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This message comes from NPR sponsor, Capella University. Capella's programs teach skills relevant to your career, so you can apply what you learn right away. See how Capella can make a difference in your life at capella.edu. From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me the NPR News Quiz. I'm the man whose voice sticks to your ribs. Woo!

I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theatre in downtown Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. We are off for the holiday, which we used to call Columbus Day to celebrate the European discovery of America, and we now call it Indigenous Peoples Day to celebrate the people who you know were actually living here.

Personally, I call it Columbo Day to celebrate our heritage of rumpled detectives. No matter what you call it, we're going to celebrate with some of the best interviews we did during the past year, plus some other special treats for you. Chapel Roan got her first record deal after posting cover songs to YouTube, and then went on to release a debut album that made her a superstar. Now, I'm going to be honest, when I was told she was going to be our guest, I had no idea who she was until...

But by the end of that week in April of this year when she joined us, I had become a huge fan. So you can imagine how great Peter felt about making her uncomfortable right off the bat.

Kaylee Rose Amstutz was a teenager who became a local celebrity in her hometown in Missouri, singing her songs at festivals and on YouTube. But then Kaylee created the persona of Chapel Roan, and Chapel Roan's first album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, became a monster hit, and now she's become one of the biggest pop stars around. Chapel Roan, welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.

Thank you. You're welcome. What a crazy intro. It is. I mean, is it not true? I mean, you're pretty big. I guess. You're pretty big time, Chapel. I'm like a random girl. I don't feel like any of the things that you said. Okay. All right. It's so off-putting that you said my full name. Oh, I'm sorry. No more of that. No more of that. We shall not.

Well, well, I won't I won't mention that name But the story I told I hope is true that you were performing under your own name and then you became Chapel Rome And can you tell me what can you tell me? Why like who is Chapel and how is she different from that other person who I won't name? I mean travel is just the drag version of me. I would say Quite outgoing and

has no issue being loud and proud. It's quite exhausting to be honest. - Really? Who are we talking to right now? Like who is, just so we know, who is it?

I'm going to say 60-40. 60-40. 60-40. So, like, when you're done being chapel for the day until some dumb radio show wants to talk to you about it, what do you do? Do you just, like, change your clothes? Do you put chapel away? Is there, like, a ritual you do just to say, okay, I'm not chapel anymore? How do you keep it separate if it's so exhausting to be chapel? Yeah, I just scream into my pillow and then take off all my makeup. Okay.

and watch Drag Race. Yeah, sure. But other people do drag for a while. Can you, did you have to come out as Chapel to the people who knew you? Because you were very young when you first, when Chapel first sort of was conjured up, right? Well, I thankfully wasn't very successful as Kaylee Rose. So nobody really knew the difference, to be honest. And I stuck pretty quickly. Were you, were you inspired by, by anybody else?

Well, let me ask you about your musical influences. Who were you listening to as a kid when you started to make your own music? I was listening to Christian rock music only, and I found Kesha, and I was like, oh my God. Okay, all right. So you said you were listening to Christian rock exclusively, and then how did you come across Kesha?

Oh, at school. Right. People were talking about it. Right. They were singing. I was in seventh or eighth grade and all these girls were like, like, they're like, oh, do you know this song? Blow by Kesha. And I was like, no, what is it? And they're like, and I was like, oh, holy crap. Holy crap. Like that. Nice save there. Nice save there. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. And, like, is that when it all, your brain sort of went, I feel like it was, like, going when Dorothy lands in Oz and it's in color, right? You sort of saw the world differently? Yeah, it was, like, glitter and, like...

Freaking stockings ripped up the sides. It's just insane. I loved it so much. We heard a great story that when you signed your first record contract, they announced it at your high school over the PA. Is that true? Were you there? Were you listening when they said it? Yep. What did they say? Well, at first they said like,

There's like a senior football player that got signed to Mizzou, which is in Missouri. It's like Missouri University. Yes. They're like, congratulations, Forrest just signed to Mizzou. F1 football, la la. And everyone was like, woo! And they're like, oh yeah, congratulations, Kaylee Amstutz signed with Atlantic Records. We are having pizza for lunch today. No pizzas. And it was like that quickly. And I was just like...

Oh my God, literally, why did they do that? And then people thought I was lying, which is valid. There's a video for one of your songs, Hot To Go, which I love. Again. And in that video, Chapel goes back to Missouri, in Springfield. And it opens with you teaching the Hot To Go dance to your grandparents. And I have two questions, which is, first, how did they do it?

with the dance and secondly what has your hometown like felt about chapel now that you've gone pretty big I mean you're playing Coachella you're opening for Olivia Rodrigo this is uh my grandparents did their best um and then my hometown my hometown um I was prepared to be run out of town because

I don't know, it's pretty wild what I'm bringing to the table, but it has brought out all these queer people and like people I've never met or seen and to come to my shows.

It's made me appreciate my hometown so much more and realize like oh my god. They were here this whole time I just didn't know you refer to chapel as drag and you love drag performers In fact many of your shows open with drag performers, right? Have you ever had the thrill of seeing a drag performer? Hopefully a good one do one of your songs like lip-sync to you. I

Well, I love bad drag, first of all. Okay. There's no bad drag. There's good drag, bad drag. It's all great.

I've never seen someone in person do it, but I've seen videos, and they're always, I mean, they serve. They're incredible. Well, Chapel Roan, it is absolutely a thrill to talk to you, but we have some business to do. We've asked you here to play a game that this time we're calling Hot Food To Go. So one of your big hits is Hot To Go, which inspired us to ask you about takeout food.

Answer two to three questions about takeout and to win our prize for one of our listeners, the voice of anyone they might like from our show. Bill, who is Chapel Roan playing for? Ten-year-old Gordon Draper of Des Moines, Iowa. Okay. Thank you.

So you're playing for a 10-year-old. That's unusual. That's unusual for us. Here we go. Here's your first question. Food carts, of course, a great way to get food to go. Which of these is a real food cart you can get food from somewhere in the world? Was it A, cicada burrata, which shows up whenever a cicada brood emerges and serves them deep fried with, of course, cheese?

I think D is real. Your fans here think it's B.

I think it's B. It is B. Everybody's right. Yes, B. And they say it's pretty good goose stew. So if you're next time in Amsterdam, stop by. Your next question, you're doing great. Plenty of fast food lovers dream of trying the options from other countries, including those served in Scotland, where something called the munchie box is a popular takeout item. What is a munchie box? A, it's the Scottish equivalent of a Happy Meal, except instead of a toy, kids get a side of haggis.

B, it's a single box stuffed with kebabs, fried chicken, a whole pizza, chicken tikka masala, samosas, onion rings, chow mein noodles, naan bread, garlic bread. And for the health conscious, coleslaw. Or C, the munchie box is something we are not allowed to say on NPR. B is right. Yes. Good for you. Thank you.

It's everything you've ever wanted to eat at once. All right, last question. American fast food restaurants are banned in Iran, but business owners in that country have found a workaround. They just create restaurants with similar menus and names, but they're changed slightly. So which of these is a real ripoff of an American fast food restaurant they've got in Iran? A, Mash Donald's. B, Pizza Hat.

Or C, K, F, D. Oh my God. B? B? You're going to go for B? You're right. They're all real.

They're all real. They're all restaurants you can go to in Iran. Pizza hat. Pizza hat. Oh, let's go down to Pizza Hat and get a pizza. That's what they have. Bill, how did Chapel Roan do on our quiz? Brilliant. She's gone to the top of the Michelin list. Chapel, congratulations. You got them all right. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. So, Chapel Roan's new single is Good Luck, Babe. Her album...

Her album is The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. Chapel Rome, what an absolute joy to meet you. Thank you for everything you've done and everything you're going to do, and thanks for being on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Give it up for Chapel. When we come back, we talk to comedian and actor David Alan Greer, and the Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, reveals her secret pastime. That's when we come back with more Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR. ♪

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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 downtown Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thank you.

We are taking this week off to celebrate those brave adventurers who risked it all to create the idea of long weekends. Here's to you, daring authors of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968. And while we do that, we thought we'd bring back some of our more interesting interviews of the year. In January, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen came to Chicago to make an important policy speech. At least, that's what she told people.

You know, she really came to town to join us on stage because, hey, even economists like to have fun. She joined us along with guest judge and scorekeeper Chioki Iansen. What is it exactly that you do?

Because honestly, I don't know. We just assume that like you write the checks like when we buy a missile. I honestly don't. That is one of our responsibilities. Really? And to make sure that our debt is safe and liquid and attractive to Americans and all around the world. All right. More questions about your job. Inflation. Was that you?

Not me. Are you kidding? Not my fault. No, no, not you. That's an offense, John. That used to be you. Interestingly enough, I was watching an interview you did about a year ago where you were asked about all the predictions at that time of a recession. And you said in that interview that you did not think that would happen by this time. You, of course, were correct. So...

Would you like to take this opportunity to spike the ball? Well, I said I've told you so. Exactly, for example. And it was right. Listen to her, Larry Summers. Now, we wanted to get a little bit back into your background. We were told that one of your secrets to your success is that you always over-prepare.

including a story we heard about how you prepared to smoke dope for the first time in college.

Can you please inform us how you prepared for that particular challenge? Well, you know, I had never smoked marijuana before. It was the summer before I was going to college, and my roommate said she hid some marijuana and we should have a party and smoke marijuana. This, of course, was this renowned party school, Yale. LAUGHTER

Well, you know, I worried about that because I had never smoked anything in my life. You know, as you said, I like to be prepared. I always try to prepare when I can. And I thought, how can I prepare for this experience? Well, why don't I buy a pack of cigarettes and try to smoke them and see if I can inhale? Because I was told you can't really enjoy marijuana unless you inhale. So...

I bought a pack of cigarettes. I started smoking them. Oh, horrible. It was a horrible experience. I couldn't inhale. I was coughing. I thought, well, I'm not prepared. I have to work harder at this. So I bought some more cigarettes. And all week, preparing for this party, I smoked cigarettes. Well, then I went to the party, smoked a couple of marijuana cigarettes.

Well, I never did that again, but you know what happened to me was within a couple of months I was up to three packs a day as a smoker. Really? Wow. It took me a decade to quit. We are also reliably informed that among your enthusiasms, in addition to macroeconomic policy, is mobile games.

There is some truth in that. There's some truth in that. Okay. Specifically, in case everybody wants to know, Candy Crush. Yes. Well, Candy Crush is a new game I've taken up only a year or so ago. Right. Somebody was writing a book about me and they heard that I was interested in games. And they said, did you play Candy Crush? And I go, Candy Crush? Are you kidding? I wouldn't

I wouldn't play a game like Candy Crush. Well, maybe you were like a woman of my distinction playing Candy Crush. Something as silly as Candy Crush. Please, please, don't you know who I am? And then, exactly. And then I thought, well, you know,

Maybe I should just look and see what the thing is. Sure, what's the harm? Have a puff. You're not going to get addicted. I'm not going to get addicted. You know, I'll just play a couple of levels. Sure. This morning I hit level 6,180. Thank you.

Do you have a secret for Candy Crush? You have marijuana cigarettes. Yeah. If you get stuck, it always helps. I know, yeah. Well, Secretary Yellen, it is an honor for us to be able to speak to you. We're very glad you took the time, particularly because we have asked you here to play a game we're calling...

It's not quite treasure. It's treasury. That sounds like a good game for me. There you are, yes. Maybe this will be your next addiction. You're Secretary of the Treasury, of course, so we're going to ask you about Antiques Roadshow. That is, of course, the very popular TV program.

Well, people bring their things that aren't quite treasure, but they're treasury. Right? And they get them professionally appraised and they hope they're worth millions. You ever watched that show? Many times. Many times. So you know the idea. Okay. You get two of these three questions right, you will win our prize for one of our listeners, the voice of anyone they might choose for their voicemail. Chioki, who is the Secretary of the Treasury playing for? Joe Sylvester of Merrimack, New Hampshire. All right.

For people who bring potential treasures onto the roadshow, nothing is more disappointing than finding out that it is a fake. But there are many versions of the show around the world and on the Chinese version of the show,

What occurs when that happens? Is it A, the item is used for another separate show called "Sell a Fake Artifact to a Westerner"? B, the owner of the item who brought the thing to the show is arrested on charges of attempted fraud?

Or C, the host of the show immediately smashes the fake item with a hammer. I would try C. You're going to try smash it with a hammer? You are correct. Yes. Okay.

The host of the show roams the set with a hammer, and when something is discovered to be a fake, he comes over and bam. Okay, next question. Appraisers are not always right on the show, amazingly enough, which was the case for a glass expert named Andy McConnell, who on the British version of the show took a sip of what he thought was

was a 150-year-old port out of an antique bottle, only to discover later it was what? A, a solution of opium and cocaine, B, Diet Dr. Pepper, or a 150-year-old mix of human urine and rusty nails. LAUGHTER

I'll go with A. You're going to go with A, dissolution of opium, cocaine. I understand why you would say that. They used to do that. Well, given your predilections, I guess. But no, it was actually C. I knew it. That's what it was. I knew it. The appraiser, he said, well, this 150-year-old port, it turns out that more than a century before, someone had filled this antique bottle with what they hoped was a potion to keep witches away. Okay.

- There you are, there you are. All right, now you still haven't lost, you have one more question. Fans of the program have created an antiques roadshow drinking game in which you drink every time what happens? A, whenever jewelry expert Jeffrey Munn breathlessly references Fabergé.

B, whenever someone says, well, we'll still enjoy it after finding out their item is worthless. Or C, whenever an expert tells someone how much more their item would be worth if they hadn't had it refinished. I will go with C. You're going to go with C again. You're right, but they are all true. Those are all genuine Antiques Roadshow drinking games. Thank you.

Enjoy them all at once, why don't you? Of course. Shoki, how did the Treasury Secretary do on our quiz? She candy crushed it. Janet Yellen is the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States of America and...

Among the top 2% of players globally on Candy Crush. Secretary Yellen, we are so honored to have you with us. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Secretary, Janet Yellen, everybody. Thank you.

In March of this year, along with special guest judge and scorekeeper Andy Richter, we spoke to David Alan Grier, an actor and comedian who's done pretty much everything a performer can do, and whose latest project was a movie called The American Society of Magical Negroes. In fact, he'd done so many different things, we didn't know which one we should talk about. I asked this question of a lot of the performers we have on the show, and I said,

and I can usually guess the answer. In your case, I simply can't. When you walk down the street, you've done so many things for so many years in so many different genres. What are you most often recognized for? In living color, yeah, absolutely. Hands down. Yeah.

And I, until this weekend, I started looking into it because I had myself known you from that and all the comedy stuff you've done since then. I did not know that you were like a serious theater guy. So how did a serious theater guy end up like blowing up on this hilarious sketch show? You know, what happened was I met a comedian, an actor named Robert Townsend when we did Soldier's Story. And I went out to L.A. He introduced me to Kenan Ivory Wayans.

And the die was cast, but I was dissuaded by my agents. Nobody wanted me to do it. I didn't listen to them and the rest was history. There you go, man. You said a moment ago about being up for a role and your agent telling you not to do it.

What's interesting about David Alan Greer is if you look for stories about David Alan Greer, they will often be about the roles you did not get. For example, you auditioned for the part of George in Seinfeld. Yes. I read with Jerry Seinfeld. I read this episode and I thought, well, this isn't funny. Jerry can't act and it will never go anywhere. Right.

Yet again, I was right on all counts. You were, man. It's incredible. Don't ask me. If I tell you to go somewhere, go the other way. You were also almost in Forrest Gump, right? Oh, yeah. Now, this is even better. My manager sent me the script Forrest Gump. I read it, and I was like, I am not... If I'm going to play a mentally challenged character...

I'm not going to be the mentally challenged sidekick. I need to be the mentally challenged lead. No, I will not audition. They kept sending the script. They kept calling. I said, no, I will not go in. About a year later, my manager and I were in New York City for something else. And she took me to the movies. And as the movie started, it was Forrest Gump.

And I was weeping within seven minutes. And I turned to her and I said, why didn't you? And she said, shut up. I sent you the script three times. So yet again, I closed the wrong door. Oh my gosh. I have to ask, this is because you, again, I don't know if people know this, Tony Award winning actor, right? Yeah.

For, if I'm not mistaken, the Tony came for the second go-around with the Soldiers play. Yes. When you were in that original cast of a Soldiers play on Broadway with the esteemed actor Adolf Caesar, he gave you your nickname. He absolutely did give me my nickname. He came in the dressing room and he looked at me and said, Dang! Dang!

That's your name, boy. And he sat down and put his makeup on. And it stuck from there on through. Did he do that to everyone? Did he turn to, like, you know, Francis in the corner and say, you're Denzel. And there he is. No. No, Peter. He never did that to anyone but me because I'm special. You are. And you have been known as Dag ever since, right? Yes, absolutely. Right. Yes. Okay. Well.

Well, David Allen Greer, we've asked you here to play a game we're calling Dag Meet the Wags. Ooh, okay. You, of course, as we established, are known as Dag, so we thought we'd ask you about famous wags. That's the term that the British press came up with to describe the wives' and girlfriends' wag of famous athletes.

Answer two of these three questions right, you'll win our prize for one of our listeners. The voice of anyone from the show they might choose on their voicemail. Andy, who is our DAG playing for? Per Mooney of Bloomington, Indiana. May I just say, Per Mooney, you about to win. There. That's confidence. I like that.

So, if there was any sort of original wag, it was Victoria Beckham, who, of course, married soccer star David Beckham back in 1999. Before that, she was wildly successful, of course, as one of the Spice Girls, but she was slightly less successful in what other job? A, as being one of the McCormick Spice Girls, who handed out free samples...

At Costco. B, as a model for a British clothing company called White and Willowy. Or C, as an extra on the BBC sex ed show Body Matters where she played a sperm on roller skates. I'm going to go with my gut. My final answer is C. You're right. That's what it was. She was in fact a roller skating sperm. Ha ha!

Alright, here's your next question. Pop star Sierra is married to NFL star Russell Wilson, but she was performing to sold-out crowds for years before they met. And even that didn't go well for her, like at one show where what happened? A. Someone in the crowd started tackling other people to get to the front, and that man was Russell Wilson. B. There was a problem with a wardrobe change, so Sierra was forced to do half the concert in three dresses stacked on top of each other.

or C. She signed an autograph for someone in the audience without realizing they were actually legal documents and she had just been served. All right. I'm going to say probably B. You're going to say B? No, it was C. It was C. She got served. Here, could you sign this autograph? And she signed it to my biggest fan, I guess, you know, and turns out she was being served with legal papers. So, all right. You have one more chance, but it's fine because if you get this, you win. Colleen Rooney.

is the wife of English soccer legend Wayne Rooney and she was involved in the greatest WAG scandal of all time. Happened in 2019. She accused another WAG of leaking stories about her, Colleen, to the press and the other one sued Colleen for libel. It went to trial. This whole thing inspired which of these? A. A television series called Vardy v. Rooney, a courtroom drama.

B, a BBC documentary called "Wagaspiracy" or C, a West End play called "Wagatha"? Wow. I'm going to go with A. You're going to go with A, a television series called "Vardy v. Rooney", a courtroom drama. You're right because they were all real. Oh, great. Okay, cool. Yes.

Andy, how did David Alan Greer do in our quiz? Well, he won. He got two out of three, and that's all you need. That's all you need, David. You did it. I'm the winner. You are. David Alan Greer is a Tony-winning actor whose new movie, The American Society of Magical Negroes, is out now. David Alan Greer, thank you so much for joining us. Hello. What a joy to talk to you. I'm a big fan. Oh, we are fans of yours. Thank you so much, David. Take care.

When we come back, I take a sick day and Wait, Wait gets a new papa. That's when we come back with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR. This message comes from Easy Cater, a platform where organizations can order food for meetings and events from favorite restaurants nationwide with tools to help meet dietary needs, stay on budget, and manage food spend. Learn more at easycater.com.

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From NPR and WVUZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis. Here's your host at the Studebaker Theatre of the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thank you. So everybody knows, every

Everybody knows what to do. If you go to work, you start to feel sick, and then you test positive for COVID. You go home. You don't want to get any of your coworkers sick, even if you have flown all the way to Seattle to do a radio show in front of thousands of

people. So we flashed the host signal onto the cloudy skies of Seattle and Tom Papa answered from Los Angeles. Just a few hours later, he showed up and ran right from the airport onto the stage. Here are some highlights from that show. Luke, this week a man in Tennessee made the news when people discovered he'd sold his house and moved his family into a place where he'd previously spent a lot of time.

Where? A strip club? No. Okay. I'm pretty much out of ideas. Can I get a hint? Sure. He had to move in before first period. Oh, the school where he was a teacher? Sure.

He wasn't a teacher, but yes. The school where he worked? His old high school. His old high school. Yes. That's what I said. Yeah, I'm giving it to you. Peter's not here. Yeah, right? The school had been abandoned since 2006, so a former student bought it and moved his family in. It was all fun and nostalgic until his kids wouldn't let him sit with them at lunch. Did you like high school, Luke?

I went to high school for the first four years that was teaching us that the earth was literally 7,000 years old. And they also preached abstinence-only education, which is why my 30-year-old daughter is here with us at the Paramount Theater. Because I am a walking example of how ineffective that is as a form of birth control. So I have mixed feelings about my time at North Seattle Christian. Okay.

It would be pretty cool to go there and, you know, get it on. Did I mention, Tom, my 30-year-old daughter is here at the theater? Throw it up, throw it up, throw it up, throw it up.

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You can catch us most weeks back at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago or come see us on the road. I'll be there if Peter gets gout. For tickets and information about all our live shows, go to nprpresents.org. Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, my name is Tiffany. I'm calling from Denver, Colorado. Ah. Thank you.

How is Denver, Colorado? What do you do there? It's good. Weather's kind of crazy out here. Still trying to figure out if it's snow season or drought season, I guess. Yeah, what should it be? In olden times, when weather was normal, what would May be like? I haven't lived here long enough to tell you, but I think probably what it is right now. Still cold. Is it possible it's the curse of Blucifer?

The weather trouble? The fact that you have a 80-foot demonic, anatomically correct blue horse by the airport named Lucifer? Did the weird stuff start after you erected that idol? She just got there, Lou. Well, welcome to the show, Tiffany.

Thank you. Bill Curtis is going to read you three news-related limericks with the last word or phrase missing from each. If you can fill in that last word or phrase correctly on two limericks, you're a winner. Here's your first limerick. Saying cheers for thanks isn't that odd. Wearing jumpers won't make me a fraud. Give my accent a break. I am not being fake. I've been changed after living...

Abroad! Yes! You got it. That's right, abroad. You know that dumb little accent your friend has when they come back from study abroad? Turns out it's real!

Linguistics has just validated the worst person at your college who came back from Barcelona. Ibiza. So fun to say. Yeah. Calgary. Oh, that one gets me every time. Luke, you're not getting the game.

All right, here's your next limerick. Leaving picnic trash is a grave sin, but this box is too large to fit in. After lunch on the grass next to cardboard and glass, my used pizza box gets its own... Bin? That's right, bin. Last week, New York's Central Park Conservatory installed a new recycling bin just for pizza boxes.

There's never been a trash can so tailored to New Yorkers since the one that rented for $6,000 a month. The new receptacle is tall and square so you can stack pizza boxes flat instead of having to cram the pizza box into a little round hole the same way you cram the pizza slice into your face hole.

All right, here's your last limerick. Young men who are not fully grown have a scent that makes most mortals moan. But most body spray keeps their classmates at bay. So they're wearing expensive... Is it cologne? Yes, it is. Cologne. Okay.

According to the New York Times, luxury cologne is all the rage with middle school boys. Apparently, they've all moved on from low-tax body spray to Tom Ford's $300 tobacco vanilla.

And for the little ones, Chanel number this many. Bill, how did Tiffany do? Tiffany was perfect. Three in a row. Thank you so much. This was a dream. Thank you so much for being here. Say goodbye to Tiffany, everyone. Bye, Tiffany. Bye, Tiffany.

And now the game we call Not My Job. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is a chef and food writer who first found fame creating the Food Lab blog for Serious Eats. Since then, he started his own YouTube channel, wrote a kids book, and has been going restaurant by restaurant on a quest to eat all the teriyaki in Seattle.

There's a lot of it. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you for having me. It's really good to see you. You too. You had a very interesting first job getting into the restaurant business when you were a youngster. What was that job?

I was a knight of the round grill at a Mongolian grill, you know, one of those places where you... My first job was actually prep cook. I got promoted to knight of the round grill within a month. Oh, really? Yeah. How did you rise in the ranks so far? I was mostly related to my catching shrimp behind my back skills. Nice. Did you have that skill when you went in or you just kind of... No, no, no. I trained extracurricularly. Yeah.

I went home practice with like, you know rocks and worms and stuff like that. It's very impressive. Now you have a really cool bent in your food journey in that you have a real, you're able to be very accessible of like showing people what it is but also backing up with the science behind food and food prep. How did, what was your first love? Like what was it, were you a science mind or were you a food mind?

Science was my first love. And I think, well, you know, I think science, you know, my first love was Don Herbert, Mr. Wizard. Mr. Wizard. I would wake up at 6 a.m. every day so I could watch that show when I was a little kid in my Winnie the Pooh onesie. Adorable. And you're a stay-at-home dad. How many kids do you have? I got two. You got two. How old are they now? Seven and two and a half. Seven and two and a half. That's...

Well, half of that's great. I find that they improve with age. They do improve with age. I felt the same way. I was like, this kid's cute when they first show up. This is cute, but one day when we can sit in a diner and have a conversation, it's going to be really amazing. Yeah, I find them bearable right now. Yeah. So how do you balance the... And you also got a houseboat.

Yeah. Where you're going to move your new studio. You're going to be doing stuff there. Yeah, yeah. Did you get the houseboat because children are in the real house? Yes, the children are in the real house. Yeah, it's balancing trying to work out of a kitchen where you're also trying to feed a family that includes a seven-year-old and a two-and-a-half-year-old. It got a little, yeah, difficult. Yeah.

That really shows how difficult children are, that you'd rather be on a boat rocking back and forth and say that that's easier to cook there than being at home with these children. You have to put your bowl on the right side of the cutting board so that when your carrots roll off, they just go right into it. No, no, no.

You do very cool, cool cross-culture stuff. You don't have any boundaries, it seems. And I grew up Italian-American, and when I saw your video of putting pasta in a wok and doing a stir-fry, I have to say, I got nervous and called my grandma. Was this to calm yourself down or to reassure her? Just to see, am I allowed to watch this video? Yeah.

Explain to me what the Kenji effect is. I don't know. Yes, you do. I don't know. I like to tell people if I find something good to eat, and I like to share that, and then sometimes people go and eat that after.

Eat that thing after. When I got here this morning, I like, very basic of me, Googled good lunch in Seattle and your face popped up. Oh. Did you have me? You recommend.

I recommended like a fish and chips place I want to check out. But I just saved it. It was a list of 10. That was probably Emerald City fish and chips. I think it is. And it's on the list. Don't go there. I'm going. And then I saw that you were the guest and I was like, damn, he really knows what he's doing. He is number one before Wikipedia. It's you. Should we play the game? Yeah. Yeah. Let's play the game. Thank you.

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, we've invited you here to play a game we're calling... Serious Eats meet Serious Feets. Okay. You wrote for Serious Eats, so we thought we'd ask you about three different people with serious feet. Okay.

Like the kind covered by your bright sneakers. Yeah, the kind in your shoes. Answer two out of three correctly, and you'll win our prize for one of our listeners. Bill, who is Kenji playing for? Jessica Castillo of Seattle, Washington. Thank you.

All right. Are you ready? I'm ready, yes. Okay. Here's your first question. Okay. Football kickers, of course, have very serious feet. Yeah. And as we now know, really well thought out opinions about women in the workplace. Yeah.

What did one player for the San Diego Chargers say about their team's kicker when he was miked up on the field? A, I just want to pick that little guy up and give him a piggyback ride. B, why doesn't he wear his helmet on his foot? Or C, what's the name of our kicker? Laughter

What's the one you're supposed to go to if you don't know? I'll read the answers again. Yeah, it's very clearly C. But yeah, read them again. You got it. You got it. I did. Yeah, C. You're right. You're right. C. And when he was told it was Cameron Dicker, a.k.a. Dicker the Kicker, he did not believe it. LAUGHTER

Here's your next question. Okay. Soccer players have serious feet. Lee Todd, a player in the UK, holds the record for getting the fastest red card just two seconds into a match. What did he do to get ejected? A, he forgot to put on his shorts before running on the field. No.

B, after the referee blew the whistle to start the game, he said, F me, that was loud. Or C, told a player on the other team, as soon as the match starts, I'm going to punch you, and then punched him. Ha ha ha ha!

I'm looking to the person who gave me the right answer last time. You got a plant out there? I'm going to go with B. Let's try B. You're right. Yeah, there you go. You got it.

All right, you're doing great. Yeah, thank you. I knew all these answers. I watched the news. Last question. Maybe the most serious pair of feet ever belonged to Michael Flatley, Lord of the Dance. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. But his feet didn't just make him millions as a dancer. He also did what with them?

A. Played the drums with Wynton Marsalis' jazz band holding the sticks with his toes. B. Used them as brushes to make paintings on the floor based on the theme of the Irish potato famine. Or C. Disassembled and reassembled a Rolex watch while blindfolded. Ha ha ha!

I'm going to go with the painting. That's right. It's the feet paintings. Fun fact. His feet paintings have sold for more than $100,000 each. Bill, how did Kenji do on our quiz? I know somebody. Michael Flatley is going to be really proud. He got them all right. Bravo. Bravo.

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is author of The Food Lab, and he co-hosts the Radiotopia podcast, The Recipe with Kenji and Deb. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, thank you so much for joining us on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell. Thank you.

That's it for our first look back at 2024. Before we go, let me tell you that 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 Koticka, Wrights, our limericks, our public address announcers, Paul Friedman, our tour manager is Shana Donald, BJ Lederman, composer, our theme, our program is produced

by Jennifer Mills, Miles Grombos, and Lillian King. Special thanks to Monica Hickey and Blythe Robertson. Peter Gwynn is our human highlight reel. Our vibe curator is Emma Choi. Our technical direction comes from Lorna White. Our CFO is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. Our senior producer, that's Ian Chilag, and the executive producer, wait, wait, don't tell me,

is Michael Danforth. Thanks to everybody you heard on our show this week, all the panelists, our guests, Tom Papa, Choki Ianson, Andy Richter, and of course Bill Curtis. And thanks to everybody here at the Studebaker Theatre and all of you for listening wherever you are. I'm Peter Sagal. We'll be back with a new show next week. This is NPR.

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