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Lightning Fill In The Blank

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Now on to our final game, Lightning Fill in the Blank. Each of our players will have 60 seconds in which to answer as many fill-in-the-blank questions as he or she can - each correct answer now worth 2 points. Bill, can you give us the scores?

BILL KURTIS: Faith has 4, Mo has 2 and Paula has 1.

PAULA POUNDSTONE: How was that possible?

SAGAL: I think there was some poaching.

MO ROCCA: Yeah, there was some poaching.

POUNDSTONE: How did I even get the one?

FAITH SALIE: Josh Groban took it.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: All right, Paula, you're in third place. You're up first. The clock will start when I begin your first question, fill in the blank. This week, an investigation said officers were justified in shooting one of the occupiers of a wildlife sanctuary in blank.

POUNDSTONE: Oregon?

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Sunday, former first lady and anti-drug advocate blank passed away at the age of 94.

POUNDSTONE: Nancy Reagan.

SAGAL: Yes indeed.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Monday, Denver Broncos quarterback blank officially retired from the NFL.

POUNDSTONE: Peyton Manning.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: In a sign that Americans are beginning to think differently about their health, the world's largest McDonald's is being closed to make room for blank.

POUNDSTONE: A gravesite.

SAGAL: An even larger McDonald's.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: On Wednesday, a Google-created artificial intelligence beat a world-champion player at blank.

POUNDSTONE: "Go?"

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Following a drugstore robbery, police in Minneapolis posted a surveillance...

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

SAGAL: ...Photo of the robber and asked if anyone recognized his blank.

POUNDSTONE: If anybody recognized his - I don't know, on this show, I usually like to go with ferrets down his pants.

SAGAL: So close...

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: ...If anybody recognized his butt-crack.

POUNDSTONE: Oh yeah.

SAGAL: That's what they had. They had a picture...

POUNDSTONE: Wow.

SAGAL: ...Of his butt-crack. Nobody has yet been able to positively ID the robber's half-moon. When they do arrest someone, that's going to be one police lineup you do not want to miss.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Bill, how did Paula do on our quiz?

KURTIS: Paula, you got four right. You have 8 more points, so you now have a total of 9 and the lead.

SAGAL: All right...

KURTIS: You lead everybody.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: OK, Mo, you are up next, fill in the blank. This week, former New York Mayor blank announced he would not be running for president after all.

ROCCA: Mike Bloomberg.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Monday, the Obama administration announced it would release data on the number of casualties caused by U.S. blank strikes.

ROCCA: Drones.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Tuesday, the EU and Turkey agreed to a proposal to stem the flow of blanks into Europe.

ROCCA: Migrants.

SAGAL: Or refugees.

ROCCA: Refugees.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Thursday, California's Senate voted to raise the legal smoking to blank.

ROCCA: Twenty-one.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: A tense four-hour standoff between Ohio police and an armed 75-year-old man ended when the man blanked.

ROCCA: Dropped dead.

SAGAL: No, fell asleep.

ROCCA: Oh.

SAGAL: This week, former president blank announced he no longer needs cancer treatment.

ROCCA: President Jimmy Carter.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: After she failed a drug test at the Australian Open, Nike suspended ties with Russian tennis star blank.

ROCCA: Oh, Maria Sharapova.

SAGAL: That's right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, an Australian beach town's attempt to put up a...

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

SAGAL: ...shark-proof barrier was delayed by blank.

ROCCA: An Australian beach town's attempt to put up a shark-proof barrier was delayed by meddling kangaroos.

SAGAL: No, delayed by a shark attack.

ROCCA: Oh, darn it.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: The government of Albany, Australia, announced plans to build a shark-proof swimming enclosure at the city's most-popular beach. Unfortunately, the grand opening this week was delayed when a shark swam through the open enclosure. The city's mayor says the attack is proof that a shark wall is necessary and promises not only to finish that shark wall but that he will make the sharks pay for it.

(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: All right, how did Mo do, Bill?

KURTIS: Mo's chasing Paula - six right, 12 more points, total of 14. Now he has the lead.

POUNDSTONE: There it is.

SAGAL: All right...

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: So how many then does Faith need to win and keep the trophy here in New York?

KURTIS: OK, five to tie, six to win.

SAGAL: All right, here we go, Faith. This is for the game. On Tuesday, Attorney General Loretta Lynch withdrew from consideration for the open blank seat.

SALIE: Supreme Court.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, a former militant leaked the personal information of over 20,000 members of blank to the media.

SALIE: ISIS.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Tuesday, China and South Korea tightened their sanctions against blank.

SALIE: North Korea.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Thursday, Iran rejected claims that a recent missile test violated the blank deal it reached with the U.S.

SALIE: Oh, weapons.

SAGAL: Yeah, well, nuclear weapons...

SALIE: Nuclear weapon.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, a newly-discovered species of spider in Australia was named blank.

SALIE: Scary.

SAGAL: No, it was named Brian - Brian the spider. Police in suburban Chicago pulled over a woman...

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

SAGAL: ...After they noticed she was driving with blank.

POUNDSTONE: Oh.

SALIE: Oh.

SAGAL: Oh.

SALIE: Paula knows this. She was driving with Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

SAGAL: No. She was driving...

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: ...With a 15-foot tree standing upright in the grill of her car.

ROCCA: Oh, I saw that.

SALIE: What?

SAGAL: And it was very funny.

SAGAL: Yes, it was.

ROCCA: I mean, yeah...

SAGAL: According to the officer on duty, as a trained traffic cop, he could immediately tell that the driver was intoxicated by the way she answered his question about the fact she was driving around with a 15-foot tree stuck in her bumper.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Bill...

ROCCA: It was a pine tree, so the car smelled great.

SAGAL: Of course. Bill, did faith do well enough to win?

KURTIS: Well, she got four write, 8 more points, 12 total.

POUNDSTONE: Uh-oh.

KURTIS: The answer is no. She's second...

(LAUGHTER)

KURTIS: ...And Mo's the winner.

SAGAL: Thank goodness.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Now, in just a minute, we're going to ask our panelists what will be the big thing to come out of the U.S.-Canada summit meeting that happened in Washington this week.

WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME is a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago in association with Urgent Haircut Productions - Doug Berman, benevolent overlord. Philipp Goedicke writes our limericks. Our intern is Isabellbottoms Robertson (ph). Our web guru is Beth Novey. B.J. Leiderman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Miles Doornbos. Technical direction is from Lorna White. Our CFO is Ann Nguyen. Our production coordinator is Showbiz Birthday-Boy Newhouse. Thanks to the crew here at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Our senior producer is Ian Chillag. The executive producer of WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME is Michael Danforth. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.