PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Time to roll on to our final game Lightning Fill in the Blank. Each of our players has 60 seconds in which to answer as many fill in the blank questions as they can, each correct answer now worth two points. Carl, can you give us the scores?
CARL KASELL: Charlie Pierce has the lead, Peter. He has four points. Faith Salie has three. Brian Babylon has two.
SAGAL: Brian, you're in third place. You are up first. Here we go. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. Testifying this week, former Representative Gabby Giffords called for Congress to take action on blank.
BRIAN BABYLON: Automatic weapons.
SAGAL: Well, guns, yes.
BABYLON: Gun control.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: The confirmation hearing for Chuck Hagel, President Obama's choice to head the department of blank, began on Thursday.
BABYLON: Defense.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: As French forces continued to battle Islamic rebels, the president of blank announced that elections would be held in July.
BABYLON: Mali.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Las Vegas police got some unexpected help making their case against a suspected pimp when they discovered blank.
BABYLON: Big hats and inks.
SAGAL: No. That he had a tattoo of the word pimp.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Best known for his television role as Gomer Pyle, this week blank announced he'd married his male partner of 38 years.
BABYLON: Jim Nabors.
SAGAL: He did.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A Tennessee woman got into a head on collision with a deputy's cruiser, ran it off the road, led police on a 10 minute high speed chase and then crashed her car, all without blanking.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
BABYLON: Being awake.
SAGAL: No. She did all of that without spilling her beer.
(LAUGHTER)
BABYLON: My kind of lady.
SAGAL: Trishia Moody knows how to hold her liquor, as she demonstrated after this week's high-speed police chase. Moody, who did not spill a drop of her 16-ounce beverage, was charged with a DUI for the incident, but has reportedly received offers from the new Budweiser/Cirque de Soleil tour, L'Alcoholique.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Carl, how did Brian do on our quiz?
KASELL: Brian had four correct answers for eight more points. He now has ten points, and Brian has taken the lead.
SAGAL: All right.
BABYLON: Yes.
SAGAL: All right, yes, yes, yes, yes, Brian, Brian.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: All right, Faith, you're up next. Fill in the blank. On Thursday, Beyonce said that she would absolutely be singing live at the blank.
FAITH SALIE: Super Bowl.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, the Boy Scouts of America announced that they are considering lifting their ban on blank.
SALIE: Gays.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Syria formally complained to the United Nations on Thursday over a reported attack by blank within its borders.
SALIE: Israel.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Flights were cancelled and over 100 factories were temporarily shut down this weekend in an attempt to reduce the smog in blank.
SALIE: China.
SAGAL: Somewhere, specifically.
SALIE: Beijing.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A police officer who found a missing alpaca in New Zealand earned praise for immediately blanking.
SALIE: Killing it.
SAGAL: No. Putting it in the backseat of his patrol car and giving it a ride home. Patty Andrews, the last surviving member of the WWII era singing group blank died at age 94.
SALIE: Andrew Sisters.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, Katherine Applegate and Jon Klassen were awarded the Newbery and Caldecott medals, which honor excellence in blank.
SALIE: Children's literature.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Lawmakers in Kerry County, Ireland, have passed a motion allowing residents to drive blank.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SALIE: To drive something unusual, not a shamrock but a sheep.
SAGAL: No. It allows them to drive while moderately drunk. According to the resolution, if it passes, you can get a permit that will allow you to have three pints of beer, and still swerve gently and lightly crash on the way home without fear of arrest.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: It will be up to the cops to determine what counts as moderately drunk, so they're scrambling to update the sobriety tests. "Sir, please sway forward. Don't bother touching your nose; just tell me where you think it is.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: List whatever numbers you can think of.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Carl, how did Faith do on our quiz?
KASELL: Faith has six correct answers for 12 more points. She now has 15 points, and Faith has taken the lead.
SAGAL: All right.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: So how many then does Charlie Pierce need to win?
KASELL: Six to win.
SAGAL: All right, Charlie, here we go. This is for the game. This week Iran announced that it had successfully launched a live blank into space and brought it back alive.
CHARLIE PIERCE: A monkey.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Thursday, the Senate passed a short-term resolution extending the blank until May.
PIERCE: The debt ceiling.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Last Sunday, new rules kicked in allowing stores to charge a fee to customers who pay with a blank.
PIERCE: Credit card.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary blank announced he would be stepping down.
PIERCE: Ray LaHood.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Police in Florida arrested a man they overhead making a drug deal after he accidentally blanked.
PIERCE: Butt dialed them.
SAGAL: Yes, he butt dialed 911.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, Research in Motion announced the launch of the new blank phone.
PIERCE: Iphone.
SAGAL: No, the BlackBerry. On Wednesday, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla blanked for the first time since 1986.
(LAUGHTER)
PIERCE: They appeared in public.
SAGAL: No, they rode on the Tube, the London Underground. A fisherman in Panama was excited to hook a huge marlin, but was less excited when blank.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
PIERCE: When sharks ate it on the way as he rode back into Cuba.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: What happened was the marlin sunk his boat. The captain and his crew were rescued and the marlin is now posing for photos with his brand new fishing boat on the ocean floor.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: And you know he's lying about it down there. Carl, did Charlie do well enough to win?
KASELL: He needed six correct answers but Charlie had just five correct answers. So with 15 point, Faith Salie is this week's champion.
SAGAL: Well done, Faith.
(APPLAUSE)
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.