Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me! — Live at Tanglewood with Paul Giamatti!

Date: August 30, 2025
Host: Peter Sagal
Location: Koussevitzki Music Shed, Tanglewood, Massachusetts
Panelists: Joyelle Nicole Johnson, Tom Bodett, Mo Rocca
Special Guest: Paul Giamatti

Episode Overview

This lively episode of NPR’s beloved news quiz show brought the “Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!” team to the Tanglewood summer home of the Boston Symphony, delighting a packed house and lawn with top news stories, comedic insights, and celebrity guest Paul Giamatti. The show’s signature blend of news quizzes, word games, and rapid-fire wit was on full display, with running jokes about pop culture, male avoidance of doctors, and an especially memorable deep-dive with Giamatti, known for playing complex everyman characters.

Key Discussion Points and Highlights

1. Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce’s Engagement (03:12–05:17)

• Panel reaction: The panel riffed on the media frenzy following the engagement, making jokes about how the announcement disrupted daily life.
• Quote [Mo Rocca, 04:28]: “She chose the wrong Kelsey, brother. Jason is more real.”
• Memorable moment: Mo proposes, “The wedding should be the halftime show at the Super Bowl... officiant is the Pope featuring Snoop Dogg.”

2. Cracker Barrel Logo Controversy (05:26–07:35)

• Story: Cracker Barrel faced backlash over changing its iconic logo, prompting the chain to revert to the classic design.
• Quote [Joyelle Nicole Johnson, 06:46]: “She’s hanging out with Aunt Jemima” (referring to retired logo mascots).
• Panel muses: The group jokes about the politics of brand imagery and generational change.

3. Excessive Daytime Sleepiness as a Medical Condition (07:44–08:55)

• News: A new study revealed that about a third of people suffer from “excessive daytime sleepiness” (EDS).
• Quote [Tom Bodett, 08:51]: “I’ve been essentially disabled for 10 years.”
• Panel banter: They riff on how modern medicine is naming common experiences as chronic conditions.

4. USA Today’s ‘Underwear at Night’ Debate (09:44–11:42)

• Story: Should you sleep in your underwear? USA Today published a lengthy article which ultimately refused to take a stance.
• Quote [Mo Rocca, 11:20]: “When you wear underwear to sleep, you are more likely to dream that you’re being strangled.”

5. Bluff the Listener: Headlines About Engagements (14:27–21:26)

• Winning Story [Tom Bodett]: A woman insisted on ethically sourcing her own engagement ring diamond—by digging it up herself at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.
  • Winning quote [Michelle Fox, 20:51]: “They come from the ground. What is conceptually stopping us from just getting one ourselves?”

6. Not My Job: Interview with Paul Giamatti (21:34–30:43)

Background and Stereotypes (21:34–23:29)

• Typecasting: Giamatti explains that people assume he’s a wine expert due to “Sideways”—“I don’t know crap about wine.”
• Quote [Giamatti, 22:54]: “It used to be I would get a script... it would come to a character—‘a disheveled man shuffles in’... I was like, this is my part. Get out the highlighter...”

Early TV Roles (23:31–24:29)

• Reminiscing about ‘man in sleeping bag’ on NYPD Blue.
• Quote [Giamatti, 24:00]: “Not Witness the Crime is what I did... they came to question us, and I said, ‘not me, man.’”

Film Trivia (24:36–25:41)

• On being dyed blue for ‘Big Fat Liar’: “They sprayed me with tattoo ink... it stayed on my feet for about six months.”

‘Wax Paul Now’ Movement (26:07–26:44)

• On never getting a Madame Tussauds statue: “If I can’t get one, who the hell can get one?”

Tupperware Quiz (27:02–30:43)

• Notable questions:
  • Patti LaBelle claims Elton John never returned her Tupperware [28:04–28:40].
  • Einstein’s brain was once stored in a Tupperware [29:00–29:40].
  • Tupperware inventor’s wild ideas (including a “fish powered boat” and the jet ski) [29:44–30:35].
• Quote [Giamatti, 29:40]: “Einstein’s brain. You’re right... they drove across the country... he did put it in a Tupperware.”

7. Bro-Medicine: Getting Men to See Doctors (33:48–35:27)

• Trend: Clinics lure men in with TVs, games, and “Joes” who remind clients of doctors’ appointments ... and anniversaries.
• Quote [Peter Sagal, 34:04]: “Get your checkup maxing on at your closest Bro MD. The waiting room is full of leather and brushed steel and the axe throwing parlor is attached to the ER.”
• Banter: Hilarity ensues imagining a sports bar full of men in hospital gowns.

8. Burning Man Orgy Dome Destroyed by Dust Storm (35:42–36:34)

• News: The famous orgy dome at Burning Man was wiped out by a dust storm.
• Quote [Sagal, 36:23]: “Maybe God is real after all.”

9. Quadrobics and Guitar Hotel Amenities (38:22–40:34)

• Fun news tidbits:
  • Running on all fours (“quadrobics”) is the new workout craze.
  • Guitar-friendly hotels are soon coming to the US, with every room featuring a Marshall amp.

10. Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank & Closing Panelist Predictions (43:10–50:47)

• Game highlights: Contestants sprint through news questions, with comic asides about gold diggers, climate change, and even a woman biting a child at a concert for a T-shirt.
• Panelist predictions [Tom Bodett, 50:21]: “Needing to work that cramp out of his leg from sitting in that chair all those years, [the Cracker Barrel old man] headed to the Berkshires for a week-long yoga camp at Kripalu.”

Notable Quotes and Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Taylor Swift’s engagement uproar [03:38]:
  Sagal: “Taylor Swift and what’s his name are getting married... One professor had to cancel class saying, ‘We all need to process this.’”

• Giamatti on acting “type” [22:54]:
  Giamatti: “...an angry voice is heard off camera, yelling in the bathroom... I was like, this is my part.”

• Giamatti’s “legacy” [26:36]:
  Giamatti: “If I can’t get one [wax figure], who the hell can get one? ... Would’ve been retirement time.”

• On bro-themed men’s clinics [34:04]:
  Sagal: “Bro MD. The waiting room is full of leather and brushed steel and the axe throwing parlor is attached to the ER.”

• On Burning Man orgy dome destruction [36:23]:
  Sagal: “Maybe God is real after all.”

Segment Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------------|-------------| | Opening & panelist introductions | 00:21–02:44 | | Who’s Bill This Time? news quiz | 02:56–09:16 | | Panel news quiz (Underwear at Night) | 09:44–11:42 | | Bluff the Listener | 14:27–21:26 | | Not My Job: Paul Giamatti Interview & Quiz | 21:34–30:43 | | Listener Limerick Challenge | 37:34–42:10 | | Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank | 43:10–49:14 | | Panelist predictions & goodbyes | 50:21–end |

Episode Tone & Style

The show maintains its trademark blend of NPR wit, quick banter among culturally in-the-know panelists, and affectionate skewering of both the week's headlines and their own show. Paul Giamatti’s self-deprecating humor fits seamlessly, and the live audience’s energy at Tanglewood adds buzz to an episode defined by topical absurdities and charming digressions.

Recommended if you missed:

• Paul Giamatti’s revelations on Yale, being blue for months, and his lost bid for a wax statue (21:34–26:44).
• The infectious panel banter about Taylor Swift, Cracker Barrel, and Burning Man’s orgy dome.
• A whirlwind final Lightning Round, including realtors biting children for T-shirts!