Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

Episode: HTDE: Motivation, Secret Messages, and Stealing Your Thunder
Date: October 29, 2025
Host: NPR (Peter Sagal, Mike Danforth, Ian Chillag), with guests Alice Wu, Theo Guerin, Susie Dent, and others

Overview

This episode of NPR’s Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me! (How to Do Everything edition) delivers a lively and engaging mix of stories and advice around the themes of motivation, the unexpected social uses of old podcast comment sections, and the origin of the phrase “stealing your thunder.” The hosts and their guests share anecdotes, field odd listener questions, and illuminate linguistic history, with abundant humor and heart.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Motivation Hacks: Alice Wu’s High-Stakes Accountability Trick

[00:53–03:11]

• Filmmaker Alice Wu (Saving Face, The Half of It) shares her personal battle with procrastination while writing her second screenplay.

• She describes an “extreme consequence” to force herself to finish:

  • Wu wrote a $1,000 check to the NRA (an organization she’s ideologically opposed to), entrusting it to her friend.
  • If she didn’t complete her first draft by the deadline, her friend would send the check.
  • To increase stakes, Wu told others, which ensured social pressure.

• Quotes:

  • "I need to find a consequence that is so terrible that I can't possibly live with myself... I'm going to write a check to the NRA for $1,000." —Alice Wu [01:20]
  • "She would have sent it in. C.J. she's a butch firefighter. She would have sent it in. If she were here, I'm sure she would tell you that—all the horribly shameful things she would then do to me as she sent it in." —Alice Wu [02:25]

• **Hosts’ banter highlights the absurdity of the “perk tier” and how such a donation would result in ostracization (“a social pariah amongst all Asian lesbians as I wore my NRA lobby... I would die alone, but I would have a free shirt, is what you're telling me.” —Alice Wu [02:56]).

2. NPR Comment Sections: The New Teenage Secret Hangouts

[03:33–08:54]

• Theo Guerin (TED Radio Hour) reveals a mysterious surge of benign, unrelated comments on old NPR podcast episodes—mostly from teenagers.

• Guerin suspects it's a workaround for students facing restrictions from Instagram/social apps in school; Spotify remains accessible, so they turn old comment sections into private chat rooms or “digital dead drops.”

• The team discusses how kids create single-episode playlists as makeshift group chats, unnoticed by teachers or parents.

• Potential for secret communication even if a phone is confiscated; all you need is access to Spotify.

• Quotes:

  • "One of the theories... is that maybe this is just a way to get around a classroom phone-free situation." —Theo Guerin [05:22]
  • "It's kind of like a dead drop, you know, like a classic spy thing where there's this trash can which nobody's thinking about. And since nobody's thinking about it, you can hide your messages for other spies there." —Ian Chillag [07:01]
  • "God bless these children." —Ian Chillag [08:05]

• The hosts express admiration for the ingenuity and encourage listeners to use their own comment sections if needed.

3. Etymology Spotlight: "Stealing Your Thunder"

[11:07–14:57]

• Lexicographer Susie Dent explains the literary origin of “stealing your thunder.”

  • February 5, 1709: Playwright John Dennis invents thunder sound machine for his doomed play; his sound effect is stolen by the next theater company for a production of Macbeth.
  • At the performance, Dennis shouted, “Damn them. They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder.”

• The phrase is unique because its origin can be pinpointed to an exact moment—a rarity in linguistic history.

• The phrase didn’t become common until the 20th century.

• Quotes:

  • "For lexicographers, it's pretty rare to find the exact moment that a word or phrase was born... but we do know with this one." —Susie Dent [12:00]
  • "Damn them. They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder." —Susie Dent [13:27]
  • "For him it's quite sad that this is his enduring legacy, I suppose." —Susie Dent [14:13]
  • "Who knows if we would remember his name, you know, this is the way he has persisted at least most broadly through history." —Ian Chillag [14:24]

4. Listener Out-of-Office Hijinks & LEGO Joy

[15:08–19:18]

• The team follows up on a running bit: serving as emergency contacts in listener out-of-office email messages.

• They wind up embroiled in a real customer service dispute about a freight delivery, involving a custom LEGO store owner, Courtney.

• Courtney recounts how rediscovering LEGO as an adult was therapeutic, leading to a fulfilling business building custom LEGO structures for clients.

• Quotes:

  • "LEGO was like my thing as a kid... I, you know, grew up and went to therapy and realized that I had... put my… inner child... locked away in a closet and that was affecting my life. So got to know my inner child again and all he wanted to do was play with lego." —Courtney [17:59]
  • "Could you build them a LEGO forklift so that they could do this properly next time?" —Ian Chillag [18:44]

• In the end, the hosts admit they’re not much help but relish the ensuing story.

5. Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On Motivation:
  • "It worked. I got it written, and that's how I did that. Yeah. And that script became my second film." —Alice Wu [02:07]
• On Teenage Ingenuity:
  • "If any of you out there listening need a place to post secret messages or, you know, want to communicate with somebody, feel free to use our comment sections." —Mike Danforth [08:07]
• On Language:
  • "It’s actually very true [that tantrums are memorable]... if he had stood up and said, well, good use of my thunder, that's not a phrase people are going to repeat." —Mike Danforth & Susie Dent [14:39]

6. Key Timestamps

• Motivation and Alice Wu’s Story: 00:53–03:11
• Teens Using Podcast Comments as Chatrooms: 03:33–08:54
• Origin of “Stealing Your Thunder”: 11:07–14:57
• Listener Out-of-Office & LEGO Story: 15:08–19:18
• Notable Quote, Show Wrap: 19:27–20:03

Episode Takeaways

• Extreme Accountability Works: Sometimes making the stakes uncomfortable (even socially or ideologically) can push you over a motivational hump (see: Alice Wu’s NRA check).
• Teens Are Brilliant at Outwitting Restrictions: Old podcast comment sections now double as stealth teen chat rooms—a delightful example of digital repurposing and creativity.
• Language Has Wild Histories: “Stealing your thunder” is more literal than you think, born of one man’s frustration and preserved by centuries of repetition.
• Joy in Rediscovery: Reconnecting with childhood joys—in Courtney’s case, LEGO—can dramatically enhance adult life.
• Hosts’ Ethos: Irreverent, supportive, and celebrating the odd connections that make life interesting.

For New Listeners

This episode exemplifies Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!’s blend of wit, curiosity, and human warmth. Whether you crave clever hacks for your own productivity, marvel at digital subcultures, or enjoy being let in on the story behind everyday language, you’ll find pithy wisdom and genuine laughs throughout.