Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - Alex Boyé

Episode Date: November 30, 2019

Alex Boyé, singer, joins us along with past interviews and panelists Adam Burke, Amy Dickenson, Bobcat Goldthwaite, and Paula Poundstone.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. Doorbuster, make way for Billbuster, Bill Curtis. And here is your host at the Chase Bank Auditorium in Chicago, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, everybody. You're so kind. It is Thanksgiving weekend. And if your family is anything like ours, you've managed to exhaust every topic of conversation other than politics,

and you're getting dangerously close to turning your in-laws into a human turducken. So, in order to forestall disaster fights, the rewriting of wills, why not spend the next hour with us as we revisit some favorite segments and bring you some things you've never heard before? Or you can tell your father-in-law exactly what you think about presidential golf trips. It's your funeral. Let's start with an interview with Olivia Wilde, the actress who directed her first feature film this year, Booksmart.

Peter, ask her what she's best known for. I think it is probably House, but you never know. There's Tron fans everywhere. They come out of the woodwork, you know. I do. They're sort of more of the nerdy variety. Yes, they're also the most awesome. I love the Tron fans everywhere. But I have to say, Drinking Buddies is a movie I shot in Chicago. Yes, with our very own Joe Swanberg. And yes, and I love it very much, and I have to give it up for the Chicago

micro-brew scene, which is really awesome, and I miss it. This is great, and I'm glad you mentioned this earlier, because obviously, as we've mentioned, you've done some pretty serious Hollywood projects, and Joe Swanberg, a local filmmaker here in Chicago, he's famous for shooting ultra low-budget movies He doesn't script them. He just says hey guys. This is your character sit here. I'm turning in the camera go yeah

That's right. Yeah, and did you enjoy working that way? Oh my god? I loved it especially because we were drunk 100% of the time I tried to emulate it with book smartart, with less beer, because we had young people. I understand. But it was still fun. So let's talk about the movie. This isn't the first thing you directed. You've done some short films,

but this is your first feature, which is very exciting. Yes. One of the things I've read is that it's very intimidating to be a movie director, because even in a low-budget movie, there's a lot of money, there's a lot of people. They're all looking to you to be the leader.

Did you have to struggle with that? Was that tough for you? Did you fall naturally into the role? I felt pretty naturally into it because I've been on sets for 17 years and I was ready to take the reins. You know, I was ready to be the boss. So it wasn't too hard. I enjoyed that part.

Had you been on sets doing all those other projects you've been doing, sitting there the whole time going, damn it, I should be in charge. Increasingly, yes. I understand. Yeah. This movie, Booksmart, it's about two young women. They're about to graduate high school. It's also very contemporary, if I'm not mistaken.

It takes place right now, the spring of 2019. Yes, that's right. And you are, to me, a very young person, but you're not that young. So did you have to learn stuff about what high school kids are like now and how they were different when you were graduating high school? Yeah, basically they're just a lot better now. They're much smarter.

They're much cooler. They're much more evolved. They're much more fluid. And then I had to learn some of their cool lingo because I am 100,000 years old, and I had to kind of catch up on how they talk. And they have cool lingo. For the longest time, I didn't know what they meant when they were like,

Rad Fit lives. And I was like, what are they saying? But that means outfit. So I pass that on to you. I'm sorry. The word Fit. F-I-T. F like frog. Fit. Rad Fit. Rad Fit, man. Yeah. Did they ever tell you anything that made you think they were just pulling your leg?

I'm sure they were the whole time, but they were very, very kind to me. I have to ask you, this is a movie, as is given away by the title, about two rather brainy girls in high school who, in fact, decide at one point they haven't had enough fun. They've been so brainy and working so hard. Was that what you were like in high school who in fact decide at one point they haven't had enough fun they've been so brainy and working so hard was that what you were like in in high school i went to like the ultimate nerd high school just the nerdiest of the nerds and i was one of them and i'm proud to be but we didn't have fun parties unless everyone else did and i just wasn't made aware but uh i had to make a movie about it in order to go to the party. I had to cast everyone and pay them to be there. So the movie has come out. It's gotten great reviews.

I hope a lot of people see it. Let's assume that it is the success that it seems to be. Do you know what you want to do next? Are you going to try to do one of those big superhero movies next? That seems to be the usual progression. Wouldn't that be fun? Wouldn't it? That sounds fun. Well, you've done those big movies. next? That seems to be the usual progression. I mean, wouldn't that be fun? Wouldn't it? That sounds fun. Well, you've done those big movies.

You could handle it. I can handle it. I can handle it. As long as I have, you know, good snacks and some loud music, I can make it happen. But truly, you know,

I will say, the statistics are pretty grim for female filmmakers. So I say that all of us ladies should step up and start telling stories as much as we possibly can. Well, Olivia Wilde, we have in fact asked you here to play a game that we're calling

Olivia Wilde, Have Some Wild Wings. That's right. We're going to ask you about Buffalo Wild Wings, the casual dining franchise that was named in your honor by some drunk guys who were really into cowboys and aliens. Answer two out of three questions correctly, and you'll win our prize for one of our listeners, the wait-waiter of their choice during their voicemail.

Bill, who is Olivia Wilde playing for? Ned Bohovich of Denver, Colorado. All right. You ready to do this? Yes, I am. Alright, here's your first question. Though the star of the menu at Buffalo Wild Wings is obviously the wings, that's not all

they have to offer. You could also order which of these at one of their restaurants? A. A one-gallon bag of fountain soda for only $7.99. B. A cocktail called the Gin and Tonic and Ranch Dressing. Or C. Chicken forearms Oh my god I really hope it's the bag

What was the bag of? Fountain soda That's what it is And what does that come with? Well, it comes with a bag and some soda Are you choosing that? I'm choosing it You're right, Olivia And what does that come with? Well, it comes with a bag and some soda. Are you choosing that? I'm choosing it.

You're right, Olivia. That's the right order. Very good. It's good for parties. Yes. Next question. You can catch almost any sport you want on the many TVs at your local Buffalo Wild Wings, but at one location in Alabama, you can also do what? A, attend a church service,

B, hunt game in the very big backyard, or C, have paintball fights with other customers. Oh, wow. Oh, my gosh. I'm going to go with church. You're absolutely right, Olivia, yes. Of course, the church service at this particular Buffalo Wild Wings begins before the restaurant opens.

You can't have beer and wings during service. However, they encourage you to stick around and enjoy it after the sermon. Does the communion wine also come in a bag? Absolutely. All right, here's your last question. You can be perfect in this, as you have been in so many other things. Aw. Here's your last question. You can be perfect in this, as you have been in so many other things. Aw. Aw.

Here's your last question. March Madness is the busiest time at Buffalo Wild Wings, right? So the restaurant is always looking for ways to make the customer's experience even more enjoyable, including which of these? A, they set up booths with sports bookies to help you draw up your brackets. B, an on-site therapist for those suffering from actual clinical March Madness, or C, the jewel stool, a cooled bar stool for men who got vasectomies so they could skip work and watch more games.

I love all of those so much, but I'm going to go with A. You're going to go with A, the booths with sports bookies. No, it was actually the jewel stool. This is true. bookies. No, it was actually the jewel stool. This is true. And it is ingenious. Many men schedule vasectomies around

March Madness. This is true. So they can enjoy the enforced rest in front of the TV. So why not entice them down to Wild Wings, right? Marketing genius. Bill, how did Olivia Wilde do on our quiz? She won.

Two out of three. That's a big one for her. Congratulations. You should feel good about this. I feel great. Do I get a lifetime supply of wings? I'm hoping. I think you should go into your nearest Buffalo Wilde wings and say,

Hello, I'm Olivia Wilde. I would like some wings and see what happens. Okay, I'm on it. Go do it. Olivia Wilde's new film, Booksmart, is in theaters now. Go see it. It's charming and funny as all get out. Olivia Wilde, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us on Wait, Wait, Wait. Thank you. If there's one thing that our listeners love, it's what we've come to call Paula Rants. That's when Paula Poundstone gets very, very exercised about some topic or another. It actually has cardio benefits.

Here's a particularly aerobic rant from earlier this year about a particular NPR news report with guest host Tom Papa. There was an NPR piece one time when Colorado first legalized pot. They also came up with this really stupid idea to do a thing like the wineries do. It was like a pot dispensary tour, which is just so painfully stupid, it's hard to conceptualize. But a vehicle comes and picks up the customer, and the NPR reporter rode around, and they begin. And the woman that gets in the car, forget her name. Susan Stanberg.

No, no, the client. No, so they go to the first dispensary and the woman was so enthusiastic she was like 60 years old, so enthusiastic and she goes in, for some reason the reporter didn't go in with her but when she comes out they go, well what did you buy? and she was like, I get this chocolate, I get this joint, I get this thing like already so much

and then they get in the car to go to another place and the lady had been very chatty at first, and now all you could hear over the audio was the woman laughing uncontrollably. But it was like creepy. She was like,. And then the reporter comes back and says that they had to... They were on their way to another dispensary. And that they had to...

They had to discontinue the trip because she had become incommunicable. And I had a trip to Colorado coming up before I heard that piece, and I thought, you know, maybe I could partake because it's legal now, and I could do that maybe when I went there. And I heard that piece, and I'm like, never! I don't know how I feel about the whole weed legal thing. I live in California, and it used to be, if you smelled weed, you were like, oh, I'm someplace cool.

I'm at a concert. Now you're like, I'm in a nursing home visiting my grandmother. I've got a bag of butter now I'm grinding, grinding. Making it so right soon I'll be twisting more than... Coming up, a never-before-heard bluff to listen to her game in a visit with singer Alex Boyer. That's when we come back on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR. From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me,

the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Chase Bank Auditorium in Chicago, Peter Seigel. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, everybody. In October, we went to Salt Lake City to record our 1,000th show. And if you do 1,000, well, of course, you have to do 1,001. So on the second night, Bill Curtis and I joined with panelists Adam Burke, Amy Dickinson, and Bobcat Goldthwait to try to fool the audience in our bluff game.

And then we had a remarkable visit with Salt Lake City's own Alex Boyer, the only former member of the Morburn Tabernacle Choir to become a YouTube star. Here it is. Right now, it's time for the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me bluff the listener game called 1-triple-8-wait-wait to play our game on the air. Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Bluff the Listener Game called 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play our game on the air. Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Oh my goodness. It's really happening. Hi. It is. It's happening. It's happening now. Who's this?

Hi, this is Jess from Salt Lake City, Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. You're like, how far away from the Eccles Theater are you right now? I'm like a mile away. My father-in-law is in town. He doesn't listen. Wait a minute. You're a mile away and we're talking to you. Yeah, at first I thought it was going to be one of those, the call is coming from inside the house. I know. Lady in the front row with a cell phone.

You're so close. Just come on by. We'll wait. Well, welcome to the show. Now, Jess, you're going to play our game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction. What is Jess's topic, Bill? They call me Octopushy. This week in the news, we learned a new word, and that word is octopus. And no, it doesn't mean a doula for octopuses.

Our panelists are going to tell you what it does mean. Only one of them, though, is telling the truth. Pick that one, and you'll win our prize, the weight-waiter of your choice on your voicemail. Are you ready to play? I'm ready. All right. First, let's hear from Adam Burke. Tiffany Fleet of Plano, Texas, has always hated

October. It's not a seasonal affective disorder thing, she explains. It's just the fact of October, the pumpkin spice and Halloween decorations going up right after Labor Day. October is just this big lame reminder that summer is over and the end of the year is rushing toward you. Fleet soon located like-minded thinkers online and earlier this year founded OctoPush, a grassroots movement aimed at shunting the dreaded 10th month to later in the year. The plan is to add six days to both August and September and make October shorter and later, explained Fleet.

The idea seems to be gathering steam. A recent change.org petition espousing the OctoPush agenda garnered 120,000 signatures. Dr. Jordan Lowry, an OctoPusher from Sacramento, sees a scientific rationale for the shift. Global warming is causing havoc with the traditional abscission and foliage change in trees, so realigning October to reflect that isn't a bad idea, he explained.

Plus, remember that Pope Gregory changed the calendar by 10 days in 1582, and he didn't even have a website. While Fleet acknowledges the new arrangement will take some getting used to, particularly for people born in the latter part of the month, she adds, if it means an extra two weeks of me not hearing the monster mash in a CBS, it'll be worth it. A movement to push October back so we don't have to deal with it quite so soon. Your next story of what Octopus might mean comes from Amy Dickinson. It's pretty obvious by now that all human endeavor will eventually become an Olympic sport. You know, sword fighting became fencing, and now sinking

to the bottom of the pool might become the newest and weirdest sport hoping to compete at the Olympics. This new sport is called OctoPush, and next month it'll make its debut at the Southeast Asia Games. OctoPush is a form of hockey that's played underwater at the bottom of a swimming pool. The game was developed by the British Royal Marines for underwater training in the 1950s. And it's called OctoPush because the name near drowning was already taken. The entire game, featuring swimmers and a weighted puck, happens underwater. The players wear Speedos and have little tiny hockey sticks. They and their referees surface every few seconds to gulp air.

I'd explain the scoring system to Octopus, but no one cares. I'll tell you how spectators can watch Octopus, but they really can't. A version of hockey played at the bottom of a pool while holding your breath. Your last Octopusher,

well, that's Bobcat Goldquake. For decades in the small Swedish town of Gothenburg, giant mysterious wooden spatulas have been unearthed and have flummoxed the community over their purpose. Thought to possibly be an ancient farming tool, the town's folks would paint the spatulas with bright festive colors and use them to decorate their gardens, often hanging them in their own homes. It wasn't until recently when archaeologist Lars Dahlberg found an ancient parchment in a nearby cave that the real use of the spatulas was discovered. The large tool, dubbed the octopus by Dahlberg, is believed to have played a main role in the ancient Nordic practice of

Antus Upa. Antus Upa is when the elders of the clan threw themselves off cliffs in order not to be a burden to their families or the tribe. Lars said, I guess sometimes the elders would have second thoughts about hurling themselves in the great abyss and would start to run back. No. Then the octopus was used to swat them off the cliff like large geriatric house flies. Talberg said he believes the octopus was also used at the bottom of the cliff

to help clean up afterwards. People of Gothenburg have removed octopushes from their homes and gardens. Elsa Blacklund, the town's woman, declared, it's really a terrible shame because an ornately decorated octopush really made my den come alive. All right. So, Jess. There is a thing this much we can tell you called octopush is it from adam burke a movement to push october back in the year so we can have a little bit more time before we deal with it

from amy dickinson a weird but a real sport played with a hockey puck at the bottom of a pool while holding your breath, or from Bobcat Goldthwait, an ancient Nordic implement used as a spatula to push reticent senior citizens off of cliffs? I'm going to go with A. You're going to go with A. You're going to go with Adam's story.

The audience here likes it. You're going to choose Adam's story, but the people who want to push October back, because wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have to deal with it? Yes. All right. Well, to bring you the real story, we spoke to someone involved in it.

Underwater hockey is played normally in seven. It's in the deep pool. And this next year in Tokyo, they're considering underwater hockey to be an Olympic sport. That was Mike Hilton. He is the director of the 2019 USA Underwater Hockey Nationals. In other words, he plays octopus. So I'm so sorry you didn't get it right. However, you earned a point for Adam and maybe helped start a movement,

which I for one would support. And I'm sorry you didn't win, but hey, you know, we're going to be here for another hour. Run on down. One of us will record your voicemail. I promise you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Take care.

And now the game where people travel a long way to arrive at a brief moment of silliness. It's called Not My Job. Alex Boyer lives here in Salt Lake City, but he was born in London to a Nigerian mother. And along the way, he has led a boy band sung in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and been a backup dancer for George Michael. Yeah, fine, you might say. But what's he done that's unusual? Well, he also personally gave a Book of Mormon to Prince Charles. How's that? It was a dare. It was a dare. All right. Alex Boye, welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you so much. It's such a pleasure to have you. It's great. The more I read about you, the more I believe you're a fictional character. But that's true. You grew up kind of rough in London.

Yeah, I went through the foster care system a lot and everything. And then I ended up at a boarding school when I was 11. The school I went to was Wolverston Hall School. And it was like subsidized. So all the kids from the hood, from the really bad places of London and broken homes, that kind of stuff. And the school, the buildings looked like something out of Harry Potter. Right. But without the magic and the moving floorboards.

But we were like literally living Harry Potter. And the education I got was amazing. Like I failed every class. But when I would go to get a job in England, as soon as they saw the school, oh, well, there's no school. Come on. Yes, yes.

We'll take you. So you were like the kids from the rough neighborhood. Yeah, I felt like, you know, the English version of Fresh Prince from Bel-Air. Oh, gosh. So, Alex, tell us, when did you start singing? I actually started music, I got kicked out of my house when I was 16 years old for becoming a Mormon. Really?

So, yeah, this is a lot. Wait, wait, wait, I have a question. So, Alex, you is a... Wait, wait, wait. I have a question. So, Alex, you're in England. Yes. Did some guys on bicycles ride up and talk to you? Like, how did you learn about it? It's such an American...

Well, I used to work at McDonald's. I'm going home. I'm, like, sweating everything working at McDonald's and everything. I turn up. I'm walking to my doorstep.

I walk up. And what did I see? Two sister missionaries smiling at me. No, but here's the thing. Here's the thing. Let me tell you the thing. They were so freaking hot. All I'm saying is the man upstairs has got a sense of humor.

So anyway, we'll keep it. I've heard a lot of reasons for converting to Mormonism, but that was never been one of them before. I love it. I'm going to be honest. As you say, we could be here all day, but eventually you decided to leave London and you came to Salt Lake City. Yes.

Here you are. And you joined the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Yeah. I was there for eight years. I have this manager who's such a hustler, right? So after I left the choir, I left about four years ago, and he said, this is how he had publicized me. He said, Alex Boyer was the first black lead singer of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

I was going to ask you how, in a chorus of a few hundred people, how you would stand out, but I guess I know. There was three black guys in the choir when I was in the choir. Yeah. We used to call ourselves three pieces of licorice in a sea of marshmallows. What is it like singing in a chorus of 300 people? Can I tell you, when you are singing with 360 people in a spiritual sense, singing about God, telling you, man, saved my life. Really? Really? And in a way that you're performing with boy bands prior to that did not.

Oh yeah, that's right. We were going to that. You had a boy you must be, I mean there are so many things that only you have done. From having a boy band that opened for NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys? Our band, the Backstreet Boys opened up for us in Cardiff

in 1995 I believe. And this was when we'd already had one hit. And then the Backstreet Boys came and they were the first boy band ever where all the singers could actually sing. My group, so there's four of us, right? Yeah. And only one of us could sing. And that was me, barely, right? So I'd go into the studio, record all my voices.

Oh, my God. Really? And then we'd get on stage and I'd turn all their mics off. And they would mime everything. So it was all my voice. But there were amazing dancers. No, I'm not going to tell you because you're going to look it up. Did they know that?

Did they know that nobody could hear them? Well, no. Because they sang at the top of their voices. So I just turned their mics off. I told the engineers to turn their mics off. So they didn't know to this day. They were like, we are the best singers in the world. We are the greatest singers in the world. That's like the opposite of the Mormon tabernacle. You're the only one singing. That's right. I love the way that you, stories like an old general talking about a battle he was in. It was Cardiff.

It was 1994. It was me and three other guys. Well, Alex Boyer, we have invited you here to play a game we're calling... Boyer meet Boyardee. The more we talked about you, the hungrier we got. And we realized that's because your name reminded us of Chef Boyardee, the very real chef who lent his name to the immortal line of canned pasta products. Answer three questions about Chef Boyardee and his food,

and you'll win a prize for one of our listeners, the voice of anyone they might choose for their voicemail. Bill, who is the irrepressible Alex Boyer playing for? Bob Troncalli of New Windsor, New York. Alright. I think you're ready to do this. Okay. Alright. First question. Though it has been popular with generations of kids, not everyone is a fan of

Chef Boyardee as proven by which of these incidents? A. Before Hurricane Dorian touched ground in the Bahamas, the only thing left in supermarkets were cans of Chef Boyardee lasagna. That's cold, but that's cold. B. A half a ton of uneaten Chef Boyardee lasagna. That's cold, man. That's cold. B, a half a ton of uneaten Chef Boyardee spaghetti was found stuffed into the crawl space behind a junior high cafeteria in Michigan. Or C, when rescuers reached the remains of an airplane crash site in the Himalayas,

they found signs of cannibalism and 10 unopened cans of Chef Boyardee beefaroni. Oh, no. I'm going to go for A. You're going to go for A, Hurricane Dorian. You're right, Alex. That's what happened. Come on. Yeah.

Okay, here's your next question. While no one thinks of Chef Boyardee as health food, it's probably never put anyone's life at risk, except for one time when what happened? A, a grocery worker at a Florida Piggly Wiggly was trapped in a pyramid of Chef Boyardee cans that was built around him while he napped. B, when a marine

deployed in the Middle East accidentally microwaved a can with a lid on, causing a small explosion, all his fellow troops ran in with their M16s. Or C, a woman in China developed aluminum poisoning because she loved Chef Boyardee ravioli so much she would chew on the empty cans.

Ooh, ooh. I'm definitely going to go for B. You're going to go for B, the Marine. Yes, that's what happened. Everybody was fine. Because I've done that. We've all done it. Alright, last question for you. One of the best things about Chef Boyardee is that it's pretty cheap.

But in 2001, true Chef Boyardee fans had the chance to spend $300 to do what? A, eat a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli in a cage with professional wrestler The Big Show. B, eat a special customized dish of Kicken Slpin' Joe macaroni as made by renowned chef Thomas Keller, or C, watch renowned chef Thomas Keller be forced to eat a can of kickin' sloppy Joe macaroni. Now, you're all calling for C, which involves forcing one of the most respected chefs in the world to eat a bowl of Chef Boyardee. Yeah, C. You're going to go for C?

I want to be adventurous. I'm going to go out on a limb. Well, I've got two things to say. First of all, it was A. And secondly, despite the stereotype, you're all terrible people. And secondly, despite the stereotype, you're all terrible people. No, it was true that if you've ever wanted to eat Chef Boyardee ravioli in a cage with the professional wrestler, the big show, you missed your chance. It happened back in 2001. Bill, how did Alex do in our quiz?

Two out of three. That's a win. You're a winner. That's a win. Alex Boyer is a singer, actor and dancer his new album Coming to America is on sale now Alex Boyer thank you so much for coming

thank you you guys are awesome when we come back, we talk to everybody's favorite human being, Henry Winkler, and a hardened felon. Well, kinda. We'll be back in a minute with more Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Chase Bank Auditorium in Chicago, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill.

So, we have been avoiding our families and helping you avoid yours by distracting everyone with great segments from our recent past. We did consider having everybody in America just swap families, but there were logistical challenges. So, we canceled all the buses we had reserved, and instead, here's some things everybody can agree on. For example, that Henry Winkler is the nicest man in the universe. Henry came back to our show last August, and Peter asked if people still recognized him as the Fonz, or on his more recent Emmy-winning role, the acting teacher Gene Cosano on HBO's

comedy series Barry. Yeah, I don't, you know, people yell out Barry and people yell out the Fonz, but I will say I'm wearing jeans right now. Okay, and there you are. Because, you know, jeans is a part of both characters. That's true. They both wear, you know, jeans is a part of both characters. That's true. They both wear, you know, one is named Jean, the other one wears jeans. Yes. That's very, oh, I didn't realize there's a through line to your work. You know what, I didn't either until you, I just thought of it.

I know, it's great. Who knows? I'll tell you this show, by every synapse is firing. It is still amazing. But people still do refer to you as the Fonz. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. My wife.

And I think that's wonderful, but I don't want to talk to you about the Fonz this time. I want to talk to you about Gene Cousineau, this role you play in the amazingly good TV show, Barry. For those who are not lucky enough to see it, can you describe who Gene is? I am a teacher of great thespians. Yes.

And I know they're great because they can pay in cash on time. Right. And I teach a young man who came into my class who has kind of like another job I'm only finding out about, and he is an assassin. Right. And he has become like a son to me. Well, what's amazing about the show is,

even given that outlandish premise that he's an assassin who decides he wants to be an actor and finds an acting class, it's really quite moving. Because, as you say, he does need a father and your character kind of provides that. I didn't know that he was as big a putz as he was supposed to be. And then the two men who run the show saw me as I started to bring Gene alive, and they said, oh, he could also have a heart. And so then they combined the two, the two parts of my body, my heart and lower down. I got to ask you, because so much of this is said in this acting class, did you ever

take an acting class, and was it like this? You know what? take an acting class and was it like this? You know what? I had 14 teachers in college, in graduate school, in drama school. I did research and I came across a fact where there

was a teacher here in LA who literally forced his students who barely made enough to take his class, he made them buy his art. You mean like he would paint pictures or whatever? And then sell it to his students.

And I thought, yes, this says everything I need to know about this teacher. Wow. Do you enjoy that aspect of the character being a little grasping and cruel? Do you know what? I actually never thought of that because when you do an episode, you do scene by scene and you concentrate on making that scene perfect. And all of a sudden you put all these details together and I watch along with everybody else. I don't see it until it's on the air. Right, so you have no idea. I am thrilled. I just

love going to work. Aw, that's right. I wonder what that would be like. Sounds great though. It does sound great. You, and I'm so proud, you won an Emmy for the first season. Yes, I did. And I was amazed to discover this. That was your first Emmy. You won an Emmy for the first season. Yes, I did. And I was amazed to discover this. That was your first Emmy. You've had a lifetime of television and you've only won this Emmy. And I have it on my dining room table.

Really? Is that where you put it? I do. And it's opposite the front door. So when the man delivers the medicine from the pharmacy, I point out to him the Emmy. Oh, that old thing?

And anybody else who comes in the front door, I lead them through the dining room first. I want to ask you something. So you were on the show a few years ago. We had a wonderful time.

And Paula Poundstone said that she saw you once in public, just in the way that you do. We were flying on the same airline on the same plane. And she said that she thought to herself, there's a happy little fella. Is she referring to the fact that I'm short? I think. I'm not quite sure what she was referring to, but I did want to ask you, do you think that's an accurate description? It is.

I have, I live by two words, gratitude and tenacity. Tenacity gets me where I want to go. And gratitude doesn't allow me to be angry along the way.

And gratitude doesn't allow me to be angry along the way. Well, Henry Winkler, it is always a pleasure to talk to you. We've invited you here to play a game that this time we're calling... Ooh, look at the Twinklers. Oh, wow. So, as a Winkler, you Winkle. But what do you know about things that Twinkle? Stars. We're going to ask you three questions about twinklers or stars.

Get two right, you win our prize. For one of our listeners, any voice they might like on their voicemail. Bill, who is our friend Henry Winkler playing for? Cindy Metcalf of Dallas, Texas. All right, Henry, you ready to do this? Yes. Oh, yes. We've learned some interesting things about stars since we start venturing into space,

including which of these? A, stars can get bored. B, stars smell like burnt steak. Or C, stars, they're just like us. Wow. I would have to go with stars are just like us because I'm a very normal person. Actually, stars, they're just like us, is a feature in Us magazine.

The real answer was stars smell like burnt steak. We didn't know this, and this is literally true, until astronauts went out into space in spacesuits and came back and sniffed their spacesuits and felt weirdly hungry. Because it turns out that stars give off a number of chemicals, one of which smells like burnt steak. What? It's true. Wow. It's the smell of space.

I'm so glad I'm on this show. I never knew that before. I know. All right. You still have two more chances. Here's your next question. Will Amina Fleming classify tens of thousands of stars during her decades-long career at the Harvard Observatory?

But before that, she had another job. What was it? A, one day the head of the observatory got frustrated with his staff and said, my Scottish maid could do better. He hired her, and she did. B, she was a theater critic who said, people are boring. I want to watch something else. Or C, nobody knows.

She just showed up one day wearing a silver suit and said, I can help you. All right, I'm going to eliminate C. Yes. I'm going to go with A. You're going to go with A, that she said my Scottish maid could do better? You are right. Turns out she was one of those undiscovered geniuses who became a brilliant mathematician and astronomer.

She discovered, among other things, the Horcet Nebula. She is a hero. All right, you have one more question. No, I was going to hire her, but she took that job. I know, it's a shame. Last question. Our sun is a star, of course. For about 30% of people, staring into the sun will cause sneezing fits.

What is the scientific name of this reflex? A, squinty sneezing. B, solar snot. Or C, autosomal compelling helio-ophthalmic outburst or achoo. I'm going to go with C. You're going to go with C, autosomal compelling helio-ophthalmic outburst or achoo, you're right. That's what they called it.

Bill, how did Henry Winkler do on our quiz? You know, Henry, two out of three right is a very good score. That means you have won. Henry Winkler, what a joy to talk to you. Thank you so much for coming back with us on Late Late Grand Family. Thank you for inviting me. from NPR sponsor Traditional Medicinals. Traditional Medicinals is the herbal tea company that lives up to its name. Traditional because of the formulas based on herbal traditions that have supported health and wellness for centuries. And medicinal because of the ethically

sourced high quality herbs like those in their reishi mushroom tea. Sip daily to help weather the winter. Use promo code WAIT for 20% off at checkout. Powered by traditional medicinals. Finally, many people love the Netflix TV show Orange is the New Black, but they may not know it's based on the experience of a real person, Piper Kerman, who really did serve a year in a woman's prison. We interviewed Ms. Kerman near Cleveland, where she had been working teaching writing in Ohio prisons. Peter asked her if the authorities knew her whereabouts.

I am not on the lam, and yeah, I've been living here in Ohio for almost five years. It's been fantastic. And I feel, I mean, I of course believe that everybody knows your story, and so we should say that the book obviously is a memoir, it's non-fiction, But they took some liberties with the TV series, shall we say. The book is a true story, and the show takes the book, puts it in a blender, and puts a lot of other ingredients in that.

And isn't that fantastic? It's fantastic. So are you a fan of the TV show? I am a fan of the show, for sure. And all the people, all the wonderful people who make it. So you're back in prison, although now you were doing it as an instructor. And so what are you doing exactly?

I teach a true story writing class. I teach a class in which students come in and write true stories from their own life, essentially a memoir writing class. Do you ever teach them any of your famous prison recipes? They were very interested in the cheesecake recipe actually at the men's facility. The women all knew how to do it. I was actually amazed to read this in the book that all this

cooking went on, which I did not think was the thing that happened in prison. It turns out the food in the chow hall is pretty bad. So the skills of the prisoners are much better. The materials are kind of rough to work with but you do what you can. Well, first of all, I did notice that you said that the food was so bad,

and since exercise was one of the few things you could do to spend your time, you ended up, at least at first, looking pretty great, you said. I ran a half marathon when I was in prison. That's how boring it is to do time. How do you run a half marathon in prison? You run a half marathon around a quarter mile gravel track. Good Lord. That is a lot of left turns.

You must get dizzy. Wow. But as you say, the chow in the food hall was terrible, so you started cooking for yourself. How do you make a cheesecake in prison? To make a cheesecake in prison, you need a Tupperware bowl. You have to have that. You have to purchase it from the commissary or borrow it.

You make a crust out of either smashed up graham crackers or Oreo, depending on your proclivities. Hold on. Hold on. I'm writing this down. Okay. Got it. You need some margarine that you've stolen from the chow hall. That is the only stolen ingredient in this recipe, which makes it novel and notable. And then for the filling, you take those kinds of cheeses that don't have to be refrigerated. You need about a half a cup of pudding. You can usually get some pudding somewhere. And you sort of beat those things viciously together until they're creamy. And then you lay a beating on it. You lay a beat down on the pudding and the cheese. And you also start

to add an entire thing of cremora, about yay tall. I'm making, I'm putting my hands about 8 to 10 inches. Cremora is the powdered cream substitute. Powdered, non-dairy creamer. Right. Yes. You put that in there, the whole container.

You try not to think about what's in there. Yeah. Right? And you mix and you mix. And then actually what you have is kind of a soupy mess. Right. Yes. Well.

Then you take the plastic squeezed lemon and you put, I would use really most of the lemon, and you start to squeeze that into the mix and it tightens up. I attribute whatever mysterious things are contained in non-dairy creamer, but it's remarkably like the texture of a New York cheesecake. Oh my God. And the taste, or so it seems, if you're in prison. Right. Oh, wow.

Wow. You have got to get a Food Network show. I know. This is so great. Well, Piper Kerman, it is a pleasure to talk to you. We have invited you here to play a game that we're calling... Launder This. So you were busted, and as we've discussed,

served time for money laundering, which made us wonder how much you know about the more traditional kind of laundering. Answer two out of three questions about what they call clothing laundering. We'll win a prize for one of our listeners, the voice of anyone they might like on our show, on their voicemail.

Bill, who is Piper Kerman playing for? Sophia Casa of Ohio, who's here with her family today. This is for Sophia. You ready to do this? I am. Yes. Here's your first question. American pioneers had a very inventive way of dealing with

dirty clothes. What was it? A, sticking them in the old faithful geyser in Yellowstone and waiting for it to erupt, be shooting their laundry with, quote, soap shot, or C, just standing near a buffalo and blaming the animal for the stink? Huh. I'm going to go with Old Faithful.

You're exactly right. Oh. That is... According to an account left by explorers, they say they would just stick their laundry in the geyser, wait for it to go up, the laundry would blow out in the air, they'd pick it up and be clean. That's what I would do. Absolutely.

Next question. While he was writing Walden, Henry David Thoreau, of course, shut himself off from civilization. That made getting his clothes clean difficult. What clever technique did Thoreau use to get his clothes clean during his year living at Walden Pond? A, coat his clothes in honey and let the bears lick them clean.

B, he used his philosophical insights to convince the clothes to turn away from dirt. Or C, He walked the mile into town and had his mom do it for him. This is so easy. C. You are a mom. Yes! Walden isn't that far out of town. They also brought food for him. Alright, last question. Nowadays

things, of course, in laundry, as with everything else, it's all high tech. Astronauts on the International Space Station do their laundry how? A. By laser. B. Hanging them on a line outside. Or

C. Loading their dirty laundry into a cargo spaceship and letting it burn up on re-entry. I think it's basically a version of disposable underwear I'm going to go with C. You're exactly right. There's no water up there. It's much easier to bring up clean laundry in a cargo ship, put the old laundry in the ship, and let it burn up on re-entry.

You're exactly right. Bill, how did Piper do in our quiz? She got all three right. and that's a good job. Congratulations. Piper Kerman, very well done. That's it for our special Thanksgiving Listen to Us Rather Than Your Relatives edition.

Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago in association with Urgent Haircut Productions, Doug Berman, Benevolent Overlord. Philip Godeka writes our limericks. Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our intern is Emma Day. Our web guru is Beth Novy. BJ Liederman composed our theme.

Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Dornbos, and Lillian King. Technical direction is from Lorna White. Our business and ops manager is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. Our senior producer is Ian Chilog, and the executive producer of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is Michael Danforth.

Thanks to Bill Curtis, guest host Tom Papa, all our panelists and all of our guests. Thanks to all of you for listening. I'm so grateful. I'm Peter Sagal

and we'll see you next week. Thank you. This is NPR.