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- [00:00]
NPR Sponsor
This message comes from NPR sponsor Capella University, interested in a quality online education. Capella is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at capella. Edu.
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Bill Curtis
From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, wait, don't tell Me the NPR News quiz. I'm the guy whose voice is bigger than John Hancock's signature, Bill Curtis. And here is your host at the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal.
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Peter Sagal
Thank you, Bill. Thank you, everybody. Thank you all so much. This Fourth of July, we are celebrating the 249th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, meaning this is the last year the country can say it's in its 240s.
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Bill Curtis
And let me tell you, once you get to your 250s, it's all downhill, baby.
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Peter Sagal
But before that happens, we party by revisiting some great times with our favorite guest, starting with actor Lauren Graham, who is most famous for playing Lorelai Gilmore in the beloved TV show the Gilmore Girls.
- [01:23]
Bill Curtis
When she joined us in March, Peter started by asking her about her new show in which she plays a middle aged professional forced to work with kids these days.
- [01:34]
Peter Sagal
I have to ask. I watched the first episodes of Z Suite and are there actual young people writing this show? Because I have to say, not being a young person myself, the young people seem like lunatics to me.
- [01:48]
Lauren Graham
There are. We consulted with actual young advertising people and obviously it is making fun of all of all of us. So it's not being overly critical of anyone because it's overly critical of everyone. It's fun because of the show. I've heard even worse stories. I have a friend whose young employee called in sick because his eyes were baggy, he had under eye bags and he needed more time for them to settle before he felt.
- [02:25]
Peter Sagal
That'S true. That is a thing that happened. Wow. I want to talk about the fans of the show, but I have to engage in just a little speculation. One of the things that I have learned about the Gilmore Girls is that it's famed for its references. Constantly there are web pages giving the explanation of every reference in every episode of the Gilmore Girls. In the very first scene of the first episode of the Gilmore Girls, your character Lorelai offers some flavored lip gloss to your daughter Rory. In one of the very first scenes of Z Suite, your character describes one of the colleagues as so young she still uses flavored lip gloss.
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Lauren Graham
Was that it's most NPR girl.
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Peter Sagal
And I'm like, this has gotta be a subtle callback right on somebody's no, no, no, I love.
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Lauren Graham
I don't think so.
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Peter Sagal
No one.
- [03:20]
Lauren Graham
I did not make that association. And no one said, hey, that's a little Easter egg for you. I think it's just you're a very.
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Peter Sagal
And you're a very lovely woman, but we knew that. Let's talk about the Gilmore Girls. Gilmore Girls is so beloved that there are two fan conventions this year in Connecticut alone. Have you ever gone to one? No.
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Lauren Graham
I haven't. And it is the 25th anniversary this year, and we are in discussions by Wei, me, myself, and Amy Sherman Palladino, the creator of the show, to say, what can we do? What can we do to give people the experience they seem to crave of community around the show, you know, maybe getting all of us together in some way. So we're working on it.
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Peter Sagal
You're working on it. So there might be something like.
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Amanda Seyfried
I hope so.
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Lauren Graham
There will be something. What will it be? At an inn in Connecticut, you know, I don't know.
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Peter Sagal
It'll be great to have all the people wear plaid. That'll be exciting. Many years ago, I had the privilege of interviewing Leonard Nimoy, and he had a thing early in his career where he got very upset that people thought he was Mr. Spock. He later embraced it. And I wonder, you played a similarly iconic character. Do people think you are you, Lauren Graham, actual human being? Are Lorelei Gilmore, fictional creation?
- [04:57]
Lauren Graham
Yes. And I don't think I worked hard enough to dissuade them from believing. No, I think the show, you know, as any long running TV show, you become it and it becomes you. And sort of the reason I gravitated toward this way back when I first read the pilot was it felt like, familiar somehow. It felt like the way I speak or think already. So it was kind of meant to be in that way. And yes, in general, it's really positive. People view me as their cool mom. And I don't, you know, that's not bad.
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Peter Sagal
No. Has it ever gotten awkward? Has anybody, like, come and like, laid out their troubles and asked for Lorelai's advice?
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Lauren Graham
Yeah, I mean, I mean, it's not even awkward so much as it's. And this is just being on TV and playing someone who's like, not Walter White, you know, like, if you play a friendly, kind of warm person, like, people just feel that they know you. And, you know, people cry sometimes and, you know, it gets awkward, like if I'm in the bathroom and like, coming out of a stall, like, that's not my favorite. They're like, oh, my God, can I. And I'm like, let me just. Let's leave this room and somewhere else. Lauren, going back in your life way before Gilmore Girls, you were in your.
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Peter Sagal
College acapella group, is that right? Yes.
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Lauren Graham
Yes.
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Roy Wood Jr.
And you're on Broadway in Guys and Dolls.
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Peter Sagal
How often do you sing now in your life?
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Lauren Graham
Not often, but I do. I am still on a text thread with the Columbia Metrotones. My group of songs, we think would make good acapella songs. We're not going to perform them. We're not going to arrange them. We're not going to get together and even, like, rehearse it. But there is kind of a. It's always there. Once. Once you're in a cappella, you never leave.
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Peter Sagal
Right. I know.
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Lauren Graham
In that group we had. Because we traveled to other colleges on the weekends, and we had to have. And perhaps you can employ this if it's a problem in your life, a no harmony in the car rule, because.
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Peter Sagal
People would be, like.
- [07:14]
Lauren Graham
Singing along to, like, songs in, you know, thirds. And it was really irritating.
- [07:21]
Peter Sagal
Well, Lauren Graham, it is a joy to. And we have asked you here to play a game, and we are calling.
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Bill Curtis
It Gilmore Girl Meet Girls with Gills.
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Peter Sagal
I know. All right, work with me here. Work with me.
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Lauren Graham
I will.
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Peter Sagal
You played a Gilmore Girl. So we're going to ask you three questions about Gil Girls, I.e. mermaids.
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Lauren Graham
Okay.
- [07:44]
Peter Sagal
Makes sense. Answer two to three questions correctly, you'll win a prize for one of our listeners, the voice of anyone they choose from our show on their voicemail, perhaps mothering them.
- [07:52]
Lauren Graham
Well, that's a great gift.
- [07:54]
Peter Sagal
It is. I think. I think it's the only one we could possibly afford, so it better be. Bill, who is Lauren Graham playing for?
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Bill Curtis
Aoife Murray of Oak Park, Illinois.
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Peter Sagal
Ah, a place I know. Well, here we go. Lauren, you ready to play? I am. All right, here's your first question. The old 20,000 leagues under the Sea ride at Disneyland now gone. Well, for a brief period in the 1960s, had actresses dressed up as mermaids lounging on rocks in the lagoon and waving to the visitors. They had to end that part of the attraction just after a few years. Why? A, one of the mermaids got a tail caught in the submarine and got dragged through the lagoon. B, visitors kept jumping in the water and trying to hit on the mermaids. Or C, somebody who said they represented the real mermaid community said it was offensive stereotyping.
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Lauren Graham
I believe that people would get in the water to meet them.
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Peter Sagal
Yes. You apparently have met some people. Yes, that's right. It was, unsurprisingly, mostly men who were jumping into the water to go talk to the mermaids. I don't know if the men had noticed that the mermaids are fish from the waist down. All right, very good. Very perceptive. Here's your next question. The most famous mermaid attraction in America is, of course, the mermaids of Weeki Wachee Springs, also in Florida. If you were to dive to the bottom of the Weeki Wachee Springs where The Mermaids play 75 years after that show started, what would you find down there? A, about 10 metric tons of loose plastic mermaid scales? B, a carton of cigarettes that was dropped by a mermaid in 1968 who actually thought she could have a smoke machine break down there, or C, nobody has any idea because nobody's ever seen the bottom.
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Lauren Graham
Ooh, well, scales, I guess.
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Peter Sagal
Scales. No, it's not scales. It's that nobody knows. The Weeki Wachee Springs is the deepest natural springs in the world, and nobody has gotten down there. All right, you have one more chance. If you get this right, you win. An aquarium in China also offers a mermaid show with performers dressed as mermaids, performing, this time in a giant fish tank. But they were recently accused of covering up an incident in which what happened? A, the tail fell off a particular mermaid, revealing it to be a merman, B, the head fell off a mermaid, revealing it to be a giant sturgeon, or C, a giant sturgeon tried to eat a mermaid's head. The audience is yelling C. No, no.
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Lauren Graham
They'Re just an acapella group.
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Peter Sagal
Y. They're yelling C in C. So am.
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Lauren Graham
I being booed by.
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Peter Sagal
No, no, you're not being booed. You are being helped. You were being helped by the C. C. It's C. It's C. It is C. Yes. The giant surgeon, which was in the tank, just swam it over and just tried to swallow that mermaid's head. And I have to say, having seen the video, it is horrifying, but in a good way. And the mermaid was fine. She's okay.
- [11:12]
Lauren Graham
In my own defense, I believe that you could have a shell brassiere that was deceptively inhabited.
- [11:23]
Peter Sagal
I think you're right. I think with modern techniques, I think that would be possible. I'm going to grant you that. Bill, how did Lauren Graham do in our quiz?
- [11:32]
Bill Curtis
Lauren got two out of three, and that is a win.
- [11:35]
Jim Gaffigan
Lauren.
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Peter Sagal
Congratulations, Lauren. You did that. Like Lorelai, you were thoughtful, you struggled a bit, but you won in the end. You came through. Lauren Graham is now starring on the Z Suite. You can find it on tubi. Lauren Graham, thank you so much for joining us on Wait, Wait, Don't Come. Thank you so much. Such fun. That was a delight. Thank you, Lauren. Take care. Bye bye. Bye. When we come back, comedian Roy Wood Jr. Denies stealing our shtick. And Amanda Seyfried teaches us how to dance like you know someone's watching. That's when we return with more Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from npl.
- [12:20]
Roy Wood Jr.
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- [12:34]
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- [13:04]
Roy Wood Jr.
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- [13:31]
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- [13:52]
Bill Curtis
From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal.
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Peter Sagal
Thank you, Bill. So we are having a blowout celebration for our nation's 249th birthday because this is the last year we can credibly claim to be young.
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Bill Curtis
Once you hit 250, your flag starts to sag.
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Peter Sagal
Before our crow's feet land. We're revisiting some of our favorite moments from the last year, including this visit with comedian Roy Wood Jr. From March.
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Bill Curtis
Peter Ask him where he got the idea for his latest Gig hosting a comedy quiz show about the week's news.
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MxM Tune
I have another show that I'm getting ready to host called Fortune of the Wheel.
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Peter Sagal
Letters, Sentences. Very smart, very smart. I want to talk about your new special, Lonely Flowers, which is truly great on Hulu. And I found out some things about you, including that you started doing stand up when you were 19 years old.
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MxM Tune
Yeah.
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Peter Sagal
Which is amazing.
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MxM Tune
I was still in school at Florida A and M. Right.
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Peter Sagal
And what inspired you to pursue that difficult life?
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MxM Tune
I was going to school for journalism and I would get laughs and so I was like, all right, well this feels like comedy. I'm gonna go do that. And I would just sleep in bus stations and do stand up. Get back to Tallahassee on Monday and go to Golden Corral that night. Work and just go to class the next three days. That was my life.
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Peter Sagal
There are a couple things about that that I wanted to ask you about, one of which is that you have said that that job at Golden Corral, which is a buffet, was like one of the most important formative experiences of your life.
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MxM Tune
Yeah. I think that every American should either serve in the military a year or the food service industry for three years. Because when you work in a restaurant, especially a mid sized like that, with a staff of about 40 to 50 back in front of house, that job, your first job as a teenager, that's the first time you encounter adults who don't give a about you. Most adults, I'm serious, most adults in your life up until that point have a vested interest in you being okay. But I worked with a dude we literally called Cocaine Mike. This is a man who's 39 and doesn't care what 18 year old Roy. And he's going to talk to you about life. And I feel like it also introduces you to every type of American. I've worked in North Florida. So everything from white supremacists to nuns to pastors to gang bangers to. You meet literally every type of person and you have to figure out a way to connect with them. It's hands down the best life school I ever got was 213 an hour in Tallahassee, Florida.
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Peter Sagal
Wow, that's amazing. Just out of curiosity, this is like the best commercial of a Golden Corral I've ever heard. But here's the question. You've been pretty famous for at least a decade on tv, the Daily Show, a lot of other things. Has anybody who like knew you back then reached out and said, roy, I was the white supremacist, remember me? I was the guy with the Nazi tattoo.
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Jim Gaffigan
I'm Cocaine Mike, for example.
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MxM Tune
I don't know where Cocaine Mike is, but I sure hope that prison has npr.
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Peter Sagal
There's another story you tell in the special, which I actually. And I was unexpected because it's extremely funny, and I didn't expect to be moved. You start back when you were staying in bus stations because you couldn't afford hotel, and the story is, is that your mother found out somebody ratted you out to your mom, and she didn't know you were out doing comedy. Right.
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MxM Tune
She had a student that was a baggage handler at the bus station, and he went to her class the next day and said, Dr. Wood, I saw your son sleeping in a bus station. You ain't seen none of my damn son sleeping in a bus, stat. My baby in Tallahassee. No, he's not, Joyce. He's downtown. He's sleeping at the bus station. And so my mom never agreed or understood why comedy was what I wanted to do. But she was the one who put down for what ended up being my first road car. And I think my mom's objective was to get me the car so that I could drive back to Tallahassee after the show. But instead, I would now just travel twice as far and sleep in the car right in bus station parking lots.
- [18:32]
Peter Sagal
Well, Roy, it is so great to talk to you, and we have asked you here to play a little game with us. This time, we're calling the game have.
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Bill Curtis
We got Booze for you.
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Peter Sagal
So you host CNN's have I Got News for you. We're going to ask you three questions about ghosts and hauntings. Booze.
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MxM Tune
I believe in ghosts, by the way.
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Peter Sagal
You do? Do you have any reason to believe in ghosts? Yeah.
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MxM Tune
I was dating a widower, and we were trying to have sex, and I kept getting a charley horse, and I feel like it was a dead husband.
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Peter Sagal
Well, all right. Knowing both your belief in the supernatural and the reasons, therefore, I will still proceed. Bill, who. Who is Roy Wood, Jr. Playing for?
- [19:17]
Bill Curtis
Peter Grieving of Clarksville, Georgia.
- [19:19]
Peter Sagal
All right, here's your first question. One of the most famous hauntings in US History was the red ghost, the spirit that haunted rural Arizona in the late 1800s. People were quite relieved, though, when the red ghost turned out to be. What was it? A, a vaudeville comedian who was trying to promote himself as being, quote, dead funny. B, a basset hound, which no one in Arizona had ever seen before, or C, a feral camel that had been a part of a failed camel cavalry in the US Army. OOH.
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MxM Tune
That feels like a C, give me C. Give me the camel cavalry.
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Peter Sagal
You got it. And that's correct. Nice. It was a camel. It had run away from the camel cavalry. It was out enjoying itself. People would see it and get scared. The Army Camel Corps, by the way, was created by Jefferson Davis, one of his many, many good ideas. All right, all right, second question. Every country has their own legends of ghosts, their own versions. In Japan, for example, you could be visited in the middle of the night by a kamikiri, a ghost that does what? A, gives you a really, really bad haircut, B, just sits, looks at you, shakes its head, sighs and leaves, or C, raids your refrigerator and invariably steals what you were saving for lunch the next day.
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MxM Tune
I don't. Japan has a lot of customs around food, so I don't think a ghost would be disrespectful on the food side of things.
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Peter Sagal
Not even a ghost. Yeah, I can see that.
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MxM Tune
I can see that logic. Give me bad haircut. I've seen some bad haircuts in Asia. I've been over there a couple times. Maybe it was a ghost that did it.
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Peter Sagal
So your choice is A, the haircut. Roy is right. He picked correctly. Wow. It is. Stories spread back in olden days about people walking down the streets of Japan and all of a sudden their hair would fall to the ground without them noticing it was the kamikiri. You're doing very well, Roy. One more question for you. Last question. A lot of people believe ghosts are real. In fact, so many people believe in ghosts, which of these is true? A, in New Mexico, you can drive in the carpool lane if you have a ghost in the car. B, Vermont taxpayers are allowed to claim a ghost as a dependent. Or C, if you are selling a home in New York, you have to disclose if it is haunted.
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MxM Tune
Vermont seems like a nice, fun, happy, go lucky type of place. Give me claiming a ghost on the taxes.
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Peter Sagal
No, it was. In fact, if you sell a house in New York, you have to tell people if you believe the house is haunted. Bill, how did Roy Wood Jr do in our quiz?
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Bill Curtis
Two out of three gives you bragging rights for your panel.
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Peter Sagal
Congratulations, Roy. You won. Yay. Roy Wood Jr. Is a comedian and the host of CNN's have I Got News for you. His new stand up special, lonely Flowers, which is both funny and a little heartbreaking, is streaming on hulu. Roy Wood Jr. What a joy to talk to you. Thank you so much for being with us. Great pleasure to talk to you with brother in quiz. Take care. Bye bye.
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MxM Tune
Thank you all.
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Peter Sagal
Bye, Roy. Thanks, Roy. Also in March, we spoke to the actor Amanda Seyfried, famous for her roles in Mean Girls, Mamma Mia. And the Dropout. Her latest project has her playing a cop, which turned out to be a childhood dream of hers.
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Amanda Seyfried
I had this weird obsession with the first 48. I would watch, like, two episodes before bed every night. I think that's probably why I was so anxious in my early 20s. But, yeah, sure. I mean, I just think it's cool. And I never wanted to play detective. Don't get me wrong. Those are. They're cool, but they're everywhere. Beat cops is where it's at.
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Peter Sagal
Yeah. Really?
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Amanda Seyfried
I just feel so slight that, like, no one would believe me with that kind of authority. So I just wanted to prove myself and everybody else wrong.
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Peter Sagal
Wow. So your model for the cop you wanted to be was not, like, say, Kojak, but, like, the little bunny in Zootopia?
- [23:39]
Amanda Seyfried
That's exactly who. I modeled my haircut here.
- [23:42]
Peter Sagal
Wow. Yeah, I can see that.
- [23:45]
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah.
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Peter Sagal
In preparation for this role, you did something, I am told again, that I know a lot of actors do, which you did a ride along with Real Philadelphia Police. Is that true?
- [23:54]
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah. I had no business being there, but I went and it was something.
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Peter Sagal
Yeah. Yeah. Let's go to the Wawa.
- [24:04]
Amanda Seyfried
Let's break up the fight. They let me choose which place we were gonna go next, actually.
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Peter Sagal
Did they really?
- [24:12]
Amanda Seyfried
Well, there's a wellness check. You want to do that? And I'm like, that could be anything.
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Peter Sagal
We should go.
- [24:19]
Amanda Seyfried
And it turned out to be a dead person.
- [24:21]
But.
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Peter Sagal
So the wellness. Wellness was pretty low. Yeah. Not a lot of wellness there.
- [24:27]
Amanda Seyfried
I can't wait to do it again, actually.
- [24:29]
Peter Sagal
Sure. It occurs to me, though, I mean, well, the cops have you that you could come in handy. Like, if a gunfight, God forbid, would break out, they could shout, put down your weapons, Amanda Seyfried is here. There's, like, a third Mamma Mia movie.
- [24:44]
Amanda Seyfried
On the line, and if that ever happened, listen, I'm for it. I'll do anything to save a life.
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Peter Sagal
Right. Quote me on that. All right. Speaking of Mamma Mia. We have read this might be urban legend. It might be true. We have read that, like, when you were making that movie and its sequel and these beautiful places that the entire cast was drunk the entire time.
- [25:09]
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah.
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Peter Sagal
I mean, not the entire.
- [25:16]
Amanda Seyfried
When it's, like, a short day.
- [25:19]
Peter Sagal
Yeah.
- [25:21]
Amanda Seyfried
No, it really was debauchery.
- [25:25]
Bill Curtis
Yeah.
- [25:27]
Peter Sagal
It looked like. I mean, it seemed like part of the appeal of the movie was just Imagining being able to make it with you guys because, boy, it looked like fun.
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Amanda Seyfried
It really was. Actually. Those images that came out a while back of us in our most drunken state at some party where we did karaoke in Skopelos. It just looks. It looks like the most fun anyone could ever have, Especially because Meryl Streep is at the center of every photo. And I wish I could say, oh, wasn't that fun? But my grandmother got drunk that night, and it was a memory that I will never. I hold it so close, and I really look forward to a third, so just so we could keep getting drunk together.
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Peter Sagal
Right. So you won an Emmy for playing Elizabeth Holmes and the Dropout, the story of her and Theranos. And perhaps the single most iconic moment in the show is when you, as Elizabeth, kind of dances into your boyfriend's office to Lil Wayne to either seduce him or cheer him up or both. And it is somehow the most awkward thing I have ever seen. And my question is, how does someone who knows how to dance dance badly?
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Amanda Seyfried
I'm gonna be honest. I'm not a good dancer. I really am. I really am not.
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Peter Sagal
Peter, she thought that was really good. Really? Oh, God. That was, like, the best dancing she could do.
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Amanda Seyfried
I don't know. I was wearing a. Who can dance well or take themselves seriously when they're wearing that puffy vest?
- [27:03]
Peter Sagal
Yeah. When that really happened, presumably it did. Lil Wayne felt a horrible twinge somewhere. He just knew something was wrong.
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Amanda Seyfried
He was more uncomfortable than you were.
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Peter Sagal
But. And as far as I know, I tried to find this out. You have never met Elizabeth Holmes, and she has never reached out to meet you, Is that right?
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Amanda Seyfried
Correct.
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Peter Sagal
Yeah.
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Amanda Seyfried
Yeah. So it was better that I didn't, because then I wouldn't have been able to make fun of her too. Because part of the show is getting on the inside and trying to, you know, breed some kind of compassion and show a three dimensional person. But the other part of it is, like, making fun of her. Like, with the scene that was.
- [27:41]
Peter Sagal
You did both exceptionally well. Well, Amanda Seyfried, this is a joy to talk to you, and we have asked you here to play a game.
- [27:48]
Bill Curtis
We'Re calling Mean Girl, Meet Nice guys.
- [27:53]
Peter Sagal
So you began your career by starring in the classic movie comedy Mean Girls. So in honor of that, we found three questions about some guys who were actually really, really nice. Answer just two of them correctly, you'll win our prize for one of our listeners. Bill, who is Amanda Seyfried playing?
- [28:09]
Bill Curtis
Michelle Musara of Cleveland, Ohio.
- [28:12]
Peter Sagal
All right, you seem you seem a little. I hope you were warned that this would be happening. Get some wine, girl. Right. Yeah.
- [28:26]
Amanda Seyfried
Okay.
- [28:26]
Peter Sagal
All right. Yeah, you're right. All right, here we go. Here's your first question. Mr. Rogers was possibly the nicest person of all time. After Mr. Rogers filed a police report that his car had been stolen, what happened two days later? A, PBS pledged money to him to buy him a new car. B, neighbors complained about all the people clogging up their street, hoping to give him a ride somewhere. Or C, the thieves return the car with a note that said, if we'd known it was yours, we never would have taken it. C. Yes, that's what happened. Yeah. He was so nice, he could turn other people into nice guys through osmosis. He was amazing. All right, that's. That's very well done. Here's your next question. During World War II, Canada famously treated their POWs so well that some of them didn't want to go back to Germany when the war was over. According to one captured German corporal, that great treatment at the PoW camp included which of these A the government brought in a famous chef to make authentic schnitzel for them, B the guards would regularly lend the prisoners their rifles so they could go hunting, or C, upon request, Canada would fly in a soldier's wife and kids so they could all be POWs together. Nah, it's A. I'm afraid it was actually B, they gave them rifles to go hunting. Oh, I thought that was, like, a boring one. Really? Can't be. B.
- [29:45]
Amanda Seyfried
No, that was their version of a. Trustful.
- [29:47]
Peter Sagal
They really were. They hand them a rifle, close their eyes, turn around. All right, anyway, here's your last question. Sometimes it's hard to tell whether or not someone is nice. Like the man who helped out a woman in Wales one day by hanging up her laundry to dry, washing her floor, putting her groceries away, and taking out the recycling. But there was one catch. What was it? A, he had broken in her house to do these things while she was away at work. B, the whole time he was working, he told her how bad her clothing and food choices were. Or C, after he finished, he told her, now you have to come do my house. Yeah.
- [30:26]
Amanda Seyfried
I mean, A seems like the obvious choice.
- [30:29]
Peter Sagal
Yes, you're right, Amanda. Thank you.
- [30:32]
Amanda Seyfried
Thank you.
- [30:34]
Peter Sagal
He broke into her house and he did all those things for her. And then she came home and found him doing them.
- [30:41]
Amanda Seyfried
Now they're married.
- [30:42]
Peter Sagal
She likes a bad boy. Yeah. Bill, how did Amanda Seyfried do in our quiz?
- [30:49]
Bill Curtis
Mamma Mia. Two out of three is a win.
- [30:53]
Peter Sagal
Congratulations. Well done. Amanda Seyfried is an Emmy winning actor who you can see right now in Long Bright River. All episodes are streaming on Peacock now. Go watch it. Amanda, thank you so much for being with us. What a pleasure to talk to you and see you. Thanks, guys.
- [31:14]
Amanda Seyfried
Hey, have fun, you guys.
- [31:16]
Peter Sagal
We will. Coming up, Jim Gaffigan, the world's funniest dad and MXM tune the world's most popular ukulele. The world's most popular player of the ukulele. That's when we come back with more of Wait, Wait, don't tell me from NPR.
- [31:46]
Roy Wood Jr.
This message comes from BritBox. The stories you remember are often the ones you didn't see coming. Britbox invites you to see it differently with British tv. Shake up the everyday and discover worlds that are new, unexpected and perhaps just what you were looking for. Stream British series, including new Britbox original Mystery Ludwig, starring Peepshow's David Mitchell. See it differently when you stream the best of British TV with BritBox. Watch with a free trial at BritBox.com this message comes from BetterHelp. Workplace stress can be difficult to manage and a holiday can help, but it isn't a long term solution. Therapy can help you navigate whatever challenges the workday or any day might bring. Take the steps to care for yourself and relieve stress with BetterHelp, the largest online therapy provider in the world. Visit betterhelp.com NPR for 10% off your first month. This message comes from Warby Parker. What makes a great pair of glasses at Warby Parker? It's all the invisible extras without the extra cost, like free adjustments for life. Find your pair@warbyparker.com or visit one of their hundreds of stores around the country.
- [33:00]
Bill Curtis
From npr, n WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, wait, Don't tell Me, the NPR News quiz. I'm Bill Curtis and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal.
- [33:14]
Peter Sagal
Thank you, Bill. Thank you so much. This year, our country turns 249 years old, but it's still vibrant, it's still youthful, it's still hip.
- [33:26]
Bill Curtis
Remember, age ain't nothing but a three.
- [33:29]
Peter Sagal
Digit number to prove that our country still has it at least, least the very tiny part of our country that is our show. We're going over some of the best conversations we've had in the last year or so.
- [33:41]
Bill Curtis
Last December, Jim Gaffigan joined us to talk about his new comedy special titled the Skinny because, well, that's what he.
- [33:49]
Peter Sagal
Is Now, I asked him about whether he enjoyed people congratulating him on his weight loss.
- [33:55]
Jim Gaffigan
Well, I feel there's. There's a certain impostor syndrome because I, you know, I used an appetite suppressant, so it's not like I put any appetite effort or changed any behavior.
- [34:08]
Peter Sagal
Right.
- [34:08]
Jim Gaffigan
You know, I joke in the special that I, you know, I used to be a fat guy, and now I'm just. I'm thin, therefore arrogant, because I always viewed thin people as arrogant. But I do feel like. I mean, I love it. My knees don't hurt. It's, you know, with the appetite suppressant, I'm just kind of. It's not like I don't eat. I just eat like a normal human. I'm less consuming, like a dog.
- [34:35]
Peter Sagal
So the special comes out at the end of what I understand has been a pretty remarkable year for you. For example, earlier, you went with about 200 other comedians to the Vatican to meet the Pope. Is that right?
- [34:47]
Jim Gaffigan
Yeah. I mean, that shows you the position that the Catholic Church is in right now. They're like, okay, time to call in the comedian.
- [34:58]
Peter Sagal
Why, I mean, why in the world did Pope Francis. Why did he want to have 200 comedians come to the Vatican?
- [35:09]
Jim Gaffigan
Well, there was a really intellectually sound reason, which he believes that humor is a really important part of dealing with everyday life, and so he wanted to articulate that. But the reality of sitting in a room in the Vatican with, you know, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Rock, and Romy Yousef, you feel like it was just a gathering of every kid who couldn't behave in church.
- [35:43]
Peter Sagal
Right. I don't know. I don't know if the nun can do it for these guys. We better go to the Pope. You said in your Instagram post about it that the Pope. Pope told you. Pope Francis told you, Jim Gaffigan, that you were his favorite comedian. Is that true?
- [35:57]
Jim Gaffigan
That is not true at all. That was me trying to be funny.
- [36:04]
Peter Sagal
Making one of your little jokes.
- [36:06]
Jim Gaffigan
But I posted it, and I was like, you know, what are people gonna think? That I'm serious would have been funnier.
- [36:10]
Peter Sagal
From a fat guy. Yeah. So another accomplishment that happened this year, you got the chance to play Tim Waltz on Saturday Night Live. Now, when you saw the announcement that he was going to be the vice presidential candidate, did you just start hovering by the phone, waiting for Lorne Michaels to call?
- [36:31]
Jim Gaffigan
Maybe I've just been kicking around long enough where I had. You know, I'd been burned so many times that I didn't want to emotionally invest in it. And so when, you know, the Internet, kind of after Steve Martin turned it down, they kind of identified every Midwestern doughy guy. I was like, I was. Yeah. I mean, I definitely wanted to do.
- [36:59]
Peter Sagal
It, but the irony would have been, ah, Jim, we wanted you to play Tim Walls, but you've lost too much weight.
- [37:06]
Jim Gaffigan
Right.
- [37:07]
Peter Sagal
You're not doughy enough. It's a shame.
- [37:09]
Jim Gaffigan
Well, that's the good thing about being a Midwestern doughy guy is, like, you can lose the weight, but you still look out of shape.
- [37:16]
Peter Sagal
That's true. Well, Jim Gaffigan, it's great to talk to you again, and this time, we have invited you here to play a game we're calling your Wait.
- [37:28]
Bill Curtis
Wait Gift Guide.
- [37:29]
Peter Sagal
Now, the holidays are right around the corner, so we're going to ask you three questions about gifts you can buy for your. Answer two questions correctly, and you'll win a present for one of our listeners, the voice of anyone from our show they might like. Bill, who is Jim Gaffigan playing for?
- [37:41]
Bill Curtis
Liz Wilder of Phoenix, Arizona.
- [37:44]
Peter Sagal
All right, first question. There are lots of high tech products you can buy, including a whole category just meant to improve your sleep, including which of these? A, a smart pillow which uses AI and motors to nudge you when you start snoring. B, a smart mattress that flings you out of bed if you hit snooze one too many times, or C, a smart fitted sheet with a speaker that tells you step by step how to fold it correctly.
- [38:14]
Jim Gaffigan
I feel like it's gotta be the smart Pillow.
- [38:17]
Peter Sagal
It is. It's the smart pillow. The D. Rucci Smart pillow can sense it says if you're snoring, and then uses these motors in the the pillow to nudge your head, which will either make you stop snoring because you've moved, or you'll just learn not to snore to avoid that punishment. All right, second question. It wouldn't be Christmas without the Goop Gift Guide. And this year, in the Sexy holiday section of the Gift Guide, Gwyneth Paltrow suggests that what might be just the thing to spice up your love life. A. A pet parrot so they can repeat your pillow talk back to you, be a replica of the 1995 Batman costume, you know, the one with the nipples. Or see a printed photograph of a classic 1951 Ferrari 212 sports car. Wow. Yeah, I know. They're all so hot, it's hard to choose something.
- [39:17]
Jim Gaffigan
Well, I think it's the third one. It's the photo.
- [39:20]
Peter Sagal
It's the picture of the Ferrari. You're right. Wow. Why did you, why did you. Why did you think it was that one?
- [39:28]
Jim Gaffigan
Not that I understand goop logic, but I think there's the nostalgia of the beauty of the past that is timeless, right?
- [39:38]
Peter Sagal
Yeah.
- [39:39]
Jim Gaffigan
So that would be my reason.
- [39:41]
Peter Sagal
All right, here's a third question. See if you can be perfect. Of course, if you want a gift for the person who has everything, you always turn to Neiman Marcus. And this year in their holiday gift guide, they are offering a $48,000 Moet Chandant vending machine which lets you have 35 bottles of champagne available to your friends and family at the touch of a button. There's a catch, though. And what is it? A, the $48,000 price does not include the champagne. B, the machine only holds the single serving mini bottles of champagne. Or C, it'll cost you an extra thousand dollars to have it delivered.
- [40:20]
Jim Gaffigan
Oh, I think it's the thousand dollars delivered.
- [40:24]
Peter Sagal
It is.
- [40:25]
Jim Gaffigan
It's the first one.
- [40:26]
Peter Sagal
It is both the first one and the last one. They're all true. Oh, really? So for $48,000, you get basically an empty vending machine that says Moet Chandon in it, which I kind of want. Do you really? But there's nothing worse than when like the champagne gets jammed and then the next person comes along gets two bottles. I hate that you're drinking my champagne. I know. Know what else is frustrating? When you're trying to get your champagne and you keep trying to get your hundred dollar bill in and it keeps rejecting it. It's just the worst bill. How did Jim Gaffigan do in our quiz?
- [41:00]
Bill Curtis
Three in a row. Perfect. Excellent. Jim, congratulations. Thank you so much.
- [41:07]
Peter Sagal
Jim Gaffigan is a comedian and actor whose latest special, the Skinny, is on Hulu now. It's fabulous. Check it out. Jim Gaffigan, thank you so much for joining us again. We'll see you next time, I hope. Take care.
- [41:24]
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Roy Wood Jr.
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- [42:36]
Peter Sagal
We talked with musician and YouTube superstar MxM Tune, who first found fame through her viral videos playing the ukulele. Suddenly being catapulted into Internet stardom, she was able to take in stride, you know, but appearing on our show, that was a little weird.
- [42:52]
Amanda Seyfried
This is the most surreal experience I've ever had in my life.
- [42:57]
Peter Sagal
If I understand correctly, you, your stage name, your online name, mxm Tune began. Cause you were a cartoonist as a very young person and you were like posting cartoons, right?
- [43:07]
Amanda Seyfried
I was. My dad is actually the person who created the handle, so I'll have to hand it to him. But yeah, he created it when I was 11 years old and was sharing things on my cartoons on the Internet and thought that would be my claim to fame, right? It was not.
- [43:19]
Peter Sagal
No. But something was. And I'm told it was the ukulele.
- [43:24]
Amanda Seyfried
Yeah.
- [43:24]
Peter Sagal
So you were posting your videos of yourself playing the ukulele. How did you know they were getting popular?
- [43:31]
Amanda Seyfried
Let me tell you, Peter, there's a thing called a view count and a like count. And I saw that number kind of slowly creep up and then get exponentially bigger. And then suddenly I didn't go to college and I was a full time musician. So wow is where I'm at. Yeah.
- [43:47]
Peter Sagal
Wow. You know, there's a man who gave himself a vasectomy and filmed it.
- [43:56]
Lauren Graham
And.
- [43:56]
Peter Sagal
It got 4 million views. How about you?
- [43:59]
Amanda Seyfried
I'm definitely not beating out that vasectomy video, so I'd say that that's where I'm at.
- [44:04]
Peter Sagal
Well, if you can find a man who will do that while you play the ukulele. I'm curious. You just did you walk into your parents one day and say, guess what, everybody, I'm skipping college and I'm gonna go just be a musician on YouTube.
- [44:22]
Amanda Seyfried
Essentially there was two coming outs that came out as bisexual in 2017. And then the far scarier one was coming out as a musician who didn't want to pursue higher education. Which was mortifying to both of my parents, who are both educators, but they've been nothing but supportive, really.
- [44:37]
Peter Sagal
I was about queer and a musician. I'm guessing the first one was easier. I want to talk a little bit about your music because you've progressed far beyond merely playing the ukulele. You are writing and performing these beautiful, heartfelt songs. Did you have a particular inspiration? Did you have a sound or a person you were trying to emulate or reach when you started singing and writing and singing your own songs?
- [45:00]
Amanda Seyfried
Maybe Kermit the Frog, I think, is the only person that comes to mind, really. He's just the best. What's better than that?
- [45:07]
Peter Sagal
You're listening to Kermit and you go, you know what else is not easy being me. It's not easy me, me. I want to sing about that. What I love about your music is it's timeless. But it seems very much for and by your generation, which I guess technically is Gen Z. Am I right about that? Like, you have this one lyric in one of your songs, one of your love songs that I love, where you talk about the singer talks about her relationship with this other person. We snap together like Legos. And I was like, that is perfect.
- [45:40]
Amanda Seyfried
It is. Except that the plural of lego is just Lego. And I found that out way too late.
- [45:45]
Peter Sagal
Really doesn't matter.
- [45:46]
Amanda Seyfried
For the convenience. The comment section made that abundantly clear to me.
- [45:51]
Peter Sagal
Oh, that was another question. But it still doesn't matter. It's the passion of what you're doing, and I wouldn't get tripped up by that if I were you. You know, you should write a song about reading the comments.
- [46:05]
Amanda Seyfried
Ooh, I should.
- [46:06]
That's a good idea. I'll do that after I collab with the guy who did the self assessment.
- [46:10]
Peter Sagal
There you are. That's pretty good. Well, Maya, it is. It is enormous fun to talk to you, and we have invited you here to play a game we're calling mxm.
- [46:22]
NPR Sponsor
Tune Meet Toon M and Ms. By.
- [46:25]
Peter Sagal
Which we mean those charming animated mascots that help sell Eminem candies. We're gonna ask you three questions about those cartoon candies. If you get two right, you win our prize of our listeners, the voice of their choice on their answering machine. Shoki. Who is Maya playing for?
- [46:39]
NPR Sponsor
Mallory Kelly of Peoria, Illinois.
- [46:41]
Peter Sagal
All right, you ready to do this?
- [46:43]
Amanda Seyfried
I think so, Mallory.
- [46:45]
Peter Sagal
I'm going to try.
- [46:45]
Amanda Seyfried
So my very best for you.
- [46:47]
Peter Sagal
All right, so here's your first question. For Eminem's 75th anniversary, they released a video showing 360 degree views inside the M and M mascots homes. Right. One feature of the orange M&M's house surprised some people. What was it? A, six locks on the front door? B, a tanning bed, Or C, a Robert Mapplethorpe print.
- [47:14]
Amanda Seyfried
First of all, I have not seen this advertisement. I'm delighted to know that the M and Ms. Are homeowners. Congratulations to them. Say tanning bed.
- [47:25]
Peter Sagal
No, you want to say tanning bed.
- [47:27]
Amanda Seyfried
I feel like the locks thing is a little too ominous.
- [47:30]
Peter Sagal
Yeah, While it might be ominous, it is true. Apparently, Orange's little quirk is that he's paranoid about being eaten. Can't imagine why. So his apartment has six locks and a monitor showing feeds from nine security cameras. Okay, so here's your next question. You got two more. You can do it. Before her redesign in 2022, the green M and M was a female with big eyelashes and go, go bright boots. Relatively sexy for a candy. Why was she designed to be sexy? Was it A, because research showed that people get hungrier when they are feeling romantic. B, because of the widely held belief that green MMs were an aphrodisiac, Or C, because of a planned but abandoned ad campaign featuring a passionate love affair between her and the Jolly Green Giant? Wow.
- [48:25]
Amanda Seyfried
Okay. You know, I've listened to this show for years, and I've always thought maybe I'd be good at this. And I think I'm just learning rapidly that this is not my skill set. And that's okay.
- [48:34]
Peter Sagal
That's all right. The audience is trying to help you by.
- [48:37]
Amanda Seyfried
They are helping me. And I haven't been able to hear them a lot throughout the zoom call, but I'm going to be thankful when I answer. I believe that it's the second one.
- [48:44]
Peter Sagal
It is, in fact, because apparently certain members of the audience. I'm not saying they're old enough personally, but they might have heard that back in the 70s, that was a widespread rumor that green MMs were an aphrodisiac. It was the thing. It really was. All right, that's good. You got one right. With one to go. If you get this, you win. Here's your last question. M and Ms. Almost had a live mascot. They asked Kevin Bacon, the actor, to do a commercial where he would dance to the song Footloose from his famous movie in a yellow M and M costume. But he turned them down. Why did he turn them down? Was it, A, his agent told him, you're Kevin freaking Bacon. You don't play the yellow M and M. You play the blue M and M. B, because he was doing ads for Hormel, Bacon and his deal banned him from representing any other food. Or C, because his wife, he said, gets too creeped out by the concept of talking food.
- [49:38]
Amanda Seyfried
You know, marital problems present themselves in all sorts of of colors and sometimes in the format of people, you know, revealing their deepest, darkest secrets, like talking food, being a real fear.
- [49:50]
Peter Sagal
So you're picking C. I think so. And you're right. Yeah. His wife, Kyra Cedric said, quote, doesn't like it when food talks and put her foot down about it. Chiocchi, how did Maya do in our quiz?
- [50:08]
NPR Sponsor
MXM Tune got two right, which means she has to come out to her parents as a winner on Wait, Wait, don't tell me.
- [50:15]
Peter Sagal
There we go. Well done, MXM Tune. Maya, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for listening. Thanks for playing and we'll see you around. Take care.
- [50:27]
Amanda Seyfried
Thank you so much for having me.
- [50:28]
Peter Sagal
Bye bye. Good luck. That's it for our happy 249 birthday, America. Hopefully you'll still be around for the 250th edition. 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 Gaedecker writes our limericks. Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our tour manager is Shana Donnell. BJ Lederman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Doornboss and Lillian King. Special thanks to Monica Hickey. Peter Guin is our illegal fireworks smuggler. Our vibe curator is Emma Choi. Technical direction is from Lorna White. Our CFO is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. Our senior producer is Ian Chillag. And the executive producer of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is Mike Danforth. Thanks to everybody. You heard all our panelists, our guests, and of course, Bill Curtis. And thanks to all of you for listening. I'm Peter Sagal. And we'll be back next week, hopefully with all 10 of our fingers. This is NPR.
- [51:36]
NPR Sponsor
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- [52:14]
Roy Wood Jr.
Comes from NPR sponsor Dana Farber Cancer Institute. It's called protein degradation. And if you're a bad protein in a cancer cell, you'd better get your affairs in order because now, thanks to Dana Farber's foundational work, protein degradation can target cancer, causing proteins and destroy them right inside the cell. This approach is making a difference in multiple myeloma and other blood cancers and is how Dana Farber is working to treat previously untreatable cancers. More@danafarber.org everywhere.