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: Faith and Paula each have two. Tom has three.
SAGAL: Ooh, Tom. Yay. All right. We flipped a coin. Faith has elected to go first. So, Faith, fill in the blank. On Wednesday, The Florida Bar said they were investigating a congressman's tweet threatening blank.
FAITH SALIE: Michael Cohen.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Sunday, the White House announced it was delaying a planned increase to the blanks on Chinese goods.
SALIE: Tariff.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, the House passed a bill calling for expanded blanks for gun buyers.
SALIE: Background checks.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, video streaming site blank announced they were disabling the comments section on millions of videos.
SALIE: YouTube.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: The furthest known object in outer space, known as FarOut, was replaced this week by an even further object known as blank.
SALIE: Farther out.
SAGAL: So close - FarFarOut.
SALIE: Ah.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: On Thursday, the director of the CDC said the center hadn't been aggressive enough in combating misinformation about blanks.
SALIE: Vaccinations.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, Robert Kraft, the owner of the blank, was charged with soliciting prostitution.
SALIE: Yes, he was. Oh, the owner of the blank. Oh, the Patriots.
SAGAL: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
SALIE: Sorry.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A thief in Pennsylvania trying to...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...Make a getaway was apprehended after he tried to outrun blank.
SALIE: The police dogs.
SAGAL: No. After he tried to outrun a running club.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: The thief, who had just stolen a laptop and cell phone, ran right past a local lunchtime running club. Member Kyle Cassidy said they were, quote, "really impressed by his speed." They gave chase, eventually cornering the thief long enough for police to arrest him. He did manage to break out a week later. But fortunately for police, his escape route took him right past a local javelin throwing club.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Faith do on our quiz?
KURTIS: She got six right. That's 12 more points with a total of 14 and the lead.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: All right. Paula, you're up next.
PAULA POUNDSTONE: Yeah.
SAGAL: Fill in the blank. On Tuesday, the House passed a resolution to block President Trump's blank.
POUNDSTONE: Emergency declaration.
SAGAL: Yes. The emergency...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...Declaration. On Thursday, the attorney general of Israel announced he would indict blank on corruption charges.
POUNDSTONE: Netanyahu.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, Mark Harris dropped out of the contested congressional election in blank.
POUNDSTONE: North Carolina.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, Vice President Pence announced a new set of sanctions against Venezuelan President blank.
POUNDSTONE: Maduro.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: To commemorate baseball player Manny Machado's record-breaking contract with the San Diego Padres, a memorabilia company is selling blank.
POUNDSTONE: Bobblehead dolls.
SAGAL: No. Scraps of the tablecloth he signed the contract on.
POUNDSTONE: Wow.
SAGAL: Following an investigation, an officer in...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...Florida has been suspended after he let two suspects blank.
POUNDSTONE: After he let two suspects get away.
SAGAL: No. After he let them make out in the back of his cop car.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: The suspects were arrested on shoplifting charges and started making out immediately after being placed in the squad car, which is actually kind of impressive considering they were both handcuffed. Instead of stopping them - and this is completely true - the officer put on Barry White's "Can't Get Enough of Your Love Baby"...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...And let them enjoy themselves. The cop has been suspended because his actions clearly violate the ban on sexy and unusual punishment.
(LAUGHTER)
POUNDSTONE: Huh.
SAGAL: So, Bill, how did Paula do on our quiz?
KURTIS: She got five right - 10 more points, a total of twelve and came close. But Faith still has the lead.
POUNDSTONE: Oh, there you go.
SAGAL: All right. So how many does Tom need to win?
KURTIS: Six to win.
SAGAL: Here we go, Tom. This is for the game. Fill in the blank. On Thursday, the prime minister of Pakistan said he would release a pilot from blank who was shot down in...
TOM BODETT: India.
SAGAL: ...The disputed Kashmir region. Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, a former campaign staffer for blank filed a lawsuit claiming that he kissed her without consent.
BODETT: Oh, Beto.
SAGAL: No, for Donald Trump.
BODETT: Oh.
SAGAL: This week, Britain's Labour Party said it would back the new referendum on blank.
BODETT: Brexit.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that only requiring men to sign up for the blank was unconstitutional.
BODETT: Oh, the draft.
SAGAL: Right.
BODETT: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After spray painting racial slurs on a wall in Washington state, a group of vandals returned to the same spot and blanked.
BODETT: Cleaned it off.
SAGAL: No. They spray painted sorry underneath the slurs.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: This week, the Department of Justice said it wouldn't challenge the approval of AT&T's merger with blank.
SAGAL: Oh, that was - was that Time Warner?
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a man in China is being sued after he threw coins into a blank...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...For good luck.
BODETT: He threw coins into a public toilet.
SAGAL: No. He threw coins into an airplane engine.
POUNDSTONE: Oh, jeez.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Pilots for the regional airline...
BODETT: In what world is that good luck?
SAGAL: Well...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Pilots for the regional airline said they found some loose change near the plane's engine. And when they asked the passengers about it, one of them admitted, oh, he tossed in a few coins in there for good luck before takeoff. The airline is now suing him for $15,000. The man says just to make sure he has good luck, he'll throw a horseshoe at the judge during the trial.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, did Tom do well enough to win?
KURTIS: Not quite. Four right, eight more points, total of eleven. That means Faith is our winner this week.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Congratulations, Faith.
SALIE: Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
