WWDTM: Moe Wagner, Lewis Black, Rose Matafeo, and Atlas Obscura

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From NPR and WBEC Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR news quiz.

I'm the man who causes a heat wave just by introducing himself.

I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal.

Thank you, Bill.

And thanks, everybody.

It is time for our summer break, which we started doing at this time because no news ever happens in August, so, you know, we might as well take some time off.

Now, that that is not true anymore, but we still keep up the tradition.

The only difference is now we don't tell anybody where we're going.

That way the news can't find us.

But we're hiding behind window shades and screening our calls.

We will be bringing you some extended versions of our favorite moments from this past year.

Starting with this conversation with comedian Louis Black, who joined us on stage in Durham, North Carolina.

Peter asked him if his angry rants were always part of his act.

I wasn't angry on stage.

I realized that I was suppressing the anger.

I was really irritated about a lot of stuff, but instead of like yelling, when I would yell, I would turn my back to the audience and yell at the wall because

it seemed freaky to yell at people.

And I went through a variety of things of trying all sorts of personas.

And then

finally, as I was rolling along,

a friend of mine, another comic came up who was,

and he said, you know,

you're really angry, and you should let it come out.

You should go on stage and yell everything.

And he said, I'm on stage yelling all the time, and nothing that I'm yelling about should anybody be angry about.

I mean, this is a guy who put plumbers helpers on his head.

And so I did it.

And it literally was, I went,

that's it.

There's you go.

And that was it.

So your life was changed by Gallagher.

That's amazing.

Who knew?

So, I mean, they used to say about Don Rickles, who did insult comedy, that he was an absolute sweetheart in real life, nicest guy you ever met.

Is that like you?

Are you like actually in real life not that angry?

No, I mean, who could be that angry?

It's exhausting.

I thought you actually wake up.

You were the best at it.

Well,

I am.

I wake up and either I'm looking at a newspaper, I'm turning the TV on, or I'm looking at my phone, and within five minutes, I'm

livid.

Something has occurred that has driven me completely nuts.

Yeah.

I think everybody listening and watching you right now have had that experience, but none of us have figured out how to make a living out of it.

Yeah.

You don't work up to it.

You don't go like I'm going to be irked first and then like slightly annoyed, just straight to rage.

Oh, yeah.

There's no pedal.

No problem.

Lou, I don't know if I ever told you this, and to everyone, Louis Black is a friend and one of my comedy heroes.

I had to stop watching you so I didn't do you because the rants just come out and then you realize, like, wow, I'm as mad as Lewis Black.

I'm doing really good here.

Yeah.

I got to calm down a notch.

Love you, man.

Love you from day one.

I've seen you the same.

You've become.

You've become so well known for it and so so successful at it, it's what people expect.

And I'm wondering if it's ever, if it's ever like hard, if you ever have to take a moment, meditate, and find your unhappy place.

Oh.

No.

Just always right there.

No, I, and I'm sure you've experienced the same.

I could be standing off stage talking to somebody about their, like their new dog,

or you've got a puppy, and kind of be waxing on with them about it.

And then it's like showtime, and literally, that's it.

Boom, and now we're off.

And I just started.

Wow.

There's it's just the way it is.

I mean, I've been doing it so long, it's automatic.

Do people like, because you're well known and beloved, do people ever come up and go, wow, Lewis Black, hey, condemn me.

People,

people, I have achieved something that is so bizarre, they will actually tell me, and I can't, can you, you, will they just say, what happens if I say the word?

You can do whatever you want because cool note.

Go ahead.

Yeah, Yeah, okay.

So they will say, could you write,

could you give me an autograph for my brother-in-law and just write,

Tommy.

I'm like, okay.

And I have literally was approached time after time, can we take a picture?

Do you want to do this?

Yeah, let's do this.

It's true.

Yep.

And the radio listeners, a rude gesture was made.

The people come up to you and go, oh, you're so much nicer in person.

Yeah, you get it, she too.

Is he supposed to be yelling at an airport?

The big discovery at the airport, and makes it a little weird, is if I go up to people who are screaming at the person behind the desk, and I'm the one who comes up and goes, stop.

They're not going to listen to you.

It took me a long time to learn this.

Back off, back off.

The one thing that we found out about you that I was genuinely surprised by is that you have been the paid spokesman for Aruba, the island of vacation destination.

Yeah.

God bless.

Yeah.

That was a great gig.

I bet it was.

That really was.

But I'm thinking to myself, like, what was the process where some advertising agency said, okay, Aruba, beautiful, lovely, laid-back, I know Lewis Black.

The idea was that I obviously hated everything,

but I liked Aruba.

And reason enough for everyone to get on a plane and go there.

I remember the slogan, Aruba, it's gorgeous.

Was the idea like it transformed you?

So they'd say, like, Mr.

Black, I'm afraid we've lost your hotel reservation.

You can't stay.

And you'd be like, okay.

It was really something.

But we shot, you know, it was like we shot five ads in like three days.

It was a lot.

Oh, yeah.

It was tough three days in Aruba.

But it was 110 degrees, and get me some sunblock.

And does anybody have an umbrella?

I'm dying here.

I love the idea.

Like, the whole idea of the campaign is that Aruba is so lovely, it can even make Lewis Black happy.

And while making these ads, you are, in fact, miserable.

It's genius.

It really is.

Because he's more Lewis Black than Aruba is Aruba.

Exactly.

Well, Lewis Black, what a pleasure to have you here.

We have...

Yes, it is.

Yay!

We have invited you here to play a game we're calling...

Hush now.

Stop your ranting and go to sleep.

Since you're all about getting riled up, we thought we'd ask you three questions about calming people down, specifically babies.

Seriously.

Seriously.

So all you have to do is answer two or three questions about shushing and you'll win our prize for one of our listeners, the voice of anyone they might like for their voicemail.

Bill, who is Lewis Black playing for?

Jolene Dugas of Durham, North Carolina.

All right.

First question, most people, of course, soothe their babies to sleep with lullabies, and one lullaby, written by a father for his his own little baby, went on to become incredibly famous.

Most people know that lullaby as what?

A, the theme from Jaws,

the theme from Jeopardy, or C, Sir Mixalot's baby got back.

I can't hear you

when I hear the E.

You think it's C?

It's B, right?

It's got to be the Jeopardy thing.

It is the Jeopardy thing.

Bern Griffin

wrote it for his son, and he went on to create Jeopardy, and by virtue of it being used as the theme song for so long, Mr.

Griffin earned about $70 million in royalties from it.

Wow.

What was the song?

What did these swap words?

No, there's no words.

It's ta-ta-ta-ta.

No, they gotta be go to sleep, you little prick.

There has to be words.

Now you owe Marv Griffin $3 million.

There are words now.

That was very well done.

Two more questions here.

Lullabies are common around the world, but they change as per different cultures.

So, for example, a popular lullaby in Brazil has parents singing what to their child.

A, someday you will grow up to improve your looks with plastic surgery.

B, a monster crocodile is coming to get you.

Or C, Sir Mixalot's baby got back, but

in Portuguese.

It's got to be the crocodile.

It is the crocodile, yeah.

A lot of, apparently,

a lot of global lullabies threaten babies with terrible outcomes if they don't quiet down.

Then I I could have had a child.

Yeah,

you were not against.

Or falling out of a tree.

Yeah, exactly.

We've got that, but it's as nothing compared to the terrible fates awaiting sleepless babies around the world.

All right, last question to be perfect.

There are other ways to soothe babies.

In fact, some parents swear by what soothing technique.

A, playing YouTube videos to babies of Jim Kramer's show on CNBC.

B, playing recordings of the baby's own crying back to them to see how they like it.

Or C, placing them comfortably and snugly inside the gallon-size Stanley Insulated Cup.

Wow.

Yeah.

I think they play the baby crying.

You're exactly right.

Yeah.

Yeah, the idea is that babies are fascinated by other babies, even themselves, even when crying, so it works.

Bill, how did Lewis Black do in our quiz?

Know anything about this.

He was at all.

all.

Reiner up.

Woo!

Lewis Black is a comedian, actor, and host of the Ramcast.

You can find his tour dates at LewisBlack.com.

Lewis Black, thank you so much for being with us.

Thank you.

Here

in Durham.

What a thrill.

Thank you.

When we come back, our panelists tell fresh, never-before-aired lies to you.

And the team from Atlas Obscura gives you some last-minute ideas for summer road trips.

That's when we return with more Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR.

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From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR news quiz.

I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal.

Thank you, Bill.

Right now,

we are on a beach somewhere, idly wondering if we were just to swim straight out, would we eventually get someplace better?

This is Chicago, Peter, so the best you can do is Michigan.

While we contemplate distant shores, here's something worth staying home for.

In June, we went to Portland, Maine, where we taped a bonus show we have held on to until just the right time, which is now.

Here's a Bluff the Listener game with panelists Maz Jobrani, Joyelle Nicole Johnson, and Shane O'Neal, plus a visit from the founder and current CEO of Atlas Obscura.

Right now, it is time for the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, Bluff the Listener game.

Call 1888, Wait, Wait to play our game on the air, or check out the pinned post on our Instagram page at wait wait npr hi you're on wait wait don't tell me hi I'm Brandon and I'm calling from Asheville North Carolina I love Asheville one of my very favorite places what do you do there I'm a veterinarian are you really do the people of Asheville and I know they can be quirky do they have normal pets or weird ones um

Well, I think everyone has pretty weird pets, especially weird names.

Crazy names for their pets.

Can you give us an example?

Well, I have a cinnamon toast frunch in my house.

Well, welcome to the show, Brandon.

You're going to play the game in which you have to tell truth from fiction.

Bill, what is Brandon's topic?

Makeovers in the news.

The rules of a good makeover are easy.

You start out looking terrible, then pow, someone takes off your glasses and gives your shirt a French tuck, and you're perfect.

This week we heard about a glow-up so extraordinary it made the news.

Pick the one who's telling the truth, and you'll win our prize.

The wait waiter of your choice on your voicemail.

Are you ready to play?

Yeah.

Okay, first let's hear from Joelle Nicole Johnson.

The African nation of Burkina Faso is recently known for telling the French military, au reu voir.

Turns out a country so good at kicking out colonizers is also good at kicking balls.

Jersey accent.

Their football team is called Les Etalence, which fittingly translates to the stallions.

To boost ticket sales, Monique Sawadogo, the new marketing manager, decided their team uniforms should reflect their moniker.

And the new makeover has the stadiums packed.

The uniforms are so tapered you can see every outline of their perfect ball of bodies,

which has female fans flocking to the games.

And more women begets more men showing up to shoot their shots at love.

Sales are through the roof for the tickets, and the games have turned into single date nights.

Because what's a better dating strategy than saying, you think that athlete is hot?

Well, you're in luck.

I look like that guy if he drank 50 beers a day.

The Burkino Faso national football team gets sexy uniforms and people are flocking to the games.

Your next head-turning headline comes from Shane O'Neal.

Visitors to the Basilica of St.

Macarena in Seville, Spain are in distress.

No, it's not because confused visitors have been interrupting services at St.

Macarena's by doing the 90s line dance, the amens drowned out by I.

No, parishioners are disturbed that a statue of the Virgin Mary has gotten a little too much work done.

After a 17th-century statue at the church was renovated and revealed to the public on June 21st, the verdict was in: Mother Mary, you are too snatched.

The new Mary is visibly smoother and younger looking, even though she says she's just been praying the rosary and getting lots of sleep.

Locals are in disarray over the Mary makeover, with many people literally brought to tears over it.

It's the new summer goal being so hot, it's sacrilegious.

A Madonna in Seville, Spain gets a glow-up and people are very unhappy.

Your last madcap makeover comes from Maz Giobrani.

What makes the leaning tower of Pisa such an interesting sight to see is the fact that the tower in Pisa is leaning.

So what happens when you take the lean out of the tower?

That question was answered when Piero Di Luigi Scaldoni, a designer hired to renovate the tower, accidentally made it straight.

The confusion came about when someone delivered him the work order that read, quote, fix the angle, singular, instead of fix the angles, plural.

The intention had been for him to smooth out the angles on the inside where the floors meet the walls, but instead, he fixed the whole darn thing.

When the scaffolding came down and the townspeople saw the finished product, they were mortified.

One local said, We come to celebrate and I see it and I'm like, mama mamia, this isn't the leaning tower of Pisa, it's just the tower of Pisa.

So the townspeople have gotten together to figure out how they can get the tower to re-lean.

The latest effort involved using 10 Alfa Romeos tied with ropes around the top of the tower to see if they could pull it back.

Watching the effort, the local said, I feel like I'm watching the wily coyote trying to catch the roadrunner.

It's not gonna work.

And just as he said that, one of the cars honked, beep, beep.

All right, these are your choices.

Somewhere,

somebody got a makeover.

Was it from Joyelle Miko Johnson, the Burkina Faso football team, who are looking pretty good in their new uniforms, from Shane O'Neill, a famous Madonna in Seville, Spain, which is looking really great, or from Mazda Obrani, somebody trying to, you know, restore the leaning tower of Pisa, made it straight.

I think I'm going to go with Shane's.

You're going to go with Shane's story of the Madonna that got the blow-up, making people there very unhappy at her youthful beauty.

All right, well, to bring you the real story, here's someone who covered it.

She is famously known for being the most beautiful virgin.

But last week, something changed.

That was Shelby and Sevilla, a tour guide in Sevilla, Spain,

giving the rundown on the Yassified Virgin Mary.

Congratulations, you got it right.

Shane earned a point.

Woo!

Just for telling the truth in a colorful way.

And you have earned our prize, the voice of anyone you might choose for your your voicemail.

Well done, sir.

Great.

Thanks so much.

Thank you so much, too, and give our best to

Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

And now the game where we ask experts about things they know nothing about.

In 2009, filmmaker Dylan Thuris co-founded Atlas Obscura, a website dedicated to less well-known destinations around the world.

So if you're bored of Disney World, how about taking your kids to the Yeti skull of kumjung or the grave of the paste eater of Nevada?

They published a best-selling book and they host a podcast and they have spent 16 years finding the most exotic places in the world and flooding them with tourists.

We are delighted to be joined by Atlas Obscura co-founder Dylan Thurs and the CEO Louise Story.

Welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.

Thanks for having me.

Thanks for having me.

For people who don't know Atlas Obscura and they can go on their website any time.

Let's start with an example.

Here we are in Portland, Maine.

Where would Atlas Obscura tell you to go if you came to Portland, Maine?

Well, why don't you tell your story, Louise?

You were just there today.

Well, so, you know, I just joined the company a couple months ago.

I'm trying to get totally in the DNA, and I go to the Atlas, coming up here, to see where can I go that I never have been before in Portland.

And I find the CryptoZoology Museum.

There you go.

I didn't know it was here.

And the CryptoZoology...

What do you see at the Cryptozoology Museum?

Well, you see different recreations of some of these animals.

I actually heard, you're an expert on this, Dylan.

So it's Yetis, and actually, you know, it's at the Cryptozoology Museum.

They have a letter from Jimmy Stewart because Jimmy Stewart helped smuggle out what they thought was a Yeti finger in his wife's lingerie from Nepal, and he brought it back to the UK.

Wow.

So here you go.

What was it?

I believe it was a human figure.

Finger.

It was just a normal finger bone.

So the idea, of course, of Atlas Obscura, that's a good example, is like if you want to go someplace, but you want want to see someplace that is unusual.

It's not on the beaten path.

That's right.

But it is all kinds of things.

You know, really, everyone has their own Obscura.

So for example, another place here in Portland is the Bead Museum.

So if you're really into jewelry and beading, there's probably the best bead museum in the world here.

How many bead museums are there, though?

More than you'd imagine.

More than you'd imagine.

So Dylan, you founded this thing back in 2009 with Josh Forrest.

So what was the inspiration?

You know, Josh and I both grew up doing this kind of travel.

I grew up in the Midwest and my parents, the big, yes, I'm from Minnesota originally.

Woo!

And,

you know, the big summer trips were not, we were not getting on a plane.

We were getting in a car and driving for 12 hours.

Right.

And then it would be like, after 12 hours, it would be like the Corn Palace.

If you like corn, you know, it's got what you need.

But on these trips, we went to some places that I've never forgotten.

There's a place in Wisconsin called the House on the Rock.

Oh, the House on the Rock.

Yes.

People who know it know it.

It's one of the craziest places I've ever been.

It's got the world's

sculpture the size of the Statue of Liberty of a squid fighting a whale inside the house.

It's got the world's largest carousel inside the house.

Anyway, it's the closest you can come to doing acid without doing acid.

Correct.

Yes, that's exactly right.

So, you know, I was going to go on a big trip, and Josh and I started talking and said, how come there's not a great travel resource for these kinds of interesting, unusual places?

Like, these are the best places you go when you take a trip.

And so, we started putting it together, and 16 years later, here we still are.

Here we still are.

So, in your years of doing this, can you give me

your favorite of the places you've discovered?

I'm going to give you a recommendation personally, please.

You're from New Jersey, right?

I'm originally from New Jersey.

Okay, this is one of my favorite places in New Jersey.

Okay, if you go to Montclair.

Montclair, New Jersey, not far from where I grew up.

Yep, there's a diner in Montclair.

Go to the diner and

tune your radio to 91.9.

Okay.

And for about a mile circumference, there is a radio station that for 15 years

has been playing the boys to men song, I'll make love to you, over and over again, non-stop.

And you are

recommending

had we met before?

Had I done something to you?

I just thought you might like that.

I appreciate that.

I thought this would be fun for you.

I shall point out that many of the places that you point out as excellent places to go visit are,

well, let's just say they're not traditionally enjoyable.

So, for example, that's not true.

We cover all kinds of things.

Didn't you write about going to Minneapolis and getting to a place that you've really always wanted to get into, which is like an underground lake of sewage?

Oh.

Tylen, I'm not going to this one, okay?

Like, no.

My favorite place in Minneapolis, actually, is a place called called the World's Quietest Room.

The World's Quietest Room.

Yeah, and it is a sound chamber in a laboratory.

I've spent time in Minneapolis.

That's like any Minnesotan family would dishes.

Yeah, that's my Christmas.

Yeah, pretty much.

You go into this chamber, and it really is, if you sit there for half an hour, you can hear your eyebrows move, and it's a very strange experience.

Wow.

Does your app rank the sites for safety?

No.

No, absolutely not.

No, thank you.

But maybe that's a good feature.

Have you ever gotten a complaint for ruining someplace?

No, you know, honestly,

what we find is a lot of these places, these small museums, these kind of outsider art projects, they actually die from underlove.

And the whole point of the idea is that if you go a little farther and you kind of go to that strange little place that first sounds like, what is this?

What is going to happen here?

You actually end up having these really beautiful travel experiences.

I have two questions.

So first of all, I'd like to return to the Cryptozoology Museum.

Are we sure these are recreations?

Because if I were a Yeti, I would just hide out of the Cryptozoology Museum and be like, the last place they'd expect.

Just holding still for 30 years.

Yes, exactly.

Or just be like, no, no, I'm just an actor.

Are we sure these are recreations?

Good question.

This is very good.

Second question, what has not made the cut?

Have there been people where you're like, oh, I'm sorry, girl, but the paperclip pile is not going to go into Atlas.

It's scary.

We'd probably put that in.

No, yes, sometimes people just enter like whole states.

They're like Kansas.

And you're like, that's a little too broad for us.

It should be more specific.

Kansas?

Kansas?

People are like, hey, guys, Atlas Obscure.

I've got the most amazing, obscure place no one's ever heard of to visit.

Ready?

Kansas.

That's right.

Has the band Kansas ever tried to visit Kansas?

There was a museum to the band, Kansas.

What?

Yes, really?

Well, maybe we got some sounds.

If you want to make a museum, I sure do.

I only know one song, but I can sing it all day.

Carry on my way.

One song.

There you go.

There you go.

You know, if you do that long enough, 24-7,

they'll put you in the book.

Start a radio station.

Exactly.

One song forever.

Peter, you should go there.

Well, Louise and Dylan, it is a pleasure to talk to you.

We have invited you here to play a game we're calling.

Let's stay on the beaten path.

So you offer guides, as we've been discussing, to the most off-beat attractions around the world.

So we're going to ask you about the boring attractions that everyone goes to.

Answer two to three correctly and you win our prize for one of our listeners, Bill.

Who are Louise and Dylan playing for?

Kathleen Connor Strickland of Woolwich, Maine.

All right.

Gotcha.

And you can collaborate.

Here we go.

And I'll class.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris is visited by 7 million people every year.

We know this, but not many people know this about it.

What?

It can retract all the way underground in the case of bad weather.

B, it's married.

Or C, seven of its metal struts have been replaced with balsa wood.

C.

B.

B.

B.

Somebody definitely married the Eiffel Tower.

100%.

Yes, it's B.

Woo!

Okay.

Good job.

Dylan.

Dylan seems to understand human nature in a way.

He has been around.

Yeah, in 2007, Erika Eiffel, she changed her name.

She's a traditional person that way, trad wife in a weird way.

All right, next question.

There's something for everyone in New York Central Park.

Perhaps you've heard of it.

Which of these is an actual TripAdvisor review headline describing someone's unique experience in Central Park?

Is it A, a queen bee flew into my backpack and made it a bee backpack?

B, couldn't find the zoo, so played hacky sack with strangers for five hours.

Or C, almost killed Drew Barrymore.

Oops.

There's a lot of people playing hacky sacking.

There's a lot of people laying.

There's a lot of sacking going on.

It's so mundane.

Yeah.

It's like overly mundane, breathing.

B.

B, B, B, B.

No, C, they almost killed Drew Barrymore.

They were in one of those little boats, and so was Drew Marrymore, and they hit the boat, and Drew almost fell over.

But thankfully, everybody's fine.

This is okay.

You have one more chance.

If you get this right, you win.

High pressure.

The Gateway Arch, St.

Louis, fantastic destination for people who like elevators.

But not everyone can enjoy the view at the top.

Who is not allowed to travel to the top of the Gateway Arch in St.

Louis?

A, any fan of the Chicago Cubs.

B, the actor Vin Diesel, he knows what he did.

Or C, the President of the United States.

The audience won't see.

C.

Let's go see.

You're going to go C.

It is C, yes.

Oh, my God.

And I should say.

And I know what you're thinking.

It's not just this specific president.

Any president.

The Secret Service says it's too cramped up there for them to be able to protect the president.

So after Eisenhower went up there once, they said, no more.

Bill, how did Louise and Dylan do in our quiz?

Got enough to win.

We're going to go everywhere with them.

Congratulations.

Well done.

You know your way around.

Dylan Thurs and Louise Story are the co-founder and CEO of Atlas Obscura.

You can order their newest book, Wildlife at AtlasObscura.com.

Give it up, please, for Dylan and Louise Story.

Thank you, everybody.

Thank you, guys.

When we come back, the tallest person ever to play Not My Job and a comedian so good she had a prime minister open for her.

That's when we return with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR.

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From NPR, WBEC Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR Dues quiz.

I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater and Fine Arts Building, downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal.

Thank you, Bill.

So it is...

Thank you, everybody.

It's just the first week of our summer break, and already Bill is treating me like his cabana boy.

Rub the sunscreen on my back, and if you miss a spot, I'll cut your tip in half again.

Well, I deal with his unreasonable demands.

Let me remind you that you can come see our show live here in Chicago, and we will be in St.

Louis, Missouri on September 18th at the fabulous Fox Theater.

For tickets and information for all our shows, go to nprpresents.org.

Now, here is another one of our favorite interviews from this year.

When we visited Florida in the spring, we talked to Orlando magic setter Mo Wagner, who had his eyes on the NBA even when he was growing up in Germany.

So I asked him if basketball was a big deal in his home country.

It's growing.

Definitely soccer the soccer, or football, we call it football, sorry Americans.

The main sport, but the basketball community is growing.

Obviously with Dirk Nowitzki, we have a huge, huge representative and basketball is getting bigger.

Now, did you

gravitate to basketball originally or were you playing soccer and then you passed six feet in height and somebody said, no, we'd like you to pick up the ball now?

Actually, funny story.

So, yeah, I played soccer.

I loved soccer.

I loved being outside, getting dirty in the grass and playing with my friends.

And then at some point, my mom got so sick of waiting outside in the rain, watching me play all day, that she forced me,

more or less, to try out a gym sport.

And because I was very tall, it was either handball or basketball.

My dad did handball, so I chose basketball.

Little rebellion.

Exactly.

Yeah.

It's a shame because you could be playing uncounted millions in the national handball.

Yeah.

Bad decision from me to make it.

Well, second best is always okay.

Now, I was surprised by this.

I had assumed that you had been scouted and found by Michigan, but in fact, as I said, you were interested in American collegiate sports.

You wanted to go to America and play for an American college, specifically Michigan?

Michigan was kind of like, now, obviously, Michigan Man Go Blue forever, but back then that was kind of like

back then it was just kind of the only school that offered me a scholarship.

So I was like, sure,

I'll do that.

But I will say both my parents went to medical school, are doctors, so going to school was kind of a thing in my family, and I didn't want to be the outlier on that end, at least act like I cared.

And

I didn't want to go to medical school, that's for sure.

And also, like I said, again, it's hard to get on the radar.

So I tried to play on ESPN and have people see me to go to the NBA, and that was possible at Michigan and less possible in Germany, so that was kind of like a surefire answer.

Yeah, absolutely.

So you had ambitions to go to the NBA.

Exactly, yeah.

I hate to admit that to my mom nowadays, but I really just went to the University of Michigan to go to the NBA.

You are also quite famously part of one of the very few pairs of brothers in the NBA.

That's correct.

Your brother

also went to Michigan, came from Germany to Michigan, and then now is with you on the magic.

Correct.

And so was it like all you?

You're like, dude, this is great.

You're going to do this.

Yeah, kind of.

Like, he owes me everything, honestly.

I appreciate you setting that up for me.

I kind of turned from younger brother into my landlord within four years, so that's awesome.

But no, obviously an amazing experience.

This is a crazy, crazy lifestyle we live, and to get to share that with your family

at that level is pretty cool.

Now, you're 6'11, and your brother is 6'10.

So do you, like, torture him by holding things up out of his reach?

Yeah.

Like, he surpassed me in about everything in life except for that little detail.

So

I try to rub that in every time.

Literally rubbing in the top of his head, which you can reach me.

You can't do nothing about it.

So you guys, so you live together.

You have your own basketball house.

Exactly.

We got a full court upstairs and a full court downstairs.

No, like, yeah, he bought a house.

I live upstairs.

He lives downstairs.

So we have some separate rooms.

We don't bunk bed or do anything like that.

There should be privacy allowed on the road as well, so we don't share hotel rooms or anything like that.

We are still two individual grown men, but

we live together

on the same thing on the same team.

The cool thing is our mom gets to be around all year, so that's awesome, yeah.

Right.

Oh, can I

can I ask you something about a story I heard?

Oh, please.

So I heard that you guys obviously speak German and that you talk some smack while you're playing in German and that Luka Dončić understood what you were saying about him.

What what were you guys saying and what did he pick up?

I don't think he understood what we were saying, but uh I definitely, I mean, he's obviously from Slovenia, so he has some experience with

European language, and he picked up on that pretty quickly.

But he definitely didn't know what we were saying.

It's pretty cool, because Franz and I, obviously,

we have some opinions about our teammates or opponent teams.

So we utilize our native tongue.

Really?

You are on like the court.

You're in an NBA game with your brother and you were like talking trash about the other players in German.

absolutely what it's the best

they they can't be mad at you if they don't know what you're saying that's true let's just say let's let's just say we're happy that there's no German rest in the village I understand

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Finally, in January, we talked to Rose Matafeo, a comedian and actor from New Zealand who had just become the host for the kids' version of the hit game show Taskmaster.

I asked her about starting off her career when she was just 15 years old.

Oh yeah, but as you say, I started when I was 15, so it was kind of child labor vibes.

I was thrown into the comedy minds to start stand up

as a teenager.

Yeah, I started quite young.

There's not many people in New Zealand, so I think I just, you know, they eventually give you an award if you can manage it long enough.

Right.

Is it true, by the way, that like you, like everybody...

in New Zealand knows each other because it's so relatively small.

Like we read, for example, that the Prime Minister of New Zealand, either before or after she was Prime Minister, used to like open up your shows for you.

Yeah, well she did, Jacinda Arden.

She was the Minister of Arts and Culture, so it did make sense that she kind of knew some of us and she did do a sort of monologue that we did improv comedy based on.

So I know it's horrible to make generalizations, and New Zealand is a large place.

It's a metropolitan capital of the world, all of that, but it is true that lots of us do know each other, yeah.

And

I met her before each other.

It's really cool.

I mean, when your Prime Minister is doing monologues for you and like a hundred-seater, you're like, Yeah, the country's quite small, isn't it?

Donald Trump is the opening act of this show.

Absolutely.

He's got a kill of five men.

He's coming out.

I mean, I assume that you went to the UK eventually.

You relocated there because everybody in New Zealand had already seen you, so there was nobody left to come see your show.

You think that's a joke?

That's kind of true.

My nan would come to my shows all the time to the extent where she would start coming back to shows with heckles for jokes that she had heard before.

Was it harsh?

Was your grandmother just as funny as you?

No,

she's really not funny at all.

She won't be listening to this.

No, she's very funny.

I think,

but, you know, in that way that they aren't in, they don't really know that they're funny.

And what's very sweet is my grandmother is so lovely and sweet that the heckle that she came up with for one of the jokes was, I think I was mocking her for the way she pronounces.

For some reason, a certain generation pronounces Mewesly as Mewsly.

And I was, you know, really ripping into her for that because, you know, my comedy is cutting edge.

You started it.

Yeah.

And

then she's the kindest person that her heckle was, well, next time I'll make you something else.

And And

her version had absolutely taken me down, was just offering me another breakfast option.

You have a new special.

It's on Max.

I've watched it.

It's called On and On and On.

I have a question for you that comes from a very American perspective.

It seems that in,

thank you.

It seems that in this comedy special, which is very funny and charming and original and different and surprising, that you've taped in, you are from New Zealand, you taped it in London in front of a a British audience, but you seem to be wearing a University of Minnesota shirt.

Don't get me started on this.

I have

never had, not many people are like, you know, hey, great to watch the special, you know, blah blah blah.

Usually get those kind of comments.

I have never got a public reaction as big as the fact that I have accidentally worn a University of Minnesota shirt that I found in the middle of Malma in Sweden in a secondhand shop.

And I was like, that's a cool yellow t-shirt with my last name initial on it.

I'm going to wear that.

I won't be living that down for a while.

No gophers, I guess.

Golden gophers.

So we're called the

Golden Gophers.

Yeah,

Golden Gophers.

You best believe I was straight to the Wikipedia page to see if there had been any massive controversies at the University of Minnesota.

Yeah, clearly.

Am I good?

Am I good?

You're looking for massive controversies.

You've never been to Minnesota, have you?

Maybe I could get

like an honorary doctorate or whatever people get.

I've never been offered one of those.

Really?

So maybe the University of Minnesota can step up

and offer

one of those little hats or something.

I just want to wear those little hat, that little hat that people tend to wear.

I don't know.

Right.

So I want to talk to you about something close to my heart.

You are hosting a game show now, the greatest job you could ever have.

Taskmaster Jr., which is based on a show Taskmaster, which has a bunch of comedians doing silly tasks for points, except in your version, instead of comedians, it's kids, right?

I was asked, alongside Mike Wozniak, to be the Taskmaster, who's the person who gives out the points

and sort of judges five children, gives out points.

That's a hard job.

I had to really

figure out how to do that.

But like, you're actually doing it with children.

You're ranking little kids.

Oh, look,

yeah.

Yeah, so

you're very,

the conceit of the show is the taskmaster.

That's you.

Are a very imperious figure sitting in a big chair.

You don't smile much.

And you are like rating these children.

You have sent these children out to do these difficult tasks of discovering this or figuring out that or competing in this.

And then you have to judge them.

Oh, and you know what?

I'll say, when I did the pilot for the show, I was like, how am I going to do this?

They're just gorgeous children.

They're the future.

You know, I don't want to kill their spirits young.

And after about two episodes of it, I was like, this is easy.

This is so easy.

I died.

I just don't care anymore.

Those children are lovely and they're cute, but they fight back.

Well, Rose Metafeo, it's a real joy to talk to you, and we have asked you here to play a game that this time we're calling On and Off and On.

So your special, as we have discussed, is called On and On and On.

So we thought we'd ask you about some of those famous couples that have gone on and off and on again.

Get two or three questions right about these tempestuous and flighty people.

You'll win our prize for one of our listeners.

Shioki, who is Rose playing for?

Stephen Ward of Atlanta Georgia all right you get two to three right here you win

let's do it for Stephen let's do it for Stephen here's your first question the most famous on and off again relationship was of course Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton but Ms.

Taylor wasn't just kind of indecisive with him she once broke off her engagement to another man just because of what?

A, they were traveling in Asia and he would not let her buy an elephant to bring home.

B, he chewed with his mouth open one time.

or C, his habit of saying wee right before they got into bed together.

You know what is weird?

What?

I think I know the answer to this question.

Yes.

Because I am fascinated by her.

I think it is B.

Here's the funny thing: that's not right in this case.

In this case, it was the elephant.

She said, I'd like to bring this elephant home.

And he said, You can't hold it.

That's a classic Liz move.

It really is.

That's really gutting that I got that wrong.

I feel bad.

I feel sick.

I feel scared.

And I feel, um, yeah.

Here's your next question.

You have two more chances.

The most notorious on-again, off-again couple of the 1980s was Ryan O'Neill and Farrah Fawcett.

Tell me about it.

Now, their relationship even started in a kind of wild way as their first date happened when.

A, after she saw him in a store buying that Farrah Fawcett poster and followed him home.

B, after the Dodgers' 1981 World Series win, they had gone out and were looting a store together.

Or C, when Fawcett's husband Lee Majors was away filming and asked O'Neill to just be a pal and check in on her.

Oh dirty door.

If that's true, I'm gonna go

see.

And you are right, that's what happened.

Classic story.

Yes, Lee said to Ryan, could you go check in on Farah?

And Ryan checked in and she was fine.

If you get this one right, Rose, you win.

Okay.

And you will be happy with yourself for a fleeting moment.

So here we go.

The American record holder for most marriages in a lifetime is a man named Glenn Wolfe, who was married 31 times.

Yeah, buddy.

Sorry.

Also's a fan.

Before he died at the age of 88.

To whom was his very last, his 31st marriage?

Was it to A, the very last woman left in his Iowa town that he had not not yet married,

B, the person who held the woman's record for most marriages in a lifetime, or C, wife number one, because as he said, I've tried all the rest, she was the best.

No, I'm actually going to go with B because I feel actually that Glenn Wolfe is a PR hound.

He's probably doing it for the fame, and he's going, why not?

You are exactly right.

Yeah.

Thank goodness.

That is what he did.

He married the woman who had the record for the most number of marriages, and they both did it for the publicity and to, you know, get in the Guinness book.

I don't know how long the marriage lasted.

So

this is where I turn to Chioki and I say, Chioki, how did Rose Metafeo do in our quiz?

New Zealand's finest conquered Edinburgh.

She conquered Britain.

And now she's conquered NPR.

There you go.

Cut that up.

Cut that up.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Rose Matafeo is an actor and comedian whose new special, On and On and On, is charming and funny and surprising.

It is now streaming on Max.

Rose Matafeo, thank you so much for being with us and staying up late.

Bye-bye.

That's it for part one of our much-needed and yet somehow still insufficient vacation edition.

We'll have more great interviews for you next week.

Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago in association with Urgent Haircut Productions Doug Berman, Benevolent Overlord.

Philip Godeka writes our limericks, our public address announcer is Paul Friedman, and our tour manager is Shana Donald.

BJ Ledeman composed our theme.

Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Nornbos, and Lillian King.

Special thanks to Monica Hickey.

Peter Gwynn is the lineman, our coconut, creaky molap.

Our vibe curator is Emma Choi.

Technical direction is from Lorna White.

Our CFO is Colin Miller.

Our production manager is Robert Newhouse.

Our senior producer is Ian Schillog, and the executive producer of WaitWait Don't Tell me, that's Mike Danforth.

Thanks to everybody you heard this week, all of our panelists, our fabulous guests, of course, Bill Curtis.

Thanks to all of you for listening from whatever lovely spot you may be.

I'm Peter Sagal.

We'll be back next week with the Farmer's Tan of Your Dreams.

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