"Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" combines news, humor, and listener engagement in a lively format. The show begins with a segment on President Trump’s foreign policy remarks, including his “blood for oil” comment about Venezuela and the controversial practice of building a replica of President Maduro’s mansion for raids. A listener, Dan from Minnesota, correctly identifies the key points in a news-based quiz, earning a prize. The panel then explores the new U.S. food pyramid, which promotes red meat and whole milk, turning the topic into satire with jokes like “Make America Goat Again.” A segment highlights real-life heroism, including a stagehand at Disney who stopped a rolling boulder, a French child who solved a hide-and-seek mystery, and dogs at a factory who saved a worker. The show features actor Del Roy Lindo, who shares stories from his career, including a memorable encounter with a bicycle messenger who praised his clean, respectful performances. In a listener game, participants must identify which heroism story is factual, with the correct answer being the Disney stagehand. The final segment is a fast-paced fill-in-the-blank quiz, where Paula Poundstone wins with six correct answers. The program concludes with a panel discussion on a fictional new food pyramid, jokingly suggesting products like beef tallow ice cream and meat-flavored M&Ms, ending with a lighthearted reflection on how absurdity and humor shape public discourse.
(upbeat music) - From NPR, and don't be easy, Chicago, this is, wait, wait, don't tell me the NPR news quiz. I'm the voice, so rich. It makes you sign a pre-knut. (audience laughing) Bill Curtis is the name, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater, at the Fight Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois. Peter Segal. - Thank you, Bill. (audience cheering) - Thank you, everybody. Great to see you, great to be with you. We do have a great show for you today. Later on, we're gonna be talking to the actor Del Roy Lindo, star of the movie "Cinners" and many other great things. But first, this show marks the beginning of our 29th year, on the end. (audience cheering) I'm gonna leave it to you. And I just wanted to say, first of all, thanks to all of you who are listening for your patience, as we continue to try to work out the kinks, and to my father, who is listening to this, I think it's time you accept I am not going to law school. (audience laughing) So you can help us get this 29th year started by calling into play our games. The number is one, triple eight, wait, wait. That's one, eight, eight, eight, nine, two, four. Let's welcome our first listener contestant. How you around, wait, wait, don't tell me. - Hi Peter, this is Dan from Minneapolis. - Hey Dan, I have spent a lot of time in Minneapolis. What do you do there to enjoy yourself? - Oh, what do I do there for fun? I like to enjoy the winter skiing and ice skating. - Yep, and I want to point out, having lived in Minnesota, this skiing is the flat kind, right? (audience laughing) Not the fun. - I mean, there are a couple of hills around. - Yes, well, welcome to the show Dan. Let me introduce you to our panel this week. First up, her album, "Yell Joy" is available in all streaming platforms. It's Joyell, Nicole Johnson. - Hi Dan. (audience cheering) - Hello. Next, "The Humorous Who Substack" is take another little piece of my heart now. It's Roy Blunt Jr. (audience cheering) Oh, and a comedian you can see in Arizona on January 31st at the Fox Theatre in Tucson. It's Paula Poundstone. (audience cheering) - Hey Dan. - So Dan, welcome to the show. You're gonna play Who's Bill. This time, Bill Curtis is gonna read you three quotations from this week's news. If you can correctly identify or explain two of them, you will win our prize. Any voice from our show, you might choose on your voice mail. You ready to go? - Absolutely. - Okay, here we go. Your first quote is some stirring patriotic words from our president when he became a wartime leader on Saturday. - We're gonna get that oil flowing. - He really wasn't hiding the reason he ordered the invasion of what country? - Well, that would be Venezuela. - It would be Venezuela. (audience applauding) And it was really kind of refreshing. I mean, while previous administrations have described their true intentions for various foreign adventures, President Trump, as you heard, came right out and said it, right? It's like they took the slogan, no blood for oil and put a comment in it. No, blood for oil. (audience laughing) - Yeah, no one has ever really called him refreshing before. - Yeah. Well, he's straight forward. I mean, there's a certain honesty and clarity. But it's being a straight forward. One of the things that was so weird about it was like, they wanted Maduro out. They wanted to get him out of there. And they just went in and got him. They just took him. I mean, whatever happened to like subtlety in international sabotage, right? I mean, there was like some CIA agent who spent five years trying to seduce him and now look, right? This is also true that to practice the raid, they built an exact replica of President Maduro's mansion in Kentucky and they practiced on it that is currently being torn down and replaced with a scale model of Greenland. (audience laughing) Did they really do that? Did they really practice on it? - They really did, they built a full scale replica based on all their intelligence and they just practiced the raid over and over and over. - That is so McDonald's. - Yeah, well, it's a McDonald's. - When McDonald's wanted to put a McDonald's in Japan for the first time, they said, okay, but you can't block traffic. And so they got this big warehouse and they practiced building a McDonald's inside the warehouse until they could do it like that. And they were given like, I think, 24 hours or something. And so they had to learn to build the McDonald's quickly. - Right. - Yeah, it's very. - Is that widely known? Do you think the Pentagon said, okay guys, we're gonna do this McDonald's stuff? - You know, a lot of these things are interconnected. I don't, did I tell you this before? Stop me if I told you this before. But did I tell, I don't think, okay. (audience laughing) - I'm good. - Anyway, I think they should have left that house there. - Yeah. - A lot of people would like to live there, I mean. - It's probably a very nice house being a pretty little awkward for a while, but, you know. - I wonder if Trump went into the fake Maduro house and re-did the marble. (audience laughing) 'Cause, you know, he's an ascetic sky. - Yeah, that's true. - All right, here is your next quote. - The blueberries are disturbingly large. That was a nutrition expert commenting in the New York Times on the FDA's new version of what very famous chart. - Food pyramid. - The food pyramid, that's right. (audience applauding) It wasn't just like the strangely large blueberries in the new food pyramid, people were talking about. The new food pyramid advises Americans to eat a lot of red meat and whole milk. That's what's on the top, right? Turns out Maga stands for Make America Goat Again. (audience laughing) - They won't eat meat, but it has to come from the side of the road. - Exactly, yes. (audience laughing) Road kill only. - Yeah. - In fact, RFG Jr. did say he was going to overturn federal food policy and he literally did. They took the old food pyramid, remember that one, with the base of like the grains and fruits at the bottom and the pointy top? And they literally just turned it upside down. So now it looks less like a food pyramid and more like a food funnel. (audience laughing) - It's pretty cool. - You're gonna need some help to get all that meat in you, so it's good, though. - Beef tallow, everybody's in the beef tallow. I thought you made candles out of that. - Me too. - It looks like you do. - What's interesting is they put this out with these new dietary recommendations and a lot of it was pretty reasonable. Eat fewer processed foods, eat less sugar. Really, from this administration, you would have predicted it would be more like the only meat you can eat is fwagra and we need written proof the goose suffered. (audience laughing) I just think leave it up to RFK to like recommend a serial killer diet, 'cause he looks like he eats raw meat. I think he does. - I wonder if you believe that. (audience laughing and applauding) - If we found out that he did, we wouldn't smack our foreheads. - True. - Really him, really. - Exactly, yeah. - Really, no. - Did you ever, you know, okay, I mean, I've always been suspect of the food pyramid one way or the other. - Right. - I don't know if anybody's ever, you know, you get the general idea, right? When you look at your glance at it, okay, maybe I said more of this than that. But it actually used to say that you had to have something like 11 servings of grains a day. Does anybody ever been able to, you wouldn't be able to go into work. You'd have to be like, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm not gonna be in again tomorrow. I'm only halfway through yesterday's grains. - Yeah. (audience laughs) - It never sounded practical. - I guess that's the thing, I think. - Rub a little beef towel on it. You gotta be slide right down. - Yum. - Dan, your last quote is from a new type of influencer who was popular on TikTok. - The first two hours were manageable. I felt like a monk. The remaining six hours were much harder. That was one of many people encouraging their followers to stop doing what? Oh, jeepers, can I get a hint? - Well, yeah, for example, you're not allowed to watch influencer videos. (audience laughs) Oh, get off your phone. - Yeah, I'm gonna give it to you to basically stop doing everything that distracts you and be bored. That is the plan. A number of popular influencers are pushing the idea that boredom is good for you. We need to put down our phones, get away from screens, all the distractions, embrace dullness. Oh man, now I see why my kids have been trying to hang out with me more. (audience laughs) - You know, I'm not totally against the idea of particularly younger people being bored sometime. - Really? - Yeah, I do think there is something to being able to think. - I agree with you because I have a five-year-old, a delightful young boy, and this is the habit he's gotten into. If he is, and this is a real example, getting up from the table, where he's just finished his meal, and just walking the 15 feet to the door to put on his shoes and go do something, he says, "I'm bored." (audience laughs) - Was that walking across? - I know what, come on. - I was at your house one time, and that stretches rough. - That's true. (audience laughs) Not a lot going on. - No, I don't think it may be a poster or something. - And I'm like, Elliot, come on. You're a creative young man. You do not have to be bored walking just to the door. Just look at your phone, as I do, when I do this. (audience laughs) Bill, how did Dan do? - Well, he did perfect, he's from Minnesota. - Congratulations Dan, well done. - Stay safe. - Thank you. - Take care so we take care. (upbeat music) - Right now a panel that is time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Paula, very good news for older Americans. Engineers at the University of Colorado.
say they have created the first ever quote "sexy, what?" - Donut. - You don't think donuts are already sexy? - No, the kind you sit on. - No, you are actually close 'cause it is a medical device. - All right, do you got any other hints? - Well, I mean like when a sexy one you'd say, "Whoa, those legs go on forever right down "to the tennis balls on the bottom." - Oh, sexy walkers? - Sexy walkers. - Oh, you know what? (audience cheering) - Dad, we were so close to that already. - Really? - Oh yeah, he just got to look at it the right way. - So the problem is older adults who need assistive devices to walk sometimes don't want to be seen with one of the classic, clunky aluminum walkers. So a lab in Colorado has created a quote "sexy one" series of them actually. If you really wanted to sound sexy, stop calling it a walker and start calling it a polycane. (audience laughing) - It doesn't sound sexy at all to me. I think walker sounds much sexier. - Really? (audience laughing) - Yeah, wasn't there a series about a sheriff or something? And his name was Walker. - Walker, Texas, right? There's a sexy one. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Why would, you know, if it was a polycane sheriff. (audience laughing) - And the question is, if these things are, as they say, sexy, will it make the people who use them sexy as well? - No. - We'll seniors, oh, okay. (audience laughing) - If he has money. - All right, no. (audience laughing) The question is, will seniors be saying to each other, let me slip and fall into something more comfortable? (audience laughing) (upbeat music) Coming up, we need a hero in our Buffalo Listener game called One Triple Eight, "Wait, Wait, Wait" to play. We'll be back in a minute with more "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" from NPR. (upbeat music) - From NPR and WB Easy Chicago, this is "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz." I'm Bill Curtis. We are playing this week with Paula Poundstone, Joyelle Nicole Johnson, and Roy Blanc Jr. And here again is your host, at the "Stude to Make Your Theater" in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Seigal. - Thank you, Bill, right now. (audience cheering) It is time for the "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," bluff the listener game called One Triple Eight, "Wait, Wait, Wait" to play our game in the air. How you around, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me?" - Hi, this is Olivia from Greensboro, North Carolina. - My old friend, Carl Castle, of course, was from North Carolina. What do you do there? - Well, I got to chase around my three young kids, but when I see it come to myself, I'll do a bit of cross-stitching or antiquing old grainy hobbies. - Well, of course, well, it's good to start practicing now, but you'd be ready when you need it. Well, Olivia, it's great to have you with us. You're going to play the game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction. What is the topic, Bill? - You're a life saver. - Not all heroes wear capes. For that matter, not all heroes wear underwear. (audience laughing) Looking at you, Batman. Anyway, this week we read about an unlikely hero, saving a life or lives. Our panelists are going to tell you about it, pick the one who's not lying, and you will win our prize, the voice of anyone you might choose for your voice mail. Are you ready to play? - I can't wait, wait. - All right, oh, nicely done. - Okay, Olivia. All right, let's first hear from Joel Nicole Johnson. - There are a myriad of industries devoted to adults fulfilling childhood fantasies. Some play tag, others collect dolls, yikes. The creators of cash cash have the largest game of hide and seek in the world. But what happens when someone hides too good? Well, that happened this week to the chagrin of the French and American family purchased and renovated the Chateau de Mellon's castle for these childish shenanigans of 2018 and pandemic with standing, things have been running smoothly. However, this week, a hydra couldn't be accounted for after many hours. Insert the aid of lipid-teeth, detective. (audience laughing) A 13-year-old kid cracked this case. Louie Dumas is the premier hide and seeker in the area and has one competition, which exists. The clock was running against the group as a winter storm was brewing and if the lost patron was outside, he could freeze. But in under an hour, Louie found the hide or outside in the horse stables. Turns out the man had narcolepsy and fell asleep in his cozy spot, Barry Benitez. When asked for his inspiration, Louie said, "I grew up reading Nancy Drew "and Zahadi boys, and I want to be a detective one day. "If Inspector Clousso can make it so can I." Well, that bar is low, Louie. A low bar indeed. (audience laughing) - A young French detective discovers a lost hide and seeker. Your next story of an ice-save comes from Roy Blanche in here. - It's one thing for Indiana Jones, iconic hero of the great action movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, to be desperately fleeing a giant runaway boulder. That's what you get when you steal a booby-trapped golden idol. But what if you're just at Disney World, taking in a live show? That's supposed to be the Indiana Jones stunt and spectacular. And the giant prop boulder jumps its track and comes bounding toward you. The giant rubber boulder bounced menacingly right at the audience until a stage hand, identified only as Robert ran out and put up a hand to stop it. He didn't allow for it's being 400 pounds of rubber, so it knocks him flat. But he did deflect it from its path. That man literally saved our lives, exclaimed someone in the crowd. That element of the show will be modified set at Disney World spokesman. Real action hero, Robert emerged bloody but unbald. A Disney employee saves an audience from the enormous rolling boulder in the Indiana Jones show and your last story of a boulder rescue comes from Paula Poundstone. Early Souters is awfully glad dogs love Nestle Purina dog chow. Just after beginning his day shift at 6am at the Eden North Carolina Nestle Purina dog chow manufacturing plant, early Souters was inspecting the silo that feeds into the machine that bags dog food when hundreds of pounds of chow tumble down towards him. While Souters almost met his maker, some local dogs experienced heaven on earth. Dog food factories attract dogs. On any given day workers at this plant have to wade through as many as 30 dogs of all kinds that smell the food and come on by hoping for samples. So Souters co-worker Bud Shweppy had a vision. Let those dogs in. Fortunately for early Souters Bud Shweppy let the dogs in. And fortunately for Nestle Purina, the security cameras caught the image of 20 dogs hurtling towards a cascade of Nestle Purina dog chow and literally eating it mid-air before most of it could even touch early Souters. Oh wow. OK. So Olivia, who was the true life-saving hero in the news this week? Was it from Joe Yelma Col Johnson, a young French boy who was able to find a person playing competitive hide and seek who hit a little too well? From Roy Blunt Jr., a stage hand at Disney named Robert, who saved the audience from the perils of Indiana Jones or from Paula Poundstone, a pack of dogs who managed to save a man from being drowned, smothered, buried in kibble at the Purina factory. I think I'll go with Joy L. Story about the hide and seek. You're going to Joy L. Story about the competitive hide and seek in France, the guy was only found through the detective work of a small child. Yes, let's do it. OK. Well, to bring you the correct answer, we spoke to someone familiar with the real story. A little 400-pound fake boulder started rolling towards the crowd. And this dude jumped in front of it to save the crowd. That was Tom De Blass. He's a professional MMA fighter, commenting on how awesome it was that that guy at Disney World jumped in front of Indiana Jones' boulder. And I'm sorry to say, Joy L was lying. You did not win our prize. However, you did win a point for Joy L, which I know makes her very happy. She's doing a happy dance. So thank you so much for playing, Olivia. Thanks for calling. I love you. And now the game we call Not My Job. Del Roy Lindo is one of those actors who seems to be in everything. Movies like Malcolm X and The Cider House Rules and Get Shorty TV shows. Like The Good Fight and The Chicago Code, his latest role was in the hit movie. Sinners, he joins us now. Del Roy Lindo, welcome to Weight, Weight, Don't Tell Me. Thank you. I am such a big fan of yours. I feel like I've seen you in movies and TV for a very long time. But I don't really associate you with one role, and I was wondering, do other people recognize you mostly for one thing or another? One thing or another. Meaning, different audience members have different references for me based what they've seen me do. - There is not one part in particular. - That's it.
It has always occurred to me, watching you in all kinds of different things, that your characters have a certain quality that they all share. And I actually heard you tell a story you were on stage quite recently with your good friend Denzel Washington. And you told a story about how early on in your career you were approached by a guy on a bicycle. I think it was like you were getting your car. And that guy seemed to nail it. So I was wondering if you could tell that story to us. So it's okay to curse on this show, right? Go right ahead. We have beefs. All right. So I was parking my car on Park Avenue. This is many, many, many years ago in New York City. And a bicycle messenger passed me, young African-American gentleman. He stopped, backed, his bike up, came to me and said, hey man, you did actor, right? And I said, yeah brother, yes I am. And he said, you know what I dig about you in the movies man? And I said, what brother? And he said, nobody ever [bleep] with you in the movies, bro. [laughter] Got that? Am I right? Guys? Yes. [applause] And I've explained Denzel. For me, I interpreted that as him having a certain kind of respect for whatever it is he had seen me do. Yeah. [laughter] It's true. As we have mentioned, you and Denzel know each other for years, students together at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco where a lot of great actors came from. He says that you gave him one of the greatest bits of advice you ever got as a young starving actor you said you could survive. What was it on a loaf of wheat bread, a jar of honey, and a jar of peanut butter? That's how I did it when I needed to, right, when I was the point being that was a kind of a go-to that you could, that one could get protein and get all the nutrients that one the one needed. Yeah. And I want to ask immediately though, when you first started making money or maybe just the first time you got a paycheck for acting, what was like the good thing to eat, the first thing that you bought? Okay. You will learn this about me. I can answer the question, but I will give you a can of answer to the question. When I made a little bit of money, when I first made a little bit of money as an actor, the thing that gave me the most joy was to be able to send money to my mom as proof that not only was I gainfully employed from a profession that my mom did not want me to enter. So it was proof that I was not only gainfully employed, but I was sufficiently gainfully employed that I could send her some money. You know, I don't think you're doing that well and I would like to adopt you. I want to talk to you about sinners, which is an amazing film one of the biggest movies of last year, which will hopefully reap a lot of awards. This is a movie, again, filled with music, brilliant music, and you play a musician, a singer and piano player, did you have to learn, was that talent you brought to the table when you walked on set? No, I received a lot of instruction. I had one, two, three brilliant musicians, New Orleans-based musicians, who worked with me on my relationship to the keyboard. Right. I also had instruction on the harp, the harmonica. So I had a lot of instruction. Yeah. Do you still play now that the movie is all wrapped into the past? No. I have. God bless them. Believe me, one of the keyboards, I've been so busy, frankly, I haven't had a chance to get back to it. I don't know, man, if you don't practice, you may not. Absolutely. Yeah, I know, it's true. I want to ask you this before we move to our game, which is we understand that one of your legacies is your youth in Britain is that you're a big fan of soccer. I am. Man you, right? All day long. All day long, man. I mean, you're a pretty prominent guy, has the team honored you? Have they had you there? I mean, they have a lot of fans, but you're a pretty man. They have not and give them a call. I will. I'm not a man. That's only I know. Are you then very excited for the upcoming World Cup? I am. Yeah. I really, really am. Yeah. Very, very much so. I'm not sure. I don't have tickets yet. Anybody in the audience who has influence there. Yeah. Give me your call. Yeah, I'm really excited. I'm really excited. Yeah. That's a bad thing when you, someone like you, has to ask us. But. Yeah, right. Really? Do you have any divided loyalties you grew up in England? You live here? Is where your career has been? Are you going to be written? You know who you're in? Actually, that's a really good question. And I would say the answer, do I have divided loyalties? I would say I'd like to see the English team do well. I'd like to see the American team do well, so I guess I've got my feet in both on both sides of the fence there. Okay. You're going to be torn if it comes down to those two teams. It will not. Yeah, I was about to say no. No way. It's not going to happen, man. No, it's not. I'm hardly a fan. And even I know that is not going to happen. Yeah. It's not going to happen. No. Well, Delroy Lindo, it is a pleasure to talk to you. And we have invited you here today to play a game and we are calling it "Cinners Meet the Saints." So you star in the movie "Cinners," as said, so we thought we'd ask you today three questions about saints, specifically the New Orleans Saints of the NFL. Which, if you're not a fan, in this last season, 2025, improved on the prior years, five and twelve record, by going six and eleven. So if you answer two or three questions correctly, you will win our prize, one of our listeners, the voice of anyone from our show they might like on their voice mail. Bill, who is the great Delroy Lindo playing for? Kevin Harman, Abde Troit, Michigan. Here's your first question. The Saints have been playing in the NFL since 1967, and for the first few decades, they weren't very good. After a one and fifteen season in 1980, disappointed fans in New Orleans started calling them what? Today the New Orleans ain'ts be the New Orleans Taints or see the Houston Saints. I'm going to say the New Orleans Taints. I wish it were, but it was the New Orleans ain'ts, I'm afraid. They took the S off, New Orleans ain'ts, they ain't very good. Here's your next question. You still have two more chances. The Saints are credited with an innovation in Pro Football. What was it? The first team to hire a choreographer for their end-to-zone dancers. Be they were the first team to have a fan in the stands where a paper bag over his head from embarrassment, or see they were the first team to make uniform pants tighter to increase fan appeal. Am I allowed to ask for the right answer from somebody in the audience? You are. You are welcome to pull the audience, but the audience is yelling B. I'm going with B also. That is B. Yes. The man. First to put a bag on his head out of embarrassment while watching a football game was named Mike Dilberto. He was a Saints fan and sometimes broadcaster. He was the first to do it, but hundreds soon followed. All right. Here's your last question. You get this right. I'll roll you. You win it all for one of our listeners. Saints at one point seem to have a rather unlikely fan who was it, A. Pope Francis, who regularly accidentally tagged the team while trying to tweet about the other kind of saints. B. A very popular burlask dancer in Nola, who changed her name to the nude Orleans saint. Or see a man who remained loyal to the team despite proposing to three different women on the jumbo tron on three different occasions and getting rejected by all of them. The Pope. The Pope is right. Yes. Pope Francis. The bout man devoted to the Catholic Saints, but not very good at Twitter. He kept tagging the new Orleans Saints whenever he would praise the Saints of the Catholic Church. Bill, how did Delroy Lindo do in our quiz? Two out of three is a winner which proves don't have with Delroy. Delroy Lindo, one of our great actors, he appears in sinners, which will be up for a lot of awards and a million other things that we have loved and admired over the years. Delroy Lindo, thank you so much for joining us and we're going to. Congratulations. In just a minute, lizards, they're just like us. That's in our listener, Lumeric Challenge game. Call one, tripple eight, 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 N.P.O. From N.P.R. and that would be easy Chicago.
Wait, wait, don't tell me the NPR news quiz. I'm Bill Curtis, who we're playing this week with Roy Blunt, Jr. Paula Poundstone and Joy L. Nicole Janssen. (audience applauds) And here we get a show host at these two debakers, Theater and Chicago Eleanor, Peters. There you go. Thank you so much, Bill. (audience applauds) Just a minute, new year, old game. It's our listener, Limerick Challenge. If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-Triple-8, wait, wait, that's 1-88-924, 8-924. Right now, panel, some more questions for you from the week's news. Joy, last month, we lost an automobile engineer named Jim Moilin. He died at the age of 80. Now, Mr. Moilin was an unheralded hero, because he was the man who brought us what huge advance in car design. - Airbag? - No, not airbags. You use it far more often, I hope, than you use your airbags. - Seatbelt. - Nope. - The brakes. - That's right. Until Mr. Moilin came around in the 1980s, people would just drive their cars. And if they needed to stop it, they would just point it at some hard object and hope that it was anchored to the ground. - I use my sunroof a lot. - Not the sunroof, I'll give you a hint. Every time you find yourself not having to try to stretch the gas line all the way around your car, you can say a little thank you to him. - A little arrow? - A little arrow, yes. The little arrow in the dashboard that tells you which side of the car the fuel tank is on. - I didn't know that existed. Did he have a trademark on that or a plastic? - Well, he was working for Ford. He came up with it. Where would we be without this? Trying to pump gas into blank sheet metal? That's where, right? You're thinking, okay, maybe I'm just supposed to punch through it, like the top of a juice box. Back in the 80s, Moilin worked for Ford Motors and one day he got soaked in the rain, right? As he walked around to fill up his car to find out that the gas cam was on the other side. So, he wrote a memo to his bosses suggesting that they put little arrows on the fuel gauge on the dashboard, telling the driver which side the fuel cap was on. And they did it, brilliant. So that's how we get what is still called the Moilin Arrow, as well as the Moilin umbrella. The irony is I've had my car for five years and I still use that arrow. - Yes, that's the thing. We all do. - I never have seen that. I didn't even know. - I'm gonna go home tonight and find out whether I've been filling up the car on the right side. (audience laughing) - Paula. - Sure. - I'm sure like a lot of people, you would like a Brazilian butt lift, but. (audience laughing) - Just about our money, that's the only thing. - She only did this company. - And you do it, you do it, but you just can't stand the idea of synthetic fillers in your body. Well, good news. You can now inject yourself with fat. Harvested from what? - I don't know. Is there, it's from another animal assume? - No, well, technically yes, an animal, but no. - From a person? - Yes, from a dead. - Oh, you can get celebrity butt fat. (audience laughing) Only if, oh my God, I would love that. - Would you really? What celebrity do you have in mind? - I would not love that. At the whole, but Brazilian butt, let's think. - No, it's not celebrities. Although it could be celebrity, they just have to be dead. - Oh, good. - Yes. - There are harvesting fat from dead people for Brazilian butt lifts. - Well, they're not using it. - That's the point. - Yeah. - Yeah, what is it? - They're not shaking it. - Yeah, no, it sounds, it sounds macabre to have dead people's fat injected into your bottoms. - It does? - But it can be beautiful. Imagine the healing power you could give a grieving family by letting them slap grandpa's ass just one more time. (audience laughing) - I wonder how soon. - Right. - Yeah, I mean, how long does it last? - Well, fire, you gotta get that, is it fresh? - Well, technically, does it expire again? - Right. - This makes me want to scribble in an addendum on my organ donor card, right? - Yeah, right. - Yes, use my heart, use what my lungs, whatever, but if you inject my fat into a skinny, rich person's buttocks, I am going to haunt them. (audience laughing) - I could be so skinny in the casket. - That's true. Here's the funny though, if your own butt fat has value after your death, can you put it in your will? - Oh. - I would like to divide my butt equally to each of my beloved children, - You got two. - One but don't. (audience laughing) - You can make money, post, yeah, and leave that to your people. - Yeah, I know. - Do you have to insure it, like how violinists insure their hands? - You insure your violinists. - If you had a fabulous butt, you would insure it. - What do you mean if? (audience laughing) - If some other person-- - I don't know if y'all have seen the NPR calendar. (audience laughing) (audience laughing) - Coming up, it's lightning fell on the blind, 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 one triple eight, wait, wait. That's 1-888-9248-924. You can see us most weeks right here at the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago, or you can catch us on the road. You can find tickets and information about all our live shows at nprpresents.org. Hi, everyone, wait, wait, don't tell me. - Hi, Peter, this is Marin. - Hey, Marin, where are you calling from? - Olympia, Washington. - Olympia, Washington, I love Olympia, Washington, and I have good friends who live there. It's a lovely place, what do you do there? - Yeah, I am a program analyst for US Department of Transportation. - Oh really? Okay, that's good, and how are things in the transportation these days? - Things are going-- - Yeah. - They're transporting? - What more need you say? - Well, welcome to the show, Marin. Bill Curtis is going to read you three news related lemurics with a last word of phrase missing from each. If you can fill in that last word of phrase correctly, and two of the lemurics will be a big winner. You ready to play? - Yes. - Here is your first lemuric. - There's a species of colorful lizards who seem to be game-playing wizards. When searching for partners, they're brave, strong, or smarter. For mates, they play rock, paper, scissors. Right, a new study finds that the side-blotched lizard, when they're not wondering why we didn't name them literally anything else, plays rock, paper, scissors, sort of. So the way it works is males of this species can grow up to be either orange, blue, or yellow. And when it comes to being chosen by mates, orange always wins out over blue. Blue always wins out over yellow, but yellow always wins out over orange, right? It's a complex evolutionary adaptation that ensures the survival of their species and helps them decide who is the designated driver. (audience laughing) I think it's a fascinating story about a loser. (audience laughing) And so, in front of it, scientists observed that because orange beats blue, right? Blue will sometimes team up to defeat an orange. In some cases, even dying while protecting an ally, and they fight to mate. - Lizard's not to the poly thing. (audience laughing) - No, no, as far as I know, they do not. (audience laughing) All right, Marin, here is your next limerick. - There is free use of spot, dick, and jane. With Miss Marple, they're sipping champagne. Sam Spade, Nancy Drew, they're all joining the crew 'cause they're all in the public. - Domain. - Domain, yes, film, music, and literature. That was copyrighted in 1930, has now entered the public domain. You know what that means? Get ready to see your beloved classic turned into a slasher film, porn, or slasher porn. Nancy Drew books are on the list along with the dick and chain, along with the dick and jane children's books. - Well, it's gonna be called dick and chain now. - Yeah, it is, don't change the title. (audience laughing) - Other works include the little engine that could. All of a sudden, everything sounds dirty and that's gone down. (audience laughing) What's interesting is that whenever this happens, it happens a couple of years ago with Winnie the Pooh. The first thing people do is make a horror movie. - Oh, yeah. - Winnie the Pooh, horror movie slasher movie. - All they do, oh, yeah. - Nancy Drew, serial killer. - Oh, oh, oh. - The new testament? - Absolutely. - And it's badly. - Yeah. (audience laughing) - Here is your last Limerick. - My weekends no longer are fun days. So I'm getting a head start on Monday. I am not at my best with two days of rest. So I'm starting my work week on. - Sunday. - Yeah, Sunday, more and more workers are getting a head start on the work week by working on Sunday. They say it's a way to, oh, I see. We have some dedicated Christians in the room and I appreciate that. They have rest. (audience laughing) - Former workers are getting a head start on the work week by working on Sunday. They say it's a way to alleviate the nerves and big workload they are walking into one Monday. Perfect, no more Sunday scaries now. You have Saturday scaries. People say it gives them the chance to work without the distraction of phone calls, slacks and interruptions when their colleagues constantly saying, "Monday's am I right?" (audience laughing)
I've done a lot of work on Sundays, but it's from putting it off all week. Yeah, that's the problem. Yeah. Yeah, I wrote many a fine book report on Sundays when I was growing up. There you go. Wait, they're going to work from Sunday and then-- They go into work on Monday, yeah. But then just Saturday, is there only day-all? No, but these people start slacking on Thursday. I hope so. Slacking at your job, people. Yeah. And she means don't work. She doesn't mean get on slack. I didn't even know slack was a job thing, because I don't have a job. Exactly. Bill, how did Marin do in our quiz? With her, with her, with her. Congratulations. Well done, Marin. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for playing. [MUSIC PLAYING] Now it's 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 with two points. Bill, can you give us the scores? Roy and Paula, each have two. And Roy L has four. [CHEERING] Good money, big money. Well, you're leading going away. So Roy and Paula are tied. Roy, why don't we say you should go first? Here we go. O'clock will start when they begin your first question fill-in-the-blank. During his court appearance in Brooklyn, New York on Monday, Blank pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons charges. Oh, the president of Venezuela. Right, Nicholas Maduro. This week, the White House said it's still considering using military force to take control of Blank. Greenland. Right. A Monday, BYD overtook Tesla as the number one seller of Blanks. Electric car. Right. This week, a Salvation Army bell ringer outside a supermarket in Florida took a break from collecting donations to Blank. To rob the store. No, to try to impale the story manager with the stand of the donation bucket was hanging from. On Thursday, researchers said that regular exercise may be as effective as therapy at treating Blank. Loping around. I'm going to give it to you. It's depression. After 19 years of marriage, Keith Urban finalized his divorce from Blank on Monday. Nicole Kidman. Right. This week, a man in Italy sued a restaurant after their promotional TikTok video showed him Blanking. Chewing really in an awful manner with his mouth open. No more embarrassing. The TikTok video they put out to advertise their restaurant showed this man having an affair. The man thought he was far enough away from his house when he chose the restaurant we're at at dinner with his mistress. But didn't realize they were filming a promotional video for TikTok, which his wife saw shortly after it was posted. The next time he cheats, he's sworn to do it somewhere where there are too many people around him for him to be picked out of a crowd, you know, like a cold play concert. [LAUGHTER] That's a fun day. Bill, how did Roy do in our quiz? Well, he got five rights, 10 more points, totaled 12, which puts him in the lead. All right. [APPLAUSE] You're up next, Paula. I'm ready. Fill in the blank. On Monday, the Justice Department revealed that they'd released only about 1% of the blank file. Epsi. Right. On Thursday, the house agreed to vote on an extension to blank subsidies. That the HCA tax-- Yes, Obamacare. This week, the number of available blanks in the US hit their lowest level in a year. Available jobs? Yes. On Monday, Pete Hexeth said he was cutting Senator blank's military retirement pay. Kelly. Right. This week, police, again, have arrested someone for possessing a bag full of drugs that were stored in a bag labeled blank. Bag full of drugs? No. It was labeled-- No, no, Paula. They're smarter than that. It was labeled, definitely not a bag full of drugs. Damn it. According to a new study, users of blanks regained their lost weight after about 18 months. Those shots, like Ozympic Concent-- Yeah, GLP-1, they're called, citing health concerns. NASA announced that the current crew of the blank would return to Earth earlier than expected. The crew up on the space show. Right, this week, a thief who stole two mandalins from a music store in New Jersey, returned them along with a note that read blank. I stole these accidentally. No, the note with the stolen and returned mandalins said, quote, "Sorry, I've been drunk. Merry Christmas." The owners of the music store were shocked to find the two stolen mandalins returned to the store along with a note that blamed the theft on the thief being drunk. Can you imagine how drunk you have to be, though, to suddenly think it's a good idea to start a Mumford and Suns cover band? Bill, how did Paula do in our quiz? Six, right, 12 more points, and total to 14. Yes, all right. Yes. My favorite part of the game. How many does Joel need to win? Five to five, six to win. Here we go, boy. All right, Joel, here we go. This is for the game. This Tuesday marked the fifth anniversary of the insurrection at the blank. Oh, the capital. Right, on Monday, a senator from Ohio proposed a law making dual blank illegal. Is this shit? Yeah, this week, the CDC warned that doctors' visits for the blank have reached the highest level in 25 years. Doctors' visits for the blank. Plague. The flu on Monday board members for the Corporation for Blank voted to dissolve the organization. Hilton. No, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This week, a man in China sued his employer after they fired him for blanking while it worked. Taking a nap. No, taking four-hour bathroom breaks. The company says they fired the employees. Probably taking a nap at the near. It could be, but he says not. The company says that they fired the employee because he was regularly taking four-hour long bathroom breaks while on the clock fair. OK, but when they're that long, aren't you technically taking work breaks from pooping? That's the kind of employee I support. Absolutely. Bill, did Joel do well enough to win? To write four more points, eight? No, is the word good, Joel. There you go. But it's Paula. Paula. Paula, the winner. Yay. In just a minute, we're going to ask our panelists to predict now that we have a new food pyramid. Won't we be the next new food to go on sale? But first, let me tell you all that, wait, wait, don't tell me. It's a production of NPR and WBZ Chicago an association with urgent hair-car productions, Doug Berman, Ben Neville, and Doverlord. Philip Goetaker writes, our lemrex, our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our two managers, Shayna Domell, and thanks to the staff and crew at the Studio Baker Theater. BJ, leader of the composer and theme, our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Groomboss, and Lilian King. Special thanks this week to Mohanet L. Shaky and Monica Hickey. Peter Gwynne is definitely not a bag full of drugs. Emma Choi is our visual host, technical direction from Lorna White. Her CFO is called the Miller Reproduction Manager, who's Robert Newhouse, her senior producer, is Ian Chilog, and the executive producer, wait, wait, don't tell me, is Mike Danforth. Now panel, thanks to our new food pyramid, what will be the next new food product on the market? Joel Nicole Johnson. Pick-feet hogmars and chitlins. Ooh. Good. Roy Blanch, Jr. A variety of meat-flavored M&Ms. And Paula Poundstone. Beef Tallow Ice Cream. There you go. Well, if any of that happens, we're going to ask you about it on, wait, wait, don't tell me. Thank you, Bill Curtis. Thanks also to the joy of Nicole Johnson and Roy Blanch, Jr. with Paula Poundstone. Thanks for our fabulous audience here. We still need to make a thinner. And downtown Chicago, Illinois. Thanks to all of you for listening wherever you might be. I'm Peter Segal. We'll see you next week.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
The show features a mix of news, listener games, and humor, with segments on topics like the U.S. food pyramid, military actions in Venezuela, and influencers promoting boredom.
A listener, Dan from Minnesota, correctly identifies a quote about President Trump’s “blood for oil” policy and the use of a replica of Maduro’s mansion for training.
The panel humorously critiques the new food pyramid, which now promotes red meat and whole milk, jokingly comparing it to “Make America Goat Again” and suggesting it’s more like a funnel than a pyramid.
A segment highlights an unexpected heroism story involving a stagehand at Disney who saved audience members from a falling boulder, later revealed to be a real event involving a professional fighter.
Del Roy Lindo, a prominent actor, shares personal stories about his career, including a memorable encounter with a bicycle messenger who praised his lack of offensive content in films.
The show includes a listener game where participants must distinguish truth from fiction in stories about real-life heroism, including a French child detective, a Disney stagehand, and dogs at a dog food factory.
A quiz on the New Orleans Saints and a limerick-based game are featured, with humor around science, copyright, and workplace culture.
The final game, Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank, sees Paula Poundstone win with six correct answers, while the panel discusses the absurdity of a new food pyramid and potential future products like beef tallow ice cream.
Summary:
"Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" combines news, humor, and listener engagement in a lively format. The show begins with a segment on President Trump’s foreign policy remarks, including his “blood for oil” comment about Venezuela and the controversial practice of building a replica of President Maduro’s mansion for raids. A listener, Dan from Minnesota, correctly identifies the key points in a news-based quiz, earning a prize.
S. ” A segment highlights real-life heroism, including a stagehand at Disney who stopped a rolling boulder, a French child who solved a hide-and-seek mystery, and dogs at a factory who saved a worker. The show features actor Del Roy Lindo, who shares stories from his career, including a memorable encounter with a bicycle messenger who praised his clean, respectful performances.
In a listener game, participants must identify which heroism story is factual, with the correct answer being the Disney stagehand. The final segment is a fast-paced fill-in-the-blank quiz, where Paula Poundstone wins with six correct answers. The program concludes with a panel discussion on a fictional new food pyramid, jokingly suggesting products like beef tallow ice cream and meat-flavored M&Ms, ending with a lighthearted reflection on how absurdity and humor shape public discourse.
FAQs
The 'Moilin Arrow' is a dashboard indicator that shows which side of the car the fuel tank is on. It was invented by automobile engineer Jim Moilin in the 1980s after he got soaked in the rain and realized the gas cap was on the other side of his car. He suggested adding arrows to help drivers avoid confusion, and Ford adopted the idea.
Pope Francis is mentioned as an unlikely fan of the New Orleans Saints, who often accidentally tagged the team while tweeting about Catholic saints. This is a humorous reference to the mix-up between religious saints and the NFL team.
Male side-blotched lizards use a strategy similar to rock-paper-scissors to choose mates. Orange males dominate blue ones, blue males beat yellow ones, and yellow males outlast orange ones—this complex system ensures genetic diversity and species survival.
The public domain means that works, like Nancy Drew books or 'Dick and Jane' children's books, are no longer protected by copyright and can now be freely used or adapted—potentially leading to new media like slasher films or adult content.
The new food pyramid advised Americans to eat more red meat and whole milk, which the panelists joked about as a satirical take on dietary changes. The show also mocked the idea of 'Maga' standing for 'Make America Goat Again,' suggesting a humorous shift in eating habits.
A 'polycane' is a new name for a walker, created to make assistive devices more appealing to older adults. The term is used humorously to suggest a more stylish, less clunky alternative to traditional aluminum walkers.
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