Love Island and Pre-Teen Punks with Jason Narducy

From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm your judge and scorekeeper who recently realized I can just make up the scores and no one notices. I'm Alzo Slade, and here's your host at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Peter Sago. Thank you, Alzo. Thank you, Milwaukee. Thank you. Wow. How are you? Yeah, I'm glad to see you, too. No, it is such a pleasure to be here. But in a way, it's also a solemn duty, because now that Schlitz beer is no longer around to make Milwaukee famous, someone has to do it. Later on, we're going to be talking to musician Jason Narduzzi, the man who, among many other things, inspired a young Dave Grohl to give this music thing a try. But first, we hope you are inspired to call in and play our games. The number to call is 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Now, it's time to welcome our first listener contestant. Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, this is Connor Van Meter calling from Atlanta, Georgia. Hey, Connor, how are you? What do you do there in Atlanta? I'm doing great. I'm an epidemiologist that works for an academic research group supporting infectious disease modeling and analytics. Oh, wow. All I can say is I'm glad there's at least one person left doing that. Connor, welcome to our show. Let me introduce you to our panel this week. First up, a comedian who will be hosting the show Thank You, Good Night every other Tuesday this summer at Chicago's Second City. It's Adam Burke. Hi, Connor. Hey, Adam. Next, a comedian you can see right here in Milwaukee at the Laughing Tap on July 11th in The Muslims Are Coming with Equally Threatening Friends show, Nagin Farsad. Hey. Hey. Hey. And a comedian you can see July 24th and 25th at the Grand Comedy Club in Escondido, California, and then July 30th through August 1st at Punchline in Irving, Texas. It's Alonzo Bowden. What's up, Connor? So, Connor, as you know, you're going to play Who's Alzo? This time, Alzo Slade is going to read for you three quotations from this week's news. If you can correctly identify or explain just two of them, you'll win our prize. Any voice from our show you might choose for your voicemail. Are you ready to go? I'm ready. All right. Your first quote is from a sports broadcaster. Team USA looks like they've never played soccer before. That was Steve Peralt talking about how the host country's team got bounced out of what big tournament? The World Cup. That's right. The 2026 FIFA World Cup. Now, I know what you're thinking. FIFA? The Peace Prize, people? So, U.S. is out. And now we all have left in the tournament are like Argentina and Switzerland and some countries that haven't been bad for the Jews. Now, the early rounds of the tournament were filled with these great Cinderella stories like Curaçao and Cape Verde. But now it's just down to the usual soccer powers. The World Cup gets a lot less exciting once it's just the G8. Well, I haven't been watching the World Cup because that requires cable. So, I've been watching El Copa. Oh, yes. That's on Telemundo. And it's free. And it's way more fun. It's so much more fun than Telemundo. Yeah, it really is. I actually was watching Telemundo broadcast the U.S. game, their last game. And I don't understand Spanish very well, especially spoken that much excitement. I didn't know what they were saying, but their tone as the game went on. Well, I got to the point where I was like, can I speak Spanish now? But then I realized they were just saying words in English because they were just going like, hola, película, hola. And multitude, SN, Ryan Reynolds? And I was like, oh, that I understood. I've been just absolutely loving it. The Cup's been exciting. It's been great. It's amazing how many Africans are in Belgium. Like, I had no idea that Belgium was an African paradise. Let's not look into why that is. Oh, no. Many American fans have decided, now that our team's out of it, to root for really the breakout star of the tournament, Erling Haaland of Norway. Right? Oh, he's got fans. He's scored almost as many goals in the tournament as Messi. He is totally charming on social media. And he loves everything about America. And he is enormous. Everybody, including himself, says he looks like a Viking Shrek. That's so mean. He said it. He posed for a picture on Instagram next to, like, a big guy dressed as Shrek, saying, "Me and my twin brother." That's who he is. And it's not just his looks. He's always had this goofy expression on his face. Like, he scores a goal, and he looks, and he's like, "Oh, I'm such a stinker." That's the official slogan of the Vikings. Yes, I know that. But also, I love the amount that these guys love America. Like, I love that people are like, "Taco Bell, have you tried this garbage? It's amazing." Like, that, I'm a little bit like, "I'm proud to be an American." You know what I mean? Every time they discover Waffle House, I'm just filled brimming with pride. Yeah. All right. Here is your next quote. It's from a TV show that's airing its season finale this weekend. It's not called "Friend Island." That is a famous catchphrase from what is the most popular TV show in America right now. What is it? "Love Island." Yes, exactly. "Love Island." Very good. Thank you. If you're not familiar with "Love Island," how is that possible? It's on, no joke, every day, and it's the only way to say "really hot people" on TV, except of course for "ABC World News Tonight with David Muir." Basically, if you haven't seen it, beautiful people go to this beautiful tropical island and they couple up, and whoever the audience ultimately votes as the best couple wins. So if you still don't get it, just imagine the movie "Castaway," but in the end, Tom Hanks and the volleyball hook up. I will say, from what I've heard, some of them are about as smart as a volleyball. Yeah. One of the things that's happened this season that's brought attention to the show is these clips that have been going around of, well, the very attractive contestants not being very bright. For example, there's now a famous quote from this season when a woman said this, talking about compromise. She said, "I'm going to come promise with you." "We're going to come promise," right? And people just love this, and this is true. Experts are now looking at the show and they're saying, "This is great. It's helping shine a light on the growing worldwide literacy crisis." Or, as they say on the island, "lighter assy." I don't know, I feel like there's some women in the audience who've heard a "come promise" before. I would say, in their defense, in their defense, they weren't hired for this show based on brains. That's true. You make a good point. I mean, yeah, okay, one other point, somebody said "epitome" instead of "epitome," fine. Somebody else said that their love interest of the moment was a, quote, "a ball of fresh air." I like to think that, like, this is an edited show, right, to present a certain picture of these people. Yes. I like to think what they edit out is them reading, like, "Ulysses" to each other, right? This is all performance art, and we're just catching their worst moments in between. The one thing I think it's safe to say about the cast of "Love Island," they will never know NPR was making fun of them. That's true. That's true. Here you go, here is your last quote. "Rule 24. Early risers? Keep it down." That was just one of the Washington Post's list of 42 different rules for how to behave when you go on what with all of your friends this summer? Oh, man, traveling? Yeah, well, I'll give it to you, when you go on vacation with your friends, right, new market data shows that sharing a vacation house with your friends is becoming more popular than ever, so this week, the Post published their 42 rules for renting a house with a friend group. It's the kind of list that if somebody sent it to you, you would not go on vacation with them. Rule number one is actually don't ever do this. Right, pretty much. No, but many of the rules are obvious, like, you know, agree on your budget before you book a place, right? Many of them, though, end up about navigating conflicts that may arise as the group, like, lives together in the house. For example, rule 23 is the biggest beds go to couples. Sorry, throuples. Oh, wait, is there a rule that's like, you can hit on your friend's boyfriend, but only once? Is that one of the rules? Not one of the ones I read, maybe it's one of the unwritten rules, yes. How many of the rules are about the hot tub? 41? No, we're not talking about Love Island anymore, we've moved on. Alzo, how did Connor do on our quiz? He did great, three out of three. Congratulations, Connor. Thanks so much, y'all. Thanks for the good work you do. Thanks for the good work you do here and in the real world, take care. Right now, panel, it is time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Alonzo, saunas, old, boring. Now there's a new luxury amenity that billionaires are adding to their homes. It's a dedicated room where they can go in any time of year and experience what? Watching poor people try to survive. And by poor people, I mean all of us. Yeah, I know. No, give me a hint. No, they go into a room in their mansion. They have a room dedicated to this activity. With the experience of having what? I'll give you a hint. It's like your own private winter wonderland. Snow? Yes, they're called snow rooms. The New York Times reported the ultra-rich are building these snow rooms into their mansions. Think of a snow globe, but way bigger, and instead of a Santa, there's a naked Russian oligarch. The rooms use a variety of snow-making devices and cooling technology to create an active snowfall so that you can enjoy your winter pleasures in your house. The highest-end snow rooms come with a window and actors to play poor people standing outside shivering. So, Peter, we're in vaguely the same age group. Yes. You know, we share memories. Yes, we do. Remember the good old days when you didn't know what billionaires did? It's true. Well, you just, they had their own world, and we lived in the real world, and they may have had snow rooms, and we were better off not knowing. I mean, I have a snow room. It's called a hole in the roof. It's snow, everything's so romantic. I never, ever miss its wintry kiss. I love it so. Coming up, bring an umbrella to our Bluff the Listener game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT-TO-PLAY. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR. I'm Alzo Slade. We're playing this week with Alonzo Bowden, Adam Burke, and Nagin Farsad. And here again is your host. At the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Peter Sago. Thank you, Alzo, right now. It's time for the, thank you, everybody. Thank you all so much. Right now, it's time for the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Bluff the Listener game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT-TO-PLAY or game in the air. Hi, you are on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, Peter, this is Sarah from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Welcome to our great city. Thank you. Why are you at home? Why aren't you here with us? Well, yeah, I did try to get tickets, but this is the second best thing. It is. Well, I mean, maybe even better, because I'm not talking to any of these people. That's true. What do you do here in this fabulous city by the lake? Well, I work as a proud librarian for Milwaukee Public Schools. Hey! Well, it's great to have you with us. If not in person, here talking with us. You're going to play our game on what you must write to tell truth from fiction. What is Sarah's topic, Alzo? Storms are coming. Who doesn't love a really good storm? Filling the wind, hearing the thunder, watching the weatherman do a report from the street, hoping this time he gets sucked up into a tornado. This week, we heard about something that was surprising that happened in the, in the middle of a storm. Our panelists are going to tell you about it. Pick the one that's telling the truth and win the weight-waiter of your choice in your voicemail. Are you ready to play? I'm ready. First? Great. First, let's hear from Alonzo Bowden. All right. Just as the Fourth of July fireworks for Sag Harbor ended last weekend, chaos ensued. A violent storm hit. Trees were falling. Debris was flying. People were panicked and running for cover. But pity the poor souls who ran to Les Bilboquet. Neither they nor the storm had reservations, and no one was getting past the host. The well-known Sag Harbor French restaurant did not let people in despite 80-mile-per-hour winds and emergency alerts blaring. No reservation, no shelter. I mean, they weren't even adhering to the dress code. It clearly states no soaking wet people. In an ironic, almost historical twist, people turned away from the French restaurant, found shelter in a nearby American restaurant. No word yet on whether future storms with more advance notice will be allowed at Les Bilboquet. A fancy restaurant in Sag Harbor won't let people in to take shelter from the storm because, you see, they hadn't made a reservation. Your next Tempest tale comes from Nagin Farsal. The movie Shawshank Redemption has inspired many things, like prison escapes and parodies. It's even inspired me to lay on my couch and watch it again for the 40th time. The most surprising of all is tourism to the Ohio State Reformatory Prison in Mansfield, where the movie was filmed. This ain't your granddaddy's prison. This is a tourist destination. Members of the Shawshank Forever fan club were scheduled to do their annual walk along the Shawshank Trail this past weekend, but considered canceling because of the extreme weather forecast in Mansfield. But then they thought, no, let's lean in. They went full reenactment. It was already raining when they met at the Mansfield sewer tunnels. They said, They smeared their faces with mud to look like they had just emerged from poop. Then they started the walk with that famous moment where Tim Robbins raises his hands to the sky as he's pounded by rain, but this time they experienced the full epiphany with actual rain and thunder and downed trees and actually it was super dangerous. But they all carried suits they had stuffed in plastic bags all the way to the 7-Eleven, where they changed and toasted with a hot dog in the end. Heavy drops of climate change never felt so good. Shawshank Redemption. Shawshank Redemption fans use the happy accident of a storm to recreate the movie accurately. Your last story of stormy weather comes from Adam Burke. Every year, the National Society of Benjamin Franklin reenactors meet up to diligently recreate one of the famous polymaths' many achievements. One time they gathered for a mass recital on a glass harmonium. Another saw a group trip to Paris to just be real messy bitches. But this year, the Society descended on Franklin's adopted hometown of Philadelphia to commemorate the 275th anniversary of the Founding Fathers' groundbreaking electric kite experiment, with even the weather cooperating to produce a fierce lightning storm on the required day. It was an absolute disaster, which is to say it worked a little too well, says Kurt Wapner, one of the several poor Richards to be partially electrocuted that day. While the real Franklin and his son were having a good time, while his son conducted their kite and key study from the relative safety of a shed, many of the 200 counterfeit Benjamins flew their kites while completely exposed to the elements and either received nasty shocks or injured themselves falling. It's a good thing a lot of them were wearing rubber Crocs at the time, says local ER doctor Samantha Webb, or it could have been worse. Although I wish they hadn't insisted on staying in character while I was trying to treat them. All right, one of these things happened recently in a storm that made the news. Was it from Alonzo Bowden, a fancy restaurant in Sag Harbor, New York, refused to let people in to shelter them from the storm because they simply hadn't called ahead to reserve a table? From Nagin Farsad, Shawshank Redemption fans used the accident of a storm to just recreate that magical moment of Tim Robbins' escape from the prison, or from Adam Burke, Benjamin Franklin reenactors do too good a job reenacting his experiments flying a kite, in a thunderstorm. Which one was the real story we found in the news? Well, I think, Peter, the one that's probably most believable is A. Is A. To me, yes. A for Alonzo in this case, his story of the restaurant. Yes, in the first one, yes. All right, that's your choice. Well, to bring you the correct answer, we spoke to a reporter who covered it. They wouldn't let people in. They were like, do you have a reservation? They let people outside with 80 mile per hour winds. You were right. That was Mara Sigler, senior reporter for the New York Post, talking about the reservations being required during the storm out in Sag Harbor. Congratulations, Sarah, you got it right. Thank you so much. You were the point for Alonzo just for telling the truth in an entertaining way. You've won our prize, the voice of anyone you might choose for your voicemail. Thank you so much for playing with us today. Thank you. Take care. Thank you. And now the game we call Not My Job. A lot of famous musicians started young, but when Jason Narducci was playing with his first punk band in clubs all over Chicago, he was 11 years old. In the short time that's passed since then, he's collaborated with Bob Mould, Superchunk, Eddie Vedder, and many others, plus his own project, Split Single, and most recently he's been touring the world with actor Michael Shannon as they perform R.E.M. albums in their entirety. Jason Narducci, welcome to Wait. way, don't tell me. Thank you. okay fact check really true you're 11 years old and you have a punk band and you're playing in bars yeah yeah i got my first guitar when i was 10 years old thank you mom and stepdad yeah uh and i immediately was captivated by punk rock this is in 1982 and i lucked out i met these kids on my block who also like punk rock and we formed a band evanston's own verboten oh that's that's hardcore with an umlaut oh of course it had an umlaut over the oh so you took it seriously yeah i i i have so many questions like what kind of punk rock songs do 11 year olds write like raging against the injustice of an eight o'clock bedtime yeah i think we only really got there twice we tried so hard to be punk yeah yeah um but our singer tracy was just this fireball of charisma and she immersed herself in the punk rock community and got us a gig at uh cubby bear the cubby bear which is a very famous very famous bar in chicago opening up for naked ray gun when i was 11 and i think no one would believe that that happened but my dad drove me to the gig yeah sure and he he brought one of those 1983 camcorders and so enormous enormous thing and he videotaped it yeah how could you once you do that as an 11 year old how could you ever do anything else with your life do it better yeah i guess and and famously uh dave grohl of nirvana and then the foo fighters says that it was you and maybe that band that inspired to get him into rock and roll he and tracy are cousins right so he came to evanston when he was 13 and saw his practice and he's just very sweet to credit us with inspiring him right he's like someday i'm going to do that well he made the hbo show sonic highways and interviewed me and tracy and showed footage from cubby bear my dad got paid all right finally more than me it's like i love like what martin scorsese was to the band your dad to you uh yeah and this i love so your first wants so that band verboten reunited 40 years after breaking up they came to me really my bandmates yeah they said they said we heard some festivals might hire us if we're and i said you guys haven't played music for over 40 years how are we going to do this and we don't have enough music to play a festival and the music that we have i wrote when i was 11 i i just i didn't i mean i loved their enthusiasm and they're some of my closest friends tracy chris and zach and john aaron and um but i just said how are we going to do this and then i said well maybe i'll take some time to write new songs while you guys practice and they they were game for it and i have to say we played on the main stage of riot fest as our wow union show yeah they're like were there like incredibly ancient puck rock fans who were wearing their original verboten merchandise from 1982. i love that you think that we had merchandise i guess my question is what are the reasons a band would break up when you're 11 years old we broke up when i was 12. oh yeah they lasted they had a career and uh yeah i just felt like i needed to go through puberty without band drama so i also i wanted to ask you about your latest project uh you've done so many things you have been touring i believe the world right you've been europe and other places with michael shannon the actor yeah and you're doing entire rem albums yeah you started with their first one which was murmur right and all right a lot of questions michael shannon known primarily as an excellent actor chicago guy uh when he came to you and said hey man i want to i'm a singer i want to do this you're like oh god an actor who thinks he can sing it's william shatner what was your reaction golden voices yeah um well the funny thing is is that we've been doing this for 10 years in chicago where michael would say i'm going to come to town can you book a club put together a band and we'll play one entire record and we do that like once a year we did a bob dylan record we did modern lovers we did neil young zuma we did t-rex we did so many records like this but then in 2023 we played an rem record and it just exploded um i asked mike if he's ever done a rock tour he said no i said i think we could do one you want to do it he said yeah keep it short you know he's a busy guy yes so we we booked a nine-day tour and the first two shows were in san francisco the third show was in minneapolis great routing on my part and uh after the first song in minneapolis at first avenue we finished the first song radio for europe and the 1100 people just that thing that you yes always wish you can hear and i have videotape of this michael takes a couple steps back and slowly walks up to the mic and says holy wait oh sorry that's okay okay do you have videotape or does your dad have video still out there still with the betamax well jason it is a pleasure to talk to you we have invited you here to play a game we're calling meet this undercover band so as we have established you're great at playing covers but what do you know about going undercover we're going to ask you about agents who go undercover to catch the bad guys get two right you'll win our prize one of our listeners the voice of anyone they might choose for their voicemail also who is jason narducci playing for owen bostwick of milwaukee wisconsin there you go so here's your first question ready to do this yeah all right sometimes undercover operations are too successful like in the case of a group of cops in detroit who posed as drug buyers in 2017 and then did what was it a bought so much drugs for themselves the actual drug using community staged a protest at city hall b increased the local drug trade so much detroit won city of the year from the national drug traffickers association or c successfully busted another group of undercover cops who were posing as drug dealers i'm so glad that you guys wrote these for a punk rock musician yeah i'll go with c you're going to go with c and you're correct the undercover drug buyers successfully arranged a big buy for some big time drug dealers and then shouted they're under arrest at the same time the drug dealers shouted no you're under arrest and this is true a fist fight between the two groups of cops ensued that was very good here's your next question uh john just last month just last month police in peru pulled off a brilliant undercover sting their undercover agents got close enough to a major narco trafficker to arrest him by disguising themselves as what a the world cup mascots b delivery robots or c taylor swift and travis kelsey i'll go with a you're right a the very good the cops knew the drug trafficker would be watching the opening game of the world cup so they dressed up two officers as clutch the bald eagle and maple the moose i'm sure you know those are two of the mascots of the world cup all right here's your last question get this will be perfect a texas police officer went undercover to investigate a bartender suspected of selling meth and immediately ran into a challenge when the bartender asked him are you a cop what did he do did he a ask what is a cop anyway starting a 20-minute philosophical conversation b said are you a drug dealer and when she said yes arrested her or c said yeah i'm a cop here's my microphone holding out his actual microphone and then asked if she would still sell him drugs and she did oh i see a lot of drug buyers here in milwaukee they really want me to go with c they do want you to go with i'll go with c they're right you're right it was c also how did jason narducci do in our quiz he did all right because he got them all right you did really well we covered that jason narducci is a musician who's about to go on tour with his friend michael shannon celebrating the 40th anniversary of rem's life's rich pageant he's also the author of a funny and charming and short memoir called mostly the van jason narducci thank you so much for joining us on wait wait jason narducci just a minute whatever you do don't relax find out why in our listener limber challenge call 1-triple-8-wait-wait to join us in the air we'll be back in a minute with more of wait wait don't tell me from npr from npr and wbe Chicago. This is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Alzo Slade. And here again is your host at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Peter Sagal. Thank you so much, Alzo. Thank you, everybody. Coming up, listeners sensitive to limericks may want to step away from the show for a few minutes because pretty soon it will be our listener limerick challenge. If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. Right now, panel, some more questions for you from the week's news. Nagin, the relationship columnists at the New York Times this week summed up all the best advice that they have gathered over their careers. And one useful tip is that you should give your romantic partner a list of what? Ah, gifts, a list, a list of. Let me give you a hand. May I? Things like the way you tip your ugly hat, the way you loudly gulp your tea. A list of criticisms? A list of things. I'll give it to you. A list of things they do that turn you off. Oh. Yes. A psychologist says that people are too focused on adding things to their experiences between the sheets, but it might be a better idea to remove things that ruin the experience, like using the phrase between the sheets. You know what would be at the top of my list? What? Receiving a list. Yeah. I recently, I love my husband. I think he's the best. That said. Nagin. I honestly, like, don't have very many criticisms of him, but I did share with him, like, the other day that I think. I just, I think he eats too many apples. All right. It's like a lot of apples. Hold on, stop. We had a moment where we all knew that Nagin was going to say something critical of her husband. Who here in this room anticipated it was going to be that? The idea, the idea that a woman of your caliber settled for one of those apple eaters. You could do so much better. It's a lot. Define, define too many apples. Like, literally, it's like five to seven apples a day. Oh, my God. Like, it's a lot. Does sometimes he come home at night smelling of cider? Well, and by the way, those are just the apples I know about. Oh, my God. I don't know what he's doing out on those streets. Do you think he's hiding apple eating from you? Do you think he's lying to you about his apple eating? It's a problem. Your husband, I hate to say this, is cheating on you with a horse. Did you, did you find a, do you find a fault? I told her on his computer, just called Golden Delicious. Adam, this week, the New York Times reported on a new dating trend. People who are tired of nonchalant dating are instead trying what they are really calling what? So, it's the opposite of nonchalant. It is. Is it like gum to your head dating? Is it like, you're overthinking it. High stakes dating. No, the opposite of nonchalant is? Yes. Chalant dating, ladies and gentlemen. The latest trend. Yes, it's called chalant dating. And the idea is, this is crazy. People actually put effort and care into their dating life. I mean, it's, oh yeah, basically it's dating like you're desperate, right? Oh, I'll pick up the check and then also give you $20. I love you. So, no apples. No apples. No, the New York Times said, says, chalant dating, honestly, they're calling it that, it involves things like being openly into your partner and supporting their career. And the model for this is Taylor and Travis. Known for their chalant date. He was so, she was so into his career, which is easy. His career is football games. But here's, real quick about Taylor and Travis. The only thing I'll say, can we all agree that from now on, now that she's married, all of her music is going to suck? I'm excited for an era where she's going to be a star. She can write songs about like whatever, brunch, Pokemon, like whatever, you know what I mean? Like she can just finally stop talking about it. Instead of writing about her boyfriends who betrayed her, she can write songs about her husband who went ahead and finished the Netflix show without her. I'm fascinated that this, this, they're the example for this. So if a guy meets a woman who's a world famous billionaire, he should be into her. Yes. No, because I'm single. And if this ever comes up, if I ever meet a woman who's a world famous billionaire, I'll be like, you know what? You're interesting. Yeah. Coming up, it's lightning fill in the blank. But first it's the game where you have to listen for the rhyme. If you'd like to play on air, call and leave a message at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. You can catch us most weeks at the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago. And come see us on the road. We'll be in the middle of the night. We'll be at the Rose Music Center in Huber Heights, Ohio. That's just outside of Dayton on September 3rd. For tickets and info to all our live events, go to nprpresents.org. Hi, everyone. Wait, wait, don't tell me. Hi, this is Mary Blair from Monroe, Connecticut. Oh, how are things in Monroe, Connecticut? They are great. I'm so glad. What do you do there? I am a middle school librarian. Oh my gosh. You're the, you're, you're, you're the second. You're the second school librarian we've had on this show. And now I think I finally understand who our demographic is. Yes, I love it. I, I actually, um, was a literacy specialist before that. And I, so I just finished my first year as a librarian and, um, we had more than 1300 more books checked out this year than in previous years. That's fabulous. If you, if you are ever are a literacy specialist. I know an island where they could use your services. Well, welcome to the show. Mary, Alzo Slade, of course, is going to perform for 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 and two of the limericks will be a winner. Ready to go? Here I am. All right. Here's your first limerick. When I travel, I don't overthink it. I buy souvenir liquor and drink it. Then I keep the shot glass. I've got them in mass. I love to collect a cheap. Trinket. Yeah. Yes. The Wall Street Journal this week covered the throngs of people who proudly collect cheap souvenir crap on vacations. Of course we all buy that stuff. If you don't bring home those cheap, tacky souvenirs, how are you supposed to remember what cities are for lovers? People shared with the, with the journal, their collections of collectible mugs and magnets and sculptures made from tiny shells. It's astonishing how something you will never use and don't actually want. It becomes something you absolutely must have once Pensacola is printed on it. I think it's great to have those, especially if you end up having kids. It's great to have those and keep them and remind your kids why you're bitter towards them. Yeah. Because this is the places we used to go. Exactly. Well, I had a life before. Yeah. Why, I used to travel all over the world collecting little spoons. All right. Here is your next limerick. Wow. While foot fashion mavens may smirk and shock. Seriously. Hey, let me cook, let me cook. All right. Podiatrists proudly say, work your walk. A white, a white foot bed of cork makes a high fashion dork. A ballet flat that's also a-- Birkenstocks? You got it in one. You got it in one. Birkenstocks' new collaboration with the French ballet shoe company Repetto is a hippie ballerina's dream. It's perfect for anyone who loves the ballet, but just wishes you could see all the toes. The collection reimagines Birkenstocks' famous sturdy silhouettes with details like ballet inspired colors and ribbon lacings. It really brings that. I'm riding my e-bike to the co-op vibe, to classical dance. What scares me about this is when the Crocs people find out. Oh, no. That's a much easier word to rhyme. Here is your last limerick. As my free time is turned to the max, my chill vibe is showing some cracks. As I decompress, my mind starts to stress. I have had too much time to. Relax. Right. The Washington Post reported new research this week that shows that relaxing the way we do it these days does not actually make you happier. Right? It makes sense. One minute it's like, "Oh, I'm going to be so happy reading in this hammock," and the next minute it's like, "Hello, 911, I'm stuck in a hammock." Experts, there are always experts, say that we're relaxing wrong by binge-watching TV or scrolling on our phones. Okay, maybe. But what? Try this. If you're relaxing and scrolling on your phone at the same time, that's a good time. doing our quiz. She did great. Three out of three. Congratulations, Mary. Thank you. Take care and keep up the good work. Thank you so much. Bye-bye. 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 now worth two points. Alzo, can you give us the scores? Absolutely. Adam and Alonzo are tied up at three and Nagin has a little work to do with two. All right. So Nagin, you're in second place, so you're going to be up first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. Here we go. On Wednesday, Democratic Senate candidate blank dropped out of the race. Graham Platner. Right. This week, the health workers battling blank in the Democratic Republic of Congo went on. Strike. Ebola. Right. This week, a collapsing high-rise in blank forced evacuations of other buildings in the neighborhood. Midtown Manhattan. Yes. On Wednesday, a federal judge rejected blank's attempt to delay his $5 million payment to E. Jean Carroll. Trump. Right. This week, a bank manager in South Korea who stole almost $50,000 from a bank vault was caught even though he covered his tracks by blanking. Peeing on his tracks. No. By replacing the cash he stole with fake money that had cartoon ducks on it. On Thursday, NASA said it was seeking volunteers for a year-long simulated mission to blank. Jupiter. Mars. Jupiter? On Wednesday, it was announced that Justin Bieber would perform at the final halftime show of the blank. World Cup. Right. This week, two teens in North Carolina were arrested when they were caught breaking into their school using blank. Mittens. No, a homemade plasma cannon. According to police, the two teens used a homemade plasma cannon, made from metal glass and a propane tank, to melt a hole through the school's front door and gain entry to the building. It's the kind of story that makes you say, actually, maybe it's okay to cut funding from STEM education. Alzo, how did Nagin do on our quiz? She did pretty good. She got five right for 10 more points. With a total of 12, she's now in the lead. All right. Let me arbitrarily pick Alonzo to go next. Here we go, Alonzo. Fill in the blank. During the NATO summit, Trump held a press conference with Ukrainian President Vladimir Putin. Alonzo, fill in the blank. During the NATO summit, for the World Cup, Blank announced it was offering special VIP tours. Taco Bell? No, Walmart. Under a new FTC ruling, owners of lawn and farm equipment made by Blank will be allowed to repair it themselves. John Deere? Right. On Monday, the royal family said that Blank would not stay at Buckingham Palace during his visit to the UK. Oh, Prince. Is it Harry? Yes, it's Harry. This week, two teenagers in North Carolina who were driving around shooting BB guns and drinking were arrested when Blank called the cops on them. Oh, grown men driving around with BB guns and shooting them. The two teenagers who were arrested when the Waymo they were in called the cops on them. So, the kids called a Waymo and they were, like, driving around in it, shooting their toy guns out the window at people and enjoying what the police called, quote, afternoon libations, but they quickly regretted the decision when the Waymo pulled over and called the cops. What a narc! We're one step away from a Waymo being like, hey, that doesn't look like your wife back there with you. Also, how did Alonzo do in our quiz? He got six right for 12 more points, which gives him a total of 15 and the lead. All right, so, how many then does Adam Burke need to win it? Six to tie, but seven to win. All right, Adam, this is for the game. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, Trump. Trump said that the U.S.'s ceasefire with blank was over. Iran. Right, after three weeks, former Senate Majority Leader Blank remains hospitalized. Mitch McConnell. Right, this week, residents in Berlin were shocked when local blanks started leaving free samples in their mailboxes. Squirrels? No, local ketamine dealers. This week, the CDC warned that a mysterious blank bug was spreading across the U.S. Is it the explosive diarrhea one? It is! On Tuesday, space company Blank officially joined the NASDAQ 100. SpaceX. Right. On Tuesday, the Olympics lifted their suspensions on the team from Blank. Russia. Right. With 25 nominations, the Pitt led the pack for the 2026 Blank Awards. Emmys. Right. This week, a man in Scotland was arrested and charged with trying to use Blank as a weapon. Um, his breath. No, a seagull. Witnesses say the man grabbed two seagulls by the legs, and then used one to try to hit a passerby. But why grab two? Obviously, one was for the crime. The other. Was for his getaway. Alzo, did Adam do well enough to win? No, he didn't. I told you. But, but, he got six right, which means he's tied with Alonzo Bowden, and they are now co-champions. Co-champions. Excellent. All right. I guess I'm just a piece of garbage. How about them apples? Yeah. Yeah. In just a minute, we're going to ask our panelists to predict after Love Island what will be the next hit reality show. But first, let me tell you all, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago, in association with Urgent Haircut Productions, Doug Berman, Benevolent Overlord, and Tech Support. Philip Godica writes our limericks. Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our ops manager is Jassira Vardak. BJ Liederman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Dornbos, and Lillian King. Special thanks this week to Blythe Robertson. Peter Gwynn is Milwaukee's second best. Emma Choi. Emma Choi is our vibe curator. Technical direction is from Lorna Whiter. CFO is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. Our senior producer is Ian Sherlock and the executive producer of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is Mr. Michael Danforth. Now, panel, what will be the next great reality show? Nagin Farsad. Brain Island, where contestants have to successfully explain a law of physics before they can have sex with another contestant. Alonzo Bowden. Scroll, where young people go to the most interesting places in the world and ignore them while they scroll on their phones. What Island, a show about Trump's legal defense team. And Adam Burke, What Island, a show about Trump's legal defense team. And if any of that happens, panel, we'll ask you about it on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you, Alzo Slaves. Thanks also to Adam Burke, Nagin Farsad, and Alonzo Bowden. Thanks to Matt Berringer and the entire staff and crew here at the Riverside Theater. Special thanks to everyone at WUWM here in Milwaukee. Thanks to our fabulous audience here who came out to see us. In beautiful downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Thanks to all of you for listening at home. I'm Peter Sagan. We'll see you in Chicago next week. This is NPR.