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: Hari has four. Paula and Brian each have two.
SAGAL: All right. We've flipped a coin. And Paula has elected to go second. So, Brian, you're up first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, a federal judge blocked work requirements for people on blank in Kentucky and Arkansas.
BRIAN BABYLON: Medicare.
SAGAL: Close enough.
BABYLON: Medicaid.
SAGAL: Medicaid, yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, the White House's ban on blanks for semi-automatic weapons went into effect.
BABYLON: Bump stock.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: As baseball season opened this week, the Texas Rangers Elvis Andrus used his new walkup music, blank.
BABYLON: Macarena?
SAGAL: No, "Baby Shark." On Sunday, Patriots tight end blank announced he was retiring from the NFL.
BABYLON: Gronk.
SAGAL: Yes, Rob Gronkowski.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After he was pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving, a man...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...In South Carolina tried to hide the smell of alcohol by blanking.
BABYLON: Drinking gas.
SAGAL: By spraying Axe body spray directly into his mouth.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Police pulled the man over on Interstate 85. And before the officer made it to his window, the man quickly swished some Axe body spray to cover up the smell of alcohol. He ended up failing a road sobriety test, which in this case, was just the officer asking, did you just spritz some Axe body spray in your mouth?
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Brian do on our quiz?
KURTIS: Three right. Six more points for a total of eight. And that puts him in the lead.
SAGAL: All right, congratulations, Brian.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Next up is Paula. Here we go, Paula. Fill in the blank. After the House failed to override his veto, President Trump's blank was upheld on Tuesday.
PAULA POUNDSTONE: Emergency thingy for the wall.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, the White House released a proclamation recognizing blanks control of the Golan Heights.
POUNDSTONE: Syria.
SAGAL: No.
POUNDSTONE: Oh, Israel.
SAGAL: Yeah, all right. Yes, I'll give it to you.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a border official said the influx of blanks at the U.S.-Mexican border had reached a breaking point.
POUNDSTONE: Families.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, Gregg Nigl became the first person in March Madness history to have a perfect bracket going into the Sweet 16. And when asked about it, he said blank.
POUNDSTONE: I have no idea. He said...
SAGAL: You're right. That's what he said.
POUNDSTONE: Oh, boy.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: He said, I had no idea this was happening.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, Purdue Pharma reached a $270 million settlement for its part in the blank crisis.
POUNDSTONE: Opioid.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: In a fill-in-the-blank with a worst possible answer...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...A company in China is warning that their blanks may cause electric shocks.
POUNDSTONE: Cow prods.
SAGAL: No, that would be good. In this case, the answer is toilet seats. Finally a toilet that puts the die in diarrhea, these expensive toilet seats feature water sprayers, hot air drying and built-in warmers. But what they don't feature is a grounding wire to prevent electric shock. Forty percent of the seats are faulty. But don't worry, they've already been pulled from the market and repackaged as a cheap at-home electroshock therapy for your butt.
(LAUGHTER)
POUNDSTONE: Wow, that's not good.
SAGAL: No. Bill, how did Paula do on our quiz?
KURTIS: Well, she did good. Five right, 10 more points, total of 12, and takes over the lead.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: All right, how many then does Hari Kondabolu need to win?
KURTIS: Four to tie, five to win.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: All right, here we go. Hari, this is for the game. Fill in the blank. On Tuesday, the Senate voted against advancing the Democrats so-called blank bill.
HARI KONDABOLU: Oh, New Green Deal.
SAGAL: Green New Deal, yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, President Trump called for Russia to withdraw its military support for President Maduro in blank.
KONDABOLU: Venezuela.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, officials in Rockland County, New York banned unvaccinated children from public spaces to contain a blank outbreak.
KONDABOLU: Measles.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After columnist Denise McAllister tweeted that The View was, quote, "a roundtable of delusional mental midgets ricocheting ignorance" with a picture of host Megan McCain, McCain responded by tweeting blank.
KONDABOLU: What is a middle finger?
SAGAL: No, she tweeted, you were at my wedding, Denise.
KONDABOLU: Oh.
SAGAL: Following two crashes, blank unveiled a software fix for its 737 Max airplane on Wednesday.
KONDABOLU: Boeing.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, prosecutors in Illinois dropped all charges against actor blank.
KONDABOLU: Justice Smollett.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Thousands of passengers with connecting flights were left stranded...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...During their layovers this week when their airline blanked.
KONDABOLU: WOW Airlines went bankrupt and canceled all the flights.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: They went completely out of business, ceasing operations instantly. My flight was canceled is so 2018. Savvy travelers today call and say sorry, honey, my airline was canceled. WOW Airlines, a budget carrier flying between Europe and North America, apparently shut down on Thursday, stranding some passengers who were waiting to board their next flight. The airline has since partnered with other carriers to arrange rescue flights. And those who rebooked on United have come back safely, while those who were rebooked on Spirit Airlines decided to just walk back to New York.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, did Hari do well enough to win?
KURTIS: He won with 16.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Hey, Hari.
KONDABOLU: I've never won.
SAGAL: Now you have. How does it feel?
KONDABOLU: Man, there is no cash prize.
SAGAL: No. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.