Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! Stats Page
Show Details: 1998
1998-01-03
- First: Peter Sagal 24
- Second: Roxanne Roberts 22
- Third: Roy Blount, Jr. 16
For We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the first listener contestant chose Roy Blount, Jr.'s answer, which was the correct one. The second listener contestant chose Peter Sagal's answer, but Roxanne Roberts had the correct answer.
1998-01-10
- First: Roxanne Roberts 21
- Second: Margo Kaufman 18.5
- Third: Peter Sagal 15
For We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the first listener contestant chose Margo Kaufman's answer, but Peter Sagal had the correct answer. The second listener contestant chose Margo Kaufman's answer, but Roxanne Roberts had the correct answer.
Margo had a total of 18.5 points. Her score has been rounded up to 19 as the Wait Wait Stats Database currently has the scores defined as integers.
1998-01-17
- First: Roxanne Roberts 25
- Second: Amy Dickinson 19
- Third: Charlie Pierce 11
For We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the first three listener contestants all chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, while the fourth listener contestant chose Amy Dickinson's answer. Roxanne had the correct answer for the first and third stories, Charlie Pierce had the correct answer for the second, and Amy had the correct answer for the fourth.
1998-01-24
- First: Peter Sagal 23
- Second: Margo Kaufman 21
- Third: Roxanne Roberts 18
The first listener contestant for We'll Wait, You Tell Us had written in suggesting that listeners who win could have Carl Kasell call people at 3 AM in the morning to tell them the news or Tom and Ray of Car Talk could do brake jobs. The first listener contestant for the same segment chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, but Margo Kaufman had the correct answer. The second listener contestant chose Margo's answer, but Roxanne had the correct answer.
The listener contestant for the News Etymology segment chose Roxanne's answer, but Peter Sagal had the correct answer.
Peter had a total of 22.5 points. His score has been rounded up to 23 as the Wait Wait Stats Database currently has the scores defined as integers.
1998-01-31
- First: Margo Kaufman 24.5
- Second: Roy Blount, Jr. 22
- Third: Peter Sagal 20.5
For We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the first listener contestant chose Roy Blount, Jr.'s answer, but Margo Kaufman had the correct answer. The second listener contestant chose Roy's answer, who had the correct answer.
For News Etomology, the listener contestant chose Margo's answer, but Roy had the correct answer.
Peter Sagal had a total of 20.5 points and Margo had a total of 24.5 points. Peter's score has been rounded up to 21 and Margo's rounded up to 25 as the Wait Wait Stats Database currently has the scores defined as integers.
1998-02-07
- First: Peter Sagal 23.5
- Second: Roxanne Roberts 21.5
- Third: Margo Kaufman 21
For We'll Wait, You Tell Us, both listener contestants chose Margo Kaufman's respective answer, but Peter Sagal had the correct answer for the first one and Roxanne Roberts had the correct answer for the second.
For the first time, all three panelists answered all three Lightning True or False questions correct.
Peter seemed to have been skipped during the Double Point Bonus Round, at least in the version that was aired.
For News Etymology, the listener contestant chose Peter's answer, but Roxanne had the correct answer.
Roxanne had a total of 21.5 points and Peter had a total of 23.5 points. Both scores have been rounded up to 22 and 24 points, respectively, as the Wait Wait Stats Database currently has the scores defined as integers.
1998-02-14
- First: Margo Kaufman 24
- Second: Peter Sagal 22.5
- Third: Roxanne Roberts 4.5
For We'll Wait, You Tell Us, both listener contestants chose Peter Sagal's answer, but Margo Kaufman had the correct answer for the first and Roxanne Roberts had the correct answer for the second.
The Double Point Bonus Round seemed to have been skipped for this show.
For News Etymology, the listener contestant chose Margo's answer, who had the correct answer. The contestant also used the bonus phrase.
After Carl Kasell read the number of points the panelists had at the start of the Wait Wait I'm Pontificating round, Roxanne said the bonus phrase and added two points. Due to Roxanne being far behind on points, her was passed over and only Peter and Margo read their respective essay.
Roxanne had a total of 4.5 points and Peter had a total of 22.5 points. Both scores have been rounded up to 5 and 23 points, respectively, as the Wait Wait Stats Database currently has the scores defined as integers.
1998-02-21
- First: Roxanne Roberts 22
- Second: Peter Sagal 20
- Third: Margo Kaufman 15
For We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the first listener contestant chose Roxanne Robert's answer, who had the correct answer. The second listener contestant chose Peter Sagal's answer, but Margo Kaufman's answer was correct.
For News Etymology, the listener contestant chose Roxanne's answer, but Peter's answer was correct.
1998-02-28
- First: Peter Sagal 18
- Second: Roxanne Roberts 13
- Third: Margo Kaufman 10
For We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the first listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, but Peter Sagal's answer was correct. The second listener contestant chose Margo Kaufman's answer, but Roxanne had the correct answer.
The usual Double Point Bonus Round was replaced with a Triple Point Bonus Round. It seemed like Roxanne was skipped.
For News Etymology, the listener contestant chose Margo's answer and was correct. This is the first time the winning listener contestant was offered Carl Kasell leaving a message of their choice on their answering machine or voicemail.
For the second Why Should We Know Who You Are?, which replaced the previous Wait Wait I'm Pontificating segment, the panelist that guessed correctly would earn 5 points instead of the usual 3.
1998-03-07
- First: Peter Sagal 23
- Second: Margo Kaufman 18
- Third: Roy Blount, Jr. 15
For We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the first listener contestant chose Roy Blount, Jr.'s answer, which was correct. The second listener contestant chose Margo Kaufman's answer, which was also correct. Dan Coffey said that it was the first time that they had two listener contestants that won in a row; but, on the show that aired on 1998-01-17, there were four listener contestants for the segment and the third and fourth contestants had won.
Peter Sagal would skirt around saying the bonus phrase by making puns based on the phrase. Carl Kasell allowed the first pun, blue cream of death, and gave him a point and Peter was still eligible to earn points by saying the actual bonus phrase. Peter would continue to make puns and Carl would not grant Peter additional points.
Although listed in the segments on the show's page on NPR.org, the Gossip, Rumor & Innuendo segment was not included in the version that was aired.
For News Etymology, the listener contestant chose Peter's answer, which was correct.
While Peter was reading his essay for Wait Wait I'm Pontificating, the sound of someone pouring a drink could be heard from an unmuted microphone.
1998-03-14
- First: Peter Sagal 17
- Second: Roxanne Roberts 15
- Third: Margo Kaufman 10
For We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, which was correct. The show's page on NPR.org mention a second topic, but only one was included in the version that was aired.
For News Etymology, the listener contestant chose Roxanne's answer, but Margo Kaufman had the correct answer.
The panelist who guessed the correct answer for the second Why Should We Know Who You Are received six points and there was no Wait Wait I'm Pontificating segment.
1998-03-21
- First: Peter Sagal 18.5
- Second: Roxanne Roberts 16.5
- Third: Charlie Pierce 5
The 888-WAIT-WAIT (888-924-8924) phone number made its debut on this show.
For We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the first listener contestant chose Charlie Pierce's answer, but Roxanne Roberts had the correct answer. The second listener contestant chose Peter Sagal's answer, which was correct.
For News Etyomolgy, the listener contestant chose Roxanne's answer, but Charlie's answer was correct.
Peter had a total of 18.5 points and Roxanne had a total of 16.5 points. Both scores have been rounded up to 19 and 17 points, respectively, as the Wait Wait Stats Database currently has scores defined as integers.
1998-03-28
- First: Peter Sagal 21
- Second: Margo Kaufman 14
- Third: Adam Felber 2
A listener submitted a question that was used in the Week in Review segment and was given a chance to answer a question about the news to get a custom message from Carl Kasell. The listener answered the question correct.
The NPR.org show page lists a News Etymology segment, but one was not included in the version of the show that aired.
At the start of the Wait Wait I'm Pontificating segment, Carl stated that Peter Sagal was in the lead with 13 points, Margo Kaufman was in second place and Adam Felber was in third place, but Carl didn't state how many points Margo or Adam had.
Due to Adam's low score, he was skipped over when it came to reading his essay. This means that no definitive total score was given for Adam. Adam did not answer any questions correct in the Week in Review segment, had a +1 during the Lightning True or False segment, did not answer any questions correct during the Triple Point Bonus Round segment, and had used the bonus phrase for a minimum of 1 point. This would have meant that Adam had a minimum of 2 points at the start of the final segment. Until a definitive answer on how many points Adam had, 2 points has been entered in for this show.
Carl gave six points for Margo's essay for a total of 14 points. Meaning, Margo would have started the segment with 9 points.
1998-04-04
For We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the first listener contestant chose Peter Sagal's answer, but Roxanne Roberts had the correct answer. The second listener contestant chose Roxanne's answer, but Margo Kaufman had the correct answer.
The show page on NPR.org listed the segment order as: Week in Review; Why Should We Know Who You Are?; We'll Wait, You Tell Us; Lightning True or False; Gossip, Rumor & Innuendo; Who Should We Know Why You Are #2; Triple Point Bonus Round; Why Would We Know Who You Are? #3
The Triple Point Bonus Round was not included in the version of the show that was aired.
Even though the third Why Should We Know Who You Are? segment was the final segment, panelist scores were not stated at the start nor were total scores mentioned at the end. The only thing stated was that Peter was the winner again. Thus, the only scoring and ranking information recorded for this show was that Peter finished in first place.
1998-04-11
- First: Roxanne Roberts 20
- Second: Peter Sagal 16
- Third: Charlie Pierce 11
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us segment, the listener contestant chose Peter Sagal's answer, which was correct.
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us segment, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, but Charlie Pierce had the correct answer.
For News Etymology, the listener contestant chose Roxanne's answer, which was correct.
1998-04-18
- First: Roxanne Roberts 15
- Second: Charlie Pierce 6
- Third: Margo Kaufman 4
For We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Charlie Pierce's answer, which was correct.
For News Etymology, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, which was correct.
The winner of the second Why Should We Know Who You Are? received 5 points instead of the usual 3 points for that segment.
1998-04-25
- First: Roxanne Roberts 17
- Second: Margo Kaufman 14
- Third: Peter Sagal 11
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Margo Kaufman's answer, which was correct.
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Margo's answer, but Roxanne Roberts had the correct answer.
For New Etymology, the listener contestant chose Peter Sagal's answer, which was correct.
This is the last show in which Dan Coffey is the host of the show.
1998-05-02
- First: Adam Felber 10
- Second: Charlie Pierce 9
- Third: Roxanne Roberts 6
- Susan Stamberg 0 *
This marks Peter Sagal's first show as the new show host, replacing Dan Coffey.
This show introduces the Not My Job segment where a guest has to guess the correct answer to three questions. Unlike the current version of the segment, the questions are not multiple choice. Susan Stamberg had an assist from Roxanne Roberts for the third question and Carl Kasell would grant Susan a point. Peter would later say on the show that aired on May 30, 1998 that Susan had scored zero points. Susan scoring zero points would have future implications; thus, Susan's score of zero has been entered and an exception will be noted.
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Charlie Pierce's answer, which was correct.
For News Etymology, the listener contestant chose Roxanne's answer, which was correct.
1998-05-09
- First: Roxanne Roberts 10
- Second Tied: Adam Felber 5
- Second Tied: P.J. O'Rourke 5
The show's page on NPR.org listed Roxanne Roberts, Charlie Pierce and Adam Felber as the panelists on the show.
How scoring was done for Lightning True or False on this show changed to granting panelist a point for each correct answer and did not deduct a point for an incorrect answer.
This show introduces the Who's Carl Now? segment, which is an early version of the Who's Carl This Time?, and now, Who's Bill This Time?, segment.
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Roxanne's answer, but Margo had the correct answer.
The new Suck Up to Minnesota segment was try to woo Minnesota Public Radio to add the show to their radio schedule.
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Adam's answer, which was correct.
1998-05-16
- First Tied: Roxanne Roberts 6
- First Tied: Charlie Pierce 6
- First Tied: Adam Felber 6
The second and third listener segments were not officially labeled as We'll Wait, You Tell Us, but follow the same premise similar to Bluff the Listener.
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, which was correct.
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Adam Felber's answer, which was correct.
This is the first time in which all three panelists finished the game in a three-way tie.
1998-05-23
1998-05-30
- First: Margo Kaufman 5
- Second: Roxanne Roberts 4
- Third: Charlie Pierce 2
Both listener contestants for the two We'll Wait, You Tell Us segments chose Margo Kaufman's answers, but Roxanne Roberts had the correct answer for both.
During the Not My Job segment, Peter Sagal had mentioned that Susan Stamberg had answered zero questions correct when she appeared on the show that aired on May 2, 1998. On that show, Carl Kasell said that Susan did get a point with an assist from Roxanne Roberts.
This show also puts into cannon the names given for the Not My Job scores that would be referenced for many years on the show. Scoring zero points would be a "Stamberg", scoring one point would be a "Palca", scoring two points would be "Siegel", and scoring three points would be an "Overby".
A huge thank you to Robert Neuhaus, Technical Director of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, for providing information about this particular airing of the show; as, the information provided on NPR.org lists the same show information for both May 23, 1998 and this show.
1998-06-06
- First Tied: Roxanne Roberts 8 (5 / 1)
- First Tied: Adam Felber 8 (4 / 2)
- Third: Charlie Pierce 5 (1 / 2)
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, but Charlie Pierce's answer was correct.
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Roxanne's answer, but Adam Felber's answer was correct.
This is the first show to feature the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank segment with the rules that still are used. Roxanne had used a bonus phrase that was brought up later in the show for one of her answers and got a bonus point.
1998-06-13
- First: Adam Felber 11 (7 / 2)
- Second: Charlie Pierce 9 (5 / 2)
- Third: Roxanne Roberts 4 (4 / 0)
Unlike previous games where the segment was nearly consistently stated as "Who is Carl This Time?" was called "Who's Carl This Time?" for both instances.
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Adam Felber's answer, but Charlie Pierce's answer was correct.
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, which was correct.
Roxanne was the first panelist to answer zero questions correct in Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank.
1998-06-20
- First: Margo Kaufman 12 (6 / 3)
- Second Tied: Charlie Pierce 9 (6 / 1)
- Second Tied: Adam Felber 9 (1 / 4)
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Charlie Pierce's answer, but Margo Kaufman's answer was correct.
The Rise and Fall of Chainsaw Al Dumlap was an adaptation of Al Dunlap's autobiography, "Mean Business," by Peter Sagal and Carl Kasell.
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Margo's answer, but Charlie's answer was correct.
Charlie Pierce had used the bonus phrase as an answer for the last Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank question and got an extra point.
1998-06-27
- First: Charlie Pierce 13 (7 / 3)
- Second: Margo Kaufman 12 (4 / 4)
- Third: Roxanne Roberts 9 (5 / 2)
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, but Charlie Pierce's answer was correct.
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Charlie's answer, but Margo Kaufman's answer was correct.
Answering zero correct questions in Not My Job is now called a "Flintoff" rather than a "Stamberg".
1998-07-04
- First: Margo Kaufman 14 (6 / 4)
- Second: Adam Felber 9 (5 / 2)
- Third: Roxanne Roberts 8 (5 / 1)
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Margo Kaufman's answer, which was correct.
The Spam Facts (aka Spacts) segment consisted of Peter Sagal and Carl Kasell reading various, interesting facts about Spam.
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, but Margo Kaufman's answer was correct.
Roxanne had used the bonus phrase as the answer for the last Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank question to earn an extra point.
1998-07-11
- First: Roxanne Roberts 13 (5 / 4)
- Second Tied: Roy Blount, Jr. 9 (3 / 3)
- Second Tied: Charlie Pierce 9 (5 / 2)
The show's page on NPR.org listed Roy Blount, Jr., Adam Felber and Roxanne Roberts as the panelists for the show.
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Charlie Pierce's answer, which was correct.
When Peter Sagal asked Carl Kasell how Renée Montagne did, Carl said that Renée scored a "Suarez" by only answering one question correct. Previously, that was known as a "Palca".
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Roxanne's answer, but Roy's answer was correct.
1998-07-18
- First Tied: Roxanne Roberts 12 (6 / 3)
- First Tied: Adam Felber 12 (2 / 5)
- Third: Charlie Pierce 10 (4 / 3)
During the Suck Up to Minnesota: The Recap segment, Peter Sagal's father-in-law joined the show to provide his impressions on the show, as the show was picked up and aired by Minnesota Public Radio.
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, which was correct.
Fort he second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Roxanne's answer, but Charlie Pierce's answer was correct.
After answering zero Not My Job questions correct, Tom Goldman said that he would talk to Susan Stamberg on how she coped (even though Susan technically did receive a point). Peter then stated that Tom had scored a "Stamberg" even though it was called a "Clintoff" on the show that aired on 1998-06-27.
The listener contestant for Who's Carl This Time? #2 asked if he could get Margo Kaufman to record his outgoing answering machine message. Peter agreed, but only if the listener could answer all three questions correct; but, the listener only answered one correct.
The clip of a shouting Finnish choral group that was played during the Week in Review segment replaced the sound of the gong concluding each panelists's questions during Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank.
1998-07-25
- First: Roxanne Roberts 16 (4 / 6)
- Second: Charlie Pierce 8 (4 / 2)
- Third: Margo Kaufman 7 (3 / 2)
The listener contestant for the first Who's Carl This Time? shared the same name as the show's senior producer, David Greene.
The first We'll Wait, You Tell Us uses a multiple choice format in which the listener contestant has to correctly guess three sets of multiple choice bluffs. For the first item, the listener chose Margo Kaufman's answer for the first bluff, which was correct. For the second item, the listener chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, but Charlie Pierce's answer was correct. For the third item, the listener chose Roxanne's answer, but Margo's answer was correct.
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, which uses the regular bluff format, the listener contestant chose Charlie's answer, but Roxanne's was correct.
The clip of the shouting Finns replaced the sound of the gong during Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank again.
1998-08-01
- First: Roxanne Roberts 14 (6 / 4)
- Second: Roy Blount, Jr. 10 (4 / 3)
- Third: Adam Felber 8 (4 / 2)
The Extort New York City segment was a spin on the previous Suck Up to Minnesota segment, but this time it is try to extort New York Public Radio to include the show on WNYC's radio schedule.
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, but Adam Felber's answer was correct.
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Adam's answer, but Roxanne's answer was correct.
As an aside, when the gong sound is played during Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank, Peter will stop reading the question even if he wasn't finished and the panelist won't be able to provide an answer.
1998-08-08
- First: Adam Felber 13 (7 / 3)
- Second: Charlie Pierce 12 (6 / 3)
- Third: Roxanne Roberts 4 (4 / 0)
Previous Listener Multiple Choice segments on NPR.org were labeled as "We'll Wait, You Tell Us" segment, but not for this show. For the first item, the listener contestant chose Charlie Pierce's answer, which was correct. For the second item, the listener chose Adam Feber's answer, which was correct. For the third item, the listener chose Charlie's answer, but Roxanne Robert's answer was correct.
For the We'll Wait, You Tell Us bluff segment, the listener contestant chose Roxanne's answer, which was correct.
Not My Job questions are in multiple choice form instead of open questions or fill-in-the-blanks. Option "C" for all three questions were "names recently given to their children by celebrities".
The clip of shouting Finns replaced the gong sound during Lightning Fill-in-the-Blanks again.
1998-08-15
- First: Roxanne Roberts 20 (8 / 6)
- Second: Adam Felber 13 (5 / 4)
- Third: Margo Kaufman 10 (6 / 2)
The show's page on NPR.org did not provide any information for segments after the We'll Wait, You Tell Us bluff segment.
For the Listener Multiple Choice segment, the listener chose Margo Kaufman's answer for the first item, but Adam Felber's answer was correct. For the second item, the listener chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, but Margo's answer was correct. For the third item, the listener chose Roxanne's answer, but Margo's answer was correct.
For the We'll Wait, You Tell Us segment, the listener contestant chose Adam's answer, but Roxanne's answer was correct.
The Not My Job question format continued with the multiple choice format from the previous show.
1998-08-22
- First: Roxanne Roberts 14 (4 / 5)
- Second: Charlie Pierce 12 (6 / 3)
- Third: Roy Blount, Jr. 8 (4 / 2)
This is the first show with a guest judge and scorekeeper: Bob Garfield.
The show page on NPR.org and the current naming convention for the "Who's [Scorekeeper] This Time?" segment is to use the first name of the scorekeeper. Instead of "Who's Bob This Time?", Peter Sagal called the segment, "Who's Garfield This Time?".
For the first Who's Garfield This Time?, option "C" for all three questions were "religious broadcaster Pat Robertson".
After answering two questions correct for the first Who's Garfield This Time? segment, the listener contestant was given a choice of either Carl Kasell's voice or Bob's voice for their answering machine's outgoing message. When the listener contestant asked their significant other, the response was "Bob who?".
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, but Roy Blout, Jr.'s answer was correct.
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Roy's answer, but Charlie Pierce's answer was correct.
Many of the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank questions asked of the panelists were about various people asking for President Clinton's resignation.
1998-08-29
- First: Roxanne Roberts 14 (4 / 5)
- Second: Charlie Pierce 13 (5 / 4)
- Third: Adam Felber 9 (5 / 2)
The premise of the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us is flipped compared to previous bluff segments, in that two of the panelists will be telling the truth while the other is not. The listener chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, but Adam Felber's answer was the lie.
The Advice from George Washington segment included reading from George Washington's "Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation".
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Adam's answer, which was correct.
1998-09-05
- First: Margo Kaufman 15.5 (7.5 / 4)
- Second: Charlie Pierce 13.5 (5.5 / 4)
- Third: Roxanne Roberts 7 (3 / 2)
The NPR.org site does not have a page for this show, even on their legacy website.
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Charlie Pierce's answer, but Margo Kaufman's answer was correct.
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Margo's answer; but Charlie's was correct.
This is the first time that panelists had earned half-points since the show closed out with Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank. Since only the panelist score column only supports non-integer scores, the panelist starting scores were rounded up: from 7.5 to 8 for Margo and from 5.5 to 6 for Charlie.
1998-09-12
- First: Roxanne Roberts 14 (6 / 4)
- Second: Adam Felber 7 (5 / 1)
- Third: Roy Blount, Jr. 5 (3 / 1)
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, but Adam Felber's answer was correct.
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Adam's answer, but Roxanne's answer was correct.
1998-09-19
- First: Adam Felber 17 (7 / 5)
- Second: Roxanne Roberts 15 (5 / 5)
- Third: Charlie Pierce 9 (1 / 4)
The first Who's Carl This Time? was a special version in which the panelists got to play instead of a listener contestant. The second and third Who's Carl This Time? segments were played by listener contestants.
Ted Clark initially answered "A" for his third Not My Job question, but Peter Sagal gave Ted a chance to choose another answer. Ted then chose "B", which was the correct answer.
For the first We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Adam Felber's answer, but Roxanne Roberts' answer was correct.
For the second We'll Wait, You Tell Us, the listener contestant chose Adam's answer, but Charlie Pierce's answer was correct.
1998-09-26
- First: Adam Felber 12 (4 / 4)
- Second Tied: Roxanne Roberts 6 (2 / 2)
- Second Tied: Charlie Pierce 6 (2 / 2)
The first Who's Carl This Time? was a special version in which the panelists got to play instead of a listener contestant. The second and third Who's Carl This Time? segments were played by listener contestants.
This is the first time that the Wait Wait Don't Tell Me! NPR site references the listener bluff segment as "Listener Bluff" instead of "We'll Wait, You Tell Us".
For the first Listener Bluff, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, which was correct.
For the second Listener Bluff, the listener contestant chose Charlie Pierce's answer, which was correct.
With some assistance from Peter Sagal, the listener contestant for the third Who's Carl This Time? segment won, meaning that all of the listener contestants and the Not My Job guest won.
As a joke, the gong sounded after Roxanne answered the first Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round; though, the round would continue. This was due to both Adam and Charlie only having 6 points each. If the round had ended with Roxanne only answering one question correct, all three panelists would have finished the game in a three-way tie with 6 points each.
1998-10-03
- First: Roxanne Roberts 14 (4 / 5)
- Second: Adam Felber 10 (2 / 4)
- Third: Roy Blount, Jr. 4 (2 / 1)
The first segment with panel questions was labeled as "Who's Carl This Time?" on the NPR show page, but consisted of a mix of questions.
The Not My Job questions did not follow the usual three multiple choice questions. Instead, Ketzel Levine was asked a true or false question, a fill-in-the-blank, and multiple choice question.
For the first Listener Bluff, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, but Adam Felber's was correct.
For the second Listener Bluff, the listener contestant chose Roxanne's answer, which was correct.
1998-10-10
- First: Roy Blount, Jr. 7.5 (1.5 / 3)
- Second: Roxanne Roberts 7 (5 / 1)
- Third: Margo Kaufman 6.5 (2.5 / 2)
The first Who's Carl This Time? segment was played by the panelists. The second and third Who's Carl This Time? were played by listener contestants.
For the first Listener Bluff, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, which was correct.
For the second Listener Bluff, the listener contestant chose Roxanne's answer, but Margo Kaufman's was correct.
Roy Blount, Jr. and Margo started the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank segment with 1.5 and 2.5 points respectively. Their scores have been rounded up to the nearest whole numbers for the non-decimal score columns.
1998-10-17
- First: Roxanne Roberts 12.5 (4.5 / 4)
- Second: Adam Felber 9 (3 / 3)
- Third: Roy Blount, Jr. 6.5 (2.5 / 2)
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N/A
The Listener Limerick Challenge segment made its debut on this show.
For the Listener Bluff segment, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, but Adam Felber's answer was correct.
The Mystery Newsmaker segment marks the return of the original Why Should We Know Who You Are? segment.
Roy Blount, Jr. and Roxanne started the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank segment with 2.5 and 4.5 points respectively. Their scores have been rounded up to the nearest whole numbers for the non-decimal score columns.
1998-10-24
- First: Roxanne Roberts 18 (4 / 7)
- Second: Charlie Pierce 9 (3 / 3)
- Third: Nell Benjamin 6 (2 / 2)
Charlie Pierce sung a portion of Elton John's "Rocket Man" as a hint for the second question of the first Who's Carl This Time?.
For the Listener Bluff segment, the listener contestant chose Roxanne Roberts' answer, but Nell Benjamin's answer was correct.
Charlie stated that Roxanne's win of 18 points by answering seven questions correct was the all-time Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank record. On the 1998-08-15 show, Roxanne had won with 20 points (started with 8 points and answered six correct).
1998-10-31
- First: Roxanne Roberts 12.5 (4.5 / 4)
- Second: Roy Blount, Jr. 7 (1 / 3)
- Third: Charlie Pierce 3.5 (1.5 / 1)
Roy Blount, Jr. didn't know the answer for the first question of the Week in Review segment. Instead, both Charlie Pierce and Roxanne Roberts said the answer at the same time for half credit each.
For the Listener Bluff segment, the listener contestant chose Roxanne's answer, but Charlie's answer was correct.
Roxanne and Charlie started the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank segment with 4.5 and 1.5 points respectively. Their scores have been rounded up to the nearest whole numbers for the non-decimal score columns.
An audio clip of an evil laugh with screaming people replaced the sound of a gong to note the end of the one minute for each of the panelists' time for Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank.
When Peter Sagal asked Carl Kasell how many questions Roxanne needed to win, Carl said three. Roxanne had 4.5 points while Roy had a total of 7 points. Thus, Roxanne would only need to answer two questions correct for a total of 8.5 points to win.
1998-11-07
- First: Roxanne Roberts 12.5 (2.5 / 5)
- Second: Charlie Pierce 10.5 (2.5 / 4)
- Third: Adam Felber 5 (3 / 1)
For the Listener Bluff segment, the listener contestant chose Adam Felber's answer, which was correct.
Both Roxanne Roberts and Charlie Pierce started the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank segment with 2.5 points each. Their scores have been rounded up to the nearest whole numbers for the non-decimal score columns.
After all three panelists completed the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank segment, Peter Sagal said that he would only crown a champion if anyone could say the "double bubble gum bubbles double" tongue twister three times. None of the panelists could, thus Peter didn't crown a champion even if Roxanne finished in first.
1998-11-14
- First: Roxanne Roberts 14 (4 / 5)
- Second: Charlie Pierce 13 (3 / 5)
- Third: Adam Felber 7 (1 / 3)
For the Listener Bluff segment, the listener contestant chose Adam Felber's answer, but Roxanne Roberts' answer was correct.
1998-11-21
- First: Adam Felber 15 (3 / 6)
- Second Tied: Charlie Pierce 11 (3 / 4)
- Second Tied: Roxanne Roberts 11 (3 / 4)
Carl Kasell slipped and called Kevin Klose, "Kevy" when describing the topic for the Not My Job questions.
For the Listener Bluff segment, the listener contestant chose Charlie Pierce's answer, which was correct.
In trying to help the listener contestant for Who's Carl This Time? #2, Roxanne Roberts gave the answer for the first question. Carl gave the point to the listener contestant.
1998-11-28
The NPR.org site does not have a page for this show.
At the top of the show, Peter Sagal mentioned that the segments included in this Best Of show featured the following panelists: Roxanne Roberts, Roy Blount, Jr., Charlie Pierce, Adam Felber and Margo Kaufman. Margo was not included in any of the segments, but Nell Benjamin was a panelist on the show for the second featured segment.
This is the first time Peter referred to the listener bluff segment, usually labeled as "We'll Wait, You Tell Us" or "Listener Bluff" on NPR.org, as "Bluff the Listener".
The featured segments included are:
- Who's Carl This Time? #3 from 1998-09-26
- Who's Carl This Time #1 and Historical Reenactment Theatre from 1998-10-24
- Listener Bluff #1 from 1998-08-01
- Who's Carl This Time? #1 (Listener Contestant) from 1998-10-03
- Listener Bluff #2 from 1998-09-26
- Who's Garfield This Time? #1 from 1998-08-22
- We'll Wait You Tell Us (Bluff) #2 from 1998-08-22
- Who's Carl This Time? #1 from 1998-10-31
1998-12-05
- First: Sue Ellicott 14 (4 / 5)
- Second: Roxanne Roberts 12 (2 / 5)
- Third: Charlie Pierce 9 (3 / 3)
For the Listener Bluff segment, the listener contestant chose Charlie Pierce's story, which was correct. The story was related to the Not My Job questions that they had asked Kevin Klose, which the film name translations and story were a hoax.
Including the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank question that Peter Sagal asked Charlie when the gong sound was played, Charlie was asked nine questions. The current standard for Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank is that each panelist is asked eight questions.
1998-12-12
- First Tied: Roxanne Roberts 15 (3 / 6)
- First Tied: Roy Blount, Jr. 15 (3 / 6)
- Third: Adam Felber 10 (2 / 4)
This is the first show in which the NPR.org site references the listener bluff segment as "Bluff the Listener".
1998-12-19
- First: Charlie Pierce 12 (2 / 5)
- Second Tied: Roxanne Roberts 11 (3 / 4)
- Second Tied: Adam Felber 11 (5 / 3)
During Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank, before Peter Sagal asked Carl Kasell how many questions Adam Felber needed to win, Adam asked to be called "Carol", in reference to one of the questions Roxanne Roberts had. Peter then asked Carl "Alright, Carl. How many does Carol need to win?". Adam would then be called "Carol" up until the end of the segment.
1998-12-26
- First: Roxanne Roberts 13 (5 / 4)
- Second: Charlie Pierce 12 (4 / 4)
- Third: Adam Felber 6 (2 / 2)
With the show being a special 1998 Year in Review show, both Who's Carl This Time? segments contained four questions instead of the usual three. The listener contestants only needed to answer two correct to win.
The show did not close out with Predicting Next Week's Headlines, only the show's credits reading.