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Alzo Slade
From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is. Wait, wait, don't tell me, the NPR News quiz. Want a full bodied vintage with notes of oak? Try me. Alzo Slade. And here's your host at the Green Music Center's Weill hall at Sonoma State University, Peter Sagal.
Peter Sagal
Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. We are excited, so excited to be here in Sonoma, California, home of so many great vineyards. But the wine is not the reason we are here. No, the wine is the reason we do a bad job when we are here. Later on, we're going to be joined by science writer extraordinaire, Mary Roach. But first, it's your turn to call in and play our games. The number is 1-888-wait, wait. That's 1-888-924-8924. Let's welcome our first listener contestant.
Alzo Slade
Hi.
Peter Sagal
You run. Wait, wait, don't tell me.
Listener/Contestant
Hi, Peter. Welcome back to California.
Peter Sagal
Thank you so much. Who's calling?
Listener/Contestant
My name is Sarah Beth Rothfeld and I'm calling from Woodland Hills, California.
Peter Sagal
Woodland Hills, the other California. The Southern California.
Listener/Contestant
Correct.
Peter Sagal
Yeah. What do you do there?
Listener/Contestant
Well, I'm a retired special education teacher.
Peter Sagal
That's beautiful. We love those.
Listener/Contestant
Yes, yes. My, my love language is baking. So my goal is to make my family and my friends and everybody, I come in contact slightly chubby.
Peter Sagal
Right. And how's that going?
Listener/Contestant
It's going pretty well. And by night, I fight crime.
Peter Sagal
Yes. Finally, someone. I appreciate that. Sarah Beth, welcome to our show. Let me introduce you to our panel. First, a comedian you can see in his show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on all through August, it's Shane Torres. Hey, Shane, how are you? Next, a comedian whose album Yell Joy is on Blonde Medicine. It's Joelle Nicole Johnson.
Listener/Contestant
Hello, Sarah Beth. Hello, Joyell.
Peter Sagal
And the host of the Breaking Bad podcast and a maker of a mean loaf of sourdough, it's Tom Papa.
Tom Papa
Hi, Sarah. Hi.
Peter Sagal
So, Sarabeth, welcome to the show. You are going to play who's Alzo? This time, Alzo Slade is going to read you three quotations from this week's news. Your job, just correctly identify or explain what he's talking about. Do that, you'll win our prize. Any voice from our show on your voicemail. Are you ready to go? Very ready, I can tell. Here is your first quote. It's from Forbes magazine.
Alzo Slade
It's our new favorite pastime thanks to
Peter Sagal
sites like FanDuel DraftKings. What has surpassed movies, music and every other form of entertainment as American's favorite thing to do.
Listener/Contestant
Ooh, yikes. May I have a hint, please?
Peter Sagal
Well, I can tell you're too pure of heart to engage in this yourself, but. Fanduels, DraftKings does that ring any bells?
Listener/Contestant
I'm too sweet. Another hint.
Peter Sagal
I'm gonna bet that you'll be able to figure this out.
Listener/Contestant
Oh, gambling.
Shane Torres
Gambling.
Peter Sagal
Yes, gambling. Thank you, Kevin. Last year, Americans spent $300 billion. GAM. That is more than Americans spent on movies, arts, music, and museums combined. Yes, even museums. So let's face it, if art and culture want to stay relevant, we have to bet on it. I, for example, would bet $20. Odysseus doesn't make it home. I am not good at gambling. Are you guys?
Tom Papa
I went to a Dodger game last night, and my friend is a big gambler.
Shane Torres
You're in Giants territory. Yeah, yeah.
Tom Papa
And he gambled on his phone. He had, like, six bets going into the.
Peter Sagal
So he's sitting at the game.
Tom Papa
He's sitting at the game. He's on his phone. He had that Ohtani was gonna get five home runs, that the guy from the Mariners was gonna get two home runs, that it was going to be over 11. It was going to be the combined score by halfway through the thing and, like, 10, 11 bets on this thing. And when we left, he was. His team won, and he was so depressed because he lost, like, $1,500.
Shane Torres
Wow.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
Tom. Is he single?
Tom Papa
No.
Shane Torres
Ooh.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
Is his wife happy?
Shane Torres
He probably will be if he keeps
Peter Sagal
losing 1500 bucks a game. Americans bet more than $300 billion on sports. That breaks down to $1000 for every adult. But I know if you just front me a couple hundred more, I can win it all back. All right, here, Sarah Beth, is your next quote, and it's about an electric vehicle that made history this week.
Alzo Slade
It passed the Edsel as the worst automotive flop ever.
Peter Sagal
That was Bloomberg News on the truck that's now officially the worst selling vehicle in history. What is it? Hold on, hold on. What is it?
Listener/Contestant
Oh, oh, oh. The Elon. The Elon Musk truck.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
The.
Peter Sagal
I want to give it to you. Yes, it's the cyber truck.
Listener/Contestant
Cyber truck.
Peter Sagal
Yes. According to Bloomberg, the cyber truck has eclipsed the Ford Etzel, the legendary Edsel, as the worst selling car ever.
Alzo Slade
Now,
Peter Sagal
please, please, please do not clap. The vibrations can damage any cyber truck in the parking lot.
Shane Torres
I got picked up in one in an Uber.
Peter Sagal
Yeah.
Shane Torres
And all I could think is, like, what doing with your money? This is an insanely obnoxious, expensive vehicle. There's no there's like, they're like $100,000.
Peter Sagal
They're very expensive. Yeah, yeah.
Shane Torres
This guy's making seven bucks to take me to a Taco Bell drive through. Yeah. And he's like, are you living in here? How are you affording this?
Peter Sagal
Cybertruck sales dropped by 48% between 2024 and 2025. Or as Tesla put it, sales increased by A St. Negative 48%.
Tom Papa
The problem is there's no. There's no gray area. Like, you see a cybertruck from far away, you get close, it's still a cybertruck. Like, even. Even the red baseball cap. Like, I saw a guy in a red baseball cap and he was walking towards me, I was like, oh, here we go. And then I got close, I was like, oh, Louisville.
Peter Sagal
That doesn't happen with the cyber. Nothing happens when you get closer to make you think better of it.
Tom Papa
No, you get closer to the cybertruck and you're like, oh, this. A hole drives it.
Alzo Slade
I think there may be. I wonder if there are any cybertruck owners in the audience right now.
Peter Sagal
I don't wonder.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
The cross section of cybertruck owners and
Shane Torres
NPR listeners, I will say, if that person is here. You are very interesting. I don't like you, but you got. I want to talk to you.
Peter Sagal
All right, Sarah Beth, here is your last quote.
Alzo Slade
Crow's feet around the eyes gives you a bit of character.
Peter Sagal
That was a dermatologist talking about a new trend of people who are no longer trying to get rid of their. What?
Listener/Contestant
Their wrinkles.
Peter Sagal
Exactly.
Shane Torres
Right.
Peter Sagal
Their wrinkles. Good news, Hags. Wrinkles are in now.
Mary Roach
Yeah.
Peter Sagal
Oh, now you're excited. Okay. More and more people are scaling back on those smoothing treatments like Botox injections, because they want strategic wrinkles. So. Right. Instead of paying plastic surgeons to get rid of all wrinkles, now they're paying to get carefully chosen forehead wrinkles, smile lines. Now, if you want to achieve the same, look at home for free, just get old.
Tom Papa
So wrinkles are hot now.
Peter Sagal
Wrinkles are hot now.
Tom Papa
That's cool. Yeah. I wonder if turkey necks will be in next year.
Shane Torres
We can only Hope in about 15 years I'm going to look like a bullmastiff. So.
Peter Sagal
So I'll be doing great. The problem is people apparently are tired of having their faces frozen right by these treatments. A New York dermatologist reduced his own Botox treatments explaining, quote, letting the top half of my face move more allows me to look more trusted. I don't know.
Shane Torres
She might kill me for saying this. But my girlfriend will get a little bit of Botox every now and then. And then when her face gets frozen, we just do this game where I like I go make the same face as me and I just see her struggle the whole time. Really?
Peter Sagal
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Shane Torres
We have a really. I met her parents today. They're here.
Mary Roach
That's great.
Shane Torres
They're really nice people.
Tom Papa
You think they're nice? They just couldn't move their face.
Peter Sagal
Alzo, how did Sarah Beth do in our quiz?
Alzo Slade
Our baking superhero did great. She got three out of three.
Peter Sagal
Congratulations, Sarabeth.
Alzo Slade
Nice.
Listener/Contestant
Thanks. Thanks for the help.
Peter Sagal
Thank you, Sarah Beth. Take care.
Listener/Contestant
Bye bye.
Peter Sagal
Bye bye. Right now, Pandel, it is time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Shane. This week we learned about a new dating trend where singles are making decisions about their love lives. Using what?
Shane Torres
Oh, social media?
Alzo Slade
No.
Peter Sagal
God no. I'll give you a hint. It's a way of finding out if that new guy really excels.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
He don't have a job.
Peter Sagal
I know. Spreadsheets. Spreadsheets?
Shane Torres
Oh my God.
Peter Sagal
Spreadsheets. The Wall Street Journal interviewed so called love hackers who claim that organizing data about their dates like physical characteristics, conversation topics and of course red flags into a spreadsheet helps you make sense of your own preferences and ultimately choose who to keep seeing. They enter data right, a variety of categories after a first date. Looks sense of humor, employment status one for how they treat the server. Mean to server. Nice to server makes out with server.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
I think the spreadsheet is the red flag.
Peter Sagal
Yeah, probably. Yes, fully.
Tom Papa
Yeah.
Peter Sagal
Meanwhile they're doing spreadsheets of all these characteristics of the guy and the guy's like kept a spreadsheet.
Tom Papa
No, wait, I want to hear the end of the story with the server. That was getting pretty juicy.
Peter Sagal
It was?
Tom Papa
Yeah.
Alzo Slade
I had this happen to me once.
Peter Sagal
Did you really? What happened?
Alzo Slade
I found out that she was using numbers instead of Excel and I dumped her.
Peter Sagal
Really?
Alzo Slade
Yes.
Peter Sagal
You didn't approve of her? No choice of software platforms?
Alzo Slade
Excel only.
Peter Sagal
Exactly. Coming up, our bluff solicitor game could make you rich. But it probably won't. Call 1-88-wait-wait to play. And we'll be back in a minute with more of. Wait, wait, don't tell me for a min. This message comes from Cook Unity, the first chef led meal delivery service where every meal is handcrafted in local micro kitchens, not mass produced in large facilities. With hundreds of dishes to choose from and over 10 different dietary preferences like high protein, low sodium, GLP1 and more taste. What happens when real award winning chefs make fresh, small batched meals just for you. Go to cookunity.com wait or enter code wait before checkout to get 50% off your first order.
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Alzo Slade
From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, don't tell me the NPR News quiz. I'm Alzo Slade. We're playing this week with Tom Papa, Shane Torres and Joel Nicole Johnson. And here again is your host at the Green Music center at Sonoma State University, Peter Sagal.
Peter Sagal
Thank you, Alzo. Thank you, everybody. Right now it's 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. How you run. Wait, wait, don't tell me.
Listener/Contestant
Hi, I'm Phoebe calling in from Denver, Colorado.
Peter Sagal
Oh, I love Colorado. I assume you do something very Denver Y like, like, I don't know, lead group hikes while drinking craft beer.
Listener/Contestant
Yeah, what I really do is walk backwards most of the day giving tours at two different places here in Denver and Golden.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
Really?
Peter Sagal
So what are the places you give tours of, just out of curiosity?
Listener/Contestant
One is a candy factory. Can I say the name? It's Hammonds.
Peter Sagal
Wow. You actually give tours of a candy factory to the five lucky winners of the golden ticket, I assume four of whom come to horrible, horrible fates. You're living the dream.
Mary Roach
I am.
Listener/Contestant
For a sugar addicted person like me, it is absolutely the dream.
Announcer/Ad Voice
Yeah.
Peter Sagal
Well, that's great. Well, welcome to the show, Phoebe. You're gonna play the game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction. Also, what is Phoebe's topic?
Alzo Slade
Cheapskate alert.
Peter Sagal
There are lots of ways to save money. Don't take an Uber. Take the bus. When you dine out, just leave without paying the bill. This week we heard about a new way somebody pinched pennies. Our panelists are going to tell you about it pick the one who's telling the truth. You'll win the wait waiter of your choice in your voicemail. Are you ready to play?
Listener/Contestant
I am so ready.
Peter Sagal
I can tell. First, let's hear from Joyell.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
Nicole Johnson Couples break up all the time. Divorce is as common as seeing your childhood hero live long enough to become a villain. But still, a recent couple's divorce made headlines because the husband was too cheap. Vicky Wong, a Taiwanese businesswoman, can buy things for herself. She's a successful management consultant, whatever that means. Her husband also matched her gangster as one of the leading real estate agents in the region, which is why, when she told him the only thing she wanted for her 40th birthday was a pair of Christian Louboutin heels with their famous towering stilettos and the deep red colored bottoms, she thought it wouldn't be a problem. They've got money. While opening the gift at dinner, she was thrilled to see a pair of glossy black heels with blood red soles. It wasn't until she was tapped on the shoulder for leaving red footprints across the stage at a gala that she realized what happened. Her husband had bought a pair of no name knockoffs and colored the bottoms with Crayola brand red poster paint. When asked for a quote, the ex who shall remain nameless shamelessly doubled down. I don't care how crazy rich we are, I'm not paying a mortgage note for shoes.
Peter Sagal
A woman gets rid of her husband because he wouldn't pay for the real Louboutins, just bought knockoffs and painted the bottoms red. Your next saving story comes from Tom
Tom Papa
Papa David Savaldi and two of his friends had been hiking for about seven hours up Montana's tallest mountain on their way to Froze to Death Plateau when he slipped on a rock and fell. When he rolled over, he realized he had impaled himself on one of his trekking poles. The pole was jutting at an angle out of his armpit and out through his back like a human popsicle. But the scariest part for Mr. Savaldi was the possibility of having to take a really expensive helicopter ride off the mountain. Realizing he wasn't in pain and there was no blood, he decided to save some money and walk back down the mountain like a horror movie monster who can't be stopped. After about six hours, his friends, who thought a helicopter ride would have been really great, started making shish kebab jokes and by the end they were calling him Bob. By 3:30pm after trekking about 10 miles, Mr. Savaldi got to hospital they pulled the trekking pole out of him, which he kept, because, hey, those things ain't cheap.
Peter Sagal
A man doesn't want to pay for a rescue helicopter, so he walks down a mountain with a pole completely through him. Your last tight wad tale comes from Shane Torres.
Shane Torres
Boxer Julio the Caesar. Lopez returned to the ring this weekend with a splash. After spending years away from boxing, living lavishly and also eating lavishly, he found himself in a position of being pretty fat and very broke. So when he needed to get his act together for his big return to the ring, he couldn't afford a nutritionist or a coach. He had to do it alone. Lopez spent the week before the fight trying to make weight, spending hours in sweatsuits and saunas. But he couldn't drop the pounds. He had to think of something fast. Desperate times call for desperate measures. So Lopez started eating handfuls of Taylor Farms lettuce. The result was explosive. Lopez triumphed in the ring and in doing so, created the newest diet fed on TikTok, with someone calling it the ringwalk pound drop. He remains one of the great pound for pound fighters of his era. With this win, he could be in the spring mix for a title shot.
Peter Sagal
All right, which of these stories of somebody trying to save some money did we find in the news? Was it from Joyel, a man who lost his wife when he tried to save money by buying fake Louboutins and painting them red? From Tom Papa, a guy who simply didn't want a shell out for the helicopter so walked down a mountain with a pole all the way through him? Or from Shane Torres, a fighter who managed to lose the weight he needed to lose simply by eating a lot of bagged lettuce and accepting the results? Which of these is the story of a penny pincher we found in the news?
Listener/Contestant
As a Coloradan and an avid hiker, you better believe the hiker story came across my newsfeed this week. And the pictures are gross. I'm going with Tom.
Peter Sagal
You've chosen, obviously, Tom's story. Well, to bring you the correct answer, we spoke to a reporter who covered the real story. He saw one of his trekking poles,
Tom Papa
and then he thought, I can't see the other one.
Peter Sagal
Well, he realized, oh, that thing is
Listener/Contestant
sticking out of me.
Peter Sagal
That was Remy Tooman, a report at the New York Times talking about that frugal hiker that you KN about. Congratulations, Phoebe. You got it right. Tom was telling the truth. He gets a point to us for doing that. You win our prize for keeping up in the news. Congratulations and thank you so much for playing.
Listener/Contestant
Thank you so much.
Peter Sagal
Thank you. And now, the game we call Not My Job. Mary Roach is either the funniest science writer in the world or the most scientific comedian. Her books include Stiff, that's About our bodies after we Die, Bonk. On the science of sex, Gulp. On the digestive process. And her newest, replaceable you, is about the efforts to make spare parts for human beings. Mary Roach, welcome to. Wait, Wait, don't tell me.
Listener/Contestant
Thank you.
Peter Sagal
So I have been reading you for decades. I think I've read every one of your books, including the latest. And I'm trying to see if there's any theme to your work. I would suggest it might be human bodies and the terrible, awful, no good things that can happen to it.
Listener/Contestant
That is exactly right.
Peter Sagal
That's really it.
Listener/Contestant
That is it.
Peter Sagal
How did you fall into that specialty?
Listener/Contestant
It was kind of random. I wrote this column for Salon.com back in the day when that was like a big. It was like an Internet magazine. How cool. A couple of them had to do with cadaver research. And. And an agent contacted me and said, you know, you should think about books and maybe like, look at which columns were popular. And those were popular. And he said, you should think about a book about cadavers. And I thought, that's a terrible idea.
Peter Sagal
I mean, that's a little disappointing to me, only as a fan of yours, because I wanted to think that it was a lifelong interest of yours. Like, when you were little, your Barbies would have been an absolute horror show. What you would have done to them.
Listener/Contestant
Actually, yes. Actually, I do recall when I was in first grade, Mary Hewitt gave me a Barbie doll, and I was kind of like. Because I liked the little plastic dinosaurs, I wasn't really into the Barbies. So I would pull off the head and I would say, you have five seconds to get the head back on or she dies.
Peter Sagal
Really? So you were like. You were playing with, like, weird transplantation themed games even then.
Listener/Contestant
And you know, y. And you know what? That's actually accurate.
Peter Sagal
Yeah.
Listener/Contestant
If you got it back on.
Peter Sagal
So even you knew. So in other words, if I were to. If something horrible were to happen and your head would be accidentally screwed off.
Listener/Contestant
Yes.
Peter Sagal
We'd have five seconds to get it back on.
Listener/Contestant
Yeah, more or less. Give or take.
Peter Sagal
Okay. Important safety tip, everybody.
Shane Torres
So as long as no one panics, you'll be fine.
Peter Sagal
Yeah, exactly.
Listener/Contestant
Breathe or you can't.
Peter Sagal
So your latest. Your new book, replaceable youe. It's about replacement parts. The long history of Trying to acquire them, make them, grow them. How did you become interested in that?
Listener/Contestant
Well, I had a file folder called Bits and Pieces. And I thought when I'm looking for a new topic, I kind of go back to the file cabinet and I was looking in bits and pieces and I was thinking about fat. Like maybe fat could be something.
Peter Sagal
Sure.
Listener/Contestant
And then I called this woman who works in a lab that has to do with fat, but it turns out it's stem cells from fat. I thought, oh, stem cells. Kind of interesting. But then the conversation kind of veered and she told me she had come across a study by a surgeon who rebuilt a man's penis using his middle finger. And I've po. Pictured the finger, like, removed just as is.
Peter Sagal
Right, sure.
Listener/Contestant
And like, able to kind of beckon.
Peter Sagal
Beckon, yeah. Or maybe given the company, maybe point and select, you know? Exactly, sure.
Listener/Contestant
Exactly. And I thought, I will. He happened to be in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Peter Sagal
Sure.
Listener/Contestant
Yeah. I'm like, I'm going. And the surgeon wasn't there, but his receptionist said, you can come in and we can look in on his laptop. And he has photographs. And I don't need to describe many of them, but one of them I want to because it was a demonstration of how robust this penis was. And it does, in fact, bend up part way.
Peter Sagal
Does it?
Listener/Contestant
Yes. In a strange place.
Tom Papa
I'd love to see how this guy text people.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
She said it was robust.
Peter Sagal
Robust.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
Robust.
Alzo Slade
And joyo. Just sit this one out.
Peter Sagal
I wrote that down.
Tom Papa
How quickly after they described this did you find this man?
Shane Torres
Well, he only had four fingers. It was probably 15 or five.
Peter Sagal
I have to ask, is it true? Is it true that you once lived every American's dream and almost vomited on Tom Cruise?
Listener/Contestant
That is actually true.
Peter Sagal
Really?
Listener/Contestant
That is true. I had a very short lived and misguided career interviewing celebrities for like, Parade magazine Sunday, you know, like, not a high point in the career, but. And they liked to send me out to do something with the celebrity. And Tom Cruise, as you may know, likes to fly. And he. A little like antique biplane. And the thing with those antique biplanes is that it's an open cockpit and the passenger sits in front. And he was doing barrel rolls and hammerheads, which you go all straight up, cut the engine and then you pull out. Right. And he did two of those. And I was suddenly very ill and I thought if I throw up, it goes right back in his face. And I made it back to the ground without really. Yeah.
Peter Sagal
Was he impressed? No, he was not impressed.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
Did he ask you if you wanted to do that.
Shane Torres
Yeah, it sounds like he was trying.
Listener/Contestant
Well, you know what? After the first Hammerhead, he said, you're doing great. And I was so excited. That was kind of. And I'm like, let's do another one.
Peter Sagal
And then I was like, green. And you almost threw up. And you said, I need to find a career. That nauseates me less than that. Well, Mary Roach, it is a pleasure to talk to you. We've invited you here, though, to play a game we're calling Bonk, Gulp, Grunt.
Alzo Slade
Meet Zoom, Bang, Bam.
Peter Sagal
So you've written the books Bonk, Gulp and Grunt. So we thought we'd ask you about some other crazy sounds. Get two out of three right, and you will win our prize for one of our listeners. Also, who is Mary Roach playing for?
Alzo Slade
Jonathan Foysvong of San Carlos, California.
Peter Sagal
All right, ready to play?
Joelle Nicole Johnson
Uh huh.
Peter Sagal
Here we go. Ozzel, what's Mary's first sound?
Alzo Slade
Zoom.
Peter Sagal
An Ohio State senator was attending a Zoom meeting about distracted driving. And he used a fake office background to hide the fact that he was himself at that moment during the meeting, driving. But he was busted. How was it? A, he went through a Wendy's drive thru and placed an order without muting himself. B, he rear ended another participant in the meeting who was doing exactly the same thing, Or C, people in office chairs don't normally wear seatbelts.
Tom Papa
Belts.
Peter Sagal
I'm going with C. You're right.
Listener/Contestant
Yes.
Peter Sagal
The other participants noticed that he was wearing a shoulder belt while sitting supposedly at his desk. Alzo, what noise is next?
Alzo Slade
Bang.
Peter Sagal
So combat, as you know, you wrote a book about it, is full of bangs. But the Royal Navy once came under criticism when it was revealed they were doing what to get their sailors ready for the strife of battle. Was it A, they used water balloons instead of hand grenades, B, they told their gunners to shout bang instead of firing off live rounds? Or C, they helped cadets get used to the stress of battle by showing them war movies, but really loudly.
Listener/Contestant
I'm gonna go with B.
Peter Sagal
You're gonna go with B? That they were told their gunners to shout bang. You're right. In training, the sailors would load a shell, aim the gun, and then they'd all yell bang. People thought it was silly, but it did save the Navy about $5 million though.
Shane Torres
All right.
Peter Sagal
Also, one more, please.
Announcer/Ad Voice
Bam.
Peter Sagal
Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse is known for his catchphrase Bam, which he does whenever he throws something into the food. He says he came up with bam for one reason only. What was it? A everybody misheard him when he was yelling about adding ham to a dish. B, he was filming at 1.8 episodes a day and screaming Bam was the only way to keep everybody awake. Or C because he couldn't pass the censors with his prior catchphrase and here's some effing spices.
Listener/Contestant
It's either B or C.
Peter Sagal
I'm not gonna tell.
Listener/Contestant
Sounds like an even split.
Peter Sagal
It does.
Tom Papa
Yeah.
Peter Sagal
C. We're gonna go for C. Cause he couldn't get away with saying there's some f' n spices. Instead, he said bam. No, it was actually B.
Listener/Contestant
It was B.
Peter Sagal
It was B. Yeah. He's just trying to keep his crew awake by yelling Bam. At random moments. Alzo, how did Mary Roach do in our quiz?
Alzo Slade
She did a zoom bang bam of a job. 2 out of 3 congratulations.
Peter Sagal
Mary Roach is a best selling science. Her new book is Replaceable youe. You can see her on tour this fall. More information is@maryroach.net Mary Roach, thank you so much for joining us again on White Race. Otoma, Great to see you. Mary Roach, everybody, a delight. In just a minute, the barn door is open in our listener Limerick challenge called 1-88- 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.
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Mary Roach
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Alzo Slade
From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, don't tell Me the NPR News quiz. I'm Alzo Slade. We're playing this week with Joel Nicole Johnson, Tom Papa, and Shane Torres. And here Again is your host at the Green Music center at Sonoma State University, Peter Sagal.
Peter Sagal
Thank you, Alzo. In just a minute, fire up FanDuel and bet the kids college Fund and the Listener Limerick Challenge. If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-88-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Right now, panel, some more questions for you from the week's news. Shane, the governor of a province in Turkey was ousted from office after photographs surfaced of him doing what?
Shane Torres
I'm gonna need a clue.
Peter Sagal
Yeah, well, it's not. I don't know. It's not a crime to love spandex and appropriate butt cushioning.
Shane Torres
Wearing what? Exercise. Exercising.
Peter Sagal
He was. He was exercising in a particular way and wearing.
Shane Torres
What am I? I don't exercise. What are you doing to me? Ask Alzo that question.
Alzo Slade
I don't wear them though.
Peter Sagal
He is too much self respect. Anybody know bike pants, Bike shorts. Yeah, he was forced from office. Cause he was photographed wearing bike shorts.
Tom Papa
And he should be.
Peter Sagal
Yeah, he was forced out of office for being caught in public where wearing skin tight black bike shorts. If that sounds harsh, just take a second. Think of a politician. First one comes to mind. Now think of him in bike shorts. See, to be fair to the governor, he was in fact riding a bike at the time. To be fair to everybody else, that is no excuse.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
They got some different standards over there in Turkey.
Mary Roach
I see.
Peter Sagal
They do. Yeah. Photos circulated of him in bike shorts. It became a huge scandal. One political opponent said in the Turkish parliament, quote, a governor cannot wander a city like this. After his ouster, his supporters were sad to see him go, but they loved to watch him leave.
Tom Papa
Was he wearing those little clippy shoes?
Peter Sagal
So he made a little clatter noise when he laughed and his toes were
Shane Torres
up in the air.
Peter Sagal
That would have been very funny.
Shane Torres
He's currently a very hot peloton. Exactly.
Alzo Slade
Peter, one day we should show up to the show with biker shorts.
Peter Sagal
Absolutely.
Mary Roach
We.
Peter Sagal
We should absolutely do that. And then we'll have to find other jobs. Be ready to go out. Tom. Robotics is a company that has marketed AI powered sex robots. But now they have a new model of robot that they say will serve in what other role?
Tom Papa
I can't say it. So the robot does something else.
Peter Sagal
Something else. And it's gonna be put into schools in New York State because it's going to be a
Tom Papa
lunch lady.
Peter Sagal
No.
Tom Papa
A mean custodian. No.
Peter Sagal
It's right there in front of you in a school. It's going to be a teacher. Exactly right. Assistant teachers. Assistant teachers. Robotics. The robotics company Realbotics insists to this day that their $175,000 female shaped robot called Aria is meant for companionship and not for sex. But more recently, the company struck a deal with a school district in New York state to deploy another one of its robots called Sally as a teacher's assistant. They say she also a very attractive replica female, can answer science and math questions the students might have. Great. It's like if your calculator had boobs.
Tom Papa
Stop making them attractive. Stop making them attractive.
Shane Torres
So we made those in the wrong order. The teacher should have come first.
Peter Sagal
You think so?
Tom Papa
Yeah. Yeah. And look like my dad. I guarantee you, you send a teacher out there, robotic teacher that looks like my dad, no one's going to try anything funny with him. You're asking for trouble.
Peter Sagal
It's true. Now, interestingly, the teaching doll, unlike the original doll, only costs $57,000, which makes her the most realistic doll yet. The second she went into education, she took a 70% pay cut. 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 at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago and catch us on the road. We'll be at the Rose Music center outside of Dayton, Ohio on September 3rd and in Omaha, Nebraska on September 24th. For tickets and info to all our live events, go to nprpresents.org hi. Wait, wait, don't tell me. Hey there, Peter. Hi. Who's this? Alan Martin from Long Beach, Washington. Long Beach, Washington? I didn't know there was a Long beach in Washington. Where's that? Not many people do. Right on the Oregon border. Yeah, about two hours east, west of Portland. So you're two hours east and west of Portland? Yeah, something like that. Something like that. Two hours west of port.
Listener/Contestant
Yes.
Tom Papa
Hilarious.
Peter Sagal
Do you know where you are right now, sir?
Alzo Slade
Rerouting. Rerouting.
Peter Sagal
Alan, welcome to the show. Alzo Slade is going to read 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, the limericks will be a winner. You ready to play? Born ready. Hey.
Alzo Slade
Hey.
Peter Sagal
Here's your first limerick.
Alzo Slade
Once jeans were so pre stressed and rip. Now they're made to look like they have slipped since kids have a taste for exposing their waist, the fly of their jeans isn't zipped.
Tom Papa
Right.
Peter Sagal
Zipped. This summer's it jeans are jeans that make it look like your fly is down. They're called fold over jeans, as in your grandmother would fold over in her grave if she saw you wearing these. They're called called fold over jeans because of quote, the sliver of fold and fabric sewn down at the waist, which is often printed like underwear with tiny flowers or stripes to give the illusion of a totally open fly.
Tom Papa
Wow. If only I had a finger penis, I could zip it up.
Peter Sagal
Moving on, here's your next limerick.
Alzo Slade
With the soda scent, I like to prep me a fine cola vanilla can rep me. I will cover my stink with a cool fountain drink. I will smell like a cold can of Pepsi.
Peter Sagal
Pepsi. Yes. Everyone is excited for the release of Pepsi body care products. And by everyone, we mean 13 year old boys and bees. Starting this week, you can buy try the Pepsi Vanilla Slushy body scrub or the Pepsi Wild Cherry body wash which is quote inspired by Pepsi Wild Cherry.
Tom Papa
Mmm,
Peter Sagal
sticky.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
I love that. This is gonna get the men who use Axe body spray laid.
Peter Sagal
Finally. Finally. All right, here is your last look at Ikea.
Alzo Slade
We strive to improve. We'll get out of our flimsy shelf groove. So toss that hex wrench for your foldable bench. Now our furniture lasts through a.
Peter Sagal
Come on audience, give me some help here. Can you hear them?
Alzo Slade
No.
Peter Sagal
So it rhymes with improve and groove. And the furniture will last through a move.
Shane Torres
Move.
Tom Papa
Yes,
Peter Sagal
we all know the rituals of moving. You throw one last party, you package up gently your prized heirlooms, and you throw out everything you ever bought from ikea. Because that stuff dissolves when exposed to a slight breeze. Well, IKEA is launching a new line of furniture designed to be sturdy enough for people who move a lot. Like college students and identity thieves. The new line is called Kornsdufer. Probably. It features built in handles for carrying. It's made of sturdier materials like solid pine and steel, so it can handle the stress of moving. Fine, fine. That's not what we need Ikea. We need you to commit to your bit and give us single use disposable couches.
Tom Papa
Does anyone go back to Ikea or you just go once, build an apartment and realize I'm never going?
Shane Torres
It's my favorite restaurant.
Tom Papa
Yeah.
Peter Sagal
Oh, sure. Alzo, how did Alan do in our quiz?
Alzo Slade
Alan did all right. He got three out of three. Congratulations.
Peter Sagal
Well done. Congratulations Alan. You got him. Thank you so much for playing. Take care everybody keeping this thing together.
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Peter Sagal
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Mary Roach
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Peter Sagal
Now onto our final game. Lightning Fill in the Blank. Each of our players will have 60 seconds in which to answer as many fill in the blank questions as they can. Each correct answer now worth two points. Alzo, can you give us the score?
Alzo Slade
Absolutely. Tom has a whopping four, Joyo has two and Shane, you just got one, buddy.
Tom Papa
It's a good one though.
Alzo Slade
It's a good one Shane.
Shane Torres
It does make my comeback that much more dramatic.
Tom Papa
Exactly.
Peter Sagal
So Shane, you are in third place, so you're going to go first. The clock will start when I begin. Your first question. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve voted to keep blanks. Steady rates, right? Interest rates. On Tuesday, Japan deployed thousands of troops to help with rescue and recovery after a powerful blank struck the country.
Shane Torres
Earthquake.
Peter Sagal
Right? For the second time in its history, the Red Cross declared an emergency over the lack of blank donations.
Shane Torres
Blood donations, right.
Peter Sagal
On Wednesday, NASA confirmed plans to launch the new Nancy Grace Roman Space blank in August. Rocket Space Telescope. At a government conference this week, attendees noticed that a US made map of Africa had mislabeled blank.
Shane Torres
Most of it, yes.
Peter Sagal
In fact, pretty much. They mislabeled literally every country in Africa on the map of Africa. On Thursday, European nations announced a boycott over FIFA's plan to privatize the blank World Cup.
Shane Torres
Right.
Peter Sagal
On Thursday, Apple announced a new program that would allow customers to lease the newest blank iPhone. Right? This week, a whaling museum in New Bedford is drawing attention after someone posted a one star review calling it blank
Tom Papa
boring.
Peter Sagal
They called the whaling Museum quote, the worst aquarium ever. It can be confusing at first when you visit the New Bedford Whaling Museum. There's no way to know it's a museum and not an aquarium other than other than by reading its name and all the big signs. The man who posted the review must have been disappointed that instead of live whales, they were just old skeletons. The review went viral, but it isn't even the reviewer's first one star rating. They also said that Fogo de Chao was the worst petting zoo they'd ever been to. Alzo, how did Shane do in our quiz?
Alzo Slade
Shane actually did all right. He got six right for 12 more points. He has 13 and the lead.
Tom Papa
Wow.
Shane Torres
Thanks for throwing in, actually.
Peter Sagal
Okay, Joyel, you're up next. Fill in the blank. On Thursday, the US Launched a new wave of strikes against targets in Blank.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
Iran.
Peter Sagal
Right. According to a new study, taking a daily Blank can help curb heavy drinking.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
Vitamin no.
Peter Sagal
GLP1 pill. This week, Poland is accusing Blank of firing a missile into their territory.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
Israel?
Alzo Slade
No.
Peter Sagal
Not yet anyway. Russia. According to new reports, arrests by Blank at airports are surging.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
X.
Peter Sagal
Right. This week, Blank announced plans to host a new cooking show.
Shane Torres
Ooh.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
Martha Stewart.
Peter Sagal
RFK Jr. Ew. Roadkill every day. On Monday, Emily Stanley Wilson, a translator of the Blank, criticized Christopher Nolan's movie adaptation, Odyssey.
Shane Torres
Yes.
Peter Sagal
This week, ESPN announced a deal to produce a last dance style documentary about Blank.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
Michael Jackson?
Tom Papa
No.
Peter Sagal
LeBron James. This week, a man in Japan who regularly practiced guitar at full volume in his house was shocked when his neighbors banded together and Blanked Jumped him. Had him arrested. The man in Kyoto was arrested after his neighbors flagged that his seven years of playing guitar had seemingly caused damage to their hearing. According to the police, the man also placed a radio by the window and left it playing 24 hours a day. See, when we say support public radio, this is exactly what we mean. Alzo, how did Joyel do in our quiz?
Alzo Slade
She seemed like she had fun. She got three right for six more points. Total of eight. Shane is still in the lead.
Peter Sagal
All right, how many then does Tom Papa need to win?
Alzo Slade
He needs five to win.
Peter Sagal
Ready, Tom?
Tom Papa
I'm ready.
Peter Sagal
Here we go. This is for the game. On Wednesday, funeral services were held in South Carolina for Senator Blank.
Tom Papa
Lindsey Graham.
Peter Sagal
Right. On Tuesday, a judge blocked Minnesota from implementing a law banning Blank markets.
Tom Papa
Betting?
Peter Sagal
Yeah. Prediction markets. This week, GOP Senate members postponed a key vote in the confirmation of Todd Blanche as Trump's new Blank Attorney General.
Alzo Slade
Right.
Peter Sagal
During a performance this week, Katy Perry got trapped crowd surfing in a giant rolling inflatable ball because the fans blanked popped her. No, they refused to roll her back onto the stage. On Thursday, dental researchers said they discovered a way to stop blanks without drilling cavities Right. This week, people are accusing Canadian politician Bill Oliver of using AI to write his speeches because he said blank half a through an address to the legislature.
Tom Papa
Because he said I love Trump.
Peter Sagal
No, he talked for a while and then he said here is a more natural flowing version of that section that reads like a legislative speech rather than a series of short points. Mr. Oliver read the chatbots commentary about the speech out loud not one, but three separate times throughout the address. You know it's a boring speech when even the guy who was reading it is not listening. Alzo, did Tom do well enough to win?
Alzo Slade
Oh, he got four right for eight more points. Total of 12. Which means Shane has one of the greatest comebacks in weight wait history. He is the winner.
Peter Sagal
Look at me, my big college moment.
Tom Papa
His in laws are here.
Peter Sagal
That's true.
Alzo Slade
It's all because of what Sally taught him.
Tom Papa
Poor Sally.
Peter Sagal
In just a minute, we're going to ask our panelists to predict now that wrinkles are in what will be the next surprising beauty trend. 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 Aircraft Productions. Doug Berman, Benevolent Overlord Philip Gotticker writes our limericks. Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our ops manager is Jasira Vardak. BJ Lederman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Norbas and Lillian King. Special thanks this week to Mohanad Elshe. Peter Gwynne is our sommelier. Emma Choi is our vibe curator. Technical direction is from Lorna White. Her CFO is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. Our senior producer is Ian Chillag and the executive producer, Wait, Wait, don't tell Me. Is Michael Danforth. Now panel, what will be the next big beauty trend? Shane Torres.
Shane Torres
Big butts out long flat ones are in
Listener/Contestant
Royale.
Joelle Nicole Johnson
Nicole Johnson, Mary Roach's robust enlargements and
Tom Papa
Tom pop up open toed crocs that highlight older men's toes.
Alzo Slade
And if any of that happens, we'll ask you about it on Wait Wait, Don't Tell me.
Peter Sagal
Thank you so much Alzo Slaves. Thanks also to Shane Torres, Joyell, Nicole Johnson and Tom Boppa. Thanks to the staff and crew here at the Green Music Center. Special thanks to member stations kqed, kx, ALW and krcb. Thanks to our fabulous audience who came out to see us in Sonoma, California. And thanks to all of you wherever you might be for listening. I'm Peter Sagel. We'll see you next week. This this is npr.
Mary Roach
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Date: August 1, 2026
Host: Peter Sagal
Location: Green Music Center’s Weill Hall at Sonoma State University
Panelists: Tom Papa, Shane Torres, Joelle Nicole Johnson
Special Guest: Mary Roach
This week’s episode of NPR’s hilarious news quiz show comes from Sonoma, California, where Peter Sagal and the panel take on the wildest stories of the week. Topics range from America’s obsession with sports betting to the spectacular flop of the Tesla Cybertruck, with science writer Mary Roach joining to share delightfully weird insights about the human body—and the dangers of flying with Tom Cruise. The episode teems with panelist banter, memorable listener calls, and, as ever, a riotous Not My Job interview.
[02:42] — Gambling Over Movies and Music
[05:21] — Tesla’s Cybertruck Disaster
[07:40] — Wrinkles are In
[10:07] — “Love Hackers” and Spreadsheets
[13:33]
[19:59] — Mary Roach Interview Highlights
Bike Shorts Scandal in Turkey [32:11]:
AI Sex Robots in Schools [34:35]:
Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank Game [42:34]:
The show thrives on its spontaneous exchanges:
With Peter Sagal at the helm, the panelists keep the laughs rolling—especially as topics wobble between cultural trends and the beautifully bizarre. Mary Roach’s appearance adds a distinctive, warm weirdness. The episode closes on questions about what’s next in beauty trends (“Big butts out. Long flat ones are in” — Shane Torres [49:23]) and a round of thanks to crew, audience, and public radio supporters.
For more, subscribe to Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! wherever you get your podcasts—and place your bets on what next week’s strangest news will bring.