We learn The Lowdown Hoedown with Sterlin Harjo

From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Alzo Slade, the man with a voice even lower than your stock portfolio right now. And here's your host at the Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sago. Thank you, Alzo. Thank you all. Thank you all so much. We do have a great show for you today. Later on, we're going to be talking to Sterling Harjo, creator of the hit TV shows Reservation Dogs and The Lowdown. He's one of the very few TV producers ever to be awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant. And after appearing on our show, he might be the first to get it taken away. But you do not have to be a genius to play our games. They're not that hard. Give us a call at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Let's welcome Sterling Harjo. Let's welcome our first listener contestant this week. Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, Peter. This is Joel Shoemaker calling from Peoria, Illinois. Peoria. Joel and Peoria. Peoria fans here. What do you do there in downstate Illinois? I'm a librarian, a magician, and an author. Oh, wow. Yes. Do you ever do magic at the library to amuse the patrons? Yes, all the time. I mostly tell bad jokes about potatoes. Hmm, all right. I'm game. All right, okay. Do you have a brief bad joke about a potato? No, I'm sorry. The joke is very long, but the punchline is about Dan Rather being a commentator. Thank you for playing Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. I appreciate you saving us time. Thank you. Well, Joel, it's great to have you. Let me introduce you to our panel this week. First up is a comedian. He's a comedian and fashion designer. You can check out his new fall and winter drops online at bbspoke.live. It's Brian Babylon. Next, he's the co-host of the world-renowned podcast, Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone. It's Adam Felber. And a comedian whose album, Yell Joy, is available to purchase on Blonde Medicine. It's Joelle Nicole Johnson. Hi, Joel. So, Joel, you're going to play Who's Alzo? This time, Alzo Slade right here is going to read 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? Yes, I can't wait. All right, your first quote is from the president making his first public comments after the tumultuous events of Tuesday night. Right here is the ballroom. You're going to have magnificent columns on this side. They'll be Corinthian, the Corinthian design, which is considered the creme de la creme. So, that was President Trump's heartfelt reaction to what that happened on Tuesday. The midterm elections? The Democrats' win in the midterms was the biggest shift in power in Congress in 50 years. They won states they never expected to win. South Carolina. Texas. Kansas. Kansas. They took over things they never expected to get near. For example, the National Rifle Association is now gay. Wow. Did not see that coming. No, nobody did. They've always been gay, man. Well, you think? Well, now they're out. Now they're out. It's an improvement. They're out. They're happy. I don't know if you saw this, but the pundits on the news networks, they were caught off guard. CNN hadn't. They hadn't even bothered to prepare a blue map of Kansas. They had to run out for construction paper. Where are we going to find blue this time of night? I don't know. I don't know. We could let up a little on the hyperbole, though. We could probably. I mean, because, like, it's, it's, what I was hearing today was people calling it an extinction-level event for Republicans. Not a wave, but a tsunami. It's like, does everything have to sound like a new flavor of Gatorade now? It's the same way. It can't be. It can't be cold anymore. It has to be like an Arctic vortex. I understand your joke, Adam, blue wave and everything. But honestly, for a second, I was thinking, is there a flavor of Gatorade called extinction-level event? Probably. I mean, if you drink it, that's eventually what's going to happen to you. Yeah. This is, I found the most amazing thing. Every single statewide office in Texas that was up for election this year went to a Democrat. Every single one. And, and people thought that was impossible. How could Ted Cruz end up with even fewer friends? All right, Joel, here is your next quote. It was someone speaking to the Wall Street Journal this week. I have perfect vision. It's just dark in here. That was one of many millennials who, now that they are turning 40, are all denying the fact that they're old enough to need what? Glasses? Yes, glasses. Oh. So, many millennials are pretending that their 40s are their new 30s. So, no one wants to admit that at that age, their eyes are shot and they need reading glasses. Look, if the most used apps on your phone are the flashlight and the zoom in function. Reading glasses. You're old. People, so people are vain. They sleep with red light therapy masks. They get Botox. They work out obsessively. But nobody, they know this. Nobody is sexy. with reading glasses perched on the end of your nose there's no such thing as chuck schumer hot fair do they still do is lasik still a thing i got lasik and it's fading now can you do it again yeah you can do it again but it's scary because you got to sign a piece of paper that say if you go blind that's not our business and that's a very scary paper to sign yeah yeah yeah does it really say that yeah it really says exactly those words well she couldn't read it yeah yeah this comes up a lot according to the people the journal talked to of course in restaurants where people are like struggling to read the menu and not doing what they should do is just put on glasses the the trick is you try to make it sound romantic when you ask your date to read you the menu no i i can read it fine i just love hearing the sound of your voice include the prices yeah that is why i date a younger man um because i'm the eldest millennial 1981 1981 and i i'm i'm vain so i got a pair of reading glasses that look cute on me but i did no research so i got the wrong number of strengths yeah it's too it's too like whoa it's like whoa so i'd rather be blind to be like baby read this for me one one i love we love this one woman uh who talked to the journal admitted that she lied to herself about her problem for years because she would just take pictures of the small print she had to read and then she'd take the picture and she'd zoom in on it on her phone and read it right it but it's great because it's so moving when her iphone creates a beautiful montage of all the things she couldn't read throughout the last year all right joel here's your last quote it is from an official at the vatican as he left the room there was a content look on dylan's face he was talking about bob dylan's audience with whom this week the pope the pope yes hope leo it was a historic meeting when the pope met with bob dylan on wednesday in rome though after the photos were released initial reports got it wrong they said the pope had met with the angel of death because if you haven't seen it pope leo wore his white cassock traditional for popes bob dylan wore the black hoodie traditional for octogenarian druids no there's only one person that kills popes that's jd vance that's true so dylan was criticized for meeting the pope and keeping the hood and the hoodie up over his head the whole time but remember the vatican is modesty rules women have to cover their shoulders and bob dylan has to hide his face from god and you know it was worth it for the moment when they took out their lightsabers that was pretty cool yeah and this is true dylan came to the vatican and he presented the pope with a copy of his dylan's memoir it takes a lot of self-confidence to tell the pope of rome yeah but wait till you read about my life in the conference wow that you know what i'm so like i'm aware of bob dylan but that's one of those things like i like let white people do that you know i'm saying like that's your thing like that's kind of like my kryptonite yeah bob dylan yeah if you if you want to find out where i hit the money and i'm like no i'll never tell you and they like put on they ain't gonna tell me hey hey hold on hold on hold on the money is outside also how did joel do in our quiz joel did a great job perfect score three out of three congratulations thank you take care joel thanks so much for playing thank you have a good one thank you right now panel it is time for you guys to answer some questions about this week's news brian according to the wall street journal the actors who voice audiobooks say they generally get no complaints from readers about their work except when they're not in the news and they are doing what genre? Um, genre, is it, like, Fabio vibes? Fabio often was on the covers of what kind of book? Romance novels. Romance novels, that's exactly right. People who love romantic novels especially have very clear ideas about the characters and how they sound, and the actors who read the audiobooks get lots of complaints. Can you imagine, you graduate Juilliard, now people are mad at you, you didn't put more emphasis on the word throbbing. Well, that's because that's real, man. You just can't say, then he was throbbing, blah, blah, blah. You can't do that. He's throbbing, you know what I'm saying? You got to put the big, yeah, so then it was throbbing. No, don't do it. As I said, not my ears. We all have headphones. Right, right, right. We really, that's more intense. I have little power as a judge, but I'm going to use it when I do. But I'd imagine it's more intense. It's more sort of like, sexy werewolves don't sound like that. Yeah, kind of like that. Like, for example, one New York voice actor gets complaints that his Lord character sounds New York-y to be believable. He says he even avoids recording right after he's hung out with his friends in the Bronx just to minimize his own accent. Otherwise, it's like, yo, my desire for stout bosom is freaking huge. Hey, Peter, get over here. I'm throbbing over here. Get over here. I'm throbbing. I'm throbbing here. Coming up, our panelists get their popcorn ready in our Bluff the Listener game called 1-888-WAIT-WAIT-TO-PLAY. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPO. NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Alzo Slade. We're playing this week with Adam Felber, Joelle Nicole Johnson, and Brian Babylon. And here again is your host at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Alzo. Right now, it is time for the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Bluff the Listener game called 1-888-WAIT-WAIT-TO-PLAY our game on the air. Hi, you are on Wait, Wait. Don't Tell Me. Hey, y'all. My name's Katie, and I'm calling in from Houston, Texas. Hey, I could tell from the y'all. The blue state of Texas. There you are. How are things in Houston right now? I mean, when we're not being gobsmacked by our electoral results, pretty great. It's finally cool. It's a great time to be in Texas. Yeah, I know. It's only been a few days since the election, but has barbecue been outlawed, or are they waiting? You know, I think that barbecue is safe regardless of the political party. Okay, well, I'm glad for that because I like it myself. Well, Katie, welcome to the show. You're going to play our game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction. Also, what is Katie's topic? Get your butts back to the movies. Movie theaters are desperate to get people back to the box office, and they're coming up with creative ways to do that. Don't worry, they're not making good movies. Our panelists are going to tell you about a novel way that a theater is enticing people back. Pick the real story and get the Wait, Waiter of your choice on your voicemail. Are you ready to play? Sure am. All right, let's hear first from Adam Felber. With 4DX movie theaters struggling to find a way to make a movie, to fill their bouncing, shaking seats, one enterprising New Zealand theater has upped their game with the world's first 5DX movie experiences, advertising that the fifth dimension is taste. The Wellington Lombard cinemas are featuring food-oriented movie experiences where in addition to sight, sound, occasional smoke, and full-motion rollercoaster-like seats, theatergoers are also force-fed taste experiences through a hose. So far, reviews have been mixed. A matinee of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory got an enthusiastic thumbs-up from some attendees, but at least two kids stuffed with gelatinous, piped-in candy became violently ill during the climactic glass elevator launch sequence at the end. A midnight showing of Hannibal was suitably jarring, though theatergoers said, whatever gummy thing was piped in to simulate the taste of Ray Liotta's brain was absolutely horrifying. The seats did not stop shaking during the mandatory feeding, and portion sizing is still a work in progress. Which proved complicated during a screening of Tampopo, although one soaking wet customer did say the ramen was delicious. A theater in New Zealand that is forced feeding the flavors of the films to the audience members. Your next cinematic comeback comes from Brian Babylon. Do you wish you could relive the experience of watching The Godfather for the first time? Or maybe you want to see Gone Girl again without knowing, where the girl gone? Well, a theater in the Netherlands has just the thing for you. This week, Dutch movie theater Pathé announced that they will hypnotize 30 people to make them forget their favorite movie so they can watch it again for the very first time. Participants will work with a hypnotist who has more than 30 years of experience. They'll receive an individual hypnosis session, online of course, followed by another session right before the screening. The movies being considered, include The Matrix, Seven, La La Land, and of course, Soul Plane. A theater in the Netherlands planning to hypnotize an audience to forget they've seen a movie so they can enjoy it for the first time. And your last silver screen saga comes from Joelle Nicole Johnson. Nigeria is famous for a few things. For World Cup fans, the goalkeeper is hotter than Abdullah Syed in a medium black tee. For princesses, they have a surplus who want to share their wealth with you, Regina of Skokie, Illinois. And for fans of funerals, they pay mourners to get the grief going. The latter was inspired, has inspired Odanaka Ezio-Koli, owner of the Ebony Life Cinemas in Lagos. After watching a paid mourner throw herself on the ground wailing, he was able to get his own cries out. That's where he got the idea for Ugly Cry Night. Every first Monday, the saddest movies are screened at Ebony Life. From, "The Color Purple" to "Disney's Coco". It's a chance for the community to let out every pent-up emotion they've ever held on to with popcorn. To the shock of stoic Nigerian naysayers, it turned into a very popular night, especially among men who will literally do anything but go to therapy. Couples even come on dates to cry together. One woman who attends the night on first date said, "Crying is like using the restroom. If you don't let it out, it'll cause all sorts of problems in the bedroom." *laughter* All right, then. Here are your choices. A theater somewhere in the world is doing something inventive to get people back in the seats. Was it from Adam Felber, a theater in New Zealand that is introducing taste and food to audiences, whether they like it or not? From Brian Babylon, a theater in the Netherlands that will hypnotize you so you forget one of your favorite movies and you can enjoy it for the first time all over again? Or from Joyelle Nicole Johnson, a cinema in Nigeria that is hiring criers to lead the sobbing so people can really have, you know, epiphanies at sad movies? Which of these is the real story we found in the news? Oh, geez. These all sound crazy. Um, I think the most believable is probably Joyelle's about the ugly crying because we can all use a good ugly cry from time to time, so I'm going to go with hers. You're going to go with Joyelle's story about the ugly crier leading the sobbing in Nigeria? Well, to bring you the correct answer, we spoke to someone familiar with the-- movie business. They are going to mass-hypnotize an entire room of people to see "Seven" again. Yeah, that was Ryan Oestreich, the general manager at the beloved Music Box Theater here in Chicago. Um, I agree with you, I don't believe it either, but it's true. You sadly, or happily for her, were fooled by Joyelle, so she earns a point. Thank you so much for playing our game, Katie. Tell Greg Abbott we said "Whaddup!" "Whaddup" too! And now the game where we ask accomplished people to accomplish something else. We call it "Not My Job." Writer and producer Sterling Harjo's first TV show, "Reservation Dogs," was both a massive hit and named as one of the best TV shows of the century so far by the New York Times. He followed that with another hit show, "The Lowdown," which is airing its second season now. And. between all that. He won a MacArthur Genius Award, so we expect him to do pretty well with our quiz. Sterling Harjo, welcome to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." Thank you. Thank you. I'm a big fan of the show, I did not know that the audience would be this big. Yeah. So, uh, you're visiting with us from Oklahoma, where you grew up and still live. Yep. Um, most of everything you've done is set in Oklahoma. Your first movie, "Four Sheets to the Wind," a young native kid in Oklahoma making his way. "Reservation Dogs," native teenagers getting into various kinds of trouble in Oklahoma. So I'm assuming a lot of this is autobiographical about you? Yeah. I mean, a lot of it is, you know, but I think "Reservation Dogs" was kind of like my childhood, you know? Really? You were like boosting trucks and stealing chips? Yeah. You know, like there's not a lot to do in rural Oklahoma. Yeah. You gotta do something with your talent. How about some crimes? Okay. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. But when you were growing up, uh, I mean, as part of the native community, you must've been struck by the images you saw. I mean, like, did you ever see like any of the classic old westerns yeah loved them you know it's so far removed from who i am and the people that i grew up with that it's so far from the truth that like i remember one time my dad calling me into the living room he's like hey come here there's a movie about us and i went in there and it was called like seminole wars i'm part seminole one of the tribes that i'm from and everyone was like uh dressed as cheyenne warriors and they all spoke lakota you know so we had a good laugh at that but then also just the idea of being represented was like wow you know like because i didn't have a reservation dog growing up you know right and and your dad you grew up in a small town in oklahoma yeah uh and your dad ran a taekwondo studio yeah he uh harjo's martial arts just uh it just shuttered its doors a couple years ago really yeah yeah and like everyone took uh taekwondo from my dad he was doing kind of mma before it became a thing because he kind of just like he loved bruce lee and so he would just kind of frankenstein martial arts together so i guess was it was the crime low in that town if everybody knew taekwondo yeah yeah you know because no one wanted to mess with harjo's martial arts students yeah i know were you a harjo's martial arts student as well as being a harjo yes i was yeah did were you good were you like yeah i was what did you reach i was one in the state for a few years wow oh yeah yeah thank you black belt oh i got to brown belt because i wanted to be different you know yeah i know i was like i don't want to go all the way yeah so um so right now i think i discovered girls and football and things like that and i was like i'm not gonna i have no time for this dad yeah so so you can like effectively kick our asses yeah every one of you yeah pretty much but you know what i'm not getting oh yeah oh yeah oh you kick the asses of people in a public radio show yeah i only go after npr exactly and and my understanding is you you mention all those things that were distracting you from taekwondo none of them were writing film tv that was not your jam oh yeah i had no idea you could do that yeah i mean in rural oklahoma you don't sit around going i cannot wait to make a film you know like um like you there's no way like my what happened is my dad i didn't know that i was getting education in film and my dad had a friend who worked for the cable company and they gave us a that he hooked us up with a box for free cable and so we just devoured movies you know yeah i took a loan out and bought a uh i took a school loan out bought a computer and taught myself how to edit and a camera and then i never played the loan back and i think ever i don't think i think maybe i did later but like they were after me well into like after i went to the sundance and had films and festivals and stuff they were calling me and trying to sue me that's like that's like somebody your friend borrows the money and you ask for it back like i ain't got it you see him wearing fresh sneakers i ain't got it i'm in sundance i just kind of felt like the universe owed that to me yeah yeah you ain't got the money you were connected to me by your personal assistance yeah exactly speaking of money 2024 you win a macarthur genius grant yeah that was pretty cool that was amazing and did you and monetary grant yeah no strings attached did you think at that time of repaying the loan no they're still calling me i just forward it to the macarthur people no you know what's funny is the macarthur when i got that grant they were calling my assistant and trying through multiple avenues they kept saying we want sterling on a panel and i was like i don't want to do a panel and so i avoided them for like two weeks just dodging them because i didn't want to do another panel and finally my assistant said listen take the call really yeah so they called they were like you got a macarthur award i was like oh man macarthur people were like this genius is an idiot what's but what's really funny about getting something that people call the genius grant it's like that's not official by the way you just get made fun of like really all of my friends are like oh look it's the genius just watching yeah ethan hawk who's in my show the lowdown he'll be like oh he's a genius the genius is talking everyone you know i gotta ask you one last thing which is you've been become very successful but you still live in oklahoma yeah uh you shoot all your shows in oklahoma yep do you have a beef with uh with that sylvester stallone show tulsa king which supposedly takes place in tulsa but they film in atlanta that's right you know i have my i have company t-shirts and on the back it's a quote from sylvester stallone when he shot the pilot in oklahoma and he said shoot and the quote on my company t-shirt says um shooting in oklahoma prepared me for the next year and i'm like oh my god i'm gonna be in oklahoma i'm gonna be in oklahoma for a lifetime in hell sylvester stallone there you go wow good luck with your macarthur genius frantz sly exactly well sterling harjo it is such a pleasure to have you with us and we have asked you to join us to play a game we're calling lowdown meet hoedown all right you created the lowdown we thought we'd ask you three questions about hoedown that is square dances answer two to three correctly you'll win our prize one of our listeners the voice of anyone they might choose for voicemail alzo who is sterling playing for jim joplin of lawton oklahoma wow yeah all right it's a homeboy yeah i before we start i i square dancing is popular in oklahoma perhaps not in the neighborhoods where you grew up do you ever attend one you ever been yeah i've been to square dances yeah it's a thing you know fifth grade i remember learning how to two-step in a barn with an actual barn and it's the first night at time i ever drank moonshine but square dance has still happened and there's a couple spots i went to one a couple years ago in a little town called tarleton oklahoma all right well maybe you maybe you'll do really well probably not all right here's your first question many school kids were taught square dancing as part of their education in the 1940s and 50s and beyond up into my era why was it a psychologist believed that training kids to follow shouted instructions would make them better soldiers if needed b it was a plot by henry ford to defeat the evil forces of jazz music or c educators believed that if you allowed boys and girls to touch under strict supervision they wouldn't feel the need to move on to premarital sex huh i would go with c no it was actually a plot by henry ford yeah that was my second guess henry ford who decided that jazz music was bad for us for reasons i simply cannot imagine uh decided that teaching teaching american children all to square dance would save us from the evil influence i kind of think that no you know bnc i think that's bnc that's like the same answer yeah yeah it was exactly the same answer yeah pretty much pretty much all right sorry you have two more chances though it retained its traditions over the years there have been some variations to square dancing including which of these a dog square dancing in which carefully trained dogs do all the steps b mosh pit square dancing where people hurl themselves bodily at their partners or c tractor square dancing where all the dancers are driving giant tractors uh i'm going with c again you're right this time is right it is a wow did you know that no but that's such a yeah rural oklahoma or rural america thing let's get our let's get our tractors and there's one guy who's like really good at it oh i gotta tell you you're absolutely right it happens every year uh you're absolutely right it happens every year uh you're absolutely in nema ha iowa and i gotta tell you there's video of this online these people are good yeah all right you have one more chance if you get this right you win most people know the basic square dance calls like do-si-do pass your partner which of these is a real more advanced square dance call a slip the clutch b peel the top yeah this all sounds this all sounds that's like we're talking square dance or maybe henry ford had a point or c shoot through the hole in the old tin can oh come on man see actually all of them are real okay yeah there you are wow slip the clutch peel the top and honest to god slip the clutch peel the top and shoot the hole in the old tin can sounds like a great saturday night think about it and they they won't say rap music's the problem yeah i know right are you kidding me what about the rap music like peel the top and dancing yeah how's how did sterling doing our quiz you know what i think he gets an npr wait wait don't tell me genius exactly how much how much money a little less sterling harjo is the emmy nominated creator of reservation dogs and the lowdown its second season of the lowdown is airing now on fx and streaming on hulu i can't recommend it highly enough you'll find out how they do in tulsa sterling harjo thank you so much thank you give it up in just a minute alzo has a dire warning about something very comfortable but deadly lurking in our homes it's the listener limerick challenge call one triple eight wait wait to join us on the air we'll be back in a minute with more of wait wait don't tell me from npr from npr and wbez chicago this is wait wait don't tell me the npr news quiz i'm alzo slade we're playing this week with adam felber brian babylon and joelle nicole johnson and here again is your host at the student breaker theater in chicago illinois Peter Sagal. Thank you, Alzo. In just a minute, we trick Alzo into doing the one thing he swore he would never do again. Recite limericks. It's our listener limerick challenge. If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. But right now, panel, it is time for more questions for you from the week's news. Joyelle, a popular momfluencer who doesn't like to give her kids refined sugar or flour, bragged to her many millions of followers that she managed to use bone marrow to do what? That was so many words I don't got nothing to do with. That's a lot there. Wait, she used bone marrow to do something? She doesn't like to use refined sugar or flour to feed to her kids, right? And she says, I managed just to avoid the sugar for my kid, on an event where you traditionally give them sugar, I managed to use bone marrow instead to make what? A birthday cake? Oh, boo! For her youngest baby's birthday, influencer. What did she say? No! That was the most Karen no, no, I've ever heard. That's not right! I demand to see the universe's manager. Exactly. Yes. For her youngest baby's birthday, influencer Bridget Levine told her audience that she frosted the cake with whipped bone marrow. Not only that, not only that, instead of an actual baked cake, she's not going to do that, she used this bone marrow to frost a watermelon. A cake shaped cut watermelon frosted with meat. This is not a child's birthday cake, this is something you give to a bear at the zoo when it turns 13. Adam, this week a tech company posted a job listing for a position that we have never heard of before. They say they are looking for a chief what officer? Oh, um. Cheese. No. I'll give you a hint. Please, please, please. In your job interview, if you want this job, you should be ready to talk about the weather. Maybe sports. News? News? No. All right. Chiefs? Maybe around the water coolers where they would have. Oh, a socialization officer. Chief water cooler. Chief getting along with people officer. What do you share at the water cooler? Chit chat. Well, I'll give it to you. It is the chief small talk officer. Yeah, I think chit chat covers that. Chit chat covers that, yeah. It's good news for everybody. The most exhausting person in your office just got a promotion, and now you have to tell them if you've seen any good movies lately or you're fired. So pretty much they're hiring an energy vampire. Pretty much, yes. The company Rise Guide is hiring a chief small talk officer who will be responsible for increasing the amount of positive, spontaneous interactions between people who don't know each other. It will also increase the amount of time people spend hiding from you in the bathroom. So is he like a narc? No. Is this person like. No, no, no. They want to foster these conversations. The company says they're looking for anyone with a willingness to step outside their comfort zone but will give special attention to any applicant willing to call co-workers, hey, chief or big guy. As a person who got hired for many jobs I was not qualified for because of my personality, it's happy to know I could be like a chief person at it now. Now, wait a minute. I want to clarify what you just said. You said you were hired for jobs that you were not qualified for. Were you hired because of your personality? Yeah. Oh, you were. I was crushing those interviews. Oh, I see what you mean. Yeah. They'd be like, what about your resume? I'm like, nah, let's talk about your outfit. All you gotta do is compliment somebody in the interview. Yes. Look at your sexy bald head, Peter. Ah. Yeah, right. Coming up, it's lightning fill in the blank, but first it's the game where you have to listen for the rhyme. If you'd like to play on air, call or leave a message at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. You can see us most weeks right here at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago. You can also catch us on the road. We'll be in Normal, Illinois next week on November 12th and in Providence, Rhode Island on December 10th. For tickets and information to all of our live events, go to nprpresents.org. Hi, this is Ava from Gainesville, Florida. Hey, how are things in Gainesville, Ava? They're pretty good. I mean, Florida didn't turn blue, but I'm used to it disappointing me, so. I know, well. What do you do there in Gainesville? I'm a student at the University of Florida. At the University of Florida, you're a Gator. You're a Gator. Yeah. Nice. What do you, and what are you studying? Philosophy. Oh, I see. You're one of those career-oriented make-your-money kind of person. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Yeah. I have a master's degree in philosophy. Don't, don't sleep on us. Yeah. That's right, because when all of you all are going through your little raggedy existential crises, who are you going to call? Chat GBT. All right. Well, no more mockery for me then. Alzo being smart. Look where I, look where it got me. Well, Ava, welcome to the show. Alzo Slade is now 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. You ready to play? Yes. Here is your first limerick. Once the deviant home of aberrance, now rock music has more forbearance. If we're in the front row, Mom and Dad love to go, so I'm seeing a show with my. Parents. Yes! You know, once you're right, parents, once the only father-son activity was awkwardly talking about sex while driving to track practice, but now fathers and sons and mothers and sons and daughters are going to rock concerts together. Bands like, you know, Green Day, Weezer, Metallica even gave a shout-out at a concert to fans who had brought their kids with them. It was so sweet. They even had a kid's mosh pit. I'll do you one better. I've crashed two celebrity funerals with my mother. What? When I first moved to Los Angeles in 2004, my mother came to fly out and visit me, and I was like, Mommy, what do you want to do today? And she was like, actually, I want to go to Rick James' funeral. And I googled where it was, and we went to Rick James' funeral at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in L.A. and had a blast. It was a great funeral. The band was there. Stevie Wonder sang. We was in there jamming. Good funeral. What was the other one? Ozzy Davis, which is. Very different. Very, very different. Very, very different black funerals. Yeah. All right. Here is your next limerick. With sweet pasta, I'll never be thin again. Mac and cheese served for breakfast is no sin. Dig in. It's like a baked treat that I'm yearning to eat. It's got hints of sweet frosting and. Cinnamon? Cinnamon, yes. Exactly. In a limited holiday release, you can now get cinnamon roll-flavored Kraft mac and cheese. Finally, the perfect, easy weeknight dinner for a pot-bellied pig. Kraft's new cinnamon roll mac and cheese has, quote, the brand's signature cheesy taste with a creamy, tangy cinnamon twist, unquote. It's the mac and cheese that has people everywhere saying, honey, there's something wrong with the mac and cheese. Just chemicals. Yeah. Now, it is a limited edition thing. It's just for the. It's so wrong. It's a limited edition product just for the holiday season, specifically the part of the holidays where you get really high with your cousin. It'll be in shelves for a limited time only, and almost certainly in your stomach for a limited time only. No, no, no. Stuff like that stays in your stomach. Because it's adhesive? It becomes your stomach. It becomes like drywall in your stomach. Yeah. All right. Here is your last limerick. Comfy house shoes do not have firm grippers. Turning off obstacles and two-foot trippers. It shouldn't be news that they're dangerous shoes. It's right there in the name. They're called slippers. Slippers, yes. An analysis of emergency room data ranked house slippers. House slippers is the shoe most likely to cause injury to the wearer. Like the limerick said, it's right in the name, slippers. That's why I only wear my grippy trampoline park socks around the house. According to the data, slipper-related accidents sent over 20,000 people. To the hospital every year. How many? 20,000. You hear it in the ER all the time if you're there. All doctors, do exam five now. We've got a code cozy. Isn't it kind of a self-selecting group, though? Aren't the people who want to wear slippers around the house all day the kind of people who are going to be falling? Yes. You'd think. Joyo, you wear slippers at home? All the time. My boyfriend says my feet never touch the ground. Even at home? At home. You're one of those people who step in the house and slip your feet out of the shoes and right into the slippers. Yeah. Mrs. Rogers never touched the ground. Nope. Absolutely not. Are your floors not clean? The floors aren't clean, but here's the thing. My socks are in better shapes than his. Because y'all walking around messing up all your socks. Wait a minute, y'all. You're not slipper-wearing. Also, how did Ava do in our quiz? She got a perfect score. Three out of three. Congratulations. Good luck with your studies in your commendable and important major. Thank you. Thank you. 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 is worth two points. Alzo, can you give us the scores? Absolutely. Joyelle has four, and I really don't know what Adam and Brian have been doing because they only have two each. All right. That means Adam and Brian are tied for second. So why don't we just start with you, Brian? Here we go. You'll be up first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, both Donald Trump and J.D. Vance blamed the GOP's midterm losses on the war with blank. Iran. Right. On Monday, a judge ruled that blank must face a McLawsuit over the contents of its rib sandwich. Oh, McDonald's. Right. This week, investigators say they're still trying to determine the cause of a Learjet crash in blank. Uh, Mar-a-Lago. Florida. Florida, yeah. This week, California Governor Gavin Newsom commuted the sentences of all 548 people who had been given the blank. Death sentence. Right. 22 years after it was launched, one of blank's observatories crashed back to Earth. Oh, NASA. Yeah, NASA. On Monday, paleontologists said they may have discovered intact red blood cells in 115-million-year-old blank fossil. Shark fossil. No, it was a dinosaur at a wedding in Canada last week. Attendants were agog. When the groom kissed the bride and then blanked. Collapsed. No, he motorboated her. Oh, wow. People are saying the groom acted in poor taste. Personally, I blame the minister who said, you may now motorboat the bride. Yeah, that could be misleading. Yeah, video of the incident is all over the internet, and let me just say it's a good rule of thumb not to do anything at your wedding that's going to force your videographer to pixelate out the faces of any children in the frame. Also, how did Brian do in our quiz? Brian got five right for ten more points. Total of 12. All right. All right. All right, all right. Mr. Felber, you are up next. Fill in the blank. On Tuesday, the White House announced it was cutting off aid to blank at the end of this year. Israel. Right. On Thursday, a court in London found actor and comedian blank guilty of sexual assault. Russell Brand. Right. On Wednesday, pharmacy giant blank announced it was splitting into two companies. Lilly? No, CVS. This week, a man who police found passed out in his car in front of a liquor store near Westboro, Massachusetts, was suspended from his job as blank. Police chief. Of Westboro, Massachusetts. According to a new study, many kids diagnosed with blank allergies may outgrow them. Peanut. Right. On Thursday, a single winner in New Jersey claimed the ninth largest blank jackpot of all time. Lotto. I'll give it to you. It is Powerball. This week, a bride in Istanbul almost had her wedding day ruined after she was given a bunch of balloons for a photo shoot and blanked. Floated away. Yes, the bride was shocked when she was holding this large number of balloons in Augusta. Yes. The blast of wind almost carried her, well, straight across the Bosporus. This is why it's a mistake to make the theme of your wedding the Pixar movie Up. Also, how did Adam do on our quiz? He did all right. He got six right for 12 more points, total of 14, and the lead. All right. So, how many. How many, then, does Joyelle need to win? Five to tie, six to win. Whoo. I'm ready, Peter. You are? Here we go, Joyelle. This is for the game. Oh, God. On Thursday, the Nasdaq had a $2.5 trillion drop as trust in blank stocks was shaken after the midterms. Oh, oh, oh, Tesla. No, AI. After losing his majority in Parliament, Israeli Prime Minister Blank said the elections had been stolen. Oh, um, that evil dude, Netanyahu. That's the man. On Wednesday, Portuguese soccer star Blank announced he was retiring from international play. I don't know, soccer? A kid, somebody with. Ooh. Does he have that goofy statue of his face? Yes, he does. Oh, um, Portuguese? Yes. Yes. That, that dude. I feel like she's got to get this one. I don't know. What do you think? I'll give it to her. All right. It's Cristiano Ronaldo. In Arizona, a former sideline physician for the New York Jets won the house race against his opponent, a former blank. A former jet? Yeah, a former kicker for the New York Jets. On Tuesday, the Collins English Dictionary named blanking its word of the year. Uh, maxing? Oh, so close. Mogging. According to the New York Times, the mother of the bride was distraught when the wedding officiant celebrated the couple's vows by blanking. Uh, motorboating. No. No, in this case, the wedding officiant celebrated the couple's vows by mooning everyone in attendance. Wait, the preacher? Yeah, sort of. Well, in the ceremony, the officiant, who was the brother of the groom, delivered some thoughtful words about love, listened to the couple's vows, and then turned around, dropped his pants, and showed everyone assembled that he had had the bride and groom's names temporarily tattooed on his butt cheeks. That sounds like it was at the motorboat wedding. It could have been. Yeah. Some guests were outraged by the prank, especially because it stole the spotlight away from the traditional father-daughter mooning. Also, did Joyelle do well enough to win? I mean, she tried. She sure did. She got three right for six more points. Total of ten, which means Adam wins. Yay! Coming up, our panelists predict now that Bob Dylan and the Pope have spent time together, who will be the next unlikely pair to have a summit. But first, let me tell you all, wait, wait, don't tell me it's a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago in association with Urgent Haircut Productions, Doug Berman, the Neverland Overlord, Philip Godega, Wright Zard Limerick, our public address announcer, is Paul Friedman, our ops manager, is Jasira Vardak. Thanks to the staff and crew here at the Studebaker Theatre. BJ Lederman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Dornbos, and Lillian King. Special thanks this week to Vinnie Thomas, Janie Hoffman, and Dom Banyas. And of course, Peter Gross. Our staff taste tester is Peter Gwynn. Emma Choi is our vibe curator. Technical direction is Lorna White. Our CFO is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. Our senior producer is Ian Chilag. And the executive producer, wait, wait, don't tell me, is Mr. Michael Danforth. Now, what will be the next unusual meeting? Joyelle, Nicole Johnson. Hakeem Jeffries finally meets the Congressional Black Caucus. Brian Babylon. It will be Peek Hexeth and Dolly Parton. And Adam Felber. Bob Dylan and all the previous popes. And if any of that happens, panel, we'll ask you about it on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you so much, Alzo Slade. Thanks also to Brian Babylon, Adam Felber, Joyelle, Nicole Johnson. Thanks to our fabulous audience here at the Studebaker Theatre. And to all of you who are listening wherever you might be. I'm Peter Sagan. We'll see you next week from Illinois State in normal Illinois. This is NPR.