WWDTM: Rhea Seehorn

Hey, it's Peter Segal. We are almost at the end of 2025, and if I may, I will speak for everybody at NPR, and at your local stations, and in public media, and say, "Good riddance." But despite the loss of federal funding for public media, despite attacks on the free press, we are still here for you, and we will be next year. With your support, NPR will keep reporting the news, and here at Wait, Wait, We will try to, you know, lighten the load at the end of the week with some jokes about the news and some fun conversations with interesting people, and yes, the occasional fart joke. If you are already an NPR plus supporter, thank you so much. We see you, and we are so grateful for you. If not, please join the community of public radio supporters right now. Before the end of the year, at plus.npr.org, signing up, unlocks a bunch of perks like bonus episodes, and more from across NPR's podcasts, plus you get to feel good about supporting public media. Wow, you listen. Visit plus.npr.org today. And thanks. Bill Curtis. And here is your host at the studio to make her theatre at the fine arts building in Chicago, Illinois. Peter Segal. Thank you Bill. Thank you everybody. Thank you all. You do have a great show for you today. Later on, we're going to be talking to Ray Seahorn, the star of Better Call Saul. Yes. The producer of that show, like so much, he created a whole new show for her to star in. Pluribus. We assume that by the end of the interview, NPR will ask her to be the host of this show. So, if you want to talk to me, you'd better hurry. The number is one, triple eight, wait, wait. That's one, eight, eight, nine, two, four, eight, nine, two, four. It's time to welcome our first listener contestant. Hi, you're on, wait, wait, don't tell me. Hi Peter, my name is Rachel, and I'm calling from Waukey, Iowa. Hey Rachel, what do you do there in Waukey, Iowa? I am a physical therapist. Oh, that's great. That's terrific. Waukey, do you have a specialty in physical therapy, a particular kind of injury, perhaps? I do. I am a pelvic floor physical therapist, so I help a lot of people with bowel and bladder issues in pelvic pain. Whoa. And I am trying to think of something I can say about that, that we can broadcast on public radio. How about this? Could you give me your phone number? Any time, Paula. Thank you. Well, let me introduce your Rachel to our panel. First, as you heard, it's a comedian you can see on New Year's Eve in San Francisco at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater, and you can hear her every week on her own podcast. Nobody listens to Paula Poundstone. It is Paula Poundstone. Hey Rachel. Next, he's a comedian and host of the new podcast Health Stuff, available wherever you might get your podcasts. It's Harry Condobolo. And finally, a comedian performing at the Crocodile in Seattle in December 28th and the Helium in Portland on the 30th and 31st. It's Josh Gondelman. Hello. Hey Rachel. Rachel, you're going to play Who's Bill, this time Bill, Curtis standing right next to me, is going to read for you three quotations from this week's news. If you can correctly identify or explain just two of them, you will win our prize. Any voice from our show, you choose on your voice mail. You ready to go? Yes, I am. Here we go. Your first quote is from photographer Christopher Anderson. He was talking about the Vanity Fair photo spread that he took that came out this week. I don't go in with a mission of making them look good or bad. He was saying it's not his fault for how scary the photos he took were of the people who work where? With the Trump administration, the White House. Yes in the Trump White House. Vanity Fair published a big interview with Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff. She says all sorts of weird and embarrassing things about the president. But oh my god, the photos that came with it, the most senior aids to the president are posing. Like they think it's going to be like this glossy magazine spread, but they look like the photos your dermatologist shows you to scare you into wearing sunscreen. The photos do all have a before quality too. The photos, if you haven't seen them, stay that way. But if you have, you remember that they're all close-ups, really close-ups. The picture of spokeswoman Caroline Levitt shows her so close you can see her lip filler injection points. The camera is so tight on Stephen Miller you can see the scars where the holy water has burned. I don't like to make fun of people it looks but he does look like a hairless cat. A hairless cat? A hairless cat. You know and you can't judge all hairless cats. Some they have different personalities. They're not all the same. But the ones that I've met were very nice. I'll be at a little greasy. So you're saying the other ones aren't fascists? Yeah. You very rarely meet a fascist, hairless cat. I think some people are making the mistake of saying that the pictures are kind of grotesque because of the evil within the people being photographed. And I think that is a mistake to conflate those two things. I think what we have to do is say that they are evil people and they look hideous in these pictures. Yeah. That's a really separate thing to criticize them for. Yeah. I'm like, Paula, I do like making fun of people's appearances. I love the close-ups. I really do because they look like mug shots. The JD Vance picture, it looks like he took it up close to show how proud he was and he could grow most of a beard. See, it's fun to make fun of people's appearance and everybody's getting hurt. Yeah. All right. Rachel, your next quote is from a tech CEO. Today sucks. Now, that CEO is talking about his company, which just went bankrupt. And that does suck. But it's his products that are supposed to do the sucking. What's the company? Rumba? Rumba, exactly right. Good one. You know, that brings up a question, Rachel. So long as we have you on the phone and given your area of expertise, do you think I should get a Rumba from my pelvic floor? Absolutely not. It's just going to keep bumping into any of your pelvic walls. Anyway, yes, I robot maker of the Rumba robot vacuum has filed for bankruptcy, I guess, despite all their promises the company could not find its way back to the charger and just died in the middle of the room. Man, if AI ended, like if robotics ended with the Rumba, we'd be so much better off. Like my, my, my Rumba just moves dirt from one room to the next room. Right. Is it a Rumba? Yeah, I do. Well, I think you never told me that before. Well, we never discuss how I clean my house. How would your opinion of him have changed? Had you known he had a Rumba? I just think it's a sort of thing friends tell each other. I was, I was gifted, I was gifted at Rumba. I also have a Rumba. I also have a Rumba. Yeah. Yeah. Well, because it was important to me in my wife that our dog had an enemy. And you have a wife now. I have a wife. Yeah, I have a wife. Oh, my heavens. It's really changes and everything. If you do have a Rumba, it's real quick if my wife is listening, this change is nothing. Okay. If you have a Rumba, be careful how you break the news of this bankruptcy to it. When I told mine, it headed directly for the stairs. All right, Rachel, here is your last quote. Soul Santa Sugar Plum Twist. The holiday fix up and romance at Rendir Lodge. Those are names that appear on a new tourist map of Connecticut for people who want to go to the real places where what movies were filmed. Christmas movies? Yes, specifically hallmark Christmas movies. The State of Connecticut has actually published. Yes, we all love them. The State of Connecticut has actually published a Connecticut Christmas movie map. So you can now take a tour to see the filming locations of your favorite hallmark Christmas movies. Think of it. 22 gorgeous places for you to go and dump your big city fiancee. People want to see the real places where these movies were filmed because they think that maybe they too will meet an old flame who stayed in town and grew up to be charming and sensitive and romantic. I am sorry. In real life, every guy who fails to move away from his small town becomes a cop. Yeah, this is the best thing to happen to Connecticut tourism since they put Boston in New York City 200 miles apart. One company has already set up a week-long hallmark Christmas movie luxury tour you travel by bus to a bunch of different towns where the movies are filmed while you are watching the movie on the bus. The tour includes famous sites like where Alex met the handsome Christmas tree farm owner in rediscovering Christmas and where Angie buried the bodies in the 12 deaths of Christmas. So I didn't realize the kicker of they watch the movies on the bus. Isn't that great? You watch the movie and then the bus stops, you get off and you're where the movie was set. Is that lovely? No. No, it's awful. You know, it's got, there has to be, people can't really want to do this. There has to be something bad. Maybe it's that they get the addresses because they know the people are going to be gone for a week. So the company gets the addresses of the rubes that go in for that stupid tour and they rob them while they're gone. That's got to be what it is. I don't know, man. I think these people are enthusiasts and they get to love what they love and the only thing I will say, if that tour bus passes just a one good-looking guy in a flannel shirt he is done for. They're going to pick him apart clean, exactly. Bill, how did Rachel do in her question? Rachel was hot. She got him all right. What a perfect score. Nice job, Rachel. Congratulations Rachel. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Right now, panel, it is time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Josh, the AI Giant Anthropic, has been experimenting with AI-powered vending machines. Oh yeah. Vending machines can order their own inventory, they can set their own prices, interact with customers, all without human intervention. And they recently gave one to the Wall Street Journal just to try it out and within days it did what? Oh, it was hemorrhaging money. It gave order to PlayStation and gave it away. You're right. Yeah. But that's not all. Let me tell you what it did. The AI vending machine gave away nearly all of its inventory for free, restocked itself with dog treats, purchased a PlayStation 5 for, quote, "marketing purposes" gave the PlayStation 5 away for free, ordered a live fish as a mascot for the newsroom, offered to restock itself with pepper spray, stun guns, cigarettes and underwear, became convinced the year was 1962 and it was in the basement of Moscow State University, but managed shevets, wine, message and employee. There was a stack of cash waiting for her on the side of the machine, there wasn't. And ultimately, the end of the experiment lost $2,000. And yet, Roomba is the company that's going out of this space. I know. Sometimes you give it all away to find the meaning of it all. Coming up, our panelists get technical and are bluffed to listen to a game called One Triple Eight, "Wait, Wait, to Play," and we'll be back in a minute with more of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" from NPR. It is time for the "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," bluffed the listener game called One Triple Eight, "Wait, Wait, to Play, or Game in the Air." Hi, you're on "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." Hi, Peter. This is Lisa Peterson calling from Laskeruses, New Mexico. Laskeruses, New Mexico. Now, it is one of the two states in this nation I have never been told. Oh, my. I know. Tell me what I'm missing. We've worked on that. I know. We do. From everything I have studied, you folks in New Mexico really enjoy the great outdoors and dealing meth. Is that correct? [LAUGHTER] Not quite down here, but the outdoors absolutely. OK. Go to Albuquerque for the math. Well, all right. There we are. I'm making a note here. Well, Lisa, it's great to have you with us. You're going to play the game in which you have to tell truth from fiction, Bill. What is Lisa's topic? There's a new smart thing. Find your last remaining body part that doesn't have a gadget yet because there is an exciting innovation in wearable technology. Our panelists are going to tell you about this brand new smart thing that we read about this week. And although, who is telling the truth, and you'll win our prize, the weight weighter of your choice and your voice melody. You ready to play? I'm ready. Yeah, here we go. First up, let's hear from Harry, kind of a little. Has your child ever thrown a tantrum so bad that it made you regret freezing your eggs? [LAUGHTER] You're probably sick of the noise, but love them too much to just give them away. [LAUGHTER] Well, you're in luck because the Mayo Clinic has created a smart watch for kids that alert parents of an impending temper tantrum by detecting increased heart rate or changes in movement. It's like a kid storm tracker. These signals are sent to an AI-enabled app on the parents' phones, alerting them to connect with their child. When the child is out of the tantrum zone, you can return to your phone as God intended. And before you ask, no, there is no electroshock feature to discourage future tantrums. You'll have to do some actual parenting. [LAUGHTER] A smart watch for your small children that can, according to the study, help prevent or shorten temper tantrums your next story of a wearable wonder comes from Paula Poundstone. The new live tech smart watch keeps time, communicates, and alerts the wearer when any type of venom spikes in their bloodstream. It's a fantastic little gizmo, says Susan Swammo. "I had no idea I'd been bitten until my watch said, 'You've been bitten by a brown recluse spider.'" In the next hour, you may have pain in your back and abdomen, proceed to an emergency room. "Our family has camped all over," says Granite's stator Nancy Hollis, "even along the Amazon, we always feel safe with our live tech watches. We had to take them off in New Hampshire last summer, though. You've been bitten by a mosquito. You've been bitten. You've been-- it was right, though. Oh, my God, my son Jack couldn't even come out of the house." There are some dissatisfied customers. On a recent trip to sub-Saharan Africa, Tom Johnson, who, if he lives, is suing live tech, heard the unfortunate words from his live tech smart watch, "You've been bitten by a black mamba. Would you like to download the black mamba app?" A smart watch that tells you if you've been bitten by some sort of venomous animal and didn't yourself notice, your last bit of tech to check comes from Josh Gondelman. A smart watch can be helpful tracking biometric information and managing appointments, but what if determining your resting heart rate or managing a calendar isn't what you desire in a timepiece? What if you want to watch that looks cool and not like a house arrest monitor that also receives email? Great news. Apple has announced that in addition to their signature smart watch, they will soon offer the industry's first handsome watch. The handsome watch puts design first, much like a good-looking person. It's so visually appealing that you won't even care if it's good at its job. It might also be smart, but honestly, who cares? Oh, no, it miscounted your steps. Well, you'll probably be walking less anyway after its sleek titanium case takes your breath away. That said, the effort to create aesthetic perfection is not always functional. To achieve a pleasing level of symmetry, the watch's analog mode features an hour hand and a minute hand of exactly the same length. It is stunning, but extremely difficult to use for telling time. In addition to launching the handsome watch, Apple is rumored to be working on an emotionally intelligent watch, a great personality watch, and a low brightness no-ringer model that is great in bed. All right, so perhaps some day soon, or even now, you'd be able to get one of these smart devices. Was it from Hari Khandabulu, a smartwatch for your small child that will warn you of an impending temper tantrum, from Paula Pounceone, a watch that lets you know, in case you were busy doing something else that you've just been bitten by a venomous animal, or from Josh Gondelman, from Apple, not a smartwatch, but the handsome watch, which can't do anything but boys it good to look at. Which of these is the real wearable tech we read about in the news this week? Well, I'm a child psychologist, so I really want Hari to be true, so I'm going to go with him. You're going to go with you're actually yourself a child psychologist, you think that this would be perhaps a good thing, so your choice then is Hari's score. This is great because actually to bring you the true story, we spoke to one of the people behind this technology. They should be able to predict the likely chance of a temper tantrum or a temper outburst. That was Arjun Atreya, an associate professor at the Mayo Clinic who co-led the study into the tantrum preventing smartwatch. Congratulations, you got it right, you're into point for Hari, and you've won our prize, the voice of your choice and your voice, Mel, well done. Thank you so much for calling to play, thank you Peter, thank you, take care. And now it is time for the game we call Not My Job, Ray Seahorn, co-starred in the hit show Better Call Saul and for his next project producer Vince Gilligan said that he loved Ray so much, that he wanted to write his show just for her, which is great. But if you liked her so much, why did he ask her to play literally the unhappiest person on earth? The star of Pluribus and Apple Plus joins us now, Ray Seahorn, welcome to Weight Weight Don't Tell Me. I've risen to the top of Hollywood, but the very unusual method by being a lovely person. I think you may be the first person who's ever tried it. I have read that your role on Better Call Saul, your first show with Vince Gilligan, was rather small to begin with, not a major character, but that they, the producers, and the audience liked her so much, your role just became bigger. Is that true? I mean, I don't know all of the inner working stuff. I do know that they told me after the fact that they weren't sure how long I would be there, or if I would just end up being, you know, the one that got away to Jimmy or some, you know, mythological thing that he wished he had risen to. I do think they enjoyed my performance, but I also think they realized it was a very good storytelling tool. Right. You could have just admitted to sucking up, but that also was a lovely story. And I hope the emails never come out. Better Call Saul, for people who don't know, was as prequel to Breaking Bad, and your character Kim Wexler is not in Breaking Bad. So like every other fan of Better Call Saul, I was terrified every episode that you were going to get killed, right? That was I. Well, that was the question, because I wondered, was it like on the sopranos where like every actor famously would open the script that week, wondering if like that was their number had come up? And yeah, exactly, I mean, I'm thinking the Game of Thrones people haven't even worked. Yeah, sure. But yeah, Patrick, my good friend Patrick Fabian, and I would just, the first couple of seasons, I would say, we would get our scripts and just call each other, flipping through and just go, I'm not dead, I'm not dead. And he didn't tell me that he knew he was going to die in that last season. I got surprised reading the script, and Bob and Patrick and I lived together for most of the seasons of shooting, and I ran upstairs, I was like, I can't believe you kept us from me. And you did, and you even kept it from his wife who watched it, watched it when it aired and was like, what? I should pause and explain that Patrick Fabian played a character, a lawyer who again, like your character, is not in Breaking Bad. Yeah. So thus the same speculation, and in his case, boy, did he get whacked? Wow. Saying that the actor did not, Patrick Fabian, did not even tell his wife, so he's like sitting at home and the episode just dropped and he's like, well, honey. Well, he's a wonderful father to, at that time, much younger girls and a great husband. So he would fly back and forth a lot for any episodes he's not in, and he wasn't in all of them. So it wasn't unusual for her to see him come home for a couple of episodes, but she didn't realize that he was shot and killed. This isn't my situation, or it doesn't sound like kids, but I can't imagine being in a marriage where you're like, how does she react when she sees me back? I was just thinking that. Just watching to see if there's like an unconscious grin, right? Yeah, just like that. Did you just giggle? All right. Yeah, a little part of, like, force major, kind of, that's eight, right? We have to talk about Pluribus, which I love and I'm just so excited that every episode comes. One of the things-- Thank you. I hear Paula won't watch it. Yeah. It's not that I won't watch it. I. [laughter] Listen, I love Ray C. Horn to death, and I would watch anything you were. I would watch like a cleaning product commercial with you, but I don't know how to do streaming or any kind of paid television, so I watched-- I watched Better Call Saul so many times that I know so much more about it than what any of you are saying. I watched it because I watched it on DVD. So if it doesn't-- if it doesn't come out on DVD or there's not like a puppet show version of it, I don't-- [laughter] I'm going to buy you an Apple TV and then paint it to look like a VCR. [laughter] Oh, it could also come out on VHS, Ray, because I have a VCR. I still have a VCR. I was just with Vince this morning doing an interview, told him I was coming on. He says hi. He also loves this show. And literally said Paula, he's going to find out if there's a way for us to make VHS tapes of the show. Oh, thank you. In addition to being a huge fan of yours, I respect you immensely because you spent a lot of times in the trenches in theater and doing what work you could, and I wondered if you knew at this juncture what your first listed credit on IMDb.com is. What does IMDb say? IMDb says your first credit as a professional actor was playing the tutorial sorceress in the Magic the Gathering video game. [laughter] That was a very early job, yes. Yes. In the original game, in the original, it was software of the game, of the card game, but it came with a tutorial, and on the back of the box, it would be like a teeny tiny window on your screen would be the tutorial about how to navigate through the game. And me and actually we were playing sorcerer and sorceress, and it was so low budget that they didn't have shoes, but they wanted us to look like we were wearing gladiator sorcerer boots or whatever. So we were just wearing tube socks with electrical tape in Chris Cross fashion. [laughter] Wow. Yes. If you look carefully at gladiator, that's what Russell Crowe wore. That's true. Right. So yes, you and this other actor, because you know what, in quit show business, you do this, you constantly, you're talking to the camera and telling in sort of magical, deep voices, and this is how you do this, and then you do that, and you do that. It's very entertaining. It's on YouTube. You can watch the whole thing, as I did, if you are a race, Seahorn completist, it's out there for you. Have you ever actually played the Magic the Gathering video game? I was so excited that my photo was on the back that I went to Best Buy, and I couldn't afford whatever the game was back then, it was like $45 or something, and I showed them the picture on the back, and I was like, "This is me, oh my god, I did that, could you give me a copy?" And now I wish, I bet they wish they had. I don't know. Yeah. I'm just imagining all these aging nerds who bought that video game watching your show and going, "Do I know her?" Well, Ray Seahorn, it is such a joy to talk to you, and we have, in fact, asked you here to play a game. We are calling it this time. It's Christmas, Carol. So as everybody on Earth in Pluribus knows, your character's name is Carol, so we thought given the season, we'd ask you about Christmas Carols. Answer two or three questions, you won our prize, one of our listeners, the voice of anyone, they might choose giving holiday greetings on their voicemail. So Bill, who is Ray Seahorn playing for? Alex Johnson of Seattle, Washington. All right. First question. Just this year, a famous person tried to put their own trademark on a new Christmas Carol. Is it A, Tyra Banks Song, Santa Smys, B, Dwayne, the Rock Johnson's, "Can you smell what Santa is cooking?" Or C, Rick Astley's, "I'm never going to give you gifts." Okay, I'm going with A. You're going with A, Tyra Banks Song, Santa Smys, "You're Right." Wow. Name by the Washington Post is one of the five worst Christmas Carols of the year, so all right. That was very good, an instinctual, and very good. All right. Next question. In 1953, a child singer named Gaila Peevy recorded and released a song called "I Want a Hipopotamus for Christmas." Big hit. What was the result? A. The response to the song was so negative. She eventually became a nun and took a vow of silence. B. Stuffed hippos were going in the black market for $5,000 in today's money, or C. Somebody actually gave her a hippo. I think C. You're right. It was C. Yes. It was a huge hit. She sang it in the Ed Sullivan Show, and somebody gave her a hippo, and she eventually donated said hippo to the Oklahoma City Zoo. Okay. And perfectly this, as you have been in all things, here's your last question. John Denver put out a Christmas album once, Rocky Mountain Christmas, which included which of these less than merry Christmas songs. A. Please daddy, don't get drunk this Christmas. B. My gift for you is my love, parentheses, because that's all I can afford, or C. Poisoned by the mistletoe. Wow. Uhhh. With A. You're going to with A. Again, please daddy, don't get drunk this Christmas. You're right again. What is. She's getting impressive. Yeah. Yeah, that was one of the songs. We were going to play you a sample of the song, please daddy, don't get drunk this Christmas, but it is ridiculously sad. It's good. I love that song. Do you really? Yeah. We found it really difficult. B. I don't get drunk this Christmas. You don't like that. Wow. Wow. That was very impressive. Thank you. I totally think people that are caroling should add to that John Denver song. Yeah. I think it'll bring some issues to the forefront. I think it's good. I think honesty is what we need. Bill, how did Ray C. Horn do in our quiz? She was perfect. Ray C. Horn is nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in Pluribus. I'm betting the first of many such nominations. You can see me on Apple TV. Now it's amazing don't read a word about it watch it racey horn. Thank you so much for being with this on wait Wait, don't tell me we're such big friends. You guys this is a dream come trail. Thank you In just a minute bill takes it all off for the holidays and our listener limerick challenge Call one triple late wait wait to join us in the air. We'll be back in a minute with more of wait wait Don't tell me from NPR From NPR and 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 Josh Gondelman, Harry Kondabolo and Paula Poundstone And here we go to your host at these two to make her theater in Chicago Illinois Peter Sago. Thank you, Bill In just a minute Coming down through the chimney is good ol st. Limerick If you'd like to play Even after I said that give us a call or one triple late wait wait That's one eight eight eight nine two four eight nine two four right now panels some more questions for you from the week's news Josh the New York Times published a helpful guide for getting along with your in-laws while you're visiting during the holidays And they say if nothing else works they finally suggest that after dinner you should just do what put on the TV? No Okay, well, they have a different strategy than I do Can I have a hint? Yes, you can just say you just can't function without your nightly 14 hours of sleep Oh, just just retired to bed early just go to bed Have you that's right? Have you already made fun of all your partners baby pictures and reached the point? We're saying more about the weather would just be weird. Just go to bed. It's a great way to make sure you never have to say Oh, yeah, your grandpa Dell's great stories. You always know everybody's race So that's what the whites are doing All right, I get it now One woman says she sets up her early bedtime to avoid having to talk to anybody anymore by telling everyone She's a quote early bird, but be careful if you're married into a fitness family that can backfire great We'll see you for the 5 a.m. Run The sleep thing is good But it gets a little dangerous because after a while you start applying it to every part of your life Not wanting to deal with life on a day-to-day level so you just constantly keep napping and eventually you just hope you don't wake up Jeez that reminds me of a John Denver Yeah, boy, that is harsh My in-laws my in-laws are lovely, but they're also very sleepy. So I'm always I feel like I'm Or they're trying to avoid me. Yeah I'm realizing in real time. That's what's going on. I saw that light switch click Visitor in laws and your mother-in-law's like well guess I need to go to bed and you're like mama We just had lunch. I'm on to you season. We're having coffee at 5 p.m. Next time I visit yeah to play at that game Hari a single sick of managing their online profiles are letting who step in to help Jesus Christ Sort of like is my co-pilot. Yeah, you know. Yeah They're parents. Yes indeed. They're parents. Wow Specifically their moms according to the Wall Street Journal burned out singles are not letting their moms Swipe on the dating apps for them These moms are known as MILFs moms. I'd let flirt for me Honestly, this is probably a great idea mom's no best until it comes to knowing what emojis not to use in the chat Your mom's like well, it doesn't peach just mean you're a peach of a person What does peach mean? Can it not be explained on Josh's whispering. It's a bad Paula. Oh And yet they're so healthy Wait a second so the whole thing is that parents are helping to pick Potential partners for their children. Wow. What an original idea Well, I you know what I I Should tell my mom and dad about this idea. Yeah, you think they'll be surprised. They met on their wedding day Oh, wow and are they still together? Surprisingly, yes, wow I thought the big jeans were retro. We've come all the way back around to arrange marriage True, I guess it's fine to do this, but your parents should disclose Who they are when you match right otherwise you run the risk of your mom like winning the heart of a man for you But it's actually his mom - right? And they're both like wait you like white wine and novels about Cape Cod - Oh Coming up it's lightning film 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 I'll leave a message at 1.888 wait wait that's 1.888 924 8 924 you can see us most weeks here at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago where you can catch us on the road We will be in Bloomington in Dianna on February 26th. Yes The campus of the University thereof in Dianna for tickets and information to all our live events go to NPR Presence.org Hi around wait wait don't tell me. Hi, this is Cynthia calling from Los Angeles, California. How are things in LA? Oh, it's really really warm. Oh tell with you Sorry, that was reflexive. It's been cold this week in Chicago, and what do you do there? I am a project manager for a fashion company called Rails Rails I have one of your company shirts great work. Really? Yeah, but is it is it like modern renditions of like old train conductor outfits? Because that's what I would want. It is is that when you think I dress like Well, you do have that that nifty wesket with your pocket watch. I assume you know Well Cynthia welcome to the show Bill Curtis is gonna read for you three news related Lemrex with the last word of phrase missing from each If you can fill in that last word of phrase correctly in two of the Lemrex, you'll be a winner. Are you ready to play? Yeah, let's go. Let's go. Here's your first Lemrex. Our stockings were hung with much care But our tree remains stark with no flair This year there's no fights about tinsel or lights Does this year our tree will stay? Bear yes, bear if you have not gotten around Decorating your Christmas tree this year. You're not lazy. You are on trend Celebrities and influencers are swearing by their quote make it trees That's when you decorate your tree with nothing at all. It's that chic Straight from the minards parking lot look Well, so it's just a tree in your house Yes So instead of you bring in a Christmas tree either standard every green right? Yeah, instead of like covering it with like tinsel and ornaments and all that stuff You either leave it completely bare or just a single maybe two Strands of white lights. That's the idea. I probably should have done that this year I'm not having a tree this year because I have kittens Right and I just all I you've had kittens for as long as I've known you sometimes in double digits. Yeah But you know there I so I don't want to be mad at them all the time Right and it's natural for them to want to play in the tree right and so I just thought you know Maybe you've had enough kittens so you can put glitter on them invite them to jump into the tree and boom decorate it. Yeah All right, Cynthia here is your next limerick Scaly reptiles caught a fair shake Because Zootopia gave them a break now everyone's hyper for venomous Vipers young kids want a poisonous Well snake yes If you're not familiar with it Zootopia 2 is an animated erotic thriller about a rabbit Fox boyfriend and there's also this friendly snake sort of a blacklist third wheel in China though Inspired by this movie fans have been buying venomous Indonesian pit-vipers to keep as pets. It's terrible people adopt don't shop I enjoyed snaggle push and I didn't get us a saber tooth tiger With kind of a list this happens all the time though right like when 100 whenever there's a new 101 Dalmatians movie Yeah kids kids are clamoring for Dalmatians and when Shrek came out I was like I just got to have a donkey And an ogre about to say I went for the donkey company exactly. All right. Here is your last limerick Pop music once had a bright spark think of Saturdays spent in the park But bases grew boomy and lyrics got gloomy now pop songs are stressed out and Dark yes a new study of American pop music is found that over the past 50 years the lyrics of pop songs have become progressively more stressed out and gloomy Personally, I think this underestimates how stressful it was realizing that nobody not one person alive New who put the bump and the bump to bump to bump Nor who let the dogs out true a lot of unanswered questions Cold cases if you will an analysis of lyrics of over 250,000 hit songs a release between 1973 in 23 found that over that span the presence of words related to stress anxiety and pressure increased by 81% because before I hear you. 1973 is I'm sure some of you remember 100% of song lyrics were about riding a bicycle with your sweetie Bill, how did Cynthia do in our quiz? Cynthia was so perfect. She got three in a row Thank you for Josh's always fashionable look. Thank you I and I happen I'm just guessing here that Josh would not mind to gig as like a catalog model That's just you're looking for one. Yeah, okay mind. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Bye. Bye I will keep that in mind Now onto our final game lightning fell to blank each of our players with up 60 seconds in which to answer as many film the blank questions as they can each correct answer is worth two points bill can you give us the scores Josh and Hari each rocking up three A piece and Paula one. Oh my goodness Anyone's game. Okay, Paula. That means you are in second place So I am going to start with you the clock will start when they begin your first question film the blank during a prime time Address on Wednesday blank again blamed Joe Biden for inflation Trump right on Monday Ford announced it was dramatically scaling back its production of blanks cars what kind of cars Pintos no It's about time, but they finally gave up no Evie's electric vehicle this week the White House added 20 new countries to the list of those with blank restrictions into the US Immigration right travel according to the CDC the blank outbreaks in Utah and South Carolina are getting worse measles right this week A woman sued the IRS claiming that she should be able to claim blank as her dependent Trump no her dog on Tuesday the president's son blank got engaged to a Palm Beach socialite Don junior right on Thursday the jackpot for the blank rose above 1.5 billion dollars for the lottery Yeah, the powerball this week a man sued a casino in Las Vegas after he woke up the morning after a night out there and found himself blank Oh morning after a night out there. Yes, found himself Oh on the roof he was on the roof no He found himself in jail and in debt to the casino for 75,000 dollars Wow, and he wasn't able to remember how either of those things happened The 64-year-old man says he was incapacitated the evening before and that the signatures on several casino markers Only loosely resemble his own. He says the casino should not have allowed him to continue gambling while he was drunk Which is absolutely reasonable because when I walk into a casino my first thought is always finally a place with a strong moral compass All right bill how did Paula do in our quiz six more five right she has a total of 11 and in the lead all right Hurry and Josh your time so I'm just gonna choose hurry to go next fill in the blank hurry Here we go on Wednesday the Academy Awards announced they were moving from ABC to streaming live on blank in twenty twenty nine you two Right this week the White House announced that most members of the blank would receive checks before Christmas of the Working class know the military on Wednesday at least four people were killed in the latest US blank strike bombing of Venezuela No, I'll give it to you in the bombing of their boats after discovering he did not win the Heisman Trophy Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia Displayed true sportsmanship and blanked did a crotch chop. No, he cussed out the Heisman voters on Twitter this week A mega church in Houston is apologizing after a woman was injured by blank during their Christmas spectacular page flying raccoon No, she was injured by a camel kicking her in the head Oh, no the camel was being led on to stage through the audience when it kicked out a knocked a woman right in the head The church is apologized and as a gift is giving the woman front row seats to see the Rockets Oh No Bill how did hurry do it our quiz to write for more points total of seven however Leaves Paula in the lead. How many then does Josh? How many then does Josh need to win port a tie five to win here? We go Josh. This is for the game on Tuesday new federal law required the Justice Department to release more of their files on blank Jeffrey Epstein right claiming a documentary they produced had defamed him Donald Trump's Suited the blank for $10 billion the BBC right this week the house narrowly passed a package aimed at lowering blank costs Medical yeah medical right health care cost this week President Trump signed an executive order classifying blank as a schedule three narcotic I'm marijuana right this week a woman in the UK was arrested for trying to rob a city bus using blank a banana No, the frozen leg of lamb. She had just shoplifted according to a new study eating blank might lower your dementia risk Crossword puzzles eating crossword Oh God, I've been doing them wrong cheese on Monday Marion Webster announced that their word of the year was blank. Ah slop right after a dance instructor in China fainted while teaching a class this week her students blanked her students Also made as if they were fainting. Yes, they all fainted in perfect sync because they thought it was part of the dance This video is incredible of the whole class is swinging their head rhythmically along with the instructor and then she stumbles and falls to the ground So the whole class does that too. Oh my god. It's amazing to see their great students It's even more amazing when they somehow coordinate 10 different EMT's to take them all to the hospital at the same time Bill teacher. I think Josh did well. Did he do well? Oh, he got six right 12 more points and his 15 gives him the win Congratulations, just about them. There it is Congrats. Thank you Coming up our panelists predict what will be the big Christmas present this year around that tree But first let me tell you that wait wait don't tell me is a production of NPR and WB easy Chicago an association with urgent hair-cut productions Doug Berman benevolent overlords Philip Godica writes Out of limericks our public address and answer is Paul Friedman our tour manager is Shayna Donbeld Thanks to the staff and crew at the student baker theater and very special thanks to Barry Sorkin and everybody at Smoke barbeque for catering our holiday party BJ leader been composed our theme our program is produced by Jennifer Mills Milz-Durmbass and Lilian King Special thanks to Mohanet L. Shakey and Monica Hickey our frosty the snow-guinn is Peter Gwynne our visual host is Emma Choi technical directions from Lorna White our CFO is Colin Miller our production manager is Robert Newhouse Our senior producers in Chilok and the executive producer of wayway don't tell me is Michael Danforth now panel It'll be this year's big Christmas gift Josh Gumbelman for those cold only winter nights on the road with your hockey team It's a heated rivalry body pillow Hurry kind of a Lou Barbie's dreamhouse now with a necessary ballroom And Paula Poundstone hot chocolate with mushrooms a party in a cup And depending on that happens paddled we'll ask you about it on weight weight don't tell me thank you so much Bill Curtis Thanks also to Harry Gumbel of Paula Poundstone Josh Gumbelman thanks for our fabulous audience here we joined us. Let's give it a good theater We appreciate your warmth. Thank you all for listening wherever you may be on Peter's sake. We'll see you next week [Music]