MAZ JOBRANI, HOST:
Right now, panel, time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Hari, we're finally starting to see the light at the other end of the pandemic tunnel as this week, the U.K. announced it's finally OK to do what again?
HARI KONDABOLU: You can give a hug.
JOBRANI: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
JOBRANI: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE SOUND EFFECT)
JOBRANI: You can hug someone. On Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson rolled out of bed...
PETER GROSZ: This is so funny.
JOBRANI: ...Without combing his hair to announce new...
(LAUGHTER)
JOBRANI: ...COVID guidelines for the U.K., including the return of what he called, quote, "cautious hugging." Now, for those of you who don't know...
GROSZ: No, that's in "Masterpiece Theatre." That is an incredible show. It's so good. It's all, like, repressed British hugging. They all don't want to hug each other.
JOBRANI: Yeah. Well, first of all, who knew Brits hug? But let me...
GROSZ: Yeah.
JOBRANI: ...Explain to you what cautious hugging is. Cautious hugging, for those of you who don't know, is what you give your weird uncle after he shows up to Thanksgiving and won't stop talking about how much you've grown.
(LAUGHTER)
KAREN CHEE: Oh, no. I do feel like there was someone in his life who was like, I can't hug you because of the pandemic. And so he went away and made this new, like, proclamation, like, starting Monday, you must hug me cautiously.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOLD ME, THRILL ME, KISS ME")
MEL CARTER: (Singing) Hold me. Hold me, and never let me go until you've told me...
JOBRANI: Coming up, we do the crime, so we do the time in our Bluff the Listener game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play. We'll be back in a minute with more of WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME from NPR. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
