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Lightning Fill In The Blank

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Now, onto 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 two points. Bill, can you give us the scores?

MAZ JOBRANI: Maz and Mo each have two, Amy has three.

AMY DICKINSON: Whoa.

SAGAL: OK. We flipped a coin and Maz has elected to go first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. Following several nights of protesting, a state of emergency was declared in blank on Thursday.

JOBRANI: Charlotte.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Tuesday, U.S. officials said that Russia was likely responsible for an airstrike on an aid convoy in blank.

JOBRANI: Syria.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson announced Thursday that the U.K. would begin the blank in early 2017.

JOBRANI: The Brexit.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week it was announced that libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein would be excluded from the blanks.

JOBRANI: Debates.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: A Tennessee woman arrested for driving the wrong way against traffic near New York's Lincoln Tunnel told police she was only trying to blank.

JOBRANI: Go towards the light.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: No, to avoid going to New Jersey.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: No jury will ever convict her. With 11 wins on Sunday, "Game Of Thrones" became the most awarded series in the history of the blanks.

JOBRANI: Emmys.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Firefighters in Rhode Island had to be called in after a man dropped his cellphone and blanked.

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

JOBRANI: A man - a firefighter - he dropped his cellphone and then got stuck in - between a rock trying to get it.

SAGAL: You're exactly right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

JOBRANI: What?

SAGAL: He got...

(LAUGHTER, CHEERING)

JOBRANI: Who's your daddy?

SAGAL: Well, this is what happened to this guy. He got his head stuck between two giant rocks.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: He couldn't get out. It happened at Narragansett Beach in Rhode Island. Emergency crews tried many different methods to get him out. Eventually, they freed him by covering his head and chest in olive oil and then just giving him a tug. The whole rescue took a little over two hours. And James Franco is already set to star in the film adaptation.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: It's called "127 Anytime Minutes." Bill, how did Maz do on our quiz?

BILL KURTIS: Well, he got six right. That's good. Twelve more points, total of 14. And he's leading.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Well done.

MO ROCCA: We can't match that.

SAGAL: All right, Mo, you're up next. Fill in the blank. On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that blank used charity money to settle a handful of lawsuits.

ROCCA: Donald Trump.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, it was reported that George H. W. Bush was planning to vote for blank.

ROCCA: Hillary Clinton.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: During a congressional hearing on Wednesday, the CEO of Mylan pharmaceuticals defended increasing the price of their blank.

ROCCA: EpiPen.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Following a two-day meeting, the Federal Reserve announced it was keeping blank rates steady.

ROCCA: I think it should be interest rates.

SAGAL: It should be.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Sunday, a senior citizen in Florida was arrested for assaulting another senior citizen after a dispute over blank.

ROCCA: On Sunday, right?

SAGAL: Yes.

ROCCA: I mean, I just - the 1948 election. I don't know.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Shuffleboard. This week, Google Capital announced an $850 million investment in home sharing company blank.

ROCCA: Home Sharing? Oh, Airbnb.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: With the release of the iPhone 7, employees at The Apple Store in Green Bay, Wis., have had to spend the week blanking.

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

ROCCA: Setting it up for Aaron Rodgers? I don't know.

ROCCA: No, the Green Bay, Wis., Apple Store has had to explain to everybody that they sell actual apples, not phones.

(LAUGHTER)

DICKINSON: Oh.

JOBRANI: Hilarious.

SAGAL: Depending on which Yelp review you read, The Apple Store in Green Bay, Wis., is either a five-star fruit seller with, quote, "an unbelievable selection of apples," or a one-star gadget store that, quote, "accidentally pressed my cellphone into cider."

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: According to the manager, the store's employees have had to spend a fair amount of time explaining they're not that type of apple store. But says he understands the mistake as his flagship product also does not have a headphone jack.

(LAUGHTER)

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

KURTIS: Well, he got five right, 10 more points. But he's two short of Maz who still has the lead.

SAGAL: All right. So how many, then, does Amy need to win?

(APPLAUSE)

KURTIS: Six to win.

DICKINSON: Oh, boy...

SAGAL: Six to win? Here we go, Amy.

DICKINSON: OK.

SAGAL: Fill in the blank. This week, the Senate Banking Committee grilled the CEO of blank about the company illegally opening over two million customer accounts.

DICKINSON: Wells Fargo.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Wednesday, officials announced that for the first time, ISIS militants used blank weapons on U.S. soldiers.

DICKINSON: Russian.

SAGAL: No, chemical weapons. This week, a federal prosecutor claimed that blank knew about the Bridgegate closures as they were happening.

DICKINSON: Chris Christie.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: A Pennsylvania man was charged with reckless endangerment this week after he blanked while in the passenger seat of a car.

DICKINSON: What would he have been doing? Does it involve mooning somebody out the window?

SAGAL: No, he threw a beer bottle from the car, which hit a utility pole, bounced back into the car and hit another passenger.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: On Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed adding the rusty patched bumblebee to the blank.

DICKINSON: Endangered species list?

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe got in hot water when he posted a photo of himself posing with Willie Nelson and blank.

DICKINSON: Pot? Weed?

SAGAL: Yes, a large container of Willies' weed.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, a man in England called the police to report that his ex-girlfriend had blanked.

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

DICKINSON: His ex-girlfriend had broken up with him.

SAGAL: No, had overfed his pet hamster.

(LAUGHTER)

DICKINSON: Wait, he called the police?

SAGAL: He called 911. In the tape, the man told the operator that his recent ex was refusing to return his hamster. And he went on, quote, "I don't want to cause any trouble whatsoever, but he's my little hamster. And he's ended up looking like a fat little pig."

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Unfortunately, the operator explained that this really wasn't a police matter. And informed Mr. Pitt that he and Angelina would have to work this out on their own.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Bill...

DICKINSON: Oh, I did so badly, I feel terrible.

SAGAL: Well, hold on. It's not truly terrible unless Bill says it is. Bill, how terrible was that?

KURTIS: It is (laughter).

SAGAL: Yeah, OK.

(LAUGHTER)

KURTIS: No, Amy, you got four right. Eight more points, total of 11. And that means Maz is today's winner.

SAGAL: Congratulations, Maz.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: In just a minute, we'll ask our panelists to predict what will be the big surprise out of Monday's debate.

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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 house manager is Don Hall. Our assistant house manager is Tyler Greene. Or intern is Alex Walla-Wachy(ph) Washington. Our web guru is Beth Novey.

Special thanks to the crew here Chase Bank. BJ Leiderman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Robin Linn and Miles Doornbos. Technical direction is from Lorna White. Our CFO is Ann booster-gnome (ph) Nguyen. Our production coordinator is Robert Neuhaus. Our senior producer Ian Chillag. The executive producer of WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME is Mr. Michael Danforth. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.