This message comes from the Heavyweight Podcast. Sometimes, people have the urge to reach into their past and ask, what if things had gone differently? In its 10th season, the acclaimed podcast Heavyweight explores that question and tries to make things right. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Peter Sagal. 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 while you listen. Visit plus.npr.org today. And thanks. From NPR and WBC Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm the voice Santa uses for the audiobook version of his naughty list.
Bill Curtis, and here's your host at the Studebaker Theatre at the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal! Thank you, Bill! Thank you, everybody. Thank you all. We do have a great show for you today. Later on, we're going to be talking to Ray Sehorne, the star of Better Call Saul. Yes. The producer of that show liked 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 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. 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 Waukee, Iowa. Hey, Rachel. What do you do there in Waukee, Iowa? I am a physical therapist. Oh, that's great. That's terrific.
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 and 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? Anytime, Paula. Thank you. Well, let me introduce you, 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 Theatre, 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 Hari Kondabolu. Hello, Rachel.
And finally, a comedian performing at The Crocodile in Seattle on December 28th and The Helium in Portland on the 30th and 31st. It's Josh Gondelman. Hello. 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 voicemail. Are 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 in the White House. Yes, in the Trump White House.
Vanity Fair published a big interview with Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, and 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 aides 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 to it. Yes, they really do. 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 his skin.
I don't like to make fun of people's looks, but he does look like a hairless cat. A hairless cat? A hairless cat. And you can't judge all hairless cats. They have different personalities. They're not all the same. But the ones that I've met were very nice, albeit 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. Those are two separate things to criticize them for. Unlike 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 J.D. Vance picture, it looks like he took it up close to show how proud he was that he could grow most of a beard. See, it's fun to make fun of people's appearances. Nobody's getting hurt. All right, Rachel, your next quote is from a tech CEO. Today sucks. Now, that CEO was 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? Roomba. Roomba, exactly right. Good one.
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 room book from my pelvic floor? It's just gonna keep bumping into one of your pelvic walls Anyway, yes, I robot maker of the Roomba 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 Roomba, we'd be so much better off. Like my Roomba just moves dirt from one room to the next room. Right. Is it broken? Yeah, I do. Well, I think it's a Roomba. You never told me that before. Well, we never discussed how I clean my house.
Would your opinion of him have changed had you known he had a Roomba? I just think it's the sort of thing friends tell each other. I was gifted a Roomba. I also have a Roomba. Well, because it was important to me and my wife that our dog have an enemy. And you have a wife now. I have a wife. Yeah, yeah. Paula, I have a wife. Oh, my heavens. This really changes everything. If you do have a Roomba... Just real quick, if my wife is listening, this changes nothing. If you have a Roomba, 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 Reindeer 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 fiancé.
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 and 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 when the bus stops, you get off and you're where the movie was set. Isn't that lovely? No.
No, it's awful. You know, 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 our quiz? Rachel was hot.
She had them all right. What a perfect score. Whoa, nice job, Rachel. Congratulations, Rachel. 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 Enthropic has been experimenting with AI-powered vending machines. Oh, yeah. These 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 ordered a 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, bought Manischewitz wine, messaged an employee, there was a stack of cash waiting for her on the side of the machine, there wasn't, and ultimately, at the end of the experiment, lost $2,000. And yet, Roomba's the company that's going out of this place. I know. Sometimes we give it all away to find the meaning of it all. Coming up, our panelists get technical in our bluff. The listener game called 1-888-Wait-Wait-To-Play. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR.
Happy fall. Yes, the days are getting shorter and colder and the rain can be a drag, but this is also the perfect time of year to get cozy. LifeKid has lots of ideas so you can embrace the change of seasons with episodes on everything from making soup to exercising outdoors. Listen to the LifeKid podcast in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, it's Terry Gross, host of Fresh Air. I interviewed John Tutoro, and he was great talking about learning to be a pickpocket for his new movie and how growing up in a volatile home helped him as an actor. My brother said to me once, I've given you a lot of material. And I said, you know, you're really right. You're right. I said, but at a high cost. Find it on the NPR app or wherever you listen to Fresh Air.
From NPR and WBEZ 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, Hari Gondabolu, and Paul Townstone. And here again is your host at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Right now, it is time for the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, bluff the listener game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play our game in the air. Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.
Hi, Peterson. This is Lisa Peterson calling from Las Cruces, New Mexico. Las Cruces, New Mexico. Now, it is one of the two states in this nation I have never been. Oh, my. I know. Tell me what I'm missing. We work on that. I know. We do. From everything I've studied, you folks in New Mexico really enjoy the great outdoors and doing meth. Is that correct? But the outdoors, absolutely. Okay. Go to Albuquerque for the meth. All right. We are 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. Pick the one, though, who is telling the truth, and you'll win our prize, the waiter of your choice in your voicemail. You ready to play? I'm ready. Yeah, here we go. First off, let's hear from Hari Kondabolu. Has your child ever thrown a tantrum so bad that it made you regret freezing your eggs? You're probably sick of the noise, but love them too much to just give them away.
Well, you're in luck because the Mayo Clinic has created a smartwatch for kids that alerts 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.
A smartwatch 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 smartwatch keeps time, communicates, and alerts the wearer when any type of venom spikes in their bloodstream. It's a fantastic little gizmo, says Susan Suamu. 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 Stater Nancy Hollis.
Even along the Amazon, we always feel safe with our LiveTech watches. We had to take them off in New Hampshire last summer, though. You've been bitten by a mosquito. 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 LiveTech, heard the unfortunate words from his LiveTech smartwatch, you've been bitten by a Black Mamba. Would you like to download the Black Mamba app?
A smartwatch 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 smartwatch 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 a 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 smartwatch, 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 someday soon, or even now, you'd be able to get one of these smart devices. Was it from Hari Kondabulu, a smartwatch for your small child that will warn you of an impending temper tantrum? From Paula Poundstone, a watch that lets you know, in case you're 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 boy, is 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 actually yourself a child psychologist. You think that this would be perhaps a good thing, so your choice then is Hari score.
This is great because, actually, to bring you the true story, we spoke to one of the people behind this technology. We 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 in a point for Hari. And you've won our prize, the voice of your choice on your voicemail. 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 Sehorne 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 a show just for her, which is great. But if he 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 Sehorne. Welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.
So you have risen to the top of Hollywood with a 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 workings of it. 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 the one that got away to Jimmy or some 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.
I hope the emails never come out. Better Call Saul, for people who don't know, was a 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? As was I. Well, that was the question. Because I wondered, was it like on The Sopranos, where every actor famously would open the script that week, wondering if their number had come up? Yeah, exactly.
I'm thinking the Game of Thrones people had it even worse. Yeah, sure. Yeah, 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! 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 we all, 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 got this for me. And he even kept it from his wife who watched it. Really? 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. Yes. And so thus the same speculation. And in his case, boy, did he get whacked.
Wow. And you're 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. 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, you know, 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 you die? I was just thinking that. Just watching to see if there's like an unconscious grin. Did you just giggle? Yeah, a little part of like force majeure. We have to talk about Pluribus, which I love and am just so excited when every episode comes. Thank you. I hear Paula won't watch it. It's not that I won't watch it.
Listen, I love Ray Sehorne to death and I would watch anything. 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 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 come out on DVD or there's not like a puppet show version of it, I don't... I'm going to buy you an Apple TV and then paint it to look like a VCR.
Oh, it could also come out on VHS, Ray, because I still have a VCR. I was just with Vince this morning doing an interview and 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 time 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.
That was a very early job, yes. So in the original game, in the original length, 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 an actor named Reggie, 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 kind of gladiator sorcerer boots or whatever, so we were just wearing tube socks with electrical tape in crisscross fashion. Wow. If you look carefully at Gladiator, that's what Russell Crowe wore. So yes, you and this other actor, because you know what? And quit show business. You do this. You're constantly 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 then you do that. It's very entertaining. It's on YouTube. You can watch the whole thing as I did. If you are a Ray 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.
I was like, this is me. Would you give me a copy? And now I bet they wish they had. 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 a prize to 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. Was it A, Tyra Banks' song, Santa Smize, B, Dwayne the Rock Johnson's Can You Smell What Santa Is Cooking, or C, Rick Astley's I'm Never Gonna Give You Gifts? Okay, I'm going with A. You're going with A, Tyra Banks' song, Santa Smize. You're right. Wow. Name.
Named by the Washington Post as one of the five worst Christmas carols of the year. All right, that was very good and instinctual and very good. All right, next question. In 1953, a child singer named Gala Peavy recorded and released a song called I Want a Hippopotamus 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 on the Ed Sullivan Show and somebody gave her a hippo and she eventually donated said hippo to the Oklahoma City Zoo. Okay, you're being perfect at 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.
With A. Again, please daddy don't get drunk this Christmas. You're right again. That is pretty impressive. 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? We found it really different. Please daddy don't get drunk this Christmas. You don't like that? Wow. That was very impressive. I totally think people that are caroling should add that John Denver song. I think it'll bring some issues to the forefront. I think honesty is what we need.
Bill, how did Ray Sehorne do in our quiz? She was perfect. She got them all right. Ray Sehorne is nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in Pluribus. I'm betting the first of many special nominations to stream it on Apple TV now. It's amazing. Don't read a word about it. Watch it. Ray Sehorne, thank you so much for being with us on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. We're such big fans. Thank you, guys. This is a dream come true. Thank you. It was for us. Take care. Love you, Ray. In just a minute, Bill takes it all off for the holidays in our listener Limerick Challenge. Call 1-888-Wait-Wait to join us on the air. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR.
I'm Kevin Roos. And I'm Casey Newton. And together, we've been tech journalists for decades. Now, we're your hosts of Machine Gods, a new podcast from NPR that makes sense of what AI means for your work, your life, and all of our futures. Twice a week, we'll be exploring the biggest moves in tech and give you unmatched access to the real titans of industry. Listen to Machine Gods from NPR on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Terry Gross. When I was celebrating my 50th anniversary hosting Fresh Air, I asked my guest, Roastmaster General Jeff Ross, to roast me. Terry Gross, a barely living legend.
Still at it? Listen to Fresh Air on the NPR app or wherever you get podcasts. From NPR and WBEZ 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, Ari Kondabolu, and Paula Poundstone. And here we got a show host at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. In just a minute, coming down through the chimney is good old St. Limerick. If you'd like to play...
Even after I said that, give us a call at 1-888-924-8924. Right now, panel, 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 visit during the holidays, and they say if nothing else works, they finally suggest that after dinner you should just do what? Put it on the TV? No. Okay, well, they have a different strategy than I do. Okay.
Can I have a hint? Yes, you can. Just say you just can't function without your nightly 14 hours of sleep. Oh, just retire to bed early. Just go to bed. That's right. Have you already made fun of all your partner's baby pictures and reached the point where 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 tells great stories. You always know everybody's race. So that's what the whites are doing. Yeah, exactly. All right, I get it now.
One woman says she sets up 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 sleeping 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 story. Yeah, oh boy, that is harsh. 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. I'm realizing in real time that's what's going on. I saw that light switch click. You visit your 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, Susan. We're having coffee at 5 p.m. next time I visit. Yeah, two can play at that game. Hari, singles sick of managing their online profiles, are letting Who step in to help.
Jesus Christ. Sort of like, he's my co-pilot, you know. Their parents. Yes, indeed, their parents, 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. Moms know best until it comes to knowing what emojis not to use in the chat. Your mom's like, well, doesn't peach just mean you're a peach of a person? What does peach mean? Can it not be explained? Josh is whispering. It's a butt collar.
Oh. Huh. 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. You know what?
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 arranged marriages. That's 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 winning the heart of a man for you, but it's actually his mom, too, right? And the girl's like, wait, you like white wine and novels about Cape Cod, too?
Coming up, it's Lightning Fill in the Blank, but first it's the game where you have to listen for the rhyme. If you'd like to play on air, call or leave a message at 1-888-wait-wait. That's 1-888-924-8924. You can see us most weeks here at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, or you can catch us on the road. We will be in Bloomington, Indiana on February 26th. Yes, the campus of the University thereof, Indiana. For tickets and information to all our live events, go to nprpresents.org. Hi, you're on 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, to hell 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's shirts. Great work. Really? Is it like modern renditions of old train conductor outfits? Because that's what I would want. Is that what you think I dress like? Well, you do have that nifty waistcoat with your pocket watch, I assume. Well, Cynthia, welcome to the show. Phil Curtis is going to read for you three news-related limericks with a last word or phrase missing from each. If you can fill in that last word or phrase correctly and two of the limericks, you'll be a winner. You ready to play? Yep, let's go. Let's go. Here's your first limerick. Our stockings were hung with much care, but our tree remained stark.
With no flair. This year, there's no fights about tinsel or lights. Because this year, our tree will stay... Bear? Yes, bear! If you have not gotten around to decorating your Christmas tree this year, you're not lazy, you are on trend. Celebrities and influencers are swearing by their, quote, naked trees. That's when you decorate your tree with nothing at all. It's that chic straight from the Menards parking lot look. So it's just a tree in your house? Yes.
So instead of, you bring in a Christmas tree, you're standard evergreen, right? Instead of covering it with 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. Paula, you've had kittens for as long as I've known you, sometimes in double digits. Yeah, but you know, 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 I'll just skip it. You've had enough kittens so you could 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 to poison us.
Snake. Snake, yes. If you're not familiar with it, Zootopia 2 is an animated erotic thriller about a rabbit. It's your hot fox boyfriend. And there's also this friendly snake, sort of a legless 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 Snagglepush, and I didn't get a saber-toothed tiger.
It was kind of a lisp. This happens all the time, though, right? Whenever there's a new 101 Dalmatians movie, kids are clamoring for Dalmatians. And when Shrek came out, I was like, I just got to have a donkey. And an ogre. Yeah, I was about to say, I went for the ogre. To keep the donkey company. All right, here is your last limerick. Pop music once had a bright spark. Think of Saturdays spent in the park. But basses grew boomy, and lyrics got gloomy. Now pop songs are stressed out and... Dark? Dark, yes. A new study of American pop music has 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, knew who put the bump in 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, released between 1973 and 2023, found that over that span, the presence of words related to stress, anxiety, and pressure increased by 81%. Because before 1973, as 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. Congratulations, Cynthia. And thank you for Josh's always fashionable look. Thank you. And I'm just guessing here that Josh would not mind a gig as a catalog model if you're looking for one. Keep that in mind. Okay, thank you so much, Cynthia. Bye-bye. Thank you for that patronizing. I will keep that in mind.
Oh, Kevin, it feels good to be back. It sure does, Casey. And what a time the world is talking about AI and what's going on in Silicon Valley. And we are here with a new show to tell you all about it. That's right, Kevin. On our new show, Machine Gods, twice a week, we'll be bringing you the biggest news in tech and bring you unmatched access to the real titans of this industry. You can find Machine Gods from NPR on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Terry Gross. When I was celebrating my 50th anniversary hosting Fresh Air, I asked my guest, Roastmaster General Jeff Ross, to roast me. Terry Gross, a barely living legend.
Still at it. Listen to Fresh Air on the NPR app or wherever you get podcasts. Now onto our final game. Lightning fell in the blank. Each of our players will have 60 seconds in which to answer as many fill in the blank questions as they can. Each correct answer is worth two points. Bill, can you give us the scores? Josh and Hari each racking up three apiece. 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. Fill in the blank. During a primetime 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. EVs, electric vehicles. This week, the White House added 20 new countries to the list of those with blank restrictions into the U.S. 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 Jr. Right. On Thursday, the jackpot for the blank rose above $1.5 billion. 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, he found himself on the roof. He was on the roof. No, he found himself in jail and in debt to the casino for $75,000. 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 in the lead. All right.
Harry and Josh are tied, so I'm just going to choose Harry to go next. Fill in the blank, Harry. Here we go. On Wednesday, the Academy Awards announced they were moving from ABC to streaming live on blank in 2029. YouTube. Right. This week, the White House announced that most members of the blank would receive checks before Christmas. Of the working class. No, the military. On Wednesday, at least four people were killed in the latest U.S. blank strike. Bombing of Venezuela? I'll give it to you. 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 megachurch in Houston is apologizing after a woman was injured by blank during their Christmas spectacular pageant. Flying raccoon. No, she was injured by a camel kicking her in the head. Oh, no. The camel was being led onto stage through the audience when it kicked out and knocked a woman right in the head. The church has apologized, and as a gift is giving, the woman front row seats to see the Rockettes. Oh, no.
Bill, how did Harry do in our quiz? Two right, four more points, total of seven. However, leaves Paula in the lead. How many then does Josh need to win? Four to tie, five to win. Here we go, Josh. This is for the game. On Tuesday, a 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 sued 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 costs. This week, President Trump signed an executive order classifying blank as a Schedule 3 narcotic. 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 just shoplifted. According to a new study, eating blank might lower your dementia risk. Crossword puzzles. Eating crossword puzzles?
Oh, God, I've been doing them wrong. Cheese. On Monday, Merriam-Webster announced that their word of the year was blank. 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. Wow. This video is incredible. 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 gosh. It's amazing to see. They're great students. It's even more amazing when they somehow coordinate 10 different EMTs to take them all to the hospital at the same time.
No teacher. I think Josh did well. Did he do well? Oh, he's got six right 12 more points and his 15 gives him the win 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 WBEZ. Chicago, in association with Urgent Haircut Productions, Doug Berman, benevolent overlord, Philip Godica, writes our limericks. Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman, our tour manager is Shayna Donald. Thanks to the staff and crew at the Studebaker Theater, and very special thanks to Barry Sorkin, and everybody at Smoke Barbecue for catering our holiday party. BJ Lederman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Dornbos, and Lillian King. Special thanks to Mohanad Elshaki, and Monica Hickey. Our Frosty the Snow Gwynn is...
Peter Gwynn. Our visual host is Emma Choi. Technical director is from Lorna White. Our CFO is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. Our senior producer is Ian Chilock. And the executive producer, wait, wait, don't tell me, is Michael Danforth. Now panel, what'll be this year's big Christmas gift, Josh Gumbelman. For those cold, lonely winter nights on the road with your hockey team, it's a heated rivalry body pillow. Hari Kondabolu. Barbie's dream house, now with unnecessary ballroom. And Paula Poundstone. Hot chocolate with mushrooms, a party and a cup.
And if any of that happens, panel, we'll ask you about it on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you so much, Bill Curtis. Thanks also to Hari Kondo Bolo, Paula Panto, Josh Kahneman. Thanks to our fabulous audience here who joined us. It's good to be back to Peter. We appreciate your warmth. Thank you all for listening wherever you may be. I'm Peter Sagan. We'll see you next week. This is NPR. Midlife brings a lot of changes. Your Turn with Alison Aubrey is a new podcast to help you navigate the twists and turns. From health and relationships to creativity and purpose, we can help steer your next chapter with Your Turn with Alison Aubrey. Find it on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
This is Terry Gross. When I was celebrating my 50th anniversary hosting Fresh Air, I asked my guest, Roastmaster General Jeff Ross, to roast me. Terry Gross, a barely living legend. Still at it. Listen to Fresh Air on the NPR app or wherever you get podcasts.