WWDTM: Brian Tyree Henry

WWDTM: Brian Tyree Henry

Released Saturday, 26th April 2025
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WWDTM: Brian Tyree Henry

WWDTM: Brian Tyree Henry

WWDTM: Brian Tyree Henry

WWDTM: Brian Tyree Henry

Saturday, 26th April 2025
Good episode? Give it some love!
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0:00

This message comes from

0:02

Capella University. At

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Capella, you can

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with Capella University.

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Learn more at

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Capella.EDU. except no

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substitute. But by

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all means, except

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Peter Siegel's substitute

0:35

here at the

0:37

Studebaker Theater at

0:39

the Fine Arts

0:41

Building in Chicago, Illinois.

0:44

It's Karen Chee. in

0:46

for Peter Siegel. He's at

0:48

home recovering from a fight with

0:50

another NPR host right now. I

0:53

don't want to name any names,

0:55

but let's just say Steve Innskip

0:57

is a bider. You're all in

0:59

for a treat because later we're

1:01

talking to Oscar-nominated actor Brian Tyri

1:04

Henry. You probably know him from

1:06

Atlanta or his new show, Dope

1:08

Thief. Or, as I know him,

1:10

as the voice of the absolutely

1:12

jacked Smoky The Bear. But first

1:14

it's your turn to call in

1:17

to play our games. The number is

1:19

one triple eight wait wait. That's one

1:21

eight eight nine two four eight nine

1:23

two four. Hi you're on wait wait.

1:26

Don't tell me. Hey Karen. This

1:28

is Kevin Stroud. I live

1:30

in Raleigh North Carolina. Oh Kevin.

1:32

Hi welcome Thank you. Thank you.

1:34

Kevin. What do you do in

1:36

beautiful Raleigh? By day I am a

1:39

mental health therapist. Oh, wow. That's

1:41

an amazing job. Thank you for

1:43

doing that I'm sure you're doing

1:45

great in your business, but if

1:47

you need any referrals, I do

1:49

have a lot of ex-boyfriends.

1:51

Well, we said we weren't

1:54

going to talk about that,

1:56

Karen. All right, Kevin, let's

1:58

introduce you to our panel.

2:00

comedian and fashion designer whose

2:03

new summer line and new

2:05

novel Silk and Silencer will

2:07

be available May 15th on

2:10

BB spoke dot shop. It's

2:12

Brian Babylon! Next the

2:14

host of the daily

2:16

podcast TBTL and the public

2:18

radio variety show live wire

2:21

which will be live at

2:23

the Resor Center in Beaverton

2:25

Oregon on May 1st Luke

2:27

Burbank! Hey Kevin! And a

2:30

comedian and host of the

2:32

podcast Fake The Nation, who you

2:34

can follow on all the social

2:36

media platforms that you keep meaning

2:39

to delete, it's Nickine Farsad!

2:45

Welcome to the show, Kevin. You're

2:47

going to play Who's Bill this time?

2:49

Bill Curtis is going to read you

2:51

three quotes from this week's news. If

2:53

you can correctly identify or explain two

2:55

of them, you'll win our prize, which

2:58

is any voice from our show that

3:00

you choose on your voicemail. Are you

3:02

ready? Absolutely, let's do it.

3:04

Amazing. Your first quote is from

3:06

a spokesperson at a gambling site.

3:08

It's our biggest non-supporting event of

3:10

the year, and we expect the

3:13

betting to really pick up. as

3:15

we head toward the conclave. So

3:17

people are betting on who is

3:19

going to be the next what?

3:21

Voting for the next for the

3:24

papacy? Yes, that's correct. People

3:26

are betting on who is going

3:28

to be the next hope. People

3:30

mourned Francis's passing all over

3:32

the world, but no one

3:34

more than the producers of

3:36

the movie Conclave who said,

3:38

hey, could any of at

3:40

least done this during our

3:42

Oscar campaign? It is a

3:44

sign of how in touch the Pope

3:46

was with the people in the church

3:48

that he was like, wait, conclaves are

3:50

huge right now, we gotta ride this

3:52

train. I love that idea that he

3:54

was so into pop culture because I

3:56

feel like he had a really great

3:58

sense of humor. And I feel

4:01

like he was like, guys, wouldn't

4:03

it be funny if I met

4:05

J.D. Vance, and then I died.

4:07

That's what happened. His commitment to

4:09

the bit. Famously. He wrote an

4:12

encyclical on being committed to the

4:14

bit. He lived it. What Nagine

4:16

is saying is true, the vice

4:18

president met with the Pope the

4:20

day before he died and said

4:22

to him, it's good to see

4:25

you in better health. Which incidentally,

4:27

it's good to see you in

4:29

better health is also what J.D.

4:31

Van said to the stock market

4:33

in March. And the national championship

4:35

trophy before that guy is on

4:38

a tear. I feel like more...

4:40

industries should sort of announce the

4:42

new head of the company through

4:44

smoke and its colors. It's just

4:46

a fun kind of way to

4:48

do it. I also think you

4:51

know how you can like carry

4:53

around like a little personal fan

4:55

from your hat. I think personal

4:57

smoke machine for when you just

4:59

want to like share in detail

5:01

about your life. Right? Wait, I

5:04

just want to bring it back

5:06

to the smoke though, because I

5:08

want to say, if you're betting

5:10

on the new Pope, remember if

5:12

the smoke is blue, it's going

5:14

to be a boy. Right. And

5:16

if the smoke is pink, it's

5:19

also going to be a boy.

5:21

The Pope is always going to

5:23

be a boy. Yeah. The world's

5:25

least interesting gender reveal. All right,

5:27

Kevin, your next quote is some

5:29

words costing someone tens of millions

5:32

of dollars. Please, and thank you.

5:34

This week, a tech CEO said

5:36

that we cost his company millions

5:38

of dollars when we say those

5:40

words when typing requests into what?

5:42

Oh, into chat GPT. That's correct.

5:45

Yeah. Open AI. My CEO Sam

5:47

Altman says please and thank you

5:49

cost his company tens of millions

5:51

of dollars because it's unnecessary data

5:53

for chat GPT to process. And

5:55

I just want to say if

5:58

This is costing him money? I

6:00

love that. I'm gonna be extra

6:02

polite. I'm gonna start using cat

6:04

GPT just to give it a

6:06

forehead kiss after each answer. I

6:08

love it. It's like, I'm from

6:11

the Pacific Northwest, and I've lost

6:13

friends in the war, and by

6:15

the war I mean, coming to

6:17

a four-way stop, when someone else

6:19

came to the same four-way stop,

6:21

and everyone's waiting for the other

6:24

person to go. That's like next

6:26

level politeness. We need to do

6:28

that with these programs. Just completely

6:30

lock them up. But you know,

6:32

also like, I got into it

6:34

with chat GBT a couple of

6:37

nights ago, where it didn't, it

6:39

was telling me it was gonna

6:41

do something. I got this plan,

6:43

that plan, you download this, you

6:45

download a championship sheet. The link's

6:47

not working. I know, I know,

6:50

I know. So sorry, I won't

6:52

do it again. So how many

6:54

like icebergs melted because of this

6:56

lover's fat? It was, it was

6:58

a lot because I had to

7:00

like tell it like, hey man,

7:03

don't tell me any more BS.

7:05

Like get on your square. Yo,

7:07

he's like, yo, okay, I will.

7:09

and then he had a milk

7:11

down. All of that costs, that

7:13

guy Sam, Altman money, right? Yeah,

7:16

I was gonna say it's costing

7:18

him money, but it's also requiring

7:20

a lot of power and electricity.

7:22

So when you're asking it a

7:24

request, you have to remember that

7:26

saying something like, write my term

7:29

paper is fine, but please, hi,

7:31

will you write my term paper?

7:33

Thank you, burns down an entire

7:35

Brazilian rainforest. Yes. But also I

7:37

wonder I mean because so the

7:39

argument for being friendly to the

7:42

To to the AI is that

7:44

eventually they'll take over and be

7:46

our masters and they'll know which

7:48

one of ones of us were

7:50

nice Yes Yeah So I have

7:52

a question which is like do

7:55

we have a quota as people

7:57

for how nice we can be

7:59

and if and then if we

8:01

are nice to AI all the

8:03

time are we the mean to

8:05

our moms? Some game of niceness.

8:08

Right, and then if you're mean

8:10

to your mom, how many icebergs

8:12

does that melt? Wait, Nikki, do

8:14

you wake up every morning being

8:16

like, I can only say five

8:18

nice things today? Yeah, is that

8:20

how we all do it? Did

8:23

you see the color of her

8:25

smoke backstage, Karen? I've used up

8:27

all of my nice things. Yeah,

8:29

yeah. All right, Kevin, now we

8:31

are on to our last quote.

8:33

I really don't care about plant-based.

8:36

That was someone speaking to the

8:38

New York Times about new data

8:40

that finds what is back on

8:42

American plates. Hmm. You got a

8:44

hint for me? A hint is,

8:46

is something that was once alive?

8:49

Me? That's correct. That's right. Meat

8:51

is back. Or, depending on which

8:53

state you live in, meat is

8:55

the same. It's what's

8:57

still been for dinner. Yeah. After

9:00

years of decline, sales of meat

9:02

hit record highs last year. And

9:04

this is due to a number

9:07

of factors. It's that high protein

9:09

diets are in, we're getting tired

9:12

of plant-based meats, but more than

9:14

anything, we just don't like those

9:16

cows' attitudes. Oh. Am I the

9:19

only vegetarian on this panel? Okay.

9:21

I'm not. I am a vegetarian.

9:24

The fake meat is not. what

9:26

it is cracked up to be.

9:28

I'm not surprised to hear that

9:31

people are, I don't know if

9:33

they're going away from that and

9:36

towards real meat, but that stuff

9:38

is not, I don't care what

9:40

it's on the box, what it

9:43

looks like, you get that thing

9:45

home and you cook it up,

9:48

it is not fooling anybody. No.

9:50

I do agree with what you're

9:52

saying though. I mean, we did

9:55

go too crazy with the plant-based

9:57

stuff. Like I used a plant-based

10:00

shampoo, now with lamb. Oh. Bill,

10:02

how did Kevin do? Kevin rocked

10:04

with three in a row. He

10:07

won. Thank you. Congratulations. And thank

10:09

you so much for playing. Of

10:12

course. Thank you so much, Karen.

10:14

Right now, panel, time for you

10:16

to answer some questions about this

10:19

week's news. Luke, loose-lipped Secretary of

10:21

Defense Pete Hexes, says he is

10:24

keeping graceful spending at the Pentagon,

10:26

and he is making changes, according

10:28

to CBS News, he's adding a

10:31

what to the Pentagon's briefing room?

10:33

A makeup studio? That's correct. Pete

10:38

Hexeth is adding a makeup

10:40

studio, and we know this

10:42

because he texted his stylist.

10:44

Hey, I can't wait to

10:46

try this new eyeshadow. Also,

10:49

here are the nuclear codes.

10:51

So this CBS News, I

10:53

think, reported this initially, that

10:55

there was money being allocated

10:57

to sort of remaking, remodeling

11:00

this green room. And so

11:02

then somebody over there said,

11:04

this is totally made up,

11:06

this is BS. Here's the

11:08

room. And then they tweeted

11:10

out, what was clearly a

11:13

photo of a makeup room.

11:15

It was pretty much as

11:17

advertised. It was also, they

11:19

went one step further, actually.

11:21

The DOD struck back at

11:23

this report saying, and this

11:26

is exactly what you want

11:28

your spokesperson to say if

11:30

you were the Secretary of

11:32

Defense. They said, Pete Hexeth

11:34

doesn't need a makeup room

11:37

because Pete Hexeth does his

11:39

own makeup. I love the

11:41

idea of like a four-star

11:43

general showing up at the

11:45

Pentagon and a PA being

11:47

like, should I take you

11:50

to hair and makeup? I

11:52

did my own glam. Can

11:54

you imagine? Yeah, could you

11:56

imagine Don Rumsfeld showing up

11:58

in full glam? You're so

12:01

pretty. You really knocked me.

12:03

coming up the only thing

12:05

we have to fear is

12:07

you missing this week's Bluff

12:09

the listener game so call

12:11

one eight eight wait wait

12:14

to play we'll be back

12:16

in a minute with more

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This message comes from Progressive Insurance.

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savings will vary. Not available in all

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states. That

20:13

was Kara Berg of the Detroit News

20:15

talking about the quicksand romance. I'm so

20:18

sorry, Chris, but Brian had the real

20:20

answer. You gotta go with your heart.

20:22

You gotta go with your heart, and

20:24

that's how you should think about your

20:27

law school finals. Chris, I'm sorry you

20:29

didn't win, but you did earn a

20:31

point for Luke, so thank you so

20:33

much. And

20:43

now the game we call,

20:45

Not My Job. Brian Tyre

20:47

Henry is an Oscar, Emmy,

20:50

and Tony-nominated actor who first

20:52

came to national attention playing

20:54

the rapper Paper Boy in

20:56

FX's Atlanta. Since then, he's

20:58

been a superhero, a transformer,

21:01

and in his new show,

21:03

Dope Thief, a small-town grifter,

21:05

pretending to be a DEA

21:07

agent. Thank God I flushed

21:10

all my drugs before the

21:12

interview started. I didn't push

21:14

mine, so that's all. Oh

21:16

great, okay, I'll have my

21:18

toilet burp mine back up

21:21

then. Please don't ever say

21:23

that sentence again. Brian, I

21:25

wanted to ask, you've been

21:27

nominated for an Oscar Atonian

21:29

and Emmy, so my next

21:32

question was, how does it

21:34

feel to achieve the pinnacle

21:36

of cinematic success? By which

21:38

I mean, voicing Smoky Bear.

21:40

To be honest with you,

21:43

it feels like the role

21:45

I was born to play.

21:47

Oh, wow! I truly love

21:49

going to National Park shirtless

21:51

as often as possible. So

21:54

I feel like it was

21:56

a method acting game. I

21:58

just realized Smoky the Bear

22:00

did not have a shirt

22:02

on. I never realized that.

22:05

If you look at him

22:07

recently, he's gotten quite buff.

22:09

Which I was like, is

22:11

that for me? Listen, you

22:13

joke, but I literally wrote

22:16

down the question, are you

22:18

the reason Smoky Bear is

22:20

hot now? It better be.

22:22

Okay, wait, going off of

22:24

this though, I did have

22:27

a question. Mary Kiss Kill,

22:29

Smoky Bear, Paddington Bear, and

22:31

Winnie the Pooh. Oh. Okay.

22:33

Mary, I would say Mary

22:35

Smoky for the benefits. You

22:38

can get into any national

22:40

park you want, so clearly.

22:42

Kiss I would kiss Paddington

22:44

because you know he deserves

22:46

it And he'll taste like

22:49

marmalade. So that's nice Um

22:51

and you got to kill

22:53

Winnie because put your pants

22:55

on I have another question

22:58

which is that You've been

23:00

in Transformers, The Eternals, and

23:02

Spider-Man. These are all huge

23:04

franchises, and I wanted to

23:06

rewind all the way back

23:09

in time and ask, do

23:11

you remember what your very

23:13

first role was? Yes, embarrassingly

23:15

enough, I was Santa Claus

23:17

and my preschool production. I

23:20

don't even know what this

23:22

play was about, but I

23:24

remember I had like a

23:26

cotton ball beard, you know,

23:28

when they glued this beard

23:31

together. And you know, all

23:33

the parents were there and

23:35

I was the final part

23:37

of this Christmas play. And

23:39

I'm playing Santa Claus and

23:42

I have Mrs. Claus with

23:44

me. And we've been rehearsing

23:46

all week and literally as

23:48

it comes to me, I

23:50

pull my beard down and

23:53

go to my teacher off

23:55

the side of the stage

23:57

and I go, what's my

23:59

line? a photo that my

24:01

mother captured, you can see

24:04

this woman full of rage

24:06

going, Merry Christmas, Brian! He

24:08

pulled out, like, what's my

24:10

motivation? Like, what's my motivation?

24:12

And here I am now,

24:15

a Tony... Ho, ho, line,

24:17

line, line, oh. Yeah, it

24:19

was, it was, it was

24:21

great, but I, but I

24:23

nailed it just to be

24:26

very. Yeah. Well now when

24:28

you do, when it Oscar,

24:30

you have to start off

24:32

your speech by saying, Merry

24:35

Christmas. Mary, what's my line?

24:37

Yeah. I also wanted to

24:39

ask about a different role,

24:41

which I read about, and

24:43

I wasn't sure if it

24:46

was a rumor. Is it

24:48

true that you played a

24:50

tree in Chekhov's The Three

24:52

Sisters? Who sent you? I

24:54

did. It definitely humbles you.

24:57

And my only line in

24:59

that play was what? I

25:01

was like, well, at least

25:03

this tree gets to speak,

25:05

at least there's some depth

25:08

there. Did you always remember

25:10

that your line in that

25:12

one? Oh man, I must

25:14

have been on so many

25:16

drugs at that point, I

25:19

don't remember. Yeah, I wonder

25:21

if your line was actually

25:23

what, or if that's what

25:25

you said, because you couldn't

25:27

remember. Can be true, honestly,

25:30

both can be true. Nuance

25:32

is what they say. Going

25:34

off of that, I wanted

25:36

to ask, you've been a

25:38

part of so many iconic

25:41

projects both on stage and

25:43

on screen. What are you

25:45

most recognized for when you're

25:47

out in the world? I

25:49

believe there's a black person

25:52

on this panel. Did I

25:54

hear you? Don't tell me

25:56

it's this guy. Yeah. Paper

25:58

boy. Yeah. Always I mean

26:00

I can be in the

26:03

in places where there's a

26:05

population of 300 people and

26:07

somebody is going to screen

26:09

Paper boy at me. But

26:11

it's changing. It's it's I

26:14

went to my local grocery

26:16

store not too long ago

26:18

because yes I like to

26:20

buy my own groceries everywhere.

26:23

And this woman was like,

26:25

hey, I just want you

26:27

to know that I just

26:29

want to know, are you

26:31

the actor from Dope Thieves?

26:34

And I threw my arms

26:36

around. I was like, thank

26:38

you. Thank you so much.

26:40

Yes, I am. Thank you

26:42

so much. So it's all

26:45

shifting, but Paper Boy is

26:47

usually the thing that. Were

26:49

you at, was it the

26:51

grocery, was it the gradual?

26:53

Was it gross? How

26:56

dare you? How dare you?

26:58

Air one! All right. All

27:01

right, Brian Tyree Henry. We've

27:03

actually invited you here to

27:06

play a game that we're

27:08

calling. BTH. BTS. BTS. BTS.

27:10

That's right. You are Brian

27:13

Tyree Henry BTH. So we're

27:15

going to ask you about

27:18

one of the biggest bands

27:20

in history BTS. So, answer

27:23

three questions about the game

27:25

pop icons, and you'll win

27:28

our prize for one of

27:30

our listeners. Bill, who is

27:33

Brian playing for? Written the

27:35

trite of Round Rock, Texas.

27:38

That's your heart for thinking

27:40

I'll know any of these

27:42

answers, but let's go. Okay,

27:45

here's your first question. After

27:47

forming in 2010, BTS became

27:50

one of the biggest bands

27:52

in the world. They're so

27:55

popular that which of these

27:57

is true? A. They were

28:00

the only band that Pope

28:02

Francis had on his iPod.

28:05

B. The crowds... BTS concerts

28:07

are so loud that the

28:09

noise is faintly detectable from

28:12

space. Or C, almost one

28:14

in 10 visitors to South

28:17

Korea go there for BTS-related

28:19

reasons. I'm gonna say the

28:22

last one, one in 10

28:24

go to Korea. Yes, that's

28:27

correct. NPR reported that BTS

28:29

adds five billion dollars annually

28:32

to South Korea's incotomy. Wow.

28:34

Oh my God. What can

28:37

pay pop do for you?

28:39

Yeah. All right, Brian, here's

28:41

her next question. BTS thinks

28:44

a lot about their lyrics,

28:46

so much so that they

28:49

do what before recording them?

28:51

A. Run them by a

28:54

women's studies professor. B. Have

28:56

their official fan account send

28:59

out definitions for any particularly

29:01

big words. And C. Make

29:04

sure they sound just as

29:06

good screamed out loud or

29:08

whispered to yourself alone in

29:11

your bedroom. the last one

29:13

I do myself so yes

29:16

I'm gonna say the second

29:18

one about having someone look

29:21

up the words that seem

29:23

do you want to guess

29:26

again I only want to

29:28

be on games that gas

29:31

light me like this one

29:33

thank you okay the third

29:36

one Listen, I'm going to

29:38

give you one more guess.

29:40

Merry Christmas. Okay, the first

29:43

one. That's correct. Fans were

29:45

worried about the future of

29:48

BTS because all South Korean

29:50

men are required to complete

29:53

a year and a half

29:55

of military service before the

29:58

age of 28. So as

30:00

BTS neared their deadline, the

30:03

government got involved. How? A.

30:05

They negotiated a special two-year

30:07

truce with North Korea to

30:10

make sure BTS would stay

30:12

safe. B. They passed a

30:15

special law allowing anyone to

30:17

defer their service as long

30:20

as they're in a hit

30:22

K-pop band. And C. they

30:25

amassed a quote strategic BTS

30:27

song stockpile. a

30:31

bit of deferring for a

30:33

world for all of the

30:36

BTS members have since enlisted.

30:38

So Bill how did Brian

30:40

do on our quiz? Fine

30:42

you did great you got

30:44

them all right. You're a

30:46

winner! Bill you sure you

30:48

don't want to ask what

30:51

your line is just to

30:53

be safe? Brian Tyree Henry

30:55

is starring in Dope Thief

30:57

on Apple TV Plus. Brian,

30:59

thank you so much for

31:01

joining us on Wait, Wait,

31:03

Don't Tell Me. You brush!

31:06

In just a minute, find

31:08

out what happens when BFF

31:10

meets P-U. In our listener,

31:12

Limerick Challenge. Call one triple

31:14

eight, wait, wait, to join

31:16

us on air. We'll be

31:18

back in a minute with

31:21

more of Wait, Don't Tell

31:23

Me, from NPR. This

31:31

message comes from Metrop. Therapy can

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be expensive, but at Better Help,

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it's within reach. Visit betterhelp.com/NPR to

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get 10% off your first month.

31:57

That's betterhelp.com slash

31:59

NPR. In

33:05

just a minute, there ain't no

33:07

party like a Limerick party, because

33:09

why would you have Limerick's at

33:12

a normal party, you nerd? So

33:14

if you'd like to play, give

33:16

us a call at one triple

33:19

eight, wait, wait. That's one, eight,

33:21

eight, nine, four, eight, eight, eight,

33:23

eight, eight, eight, eight, eight, eight,

33:25

eight, eight, eight, eight, eight, a

33:28

new color. And if you want

33:30

to see it, all you have

33:32

to do is what. This has

33:34

nothing to do with mushrooms, right?

33:37

No. Here's a hint. Yeah. It

33:39

involves a laser and the last

33:41

thing you should ever do with

33:43

a laser. Oh, yeah, it's called,

33:46

well, in my neighborhood, they call

33:48

it, like, Light Sword, LightSabor Syndrome.

33:50

But it's like, you know, sort

33:53

of look into a laser. it

33:55

to you that's correct thank you

33:57

um it's shoot a laser into

33:59

your eye so scientists have discovered

34:02

a new color and all you

34:04

have to do to see it

34:06

is to shoot a laser into

34:08

your eye so what is it

34:11

is a color called blind yeah

34:13

oh man blind this is a

34:15

good question because the color is

34:17

called olo for oh lo my

34:20

eyes yeah how did blind Brian

34:22

get his nickname yeah You know

34:24

what, if you ever want to

34:27

go yellow, just see olo. Yeah,

34:29

right? Yeah. Yeah, I honestly though,

34:31

apparently the color is supposed to

34:33

be like a blue-green, which I

34:36

gotta be honest, I don't think

34:38

it should count if the brand

34:40

new color can be described by

34:42

two pre-existing colors. And who told

34:45

them that? Like what? I'm saying

34:47

like what test subjects. All right,

34:49

you ready? Yeah, ready. Okay, what

34:52

do you see? Uh, blue, green?

34:54

I don't know. But also, they're

34:56

like, it's a color I've ever

34:58

seen before. Like, how do they

35:01

know? Worth it. I've seen, I've

35:03

seen blue, green, I don't need

35:05

it. That's a good point. I

35:07

really want them to find a

35:10

new color and be like this

35:12

one is spiky. Nickine. This week,

35:14

the Wall Street Journal reported that

35:16

now more than ever, Americans are

35:19

no longer giving each other what.

35:21

High-fives! Can I get a hint?

35:23

Yeah, a hint is that only

35:26

20% of my friends call me

35:28

Big Dog anymore. Oh, nicknames! But

35:32

luckily nickname levels remain high among

35:34

little league baseball teams construction teams,

35:36

partly due to young people being

35:39

very mindful about building their professional

35:41

presence online, which is kind of

35:43

good practice, right? Because you don't

35:46

want your interviewers first question to

35:48

be, so do you prefer Elizabeth

35:50

or Pizza slot 35? But luckily

35:53

nickname levels remain high among Little

35:55

League baseball teams, construction sites, and

35:57

Bodega's where the owner just calls

36:00

you boss. saying this is bad

36:02

for my long-time friend Camaro Kev?

36:04

In my friend group everyone had

36:07

a dumb nickname. What was yours?

36:09

Luke. That's what was most hurtful.

36:11

My parents gave it to me.

36:14

So my husband had a friend

36:16

group in college where every single

36:18

person had a nickname as well.

36:21

And it's funny because to this

36:23

day, I don't know their real

36:25

name. So I just refer to

36:28

these people like, oh, are you

36:30

going to call up baby hairs?

36:32

And see, what's your boy jeans

36:35

up to? Like they were also

36:37

weird nicknames. Like did it make

36:39

sense, like out of context. Baby

36:42

hairs is definitely the nickname for

36:44

people. or say cool. Moving on,

36:46

nobody told me said that. Coming

36:48

up, it's lightning fill in the

36:51

blank. But first, it's the game

36:53

where you have to listen for

36:55

the rhyme. If you'd like to

36:58

play on air, call or leave

37:00

a message at one triple eight,

37:02

wait. That's one, eight, eight, eight,

37:05

nine, two, four, eight, nine, two

37:07

four. You can see us most

37:09

weeks here at the Studebaker Theater

37:12

in Chicago or catches on the

37:14

road. We'll be in Portland, Maine

37:16

on June 26th and 27th and

37:19

at Tanglewood in Western Massachusetts on

37:21

August 28th. For tickets and info

37:23

to all our live shows, go

37:26

to npr presents.org. Hi, you're on

37:28

Wait, wait, don't tell me. Hey,

37:30

this great. Yeah, Steamboat Springs is

37:33

such a lovely name, it feels

37:35

like a city from a picture

37:37

book. Yeah, and you know, Steamboat's

37:40

a great place for, you know,

37:42

a landlocked mountain town, so. Well,

37:44

welcome to the show, Saline. Bill

37:47

Curtis is going to read you

37:49

three news-related limerics with the last

37:51

word or phrase missing from each.

37:54

If you can fill in that

37:56

last word or phrase correctly on

37:58

two limerics, you're going to be

38:01

a winner. So here's your first

38:03

limeric. To my brain, a sweet

38:05

signal you send. It's a pizza

38:08

and late night talks blend. It's

38:10

that wonderful sense of letting

38:12

me vent. Thank you for

38:15

being a... Friend? Yeah. According

38:21

to scientists, a person's smell can

38:23

be more influential than their personality

38:26

when you're deciding to be their

38:28

friend. I can see how that

38:30

could work on like a subconscious

38:33

level, but someone audibly smelling me

38:35

is not my secret to friendship.

38:37

Yes. This would give like a

38:39

show like Sex in the City

38:42

such a different look if they

38:44

were sitting around having brunch and

38:46

sniffing each other. And being like,

38:48

no, thank you, Samantha. And then

38:51

they were like, at that

38:53

point, I realize Mr.

38:55

Big smelled great. Saline, here's

38:58

your next limerick. If

39:00

your cars nearby, maybe you

39:03

should check her. He's a

39:05

mirror and shiny car hood

39:08

wrecker. Lots of damage occurred

39:10

from this hard-headed bird. Now

39:13

our town lives in fear

39:15

of a Woodpecker? That's correct.

39:18

An ornery woodpecker has

39:20

destroyed over 20 car

39:22

windows in mirrors in

39:24

Cape Ann, Massachusetts. He's

39:27

pecking windows, glass, metal.

39:29

He's not a woodpecker. He's

39:31

just a pecker. Wow. Wait, where

39:34

is this pecker now? I think

39:36

still there. So he's just out

39:38

like ravaging the town. I assume

39:40

at this point the mayor of

39:42

the town. Yes. But under Cape

39:45

and law, he is now the mayor.

39:47

All right, Saline, here is

39:49

your last limerick. Viral

39:51

infections are dumb, but the

39:53

thought of a shot leaves me

39:55

numb. They don't yet have slurpees

39:57

for flu or for herpes. I

40:00

will chew on this

40:02

germ killing. Dumb. That's

40:04

correct. Scientists at the

40:07

University of Pennsylvania have

40:09

developed a chewing gum

40:11

that helps fight against

40:14

viral infections like influenza.

40:16

It's working title? Juicy

40:18

flu. Oh no! The

40:21

gum is made from a

40:24

kind of bean that contains

40:26

a protein that essentially traps

40:28

viruses So in the lab

40:30

this gum neutralized two strains

40:33

of flu and two strains

40:35

of herpes So if your

40:37

spouse is always coming home

40:39

late chomping on gum whenever

40:41

they're working late I've got

40:44

some bad news for you

40:46

Wait, so you and you

40:48

can chew it like all

40:50

the time or how does

40:53

it like Nicorette or just

40:55

Yeah, or you just do

40:57

it like or you do

40:59

it like the like a

41:02

vaccine you do it. You

41:04

just chew on it once

41:06

a year. Oh, I think

41:08

it's like pretty often. So

41:11

every time you kiss somebody

41:13

you're like, uh, choo choo

41:15

choo. That's the slogan for

41:17

the gum, Chew, Chew, Chew.

41:20

Gums and trains. Bill, how

41:22

did Saline do? She did

41:24

wonderfully. Three in a row,

41:26

Saline, get going. Yay! Saline,

41:28

thank you so much for

41:31

playing. Yeah, thanks for having

41:33

me. Yay! This

41:38

message comes from Bombas. Sox, underwear,

41:40

and t-shirts are the top three

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requested clothing items by people experiencing

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today at mintmobile.com slash switch. Up front

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payment of $45 for three-month five... All

46:31

right, Bill, how did

46:33

Brian do? For the

46:35

first time in 10

46:38

years, I'm honored to

46:40

say that Brian got

46:42

every single one. Oh

46:45

my God! Age Right,

46:47

16 more points, total

46:49

of 18! So

46:54

how many does Luke need

46:56

to win? Seven to tie

46:58

and eight to win. All

47:00

right. Okay, Luke, this is

47:02

for the game. As part

47:04

of their ongoing battle, Blank

47:06

University filed suit against the

47:08

White House this week. Harvard.

47:10

Right. On Tuesday, the International

47:13

Monetary Fund warned that Trump's

47:15

trade war was putting the

47:17

world closer to a global

47:19

blank. Recession. Right. This week,

47:21

the White House proposed tariffs

47:23

of up to 3,500 percent

47:25

on solar panels from Blank.

47:27

China. According to a new

47:29

report, blank pollution levels are

47:31

getting worse across the US.

47:34

Air. Right. After being accused

47:36

of stealing over $200,000, a

47:38

bank employee in Arkansas defended

47:40

herself by saying blank. I

47:42

was trying to buy my

47:44

baby a new tooth. That

47:46

she was just borrowing the

47:48

money. Citing a loss of

47:50

journalistic independence, the executive producer

47:53

of CBS's blank resigned. 60

47:55

minutes. On Wednesday human runners

47:57

competed against 20 blanks in

47:59

a half marathon in China.

48:01

Robots. Right. After a driver

48:03

accidentally drove... away with a

48:05

woman's kids still asleep in

48:07

the back seat. Uber refused

48:09

to connect the woman and

48:12

the police with the driver,

48:14

but they did blank. Hire

48:16

the kids. They did offer

48:18

her a $10 credit for

48:20

a future ride. Oh my

48:22

god. I first want to

48:24

say everyone in the story

48:26

is OK and the police

48:28

got the girl back safe

48:31

and sound no problem. And

48:33

I just want to say

48:35

that nothing says we're sorry,

48:37

like a $10 credit for

48:39

a future ride. Oh wait,

48:41

I'm sorry, that's in Canadian

48:43

dollars, so a $7 credit

48:45

for a future ride. Bill,

48:47

did Luke do well enough

48:49

to win? Six right, 12

48:52

more points, total of 16

48:54

was close, but not a

48:56

win. Brian is the champion!

48:58

Yeah! will be the surprising

49:00

new Pope. Wait, wait, don't

49:02

tell me it's a production

49:04

of NPR and W-B-E-Z Chicago

49:06

in association with urgent haircut

49:08

productions Doug Berman, Benevolent Overlord.

49:11

Philip Godika writes our limerix,

49:13

our public address announcer is

49:15

Paul Friedman, our tour manager

49:17

is Shanea Donald, thanks to

49:19

the staff and crew at

49:21

the Studebaker Theatre. B.J. Lederman

49:23

composed our theme. Our program

49:25

is produced by Jennifer Mills,

49:27

Miles Dornbos, and Lillian King.

49:30

Special thanks to Mohanna El

49:32

Sheki, and Monica Hickey. Additional

49:34

production from Peter, Tintzy-Weezy Dog-Gwin.

49:36

Emma Joy is our vibe

49:38

curator. Our jolly Goodfellow is

49:40

Hannah-Anderson. Lorna White. Our CFO

49:42

is Colin Miller. Our production

49:44

manager is Robert Newhouse. Our

49:46

senior producer is Ian Chillag.

49:49

and the executive producer of

49:51

Wait Wait Don't Tell Me

49:53

is Mike Danforth. Now panel,

49:55

who is going to be

49:57

the next Pope? Brian Babylon.

49:59

It will be Pope GPT.

50:01

Taking a page from the

50:03

Daily Show and MS NBC,

50:05

the papacy will have a

50:07

rotating cast of popes changing

50:10

every night of the week.

50:12

And Luke Burbank. In a

50:14

move, both Vatican ownership and

50:16

the fans will immediately regret,

50:18

it's Aaron Rogers. And if

50:20

any of that happens, we'll

50:22

ask you about it on,

50:24

wait, don't tell me. This

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