Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - Leslie Odom, Jr.

Episode Date: November 9, 2019

Leslie Odom, Jr., actor, joins us along with panelists Faith Salie, Adam Felber, and Jordan Carlos.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. Psst! Want to know a secret? I'm a whistle-biller, Bill Curtis! And here's your host at the Chase Bank Auditorium in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal! Thank you, Bill! Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. We have a fine show for you today, especially for you Hamilton fans, because we've got Leslie Odom Jr., the original Aaron Burr,

joining us later. But first, first, we just want to take a moment and congratulate our friends and colleagues over at NPR's Morning Edition, which celebrated its 40th birthday this week. Isn't it great? Doesn't sound a day over 30.

It really doesn't. And finally, at 40, they are now the same age as the children of their average listener. But now that Morning Edition is in its 40s, they're going to have an inevitable midlife crisis. We already saw signs of it earlier this year when they hooked up with their new younger theme song. Don't be surprised if they start doing more stories about motorcycles and maybe learning to surf. We're always glad to hear

from you, whatever your age, so give us a call. The number is 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Let's welcome our first listener contestant. Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, this is Harry McInerney from Middlebury, Vermont. Hey, Middlebury, Vermont. I know where that is. What do you do there? I am a barista.

I make gorgeous coffee art and lattes. Oh, are you one of those talented baristas who take time and effort to make those beautiful designs on the top of the foam? No, I'm pretty new. Nice. But I'm pretty new. Nice. But I'm trying. You're trying. I can steam milk. Yeah. That's good.

I need to know your feelings about oat milk, please. Oh, my God. I'm totally for oat milk. Me too. I know. I get so angry when a place doesn't have it. Oat milk just got a smattering of applause here. Yeah.

Weird. Well, Harry, welcome to our show. Let me introduce you to our panel this week. First, you can see him on Black Mirror this season, and he's featured in the new Sesame Street spinoff, The Helpsters. It's Jordan Carlos. Hey, Harry. How you doing?

What's going on? Next, it's a contributor to CBS Sunday Morning. It's Faith Saley. Hello, Gary. And finally, it's the co-host of Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone. It's Adam Felber. Hey there, Harry. Hi, Adam.

So, Harry, you're going to play Who's Bill this time. As I bet you anticipated, Bill Curtis is going to read for you three quotations from the week's news. Your job, identify or explain. Two of them do that, you win our prize. The voice of anyone you might choose from our show on your voicemail. Are you ready to do this? Great, let's do it. Let's do it. Here's your first quote, and yes, it's the president.

For next week's fake hearing trial in the House, I get no lawyer and no due process. Witch hunt! That was just part. Just highlights from a tweet in which the president was previewing next week's hit TV show. What are we all going to be watching next week? The Apprentice Gets Impeached. That's certainly one of the titles they workshopped.

But it is, of course, you're right, the impeachment hearings. If you thought The Little Mermaid live on ABC this week was impressive, you're going to love next week's public impeachment hearings. It will be just like The Little Mermaid, except it'll be Rudy Giuliani who suddenly starts singing. The hearings, which have taken place in private for weeks now, will finally get some airtime on live TV. Seriously, whoever thought Donald Trump would be on a trial show and it wouldn't be Law & Order SVU? Hey, we're all special victims now, people.

We are. It's been 20 years since we've seen an impeachment on TV and the technology has completely changed. The hearings will be bingeable and like Netflix, there will be a button where you can skip opening statements. That will be great. Yeah. Musical? Somebody could sing.

I would love that. They might have lights and makeup. It'll be weird to see Vice President Pence with a skin color. And eyebrows even. Yeah. I'm tuning in if there's a rose ceremony. And eyebrows even, yeah. I'm tuning in if there's a rose ceremony. That's what I want to see. It's amazing to me that there is such a cast of characters to call on. Yes.

Because this week we had one of Pence's assistants or something. And at this point, it seems, how many people listen to these phone calls? It makes me think of like, he's in an office. He's on a phone call. It's probably on speaker. And there's like a line of 20 people outside the door, like all one after another with their ears up to the door. And then somebody sneezes and they all fall in.

Exactly. And some of them are in the room. And you can just imagine the faces they were making to each other. You know, like it was like they were like literally grabbing a lighter to set their hair on fire. Trump should have done what people normally do when they're on a conference call,

which is like, you know, he's on the phone with the president. He's like, President of Ukraine, just so you know, you're on conference call. You're on speaker, so watch your mouth.

All right, Harry Harry, here is your next quote Okay, boomer That's the phrase that's become the rallying cry The verbal eye roll, if you will For what group of people when they criticize baby boomers? I don't know Well, who's...

We know to whom it's being said. Who's saying it? Yeah, me. Millennials. Yes, it's millennials. For years now, America has been blaming young people for everything bad, from the death of bars of soap, to serious movies, to those 10 pounds we can't get rid of. Damn you, millennials.

Well, the kids are not all right with this. They're annoyed. And they have focused their rage laser-like into the phrase, OK, Boomer. Now, it was created on TikTok. At least that's what I've been told. I am 54 years old. So I cannot hear the range in which the audio on TikTok is broadcast. cannot hear the range in which the audio on TikTok is broadcast. So it is a perfect way, though, it's great to dismiss any sort of trolling concern from an old person. You kids don't understand the value of hard work.

Okay, boomer. It's so good. I've fallen. I've fallen and I can't get up. Okay, boomer. I have a reverse mortgage. This is so weird because I thought this was all just hate channel

towards Boomer Esiason. Really? I don't think people hate Boomer Esiason that much. I don't know who that is. He's a quarterback. Okay, Boomer. He's a quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals. Oh, of course. So it started online, of course, like everything does,

and it spread everywhere. There's merchandise, but it got into the international news this week when a 25-year-old member of the New Zealand parliament was heckled while she was making a speech about the climate, and she just so quickly came back with an, okay, boomer, that the guy

was so burned, he actually contributed to global warming. That's terrible. I think that, okay, boomer would be a great, I think we can make, I think we can blow this out. I think it should be a reality show, and I think it should feature boomers

trying to do things like they have to reset their passwords or turn off the flashlight on their iPhone without any help from kids or grandkids. Imagine all the disappointed old people, though, who thought OK Boomer was a new dating app. Hey!

And it matches people by how early they fall asleep in front of the TV. Harry, here is your last quote. Don't worry. You can still get your eggplants and peaches at your local Aldi. That was grocery chain Aldi letting you know they got you covered now that eggplants and peaches have been banned on what popular social media site? Facebook.

Yes, Facebook. What? Facebook is banning the eggplant and peach emojis when they're used to indicate anything sexual. This is bad news for all those, say, eggplant parmesan recipes your mom was trying to share with her hot boyfriend. For those who don't know, eggplant and peach emojis are stand-ins for certain body parts. Okay, boomer?

But don't worry, because you know what else works as a stand-in for that sort of thing? Everything. Yeah. Corn, a hot dog, a chili pepper, two cherries and a carrot. Thank you. Two cherries and a carrot. Yes, two cherries and a carrot. Thank you. Two cherries and a carrot. Yes, two cherries and a carrot.

Depending on the season, broccoli, you know? Exactly, you know. A baguette. Oh, no, no, no. See a doctor. Yeah. No, even the most basic emoji is sexual. What do you think that smiley face is smiling about?

This is just going to... People are just going to become more creative, like a rosebud, right? Or. A fig leaf. Yeah, don't flatter yourself. A Georgia O'Keeffe flower. I don't know. There we go. Bill, how did Harry do on our quiz?

Harry got them all right. Congratulations. Thank you, Harry, for playing. Take care. Bye. Bye. We want to remind everyone they can join us most weeks right here at the Chase Bank Auditorium in Chicago, Illinois.

For tickets and more information, go over to wbez.org, or you can find a link at our website, waitwait.npr.org. Right now, panel, it is time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Adam, an artist has created classical-style nude statues for an exhibit in Paris organized by UNESCO, but he got angry when he found out that UNESCO had done what to his statues? Oh, replaced the naughty bits with peaches.

You're very close because they did cover something. They fig leafed it up? Pretty much with... Clothes. Underwear. Underwear, yes. They put underwear on the statues. How do you put underwear on a...

I guess you have to clip it. Very silly. Why? the statues. What? How do you put underwear on a... Oh, I guess you have to clip it. Very silly. Why? The artist was shocked

to find his sculptor's censor with both underwear and in one case a diaper. Oh my gosh. I hope that was for a baby statue. No, no.

Or a really, really old one. Yeah. No, the artist was extremely upset. Think of all the time he spent getting the naughty bits just right.

Yeah. Their garbage was hiding his junk. Well, I mean, there are some clothes that you do want to put on statues. Like, Rodin's a thinker. Wouldn't you just like to put a pair of pants around his ankles like he was? Oh, that's so true. Coming up, let's hear it for the boy in our Bluff the Listener game called 1-triple-8 Wait, Wait, Don't Play. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR.

Saturday morning. Your week was long. Your time is precious. But why not take 10 minutes to catch up on some of the biggest news stories with Up First, NPR's morning news podcast. I'm Scott Simon. And I'm Lulu Garcia Navarro, Up First, here at Weekday Mornings, and now every Saturday at 8 Eastern 2. 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 Adam Felber, Faith Saley, and Jordan Carlos. And here again is

your host at the Chase Bank Auditorium in downtown Chicago, Peter Sago. Thank you, Bill. Right now it's time for the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Bluff the Listener Game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play our game in the air.

Hi, you are on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, my name is Diddy Wax. Hey, Diddy, how are you? I'm good. Can't complain. Where are you calling from? I'm calling from Clinton, New York. Clinton, New York.

Okay, you are the first person I've ever talked to named Diddy. You are not the first person I've heard of named Diddy. You are not the first person I've heard of named Diddy. Do you have any relation to P. Diddy? No, though I get asked a lot. I bet you do. I don't know why. Now, is Diddy your actual name or is it a nickname? It's a nickname. Thanks for guessing.

Yeah, it's a Hebrew name. I'm Jewish. Oh. Yes. Well. Come on. You have to come up with a joke for that. All right. All right, give us a minute here. My name's Jordan. It's a Hebrew name.

I'm black. My name's Peter, which is a Christian saint, and I am Jewish, so somebody was confused. Well, welcome to the show, Diddy. You're going to play our game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction. Bill, what is Diddy's topic? The world's most supportive boyfriend. That's a title that nearly, well, several men are up for every year. All right, panelists, I'm going to tell you about one of the contenders for world's best boyfriend.

Pick the one who's telling the truth, and you'll win our prize, the weight-waiter of your choice in your voicemail. You ready to play? I am. All right, first let's hear from Jordan Carlos. Linguistics professor Bradley Basil was shocked when he received the following text from his girlfriend by mistake. You're right. I need to leave Bradley and come back to you. I see now that Bradley has basically been a mistress, or whatever the male equivalent of a mistress is. Now most of us at this point would have flown off the handle,

learning that our girlfriend of nearly three years was secretly married, but not Bradley. Sure, he was a jilted boyfriend, but first he was a linguistics professor. What was the male equivalent of a mistress? A side piece, extra guac, backdoor man? He had to know. Bradley obsessively searched for a term and even consulted his peers at the university. After a week of heavy research, Basil confronted his girlfriend, Dawn, with all his findings. A, that sadly, there literally is no male equivalent of the word mistress.

B, gender is a construct. And C, the closest we have in English to that word is definitely understudly. All right. A British man finding out that he is the male equivalent of a mistress to his girlfriend who turns out to be married decides to find out what the appropriate term is for that position.

Your next story of a supportive significant other comes from Faith Saley. Men will go to great lengths to impress a woman. A man who happens to be a pilot knows just what to do. He invites a lady to experience a woman. A man who happens to be a pilot knows just what to do. He invites a lady to experience his cockpit. And that's exactly what a Russian pilot for the airline In Aero did recently. He welcomed his girlfriend into his cabin during a commercial flight over Siberia

with passengers aboard. But he didn't stop there. He let this Slavic beauty named Anna actually fly the plane because he wanted to be the best boyfriend while at the same time being the worst pilot because everyone aboard could have died. And he made a video of it.

In the video, which Anna posted on Instagram because she is in her 20s, and then deleted because she could get arrested, you can hear the pilot giving his special friend explicit instructions to make the encounter pleasurable for both of them. He says as she steers back to the right, now to the left, and turn it back, Anna is wearing a fluffy pink sweater and has fluffy pink lips and points to the navigation display and asks

powderly, why can't I get there? The unseen pilot answers, well, I have no idea why you can't get there. But the real non-flirty answer is probably because she has zero flight qualifications. A spokesperson for the airline offered a perfectly inscrutable Russian take on the incident, stating, There are doubts these materials are actually linked to the activities of our airline in the field of passenger transportation. A Russian pilot who so loved his girlfriend, he let her fly the plane. Your last story of a bueno, boyfrendo, comes from Adam Felber.

At the age of 17, Yoshiki Oshima of Osaka fell madly in love with a girl named Haruko, and she with him. The only problem was that Haruko was a violin prodigy, and the granddaughter of a famous violinist, and Grandma Suzuko had one demand of her protege. No men ever. Quote, they're foolish and distracting, she told her granddaughter, truthfully. Worse, Grandma Suzuko lived on the family compound, but they had love, and Grandma Suzuko had

bad eyesight. The first time she came across the young couple together, Yoshiki pretended to be a plumber fixing the kitchen sink, and the ruse worked perfectly. And so began a 15-year dance in which Haruko became a renowned first violinist for Tokyo's equally renowned NHK Symphony Orchestra, and Yoshiki, in a variety of disguises,

kept the old lady in the dark by pretending to be various characters, including a delivery boy, a roofer, a butler, a maid, an accountant, a dishwasher repairman, and on one notably compromised occasion, when Grandma Suzuko walked in, a massage therapist. and on one notably compromised occasion, when Grandma Suzuko walked in, a massage therapist. In 2015, the couple married in secret,

and Yoshiki kept Heruko's secret, maintaining the household and a closet full of disguises and fake mustaches and whatnot. Until last week, when in an interview, marking her 90th birthday, Grandma Suzuko was asked about her famously single granddaughter, and she stunned the nation saying, Oh, she's been happily married for years. They think I don't know, but he sure keeps the house in great shape.

So these are your choices. From Jordan Carlos, a British academic who, in response to finding out that he was a piece on the side, tried to find a better term for piece on the side. From Faith Saley, a Russian pilot who allowed his own girlfriend to fly a plane filled with passengers. Or from Adam Felber, a Japanese man so devoted to his girlfriend that he pretended to be a wide variety of helping occupations just to have access to her home. Which of these is the real story of a devoted male lover? I think it's number two.

You're going to, that number two, the audience likes it. That would be Faith's story of the Russian pilot who let his girlfriend take the controls? Yeah, I think so. You're going to choose that story. All right. Well, we spoke to someone who is familiar with the real story. A Russian airline pilot allowed his girlfriend to sit in the pilot's seat and temporarily take the controls of the aircraft in flight.

That was Patrick Smith of Ask the Pilot, an author of Cockpit Confidential, talking about the pilot who that his girlfriend drive. And by the way, Patrick thinks you should not do that. Congratulations. You got it right. Faith was telling the truth. Funny how that goes.

You've won a point for her. You've also earned our prize, the voice of anyone you may like, saying whatever bracha you choose on your voicemail. I'm going to take you up on that offer. Absolutely. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Take care, Diddy.

Bye-bye. Thank you. I want you for my boyfriend, my boyfriend. I want you for my boyfriend, my boyfriend. And now the game where people who have been very wise learn what it's like to make a little mistake. Leslie Odom Jr. has been a successful working actor since the age of 17. A few years ago, he got what every actor dreams of, an offer of a lead role on a TV series.

But he turned it down because instead he wanted to work on this new off-Broadway musical. That musical turned out to be Hamilton, in which Leslie originated the role of Aaron Burr. We welcome him to the room where this is happening. Leslie Odom Jr., welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you so much. Hamilton, of course, is a phenomenon like I've never seen after a lifetime of like enjoying the theater. How often do you get approached on the street by people who come up and immediately start like doing a number from the show with you? Well, David put it better than anyone I'd ever heard.

He said, outside the stage door on 46th Street, you were a beetle for a block. It was like once you cross 8th avenue it gets a little less said that to say it depends on where i am right you know if i happen to be in a place where there are a lot of theater people i'm gonna get recognized um and within the people are always lovely but if i'm if i'm sort of like in a place where it's not a theater town, really, I'm more likely to be recognized from a nationwide commercial. Sure. Did you guys know, when you started working in the show with Lin-Manuel, I'm not even sure where it was, where it was first put on its feet,

did you have any idea what it would become eventually? I knew what I felt about it. I knew that it touched and moved me. But I didn't know that it would connect with America. You know, I didn't know that, like, that it would reach people so far and wide. I couldn't have known that. Yeah, I mean, and what was it like when all of a sudden that happened, when the crowd started showing up in front of the theater and waiting for you outside the theater,

when all of a sudden, for example, a parade of celebrities came to see your show. I remember Beyonce came. Yeah, it was a trip. It was living a dream. I think that the trifecta, I think, for art, in my book anyway, is something that is culturally relevant, artistically fulfilling, and commercially successful. You very, very rarely get all three of those things. You're lucky if you get one or two of them.

And Hamilton was all three of those things. You're lucky if you get one or two of them. Yeah. And Hamilton was all three. Did they tell you when celebrities were in the audience, oh, by the way, Beyonce's here tonight, so don't screw it up? Yeah, there were two lists of people. There was the list of people that didn't mind knowing, and there was the list of people that didn't want to know. And I was on the, I did not want to know.

You did not want to know. What were you afraid would happen if you found out? It just put my focus in the wrong place. know it became about vanity for me and like you know am I sucking in my stomach and like you know what is it high notes instead of you know instead of taking the story have you ever been back to see it since you left the show oh yeah I thought I saw it in Puerto Rico I saw Lynn do it in Puerto Rico I saw it in Chicago um I saw it in LA I've seen saw Lynn do it in Puerto Rico. I saw it in Chicago. I saw it in L.A. I've seen it a couple times. And do you become one of those very annoying people who I've seen it with

who just sit there and sing along the whole time? Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry about that. It's all right. We have to ask you, we heard you saw Shonda Rhimes almost fight Art Garfunkel in the audience at Hamilton. Here we go. What? Is this true?

It wasn't quite a fight. It was not quite a fight. Shonda is more classy than that. But she... Explain, please. Art is a legend. Art is a legend. He was being rather disruptive.

You know, he was talking and he was unwrapping candy. You know, our older audience members can sometimes do. And Shonda is serious about her Hamilton. When she comes to make time for her Hamilton, she's very serious. She was bringing people at the time.

And I happened to be watching the show that night. And yet Shonda, you know, let Art Garfunkel know that he needed to be quiet while she was watching her Hamilton. So the guy who wrote Sound of Silence wouldn't... Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Technically, he sang it.

The other guy wrote it, but... Wait a minute. He was going, Hello, Tic Tacs, my old friend. Rattle, rattle, rattle. Hang on. Hang on. You said something interesting. You said that you happened to be in the audience that night.

Right. So do you mean that you were taking the night off from performing and you chose to spend that night off watching the show? I wanted to see the show. I had never seen the show, and I heard it was so great. I'd heard so much about it. And so yeah I had a ticket

They made me They made me buy a ticket By the way What? Did they really? Stand by Stand by They're like

Oh Mr. Odom How nice to see you That will be $4,000 I should say Congratulations That you are of course Not just a Broadway star You were a Tony winning

Broadway star And among the people You beat out For your Tony Was Lin-Manuel Miranda. Did that like, was that okay with him? Did it add a little piquancy to the next night's duel? What happened?

Well, Lin won two other Tonys that same night. Yeah. So I think he's okay. He was always so generous and gracious. Part of the reason why so many of us were recognized on Tony night is because of Lynn's generosity. You know, he doesn't hoard the great materials

just for himself. He probably just said, well, that's great. Enjoy it, Leslie. I'll just go home and polish my MacArthur grant. You just... Well, Leslie Odom Jr., we have invited you here to play a game. We're calling... Ben Franklin, you dog, you.

So you played Aaron Burr, but the question is, what do you know about one of the founding fathers who didn't make the cut in the musical Hamilton, specifically Benjamin Franklin? We're going to ask you three questions about the Sage of Philadelphia, answer correctly, and you'll win our prize for one of our listeners. Bill, who is Leslie Odom Jr. playing for? Sarah Wood of Los Angeles, California. All right. Ready to play?

I'm ready. All right. First up, Franklin nearly died at the age of 42 when what happened? A. He electrocuted himself trying to cook a turkey with lightning. B. He was demonstrating his latest invention, stiletto heels, and tripped down a stairway, or C, he was visiting his girlfriend when her husband, George Washington, came home. Well, it is a well-known fact

that Franklin was, like, all about Thanksgiving, and so I think he was trying to cook that turkey. It is a well-known fact that Franklin was all about Thanksgiving, and so I think he was trying to cook that turkey. Yes, he was, Leslie. That's exactly what he was doing. He set up this whole thing. He was going to fry the turkey, and instead it fried himself, but he was fine.

Benjamin Franklin, of course, was a polymath. He was an inventor. He was also a visionary visionary he once wrote an essay defending doing what a singing along while in the audience of shows e farting or c blarping what's the last one blarping oh um well just as we know about his love of Thanksgiving, we also know that the guy loves to toot. So, farting is mine. The fact... He wrote a scientific treatise on it.

He did. It was called, the essay which he submitted to a scholarly journal in Europe was called Fart Proudly. which he submitted to a scholarly journal in Europe was called Fart Proudly. You know so much about this, I'm beginning to think there was like a whole third act of Hamilton that got cut. All right. You could be as perfect in this as you are in everything else.

So let's see. Franklin lived in London as the U.S. ambassador. We know that. When people recently renovated his former home in London, what did they find? A, his abandoned invention, a wooden microwave oven. B, 1,200 human bones. Or C, 400 volumes of erotic engravings stuck in a sock drawer.

The man loved Thanksgiving. He loved to fart. And he was a big old freak. They found the erotic writing. He was a big old freak, but that's not what they found. They found 1,200

human bones. Bro, he's a serial killer. He was a serial killer. Who knew? He seemed so friendly. Bill, how did Leslie Odom Jr. do on our quiz? He won with two out of three. Congratulations. How does this feel next to winning the Tony?

Hands down, this wins. There you are You are, sir A superb actor Leslie Odom Jr. Is an actor, author, and musician His new album, Mister Is available now

Leslie Odom, thank you so much for being with us What a pleasure to talk to you. In just a minute, Bill takes one small step for a man and makes one delicious snack for E.T. It's the Listener Limerick Challenge. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to join us on the air. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me From NPR. A global shortage of helium. It's not just a big deal for balloons and birthday parties. Helium's used in rockets, MRI machines, and quantum computers. And we actually have to extract it, like, from the ground.

What happens if it runs out? This week on Shortwave, the daily science podcast from NPR. on Shortwave, the daily science podcast from NPR. From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis. We're playing this week with Faith, Saley, Jordan, Carlos, and Adam Felber. And here again is your host at the Chase Bank Auditorium in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal. Thank you.

In just a minute, Bill performs his favorite songs from Rhymelton right here in the rhyme where it happened. It's the Listener Limerick Challenge. If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT.

That's 1-888-924-8924. Right now, panel, some more questions for you from the week's news. Faith, this week HBO unveiled a new product that they're aiming at TV viewers who do not live alone. What is this product? Who? What? People who

don't live alone, who might have roommates, who don't have a lot of privacy. Wait, who's directing this album? HBO. H, Home Box Office. Yes. The same. The Home Box Office.

You're such a sophisticated New Yorker. You've heard of them. Is Amy... Home Box Office. Oh, wait. HBO, or as we call it, Homebox Office. Anyway, back to it. So HBO is making, it's not a TV show, it's an actual physical product, and it's available

for people who like- It's a physical product. It's a physical product, not a TV show. But it comes from HBO. It does. And it's not a remote control. It's for people who do not live alone. Yes.

It's like a viewing tent. Close enough. It's a viewing box. As is appropriate for home box office. Like I said. Exactly. It's called the HBO box, and it is a giant cardboard box

that you get inside of to watch TV. It's not TV. It's solitary. It's made of cardboard? Yeah, it's cardboard. You assemble it. You put it on your bed, presumably, and that's where a lot of people watch TV these days, and you get in it, and you put it around you. It keeps it nice and dark?

The reviews of this thing early on are mixed. Some people saying that this privacy box might not be used to watch premium cable, if you know what I mean. Others saying it will definitely not be used to watch premium cable, if you know what I mean. Others saying it will definitely not be used to watch premium cable. Is it your aubergine peach box? It kind of is.

Are you saying it's a box? Is it rockin'? The box is rockin'. Adam, John Legend, and Kelly Clarkson received mixed reviews this week for their new updated lyrics to what classic Christmas song? Baby, It's Not Warm Outside. That's the one.

Baby, It's Cold Outside in the classic version. That, of course, is one of our most jazzy and date-rapey holiday classics. It's been problematic, so Legend gave it new lyrics. The new version Of the song Is no longer About a pushy brute Insisting his lady Drinks something

Mixed up over there By Bill Cosby That's the most Problematic part Of this song It really is But now it's about A young man

Respectfully calling His date an Uber This is true When Clarkson sings I've got to go away Instead of singing Baby it's cold outside Legend sings

I can call you a ride. Really? Nice. Yeah. But it's an Uber pool, so it's still kind of skeezy. So, I mean, people are saying, okay, the song was maybe problematic, product of its time, but you've gone a little bit too far. For example, this is all true. Her line has been changed from the neighbors might think, say, what's in this drink to what will my friends think if I have one more drink? To which he replies, I think they should rejoice. It's your body and your choice. But who says that after it's like, you know, do you want one more drink?

It's like, I'm going to get a car. Oh, hey, your body, your choice. I think they missed the bet because they should have given it more personality. Like, okay, so you don't want to be pushy, but what if he was passive aggressive? I really should go. My mom died last year. Something like that would be entertaining. That's possibly true.

I think I'm dreaming of a woke Christmas after this. Wouldn't passive-aggressive be more like, I really should go. It's fine if you do. I don't care. I'll just stay here by myself. I'll sit in the dark. Yeah. Coming up, it's lightning fill in the blank,

but first it's the game where you have to listen for the rhyme. If you'd like to play on air, call or leave a message at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Or click the Contact Us link on our website, waitwait.npr.org. There you can find out about attending our weekly live shows here at the Chase Bank Auditorium in Chicago. And if you want more

Wait Wait in your week, check out the Wait Wait quiz for your smart speaker. It's out every Wednesday with me and Bill asking you all new questions. Just say, open the Wait Wait quiz

and you might win a prize. Plus, it gives you the thing our panelists dream of, the ability to make me stop talking. Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, this is Rebecca Bronner from Louisville, Kentucky.

Oh, hey, how are things in Louisville? They're fantastic. And what do you do there in Kentucky? I'm a pulmonary nurse practitioner. Oh, you're, okay. You're doing medical care. Do you enjoy that work? I do very much. I've been doing it for a long time now well that's great well welcome to the show rebecca you of course are going to play

our listener limerick challenge bill curtis is going to read you three news related limericks with the last word or phrase missing from each if you can fill in that last word or phrase correctly on two of the limericks will be a winner. You ready to play? I'm ready. Here is your first limerick. There's no gravity here on our base. And of hominess, there's not a trace. So we are all loving this new high-tech oven. We're going to bake cookies in... In outer space.

Yes, that's right. Space is the answer. This week, a zero-g cookie oven was launched to the International Space Station so astronauts could enjoy warm cookies and make mouth-watering ice cream sandwiches with all their dusty astronaut ice cream. The device, which is basically an easy-bake oven

that went to Harvard, allows for zero-gravity baking by pressing the raw cookie dough between two fixed sheets, as opposed to the traditional method of pressing it directly into your mouth. This is, by the way, the first time the astronauts have been permitted to bake

as crumbs present a hazard. They float around, they get lodged in the equipment. NASA solved that problem by ensuring that all of the space station's cookies are oatmeal raisin, and therefore will never be eaten. Here, Rebecca, is your next limerick. While some pizza toppings don't trouble me,

these flavor pearls cost me a doubled fee. This must be a joker. Fresh hot tapioca? This pizza's new topping is... Oh, gosh, I don't know. It's a hard one. It is very hard. That is really hard.

It's really hard. It's pizza with bubble tea on it. Bubble tea? I know. Now, if you don't know, maybe you don't, bubble tea is the trendy drink that combines sweet milk tea with tiny balls of snot and and Domino's is getting on board with their new bubble tea pizza.

According to Domino's, the pie is cheese, honey, and tapioca balls and a hand-tossed crust, which is important because when you are handed a pizza covered in wet tapioca, your first question is always, but is the crust hand-tossed? All right. You can still win it all, Rebecca, if you just get this last limerick. Here we go.

This is national bear propaganda. My dog never made that demanda. In his black and white dye, my chowhound will cry. They are making him look like a... Panda. Yes, a panda. You won. A cafe in China will dye your dog to look like a panda for only 200 bucks.

They dye 70 to 80 dogs a day, which is the easy part. The hard part is training them to eat bamboo instead of their own vomit. Now, this service is provided at a panda cafe, which is really a dog painted like pandas cafe. But judging from the pictures, it's pretty convincing. The dogs really look like pandas. So the good news is we finally fixed the problem of endangered species. It's easy.

You just dial these dogs to look like whales. Is that place called Panda Express? Oh, that's nice. Bill, how did Rebecca do on our quiz? Two out of three. She won.

Congratulations. Well done, Rebecca. Thank you so much. Bye-bye. 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.

Bill, can you give us the scores? Faith and Adam each have three. Jordan has two. Come on. Okay, Jordan, you are in third place. That means that you are up first. Here we go, Jordan. Fill in the blank. On Thursday, former National Security Advisor Blank

declined to appear before House impeachment investigators. Bolton? Right. On Monday, the White House formally started the process to withdraw the U.S. from the Blank. Paris Climate Court? Right. This week, the U.S. and China agreed to lift Blanks as part of any trade deal between the two countries. Tariffs?

Right. People in Delhi celebrated after officials upgraded the city's air quality rating to blank. Uh, breathable? No, very poor. After admitting to a consensual relationship with an employee, the CEO of blank announced his resignation. McDonald's. Yes indeed. For some reason former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is planning to blank. Run for president.

Yes. Police in California, responding to a noise complaint at an apartment complex, discovered that the racket was being caused by blank. A party. No. No, it was caused by a 400-pound bear stuck in a dumpster. That was almost too obvious. Yes.

The two deputies responding to the call heard something trapped inside and knew not only what it was, but also who it was. It was T-shirt the bear. It already had

several run-ins with the law. The officers said the bear was easily identifiable because it had this cute patch of white fur

on his belly and because he was still wearing the bloody uniform of the last officer who'd been so amused by the whole thing. Wait a minute. A bear wearing a shirt with his head stuck in a container? That's Pooh Bear.

That is true. Oh, bother. Bill, how did Jordan Carlos do in our quiz? Five right, ten more points. Total of twelve in the lead. For now. Alright, we have flipped the coin, and Adam has elected to go next. So, here we go, Adam. Fill in the blank.

On Wednesday, Matt Bevin asked for a re-canvassing of the votes from the gubernatorial election in blank. Kentucky. Yes. On Monday, a federal appeals court ruled that Donald Trump's accounting firm must hand over his blanks. Tax returns. Right. On this week, Tulsi Gabbard became the 10th candidate to qualify for the next blank. Debate. Yes, Democratic presidential debate. On Tuesday, jury selection began in the trial of Trump confidant blank.

Roger Stowe. Yes. This week, a woman in Michigan discovered the police had put a warrant out for her arrest after she blanked. Was found in a dumpster. No. Returned a library book two years late. Oh, man.

On Wednesday, it was announced that an all-CGI version of 50s icon Blank would appear in the new movie Finding Jack. Elvis. No, James Dean. You were close. Members of a church in Minnesota are complaining after a mistake on the church program used a picture of Blank instead of Jesus. I'm going to go with the bear again. No. No.

Instead of a picture of Jesus, they had a picture of Obi-Wan Kenobi. So, what's the problem? It was like, Jesus Christ, I wonder if he means old Ben Christ. So, it looked like a bunch of pictures of Jesus taken from history and art, you know. But there hiding at the bottom was a picture of Ewan McGregor dressed as Obi-Wan Kenobi from the prequels. In the church's defense, the Jedi does look an awful lot like,

you know, your stereotype of Jesus. He's got the long hair. He's got the beard. He's got the robes. And of course, he has that laser sword that Jesus is always carrying with him. Thank you. Thank you. You've got to cut those loaves with something.

Exactly. Exactly. Those fish aren't going to fry themselves. Bill, how did Adam do in our quiz? Well, he got four right. Oh, boy. Eight more points. A total of 11 is very close

to Jordan, but one short. And how many how many then does Faith need to win? Five to win. All right, Faith, this is for the game Fill in the Blank. In another step back from their 2015 nuclear deal, Blank announced plans

to begin enriching uranium at some facilities. Iran. Right. On Tuesday, over 11,000 scientists declared blank a worldwide emergency. Climate change. Right. This week, former Attorney General Blank announced plans to run for his old Senate seat in Alabama. Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions. Indeed. On Tuesday, Democrats gained control of both houses of the General Assembly in blank. Virginia. Right. On Wednesday, two former Twitter employees were charged with spying for blank. Saudi Arabia.

Right. On Sunday, Jocelyn Jepkoskaj of Kenya won the blank with the fastest debut time ever. New York Marathon. Yes. On this week, researchers reported that blank had escaped a Soviet-era nuclear bunker in Poland. Wow. Some kind of a panda dog. Wow. Some kind of panda dog. No.

One million cannibal ants. What? The giant teeming mass of cannibal ants who were trapped in the abandoned nuclear facility were being studied by a group of scientists who were trying to answer the question, what's the most efficient way to unleash hell itself into the unsuspecting world?

After providing the ants with an escape route, the scientists said that the sight of thousands upon thousands of insects streaming out of the abandoned bunker were almost as scary as seeing one silverfish inside your apartment. Bill, Faith did well enough to win, didn't she?

Well, she needed five, she got six. There you are. 12 more points, total of 15, and the win. In just a minute, we're going to ask our panelists to predict after next week's impeachment hearings, what will be the next must-see TV event. Special thanks to Stock and Ledger Restaurant here in Chicago for feeding us. Wait, wait, don't tell me.

This is a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago in association with Urgent Haircut Productions, Doug Berman, Benevolent Overlord. Philip Godica writes our limericks. Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our house manager is Gianna Capodona. Our intern is Emma Day. Our web guru is Beth Novy.

BJ Lederman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Dernbos, and Lillian Grand Canyon King. And our substitute Lillian King is Peter Grand Canyon Gwynn. Our 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 Chilag.

And the executive producer of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is Michael Danforth. Now, panel, what will be the next TV blockbuster? Jordan Carlos. Well, Republicans might not unmask the whistleblower, but they will at least prevail in unmasking the masked singer. It's Coolio. It was always Coolio, guys.

Faith Saley. An hour-long special in which Gail King interviews Keanu Reeves on what it's like to be a male movie star dating a woman who's only nine years younger than he is. And Adam Felber. In keeping with their recent spate of live musicals, NBC will present Impeachment the Musical, including the hit show tunes How Do You Solve a Problem Like Subpoena?

And If I Were a Witch Hunt. and if I were a witch hunt. Well, if any of that happens, we'll ask you about it on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you, Bill Curtis. Thanks also to Jordan Carlos, Faith Saley, and Adam Felber. Thanks to you all for listening. I'm Peter Segal. We'll see you next week.

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