Show Details: 2017

Tom Hanks used the phrase similar to "hands on buzzer" a couple of times. Tom Hanks also called Bill Kurtis "Bill Kurtis with a K" a couple of times as well. Paula Poundstone used the last name "Swamu" again in her Bluff the Listener story.

Daniel Handler chose the answer "C" for all three of his Not My Job questions

After the mention of the "Meow The Jewels" album during the Not My Job segment, cat meowing sounds can be heard in the background. Also, at the end of the Not My Job segment, Peter slipped and said "Run The Jews" instead of "Run The Jewels". For Maz Jobrani's second Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank question, he initially answered "NAFTA" and quickly changed it to "TPP" and Peter Sagal accepted it. All three panelists answered six Lightning round questions correct.

Faith Salie was bleeped twice while telling her bluff story. Mavis Staples did touch on the rumors of and the level of relationship with Bob Dylan during her first Not My Job guest appearance on 2008-12-20.

Due to weather, both Bill Kurtis and the planned Not My Job guest, Lena Dunham, could not make it; so, Glynn Washington stepped in as guest judge and scorekeeper and Stephen Colbert stepped in as the Not My Job guest. During the first Panel Round, Mo Rocca took umbrage that Peter Grosz got a point for his, not-quite-on-the-spot answer. Peter Grosz said he didn't deserve the point. Peter Sagal quipped back saying that, off all people, Mo shouldn't be complaining. Glynn Washington stated that he would give the point to Peter Grosz. The Not My Job segment started off differently in that Stephen Colbert had to first guess who he was stepping in for as Not My Job guest. Although Stephen Colbert did not correctly answer the third, proper, Not My Job question, Glynn Washington still gave him the point. The last time there was an exception made for the Not My Job round was almost exactly one year earlier on the 2016-02-13 show. During the second Panel Round, Glynn Washington said that he would take away a point from Mo Rocca for making a bris pizza joke. Mo Rocca would then "get" that point back during the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank segment for his eigth answwer, which involved the Brexit. That said, Mo Rocca entered the Lightning round with 2 points, answered six correctly and came out with 14 points. If Mo Rocca had actually lost a point earlier and actually entered the segment with 2 points, Mo would have had a total of 15 points (14 plus the one point re-instated).

While Peter was chatting with the listener contestant at the beginning of Listener Limerick Challenge, Peter excused himself as he started to sneeze. The listener called one of his sneezes over the phone. Not sure if the order of the questions asked for each panelist was left as-is during the editing process or not; but, all three panelists answered the same number of questions correctly in the same order: four correct, one incorrect, two correct, and the last one incorrect.

When Mo was trying to come up with the correct answer for his sixth Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round question, he dismissed Instagram and Snapchat, but Snapchat was the correct answer and Mo started saying "Snap" a couple of times. After not immediately getting a ding, Mo said "Ding" and got his bell ding sound. While Peter was explaining the answer to the Roxanne's last question of the round, in which the Venezuelan skier not having seen snow before and thus fell and got up more than 30 times during the run, Peter said, "if at first you don't succeed try... again" phrase with 36 instances of the word "try".

Jesse Klein stated that she was the first female guest host of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!; but, Susan Stamberg was actually the first female guest host the show back in August 2000. The show that Susan hosted aired on 2000-08-12. During Alonzo Bodden's Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round, Alonzo answered the last question in the round with "Ran". The official, correct answer was "waited, got impatient and left". Alonzo wanted Bill to give him the points. Bill stated that hew would get "two points for that answer"; but, that was not reflected in the final score.

Even though Paul Shaffer did not answer any of his Not My Job questions correctly, Bill Kurtis called him a winner because it was the "Chicago Way". For Adam Burke's second Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round question, he initially answered "spacecraft"; but, then Peter started saying "No..." causing Adam to change his answer to "Tesla". Even though the first answer is what is supposed to be used, Peter and Bill gave Adam credit for his second answer.

Charley Pride had a lot of help from the audience when it came to answering the first two Not My Job questions correct. For the third one, Peter Sagal outright told Charley that the third one was correct before Charley provided his guess.

When Gov. John Hickenlooper was provided the three choices for the third Not My Job question, the audience started yelling out "C". That is the answer he went with and it was correct. After the Listener Limerick Challenge contestant gave her introduction, Paula jumped in and was starting to go Columbo on the listener. Alonzo said that Paula had been set off by something that was said earlier and was in a mood. Paula was stuttering and stammering through her prediction at the end of the show.

Jessi Klein was the guest host for the first segment and Tom Hanks was the guest host for the last two segments of this Best Of... show

The listener contestant for the Who's Bill This Time? segment is a Latin adjunct instructor and was asked to say "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" in Latin and did so. When Faith Salie read the quotes that she used in her Bluff the Listener story, she attempted a New Zealand accent that was closer to how Dick Van Dyke sounded in Mary Poppins. When revealing the correct answer, the New Zealander speaking in the recording had a very mild accent and that shocked Faith. The answer to one of Faith's Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank questions was the Teresa May, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Mo Rocca's Bluff story was about... Teresa May, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Even though Guy Ritchie knew that correct answer for the first Not My Job question was "C", but opted to answer with "B" as he liked it better. At the end of the Not My Job segment, Bill Kurtis said that Guy "got them all right". Although that is correct due to guy knowing all the correct questions, but did not opt to choose the right one for the first one.

After Hannah Kearney gave her first guess to the second Not My Job question, the audience started shouting out answers. Hannah asked if she could poll the audience, in which they shouted "C". Hannah changed her answer to "C", which was the correct answer. After Peter listed the three possible answers for the third question, the audience started shouting out "C" again, which Hannah chose and it was the correct answer as well. During the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank segment, Alonzo Bodden was trying to come up with the answer "Kim Jong Un" and, according to Peter, was close enough with "Kim Jong Il". Alonzo also tried to remember Jared Kushner's last name and knew it was a "Jared". Peter said that was enough and accepted the partial answer.

The correct answer for all three Not My Job questions were "C". After Faith Salie answered all eight of her Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank questions correct, Bill Kurtis mentioned that 19 points is the highest score that he has seen since becoming judge and scorekeeper. Looking at the data, Bill is correct and the only other times in which someone scored 19 points, three times in fact, when Bill as scorekeeper was Roxanne Roberts.

All three panelists have first names that start with the letter "A". Last time that happened was on 2016-04-02 and also had the same three panelists. After Alonzo Bodden finished answering the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round questions, Bill Kurtis said that he answered 4 correct for 8 more points, and a total of 10 points. Alonzo started with 3 points and 8 more would total 11 points. Recording the corrected score with this footnote.

This is the second time in which the show featured an all women panel. The first time was 2015-09-12, which also featured Faith Salie and Paula Poundstone (along with Roxanne Roberts). The last time that Bill Kurtis used "Legendary Anchorman" in his intro was back on a non-Best Of show was 2015-04-18. Faith Salie gave an assist to the listener after Bill Kurtis read the second limerick by speaking in a robotic voice. After Tracy finished answering her Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank questions and Peter asked how many Faith would need to win, Tracy asked Faith to throw the game; because, it was Tracy's first time on the show.

The Bluff the Listener contestant originally chose Roy Blount, Jr.'s bluff; but, the audience reacted strong against the choice. The listener then changed over to Amy Dickinson's bluff and was correct.

The correct answer for the third Not My Job question was not just one of the three possible answers, but all three; which, Eddie Izzard guessed correctly. There was some pen or button clicking sound during a couple of segments during the show, but most evident during Alonzo Bodden's Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round. Alonzo took a little long to come up with an answer for his third Lightning question and Peter reminded him that it was the "Lightning" round.

Even though Bernie Parent answered two of three questions correct, Bill Kurtis gave him credit for all three. The second panelist round featured a correction and addressing items from letters and comments that they received from listeners regarding the previous show.

The audience reacted when Bassem Youssef his first guess for his third Not My Job question, thus leading to Peter Sagal giving Bassam another chance. While Paula was trying to figure out the correct answer to her second panel round question, Peter gave her hints to narrow down to the correct answer. During the Listener Limerick Challenge, the topic of people listening to podcasts at "Chipmunk" speed. That lead to Paula saying that people would hear "Thanks for having me, Peter. I lose!" when people would listen to her on Wait Wait at chipmunk speed. Bill Kurtis stated that Tom Bodett's 17 points was the highest score he's seen since being on the show. There have been 4 times where panelists have scored 19 points and 10 times where panelists have scored 18 points on shows where Bill was judge and scorekeeper.

Adam Felber started questioning Peter about the UK study that found people who drive over two hours a day get dumber; in which, Peter responded back with, "What, are you Paula?" Adam is on Paula Poundstone's "Live from the Poundstone Institute" podcast from NPR.

The Bluff the Listener contestant initially chose Patton Oswalt's bluff story, but the audience reacted disapprovingly. After some nudging from Peter, the contestant changed her choice over to Adam Burke's story. During the Not My Job segment, Faith Salie asked Jeffery Tambor what his favorite book was. Jeffery decided to start eating something instead of answering the question, causing Patton asking Jeffery if he was eating. The Listener Limerick Challenge contestant is a distant relative to Abner Doubleday, who, in some circles, has been credited at one point (but refuted) with creating baseball.

After Peter Sagal read the three options for the first Not My Job question, someone in the audience yelled out "C" and Jerry Rice chose to go with "C"; which, was the correct answer. The audience also helped out by yelling "A" for the second Not My Job question. Peter asked the same Bill Murray going to see performances of a play adaptation of "Groundhog Day" on all three panelists during Lightning Fill-in-the-blank. When asked if Alonzo Bodden was ready to start his set of Lightning round questions, he asked if he could concede.

The guest scorekeeper for the Not My Job segment with Stephen Colbert was Glynn Washington and the segment came from the 2017-02-11 show. Information regarding the scoring exception can be found in the show notes for that show.

This show is an encore presentation of the Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! show that aired on 2017-01-14. Tom Hanks used the phrase similar to "hands on buzzer" a couple of times. Tom Hanks also called Bill Kurtis "Bill Kurtis with a K" a couple of times as well. Paula Poundstone used the last name "Swamu" again in her Bluff the Listener story.

All three of the options for the third Not My Job question were actually correct; as, all three titles are actually centaur-related books available on Amazon. Mo Rocca asked if his panelist prediction would be inapproprioate to read or not.

The listener contestant for the Limerick segment forgot that the answer has to fit the limerick's rhyme scheme for the first limerick; but, he was given a second chance to give the correct answer. Peter Sagal accepted P.J. O'Rourke's beating around the bush answer for P.J.'s fourth Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank question.

Peter slipped up and said "Burr! Burr!" instead of "Blur! Blur!" in response to the dating app referenced in the first Listener Limerick. Peter said that he had "Hamilton" on his mind. The listener contestant's answer for the third limerick was "Build a Bear", which was not correct but Peter accepted it due to its funny nature and that the listener's service to the nation. Peter accepted Hari's answer of "Head of Hillary Clinton" for a Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank question regarding Martin Shkrelli's request for Hillary Clinton's hair.

The listener contestant answered "gross, disgusting fish" for the third Listener Limerick and Peter Sagal accepted the answer. The correct answer was "gefilte fish".

Adam Scott had a bit of help from Mo Rocca, and some from the audience, with the third Not My Job question. Amy asked Peter for a hint for her last Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank question, but Peter said it was established that no hints were given. Amy then asked if the answer involved cheese and Peter said that answering that would be giving a hint. Peter accepted Alonzo's answer of "a note" for his last Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank question. The correct answer was "40 bucks, half a joint and a note"

The order in which the Not My Job guest segments were included in this Best Of show also matches the chronological order in which the guests originally appeared as guests on the show. The three guests were also consecutive Not My Job guests, with a Best Of show airing between the shows that Bernie Parent and Aubrey Plaza were on, respectively.

Starting with this show, the winners can now choose which host, scorekeeper or panelist they would like to record their answering machine or voicemail message.

The audience chanted "Luuuuuuke" when Luke Burbank was introduced and after winning the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank segment. Adam Burke flexed his French accents while telling his Bluff the Listener story.

Scott Kelly got a little nudge from Peter Sagal after he provided his first choice for the first Not My Job question. Scott changed his answer to "C", which was the correct answer. During the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank segment, Helen Hong answered "China" for her fourth question; which, Peter accepted it as a correct answer. The answer that they were looking for was "Asia".

Roxanne Roberts is the first panelist to break the 20 point barrier with her perfect run of the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank segment.

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! taped two shows while in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 19th and 20th. The Bluff the Listener and the Not My Job segments included on this Best Of show comes from the show that taped on October 20th. Normally, the chosen bluff and the correct bluff from Bluff the Listener segments re-aired on Best Of shows do not get noted in the Stats Page database. In this case, the Bluff the Listener segment was not aired as part of a regular Wait Wait show, I have noted the chosen and correct bluff information for this show. Another instance of Mo Rocca using the surname "Bagnoli" in his Bluff the Listener story.

There was much chanting of "Luuuuuuke!" by the audience at the Moore Theatre when Luke was introduced on the panel and some of the inter-segment transitions.

All three questions about actors method acting were about actor Shia LaBeouf. The correct answers for the Not My Job were, in order: A, B and C. After Faith Salie answered her Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank questions, Bill Kurtis said that she only answered five correct. According to the number of bell dings given for Faith Salie's Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank answers, and Peter Sagal's respoenses after Faith gave her answers, Faith answered six questions correct. Faith should have had a total of 15 points instead of 13. The score listed reflects the official record as stated by Bill Kurtis.

Bill Kurtis was bleeped when giving the theme for the Bluff the Listener segment. While telling her Bluff story, Negin started to list off guillotine-related pun names for various recipes that could be prepared with a kitchen guillotine and then said, "This is so stupid"

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! taped two shows while in San Francisco, California on August 10th and 11th. The Bluff the Listener and the Not My Job segments included on this Best Of show comes from the show that taped on August 11th. Normally, the chosen bluff and the correct bluff from Bluff the Listener segments re-aired on Best Of shows do not get noted in the Stats Page database. In this case, the Bluff the Listener segment was not aired as part of a regular Wait Wait show, I have noted the chosen and correct bluff information for this show. The first segment features Tom Hanks as guest host on the show that aired on 2017-01-14. Mo Rocca tried to persuade Lars Ulrich to change his choice for the first Not My Job question. Lars asked the audience for help and many of them shouted out "B"; but, Lars stuck with "A", which was not correct. Mo said, "It's not that" after Peter Sagal read the second option for the second question. The audience was split on which answer they thought was correct. And, before Lars started to come up with an answer for the third question, the audience started outing out answers, many agreeing on "B".