vibe curator. Technical direction

is from Lorna White. Our CFO is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. Our senior producer is Ian Chilock and the executive producer. Wait, wait, don't tell me. That's Michael Danforth. Now, panel, what will we find out that the old guy in the cracker barrel logo did with his free time this week? Tom Bodette? Needing to work that cramp

out of his leg from sitting in that chair all those years. He had to do the Berkshires for a week-long yoga camp at Kripaloole. Joyelle Nicole Johnson. He submitted a formal apology to the N-W-A-CP. And Mo Rocca. He went and got a COVID shot.

He'll last another week before he gets canned again. Well, depending of that happens, panel, we're going to ask you about it on wait, wait, don't tell me. Thank you, Bill Curtis. Thanks also to Joyal Nicole Johnson. Mo Rocca from Bodek. fabulous audience to the Berkshires at Tanglewood. And thanks to all of you for listening wherever you might be.

I'm Peter Sagan. We'll see you next week.