Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - WWTDM: Gary Oldman

Episode Date: September 21, 2024

This week, Gary Oldman joins us to talk Slow Horses, the Emmy Awards, and the fine art of flatulence with Karen Chee, Brain Babylon, and Peter Grosz.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey there, this is Felix Contreras, one of the co-hosts of Alt Latino, the podcast from NPR music where we discuss Latinx culture, music and heritage with the artists that created. Listen now to the Alt Latino podcast from NPR and WBEZ Chicago this is wait wait don't tell me the NPR news quiz hey there Chicago I'm Aisha Roscoe filling in for Bill Curtis and this was supposed to be my day off but I'm here and here's your host at the Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Segel. Thank you, Ayesha. Thank you all so much.

We have a great show for you today. Later on, we're going to be talking to the fabulous actor Gary Oldman about his hit spy show Slow Horses. But first, we are so excited to welcome Ayesha Roscoe to our show. She is the host of Weekend Edition Sunday. She's going to be our special guest judge and scorekeeper filling in for Bill. And I have to ask you, Ayesha, you have one of the most prestigious gigs at NPR News. You host one of the big shows.

Why in the world would you ever want to do this? Well, you know, look, I have three kids, so anything to get out of the house, I just gotta get. I understand. I needed just some mommy time. I get that, you know? All right. Well, Aisha, it's great to have you on the show. Out there, you want to be in the show, it's easy. Just give us a call and you'll win our prize, the voice of anyone you might choose for your voicemail. The number is 1-888-WAITWAIT. 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 Jamie from Madison, Wisconsin. Hey, Jamie, how are things in Madison?

They're awesome. I am so glad. That is one of my favorite cities in the world. Beautiful college town in the center of Wisconsin. What do you do there? I run the Dane County Farmers Market, the largest producer only farmers market in the country. That is fabulous. There's nothing that's gonna get you more crowd applause on NPR than you've run a farmers market. You can't see this but everybody here is standing up there. People are taking their underwear off and throwing them at the stage. We're not her.

Well, welcome to the show, Jamie. Let me introduce you to our panel this week. First, you just heard him. He's an actor, writer, and the director of Frances Ford Coppola's Megalopolis. It's Peter Gross. Next, he's a comedian turned fashion designer who will be premiering his fall winter line on October 12th at Chicago Fashion Week. It's the Prince of Bronzeville.

It's Brian Babylon. And finally, she's a comedian and writer for TV shows like Late Night with Seth Meyers and Pachinko, which is streaming now on Apple TV. It's Karen Chi. So you are going to play Who's Ayesha this time. Ayesha Rasco filling in for Bill Curtis is going to read you three quotations from this week's news. If you can correctly identify or explain just two of them, you will win our prize. Any voice from our show you might choose for your voicemail.

Are you ready to do this? Yep. All right. Your first quote is from New York Mayor Eric Adams. You take out the garbage, you see one run across your feet, you think about it all day. That was Adams. Speaking of this week's first ever National Summit to discuss the battle against what? Rats.

Rats, yes. New York City hosted the National Urban Rat Summit this week, joined by delegations from Chicago, Boston, Seattle, and other disgusting cities. Eric Adams has made battling rats the centerpiece of his time as mayor, proving that rats are the only constituency not currently bribing someone in the Adams administration. Why would he pick a battle he knows he can't win? I know. That's like, you're never going to beat the rats, bro.

Yeah, it's like, it's me versus the mosquitoes. And I want you to judge me at the end of the summer. If you got one mosquito bite, they won. I got to say, as a New Yorker, I feel like it's not the New Yorkers who are trying to get rid of rats. It's actually just very nice of the rats to let us live in their city. Really?

You know, the one thing about New York life and rats is you almost turn into Michael Jackson videos, because it's always quick. Like, you know, we had a rat. Everything is quick neck motions of your peripheral vision. Oh, there's a rat. And everybody's going, yeah. The summit invited pest control experts and scientists from across the nation to discuss

tips and strategies. It was a really nice little touch. In the sort of classic New York tradition, each visiting expert had a rat waiting in their hotel room for them when they arrived. I know, I bet all those people are like, can we do this somewhere other than New York City? York tradition, each visiting expert had a rat waiting in their hotel room for them when they arrived. I bet all those people were like, can we do this somewhere other than New York City? How about a rat somewhere where we talk about the rats but we're in Miami? That would be nice.

All right, Jamie, Jamie, for your next quote, here is someone on TikTok gushing about their new fun pastime. You get to eat at your desk, you get weekends off, and you get to wear cute little outfits. That was one of the thousands of young people who are now posting videos just to brag about their what. I have no idea. What's strange here is this is the sort of thing we thought young people nowadays hated and would never do. Remember she said you get to eat at your desk and you get weekends off. Working a 40 hour work week. Exactly, working office jobs.

Yes. Wow. Forget about being an artist or an influencer, now the coolest thing you can be is an entry level customer service manager. People used to go on about their cool side hustles, now everybody is bragging about their front hustle. One of these so-called corporate girlies on TikTok listed the benefits of an office job

as quote, get to eat at your desk, listen to music and podcast, you get weekends off and free coffee. You know who else gets all those benefits? An unemployed person who goes to AA meetings. I think it's also just like the Gen Z obsession with like making everything nameable and the thing and a trend. Like at some point they're gonna be like, I'm just sitting here, I'm doing this cool thing with my lungs where they squeeze in and the air comes out of them and then I'm like, wait

a minute, I need more air in them so I breathe in until the hashtag breath life, like breath life. Everything has to be like named and like called something. You're just a classic oxygen girly. The respiration challenge was like so 2023. If you failed the respiration challenge, you don't even deserve to live. I'm sorry to be mean, but if you can't breathe, you don't deserve to live. All right.

Jamie, your last quote is from an interview that the BBC did. We're afraid somebody will tell us we smell. That was an environmentalist joining the growing number of experts who say that what daily habit is unnecessary? Bathing. Bathing, yes, exactly right. Experts say that there is no actual health benefit to a daily shower and we only do it because, as you heard, we don't want other people to think we smell. Now, I might be wrong, but doesn't that sound like a good enough reason? Who was this expert? Jabba the Hutt?

You don't need to sound like that. I think this is just the patchouli lobbyist trying to, like... The idea is that you don't need to do it. You especially don't need to clean yourself with soap every day because that actually hurts your healthy biome. Patchouli classic, patchouli BS. And I keep reading it, it's like you only need to do it if you sweat excessively and I'm like, well, I'm out.

Okay. So if you have a day where you don't sweat, you don't really do much, and you're like, I'm not going to see anybody and no one's going to smell me, then don't shower. If you're depressed. Yeah, yeah. Right. But don't tell anybody you don't shower. Like, keep that to yourself. I think maybe if you don't shower enough, don't shower. Like, keep that to yourself.

I think maybe if you don't shower enough, you won't be able to keep it to yourself. Exactly. No, the new rule is very obvious. You only have to shower and the waves of stink are visibly leaving your body like a mirage. Like cartoonist stink lines? Have you noticed that you're much dirtier at hotel

towels when you dry off? You're like much dirtier. Wow. I've noticed that. Have you noticed that? Because they're so white. They're so white. They're so white and clean.

You're like, Jesus Christ, this is nothing. It's like. The Peters are like, no, we've never excreted that. I've never excreted that. I've never heard of that. They're like, our towels get even whiter when we're dry. I love a good hotel towel. They're like, our towels get even whiter than ours. I love a good hotel towel.

Aisha, how did Jamie do on our quiz? She killed it. She's, you know, three out of three. There you go, Jamie. Well done. Thank you so much for playing. That's funny. Thank you.

I'll look for you at the farmer's market when I am next in Madison during season. Absolutely. Bye. Bye. Take care Right now panel it is time for you to answer some questions about this week's news Brian the latest dating trend on social media Is the 666 method a woman or I guess anyone who uses it will be looking for what? Nope. Nope. Nope. Damien, I did this for you!

Damien, I did this for you! Damien, I did this for you! Damien, I did this for you! I mean, is it not? No, it's not. It's not the devil. It's not Satan. It's not the Antichrist.

It's not the Antichrist. Okay. It's six, six, six? Six, six, six. They refer to six measurements. Okay. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Six. Not what Karen wants you to say. I got two out of three.

You got two. You got two. You get six feet tall. Six figure salary. It is a physical attribute, but it's not what Karen is constantly trying to get you to say. I'm not. I'm not. The listener at home, I'm being so reasonable. I'll give you a hint. This is what you want to see when he takes his shirt off. Oh, six pack. Right. Six pack.

Six nipples. Six feet tall. Six figure salary and a six pack. The thing is, I only have like four packs. I'm just kidding. I will explain all. The six six rule has been around for years, but recently it's having a resurgence as women are trying to be much more specific about what they're looking for in the dating apps. It's a very efficient way to streamline the dating process, find your ideal man, and also get catfished.

Yeah. It's like, here's the third thing to be superficial about. Exactly. So this is a hashtag on the dating apps. It is. Like, walk to the beach, looking for 666. Yep, yep. But if you're a warlock, you're like, oh, yeah.

Walking along, minding my business. I lifted my eyes, my God, what is this? A work of perfection, just a walk in this way. Makes me wanna say that you're a tall drink of water. Hey, you're a fan. You got it everywhere you order. It's time like that. Coming up, our panel has hit the bullseye

in our bluff the listener game called One Triple Eight, Wait, Wait, To Play. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR. The Emmy Awards just happened and we're recapping all the highlights, including big wins for the Bear, Shogun, and Hacks. It's very humbling. It really is. And I appreciate this because I just don't get enough attention. We're talking about the winners, losers, and surprises from this year's Emmys.

Listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. from this year's Emmys, listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. spirit you can taste in every sip. Find your next favorite beer wherever fine beverages are sold. With new brews for every season, there's always something to discover. Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, still family-owned, operated, and argued over. Georgia delivered a narrow victory to President Biden in 2020. On NPR's Consider This Podcast, we'll look at where things stand four years later with a new presidential candidate on the ticket. It is enough to flip the election, and that is why everybody's voice is important. Hear what Georgians think about issues like voting access and what that could mean for the election. This week on the Consider This podcast from NPR.

Instead of scrolling mindlessly, engage mindfully with the NPR app. With a mix of on-demand news, stories from this station, and your favorite podcast, you can relax without shutting off your brain. Download the NPR app today. ["WBEZ Chicago"] From NPR in WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz.

I'm Ayesha Roscoe. We're playing this week with Peter Gross, Brian Babylon, and Karen Chi. And here again is your host at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thanks, Ayesha. Thank you so much. Right now it is time for the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me bluff, the listener game called 1-888-Wait-Wait to play our game in the air. Or you can always check out the pinned post on our Instagram page which is at WaitWaitNPR to find all that information.

Hi, you're on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. Hi, this is Natalie from Plainfield, Illinois. Hey, Natalie, how are you? I'm good, how are you? We've got some Plainfield fans here in Chicago. What do you do there? I'm an elementary school teacher. Yes!

You've got even more fans of elementary school teachers. Well, welcome to the show, Natalie. You're gonna play our game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction. Aisha, what is Natalie's topic? It happened at Target. Who doesn't love Target? You can get anything there. You can get your groceries, your latest fashions, you get your credit card declined. Anyway, this week we learned about something really unusual that went down at one particular Target store. Our panelists are gonna tell you about it.

Pick the real one, you'll win the weight-weighter of your choice in your voicemail. You ready to play? I'm ready. All right, first let's hear from Brian Babylon. Portland, Maine. Portland's Target store is in damage control after the latest eco-friendly product, the organic non-toxic vegan bed bug extermination kit, led to a full-blown cockroach takeover.

The kit, priced at $90, came with everything the eco-minded person who wants to get rid of bed bugs needed. Essential oils, special natural detergents, and of course, a colony of cockroaches and a hemp burlap pouch. Since cockroaches are the natural predator of bed bugs, the idea is once the bed bugs were gone, the roaches would just leave, right? Spoiler, wrong, they didn't leave.

Instead, they multiplied in the Target store faster than a kombucha recipe at a Portland potluck. Jasper Moonbeam, an elementary teacher, had a close encounter in the coffee aisle. I reached for my Fair Trade espresso, and then, bam, a cockroach runs across my hand. I haven't screamed like that since the farmer farmers market ran out of heirloom tomatoes. Target is offering refunds, Pixar is thinking about making this into a movie, and Portland's

cockroach population is booming at a Target in Portland, Maine. Your next trip to Target comes from Karen Chi. Drivers in Ohio were alarmed on Sunday morning when they saw an SUV driving erratically on the freeway. Eyewitness Justin Kimmery told the New York Times that he saw a car going quote, all over the road. When Kimmery pulled up by the car to investigate himself, he was shocked.

He couldn't see anyone behind the wheel. Was it a ghost or a self-driving car? No, it was the scariest thing of all, an eight-year-old girl. It's true, neighborhood cameras show a spunky elementary schooler in Bedford, Ohio, leaving home at 7 a.m., hopping into her mom's Nissan Rogue, and driving 13 miles to Target with shocking success, as well as $400 of her parents' money. And her parents apparently didn't even notice she had left the house until two hours later. Police located the girl sitting in the Target's Starbucks where she was enjoying a frappuccino

and... And I assume quietly regretting the life choices that led her there. An eight-year-old girl takes herself in her parents' car down to the local Target 13 miles away. Your last shopping topic comes from Peter Gross. Best friends Jennifer Insull and Leah Golmy are managers at the Target in the Cross Gates Mall in Albany, New York and are big Francophiles. After the Olympics in Paris this summer, they had a brainstorm.

Everyone jokingly calls Target Tarjet, Golmy told News 32 Albany, so we thought, what if we made our target totally French? This week they did just that. Every sign was rewritten in French, the cheese aisle in the grocery section was stocked with stinky blue cheeses, and the employees smoked, were rude to the customers, and went on strike every 20 minutes. Reaction to the Frenchification varied. Some were downright confused.

I had no idea what they were saying, and I thought I was having a stroke. The biggest negative reaction came not from customers but from overly patriotic employees at a different store in the mall who responded by changing the name of their store to O Bone Pain and selling deep fried bacon wrapped hot dogs dipped in nacho cheese ketchup and whipped cream. All right. Something interesting happened at a particular Target location this last week. Was it from Brian Babylon, a Target in Portland, Maine, was infested by cockroaches which came in their new organic bed bug eradication kits? Was it from Karen Chi, a target in Ohio

was visited by an eight-year-old girl who managed to drive their parents' car, or from Peter Gross, a target in upstate New York converted for real into a tarjay? Which of these was the real target-oriented story in the news we found? Well, speaking of someone who teaches many eight-year-olds, I'm going to go with Karen's story.

You're going to go with Karen's story, the little girl. The audience seems to agree. Well, we actually, to bring you the real story, spoke to the person who covered this for the New York Times. An eight-year-old girl was found at the Target without a scratch,

just a frappuccino in hand and a busted mailbox. That was Gina Sherless who reported on the tiny shopper story for the Times. Congratulations Natalie, you got it right. You earned a point for Cameron, but more importantly, you have won our prize, the voice of anyone you might choose for your voicemail. Thank you so much. Thank you, congratulations and congratulations on all the good work you do. Thank you. Take care. And if I work a clutch, you better pull over, this car's too much.

I tell you man, she's unreal. She's a first class super fast automobile. A first class super fast automobile. And now the game we call Not My Job. Decades ago, James Bond established the stereotype of the British spy. Handsome, suave, perfectly dressed with impeccable manners. We're happy to report that is now obsolete. The new model MI5 agent is the slovenly, flatulent Jackson Lamb, played by Gary Oldman.

In the hit Apple TV series, Slow Horses, we are delighted to talk to him now. Gary Oldman, welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you. So let's start at the beginning. Tell us about your character in the show, Jackson Lamb. Jackson Lamb, it was once a very, very good agent working for, you know, MI5. He, what we see when we meet him in Slow Horses is the sort of smoldering embers of the man that was once legendary.

In my view, and I've been around and I've seen a lot of great TV, film, theater. I think that Jackson Lamb has the greatest character introduction I have ever seen. When we meet Jackson Lamb, he's having a nap in the office and he farts himself awake. Let's face it, you've done a lot of good work in your career, Gary, but I don't know if you've ever done anything that immediately evocative. You know, but we do, I never thought I'd see the day where I'm having email exchanges with the director talking about the quality of facts.

But because, you know, they are not a methadone actor, so they have to dub it on me. Or should I say I'm not a methene actor? Anyway, so I finally, you know, they dub on a sound and then I'm exchanging emails with the director saying, you know, it is on a leather seat so it should be more robust. That's fact. That's part fact. A fuller sound and occasionally I might write, can we make it direct and a little wet ground on the edges? I'm imagining, first I'm a little disappointed to find out it wasn't you farting, but we understand that. It's all CGI these days, we know this.

But I'm wondering because let's face it, Jackson Lamb farts a lot in the course of his day, and I'm assuming that they, the sound designers, must have a whole file of farts that are chosen from. I was going to ask, is it like when you have a stand-in? You know, when someone doesn't want to do a nude scene, they have a stand-in? Somebody who is farting in place of you? Yeah. Do you have a colon double?

And actually shouldn't that be the person nominated for an Emmy? Be a little selfish Gary. No, I'm sure there's somebody in Karen's rocks to answer your question. I'm sure there's someone in the room. And you were nominated for an Emmy. You were there. If I'm not mistaken, you were caught up in the great showgun sweep of all the awards, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

I mean, they were nominated for 14 and they won 25. It's amazing. How do they do that? Did you have a speech ready? I've always wondered about that. Yeah, I think it's polite. Yeah, and what do you do with it if you don't get to use it? That's the other question.

Well, more recently, my wife has been keeping them and throwing them sort of in a box in the archive, as it were. How many do you have? Well, I've lost a lot. I've got quite a collection. It's kind of fascinating though. You don't just use the same one. You don't name your agent, just say you're agent.

You could use it for years. No, what you can do though is because you don't win and you don't get to speak it, no one knows. So what you do is you could dig one out from years ago and just change it. It's not good. Because you go, oh that was a good one. I never got to say that. Yeah, that was a good one. So let me dig that one out and kind of like move the view. It's sort of cut and paste the thing. Because I think you don't make references to like some rights or something of a country that doesn't

exist anymore. We're like, the people of Yugoslavia need their... Gary, it is an absolute pleasure to talk to you again. Once again, we have asked you here to play a game and this time we are calling it... The Slowest Horses of all. You are of course star in slow horses as we have discussed so we thought we'd ask you about the very slowest horses that is hobby horses. Hobby horses are of course the toy it's a stick with a horse's head and people actually ride these hobby horses in

competitive events called hobby horsing where they go around gates and jump over fences and do dressage just like real horses. So we're gonna ask you three questions about hobby horsing get two of them right you will win our prize for one of our listeners the voice of anyone they may choose for their voicemail. Ayesha who is Gary Oldman playing for? Martin Oliver of Los Angeles, California. All right. All right. Ready to do this?

Have you heard or seen Hobby Horsing? I have seen it. Yeah, it's pretty out there. It's pretty out there. So now, if you've watched it, and there are many videos online, you can watch them, you'll notice that it's very popular with young girls. But according to Hobby Horse Riders Australia, boys are starting to get interested in the sport but with a notable change.

What is it? A, they prefer hobby war-horsing with jousts. B, they make and ride hobby dinosaurs, or C, boys rules allow them to turn the horses around and pretend the sticks are guns. I'm gonna go with jousting. You're gonna go with jousting. That is a natural choice, but it's actually hobby dinosaurs. Hmm. My three-year-old, by the way, could have explained this to you, but you still have two more chances, so you're all good here. The very first American Hobby Horse Championships were held just last month in Michigan, and

the competitors who came had to deal with some significant obstacles, such as which of these. A, due to a quirk in Michigan law, the horses had to be stabled and given adequate food and water, even though they are not real. B, those who flew there could not bring their hobby horses on board the plane because they could be used as a weapon. Or C, the Northern Midwest Alliance for Animal Liberation, which on the first day of competition tried to liberate the quote, spiritual horses. Okay.

Okay, I'm going to have to go with C. No, I'm afraid it was B. They could not bring the hobby horses onto the plane because if they are essentially four foot long sticks you could use them as a weapon. So that was the obvious one. Yeah I know. All right you have one more chance here let's see what happens. Some competitors use the hobby horse for every event but you know when it's time to retire your loyal hobby horse. Don't worry because you can always do what?

A, bring them to Lincoln, Massachusetts where they can live out the end of their days with other hobby and rocking horses in a grassy kind of pasture. B, just break them in half to create two hobby ponies, or C, send them to a factory to be turned into wood glue. I'm thinking when you're done with the horse, I'm not saying that you literally turn it into two ponies, but you just snap this thing over your knee and throw it in the bin. No, it was actually A. Nobody knows.

Nobody knows who put the first rocking horse in this pasture near Lincoln, Massachusetts, but it has been joined over the years by dozens more hobby horses, rocking horses. So Aisha? How did Oscar-winning and sometimes frankly a little intimidating actor Gary Oldman doing our quiz. Well, you know, I think that because he has lost a lot and with the Emmys and things like that, I think we should give it to him. I think you're right. You're always a winner here. with the Emmys and things like that. I think we should give it to them. I think you're right. I think we should give it to them. We'll give it to them.

Ah. You know? You're always a winner here. If you happen to still have the Emmys being handy, you can roll it out now. Well, congratulations on this big win. I hope it makes up for everything. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Gary Oldman is an Oscar winning actor and if you have not yet watched him in the show Slow Horses on Apple TV, I envy you because you get to start from the beginning. Gary Oldman, thank you so much for joining us on Wait Wait Don't Go. Thank you. What a pleasure to talk to you again. Take care. Awesome. In just a minute, Ayesha introduces you to a very big, very small new international superstar

in our Listener Limerick Challenge. Call 1-888-WAITWAIT to join us on the air. We'll be back in a minute or a parent, LifeKit gets it. You're so worried about where you fit in. Your body is changing. It's braces, it's bras, it's all of the above, and I think nobody is comfortable for quite a while. Weather those changes with LifeKit's guide on transitioning back to school. Listen to the LifeKit podcast from NPR.

Look, raising a teen is tough. You know, it's always been hard to be a teenager and it's always been hard to raise a teenager. I think a lot of parents feel like their kid has broken up with them. But this school year can be different with Life Kit's guide on supporting your teenager. Listen to the Life Kit podcast from NPR. It's fall, so maybe you're figuring out your Halloween costume or where to get a pumpkin spice latte. And if you want to know what buzzy movies, TV shows, and music to check out this fall,

we've got you covered. If you skip it, you're gonna be skipping, I think, one of the best shows of the year. Listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. NPR News Quiz From NPR in WBEZ, Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz.

I'm Ayesha Roscoe. We're playing this week with Brian Babylon, Peter Gross, and Karen Chi. And here again is your host at the Studebaker's Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you Aisha. In just a minute, Aisha gets in a fight with a porky rhyme. If you'd like to play give us a call at 1-888-wait- 1-888-888-924-8924. Right now, panel, some more questions for you from the week's news. Peter, according to the New York Times this week, there's something that we thought only happened to toddlers, but now we know it happens to adults, too.

What is it? They make in their pants. Peter, what did you do? We have meltdowns, we have tantrums. Yes, tantrums, that's the answer. Psychologists have suggested that the reason small kids often have temper tantrums in the afternoon is because of quote, after school restraint collapse. The idea is they've been at school, preschool,

whatever, behaving all day, following orders, they get home, all that panop stress comes pouring out and adults have the same experience, right? I mean, so yeah, don't get upset at them. It's just a case of the terrible 32s. That is true. After I've behaved so well on this panel I always go back and trash the dressing room. I just curse like crazy. I mean if you think about it it makes sense because you know adults what do you do? You go to work right you're dealing with crises you're dealing with stress. Yeah. Just repress it all you don't react then you go home and you go directly into family life and you blow up because you just don't have a moment to just like into family life and you blow up because you just don't have a moment to just like decompress first and also because they wanted blueberries but not these blueberries I hate these blueberries go away also alcohol I think happens yeah

yeah Brian this year's hottest aesthetic for decorating your home is being inspired by a certain group of people who are they? How does this like the vibe? Like the look. I don't give me a hand on that. It's amazing how you can refresh the look in your house when you got the house. What? Oh, realtors. No. No, I don't know. When you got the house? Homeowners? People who buy a house? This is a dumb question. This is a dumb question. Like, what do you mean? People who have bought homes? Let's just group guess this.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not homeowners? Garden gnomes? Peter, you can do it. I'll give it a hint. Basically, it's people who have been able to free themselves from the little voice that was holding them back because they got the house and the little voice had to move back

in with his mom. Is it recently divorced people? It is. What? Yeah. It's actually called Divorced Mom Corps. Oh. That's the one.

For the cottage core. Divorced Mom Corps is what this is called. Divorced Dad Corps is like, ugh. I know I want that. That's rough. Yeah, oh yeah. You don't want to do that guy, divorced dad core. You don't want to do that.

You want to see that coffee table? Domino's box. Yeah. You know what I mean? Divorced mom core, it's all about, apparently, the fact that these women finally get to do exactly what they want, indulge the women. Without a man telling them what to do.

Exactly. OK, got it. In divorced mom core, quote, natural light floods the rooms want to indulge the women. Without a man telling me what to do. Exactly. In divorced mom core, quote, natural light floods the rooms and there's a certain peace that comes that with knowing every item in the house reflects their taste, unquote. Like they take down that live, laugh, love sign and put up the live, love, who's laughing now.

Wait a second. If I know most heterosexual couples, the woman is the one who put up the live laugh love side of the world. I wasn't like, oh man, I got rid of my husband's like every, you know, this is a knitting house or whatever. Those things are put up by women. My husband is like, it's wine o'clock.

Exactly. Well, I'll be taking this wine o'clock thing and this ball of yarn. 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. You can see us most weeks right here at the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago. You should also check out this week's edition of our How to Do Everything podcast, featuring the great Tom Hanks,

and a fact that will change the way you look at chimpanzees forever. Hi, Ron, wait, wait, don't tell me. Hi, Alex Pilot from Knoxville, Tennessee. Hey, how are things in Knoxville, Alex? They're very good. I'm starting to finally feel like fall. Oh, I'm so glad to hear it.

Fall is beautiful in Tennessee. What do you do there? I'm a medical writer by day, and I make stained glass on evenings and weekends. Oh, wow, that's incredibly cool. Now stained glass often is like representational. Do you like do pictures of something in your stained glass? I pretty much do nature stuff.

I like to make flowers and insects and bats and kind of a mix of pretty and creepy and weird things and all of the above. Well, Alex, welcome to the show. Aisha Rasco right here 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

into the limericks, you will be a winner. You ready to go? Sure thing. Here is your first limerick. At the zoo, the lines move at a clippo, wave hello, take a pic, and then Dippo. Moudang's rosy cheeks make the visitors shriek. But move on, you can't crowd this young.

Hippo. Yes, the newest international megastar is Moudang, a baby pygmy hippo born in a Thai zoo. Her keeper posted some photos of her on Facebook soon after she was born and she went globally viral so quickly, quarterback Aaron Rodgers thinks she's a hoax. Moudang, the name roughly translates to bouncy pork, is so irresistibly adorable that this is all true,

she has become a makeup influencer. Sephora Thailand put up a picture of her with the tip, wear your blush like a baby hippo, which means like just wallowing mud, right? Here Alex is your next limer. The pilot gets on the air sweet, will the passengers please take their seat and do not expose your stinky gross toes. Please refrain from exposing bare feet. Yes. We got the word right and the emotion.

People are learning just this week that flying barefoot isn't just something that will make people glare at you and secretly text about you. It can actually get you kicked off the plane now. Except if you're in an exit row in an emergency, bare feet count as an extra pair of hands. So people like bearing their feet on airplanes have become such a problem that the airlines have had to specify dress requirements as official policies. So for example, American Airlines policy now prohibits quote offensive clothing and bare feet. Wow. So if you really want to make flight attendants nuts just wear offensive shoes and socks.

What are they gonna do make you take them off? Can they really kick people off they really can't they now God bless it Something good in the news, right? Yeah, but what if you're wearing flip-flops? Does that count if you take you leave them on? I've been sitting down and I've seen toes pop from, it's always like out your peripherals, like that's a toe there. Hello, Brian. Yeah, it's like that. All right, here is your last limerick.

Gastric winds blow our home life apart. So we found a solution that's smart. We go out for a walk and make sure that we talk so my partner can't tell when I fart. Yes indeed. Canadian actor, TV host, and food blogger Marilyn Smith is recommending what she calls nightly fart walks with your partner to help maintain healthy blood sugar and unhealthy boundaries. So we all know that walking right after a meal can help regulate your blood sugar, keep

it from spiking, but as Smith says, we eat a lot of fiber, so we have gas, and you fart when you walk. So she and her husband enjoy what they now refer to as their regular fart walks. It's another way just to let your partner of many years know that you have just given up. That's what I was thinking. But that's assuming that your stomach has to be on that cycle. Like, what if it's not, hey, man, I'm just going to wait until you go to bed to let this

out versus right after you eat and the walk, what if the farts not ready to leave? That's why they're perfect partners for each other because they have the same like fart In sync yeah, that's when you know That's what you know is love. Yeah, my girlfriend and I have a thing where we're like, oh my god same thought We were thinking the same thing and the people are like same fart It's actually kind of nice that they do it as a couple, but why do they make their kid come along to get a score? Ayesha, how did Alex do in our quiz?

He did an amazing job, three out of three, perfect score. Well done. Congratulations. Thanks. Congratulations! Thanks! Music On How to Do Everything from the team at Wait Wait Don't Tell Me we try to find the answers to all your burning questions.

I'd like to know how do I get someone to tell me if I smell? That's the perfect question for us. So we went over to her house and we sniffed her. Because we care. Listen to the How to Do Everything podcast from NPR. We'll sniff you too. Are you looking for something a little different in your 2024 election coverage? Here at the It's Been A Minute podcast, we look at politics from a culture perspective. We look at why

name calling seems to be in, how influencers are changing the game, and how the candidates' fashion choices are redefining power dressing. We're giving you a different way to look at the 2024 election. Listen to It's Been a Minute from NPR. I'm Danielle Kurtzleben. I cover the presidential campaign for NPR. So I go to rallies, a lot of them. I want to hear what the candidates say, talk to voters, and find out what ideas are resonating. And I put it all in my reporting to help you make sense of this election.

It's why being there is important. To help support this work, sign up for NPR Plus. Go to plus.npr.org. Now on to 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 now worth two points.

Aisha, can you give us the scores? Okay, so Peter has three, Brian has two, and Karen has four. Whoa! All right. Well, this means, Brian, you're in third place. You're up first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank.

On Tuesday, Israel took credit for the thousands of electronic devices that exploded in blank. Lebanon. Right. On Thursday, scientists again linked animals at a market in Wuhan with the early spread of blank. Coronavirus. Right. This week the Justice Department announced they were seeking over a hundred million dollars from the owners of the ship that destroyed the Key Bridge in blank. Baltimore. Right. On Tuesday Senate Republicans blocked a bill that

would have guaranteed access nationwide to blank. IVF? Yes, in feature fertilization. This week, experts suggested that one effective way to avoid getting microplastics in your brain is to stop blanking. Cocaine? No. The answer is breathing. On Tuesday, the Harvest Supermoon coincided with a partial lunar blank.

Eclipse. Right. On Monday, a leading group of pediatricians warned against buying a blank for your kids. iPad? No, trampoline. This week, Australia released data from 2023 revealing that nearly half of all airplane noise complaints came from blank. Ummm... Didgeridoos? No, came from blank.

Didgeridoo? No, came from the very same guy. Oh yeah, his name is Jackie O'Didgeridoo. Out of the 51,000 noise complaints called in to the Australian Aviation Authority last year, 21,000 came from just one man in Perth, Australia. That means that on average he called to complain 59 times a day for an entire year. It's gotten so bad that when you call the 800 number they put up four complaints. The automated message just says press one for Spanish and two if this is Jim again. Aisha, how did Brian do in our quiz? So Brian got five right for ten more points and Brian now has 12 points and the lead. All right. Very good, Brian.

Peter, I believe you are up next. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve announced a half point blank cut. Interest rates. Right. Three days after a failed assassination attempt, blank held a rally in Michigan Trump right this week The who declared blank resistant infections a global health risk Antibiotic right yeah after denying a report detailing shocking comments left on a porn site

Mark Robinson vowed to stay in the race for governor of blank pornville North Carolina right this week a beverage maker in Columbia challenged coca-cola's trademark so they could freely sell their own drink blank I'm going to go with the Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola. This week the hottest calendar for 2025 went on sale. It features a year's worth of pictures of cats showing off blank. Uh, they're six packs. No, they're testicles.

No, I know what you're thinking. Okay, great. Finally, it's here, but only 12 months of cat testicles? No, no. Don't worry. This is a daily calendar. What? It'll make the perfect gift for anyone looking for a good laugh or hoping to test just how strict their office's HR policies are.

Aisha, how did Peter do on our quiz? So Peter got five right for 10 more points, and so he now has 13, and Karen needs five more to win. All right, then. Karen, this is for the game. Fill in the blank. On Tuesday, a judge denied bail to hip hop mogul blank. Diddy. Yes, also known as Sean Combs.

According to experts, these Starlink satellites launched by blank are interfering with astronomical observations. Russia? No, they launched by Elon Musk. This week, the Teamsters Union declined to endorse a candidate for blank. President.

Right, according to a new study, three cups of blank a day may be good for your heart. Coffee? Right. This week, a state senator in Kentucky is recovering well after he drove blank into blank. A car into a hay bale. No, a riding lawn mower into a swimming pool.

This week, police dispatchers in Dover, Delaware are being praised for their quick actions and helping rescue a sinking boat in blank. The ocean. You could have just said the water also. That would have been even more... In Dover, England, when a man saw his brother's boat was sinking in the English Channel, he quickly Googled the phone number for the Dover police, clicked the first result, and was connected to a dispatcher 3,500 miles away in Dover,

Delaware. Thankfully, the operators acted quickly. They got rescue services dispatched to the sinking ship, and they should arrive sometime within the next two months. Ayesha, did Karen Chi do well enough to win? No. Oh. No. So Karen got three right for six more points so with

13 points Peter is this week's champion. Well done. In just a minute we're going to ask our panelists to predict what will be the big news to come out of the rat summit in New York City. But first, let me tell you all that wait, wait, don't tell me it's a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago in association with urgent hair car productions Doug Berman benevolent overlord Philip Godekar Reiser-Limerick's our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our tour manager is Shana Donald. Thanks to the staff and crew at the Studebaker Theatre. And this week we want to note crew at the Studebaker Theater. And this week we want to note the passing of our friend, the journalist and author Neil King Jr. He did a lot for remarkable things in his life, but to us the most impressive was helping to raise his

daughter Lillian King, our beloved colleague and friend here at Wait Wait. Our condolences to Lillian, her sister Frances, and their mother Shayla Murray. We love you you Tilly. BJ Liederman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Dernbos and Lillian King. Special thanks this week to Monica Hickey. Our celebrity pygmy hippo is Peter Gwynn. Emma Choi is our vibe curator. Technical Directors from Lorna White, her CFO is Colin Miller. Our Production Manager is Robert Newhouse. Our Senior Producer is Ian Chilag. And the Executive Producer,

wait wait don't tell me, is Mr. Michael Danforth. Now, panel, what would be the big news out of the big rat summit in New York City? Brian Babylon. Uh, rats will get a tax break for adopting ninja turtles. Karen Chi. We're gonna stop giving them grasshoppers. And Peter Gross. Gary Oldman will unveil his flawless brilliant plan to turn all the rats into wood glue.

And if any of that happens, we'll ask you about it on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you so much. Aisha Roscoe with just such a fabulous job. Filling Bill Curtis's impressive shoes. Thanks also to Karen Chi. Ryan Bowden, thank you. Thank you so much, Aisha Roscoe, who just took a fabulous job filling Bill Curtis's impressive shoes. Thanks also to Karen Chee, Ryan Babylon, and Peter Gross. Thanks to our fabulous audience here at the City of Make a Dinner, each and every one of you.

Thanks to everybody who's listening at home or wherever you may be. I'm Peter Sagal. We'll see you next week in Kansas City Mo. This is NPR. Kansas City Mo. This is NPR. If you're hearing this, that means you haven't gone sponsor free with NPR plus. Join us on the plus side for awesome podcast perks across more than 20 NPR podcasts, including bonus episodes, behind the scenes content, sponsor-free listening, and more. Learn more and sign up at plus.npr.org

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