Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! Stats Page
Show Details: 2014
2014-01-04
- Jeff Garlin 2
- John Hodgman 2
- Amy Sedaris 1
- Tig Notaro 2
- Jim Gaffigan 2
2014-01-11
- First: Adam Felber 17 (3 / 7)
- Second: Charlie Pierce 15 (3 / 6)
- Third: Paula Poundstone 12 (2 / 5)
Mary Maitlin cursed and was bleeped when she tried to skirt from saying her nickname for George W. Bush, yet Peter said that it was included in her book.
Possibly due to editing of the show, there were only six dings to Adam Felber's seven correct answers. Carl Kasell noted the correct amount for points.
2014-01-18
- First: Amy Dickinson 14 (2 / 6)
- Second: Luke Burbank 13 (3 / 5)
- Third: P.J. O'Rourke 12 (2 / 5)
When Peter started to ask Amy a question for the second panelist round, Amy responded begrudgingly with "Ugh... what?".
2014-01-25
- First: Jessi Klein 16 (4 / 6)
- Second: Hannibal Buress 13 (1 / 6)
- Third: Brian Babylon 12 (2 / 5)
The edited version of the show only had 7 of 8 questions for Hannibal Buress, with five being answered correctly. Carl stated that Hannibal answered 6 correctly, meaning that the question cut was answered correctly or there was a mis-count. If Hannibal had answered only 5 questions correct, he would have had a total of 11 points.
When Peter asked Carl how many questions Jessi had to answer to win, Carl stated that she would need "4 to tie, 5 to win outright". That would only be true if Brian Babylon was in the lead with 12 points against Hannibal's 11 points, not 13 as Carl tallied. There would be no way for Jessi to tie with Hannibal due to Jessi starting the round with an even number of points while Hannibal started and ended with an odd number.
In the end, it didn't matter for Jessi had more than enough correct answers to surpass either Hannibal or Brian. But, it does affect placement for Hannibal and Brian as their placement would actually get swapped.
2014-02-01
- First: Mo Rocca 16 (2 / 7)
- Second Tied: Tom Bodett 15 (3 / 6)
- Second Tied: Faith Salie 15 (3 / 6)
The last time Mo Rocca was on the show (2013-11-16), Carl Kasell incorrectly counted and stated Roy Blount, Jr.'s score and give Roy the win, even though Mo Rocca actually had won. There was no mention about it on this show, though Mo Rocca did win and scores were counted properly.
2014-02-08
- First: Roxanne Roberts 16 (4 / 6)
- Second Tied: Tom Bodett 14 (2 / 6)
- Second Tied: Paula Poundstone 14 (2 / 6)
During the discussion about the conditions that journalists saw in Sochi prior to the opening ceremony at the Sochi Olympics and comparing them in the US, Tom started to describe Motel 6 without using their name; Tom Bodett is famous for being Motel 6's spokesperson.
Right after Peter explained the premise of the Bluff the Listener round to the listener, the listener asked if Roxanne was on the panel. When it was confirmed, the listener stated that he didn't have to go through the "charade" and picked Roxanne. This is in reference the number of times where Roxanne's bluff is chosen due to the believability of her stories, even if those stories are not correct ones. Peter Guralnick made a reference to this right before his first Not My Job question.
Peter Sagal accidentally said Ginger Roberts instead of Ginger Rogers. Both Peters had fun with this throughout the third Not My Job question.
2014-02-15
- First: Kyrie O'Connor 18 (4 / 7)
- Second: Maz Jobrani 14 (2 / 6)
- Third: Brian Babylon 8 (2 / 3)
Another instance in which Maz Jobrani used an accent in which both Peter and Maz noted that it could lead to more letters coming in from angry listeners.
2014-02-22
- First Tied: Faith Salie 16 (4 / 6)
- First Tied: Alonzo Bodden 16 (4 / 6)
- Third: Roy Blount, Jr. 13 (3 / 5)
2014-03-01
2014-03-08
- First: Adam Felber 17 (3 / 7)
- Second: Faith Salie 16 (2 / 7)
- Third: Mike Birbiglia 13 (3 / 5)
While the panelists were discussing the recent changes to the SAT exam, Faith Salie decided to use some elaborate words that one might find the SAT exams, stating that everyone uses such words.
During the first panelist round, Peter was about to give Faith a hint and he said "here's your excuse" instead of "here's your hint". Hilarity ensued.
When Peter was reading the first Not My Job question, he said "In 2011, an undercover sting, ha, run by...". The "ha" was in reference to The Police's front man Sting. After answering the last Not My Job question, Stewart sung a dramatic tune as Peter was about to say that the answer was correct. While Peter rejected Stewart's answer and started to explain the correct answer, Stewart sung a "fail" tune in response.
Not too much laughter (or groaning) happened when Peter Sagal used "rhymean" as the Listener Limerick Challenge pun prior to the second panelist round. Peter then stated, "that one was good".
2014-03-15
- First: Charlie Pierce 15 (3 / 6)
- Second: Cindy Chupack 11 (3 / 4)
- Third: Paula Poundstone 10 (2 / 4)
Paula Poundstone hit her stride when it came to the topic of cats, which started during the first panelist round and continued on to the Bluff the Listener round about alternate uses of cats.
2014-03-22
- First: Brian Babylon 17 (3 / 7)
- Second: Amy Dickinson 15 (3 / 6)
- Third: Bobcat Goldthwait 12 (2 / 5)
During the second panelist round, there was a clarification on hips vs booty thanks to Brian Babylon. Also during the same round, Amy gave a hint to Brian's question that ended up being the correct answer. Amy refused to take the point and wanted to give it to Brian; so, Peter conferred with Carl and Carl gave the point to Brian.
For the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank segment, Brian Babylon had received 8 bell dings for all eight questions answered. The transcript on NPR's site missed the ding for the "China" answer, even though it was correct and Brian did get a ding for his answer of "dancers". The overall standings did not change as Amy wouldn't have answered enough questions correctly to beat or tie Brian.
2014-03-29
- First Tied: Tom Bodett 17 (3 / 7)
- First Tied: Roy Blount, Jr. 17 (3 / 7)
- Third: Kyrie O'Connor 16 (2 / 7)
Roy Blount Jr. sung a little ditty during the Who's Carl This Time? round on the topic of contraceptives that featured "rubber cement".
2014-04-05
- First: Roxanne Roberts 16 (4 / 6)
- Second: Paula Poundstone 15 (3 / 6)
- Third: P.J. O'Rourke 14 (2 / 6)
Paula and P.J. had a lively discussion about the study of birds getting "divorced" during the first panelist round. The Bluff the Listener contestant seemed to have had some kind of dating experience that influenced her choice of Roxanne's bluff.
Another instance in which all three panelists answered six questions correctly.
2014-04-12
- First: Luke Burbank 18 (4 / 7)
- Second Tied: Amy Dickinson 12 (2 / 5)
- Second Tied: Charlie Pierce 12 (2 / 5)
The audience's tradition of chanting "Luuuuuuke" continues in force today and was also done by Peter, the panel and the audience when Luke Burbank spectacularly won the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round.
The thick Chicago accent that Carl used in the first Limerick flummoxed the listener contestant, who is a court reporter and transcribes what is said in court. He quietly repeated the last words of each line in the second limerick, to which Peter and the panel picked up. He also had a wee bit of a hard time trying to come up with the correct rhyme for the last limerick.
Someone peeped in while Peter was doing the intro for the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round. Amy tried to get Peter and Carl accept "monkey" as a correct answer, but it wasn't the first answer she provided, which was "tiger", and the correct answer was "chimpanzee". A chimpanzee is an ape and not a monkey, which Peter said that listeners would write in if the two were mixed up.
"Get these mother-farting cows off... this mother-farted (sic) plane!". Enough said.
2014-04-19
2014-04-26
- First: Kyrie O'Connor 16 (2 / 7)
- Second: Roy Blount, Jr. 12 (2 / 5)
- Third: Brian Babylon 9 (3 / 3)
In the edited version of the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round, they only included two of the three correct answers that Carl said Brian Babylon had.
2014-05-03
- First Tied: Alonzo Bodden 15 (3 / 6)
- First Tied: Adam Felber 15 (3 / 6)
- Third: Paula Poundstone 7 (3 / 2)
Another instance in which all three panelists started the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round with a three way tie. The last time that occurred was back in 2013-08-03 where all three panelists also started the round with three points each.
2014-05-10
- First: Tom Bodett 16 (4 / 6)
- Second: Jessi Klein 14 (2 / 6)
- Third: Brian Babylon 10 (2 / 4)
- Rob Lowe 0
This is Carl Kasell's last Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! show taped live at Chase Auditorium in Chicago, IL.
While Tom Bodett was reading this Bluff the Listener story, he slipped and said "killin' spree" instead of "Killenburg". When Tom could not come up with an answer for two Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank questions, he defaulted with an answer involving a hamster eating a tiny pizza.
2014-05-17
- First: Paula Poundstone 16 (4 / 6)
- Second: Mo Rocca 15 (3 / 6)
- Third: Roxanne Roberts 14 (2 / 6)
This is Carl Kasell's last Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! show before retiring and becoming Wait Wait's Scorekeeper Emeritus.
I was able to attend the live taping at the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC.
During the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round, Mo Rocca had only answered five questions correctly but Carl Kasell stated that Mo Rocca had answered six correct. Paula Poundstone answered seven questions correctly and Carl also stated that Paula had only answered six. The correct scores and ranking for the panelists should be: Paula Poundstone in 1st with 18 points, Roxanne Roberts in 2nd with 14 points and Mo Rocca in 3rd with 13 points.
2014-05-24
- First: Charlie Pierce 17 (3 / 7)
- Second: Kyrie O'Connor 15 (3 / 6)
- Third: Roy Blount, Jr. 14 (4 / 5)
Starting with this week's show, Bill Kurtis is the new official judge and scorekeeper for Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
The questions from the "Secrets of the Amazon.com" segment were originally asked at the previous week's Wait Wait to Mo, Paula and Roxanne. That segment was cut from the airing of the show due to time constraints. The writers re-used the question for this week's show.
2014-05-31
- First: Adam Felber 13 (3 / 5)
- Second: Amy Dickinson 12 (4 / 4)
- Third: Rosie Perez 10 (2 / 4)
Peter and panel had a bit of fun with Bill Kurtis's impressions of Barack Obama and John Kerry sounding almost the same. Rosie Perez's accent was the source of some fun when she said "Starbucks Coffee". The "sexagintuple" Starbucks coffee drink had 60 shots of espresso, not 30 as mentioned by Peter.
The listener contestant for Bluff the Listener is a "father" of cats, which was quite apropos for the topic of the bluffs.
2014-06-07
- First: Peter Grosz 13 (3 / 5)
- Second: Jessi Klein 12 (2 / 5)
- Third: Mo Rocca 11 (3 / 4)
- Tim Gunn 2
2014-06-14
- First: Ophira Eisenberg 14 (4 / 5)
- Second: Tom Bodett 12 (2 / 5)
- Third: Brian Babylon 10 (2 / 4)
2014-06-21
- First: Maz Jobrani 15 (3 / 6)
- Second: Kyrie O'Connor 14 (4 / 5)
- Third: P.J. O'Rourke 5 (1 / 2)
2014-06-28
- First: Luke Burbank 16 (4 / 6)
- Second: Roxanne Roberts 14 (2 / 6)
- Third: Shelby Fero 10 (2 / 4)
2014-07-05
The Not My Job segment with Terry Crews and the Bluff the Listener round came from the 2014-03-22 show.
2014-07-12
- First: Paula Poundstone 14 (4 / 5)
- Second: Tom Bodett 12 (2 / 5)
- Third: Brian Babylon 10 (2 / 4)
2014-07-19
- First: Roy Blount, Jr. 15 (3 / 6)
- Second: Roxanne Roberts 13 (3 / 5)
- Third: Bobcat Goldthwait 9 (1 / 4)
This and the following two Wait Wait shows were taped at the Nourse Theatre in San Francisco, CA while Chase Auditorium gets some work done.
2014-07-26
- First Tied: Luke Burbank 12 (2 / 5)
- First Tied: Brian Babylon 12 (2 / 5)
- Third: Amy Dickinson 11 (3 / 4)
2014-08-02
- First Tied: Paula Poundstone 12 (4 / 4)
- First Tied: Maz Jobrani 12 (2 / 5)
- Third: Alonzo Bodden 10 (2 / 4)
- Amy Tan 2
2014-08-09
2014-08-16
2014-08-23
2014-08-30
- First: Paula Poundstone 14 (2 / 6)
- Second: Adam Felber 13 (3 / 5)
- Third: Roy Blount, Jr. 12 (2 / 5)
During the Listener Limerick Challenge round, Bill Kurtis noted that he wanted to learn more about doing the Limericks from the master. With that, Carl Kasell came on on-stage to do the Limericks for Bill Kurtis.
2014-09-06
- First Tied: Adam Felber 12 (4 / 4)
- First Tied: Faith Salie 12 (2 / 5)
- First Tied: Mike Birbiglia 12 (2 / 5)
Both Loudon Wainwright III and his son, Rufus Wainwright (who was the Not My Job guest for the 2009-11-14 show), answered two Not My Job questions correctly.
In the edited version of the show, Mike Birbiglia's Lightning Fill in the Black round only included six questions, with four answered correctly. During Adam Felber's round, he coasted after answering four questions correctly, leading to a three-way tie.
2014-09-13
- First: Moshe Kasher 12 (4 / 4)
- Second: Roxanne Roberts 10 (2 / 4)
- Third: Brian Babylon 8 (2 / 3)
Richard Lewis interrupted Peter Sagal several times when Peter was trying to read his introduction, which lead to hilarity. Also, while Richard Lewis was on the phone, his breathing into the phone was quite noticeable and that lead to a bit of laughing and a good amount of bantering.
Bill Kurtis accepted Brian Babylon's answer of "atmosphere" for a Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank question which had the appropriate answer of "ozone layer". The edited version of the show only included six Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank questions for Brian, in which he answered two correctly. The third answer would have been for one of the two questions that got edited out.
2014-09-20
- First: Maz Jobrani 15 (3 / 6)
- Second Tied: Paula Poundstone 12 (2 / 5)
- Second Tied: Luke Burbank 12 (2 / 5)
I got a chance to go to the show in Seattle. I participated in the audience's chanting of "Luuuuuuke" when Luke Burbank was introduced or mentioned.
Due to the pending results of the Scottish independence vote as of taping, they recorded two versions of the first Who's Bill This Time? question, one version for each potential outcome in case the vote when the other direction.
There was a lot of jokes and references made during the taping surrounding the understanding of what makes up the United Kingdom, which was started by Paula's mention of not understanding what the United Kingdom is. Some of those jokes and references were cut out in the edited version of the show.
Edited out of the show was a joke that Paula Poundstone made about naming a front-facing fanny pack a "dicky pack".
2014-09-27
- First: Tom Bodett 17 (3 / 7)
- Second: Kyrie O'Connor 11 (3 / 4)
- Third: Shelby Fero 8 (2 / 3)
2014-10-04
- First: Faith Salie 15 (3 / 6)
- Second: Charlie Pierce 12 (2 / 5)
- Third: Paula Poundstone 9 (3 / 3)
Both former Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, who was the Not My Job guest on the 2010-02-06 show, and current Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz each only answered one Not My Job question correctly.
2014-10-11
2014-10-18
- First: Roxanne Roberts 15 (3 / 6)
- Second: Faith Salie 14 (2 / 6)
- Third: Tom Bodett 13 (3 / 5)
During the second panelist round and after discussing a bit about Larry, Peter called Faith, "Larry," by accident. In the same round, Peter also integrated the Pimsleur Language Learning System name, who is commonly an NPR sponsor, into the explanation of a panelist question.
Right after the listener, who lives in Pittsburgh where the show was being taped, playing the Listener Limerick Challenge was introduced read a limerick that she had written.
When Peter was providing the correct answer and story behind Faith's last question in the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round, Peter made a comment about people smelling like old motels, he said, "no offense, Tom." That is in reference to Tom Bodett being the spokesperson for Motel 6.
In the edited version of the show, the gong sound started while Peter was asking Tom the next to the last question, versus the last question, but continued to fade out while asking the last question.
2014-10-25
- First: Roy Blount, Jr. 15 (3 / 6)
- Second: Brian Babylon 12 (2 / 5)
- Third: Amy Dickinson 11 (3 / 4)
2014-11-01
- First: Kyrie O'Connor 17 (3 / 7)
- Second: Alonzo Bodden 14 (2 / 6)
- Third: Luke Burbank 12 (2 / 5)
2014-11-08
- First: Faith Salie 15 (3 / 6)
- Second: Tom Bodett 14 (2 / 6)
- Third: Bobcat Goldthwait 11 (3 / 4)
2014-11-15
- First: Maz Jobrani 14 (2 / 6)
- Second Tied: Alonzo Bodden 11 (3 / 4)
- Second Tied: Roxanne Roberts 11 (3 / 4)
The listener contestant for the Who's Bill This Time? round didn't know about the photo of Kim Kardasdian's naked butt, which was enough for Bill to give her all three points for the round on principle.
During the Not My Job segment, Ron Perlman had to step away for a moment after there was a bit of dog barking in the background. Ron asked upon Alonzo's thoughts for the second question, both were correct.
2014-11-22
- First: Amy Dickinson 18 (4 / 7)
- Second: Paula Poundstone 14 (2 / 6)
- Third: P.J. O'Rourke 6 (2 / 2)
During Paula's Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round, she had a bit of help from P.J. on answering one of the questions. In response, Paula said that she cheated after Peter and Bill took her correct answer. After her round ended, she asked if she could have that applied to P.J. and deducted from her score (in which Paula would have 12 points, not 10 as she mentioned).
2014-11-29
2014-12-06
- First: Adam Felber 16 (4 / 6)
- Second: Faith Salie 15 (3 / 6)
- Third: Mo Rocca 12 (2 / 5)
Mo Rocca returns back to Wait Wait in only the way that Mo can: with his numerous wild and meandering guess during the second panel round. It got to the point where, I think, Adam yelled "Bill take away a point!" when Mo made a "hail Mary" of a guess.
During Mo's Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round, while Mo was trying to figure out the answer to the last question, Faith Salie said, "this is where the lightning round becomes an electrical storm". Adam Felber said it was more like a Van de Graaff generator.
2014-12-13
- First: Charlie Pierce 16 (4 / 6)
- Second: Tom Bodett 14 (2 / 6)
- Third: Shelby Fero 7 (3 / 2)
At the beginning of the Bluff the Listener round, Bill Kurtis stated the name of the game, "Come here often, Ellie?", Ellie (the listener contestant) responded with "I'm sorry?".
During the Not My Job interview, Sir Patrick Stewart said "Space, the final frontier" in a French accent.
There was no gong sound before, during or after Charlie Pierce's last Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank question denoting it was the last question.
2014-12-20
- First: Roxanne Roberts 16 (4 / 6)
- Second: Paula Poundstone 14 (2 / 6)
- Third: Maz Jobrani 13 (3 / 5)
Two of Paula Poundstone's Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round questions dealt with shoplifting and the answer of "Shop with a Cop". Paula didn't answer the first one correctly, but correctly answered the second one. The edited version of the show only had Paula answering five questions correctly versus six according to Bill Kurtis. The sixth one was probably edited it out for time.
2014-12-27
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