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Feb 08, 2024

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me 25th Anniversary Spectacular : NPR

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: The following program was taped in front of an audience of real, live people. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) BILL KURTIS: From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME!, the

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: The following program was taped in front of an audience of real, live people.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

BILL KURTIS: From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME!, the NPR news quiz. Still working on your summer tan? Just lie close to the radio, and let my voice bronze you.

(LAUGHTER)

KURTIS: I'm Bill Kurtis.

(CHEERING)

KURTIS: And here is your host from the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal.

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Thank you, Bill. Thanks, everybody.

(CHEERING)

SAGAL: Thank you so much. We have made it to our summer break, and we still have not made a dent in our review of our first 25 years on the air. We have realized it's going to take another 25 years just to sum them up.

KURTIS: Eventually, we'll just be doing retrospectives of our retrospectives.

SAGAL: So let's get right to it. Sometimes, we are lucky enough to have real-life couples on the show because, as any marriage counselor might tell you, nothing will bring you closer than the shared trauma of answering questions about things you know nothing about.

KURTIS: Here are husband and wife actors Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell, who joined us together in 2012.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

SAGAL: Hey, we were talking about this. Both of you have done so much in your career so far that it was hard for us to guess what you are most known for. So I wanted to see if we could figure that out right off the top. So, Kristen, would it be - what? - would it be "Veronica Mars"? Would it be Sarah Marshall? Would it be - what?

KRISTEN BELL: Oh, goodness. I think, for me, it would probably be one of those two.

SAGAL: Right.

DAX SHEPARD: What about in the Venezuelan community, honey? You're big there.

(LAUGHTER)

BELL: Oh, wow.

SAGAL: The Venezuelans. And, Dax, how about you?

SHEPARD: Well, sadly, I think the thing we're both most known for is something that we didn't profit from. It was a YouTube video...

SAGAL: Yes.

SHEPARD: ...Of Kristen getting a sloth for her birthday.

(CHEERING)

SAGAL: This may have been - this was, like, the No. 1 YouTube video of all time.

PAULA PELL: I love that video.

SAGAL: So, Kristen, for those who have not been lucky enough to see it, can you describe it?

(LAUGHTER)

BELL: Listen, all it shows is that I am, in fact, an emotional handicap.

SAGAL: Yeah.

BELL: I have a lot of issues. I really have a love of sloths. I always have.

SAGAL: Now, wait a minute. Sloths...

BELL: Yes.

SAGAL: ...Of all things?

BELL: Sloths, question mark, exclamation point.

SAGAL: Sloths?

SHEPARD: Well, I just want to interject that, you know, for most guys, this might have been a red flag that every night...

(LAUGHTER)

SHEPARD: ...They get into bed and their bride-to-be is watching a video of a sloth laying in the road in Costa Rica. This is nightly, a nightly occurrence.

SAGAL: Yeah. How did you get enamored of sloths?

BELL: I don't know 'cause they're so vulnerable.

(LAUGHTER)

BELL: They're so very vulnerable. And I think - I don't know. And they're just - they take their time.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: So you really like sloths?

BELL: I do.

SAGAL: All right. So then what happens?

SHEPARD: And we're show-business types, so we have access to animal wranglers who bring, you know, animals to movie sets. So I get a hold of one of these guys and find out if I can get a sloth brought to the house for the afternoon for her birthday party.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: So you get a sloth.

SHEPARD: Well, there's more to it than that. I mean, I have to amend my homeowner's insurance policy. That's not a joke.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Really?

SHEPARD: Yeah. To have this wild animal in proximity to other partygoers required an umbrella, you know, contingency in the policy. So we get all the proper insurance. I tell her to go into the room on her birthday. The surprise has arrived. Take the dogs. And by the time I get into the room to invite her out into the living room, she's put it together that since I asked her to take the dogs in the bedroom, clearly there's another animal in the house. Oh, my God, it must be a sloth. And then she's hyperventilating, crying hysterically by the time I come back with it.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: And the world knows this because you videotaped Kristen as she figured this out.

SHEPARD: Well, I had anticipated videotaping her see the sloth in the living room. And I started running the camera when I walked into the bedroom to invite her out into the living room. I didn't expect that the show was going to start in the bedroom.

SAGAL: Right.

CHARLIE PIERCE: What kind of sloth was it? Was it the famous three-toed sloth? Or...

BELL: Yeah, it was - no, it was a two-toed sloth.

SHEPARD: Which meant we can't - we couldn't cuddle it, which would have...

BELL: Yeah.

SHEPARD: For the amount that I paid for this thing, I was expecting a little more than cuddling.

ADAM FELBER: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: So you guys are a real-life Hollywood couple, and you went and you made a movie together called "Hit And Run." It's kind of a getaway caper. You play - Dax, you played Charlie Bronson...

SHEPARD: Yes.

SAGAL: ...Which - and you're a guy in the witness protection program. Kristen is...

SHEPARD: Yes, sir.

SAGAL: Kristen is very nice girlfriend. And the challenge is to get her to Los Angeles before the bad guys get you.

SHEPARD: Yes. I decide - I'm so in love with her, as I am in real life, that I decide to leave the safety of witness protection and take her to LA. And then the second we leave, Bradley Cooper, the bad guy I testified against - he finds out. Tom Arnold, the U.S. marshal - he starts chasing us. And it is - yes, it is an action comedy. But at the center of all that is Kristen and I's kind of real-life relationship on display for all to see.

SAGAL: Now, Dax, you also wrote and directed the movie.

SHEPARD: Yes, sir.

SAGAL: And so was that weird?

SHEPARD: It was an ego orgy for me.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: I can imagine. But I'm also trying to figure out what is it like trying to direct your own girlfriend as she says lines of affection and love to you that you have written.

(LAUGHTER)

SHEPARD: Well, I guess autoerotic comes to mind.

SAGAL: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Can we do that again with more genuine worship, please?

BELL: Right, not buying it. I don't believe you.

SAGAL: I don't believe you.

BELL: Not buying it.

SHEPARD: I just don't feel like you're seeing me on the pedestal I am on.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Also, in the movie, it's funny 'cause the couple - the characters fight.

SHEPARD: Yes.

SAGAL: And they have this very funny, bizarre way of working through their fights. Is that how you guys work through your fights? Are we seeing your process as a couple?

BELL: We do things similar to that, yeah. We're big into communication. And...

SHEPARD: Yeah. There's nothing we can't talk out for four hours. I mean...

(LAUGHTER)

BELL: Yeah. You find a topic. We'll talk it out.

SHEPARD: We'll get comfortable and really hash it out.

SAGAL: That does explain the nine-hour running time as you guys work through your issues. It's exciting. Well, Kristen and Dax, it's a pleasure to talk to you. But we have, in fact, invited you here to play a game we're calling...

CARL KASELL: First thing you're going to need is an adorable collective nickname.

SAGAL: Before there was Brangelina, before there was Bennifer - remember Bennifer? - there was Dickenliz. That would be...

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Dickenliz. No, that was Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, the first and greatest of celebrity couples of the tabloid era.

PIERCE: Dickenliz?

SAGAL: Dickenliz. And before we go any further, do you guys have a collective nickname?

SHEPARD: We gave ourselves one. Honey, you want to hit them with it?

BELL: Krax.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Love it. Love it. And I'm sure Us magazine is known as being a Krax addict. They can't get enough of you.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Well, we're going to ask you about Burton and Taylor, Taylor and Burton, the Hollywood pair that knew how to live large. Get two right of the three questions, you will win a prize for one of our listeners - Carl's voice on their home voicemail. So, Carl, who are Dax and Kristen playing for?

KASELL: They're playing for Derrick Stacy (ph) of St. Louis, Mo.

(CHEERING)

SAGAL: OK, you ready to do this?

BELL: Let's do it.

SAGAL: All right. Here's your first question. Now, you've got to be totally besotted with each other, as Burton and Taylor were. What did Burton once say about the woman he married twice? A, quote, "she'd drive me crazy, of course, but all I had to do was tune out her voice and check out her rack," unquote.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: B, "I'd make a joke about being a Liz-aholic if I weren't a real alcoholic."

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Or C, "she has a double chin and an overdeveloped chest. And she's rather short in the leg," unquote.

SHEPARD: (Laughter) Wow.

(LAUGHTER)

BELL: This does not sound healthy.

SAGAL: No.

SHEPARD: I'm going with - personally, sweetie, I think A. But you - I defer to you.

BELL: No, I trust you. Let's go A.

SHEPARD: A.

SAGAL: The one about whenever she started to drive him crazy, he'd just tune out and check out her rack.

BELL: Yeah.

SHEPARD: Yep.

SAGAL: I'm afraid it was C. She had a double chin and overdeveloped chest. Burton said, quote, "this most beautiful woman in the world stuff is absolute nonsense," he said of her.

(LAUGHTER)

PELL: What a peach.

SAGAL: He was adorable guy. All right. You have two more chances. The Burtons met when they were both married to other people. They had a tumultuous affair in the public eye. They got divorced. They married each other. They divorced each other, and then they got married again. They decided their second marriage should be more restrained than their first. Where did they do it? A, in a rural village in Botswana, B, Times Square, high noon, Saturday or, C, in their guest bathroom?

BELL: Oh, no. C.

SAGAL: You're going to go for C, in their guest bathroom?

BELL: Yeah.

SAGAL: They were like, oh, let's just...

SHEPARD: I'd love to get married in a guest bathroom.

SAGAL: Really?

SHEPARD: Oh, yeah.

SAGAL: Would that be appealing?

SHEPARD: Well, look, if you get winded, you take a seat on the commode.

(LAUGHTER)

SHEPARD: You get hot, you can pop in the shower.

BELL: I already know we've gotten it wrong because we're talking so much without telling us the answer. So I'm going to change my answer to B.

SHEPARD: OK.

SAGAL: Times Square, high noon, Saturday?

BELL: Yeah.

SAGAL: Because they wanted to avoid attention.

BELL: Yes.

SHEPARD: Yeah. Great.

(LAUGHTER)

SHEPARD: Sounds great, honey.

FELBER: We're taking more time.

SAGAL: The moment...

BELL: OK. Now, I'm sorry.

SAGAL: I'm sorry.

BELL: This just in - I like A the best.

(LAUGHTER)

BELL: I'm not a good test taker, guys.

SAGAL: She does have some detective skills. You're going to go for A?

BELL: Yeah. I'm going to go for A.

SAGAL: Yeah. It is A. It was a royal village in Botswana.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SHEPARD: Yay.

SAGAL: They were on safari in Botswana. They decided what the hey, let's get married again. They found a magistrate in a local mud hut village to officiate. All right. This is the last question. If you get this right, you win. Liz and Dick were known for their luxurious lifestyle. They had mansions, and he gave her enormous diamonds, as is well known. In fact, once they did what? A, had pastrami from New York airlifted to them in Rangoon, B, rented an entire yacht just for their dogs or, C, bought a limousine made of platinum?

SHEPARD: It's actually - I happen to know this one because I was reading about celebrities who have had food flown in for them.

BELL: Honey, I was just going to say A.

SHEPARD: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

BELL: We agree.

SHEPARD: Mighty good job.

SAGAL: You're going to agree on this?

BELL: Yes.

SAGAL: I like that. I like that - how you stand with each other...

SHEPARD: And you're wrong.

SAGAL: ...Even when you're wrong.

(LAUGHTER)

BELL: No.

SHEPARD: Oh.

SAGAL: Yeah. We just made that up, sadly. No, the real answer was that they rented a yacht for their dogs.

BELL: That's absurd.

SAGAL: It's not. What happened was - and you guys are animal lovers.

PIERCE: (Laughter) Said the woman with a sloth at her birthday party.

(LAUGHTER)

BELL: Yeah. But I didn't buy him a Rolls Royce.

SAGAL: That's true. What happened was they went to London, and there's a quarantine for pets. They couldn't bring the pets into London. So for $20,000, Liz Taylor rented a yacht, which she moored there right on the river, the Thames, for her dogs to wait out the quarantine.

SHEPARD: Well, that's - well, then that's totally understandable, now that you...

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Carl, how did Dax and Kristen do on our quiz?

KASELL: Peter, they needed at least two correct answers to win for Derrick Stacy. They had just one correct answer.

BELL: Can we get extra points for being a good team?

SAGAL: In my - in - Carl do they get extra points for being a good team?

KASELL: No.

SAGAL: Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell are in love and they star in the new movie "Hit And Run" opening on August 22. Dax and Kristen, thank you so much for joining us.

BELL: Thank you for having us.

SHEPARD: Yay.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HAPPY TOGETHER")

THE TURTLES: (Singing) I can't see me loving nobody but you for all my life.

SAGAL: When we come back, the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten, on her high school crushes, and Mindy Kaling on being crushed by high school. That's when we come back with more WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME from NPR.

KURTIS: From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME, the NPR News quiz. I'm Bill Kurtis, and here is your host, at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago, Ill., Peter Sagal.

SAGAL: Thank you so much.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Thank you, Bill. I don't know what you all like to do during your summer vacation, but there's nothing we love more than sitting inside and listening to recordings of things we said years ago.

KURTIS: I tried doing it on a beach once, but sand kept getting into my headphones.

SAGAL: In 2017, we talked to Food Network star Ina Garten, better known as the Barefoot Contessa. I asked her to describe her superhero-like origin story, starting when she worked in the Nixon administration.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

INA GARTEN: I worked in the White House. I worked in the Office of Management and Budget on nuclear energy policy.

SAGAL: So were you an enthusiastic cook back then?

GARTEN: I was learning how to cook then. I would work at OMB during the day, and I'd go home and cook at night.

SAGAL: I have heard that you bought the store called the Barefoot Contessa out in the Hamptons without ever having seen it. Is that right?

GARTEN: I actually had seen it. I saw it once. They were baking cookies. And I thought, this is where I need to be. And I made an offer on the store and went back to my office in Washington thinking, well, that'll never happen. And the owner called me the next day and said, thank you very much. I accept your offer. And I just went, oh, [expletive].

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Well, tell me about the store. What was the original store like?

GARTEN: It was 400 square feet. It was so small that you couldn't get the - the stove didn't fit into the kitchen, so it was actually in the store. If you wanted to put something in the oven, you had to go into the store. And it was great. I mean, it was - I always wanted it to feel like a party, and it did. We had great music, and we had samples of cookies out, and everybody had a great time. They would come in just to see what was going on.

SAGAL: Right, right. And how long did you own that store?

GARTEN: Well, I owned the first store for three years. Then I bought a bigger store. And then I moved to East Hampton to a much bigger store. So the store I owned at the end was 3,000 square feet.

SAGAL: Right. OK. And then you started doing your cookbooks once the store became really known.

GARTEN: No, actually, after I - I sold the store to employees, and then I started doing cookbooks.

SAGAL: Oh, really?

GARTEN: Yeah.

SAGAL: You got out of the food business.

GARTEN: I got (laughter) - and into the - out of the frying pan and into the pot or whatever it is.

SAGAL: Yeah.

FAITH SALIE: Ina, I don't know how to cook. And I - this is, like, a big stain in my life.

GARTEN: Yeah.

SALIE: Tell me the No. 1 thing I need to know to help me start, or give me...

GARTEN: You know, this - I make roast chicken, and that is the simplest thing in the world to make. And I met some girls that worked at Glamour magazine and they said, we call it engagement chicken because every time somebody in the office makes it for their boyfriend, they're engaged within 24 hours.

MO ROCCA: Wow.

SAGAL: Speaking of someone who loves your cooking...

GARTEN: Uh-oh.

SAGAL: ...What is it like to be in Taylor Swift's posse?

GARTEN: In Taylor Swift's - well, I'm not exactly in her posse. But I spent some - she came for a photo shoot and we made a pavlova together, which was wonderful.

SAGAL: I'm sorry, you made a what together?

GARTEN: Pavlova, which is...

SALIE: I just talked about this in the bluff.

GARTEN: ...Meringue and whipped cream and berries.

ROCCA: Is it like Anna Pavlova?

SALIE: Yes.

SAGAL: Right.

GARTEN: Like Anna Pavlova.

SALIE: It's named after her.

GARTEN: Exactly.

SAGAL: Now, I'm assuming just given the way that Taylor Swift looks, after you made it, she looked at it hungrily, then went back to her diet of carrot sticks and cardboard.

GARTEN: No. She just dove right in.

SAGAL: Did she really?

GARTEN: Yeah.

JEFF GARLIN: What was she wearing?

GARTEN: She really enjoys good food. She's...

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Is Taylor Swift a good cook? I don't know.

GARTEN: She's a very good cook. Yeah.

SAGAL: Really?

GARTEN: Loves to cook.

SAGAL: Is there anything she can't do?

GARTEN: No.

SAGAL: Really?

GARTEN: Not as far as I can see. She's pretty extraordinary.

ROCCA: Do you want to know an - is this true that you went to high school with both Pulitzer Prize-winner James Lapine and a legendary baseball manager, Bobby Valentine?

GARTEN: I did. How did you know that?

ROCCA: Because I know them both, and they...

GARTEN: Do you really?

ROCCA: They worship you.

GARTEN: I adore both of them.

SAGAL: What high school was this?

GARTEN: Rippowam High School in Stamford, Conn.

SAGAL: Wow.

SALIE: How extraordinary that a 16-year-old girl chose someone named Jeffrey Garten over someone named Bobby Valentine.

SAGAL: Yeah.

SALIE: It could have gone a different way.

GARTEN: Bobby Valentine didn't choose me. He was a hero in high school, total hero. When he called me up, I was like, oh, my God. I was like a high school girl with heart palpitations. And I was, like - I think I was 65 when he called me.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Well, Ina Garten, we are delighted to talk to you. We have invited you here to play...

KURTIS: They're snazzy, but a bit pinchy in the toe box.

SAGAL: You are, of course, the Barefoot Contessa. So naturally, we decided to ask you about shoes. Answer two out of three questions about footwear, you'll win our prize for one of our listeners - Carl Kasell's voice on their voicemail. Bill, who is Ina Garten playing for?

KURTIS: Carol Anthony (ph) of New Orleans, La.

SAGAL: All right. You ready to play, Ina?

GARTEN: I'm ready.

SAGAL: Here's your first question. There are, of course, a lot of specialty shoes. Which of these might you really be able to slip onto your own feet? A, ski walkers, shoes that sprout skis when you want to get down a snowy hill quickly; B, phone holder shoes, which can hold your smartphone in the toe so you can just look at your feet and enjoy some YouTube; or C, No Place Like Home shoes. You click your heels together three times, and a GPS unit guides you home?

GARTEN: One of those is true?

SAGAL: It's true. One of them is.

GARTEN: What was the first one?

SAGAL: Ski walkers, shoes that sprout skis when you want to get down a snowy hill quickly.

GARTEN: (Laughter) How about three?

SAGAL: You're going to go for three? Is that your choice?

GARTEN: I have no idea.

SAGAL: Well, three is the No Place Like Home shoes. You click your heels together, and it lights up and shows you how to go home.

GARTEN: No.

SAGAL: No?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: You have to choose one, I'm afraid.

GARTEN: A phone holder shoe?

SAGAL: Phone holder shoes. That's the middle choice. You just put your phone on it. You can walk around and look down at your shoe. There's your phone.

GARTEN: (Laughter) They're all so improbable, I'm going to choose that one.

SAGAL: You choose that one? No, it was actually the No Place Like Home shoes.

GARTEN: I was right the first time.

ROCCA: It was the third one?

SAGAL: It was.

ROCCA: Oh, damn.

SALIE: What?

SAGAL: These are shoes - they're not commercially available yet. But, yes, the idea is you click three times and it lights up LEDs and it points you the way.

SALIE: Are they red sparkly shoes?

SAGAL: I hope so. All right, next question. You still have two more chances. Shoes can get you in trouble, as when which of these incidents happened? A, a fleeing drug dealer was caught by police in a nighttime foot chase because he was wearing those light-up shoes that light up; B, 13 models ended up in a basement where the combined stress of their high heels punched through the runway floor; or C, a woman's slingback mules got her thrown out of church because of salacious revealing of the toes?

GARTEN: The drug dealer.

SAGAL: You're right.

KURTIS: Yes.

SAGAL: It's the drug dealer.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Happened in the early '90s, when those shoes were popular.

(APPLAUSE)

KURTIS: Good job.

SAGAL: All right, last question. If you get this, you win it all. Here we go. One day in 2014, basketball player Manu Ginobili's Nike sneakers did something nobody had ever seen before. What? A, they adhered to the ball, resulting in a scrum of people trying to pull the ball off Ginobili's foot; B, they exploded; or C, they shot lasers every time Ginobili scored?

GARTEN: (Laughter) I think lasers.

SAGAL: You think lasers?

GARTEN: No.

SAGAL: That he had shoes that shot lasers?

GARTEN: No.

SAGAL: Mo doesn't like it.

SALIE: What year was this?

SAGAL: This was just 2014.

GARTEN: They exploded?

SAGAL: They exploded - you're going to choose that one?

GARTEN: Yeah.

SAGAL: That's what happened.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

GARTEN: They just exploded?

SAGAL: They just spontaneously burst into...

GARLIN: They did.

SAGAL: ...Pieces. Yeah.

GARLIN: They were Nike Airs.

SAGAL: Yeah.

GARLIN: And they exploded air.

SAGAL: Yeah.

GARLIN: It's true.

GARTEN: Like (inaudible) not allowed on airplanes now. Right.

SAGAL: That's true.

ROCCA: Right.

SAGAL: Bill, how did Ina Garten do on our quiz?

KURTIS: Well, here, if you get two out of three, you're a winner. And she did just that.

SAGAL: Congratulations.

KURTIS: Congratulations, Ina.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Ina Garten is the Barefoot Contessa. Her latest cookbook is "Cooking For Jeffrey." Ina Garten, thank you so much for joining us.

GARTEN: So much fun.

SAGAL: Thank you, Ina. Take care.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BAREFOOTIN'")

ROBERT PARKER: (Singing) We barefootin' (ph). We barefootin'. We barefootin'. We barefootin'.

KURTIS: Mindy Kaling is a writer and actor who first became famous for playing an emotionally needy, socially awkward employee in "The Office." As she revealed to us when she joined us in 2015, that wasn't too far from the truth.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

MINDY KALING: Well, I think - when I was younger I would audition for plays in junior high and high school, and I would always get cast as, like, the homeless woman or vagrant.

(LAUGHTER)

LUKE BURBANK: Was that a high school play or a Phil Collins video?

(LAUGHTER)

KALING: Yeah, I know. Exactly. And so my parents would come to shows. And - God bless them - they would try to muster up some excitement. They're like, oh, I see you're playing another hobo. And I'm like, yes, thanks.

(LAUGHTER)

KALING: So that happened, like, 23 consecutive times until I moved to New York City after college. And then I wrote I wrote a play. And after that play, I got hired on "The Office."

SAGAL: Well, it's kind of amazing. I want to stop and talk about that play, which I wish I could have seen. The play was you and a friend of yours, who was also female, playing Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

KALING: Yeah.

SALIE: And you were Matt, right?

KALING: I was actually Ben. I'm surprised you couldn't have guessed that.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Yeah, well, you're - come on, Faith.

SALIE: I'm so sorry.

SAGAL: She's so obviously more of a Ben.

KALING: I'm so obviously - my demeanor, my interests. I mean, but, yeah, we played - we wrote this little play - a little strange, like, hour-long play, a comedy play. It's just a two-person play where we played Matt Damon and Ben Affleck when they were 21 years old. And the premise of this whole story was that we were - I'm trying to adapt "Catcher In The Rye" into a movie to star in.

SAGAL: Yes.

KALING: It's, like, my - as Ben Affleck at 21 years old.

SAGAL: When you were doing Ben Affleck as a young...

KALING: I love that beginning. Yes.

SAGAL: When you were doing Ben Affleck...

(LAUGHTER)

KALING: Very misleading and (inaudible), yeah.

SAGAL: When you were performing Ben Affleck...

BURBANK: That's not a lot better.

KALING: That's not that much better. Yeah.

SAGAL: ...Did you actually try to imitate Ben Affleck?

KALING: By the way, this is extremely challenging when you sound like a 12-year-old girl - that you decide your first personal endeavor is to play, like, a very macho dude. But he was always very miffed at Matt. Like, he always felt - the character, as we wrote him, was always very miffed that, like, Matt was trying to make other friends and, like, go do stuff...

SAGAL: Yeah.

KALING: ...Because he would always be like, hey, man, I've been waiting at Cosi for, like, two hours. Where are you? Who are you hanging out with, huh? Like, that was, like - he was just - that was him.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: That - wait a minute. That part right there - that was Ben Affleck and not you?

(LAUGHTER)

KALING: Hey, listen, OK? I didn't say I was, like, some virtuosic comedian with impressions.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: So you did incredibly well on "The Office." You became well-known, and you got your own sitcom. And could you describe the character that you chose to play in that sitcom? You created it yourself, right?

KALING: Yeah. She's kind of a disaster. Like, she's a very - Mindy Lahiri, the character I play on "The Mindy Project," is, like, very selfish, very wild. The kind of fun thing about the show is that my character has dated more men than I've ever met in my life.

SAGAL: Really?

(LAUGHTER)

KALING: So, like - yeah. Like, she's dated - I think she's dated - like, I think I've certainly made out with, like, 30 men on my show or something like that.

SAGAL: I understand that in your book, you reveal that all actors lie about sex scenes in some way.

KALING: Yes, that is probably my biggest contribution, I think, with my book - is that I - every actor pretends that they hate sex scenes, and the truth is that they all love them, and they're lying.

SAGAL: Now wait a minute. My understanding of the way sex scenes work - and I've never been on a set for a sex scene, but I've read about them - is that you're surrounded by crew, and you're cold, and you have to do it eight times because they didn't get the lighting. It doesn't sound pleasant, but you think that actors actually enjoy it?

KALING: Oh, 100%, yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

KALING: Think about it. I mean, you basically get to make out with a good-looking stranger, and it's, like, the only loophole in existence where, like, that is allowable within marriage. Like...

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: So, Mindy, I want to ask you about the new Pixar movie "Inside Out" coming out this weekend. It all takes place or mostly takes place inside the mind of a little girl. And you play one of her emotions. You play disgust. So what was it like when they came to you and said, we want you, Mindy Kaling, to voice Disgust?

KALING: I said, how dare you? I've never been so insulted in my life. I'm a beautiful angel. How could you pick me for Disgust?

(LAUGHTER)

BURBANK: Frankly, I'm disgusted you would even suggest that.

KALING: And I was disgusted. And then I was like, wait a second. I like this character. What's this about? Well, the thing was this - with the character of Disgust is she's, like, a tiny, green, mean girl. She's, like, a 12-year-old girl who's, like, incredibly impatient and hates everything and is always rolling her eyes.

SAGAL: Right.

KALING: So I feel like I've made a career off of playing versions of this.

SAGAL: Right.

(LAUGHTER)

KALING: So this was a character, as they say, that was in my wheelhouse. Ben Affleck, Digust - like, these are the two things I can play.

(LAUGHTER)

KALING: Really? Well, Mindy Kaling, what a pleasure to talk to you. We've invited you to play a game we're calling...

KURTIS: It's the Home Improvement Project.

SAGAL: So you do a show called "The Mindy Project."

KALING: No, I understood it, and I enjoyed it. Thank you.

SAGAL: All right.

(LAUGHTER)

PIERCE: How stupid do you think I am?

(LAUGHTER)

PIERCE: I'm disgusted.

SAGAL: No, she's just - I'm just going to I'm just going to assume she's impatient to get to the greater fun of playing the game. But let's just explain for the slower people. You have a show called "The Mindy Project." So we thought we'd ask you three questions about different kinds of projects, home improvement projects. Get two of these right - you will win our prize for one of our listeners, that prize, of course, Carl Kasell's voice. Bill Kurtis, who is Mindy Kaling playing for?

KURTIS: Olivia Otieno (ph) from Nairobi, Kenya.

SAGAL: Really? Nairobi.

PIERCE: Wow.

KALING: Whoa.

SAGAL: Yeah, I know. It's heavy.

KALING: The heat is on.

SAGAL: On two separate occasions - this is your first question. On two separate occasions, Home Depot has faced lawsuits from would-be do-it-yourselfers who were very upset when they went to a Home Depot, and what happened? A, they went to the restroom and found the toilet seats were strongly, quote, "adhesive," unquote. B, floor staffers called them, quote, "Homo-Depot-sexuals" (ph).

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Or C, they searched the store for someone to help them and realized the place had been completely abandoned for hours.

KALING: Abandoned how? Like, "Walking Dead" style where there's, like...

(LAUGHTER)

KALING: ...No one anywhere there? I don't understand.

SAGAL: That would be more helpful. I have been at the Home Depot looking for help for hours. And if I had seen a zombie with the apron, I would've asked the zombie for help.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Just one of those things happened twice, leading to lawsuits.

KALING: OK. I wish it was the first one because that is a - that's a great image to have in my head. But I feel it's the last one.

SAGAL: The answer actually was the first one. It was the adhesive toilet seats.

KALING: Oh, man.

SAGAL: They feel that the adhesive - this happened once in Colorado and once in St. Louis. And they actually think that the St. Louis incident was a copycat gluer.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Somebody heard about the first incident and said, I'm to do that at my Home Depot. All right. Customers themselves sometimes misbehave down at the Home Depot, such as the case in which two people did what? A, used one of those preassembled storage sheds they got in the parking lot for a private assignation, if you know what I mean. B, had a loud and dangerous lightsaber fight in the aisle with fluorescent tubes.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: C, tried to give one of the many toilets on display a real-life test.

(LAUGHTER)

KALING: OK, I'm - each image was so vivid that I forgot the question.

SAGAL: All right.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: One of these things happened. Somebody was arrested for one of these things. Was it when A, two people got into one of those sheds and got busy in the parking lot?

KALING: Right. Which is - who hasn't done that? I don't know why anyone would get arrested for that. But yeah. Continue.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: You may not have known that was illegal, Mindy, but just for future...

KALING: It is my God-given right to go to a shed at any Home Depot and do what I like in there, OK?

(LAUGHTER)

KALING: What if it was the first one?

SAGAL: What if it was the first one?

(LAUGHTER)

KALING: Yeah.

SAGAL: If it was the first one, I'd say you were right. Do you want to pick the first one?

KALING: I want to pick the first one.

SAGAL: You're right.

BURBANK: Hey.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL, APPLAUSE)

KALING: (Inaudible).

SAGAL: This happened in South Carolina, 2013. The couple was removed from the shed and charged with indecent exposure and disorderly conduct. All right. Last question, Mindy. If you get this right, you win. There are plenty of celebrity home improvement specialists you can turn to on TV, including which of these? A, Lee Majors, host of "The $6 Million Bathroom." B, Mr. T., host of "I Pity The Tool."

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Or, C, Mikael Gorbachev, former Soviet premier, host of "Tear Down That Wall And Put Up A New One."

(LAUGHTER)

KALING: It couldn't - the second one's so silly. That can't be real.

BURBANK: Have you seen TV?

(LAUGHTER)

KALING: You're right. I'm also - I also produce the silliest show on TV.

SAGAL: Yeah.

KALING: OK, yeah, maybe the second one.

SAGAL: Mr. T, "I Pity The Tool." Is that your choice?

KALING: Is that...

SAGAL: It is true. That is the one.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL, APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: "I Pity The Tool" will feature - from the DIY Network, will feature Mr. T demolishing homes before he and some designers collaborate on restoring it. Bill, how did Mindy Kaling do on our show?

KURTIS: Mindy got two right. The audience got three right.

(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)

KURTIS: So put them together, and Mindy's a winner.

SAGAL: Congratulations, Mindy.

KALING: Thank you.

SAGAL: When we come back, we've always said our quizzes aren't rocket science, so we test it on a real rocket scientist. Plus, Donny Osmond. Yeah, that Donny Osmond. That's when we come back with more of WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME.

KURTIS: From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME, the NPR news quiz. I'm Bill Kurtis. And here is your host at the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal.

SAGAL: Thank you, Bill. Thank you, everybody.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: We are - we're almost done with this week's retrospective of our 25 years in the air. And one of the nice things about being around this long is that we were there to talk to people who've been around even longer. For example, in 2007, we went to Salt Lake City, Utah, and talked to one of the most famous performers ever to come out of that state, Donny Osmond, who started, of course, as one of the Osmond brothers.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

DONNY OSMOND: You know, I love Kingsbury Hall. It has a big history with me because that's where I did my very last performance of "Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."

SAGAL: Right, and...

OSMOND: I did that show for six years.

SAGAL: Six years.

ROCCA: How often did they clean the coat? I hope you got it dry-cleaned at some point during...

OSMOND: No, it doesn't smell very good after six years. You can't clean a coat like that.

PAULA POUNDSTONE: That's the amazing thing about it.

(LAUGHTER)

ROCCA: Can I throw in a factoid? Andy Williams's father discovered the Osmond brothers.

OSMOND: How did you know that?

ROCCA: Because I've heard that - I'm a huge Andy Williams fan and Osmonds fan, and I know that the Osmond brothers were at Disney World - right? - because...

OSMOND: That is correct.

ROCCA: Tell it. Tell it. It's fun. It's a good story.

OSMOND: Well, my brothers...

(LAUGHTER)

OSMOND: My brothers went down with my dad to Los Angeles to audition for Lawrence Welk to try to get on television, and Lawrence wouldn't see them. He was just too busy. So my dad took my brothers to Disneyland. He said, well, since we can't see him, let's make a vacation out of this. Well, my brothers were all dressed alike, so they were walking down the streets dressed alike, and this barbershop quartet named the Dapper Dans saw my brothers and said, are you a quartet? And they said, well, yes, we sing every once in a while. And said, well, sing us a song. Well, my brothers sang them a song. The Dapper Dans sang my brothers a song. It was like a competition on the streets. It kept going back and forth and back and forth. And this huge crowd gathered around them like an attraction there at Disneyland. Walt Disney put them on two shows because he loved them so much. And that's where Andy Williams's father saw my brothers. And the rest, as they say, is history. That's where they got their national break.

SAGAL: Wow.

(APPLAUSE)

POUNDSTONE: I hope not too many people hear that story 'cause it's going to make the Dapper Dans' life hell trying to get through a show at Disneyland.

(LAUGHTER)

OSMOND: And they're still there.

POUNDSTONE: They are. They are there, and they're fantastic, by the way.

OSMOND: Yeah.

POUNDSTONE: But every little kid's singing group in the world...

ROCCA: Is going to try to use that. Yeah.

POUNDSTONE: ...Is now going to go cut their grass.

ROCCA: Exactly.

TOM BODETT: You'll have battle of the bands every day on Main Street, U.S.A.

SAGAL: So I got to ask you one last question before we go to this. Now, you, sir, had the honor of once being the subject of a question on this show. We were trying to stump Ken Jennings, Salt Lake City hometown hero. He came on our show. We were trying to ask him about things he may not know about. And one of the questions we asked him about was the way that you, Donny Osmond, liked to eat pretzels. And it turns out...

OSMOND: Oh, no.

SAGAL: We actually found a video of you doing this, so we had it confirmed.

OSMOND: Cut it out.

SAGAL: No, that you - when you're eating pretzels, you said to an interviewer - and you then demonstrated - you like to take the pretzel out of the bag, lick the pretzel, smell the pretzel and then eat the pretzel.

OSMOND: Why did you bring that up?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Well, I don't know - because people didn't believe us. We actually got emails saying, come on, you made that up about Donny Osmond. And we had to send out the video of you doing it.

OSMOND: Hey, don't knock it unless you've tried it.

SAGAL: All right. But it's true. We wanted to get a confirmation. This is how you, Donny Osmond, eat pretzels.

OSMOND: Yes. I lived a very sheltered life. That's what I do.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Well, Donny Osmond, we are delighted to have you with us. Now, we have invited you here to play a game, a special game we are calling...

KASELL: You may be a little bit rock 'n' roll, but it won't help you now.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Donny, as you know, we call this game Not My Job, so we decided to review your remarkable career - music, TV, theater - come up with three questions about which you, Donny Osmond, would have no clue. You answer two of them right - you will win our prize for our listeners. Carl Kasell, who is Donny Osmond playing for?

KASELL: Donny is playing for Sean Thompson (ph) of Salt Lake City.

OSMOND: OK.

SAGAL: All right.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Ready to play?

OSMOND: I'm ready to play.

SAGAL: Here we go. First Donny-Osmond-specific topic - being an only child.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: It turns out Rudy Giuliani was an only child. And like many such children, his parents put a little bit too much pressure on him. Which of these did Mr. Giuliani endure with no siblings to share the burden? A, his mother, frustrated at not having a daughter, would make him wear dresses for, quote, "special mommy days" until the age of 10. B, his father, a Yankees fan in the middle of the Dodgers' Brooklyn, would dress him in full Yankees regalia and send him out in the streets to be mercilessly mocked by the other kids; or C, both parents, who never really wanted children in the first place, would make him stand alone outside the fancy restaurants where they dined, occasionally bringing him spare dinner rolls to eat.

(LAUGHTER)

OSMOND: I would say his dad dressed him up in the Yankees outfit.

SAGAL: You're right, sir. Very well.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Very well done.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Giuliani says of being sent out into the Brooklyn streets while wearing a Yankees uniform, quote, "To my father, it was a joke. To me, it was like being a martyr." It really begins to explain a lot about him, doesn't it? All right. Next question specially selected for you, Donny Osmond, known, of course, for your clean living. According to the book "Alcoholica Esoterica," which of these is the traditional Mongolian cure for a severe hangover? A, eating a pickled sheep's eye in tomato juice, B, killing a goat and rubbing its innards on your scalp while still warm; or C, digging a hole in the dirt and sticking your head in it.

ROCCA: Or D, licking a pretzel, smelling it, then eating it.

(LAUGHTER)

OSMOND: Maybe that's why I never have a hangover because I lick and smell pretzels.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Exactly.

ROCCA: Preemptive hangover. That's great.

OSMOND: Well, I would say the sheep with the tomato juice.

SAGAL: Pickled sheep's eye in tomato juice?

OSMOND: Yeah, yeah.

SAGAL: That's your hangover cure of choice? You're right again.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Amazing. Amazing.

(APPLAUSE)

POUNDSTONE: Gosh.

SAGAL: Other hangover cures...

OSMOND: I am a Greek. I know what to do.

SAGAL: Exactly.

POUNDSTONE: You know what? I think the whole Donny Osmond persona thing has gone down the drain tonight.

ROCCA: I know.

POUNDSTONE: Don't you?

(LAUGHTER)

POUNDSTONE: This is so preposterous...

OSMOND: Don't let it out, Paula.

POUNDSTONE: ...That you could possibly know these things and not have had a pickled sheep's eye or two yourself.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: All right. Last question created especially for you, Donny Osmond, a man known for your teeth. The topic is dentures.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: During the 19th century in Britain, the most prized and valuable kind of dentures were known as what? A, mermaid teeth, made from the horns of the rare and elusive narwhal, B, Waterloo teeth, made from the teeth of soldiers fallen on Napoleonic battlefields; Or C, tea service teeth, made by the skilled porcelain masters of Meissen, Germany.

OSMOND: The porcelain. It's got to be the porcelain.

SAGAL: Tea service teeth? Porcelain teeth?

OSMOND: Yeah.

SAGAL: No, it was actually the Waterloo teeth.

OSMOND: Oh.

(OOHING)

SAGAL: Yeah. So here's the problem. Most dentures at the time were made from human teeth. But the problem was, by the time the first owner was done with them, not usually in good shape.

OSMOND: No.

SAGAL: Solution - visit the battlefields of Europe, where lots of healthy young men suddenly no longer had any need of them.

POUNDSTONE: OK, well, the good news is we believe your teeth are real.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Carl, how did Donny Osmond do on our quiz?

KASELL: Well, Donny, you did very well. You had two correct answers. So you win for Sean Thompson. Congratulations.

SAGAL: Yeah, well done. Yeah.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Legendary pop star Donny Osmond has a new album called "Donny Osmond Love Songs Of The 1970s." Donny Osmond, thank you so much for joining us.

OSMOND: My pleasure. Thank you, guys. Thank you, everybody.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LET'S STAY TOGETHER")

OSMOND: (Singing) I'm so in love with you.

SAGAL: Finally, not all our guests are actors, comedians and musicians. Some of them are just really, really smart.

KURTIS: And none of them have been smarter than Tiera Fletcher, the young aerospace engineer who joined us in 2019. Peter asked her if building rockets had always been her dream.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

TIERA FLETCHER: Yeah. From the age of 11, I decided to be an aerospace engineer.

SAGAL: Now, what inspired you to do that?

FLETCHER: So I actually had a program at my elementary school that introduced students to the fundamentals of aerospace engineering. I know. That's ridiculous. Since the fourth grade, I have been wanting to be an aerospace engineer because of that program.

POUNDSTONE: Wow.

SAGAL: Wow.

JORDAN CARLOS: So cool.

POUNDSTONE: I love that.

SAGAL: So you went to MIT.

FLETCHER: Yes.

SAGAL: And that was a pretty impressive thing. And we're told you graduated with a 5.0 average.

FLETCHER: Yes. It was - very interesting time there. Yeah.

SAGAL: Yeah. As far as we knew, the scale goes up to four.

CARLOS: Four.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: How did you manage that?

FLETCHER: So my parents always encouraged me to just reach beyond what's expected of you. So I just worked hard, worked - oh, my God, so many hours - late, late nights. And I just made it happen.

SAGAL: So even for...

POUNDSTONE: Boy, you just made so many parents feel like crap.

(LAUGHTER)

CARLOS: So you were, like, a nerd at MIT which is already nerd heaven.

SAGAL: Wow.

FLETCHER: Right (laughter). I tried to keep a good balance. I was still very involved in different student organizations.

SAGAL: OK.

POUNDSTONE: What student organizations were you involved in?

FLETCHER: So many of the cultural groups - the Black Students Union, also MIT InterVarsity, and also an African dance team. I tried to mix it up a little bit.

SAGAL: Really?

POUNDSTONE: That is so cool. Well, you probably understood the dynamics of the movement.

(LAUGHTER)

FLETCHER: Yeah, exactly.

(LAUGHTER)

POUNDSTONE: Right? - which is almost cheating.

SAGAL: Yeah.

CARLOS: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

FLETCHER: Exactly.

SAGAL: Exactly. So...

POUNDSTONE: Would you say to the other - to the rest of the team, like, no, you need a 25-degree angle at your knee?

(LAUGHTER)

FLETCHER: Right, right.

SAGAL: All of us as kids maybe drew airplanes and rocket ships. I did that - or maybe made paper airplanes or models. But you're - like, you were not satisfied. You wanted to make them out of, like, steel and make them fly.

CARLOS: Right.

FLETCHER: Exactly. And I wanted them to be pink - for sure pink.

(LAUGHTER)

POUNDSTONE: Wow.

CARLOS: Oh, wow.

SAGAL: Wait a minute.

KURTIS: (Laughter).

SAGAL: Really?

CARLOS: That's great.

FLETCHER: Yeah, still working on that part.

SAGAL: Really? So you were recruited by - what was it? - Boeing right out of school, right? You worked for them before you even graduated.

FLETCHER: Correct. Yes.

SAGAL: And so tell us what your job is.

FLETCHER: So I'm a rocket structural engineer. What that means is that I design various parts of the rocket, analyze those parts, and then I'm also doing manufacturing engineering as well to get all of those parts together into the rocket that you'll see.

POUNDSTONE: Because you're a girl, they didn't make you do the curtains?

(LAUGHTER)

FLETCHER: Right. Yeah. I was very happy that they did not make me do that.

POUNDSTONE: Oh, good for you.

SAGAL: So you're actually designing the rocket engines. And everybody told us that the rocket specifically that you're working on to design is the one that's going to go to Mars. Is that correct?

FLETCHER: That's correct.

CARLOS: Are you guys going to go get the rover back?

(LAUGHTER)

FLETCHER: You know, we could pick that up, huh?

SAGAL: You could pick it up.

CARLOS: Could - you could pick it on its...

FLETCHER: Yeah. We'd have to figure out the payload, but...

SAGAL: I mean, it would be nice of us to clean up our messes...

FLETCHER: Yeah, right. Right. Yeah.

SAGAL: ...For once.

CARLOS: It's so sad.

SAGAL: You are a rocket scientist - literally.

FLETCHER: Yeah.

SAGAL: That is the absolute cliche for extraordinarily smart person. Like, you know the phrase - it's not rocket science. So do you intimidate people when they find out what you do for a living?

FLETCHER: Well, a little bit, I guess, by the title. But I assure them that many people can be a rocket scientist.

SAGAL: That's just not true.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: I mean...

CARLOS: Many people can.

SAGAL: It's very pretty to think so. And I want everybody to be encouraged, but no.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Your husband is an astrophysicist. That's right?

FLETCHER: He's a rocket propulsion test engineer.

SAGAL: Oh, wow.

POUNDSTONE: Oh, my gosh.

SAGAL: So you - wait a minute.

CARLOS: What a slacker.

SAGAL: So he's - so you build the rockets...

FLETCHER: Yeah.

SAGAL: ...And he tests them.

FLETCHER: Exactly. It's so cringing. Yeah.

POUNDSTONE: Yeah. It's...

SAGAL: Wait a minute. That seems to me that it might provide cause for tension.

(LAUGHTER)

FLETCHER: No pun intended. Yes.

SAGAL: I mean, what if you build an engine, he tests it, and it blows up?

FLETCHER: Right. It, you know...

SAGAL: What's dinner at home going to be like that night?

(LAUGHTER)

FLETCHER: I have to be really careful with my designs because I know that my husband is testing them. And it's just - it's a lot of pressure.

POUNDSTONE: Yeah, sure.

SAGAL: It is a lot of pressure.

POUNDSTONE: Do you ever say to him, do you want more coffee? And he says, yes. And you go, what's your capacity?

(LAUGHTER)

FLETCHER: We do have those moments, unfortunately.

SAGAL: Wait a minute. You do? You actually - like, you do nerd humor with each other?

FLETCHER: We have a ton of nerd humor.

POUNDSTONE: (Laughter).

CARLOS: Oh, that's funny.

SAGAL: Well, Tiera, it is a pleasure to talk to you. And we are going to see if we can stump you because we have invited you here to play a game we're calling...

KURTIS: We Must Defeat The Monstars.

SAGAL: Sure, space is your jam, but what do you know about the movie "Space Jam"?

(LAUGHTER)

CARLOS: Oh, no. Oh.

SAGAL: We're going to ask you three questions about that 1996 movie which starred Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny.

FLETCHER: Oh, man, I was, like, 1 year old.

(LAUGHTER)

CARLOS: Oh, don't say that.

POUNDSTONE: Oh, you know what?

CARLOS: That's not cool.

POUNDSTONE: Yeah.

SAGAL: If you get two questions right, you'll win our prize for one of our listeners. Bill, who's Tiera playing for?

KURTIS: Jonathan McCrae (ph) of Bangor, Maine.

SAGAL: All right, Tiera. Ready to do this?

FLETCHER: I'm ready.

SAGAL: Here is your first question. "Space Jam" was a huge success in 1996. Its appeal is far-reaching, as proven by which of these? A, in an interview, Neil Armstrong said, this movie is the greatest space thing ever done. B, there is a VHS copy of the movie "Space Jam" enshrined in the North Korea International Friendship Museum in Pyongyang; or C, Smucker's sold out of its Space Jam, which was just a jar that's, quote, "empty, just like the vastness of space"?

(LAUGHTER)

FLETCHER: I might need a little help here.

ROXANNE ROBERTS: I can...

FLETCHER: What is the audience thinking - A, B, or C?

CARLOS: Who knows?

ROBERTS: Well, I know who's a movie fan.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: B.

CARLOS: B, B, B.

ROBERTS: We know who's a movie fan.

SAGAL: They're thinking B.

FLETCHER: Are we saying B?

SAGAL: Is this what you did at MIT, by the way?

(LAUGHTER)

FLETCHER: No, never.

SAGAL: I'm just saying. I'm kidding. Yes, of course it's B.

FLETCHER: I use my resources is all.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Of course it's B. You use whatever resource you have.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: All right. Here's your next question. Chuck Jones was the original creator of Looney Tunes - Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, all the rest. He was invited to make a speech to the filmmakers when - who were making "Space Jam," which used all his characters. What happened? A, he challenged Michael Jordan to a game of one-on-one and lost 108-0...

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: ...B, he announced that Porky Pig had been cured of his stutter and therefore would be speaking perfectly from now on; or C, he insulted the film with such vigor he had to be escorted off the Warner Brothers lot?

FLETCHER: Oh, I'm going to go with C.

SAGAL: You're right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: C.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Chuck Jones...

CARLOS: Yeah.

SAGAL: Chuck Jones, who is, of course, a genius, hated the movie, thought it disrespected his characters and made his feelings known, and he had to be escorted off the lot.

POUNDSTONE: Wow.

FLETCHER: Wow.

SAGAL: Yeah. Last question - LeBron James is producing a sequel to "Space Jam" starring himself. There has been one problem with the production, though. What? A, LeBron's co-star, Kyrie Irving, walked off the set after refusing to believe the original "Space Jam" was not a documentary...

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: ...B, the guy who voices Elmer Fudd has not forgiven LeBron for leaving Cleveland and keeps adding profane insults to all of his lines...

(LAUGHTER)

FLETCHER: Wow.

SAGAL: ...Or C, other NBA stars have reportedly refused to join the cast 'cause they know the movie will just be LeBron dunking on them?

(LAUGHTER)

FLETCHER: Let's go with C.

SAGAL: You're right again.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Yes.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: They don't want to be embarrassed on film by LeBron or Bugs Bunny. Bill, how did Tiera do on our quiz?

KURTIS: She got a 5.0.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Another success. Tiera Fletcher is a rocket scientist. She's building the spaceship that'll get us to Mars. You can find out more about her by searching for Rocket With The Fletchers on Facebook. Tiera Fletcher, thank you so much for joining us on WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME.

(APPLAUSE)

POUNDSTONE: Congratulations, Tiera.

KURTIS: Thanks, Tiera.

SAGAL: That's it for this installment of our yearlong stroll through the first quarter century of WAIT WAIT.

Thanks to everybody you heard on this week's show. That means all our panelists, all our fabulous guests, Mr. Bill Kurtis, and, of course, our original judge and scorekeeper the immortal Carl Kasell. And thanks to all of you for listening. I am Peter Sagal. We will be back next week.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SAGAL: This is NPR.

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