Chapters
Shownotes Transcript
Support for Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me and the following message come from Dave's Killer Bread. Now with the new Rock and Rolls, soft and slightly sweet and packed with seeds and grains. Learn more at Dave'sKillerBread.com or look for Dave's Killer Bread in the bread aisle of your local grocery store. Dave's Killer Bread. Bread Amplified.
From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm the spirit of Christmas who visits you at midnight and then ends up staying for breakfast. Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago, Peter Sago. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, everybody. So...
So we have made it to the end of our 25th anniversary year and now it is time to party. The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire.
But before that, we still have two more weeks to celebrate the fact we've been able to do this for a quarter century. Helped in part because really impressive people keep showing up to talk to us. For example, Oscar-winning actor Gina Davis. When she joined us in February of this year, she told guest host Tom Papa that she was a fan of ours. Hopefully, she wasn't just auditioning for the role of NPR nerd. Gina Davis, welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.
Hi everybody, hi, thank you so much. I'm so excited, I listen every week, I'm like really excited to be on the show. That's nice to hear. It's so nice to talk to you, it really is an honor. When you go down the list of your films, I mean there's such big impactful films throughout your career, it's amazing. Yeah, like Earth Girls are easy. That's the top of my list.
Pretty much all of your roles have been iconic, but we heard one of your earliest acting gigs was at Ann Taylor. Is that right? Yes, Ann Taylor, yes, in New York City. When I moved to New York, I immediately got a job as a sales clerk at Ann Taylor. And one week, the window in the front that's on 57th and 5th
had mannequins sitting at a little like cafe table with plastic food in front of them. And I was all dressed up in Ann Taylor clothes and everything. And I said, hey, to my friends, dare me to go and sit in that chair. And they said, yeah, yeah, go ahead, do it. And I got, I sat in the chair. And so soon a crowd gathered because people kept saying,
what are you looking at? I guess they thought they were looking at three mannequins. And why are you staring at it? And they said, just wait, just wait. As they figured I had a blink at some point, which I did. And everybody went, woo, woo. Finally, the manager came because there was so much noise. I said, Jenna, get out of the window. But then she realized so many people had gathered and she said, stay in the window. So
They hired me every Saturday to be a mannequin in the window. Wow, that's amazing. Did you ever take a bite of the waxed food?
I did not, but there was a restaurant on the third floor and a handsome waiter came down at one point and brought me a real lunch and served it to me in the window. And I ended up marrying that guy. Is that true? Did you really? I literally did. Yeah, yeah. He was the first man I met in New York. Thank you.
That's a power move. I can't tell you how many times I've brought food to mannequins just for that purpose. I heard that on Thelma and Louise, which featured one of Brad Pitt's earliest performances, you chose, you had a say in him getting the role. Looking back, good decision?
Yeah. But I didn't really have a say in it. I auditioned with five guys who were finalists, I guess. But after we were done, and Brad was the last one, and
And I was, let's say I was dazzled. So I was packing my things really slowly so I could hear what they were saying, you know, Ridley and the casting director were saying. And then I finally said, would you, it would be all interesting if I weighed in. Would you like to know what I thought? And they were like, oh gosh, yes, sure. What did you think? And I said, the blonde one?
And I don't know if that had any impact on them, but we did get the blonde one. You know what I never understood about that movie? You pick him up on the side of the road and then you go into this hotel and you clear the stuff, or he does, or somebody clears the stuff off the dresser and the sex scene begins on the dresser. And I don't know, I'm not a real sexual kind of creature to begin with, but there's a bed in that room.
And I just, it made my spine hurt just thinking. And I thought, well, maybe that's what people do. Like maybe you say to somebody, oh, I have a pool. We could drain it. Did that ever bother you?
No, it didn't actually. I wasn't thinking about that. Well, Thelma and Louise was really an important film in your career and also for the nation. And it really dovetails into what you ended up doing. I mean, you have this long career, and then you launched the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media in 2004. Thank you.
And really make an effort to make sure that there's more equality, more roles, more people working behind the scenes, and it's been a really powerful force. And that leads us to this show that you're executive producing called Mission Unstoppable on CBS, hosted by Miranda Cosgrove. Can you tell us about that?
That's right, yeah. I was asked to executive produce the show with the Lyda Hill Philanthropies, and it celebrates women and girls in STEM. And I was really excited because my institute had done a lot of research about on-screen depictions of women and girls in STEM. And so now we're launching our fourth season, and our show, we have guest speakers.
women from stem fields and teach kids unique things such as that mushrooms can actually talk. Oh, they can? Evidently.
All right, Gina, are you ready to play our game? I guess. Do you feel good? I mean, you've done everything. You're good at everything you do, and you listen to the show all the time. How do you like your chances? Oh, God. I'm terrified. I have to admit that I'm terrified. Perfect. We have you right where we want you. It's been great talking with you, Gina Davis, but we've asked you here today to play a game we're calling... Gin Genie.
Sure, your name is Gina, but what do you know about jeans? Answer two out of three questions correctly about blue jeans, and you will win our prize for one of our listeners. Bill, who is Gina Davis playing for? Christine Hall of Columbus, Ohio. Here's your first question. Blue jeans were invented in 1873, but they weren't called blue jeans then. They were called what?
A, Plowman's trousers. B, waist overalls. C, Strauss and Davis' reinforced miracle dungarees. Wow. Did you say Strauss and Davis'? Yes. And that one is C. Yes, yes, yes. Oh, God. I'm still going to get it wrong. I'm going to say...
- Lowman's trousers. - No, that's wrong too. It's the reinforced overalls. - Waist overalls, that's right. B, they were called waist overalls, which is a dumb name and an oxymoron, but everyone was too busy panning for gold to notice. - Ah, I'm right there. - All right, you're doing great. Here's your next question.
Levi's jeans have not changed much over their history, but they did change what? A. They removed a metal rivet from the crotch because they would heat up and burn their customers when they sat next to a campfire. B. They started stitching two curved lines on the back pocket instead of Levi Strauss's face.
see they added that tiny fifth pocket so that workers could break the ice with each other by asking, hey, what do you think this little pocket is for? I'm going to go with pocket. You're going to go with pocket. I think that's a cute one. It is cute. It is cute, but it's wrong.
The answer is A. They removed a metal rivet from the crotch because they would heat up and burn their customers when they sat next to a campfire. Oh, my God. Okay. A zoo in Hokkaido, Japan, sells jeans in their gift shop. What makes the jeans so special? A. They're made of a blend of 80% cotton and 20% whatever zoo animals died last month. LAUGHTER
B, they have tears in them because the zoo left them in the lion enclosure for a while. Or C, they are specially treated so the goats in the petting zoo won't eat them. Did they say B? I mean, yes. That's what they're saying, yes. Oh, wait. But what was B? B is that they have tears in them because the zoo left them in the lion enclosure for a while.
But that... I mean, that could happen once, but they can't always put them in the lion's den and sell them that way, right? You're right, Gina Davis. B! They toss the pants in with the lions for a bit, then rescue them and sell them to you. Bill, how did Gina Davis do on our quiz? Gina, it was very hard. We're going to give you two out of three, and you won. Thank you.
Nice work, Gene. You're a special guest and we love you. Gina Davis, did you have fun on our show? We loved talking with you. Did you enjoy yourself? I did, I did. Thank you. Say goodbye to Gina Davis, everybody.
Gina Davis is an actor, author, producer, and activist whose show Mission Unstoppable airs on CBS. When we come back, we try to make the most popular lobstermen on TikTok even more popular. We'll be back with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR.
Support for NPR and the following message come from SimpliSafe Home Security. Picture this, a stranger with a crowbar pries open a window, a fire breaks out in the kitchen. In moments like these, every second counts. That's why you need SimpliSafe Home Security. With SimpliSafe, 24-7 monitoring agents act within 5 seconds of receiving your alarm. Visit simplisafe.com slash wait to save 20% on a new system today. That's simplisafe.com slash wait. There's no safe like this.
Simply safe. This message comes from NPR sponsor Capella University. With their game-changing FlexPath learning format, Capella empowers you to fit education into your life without putting other priorities on hold. FlexPath lets you set your own deadlines and adjust them if something comes up. And depending on your schedule, you can take courses at your own speed and move on to the next one when you're ready. Imagine how a flexible program can make a difference in your life at capella.edu.
This message comes from NPR sponsor Viking, committed to exploring the world in comfort. Be inspired to plan a small ship voyage to France in 2025. With an exclusive docking location in the heart of Paris and privileged access experiences, Viking brings curious travelers closer to the most iconic destinations across France. Discover more at viking.com.
Hey, it's Peter Sagal. The year's almost over, and here at Wait, Wait, we are counting our blessings. After all, 2023 gave us George Santos, the Chinese spy balloon, the coronation of King Charles. I mean, really, so many funny hats. Here's hoping the news will be even easier to make fun of in 2024. But we could not do it without your support. This is where I want to say a big personal thank you to our Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Plus supporters and anyone listening who already donates to public media.
Because, you know, we can't make fun of the news if there is no news, which is why we need journalists to cover everything in the first place. To anyone out there who isn't a supporter yet, right now is the time to get behind the NPR network, especially with our journalists gearing up for, you know...
relatively important election. Supporting public media now takes just a few minutes, and it makes a real difference. So join NPR Plus or just make a tax-deductible donation now at donate.npr.org slash waitwait. And thanks!
From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theatre in the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thanks, everybody. One of the ways. Thank you. Thank you.
One of the ways we've been able to keep going for all these years is that our listeners come out and see us when we show up in their town. And sometimes, so many people, we put on two shows for them. That way, like your grandmother always advised you about snacks, we can save one for later.
Last month, we visited Portland, Maine. And since we wanted extra time to recover from all the lobster rolls, we stuck around for another day. Here's both a bluff the listener game with panelists Brian Babylon, Amy Dickinson, and Peter Gross, followed by our interview with the hottest lobster fisherman on TikTok, Jacob Knowles. Hi, you are on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Oh.
This is Dan McCarthy in Austin, Texas. Oh, I love a man who sounds like where he is from. Are you from Austin? You're a Texan? I am. Oh, how awesome to hear. What do you do there? Well, my day job is software sales. I'm in Austin. But otherwise, I play unicycle football.
and I'm usually involved in some kind of wacky political campaign. Yeah, let me ask you about something interesting you just said. Political campaign. No, wait, go back. Unicycle football. First of all, that is the most Austin thing I've ever heard. Secondly, is it what it sounds like? You play football on unicycles? We do, yeah. We play flackle, so we wear flags, but you can also tackle. Uh...
It's pretty wild. Right. And everybody is on a unicycle. So, like, the quarterback takes the hike and he unicycles backwards while the rushers try to unicycle at the quarterback and the receivers unicycle at everybody, right? Yeah, that's exactly right, yeah. Wow. It would be worse if he was like, actually, I'm the only one on a unicycle. I don't know what to think of it. What the hell? No, no, no.
Dan, welcome to the show. You're going to play the game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction. Bill, what is Dan's topic? Tattoos in the news. Getting a tattoo, it's a very important decision. The human body is a temple, so why not let some rando doodle on it? Now, this week, though, some notable tattoos were noted in the news, and our three panelists are all going to tell you about it, but of course, only one of them is telling you the truth.
Your job, pick out that one and you will win our prize, the voice of your choice on your voicemail. You ready to play? Let's go. Let's go. Here we go. First up, let's hear from Amy Dickinson. There are good tattoo artists, there are bad tattoo artists, and then there's Tatooine, an inker in San Antonio, Texas, who is the subject of the first ever class action lawsuit filed by disgruntled tattooed people.
highlights from the trial. A customer asking for a Beyonce tattoo on her calf instead got the logo for Bounce fabric softener. Another who asked for a mermaid on her back got a picture of Herman Munster. At least I think it was
I think it was Herman Munster. She said, no mermaid looks that much like Fred Gwynn. Other customers testified to a lack of quality control. One said, quote, I visited my mother and she asked if I had leprosy.
The trial was over in an instant when the plaintiffs all removed their shirts, inspiring a summary judgment in their favor. But Tatooine, as you might guess, made very little money from his business, so in lieu of a financial settlement, he has agreed to let any one of the plaintiffs give him a tattoo of their choosing. A very bad tattooist gets successfully sued by his unhappy customers.
Your next story of a tat tidbit comes from Brian Babylon. If somebody asks you your favorite song, sure, you can just tell them. But that's boring. Instead, why not have a barcode tattooed on your skin that when scanned with the phone, it'll open up a Spotify playlist and that song will play. People have gotten the Spotify tattoos to commemorate the first dance at their wedding or themes from their favorite TV show.
But these people never anticipated the natural process called aging.
When the skin sags and wrinkles, the barcodes become unreadable. So instead of a fun new way to play the song Pony by Genuine, it looks like an unusual rash. People getting barcode tattoos that when scanned play their favorite song find they don't work once they start to age. And your last story of some interesting ink comes from Peter Gross.
Friends describe Doug Stradley of Tipton, Missouri as unconventional and audacious and these days as the guy who got a Tim Scott tattoo right before he dropped out of the Republican primaries. Mr. Stradley is a political junkie who likes making splashy early political predictions and then getting a picture of his chosen candidate tattooed on his body. Doug gets real excited, his wife Marnie told the Jefferson City News Tribune, but then he picks people who no one else is excited about.
Examples include an Amy Klobuchar tattoo from 2020, a Bobby Jindal portrait from 2016, and an actual size tattoo of Dennis Kucinich on his upper leg from 2008. So this Tim Scott tramp stamp is par for the course. Did I mention it's a tramp stamp? It's a tramp stamp. Doug claimed he sensed his latest choice was in trouble when he was showing off his latest ink to his friends and no one knew who Tim Scott was.
And he was even more certain after he got the words Tim Scott added to the image and people still didn't know who he was. All right. These are your three choices.
Which was the actual news story we read about this week? Was it from Amy, a Texas tattooist getting sued by his customers for being very bad at his job and in judgment having to get a tattoo from one of them? From Brian, people getting barcode tattoos that play their favorite songs but finding that as they age...
it doesn't work anymore, or from Peter Gross, a man whose latest poor prediction as immortalized on his skin involved now dropped candidate Tim Scott. Which of these is the real story of tattoos in the news? I think Brian sounds the most trustworthy with the barcode tattoos. He did speak in a trustworthy way, and the audience agrees.
So your choice is Brian's story of the people getting barcode tattoos to play songs. Well, to bring you the correct answer, we spoke to a reporter who covered this real brouhaha. About six years ago, Spotify came out with these codes. People saw this and they started asking, can I get this as a tattoo? Yeah, that was Megan Graham who wrote about this for the Wall Street Journal. That is the real barcode Spotify tattoos. Congratulations, Dan. You got it right.
You won Brian a point, but you've won our prize, the voice of your choice and your voicemail. Well done. Thank you for playing with us today. Thanks, y'all. It was real fun. Bye-bye.
And now it's time for the game we call Not My Job. Speaking of jobs, lifelong Mainer Jacob Knowles has a fascinating one, at least according to TikTok. He is a fifth-generation lobsterman, and recently he has gone viral, posting videos about life on the water, his crew, the lobsters he catches, and the ones he throws back. But despite his 2.6 million devoted followers, he's still getting up.
At 3:00 a.m. To get out to the traps by sunup. We are delighted He stayed up to join us now Jacob Knowles. Welcome to wait wait, don't tell me Thank you so
So let's establish your bona fides, as they say here in Maine. Okay. You are a fifth-generation lobsterman, your father, grandfather going back. So when you were a kid, did you watch your father go to work on the boat and come back, and you said to yourself, someday I want to smell like that? Yeah.
The smell, I do remember the smell vividly. No, it wasn't particularly pleasant, but it's something I grew up doing and I got used to. Right, okay. And so let's explore how this happened. So you've been doing this for how many years? My whole life. Your whole life. Yeah, I started on the boat with Dad when I was younger, and then as I got older and got onto my own boat. You got your own boat. So you are the captain of your own lobster boat. You got a crew of two. You're out there, you're setting your traps, you're picking them up. Yep. And then...
You had always been on social media, I understand, because you're part of that generation. And I'm told it was a particular video that you put on TikTok that went viral. Can you tell me what that is? Yeah, there was a few ones early. We kind of accidentally stumbled onto the educational side of things. But the original viral one was kind of the crew in the back. And we had a big...
big eel and my stern man scared the third man with the eel and that was like the first one that went viral. So you had a big eel presumably you would catch by accident and you had one of your crew scaring the other one and
And that blew up. Yeah, that was the first one. And then from there, we kind of tried to recreate it and then kind of stumbled on to the educational side of things. And now we've been educating ever since. Because it's trial and error. Yeah. It's totally something that we learned as we went. You have 2.4 million followers. 2.6. Excuse me. Nope. 2.8. 2.8. I'm just tracking it right now.
I'll just ask the question as basically as I can. Why? What are people... No, I mean, I've really enjoyed them. I sat and watched them with my family all week. But why do you think people are so attracted to your videos? Yeah, I think it's just seeing that we're having fun on the boat and shining a light on an industry that hasn't had a light shined on it.
It's a very old-fashioned industry, I guess, and social media is very new to it. It kind of got left back in time, so I think people enjoy looking. When you look at your metrics, because I know that's what lobstermen do, are you able to see which ones go bigger? Like, for example, I know in some of your videos, you pull out a female lobster that's got eggs. Yeah. Those are very popular. So does that mean when you're fishing...
Are you thinking like today's pounds and the money you're going to get for your catch? Or are you thinking, give me, give me an egg or give me something to go like. Yeah. Uh, at first it was, obviously it always was about the catch. And then as this thing progresses, it's, it's slowly starting to go more towards let's catch something cool. Let's get, yeah. Come on. Have three claws. Please have three claws. All I want is a lobster that can talk. Uh,
Has anybody ever asked you something I've actually wondered about, which is, do lobsters, do they have personalities? Are they aware? Can you pick up a lobster and you're like, oh, I like this one. I will not doom this one. No, I don't think so. Very much like a bug. Have you ever caught
like an albino lobster is there such a thing yeah there's a lot of interesting colored lobsters we haven't caught an albino one yet we've caught some blue ones they come in a lot of different colors reds and orange and they'll sometimes be split 50-50 down their back yeah that was extremely cool yeah
What causes that? It's just a random... I don't know. I'm a lobster fisherman. No, I was asking Peter. I was... When I watched that video, I did. We found the half and half lobster. And it was also half male and half female. Oh, no. You can't even talk about that in Florida. Yeah, I know. Are they... Okay, so when you're filming, do you see other lobster boats like...
Getting into your shot. Like, rolling. Jacob, Jacob, what's up, man? Yeah, man. Just passing by. So social media is so new in the lobster industry because, like I said, it's pretty old-fashioned. So a lot of guys don't even have Facebook. Some of them don't even know what's going on. But...
Is it true that, I don't know, is it true that lobsters used to be for prisoner food? Yeah. Is that true? Yeah, back in the day, they used to wash up on the beaches. It wasn't even fancy back then. Yeah, they weren't like high-class food back then. I bet all the prisoners were like, don't tell anybody. This is amazing. Oh, my God. I keep committing crimes because you can't get these outside of prison. That's why there was that huge clarified butter smuggling ring in 6ix. Right.
How hard is it? I'm trying to get a sense of how hard it is. So, like, if someone like me, say, a late middle-aged public radio host, were to join you on your boat for a day, how long would I last? A half hour? An hour? A half hour would be bold. Really? No, I think you're doing good. You're doing good. You're receptive. Thank you.
Well, Jacob Knowles, it is really fascinating to talk to you, and we've decided to test you on something else, namely a game that we're calling...
Here comes the airplane, open up the hatch. As a father of small children, you certainly knew what Bill was doing. Your job is all about lobster, so we thought we'd ask you about the other food you eat with a bib, baby food. Okay. Yeah, your kids probably just get lobster, but other kids, they get baby food. Answer two out of three questions right, you'll win a prize for one of our listeners. Bill, who is Jacob playing for? Megan Moulton Cox of Alfred, Maine. All right.
Ready? Ready. Here's your first question. Baby food flavors have evolved over the years before they arrived at the standard beach, whatever they've got now. In the 1940s, one of Gerber's most popular flavors of baby food was what? A, chocolate, B, liver soup, or C, Oyster's Rockefeller? No lobster? No lobster. I...
Must be liver soup, right? It is liver soup. Gerber advertised liver soup-flavored baby food as having, quote, a pleasingly bland taste children like. If the liver doesn't win you over, the bland taste will. All right. Here's your next question. In 1974, Gerber, the big baby food company, tried to branch out from babies by producing jars of their pureed food,
But for whom? A. Airplane passengers, B. Wedding receptions, or C. Unmarried adults. It's got to be airplane passengers. The airplane passengers idea is like, oh, here's your meal. You just spoon it up. No, it was actually unmarried adults. I'm not kidding. I guess that makes sense. Yeah, they were called for real singles.
Gerber singles. How nice at the end of a long day of work to come home to your small, empty apartment. You're going to die alone. Here's the food you came into the world eating. Perfect circle of mashed peas. All right. So if you get this one right, you win. Here's your last question. According to reports, Gerber's chicken-flavored baby food isn't only good for babies, it's the perfect food to feed who? A, sick ferrets.
B, healthy ferrets. Or C, ferret owners. I feel like ferrets are an awful specific pet. It's a ferret, a very specific pet, yeah. I'm going to go with sick ferrets. You're right. Sick ferrets. Yes. Bill, how did Jacob Knowles do in our quiz? Two out of three. That is a win. Something to think about when you're out to sea. Congratulations, Jacob. Uh...
I don't like that grin. No, no, I have one last question for you. You've been fishing for a long time. Is there something out there that you really have dreamed of catching, if you will, the white whale of lobsters?
Is there like a goal out there that one day you're hoping that something will be in your trap? Yeah, the white lobsters are pretty cool. Really? Yeah, they're like all white. They don't look real. They're pretty cool. I've seen a few. My cousin caught one and brought one in, and I got to see it years ago. Amazing. Those are really cool. Have you ever seen a mermaid? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's not a big deal. The white lobster. Yeah. The mermaid comes up. You see if she's holding a white lobster. If not, throw her back. Yeah.
Jacob Knowles is a TikTok star and a fifth-generation lobster fisherman here in Maine. You can follow him at Jacob underscore underscore Knowles on TikTok. Jacob Knowles, thank you so much for being here. Give it up for Jacob Knowles, everybody.
When we come back, my inner nerdy 15-year-old meets my outer nerdy 58-year-old as we talk to the real star of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Karen Allen, and music icon Weird Al Yankovic. That's when we return with more Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR.
Support for NPR and the following message come from Amazon Business. Everyone could use more time. Amazon Business offers smart business buying solutions so you can spend more time growing your business and less time doing the admin. Learn more at amazonbusiness.com.
This message comes from NPR sponsor, Capella University. With their game-changing FlexPath learning format, Capella empowers you to fit education into your life without putting other priorities on hold. FlexPath lets you set your own deadlines and adjust them if something comes up. And depending on your schedule, you can take courses at your own speed and move on to the next one when you're ready. Imagine how a flexible program can make a difference in your life at capella.edu.
This message comes from NPR's sponsor, Sony Pictures Classics, presenting Kneecap, the riotous and mostly true story of three friends who start a rap group that creates a movement. In this fiercely original comedy that, according to the rap, obliterates the musical biopic, the group Kneecap star as themselves alongside Michael Fassbender, laying down a global rallying cry for the defense of native cultures and getting into plenty of trouble along the way. Kneecap is now playing only in theaters.
From NPR and WBEC Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thank you.
People ask me all the time who my favorite guest in the show has been, and I always say the same thing, and I mean it. It's all the people who I loved as a kid and got to meet later on as a grown-up. And with one exception, they have all been delightful. Who would have predicted Puff the Magic Dragon caught on January 6th?
This last year I got to meet two more of my heroes. First up, Karen Allen, the star of Animal House and Raiders of the Lost Ark, among many other movies very important to my early intellectual development. Naturally, Peter began by asking her how she came to be cast in Raiders. I was living in New York City. I went in to meet with Steven Spielberg, and I think one of the first things he said to me is,
"How well can you spit?" That's what he said. He said, "How well can you spit?" And I just found it coming out of my mouth, I said, "Oh, I can hawk 'em with the best." - Oh yeah, yeah.
That's the actor's response. That's how you get ahead of me. How well do I spit? A camel ain't got nothing on me, friend. Why did he want to know that? I don't know. I think he was trying to say she was kind of a tough character. We meet her in a bar. The script was very, very secretive. They weren't letting anybody read anything.
And then when you were making the movie in like Tunisia and all the places you were, were you standing around going, so when do I spit? Do you want me to spit on this guy, Steve? Is that a thing? So I understand I was not the only person who was disappointed not to see Marion return along with Indy in the first two sequels, if you follow me. And you're in the new one, which is wonderful. I'm in the new one. Which is wonderful. And...
Now that I know that, I'm willing to go see it. Just so you know. And how many snakes do they dump on you in this one?
No snakes in my scenes. Right. And we need to go back to the famous snake sequence in the tomb, in the well of souls. Oh, boy. Those were real snakes. Those were real snakes. 6,000 snakes. What? 6,000. Can you imagine? Were you like, could you guys CGI these? You know what? It was pre-CGI, and they actually had a really, really primitive...
thing that they were trying to do. There was this electronic grid on the floor with all of these snakes. So they had this electronic grid of these rubber snakes that went like this. For the radio audience, Ms. Allen is doing a convincing snake impersonation.
And from the very, very first time that they tried to shoot with it, it looked just terrible. When I look at the film, I can actually see, because the real snakes are on top of this grid, which for some reason they never pulled out. They just poured snakes on top of it. But they sent out this call.
out to India and all over. We were in London at the time and all of a sudden all these snakes just started arriving. And there were three or four other films shooting at the Elstree Studios in London where we were and the snakes would get off our set and go onto other people's sets and come crawling across the set out of nowhere. That explains the strange snake scene in a room with a view. I never understood that.
Why they're sitting there in Tuscany and all of a sudden these snakes crawl by. But now I know. That's great. So if you run into a snake now, do they recognize you? No.
You've met so many. What have I heard about you, ladies? She's very popular with nerds like me and snakes. And the snakes are like, oh man, can I have a selfie? Damn it, I have no hands. I can't do it. Well, needless to say, I was relieved when we left the snakes. I can imagine. Well, Karen Allen, it's so much fun to be with you. And we have asked you here to play a game we're calling... Ah.
Refreshing. The Washington Post ran a story this week about the invention of pink lemonade that was so amazing we used it to make a game for you. Answer two out of three questions right and you will win our prize for one of our listeners. Bill, who is Karen Allen playing for? Will Kendler of Sudbury, Massachusetts. So if you...
The usual rules apply. If you get two right, Will will win a voice of his choice on his voicemail. Ready to go? Here's your first question. The inventor of pink lemonade was named Pete Conklin, who created it after he walked off his previous job, which was what? A, professor slash archaeologist. LAUGHTER B, ice cream man. Or C, racist circus clown. LAUGHTER
Well, gee, let me think. I think I might go with Ice Cream Man. No, he was a racist circus clown. Really? He was. He was a circus clown with a very popular, very racist act. It was Texas in 1857. What do you expect? Wow. All right, you have two more chances. This is not a problem. Okay. Okay.
I've lost all faith. I know. After he quit the circus, Mr. Conklin bought a covered wagon and started driving it from town to town, selling lemonade out of the back. It was a huge success. How many lemons did he go through that summer? A, one, B, 316, or C, over 11,000?
I don't know. I'm sorry. Darn. What's the answer that would be the craziest one? One. One is the answer. His lemonade was made of water, sugar, and tartaric acid with one, one uncut lemon dropped in the pitcher for appearance. And he used the same lemon the whole summer. No. Yes. Oh, my God. This guy. This guy. Wow.
This racist clown lemonade guy. All right, here's your final question. Get this one. Get this one. I have to go for the less than obvious. Yes, the less than obvious one. Okay. So he's like selling lemonade. He's doing okay. But then he comes up with a gimmick, pink lemonade. Way more popular than his original lemonade. In that first batch, where did the pink coloring come from? A, a mold that was growing on that one lemon he still had in there.
B, blood, or C, a circus performer's red tights? Oh, come on. Caught between the mold and the tights. Aren't we all? I'm going to go for the red tights. You're right. Yay!
So he goes to make that day's batch of fake lemonade, and there's no water in the well, and the only water he can find was water that a circus performer was using to wash her red tights. Oh, my God.
He used the water to make the lemonade, it turned it up pink, and everybody loved it. Because it all came out vaguely pink, or as he called it, strawberry. Tastes great. Bill, how did Karen Allen do on our quiz? Two out of three. Karen, that's a big win for you. There you are. Karen Allen, everybody. Thank you.
You can see Karen Allen in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Karen Allen, thank you so much for joining us. What an absolute joy to meet you. Absolute pleasure.
This message comes from NPR sponsor Shopify. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage to the first real life store stage, all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage, Shopify is there to help you grow. Sell without needing to code or design. Just bring your best ideas and Shopify will help you open up shop. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash NPR.
This message comes from NPR sponsor Charles Schwab with their original podcast, Choiceology. Choiceology is a show about the psychology and economics behind people's decisions. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com slash podcast.
Finally, I was one of those kids who looked forward to hearing Dr. Demento play comedy songs whenever I could find the show on the radio. So I actually remember the day another fan who called himself Weird Al actually got Dr. Demento to play one of his parody songs. And then, about 45 years later, Weird Al Yankovic...
Return to another radio comedy show, ours. Peter asked Al why he had chosen Daniel Radcliffe, of all actors, to play himself in his self-produced biopic movie. The first time I saw Harry Potter, I thought, you know, someday that guy's got to play me. That 11-year-old boy, I can somehow see myself playing.
He's going to grow into my doppelganger. It really is. And this is also true. You play in the movie the actual record executive who signed you to your first record deal, right? Yeah, it was a very surrealistic out-of-body experience for me to be like Tony Scotti, the head of my record label, yelling at Daniel Radcliffe playing me. That was very odd. Right.
But the first time you laid eyes on Tony Scotti, did you think, someday I'm going to be you? Oh, yes. Yes. The first meeting. And there are things in the movie that do not seem true but are true. So, for example, this traveling salesman shows up and says, hello, sir. Are you the man of the house? Would you like to buy an accordion? And that really happened. Yeah.
Yeah.
But of course, and then of course the other impossible things like you recording your first hit record in a men's bathroom. Yeah, yeah, my Bologna, which was released on Capitol Records in 1979, that was actually recorded in the men's bathroom across the hall from my college campus radio station because I was 19 years old, I couldn't afford a real recording studio, and the bathroom had these acoustically perfect tiled walls. Everything sounds better in a bathroom. So my first song was in fact recorded in a bathroom. Yeah.
And it's, do you, like, is there a plaque on the bathroom? There literally is. Not even a joke. There's a plaque next to the bathroom door saying that. There really, I kid you not, there really is. Do you ever get tired after all these years of being weird, Al? Have you, do you ever want to be romantic, Al? Do you ever want to be dangerous, Al? Sexy, Al? We know, a few,
A few times in my life, I have questioned it. It was a nickname that I gave myself back when I was a teenager and it stuck with me for my whole life. And sometimes I wonder, why did I decide to be weird out my whole life?
But then I hear from some kids that are happy that I took ownership of my weirdness because they were weird or freaks or outcasts or didn't fit in. And the fact that there was this guy calling himself weird was empowering for them and made them feel a little bit better about themselves. So from that standpoint, I'm glad I moved on. Thank you.
You know, I got to tell you, to be sincere for a minute, I was one of those kids, because like you, a little younger, I was listening to, I love the Dr. Domeno show, and I love Tom Lehrer, and all the guys you'd hear on his show, and I remember you showing up with my bologna, and if only I knew that you were a young nerd like me, I would have felt even better about it. Oh. Well, now you know. Now I know. Now I know. It's not too late to be Weird Peter. Great show. Great show.
Well, Weird Al, it is always so much fun to talk to you, and we have invited you here this time to play a game we're calling Weird Alabama. Ha!
Okay. All right. You're Weird Al, but are you weirder than the state of Alabama? Let's see. Let's find out. We're going to ask you three questions about the Yellowhammer state, not including the question, what exactly is a Yellowhammer? Answer two out of three questions we do ask. You'll win a prize for one of our listeners, the voice of whomever they might choose from our show for their voicemail. You ready to go? Okay. All right. Let's do it. All right. Bill, who is Weird Al Yankovic playing for? Jennifer Reed of Los Angeles, California. All right.
Jennifer, I hope I don't let you down. Here is your first question. Alabama is proudly in the Bible belt, which is why it is illegal to this day in Alabama to do what? A, serve red wine without a bite of bread at a restaurant. B, wear a fake mustache in church. Or C, not wear a belt while carrying a Bible. Okay. I'm going to ask you a question.
I'm a little, I'm between A and B, but I'm going to go with B. You're right. Fakes mustache in church, you're right. You can't do that. Apparently, the concern is that a fake mustache might cause laughter in church, and we cannot have that. I don't want that, no. Hold on. That makes it sound like I couldn't just laugh, no offense, Al, at a guy with a real mustache. True. Okay.
All right, back to the game. Here we go. Okay. When Leroy Brown died in 1980, the governor of Alabama declared a day of mourning and a monument to Leroy Brown now stands in a median in downtown Eufaula, Alabama. The question for you, Al, is who was Leroy Brown? Was it A, the Alabama student who invented the beer bong, B, a largemouth bass, or
Or C, the baddest man in the whole damn town. Well, I was going to say C because that sounds kind of obvious. But that's just stupid enough. I'm going to say A. No, it's a largemouth bass. Oh!
Oh, wow. A fisherman caught Leroy and was so struck by his character and his demeanor that he brought him home and Leroy Brown lived the rest of his life in a tank at a bait shop where he became a local hero. So it was bass, bass, Leroy Brown. It was indeed. Baddest fish in the whole damn tank. That's okay, Al, because you have one more chance and if you do this, you win. Here we go. I just realized I did fake song parody in front of Weird Al. I'm humiliated now. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do it. I'm sorry.
All right, Al, here we go. Last question. You get this. You win it all. Pressure's on. Absolutely. Sorry, Jennifer. Sorry in advance. A popular entertainment got so out of hand in the 1990s that Alabama had to formally ban it in 1996. What was this entertainment? A, bear wrestling, B, moss growing, or C, how drunk can you drive races? LAUGHTER
Wow. I, okay, all right. I am going to bet $8 a month in perpetuity that it's bear wrestling. It is bear wrestling. He did it. Woo!
People would bring bears into bars for people to wrestle. Bill, how did Weird Al Yankovic do in our quiz? It's weird, but Al, you won! Yay!
Weird Al is a legendary musician and the subject and writer of Weird, the Al Yankovic story, which is truly hilarious. It is available on the Roku channel. Al Yankovic, thank you so much. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye, Al. Take care.
That's it for our second-to-last celebration of our 25 years in the air. Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago in association with Urgent Haircut Productions, Doug Berman, Benevolent Overlord. Philip Godeker writes our limericks. Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our tour manager is Shane O'Donnell, thanks to the staff and crew at the Studebaker Theatre. BJ Lederman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Gormos, and Lillian King.
Our vibe curator is Emma Choi. Special thanks to Monica Hickey. Peter Gwynn is our belly like a bowl full of jelly. Technical direction is from Lorna White. Our CFO is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. Our senior producer is Ian Chilock. The executive producer of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is Mike Danforth. Thanks to everybody you heard on the show this week, all of our panelists, all of our amazing guests, and of course, Mr. Bill Curtis. Thanks to all of you for listening. I'm Peter Sagal. We'll be back next week. This is NPR.
This message comes from NPR sponsor ShipBob. The holidays start earlier every year, so get your store and ship shape now with ShipBob. They'll handle fulfillment, provide key metrics, and more. Get a free quote at shipbob.com. ShipBob.
This message comes from NPR sponsor Capital One. With the Spark Cash Plus card, you earn unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase for your business. Find out more at CapitalOne.com slash Spark Cash Plus. Terms and conditions apply. The Olympic Games are underway in Paris, but you forgot to buy your flight to France. No problem. We've got you covered on Here and Now Anytime, a podcast from NPR and WBUR.
Throughout the games, we'll keep an eye on the athletics and the intrigue outside the arenas. You're not an Olympic sprinter, but you can stay up to speed with Here and Now anytime, wherever you listen to podcasts. ♪
