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?
BILL KURTIS: Maeve and Roxanne each have two, and Adam has four. Look out.
SAGAL: Oh, my God. Well, we flipped a coin, and Maeve has elected to go first. So the clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, the White House ordered the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from blank.
MAEVE HIGGINS: From Syria.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a federal judge blocked Trump's restriction on migrants seeking blank.
HIGGINS: Asylum.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, the governor of Arizona appointed Martha McSally to fill blank's Senate seat.
HIGGINS: What? Is that a real name?
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Martha McSally is, in fact, a real name.
HIGGINS: Is going to fill a Senate seat.
SAGAL: Yes.
HIGGINS: Oh, I'm just trying to think of names that rhyme with hers, but that is not how it works.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: No, that's not it. There are a lot of criteria for the Senate, but that's not one of them.
HIGGINS: Yeah, oh, John McCain.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: John McCain, yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Following his comments on immigration, Fox News host blank was dropped by over 20 advertisers.
HIGGINS: Little Tucker Carlson.
SAGAL: Little Tucker Carlson.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A cat in Canada who just wanted to sit inside a box...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...Got more than it bargained for when it ended up blanking.
HIGGINS: Something happened to it.
SAGAL: Yes, what happened to it?
HIGGINS: A dog came into the box.
SAGAL: No, it got sealed up and was shipped over 700 miles away.
HIGGINS: Oh, my gods.
SAGAL: The cat's owner was shipping some tire rims from Nova Scotia to Montreal when the cat thought, box? I love boxes. Climbed in without anybody noticing - box was sealed, shipped. The cat was eventually found by a delivery driver 700 miles away who noticed that the rims smelled a little like a litter box.
HIGGINS: Oh, my gods.
SAGAL: The woman was overjoyed to get her cat back until she opened the box, and the cat jumped out and said, I will have my vengeance, human, in this life...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...Or the next.
HIGGINS: What an adorable - like, you're just working in a car tire...
SAGAL: Yeah.
HIGGINS: ...Place or something. And then you get a kitten.
SAGAL: Yeah.
HIGGINS: It's amazing.
SAGAL: It's a Christmas...
HIGGINS: You know what? We should all put more cats in boxes.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Maeve do on our quiz?
KURTIS: She got four right, eight more points - total of 10. And for right now, she has the lead.
SAGAL: All right.
HIGGINS: Winning.
(APPLAUSE)
ADAM FELBER: Yes, winning - #winning.
SAGAL: Roxanne, you're up next. Fill in the blank. On Thursday, President Trump announced that Defense Secretary blank would step down in February.
ROXANNE ROBERTS: Mattis.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After allegations that it misused funds, the blank Foundation agreed to close this week.
ROBERTS: The Trump Foundation.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, officials in blank said they wouldn't denuclearize until the U.S. removed its own nuclear threat.
ROBERTS: North Korea.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, the Trump administration banned the sale and use of blanks.
ROBERTS: Bump stocks.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a special holiday report in the Tampa Bay Times revealed it would cost $1 billion to blank.
ROBERTS: To buy all the things in "Santa Baby."
SAGAL: You're exactly right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
HIGGINS: Wow.
SAGAL: According to a recent study, there's been a 10 percent increase in high schoolers who blank.
ROBERTS: Who vape?
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, streaming video site blank removed 58 million videos that were deemed to have hateful or offensive content.
ROBERTS: I believe that's YouTube.
SAGAL: It was.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act filed by a government watchdog group...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...This week, the CIA was forced to release top-secret documents pertaining to blank.
ROBERTS: Spy movies?
SAGAL: No, otters.
ROBERTS: Otters.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: Wait, how many documents?
SAGAL: It's called a dossier on the otter and sounds like a fifth-grade science project written by Christopher Steele.
FELBER: (Laughter).
SAGAL: And it pretty much is. It's broken into sections like, what is an otter? And how does an otter move? And otter do's and don'ts - and contains plenty of facts about an otter's diet and daily habits and a wild story about a group of otter prostitutes at the Ritz Carlton in Moscow.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Roxanne do on our quiz?
KURTIS: Got within one - seven right, 14 more points - 16 and the lead.
SAGAL: All right.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: How many, then, does Adam need to win this game?
KURTIS: Well, six to tie, and seven to win.
SAGAL: Here we go, Adam. This is for the game, Adam. Fill in the blank. On Thursday, the House approved a sweeping bill overhauling the blank.
FELBER: Criminal justice system.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Sunday, U.N. negotiators agreed to universal limits on blank.
FELBER: Carbon emissions.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, it was announced that Ryan Zinke, the secretary of the blank, would leave by the end of the year.
FELBER: Interior.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, the Fed approved the fourth blank of 2018.
FELBER: Rate hike.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a woman wound up in trouble with the law after her kids were found home alone blanking.
FELBER: Watching "Home Alone."
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: According to a new study, the average American is getting blanker, but not taller.
FELBER: Fatter.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Best known as the star of "Laverne & Shirley" and director of the movies "Big" and "A League Of Their Own," blank passed away at age 75.
FELBER: Penny Marshall.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: The Sun newspaper sounded an alarm this week with a story that claimed blank were found hiding out under a blank.
FELBER: Elves were found hiding out under a tree.
SAGAL: No, The Sun newspaper reported that mutant sharks were found hiding out under an underwater volcano.
ROBERTS: With the otters, probably.
FELBER: Oh, I did read that one.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: We always knew that life imitated art. We just had no idea that life considered "Sharknado" art.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Mutant sharks have evolved to live in the harsh conditions beneath a volcano that's just about to explode. This is the phase of global warming that climatologists refer to as, come on, Earth, you're just messing with us now.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, did Adam do well enough to win?
KURTIS: You know, thank God that he didn't transfer that point...
(LAUGHTER)
KURTIS: ...Because he got seven right, 14 more points and a total of 18 and the win.
SAGAL: Congratulations.
(APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
