Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - WWDTM Best of the Decade

Episode Date: January 4, 2020

Listeners named their favorite moments from the last ten years, which include great guest stories, celebrity rants, and questionable mice activities.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. Hey, reset your clocks. It's a new millennium. I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Chase Bank Auditorium in Chicago, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thanks, everybody. So, it is a new year, but it's not just that. It's a new decade, the 2020s. We were supposed to have a sea lab by now. There should be colonies on Mars. Instead, all we've managed to invent is slankets.

But before we get disappointed in the decade to come, we decided to go over why the last decade, the 2010s, were actually not so bad. We asked our staff and you, our listeners, to name your favorite moments from the last 10 years of our show. Amazingly, we found enough stuff to fill a whole hour. I was prepared to fill the last half hour by humming patriotic music. Doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, doot. Thank you, Bill. We will start with a not-my-job game with cookbook author Mark Bittman from 2013.

My plan was to ask him three questions about the superhero Batman, but Faith Saley got in the way. Well, Mark Bittman, we're delighted to talk to you. We've asked you here to play a game we're calling Holy Bittman, Batman. So we're sure this happens to you a lot, with a name like Bittman being mistaken for the Caped Crusader, the world's greatest detective, the Dark Knight. So we're going to ask you three questions about Batman,

specifically the movie Batman and Robin. That was the one with George Clooney as Batman, and it is widely regarded as the very worst of all the modern Batman and Robin. That was the one with George Clooney as Batman, and it is widely regarded as the very worst of all the modern Batman films. Is that the one where Batman had nipples? That is the one. That answers the first question. I am never inviting you back, Faith.

Answer two questions correctly, and you'll win our prize. Answer two questions correctly, and you'll win our prize. Answer two questions correctly, and you'll win our prize for one of our listeners, Carl's voice on their voicemail. Carl, who is Mark Bittman playing for? Mark is playing for Leanna Malkowski of Colorado Springs, Colorado. So the movie was horrifically panned by the critics when it came out, but one of the things that got fans especially angry was what?

Was it A Batman is shown sleeping while hanging upside down, B sexy Catwoman was replaced by a character called Crazy Cat Lady, or C nipples on the bat suits? I guess I'll take a flyer with C You're way correct Don't know how you could have known that But yes In September of 2013 We talked to the singer Jewel

Who told us how she managed to get out of her hometown Of Homer, Alaska And start her career Thanks to the generosity of a particular person Somebody we happen to have right there. Bringing you forward a little bit in time, you're 15 years old, you're living by yourself in an unheated cabin near Homer, Alaska.

You're commuting to work by horse, which I love. Or hitchhiking, yeah. Were there horse jams on the way into downtown Homer? There were not, but the drive-thru was interesting. I can imagine. McDonald's, yeah. And you get an invitation to apply to Interlochen, the famous art school in Michigan. And well, tell me what happened next.

I was given a partial scholarship and I needed to raise about $10,000, which I wasn't able to come up with. And so a bunch of the women in town and a bunch of my aunts helped me organize my first solo concert. I hadn't written any songs yet, but I did Cole Porter songs. And a lot of local businesses donated items and we auctioned them off. And I made quite a bit of money, but I was still short. And Mr. Tom Boudet helped, he made sure I got off to school and he helped write a check and sent me off. Yeah. So, I just want to clarify because I love this. So,

you're like, you're 15 years old, you're living by yourself, you have no money, here is your chance to go to art school and after the concert you were still short

how much money? Well, this is getting quite personal. Well, now in the book you say that Tom Beaudet, who you call

Homer's resident celebrity, wrote you a check for $5,000. Oh, I forgot to put it in there. So, yeah, sorry about that, Tom. Wait a minute. You were getting all shy about information that I only knew because you wrote it in your book? Right. Well, Jewel, hi, by the way.

Hi, Tom. It's been a long time. And thank you so much for remembering that. But it's funny, I remembered it as $500. Maybe it was. It seemed like $5,000. I like your version better. But I also seem to recall that your Aunt Sharon was my bookkeeper at the time. And I just got to wonder now if I said, Sharon, why don't you write Jewel a check for $500? I always loved that Aunt Sharon. Yeah, she was always very good to you.

Me too. In 2016, the Chicago Cubs won their first World Series in a century. And shortly after that, the Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster joined us at Millennium Park in downtown Chicago. We are told that you do a pretty good Harry Carey impersonation. I should say before we go on that Harry Carey was the legendary sportscaster for both the White Sox and for the Cubs here in Chicago. I loved Harry Carey was the legendary sportscaster for both the White Sox and for the Cubs here in Chicago. I loved

Harry Carey. He was like one of the first broadcasters growing up in a small town outside of Vancouver that we would get Cubs games on WGN. And so I just loved him. The fact that he could talk for an entire inning and it meant nothing about baseball was to me incredible.

So I always liked Pat Hughes who is now the radio voice for the chicago cubs yes i love a figure right here absolutely and he told me a great story one time was he said um they were driving to the field together um they were carpooling down and harry was doing about 90 on the edens he was flying to the field and he got pulled over. And Pat's like, oh, you're in trouble, Harry. He says, hey, Pat, I'm a broadcaster for the Cubs. I'm never in trouble, all right? You watch this. I'll get out of this ticket, no problem. So the police officer shows up. He pulls up to the car and he, you, and he says, can I get your license and registration?

And Harry says, you know, officer, I would give you that, but this is a stolen car. So he says, sir, do you mind getting out of the vehicle? At this point, he kind of starts to sense something's going on. He says, is there anything else you want to tell me? And he's like, to be honest with you you i got a loaded gun in the glove compartment but he says all right sir he's like uh you know come on out here he gets him out of the car and he says is there anything else i'm going to call my partner in here is there anything else you want to tell me he's like

you know if we're going to get right down to it uh officer i got a dead body in the trunk and i bought a little bit of a a time light here so now they got harry and pat and they're over by the car and the trunk of the car and this cop's going through the car and then all of a sudden his partner comes up to him he says hey uh mr kerry can i talk to you and he says what is it officer he says well my partner said that you said this was a stolen car it's registered to you he said you have a loaded gun in the glove compartment there's nothing but in there but insurance papers and he said you have a dead body in the trunk and all you have in there is golf clubs and he looks the cop in the eye says let me guess that son of a was gonna tell It was just a few years earlier, also in Millennium Park,

when we interviewed a local hip-hop artist who seemed to have a pretty bright future. So, Chance the Rapper, you're welcome. Great to be here. Yeah, great to have you. Thank you. So you're a Chicago guy. You grew up on the south side?

Yes, sir. And you haven't been growing up for very long. You're only about, what, you're 23? I'm 22. You're 22. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm a young guy. You are?

Yeah. And this is the story we heard, which is that you've been performing since you were a kid, right? Yeah. which is that you've been performing since you were a kid, right? Yeah. I started out doing talent shows and open mic programs and youth programs around the city. Yeah. I've been doing it for a while now.

We heard at one point you did a fine Michael Jackson impersonation. Wow, that's crazy. That's deep. Yeah, I did do that at my kindergarten graduation. Yeah. So less than 20 years ago, but yeah, pretty recent. So, but the thing, the story we heard is that if you have an origin story like a superhero, it's that you were thrown out of school for a little while when you were in high school. Yeah. And you took some time and you,

what did you do? Yeah. So when I was a senior in high school, I got suspended for having marijuana around the school. It wasn't even really in the school, it just, yeah. So I got in trouble for this, for having marijuana and I was suspended from school. And so on that 10 day break, I started recording a project called 10 Day, which was my debut project and put a lot of people on what I was doing Yeah, and and our understanding is you put that in the internet You worked on it for a while put on the internet was ready and it kind of took off

Yeah, I'm making your name very quickly. It did a lot for me. Yeah, so you're you're touring in hip-hop shows You've put out some albums that have done tremendously. Well, you're headlining festivals What would you say now if he or she were here to the principal of the high school who suspended you? Well, there's a strong chance that they're here because this is an NPR show. If they're not here, they're listening. I'd probably say thank you.

Shouts out to them for all the inspiration. They're throwing you out of school. Hey, Chance, Chance, how do you actually compose a rap? Are you so talented that rhymes just come to you? Or I would have to sit down with a rhyming dictionary and work for days. But how does it come to you?

That's a great question. I think there's a lot of premeditation, if you will, to making a ref. You know, you got to sit down, focus on your breathing. You know, you want to do a good workout, pushups maybe, sit ups, play cards, think about your taxes, think about all the people that you've met, you know, in this life and possibly a past life, if you believe in that. And then, you know, you take off your socks this life and possibly a past life if you believe in that and then you know you take off your socks and shoes put a pencil between your toes and you start writing and you got a masterpiece i should write that down it's a lot of steps so you should definitely

write that down but you know you understand that whatever you say about this everybody here will believe you yeah i'm going home i was like i heard the most amazing thing about this, everybody here will believe you. They'll be going home and they'll be like, Ralph, I heard the most amazing thing about this hip-hop movie. They write it with their feet. Did you know that? Would you please give it to me straight? I'm 46. Is it too late for me to become a rapper?

No, I don't think so. Some people might say it's too soon for you to become a rapper you know what I'm saying? it's interesting when we come back, more about the private lives of mice than you ever wanted to know and Bob Dylan in a bag that's in a minute 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 Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thanks, everybody. So Bill and I are reviewing what many of you and some of us think were the highlights of the 2010s on our show. My personal highlights of the decade will have to remain secret. But suffice to say, you're welcome, Your Majesty. Nothing dominated the decade like the Internet did, the place where we ended up shopping, dating, and as it turned out, picking presidents. But trusting the wisdom of crowds didn't always work out, as we saw in this story from March 2016. Luke, the British National Environmental Research Council decided to let the public pick a name for its new research vessel via an internet poll. vessel via an internet poll and the people chose

in their wisdom, in our wisdom chose what name? This is why we can't have nice things from people. This is why. Because people will name things Bodie McBoatface. Bodie McBoatface.

They were hoping for a great and noble name from British history like the RMS Shackleton or the RMS Benny Hill. But no, the internet has spoken, the vessel shall henceforth be Boaty McBoatface. You may laugh, and you will, but think of the crew who has to serve I she's a good ship there she sits boat he make boat face I she is yar I and and there is nobody more stern and commanding, right, than a British naval captain.

And can you imagine that poor guy? Hail to the ship! This is Captain Allen of Her Majesty's vessel, Boaty McBoatface. I like that. Wipe that smile off your face and prepare to be boarded. How did that work? Did lots of people come up with that name independently?

No, one guy who has apologized came up with it and everybody said, that's the name. Oh, right. You know that when it's time to christen

the ship, they're going to have to do it with like a Capri Sun. Bounce back in. In September of 2019, we asked Roy Blunt himself,

an award-winning sports writer, about a competition in India. Roy, a competition in India ended in failure when none of the registered entrants could complete the task that they were supposed to be judged on. What was that task? In India. India. Well, a competition, not necessarily a sporting... No. No.

But it was a contest. It was a competition of who could do something best, but it turns out nobody was able to do it. Does it have anything to do with the fact that it was in India? No. No. Except for the fact that in India they do eat a lot of legumes. That probably had

something to do with it. Legumes. Yes. Well, none of them could pronounce legumes. I bet Bill could say legumes so good. Legumes.

Oh! Oh! That's how some people ran out. That sounded quite Jerry Lewis the way you did that. Eating, it had to do with eating? Not eating. What else do you do with legumes?

Well, I'll give you a hint. If they had been able to succeed, they would have been judged on length, loudness, musicality, and blaming it on the dog. Oh, of course, legumes. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you got it. Legumes, legumes, good for the heart.

The more you eat, the more you... Exactly. I don't want to say it on the radio. In a competition that is literally the opposite of the MacArthur Genius Awards, organizers had even developed a proprietary device to measure competitors' quote, fart parameters.

But no contestant, no contestant could produce even one entry on stage. And of course, it's one area where you don't want to push too hard to do it because then it becomes an entirely different kind of competition. Now, while the failure was a disappointment for everyone in the auditorium, it was a great relief for everyone in the auditorium. So wait, so over here, I'm just another guy, but in India... You could be a champion! Roy was also the panelist we asked a question to in November 2014 about a very strange experiment with mice.

Roy, scientists reported this week in an interesting memory experiment in which they were able to use a laser to replace bad memories in mice with good memories. And mice have lots of bad memories. Oh, they do. It's something in mice. Now, put that aside. Remember the time. About how the laser...

I can't go back there, man. It was like I was trapped in a maze. Right turn, left turn, right turn, left turn. Oh, my God. Where's my cheese? Just give me the cheese. Many just kept badgering me and badgering me and badgering me. Now, what I want you to do is I want you

to forget about the bit about changing good memories into bad. That was the laser. We don't know what that was about and maybe it'll be useful someday. What we're interested in is how, because they needed to do this experiment and they needed to give the mice a bad memory, which they did with electric shock, but they needed to also create a good memory for

the mouse to conduct these experiments and they gave each of the male mice what? A memory of a, you know, a female mouse. Well, not a memory. Well, they did, but not just one. I'll give you a hint. Oh. It's sort of like a massage a trois.

sort of like a maissage a trois. A memory of doing it with two female mice? Yeah, they basically, they basically, in order to give these mice good memories that they could then experiment with, they gave the mice threesomes. Oh, wow. It's always been a fantasy of mine. Never said it out loud.

It's like these guys know me. So what we imagine is like the scientists are sitting around, right, and they're thinking about what would give a mouse a good memory. And just, you know, as one of the scientists was about to say, well, we could go with cheese, another scientist shouts out, threesome. Threesome. One scientist said, how about fishing with their dad?

And the mice all said, no, no, no. No, no, no, listen to the first guy. Listen to the first guy. What's the bad memory? Do we know? The bad memory was being on a wheel while the guy with the threesome was in the other tank trying to get over there to join you don't get anywhere In June of 2017, we asked Paula Poundstone about a brand new snack food, sort of, in China. Whatever it was, of course, it got her mad.

Paula, in China, shoppers can now purchase potato chip bags that contain what? Well, the obvious answer, Peter. Potato chips. No. Can you give me a hint? Yeah. I hate to ask for it, but... Brands include Lays Lady Lays.

I love that song. Lays Lady Lays. I love that song. That's a good one. Lays Lady Lays. That include Eric Clapton? Eric Clapton? Eric Clapton is inside the potato chip bag? No, first of all,

it's not Eric Clapton. Who is it? You're thinking of Layla. Who is it? No, Lay Lady Layla lay across my big breast bed. Who is that? It's not Eric Clapton.

Who is it? Bob Dylan? Bob Dylan's in a potato chip bag? No. That makes any more sense than Eric Clapton being in a potato chip bag? It's not Bob Dylan. It is a book of his lyrics. A book of his lyrics come in a potato chip bag?

Yes, they do. You know, I think our level of respect for Bob Dylan is just not where it should be. Yeah. level of respect for Bob Dylan is just not where it should be. Well, to the untrained eye, these look like bags of Bob Dylan-flavored potato chips, which, by the way, is

indistinguishable from salt and vinegar. What it is is it's a booklet of his lyrics inside the little potato chip bag. It's inside a potato chip bag? Yeah, Bob Dylan becomes only the second Nobel laureate to have his work sold in snack bags along with Gabrielle Garcia Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

None of this makes any sense. Well, it actually does because somebody said, why are you selling books of Bob Dylan lyrics inside potato chip bags with a picture of Bob Dylan on the front? Yeah. And they said,

well, we thought about what people really like and people really like potato chips. Who's the we? Potato chips are pretty good. Who's the we when you say we thought about it? The company that decided that they would like to sell booklets of Bob Dylan lyrics to the good people of China.

Yeah. He is the Nobel Prize winner in literature. Oh, I thought the story started with the potato chip people who were like, how do we spice this up? No, no, no. But when you tell it to me that way, I get it. Yeah, it's like, why not? Oh, no!

I feel like I'm in a nightmare right now. You take something you want to sell and then you put something delicious with it. This makes no sense at all. Starting from the very beginning of the show when Peter said

we're watching a bad thing happen and there's nothing we can do about it. We can do something about it. This is America and we don't get our Bob Dylan from a potato chip bag. We just don't get our Bob Dylan from a potato chip bag.

In February 2017, we had a reunion with one of our favorite guests from the prior decade, the soul great Mavis Staples. So this amazes me, Mavis, but the last time you were on our show was about eight years ago. Yes, it was. So what you been up to since then? Anything interesting? Oh, my. Yeah.

I've been doing a lot of things, Peter. Yeah. Thanks to you. Yeah, we started you off. I'm trying to think of all the things that's happened. So let's see. You toured with Wilco. Yes. The great Chicago band.

Yes. Yes. And was it Arcade Fire? Arcade Fire. Wow. Yes. A great Chicago band. Yes. Yes. And was it Arcade Fire? Arcade Fire. Wow. Yes. So you were there in the middle of it in the 60s musical explosion. We all know that we all, as we talked about last time, you and Bob Dylan had a little bit of a thing.

Oh, God. Oh, God. How have we been talking about Anything that isn't that Well we We covered that a little bit Yes we did Yeah last time she was here

So my question is How are things different now Touring around with Arcade Fire and Wilco And everything else you've been doing Than it was back then It's keeping me younger, really. Sure. These younger people.

Yeah. But you didn't mention Dylan. No. You didn't know that I toured with Dylan, did you? I didn't know that. You also toured with Dylan. Six weeks. Oh, my gosh.

Six weeks. You and Dylan. Yes, indeed. And how was that? Oh, that was great. Now, let me say. This time I proposed to him. Did you really?

Yeah. Did you? How'd that go? Did you? Tell me what you you? How'd that go? Did you know? Tell me what you said. How do you propose to Bob Dylan? Well, the first thing I said, oh, Bobby. I said, oh, I've been wanting to see you.

I've been missing you. Well, if you'd married me, you could have seen me every day. No. He's bitter. Is he still bitter about it? I said, don't treat me like that. Why are you taking that tone of voice? But he meant it.

Yeah. He meant it. Is it possible that when he proposed to you, Mavis, you just didn't understand what he was saying? That'd be really funny. He's like, Mavis. Yeah, but he made it really clear. I understand where you're coming from.

So we're about, oh, I don't know, 50 years on from that. Was the magic between you still there? Yeah. Yeah. You know, someone knocked on my door, someone wants to see you. Well, I knew who it was, and I felt like I knew who it was. Sure. And here he comes and he

has these sunglasses on where I can see myself in the sunglasses. It's a mirror, you know. And his hoodie. Head on a hoodie. He's wearing a hoodie? He's wearing a hoodie. So he's wearing a hoodie and like mirrored sunglasses? Right. So he looks like the Unabomber. He walks in.

I think he meant to scare me. Yeah, okay. You know? So, all right. So wait a minute. So him walks Dylan, and he says... I said, hey. And after that line that he gave me about,

if you'd marry me, you could have seen me every day. Yeah. I told him, I said, well, let's get married now. Yeah. That's called calling a bluff. Yeah. I really didn't want to hear the now. Yeah. That's called calling a bluff. Yeah. I really didn't want to hear the answer. Yeah.

You know, if it was going to be okay. Yeah. You know. But he told me, no, no. He turned me down. Did he really? He turned me down. Yeah.

I said, okay. If that's the way you want it, Bob, maybe you're thinking that we're too old. I wouldn't marry you. I was telling you we were too young. Yeah. And so it might be that the tables have turned. We're too old now. Yeah.

No, it's not that. It's not that. I'm already married. I said, oh, my God. Is he really? Yeah, he's married. Is he now? I'd have to wait until he got divorced.

From what I know, you might want to give him a call after the show. Mavis? Yes, ma'am. One thing that's different from eight years is you've got a Kennedy Center honor. I do, yeah. So tell me about that. Tell me about that. Yeah.

I just want to say this is, of course, the big annual event they have at the Kennedy Center. The president always comes. President Obama was there, right? Yes. And I was sitting right with them in the balcony. I was sitting right next to Michelle. Yeah.

And it was so exciting. It was so, you know, I had been there several times. This Kennedy Center Honors, that is one of the best shows you can, you know. And I sang for Bob, not Bob Dylan. No. See what you did? I know. He's always on your mind.

Yeah. you did. I know. He's always on your mind. You sang for Paul McCartney. I'm Paul McCartney. I was trying to think of Paul McCartney and I came up with Bob. But

I did. Did he propose? No, no, no, no. Paul McCartney, he was already I'm unlucky these days. The guys are all married. That's a shame. You know no, no. No, Paul McCartney, he was already. I'm unlucky these days. The guys are all married now. That's a shame. You know, but no, it was just such an honor to be honored at the Kennedy Center. You know, because we met President Kennedy.

We did his inauguration. Oh, yeah, of course. The Staples family singer. Yes, my family. And when they said the Kennedy Center honors, I said, somebody pinch me. Am I really being honored by the Kennedy Center Honors? That's one of the best, greatest honors you can get. I have so many.

But this particular one, I tell you, just floored me. Sure. Just made me feel like I was on cloud nine. Sure. And not only that, but the Staples Singers was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Is that not the case? Yes, in 1999. There you go. You were. There was a book about you and the Staples Singers by Greg Cott from here in Chicago.

Right. There's a documentary about you on HBO. Yes. You've got what else? What other worlds are left to conquer from Mavis Staples? Oh, man, Peter, I'm just happening.

You are. Coming up, the greatest story about Lucy Ricardo's landlady ever told, never before heard outtakes from guest host Tom Hanks, and Stephen Colbert pretends to be Lena Dunham. That's when we come back with more 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 Sagal.

Thank you, Bill. Thanks, everybody. So we don't want to see the 2010s just thrown out with the trash. Well, actually, we do. But not before we highlight some of our and your favorite moments from the last 10 years. One of my personal favorites happened during a visit with style maven Tim Gunn on stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. We had been chatting about fashion and Project Runway when Mo Rocca interrupted with a request. fashion and project runway when Mo Rocca interrupted with a request.

I don't mean to send this on a digression, but since you brought up I Love Lucy, you do have the single best Vivian Vance story ever. Oh, I do. If you would like to tell your Vivian Vance story, who am I to stand in your way? All right. Vivian Vance played Ethel on I Love Lucy.

My father was a career FBI agent, 26 years, and he was FBI agent, 26 years. And he was, well, he was an agent, but he ended up being J. Edgar Hoover's ghostwriter, speechwriter, took care of all this correspondence, and his office was two doors down from Mr. Hoover's office. And growing up, my sister and I loved the FBI tour. Sure.

And this one particular year, I was 9 or 10, and my sister was therefore six or seven. And my father said, you kids are going to be so excited. Vivian Vance is in Mr. Hoover's office. And I was a huge I Love Lucy fan, and would you like to meet her? Well, yes, of course. So we did, and it was lovely, and she was charming. Years later, my father's in a nursing home with Alzheimer's disease. He's not at the Thanksgiving table. Our family has gathered, and all these rumors are out about Hoover being a cross-dresser. Yes. So I was reflecting upon that time in his office with Vivian Vance, So I was reflecting upon that time in his office with Vivian Vance. And I turned to my sister and I said, upon reflection, I know it was years and years ago, doesn't it strike you as odd that Hoover wasn't in the office? Wow.

So it's not a Vivian Vance story. No. How was J. Edgar Hoover as Vivian Vance dressed? Which is really what matters. A stunning house dress. No. If that's the look he wanted, he got a good one. But I have to tell you this, too.

I wrote about this in one of my books, Guns, Gold, and Rules. It was published by a division of Simon & Schuster. The Simon & Schuster legal team went to task on that book. They spent two weeks with it. And they contacted Vivian Vance's two biographers, neither of whom knew anything about this visit to the FBI. And then, they went

to the FBI to look at their visitor logs. No Vivian Vance. That is... We had 10 years of limericks during the 2010s. That's three a week, four times a month, 12 months a year. That's a lot of limericks. And it seems like about half of them were about one subject. Here's a small sample.

Hi, everyone. Wait, wait, don't tell me. Hello, how do you do? This is Bennett Moon coming out of Athens, Georgia, by way of Columbia, Tennessee. Whoa! You sound like a late-night DJ. Is your name really Bennett Moon? Yeah, and believe it or not, my parents were not hippies. Quite the opposite, law and politics. So I guess I came out with a strange name to just fool all of you. Bennett, welcome to the show. Bill Curtis is going to read you three news-related

limericks with the last word or phrase missing from each. Your job, just fill in that last word or phrase or do it two out of three times and you will win our prize. Ready to do it? Yes, sir. Here is your first limerick. At each edit and each table read, Seth and Evan would blaze and proceed. Their results were ironic, but the residues chronic. Their old office walls still reek of... Weed? Yes.

Weed. Yes. Former Sony CEO Amy Pascal. They threw her out of the headquarters, but they gave her a new office on the lot, but she can't move into it because it reeks of pot smoke. Apparently, this is true, the former tenant was Seth Rogen. And he, as we know, smokes so much weed, when he finally exhales, it looks like there's a new pope.

They're fumigating, but still, she's going to get a contact high. And we're excited for when Sony greenlights the $50 million film A Bunch of Swirling Colors, starring George Clooney and a lava lamp. Here is your next limerick. Hydroponics are helping my plot. Master Cottontail's here quite a lot. I've found rabbit habits include fresh cannabis. Yes, Peter's addicted to... Pot. Pot. And I should say that the Peter mentioned is Peter Cottontail.

Utah is close to becoming the latest state to legalize medical marijuana, but one DEA agent raised the alarm in front of the Utah legislature. He warned them that rabbits might eat the weed, and then, what would you have? You'd have a bunch of weed-crazed rabbits running around. They'd run

rampant in the state's cornfields and taco orchards. Here is your last limerick. Bennett, you're really great. Let's see how you do on this one. Is the next one answer marijuana? How did you know?

Oh, let him read the limerick. Ben and Jerry mix up What Do You Wanna? Their new batch won't make munchies at Ghana. The bigger the cone, the more I get stoned. Their ice cream contains milk!

Yeah! Ben and Jerry say, of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, that when it's legal to do so, they will try to make some marijuana ice cream resulting in thousands of people simultaneously getting and curing ice cream headaches. Of course, they're going to need to make it a special no-melt formula for the 98% of consumers who will accidentally put it back in the cabinet instead of the freezer. And I've already got Cherry Garcia. That's true. Not to mention Wavy Gravy.

Bill, how did Bennett do on our quiz? Oh, man. She is really cool. She got all three. Congratulations, Bennett. Thank you so much for playing. Thank you. When we ask you about your favorite moments from the last ten years, many of you mention the show from January 2017

when a Hollywood actor filled in for Peter. I have learned to live with it. Here's some of Tom Hanks you've never heard before when, after our taping, he had to retake some of the lines he had messed up the first time, and he had some strong feelings about that. This is NPR.

Very good. Woo, TomPR. There we go. Woo, Tom Hanks. All right. Now, how many have been to this cuckoo show before? Hands up. So you know that the retakes come now? Now, back when I was doing

a little show called Bosom Buddies, we had, you know, they say Bosom Buddies was taped in front of a live audience, which was true. We had people there who had to sit there for hours and hours. And when we would do retakes,

the executive producer would come out and just say things that were so silly. All right, ladies and gentlemen, the way we have to do now, we are going to do retakes. We're going to do the same scene that we just did. We're going to see it all over again. We're going to shoot from different angles.

Sometimes we have to do this because a line was fluffed or the shot wasn't right or some other post-production problem that's going to be too expensive for us to take. But here's where you get to be the actor as well. Here's where you get to join in and be part of Bosie Buddies. Here's where you get to be part of our show.

We can't do it without you. So if you can't forget everything you've heard, everything you've seen, just get ready to laugh uproarious like it's the first time you've heard it. So that's what we're going to do next. Isn't that right, Bill Curtis? That's it. These are the retakes?

Is that what they're called? These are the retakes. All we need to do is forget them. I just want to protest. Peter Sagal said nothing to me about retakes. Well, that's because Peter never has to do them, Tom. That's actually true. That's not true.

That's not true. Well, these are on me. I'm so embarrassed. It's just 13 pages. Are you going to tell me... A lucky number. After all of that blah, blah, blah from Manny Moe and Jack over here,

they have nothing that they have to reset? Yeah, but us, they can just cut out. It doesn't matter. But the host has to have all the... Oh, of course. The burden of the show falls to you. What you're saying is they dare not cut me out. Is that what you're saying?

Whereas you, well, they were expendable, ladies and gentlemen. Way to spin it. Yeah, thank you. Here we go. Luke, according to a new study in the Journal of Public Economics, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to be what? This is amazing. You're like taking me there. I know.

It's just, it is. You're so much more committed than Peter ever was. Is there a golden globe for this? No. Should be. There's not. There's nothing for this. Big, fat sack of nothing. No, there is. I'm going to have an ocean of people coming up

saying, hey, I heard you on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Why did you do that? Finally, my personal favorite interview of the entire decade, and it wasn't just because it was with Stephen Colbert during a show in New York in February of 2017. No, it was because Stephen was a last-minute, very generous substitute for another guest who had canceled on us.

And Stephen insisted that we ask him the questions we had prepared for the original guest so he could guess who it was. These are the questions that our researchers and myself had prepared. And then at the end of the thing, I guess who it is. Yes, you're dumb to guess who it is. You're dumb to guess who it is. It's very exciting.

So, here we go. Well, you've done so much. Movies, TV shows, your book. But here's the big question. What's it like being on Taylor Swift's squad? A, it's an honor. B, it's a challenge. Sure.

Because you always have to be on your toes. It's me, Julie Andrews. All the greats. All the greats. You have to keep your secrets. You have to keep your secrets. Because, you know, she always wears those very high-waisted skirts. Yes.

So you can't see her navel. No. And the secret, well, there's secrets we can't tell about that. And I can tell you guys because you're not going to tell anybody. Her navel has teeth in it. Has little teeth in it. And the navel has little sharp teeth in it.

And the navel actually, the velvet writes all the songs, actually. Now, here's the next question we had prepared. A lot of people comment about how much you appear naked on your show

and we were wondering if that's something that you feel is important to get some kind of message across to America? I love my body. Yes.

Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. I love my body. And it's possible I wrote a book about it. Did you? Evidently not. I often appear naked on my show. You do? I often appear naked on my show.

Now wait a second. We should tell Stephen this is the one question we were going to ask him anyway. Just to be fair. I'm going to ask you one last question. There's only one more. Is it weird to have all that awkward sex on camera with Adam Driver? Because I know that's weird making it sound that way. First of all, it's not weird. It's not weird.

He's very professional. He's a professional. He's a gentleman. Yeah. I will say the sex is real. Because I'm all about keeping it real. Yeah. And that's why, I mean, as I stand here today.

Yeah. Okay. As sure as my name is Lena Dunham. What I want to say to you is that I will continue any day of the week. You name the day, you name the place, I will continue

to have sex with Adam Driver whether or not the show continues. Now that you have solved the mystery, let's talk to you about you. How are you doing these days?

I am so not as interesting as this game Because you were so good at being the character Stephen Colbert for so long did it was it Difficult for you at first on CBS late night to be yourself on TV Did you have to figure out who that was how to do that a little bit? You know, I was it wasn't sure how much my character and I felt the same way about things Yeah, you know, we're both,'re both huge Lord of the Rings freaks. And we're both like Catholics.

But one thing that my wife, as the character, was named Lorraine. And we had a terrible relationship. But my wife in real life is named Evie. And we have a great relationship. So one of the ways I started on the new show, knowing I was me and not the guy was that for the first couple of months, I would beg my wife, can you just come sit in like the fifth row so I can look at you every night.

I go, okay, I'm, I'm the guy married to her. Right. And so that helped a lot. Um, and other than that,

it was, I wasn't sure how much you realize I said that because Valentine's day is on. I understand. Do you ever think about what your old character would think of our new president? What he might say? You know what? I think he's a strong president. We've got to stand behind this guy.

That's what I think. Yeah. Okay? All right? Get in line. All right? What part of all caps don't you understand? Sorry.

That was scary. I was just possessed. The transformation. Possibly. Steven, we know that the president watches Saturday Night Live because he tweets about it. He doesn't like it, but he keeps watching it. You do a lot of material about the president.

Do you have any indication that he's watching you? No, no. He hasn't said Jack. Right. He hasn't said Jack about me. Do you feel bad about that? Do you wish he was watching you so you could speak directly to him as they do on SNL? I don't care.

Yeah. That's it for our look back at the 2010s as seen by Wait Wait. Thanks to everyone who submitted ideas for this show and our number one fan, Lynn Fahm, keeper of the WaitWait stats page, without whom we'd never know what we had just done. WaitWait Don't Tell Me is a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago in association with Urgent Aircraft 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 Dernbos, and Lillian King. 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 California Ian Chilog. And the executive producer of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is Michael Danforth. Thanks to Bill Curtis, all our panelists, all of the guests you heard this week.

And thanks to all of you for listening for the whole decade. I'm Peter Sagal. We will see you next week. This is NPR.