WWDTM: Sterling K. Brown, Nathan Lane, Brian Tyree Henry, and Vanessa Bayer

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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 they call Bill Overa because my voice can soothe any sunbird.

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

Thank you Bill.

Thanks everybody.

It's the second week of our summer break and even though I am recording this in advance, I can confidently say it's not working.

We need more vacation.

We must relax harder.

More, more, more.

While we redouble our efforts to expend zero effort, here are some of the wonderful things we actually put work into last year.

In May, Peter and guest scorekeeper Alzo Slade were joined by actor Nathan Lane, the star of the hit sitcom mid-century modern.

It wasn't his first TV show, but it was his first one that lasted.

This is not the first time you have starred in a TV show, though, but it may be the most successful.

I mean,

you know, in terms of a multi-camera show in front of a live audience, I've done a couple in the past that haven't been so successful.

So this has been a great pleasure.

Right.

And

so what happened?

Did you just have poor luck in the past?

Well, I don't know how much time do you have.

When I was a kid,

I was cast in a show, a situation comedy starring Mickey Rooney and Dana Carvey called One of the Boys.

And that was,

I knew going into that, it was not going to last.

And Dana still talks about it.

He's still traumatized by Mickey Rooney,

as we all were.

And

then I did a show with the creators of Frasier,

and I thought that would be a good idea.

They had won the Emmy five years in a row, and they pitched me an idea I didn't like, and then I pitched them an idea they didn't like.

And then they came up with this idea that we wound up doing, in which I was going to play a famous opera singer who lost his voice in a freak accident and had to leave the opera world.

He went to live with his mother and sister at their winery in the Napa Valley.

By the time the premise was,

you were finished explaining it, people had left the room.

So that didn't go so well.

So this is exciting.

The show,

let's talk about Mid-Century Modern.

Okay.

My understanding is that it was pitched to you.

This is made by the creators of the classic and brilliant sitcom Will and Grace.

And they came to you and they said, it's a gay golden girls.

Is that correct?

Is that how they pitched it?

Yes.

And I thought, well, that's kind of redundant.

But

it was actually Ryan Murphy.

I was working for Ryan Murphy doing this mini-series about the Menendez brothers, and he had read this script, and he had never done

a situation comedy before, a multi-camera situation comedy.

But he thought the script was great, and they had written it,

I was told, told, with me in mind.

And so

I read it and I thought it was hilarious.

And that's how it all came to be.

I'm going to confess something.

I have been a fan of yours for decades, and I only found out this week that you are not, in fact, Jewish.

And when I got over my shock,

Increased respect for you as an actor.

I mean, do you enjoy talking?

I really, I'm, at this point, I'm an honorary Jew.

I was about to say.

This goes back to, you know, 1992, doing guys and dolls on Broadway and playing Nathan Detroit.

And then, but once I played that part, it has certainly, I have played many, many other Jewish characters.

I know it.

I thought you were just coasting my.

My favorite roles are Jewish.

I wanted to ask you quickly:

when you were on the show last time, you talked about some odd jobs you had, but we were looking over your resume and you are a Broadway legend.

I don't know how many Tonies you've won.

You just rule that street, but I found out that you're...

I've won three.

Three.

You keep counts.

I don't keep count.

One Tony for each panelist.

Exactly.

But I found out that your Broadway debut

was very surprising to me.

It was a show called Merlin

with.

No, no, it was not your Broadway debut.

No.

That's wrong.

You actually get a point for that, Nathan.

My Broadway debut was in 1982 at the Circle and Square Theater.

I did a revival of an old coward play, Present Laughter,

directed by and starring George C.

For Cuddles Scott.

Patton?

For those who remember George C.

I remember him well, but that, yeah.

But then, but so I'm sorry, that was not, but then you did Merlin with Doug Henning.

Doug Henning was this, for those who don't remember, he was a very famous magician in like the 70s who was sort of famous for his sort of, shall we say, hippie aura.

Would that be accurate?

Absolutely.

Marty Short on SCTV used to do an impression of him.

He had a severe overbite, and he did not, he was trying to bring magic back to the magic profession.

And so he did not refer to what he did as tricks, but they were illusions.

And he was a lovely man, and Doug was,

I don't know if you've heard, but he was a triple threat.

He couldn't sing, act, or move.

he was, but he was a lovely guy.

And, you know, the first rule of musical theater is don't do a show that's built around magic tricks.

Yeah.

So so yeah, it did have a little bit of a run.

But yes, it was, it was, it was doomed from the start.

And yet here you are.

And when I, I remember having to tell, I had to leave Present Laughter and I had to tell George C.

Scott that I was leaving the show to do this musical

because he so he knocked on my door and I opened it and he said to me, you're leaving me to do a

magic show?

This is going to be the outtakes for people that support public radio at a very high dollar number.

I have mixed feelings about making you play that.

I'd just rather hear more stories.

But

you know the rules.

If you come in the show, you play a game, Nathan.

And this time, we have asked you here to play a game we're calling.

Hey, stay in your lane, Nathan Lane.

So,

yeah, your name being Nathan Lane, as we all know, we were going to ask you about staying in your lane and other driving-related matters.

Answer two.

You're kidding, because you know, I don't drive.

Well, I wondered about that.

I wondered about that.

This is the wrong

It's like a Zen thing.

An empty mind leads to success here.

Here we go.

Who is Nathan Lane playing for?

David Young of Phoenix, Arizona.

Finland is pretty serious about speeding tickets.

When one guy was pulled over in 2023 for driving less than 20 miles an hour over the speed limit, what happened to him?

A the gas was drained from his car by police and he had to push it home.

B, he was fined more than $100,000.

Or C, he was forced to stand on a nearby corner for a whole day and hold up a sign saying, I am sorry.

I think

the last one

was a sign saying, I'm sorry.

In Finnish, presumably.

In Finnish, exactly.

No, he was actually fined more than $100,000.

You see, Finland has this system where they have a sliding scale for moving violation fines based on your income, and he was really rich.

Wow.

Yeah.

You both have two more questions, and you have a lot of fans in this room, so I think you'll be okay

We get news accounts every week about people using dummies to drive in the carpool lane Are you aware of this Nathan?

Perhaps you've seen it in California

And one such person who tried that got himself into even more trouble when he got pulled over and the highway patrolman cave up to give him a ticket for driving in the carpool lane with a dummy.

What did the man do to get himself in trouble?

A, he claimed, that's not a dummy.

That's where I hide all my drugs.

B leaned over to the dummy and said loudly enough for the cop to hear, don't worry, I got this.

Or C just quickly swapped seats and claimed the dummy was driving.

I say he leaned over and said, don't worry, I got this.

You're right.

You're right.

All right, you have one more question.

If you get this right, you win.

If you don't like driving, you can take one of those self-driving taxis that are now cruising around Los Angeles and San Francisco.

But you should be aware, they come with a bit of a risk.

What is that risk?

A, the taxis are programmed to find the shortest route to the destination, which has led to them driving through houses, up stairways, and down into sewers.

B, they periodically interface with your phone and take you to places from your incognito mode search history.

Oh no.

Or see the mobs of people who sometimes attack the cars and set them on fire.

Okay, well I'm gonna go with the arsonist and the audience.

You're right, that's what's happening.

So far, I should say

they haven't done it to any autonomous taxi with a passenger in it, but they have done it, and one of these days they might get carried away.

Also, how did Nathan Lane do on our quiz this time?

He got enough points to win the game and an honorary driver's license.

Well done.

Nathan Lane, I cannot tell you what a thrill it is for me to talk to you after a lifetime of being a fan.

Nathan Lane is starring in Mid-Century Modern on Hulu.

Nathan Lane, thank you so much for being with us today.

What a pleasure to have you.

When we come back, we've got panel questions you never heard before.

Plus, Tick Notaro and Sterling K.

Brown all included at no extra charge.

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

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From NPR and WBEC 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 Theater in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal.

Thank you, Bill.

Thank you, everybody.

While we may be wasting our vacation by doom scrolling the news, at least we're doing it while getting a tan.

While we soak up the sun, how about you soak up some of our favorite moments from the past year?

We don't broadcast everything we do.

Some things we save because our parents never taught us to share.

So, here are some questions for our panelists that you've never heard before.

Joyelle, this week, the Chicago Sky WNBA team unveiled their new mascot, Sky the Lioness, replacing their old mascot, which was what?

A duck.

Not a duck.

Sky, I don't know, an elephant?

Ellie the elephant.

His signature moves.

His signature moves were like spreading his legs in the subway and then explaining to the female team members how they should play the game.

Don't talk to me like this, okay?

Take me out to dinner first, Peter.

A man?

A man.

The mascot for the Chicago WNBA team

was a man

known just

as Sky Guy

who would appear on the court with a big mascot outfit with sunglasses, a really big jaw, a jetpack for some reason, and according to his official bio, five younger sisters who play basketball.

Oh, I get it, right?

As a man with sisters, he understands everything about their struggles and would like to speak for them.

More proof that men shouldn't be able to vote on things.

I'm just going to keep, every time he says duck, I say men shouldn't be able to vote.

This is the wildest game of duck, duck, goose I've ever heard of.

I know what it is.

No, wait a minute.

Hold on.

This is stop.

We fully lost control.

Hold on, hold on, hold on, everybody.

Everybody, everybody,

everybody calm down.

In Minnesota.

Two things, two things.

I know that here you call it duck, duck, gray duck.

I know that.

Remember,

I lived here.

That's all I did.

Secondly,

do I have to pull this show over, boys?

Pretty much.

Because I want to point out...

Like a real sky guy.

Like a real sky guy.

I was sky explaining that the Chicago Sky has finally decided that that maybe as a premier women's basketball team, we should not have a guy as our mascot, and they've replaced it with Sky the Lioness, inspired by the famous Lions outside, the Chicago Art Institute.

It is, of course, a female lion, because as everyone knows, male lions basically just lie around all day, while female lions hustle and defense and are totally selfless with the ball.

And here's the thing.

It's not going to be a sudden transition.

The two mascots will share duties through the end of the season, at which point Sky the Lioness will eat Sky Guy alive.

Duck, Duck, Grey Goose, Duck, Duck, Grey Goose.

No, Duck, Duck, Grey Goose is the adult version.

Jeff, a day at the pool is going to be different now for children after scientists have proven that the kids do not have to do what?

Get out to pee.

No, I feel it important to say as we are broadcast to many families listening together, yes, you still have to get out to pee.

This is something I will say for absolute,

my mother told me this when I was a little boy.

Oh you don't have to wait an hour before you get into the pool.

After you eat.

Exactly right.

You don't have to wait.

to swim after eating.

You can eat all you want, jump off the diving board, have a sandwich on the way down.

However, science does confirm that the pool water will turn blue if you pee in it.

So.

Wow, a lesson learned the hard way.

Were you guys told this when you were kids?

Yeah, but it was a full hour for me.

It was only half an hour for you.

Well, actually, my mother, she was a Jewish mother, she worried.

It was the next day.

Zach, this week, the internet debated something called the Danny DeVito rule.

Now, that is a theory that the way to tell if a romantic comedy is actually good is it is good if it would work if what?

If Danny DeVito was the romantic male lead in the world?

Exactly right.

So this is the test.

This is the test.

We all see these rom-coms and the handsome guy goes to great lengths to win the girl, right?

But would it still be charming and not kind of creepy and scary if instead of like a heart throb, the role was played by Danny DeVito, right?

So think of, say, Danny DeVito holding a boombox over his head outside his girlfriend's window from the movie Say Anything.

Is that still adorable, or does she get a restraining order?

But not all rom-coms would fail the test.

Pretty Woman still would work with Danny DeVito.

When Harry met Sally, absolutely.

Titanic, yes, and Danny DeVito would have fit on the door.

Is this a diss on Danny DeVito or a diss on the fact that most rom-coms suck?

I think it is meant to be the last.

Okay, hold on.

Because there's entire industries and life itself based on men thinking women are hot or not.

Right, right.

And so women get this one little area of culture.

Right.

Where they're allowed to think that the guy is cute and picture themselves making out with him and now that's being threatened by Danny DeVito.

Wait a minute, McGee,

they're not actually going to put Danny DeVito in the movie.

I know.

I'm escalating the threat.

I understand.

I just want you to know.

You understand what I'm saying?

I'm just saying, like, let's...

It's okay if the movies are garbage and just it's about the guy being handsome.

I just want to let women have one thing.

All right.

Jerry McGuire, you have me at.

Hello.

That was a very specific Danny DeVito.

That was actually Danny DeVito as the penguin.

I got it, Adam.

If you're listening to the show and feeling a little left out, come see us live.

You can see us most weeks in Chicago at the Stude Baker Theater.

And on September 18th, we'll be in St.

Louis, Missouri at the Fabulous Fox Theater.

For tickets and information, go to nprpresents.org.

During a show in April, we had the chance to talk to two people we admire a lot.

Actor Sterling K.

Brown, who was then starring in a new show called Paradise, and comedian Tig Nataro, who was starring on our panel.

Peter asked Sterling K.

Brown about his frustrating problem both with Paradise and his prior show, This Is Us.

He couldn't really talk about the show without spoiling the big reveal.

Yeah, it's the same creator of the show, so I can say that Dan Fogelman created This Is Us, created Paradise,

very talented man, love him dearly.

But the whole time when you're talking about This Is Us, you're like, oh, it's a family drama, and it's got, you know, all the feels and all that kind of stuff.

But if you know the end of the pilot, you're like, wait a minute.

All these people are related?

You know what I'm saying?

Sorry if I ruined anything for people that haven't watched This Is Us.

It's been out for a really long time.

That's the us.

Oh my god.

I didn't know who it was about.

Yes, famously, I think I can talk about this.

The pilot of This Is Us, this family drama, you're having all these different characters, and then you find out at the very end that you've been watching in different timelines, and some of these characters are the parents of these other characters who are now grown into adults.

How nice.

So, have you tried talking about what the twist in the new show Paradise is not?

So, for example, it turns out that your character is James Marsden's grown son.

Whoa,

That would be, that would be.

Have you come up with any tricks or like?

Well, you know,

to be the adult son of more white people, I think, would be going to the world.

It's definitely not that.

I usually just try to talk about the things that I can.

The president dies in the pilot.

But most folks, and you see that in the preview.

Right, right, yeah, yeah.

And I say that that's the stick of your life.

Right.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

The whole audience going, which president?

The president in the show.

In the show, yeah.

Everybody calm down.

I have to ask you about another project you do.

You do, and I believe you're coming back and doing it again, a podcast with your wife, right?

I do indeed.

My wife and I, Ryan Michelle Bathet, we do a podcast called We Don't Always Agree,

which pretty much.

Spoiler.

Yeah, it describes most marriages.

But we've been married.

We just celebrated 19 years in March.

Mazzletop.

March, March what?

I want to write this down.

So you had an episode where you talked about the fact that you did ayahuasca together.

That is correct.

That is correct.

Whose idea was that?

And again, I mean the podcast.

It was mine.

The podcast is my wife's idea.

Ayahuasca was my idea.

We're both both what we like to call crunchy granola black people.

So we don't really fit in the box of like typical sort of things.

Like we like to do what they call white people stuff.

You are on NPR right now.

Yeah, I know.

I'm on NPR right now.

That's good.

That was really good.

But the ayahuasca, we went to Costa Rica.

It's one of the few licensed dispensaries of the medicine in the world.

And I think we were interested in seeing, a friend of mine described it to me as it unlocks blind spots that you weren't aware that you had.

And can you share what your blind spots were, please?

The biggest blind spot in all sincerity

is that we all sort of delude ourselves into thinking that we have some degree of control.

over what happens next.

And really all we have control over is our response to what happens next.

That's probably probably the biggest takeaway.

You know what else is a way of finding out...

Do you know what else is a way of finding out you have no control about what happens is being on stage with Teg Natar.

I want to ask you one more thing, which is

I love working actors, the guys and women who put in their time, and I love asking them about the odd jobs they might have done.

Is it true that before getting into acting, you were an intern at the Federal Reserve?

Yeah, that's right, that's correct.

I was an economics major when I was in undergrad, and I thought that that being an intern at the Fed was going to be something that led to me doing some sort of investment banking thing or what have you.

And really, what it led me to, Pete, was knowing that I was bored to tears working at the Federal Reserve Bank.

Really?

Something else, yeah.

Do you ever find yourself, you know, since like financial policy is so much in the news, whipping out of, well, you know, as a former employee at the Federal Reserve, I can comment.

I try to comment as little as possible.

Most Most people don't want to hear from actors about most things, so I just try to keep staying my light.

But

said the guy with a podcast.

Well,

Sterling K.

Brown, it is a personal pleasure to be talking to you, and we have asked you here, in fact, to play a game that this time we're calling a retirement paradise.

So your show, as we've discussed, is about a community called Paradise, very mysterious.

So, we're going to ask you about a community that claims to be a paradise and isn't mysterious at all, Jimmy Buffett's Latitude Margaritaville Retirement Communities.

Come on, now.

Come on.

Answer two or three questions about what sounds like really a terrific place to be, and you will win our prize for one of our listeners, Bill.

Who is Sterling K.

Brown playing for?

Irene Chan of San Francisco, California.

All right.

All right, Irene.

Here we go.

Here's your first question.

The Margaritaville retirement community calls itself your home in paradise.

And down there near the eastern coast of Florida, they offer a wide variety of amenities, including which of these, A, the hangar workshop where residents are invited to, quote, trick out their golf carts, B, Jimmy Buffett karaoke, which happens every night,

or C, a nude beach.

All right, I think if you're in a retirement community, you're not trying to drop trowel.

So then the first one was tricking out the golf cart.

It is Florida.

It's golf courses.

That seems like it's going to be the answer.

And it is, that's right.

Yeah,

like a lot of retirement communities,

because they're sort of self-enclosed people ride around in golf carts instead of cars.

And as you can imagine, drunken golf cart driving is a persistent problem down there.

All right, here's your next question.

You got one right, let's go for two.

Margaritaville prides itself on being a place where people, quote, 55 and better

can, quote, grow old but not up, unquote.

And that explains why their monthly newsletter once contained what exciting phrase:

A, Bert took over the DJ booth for Trap Music Night.

B, party starts at four and ends when you pass out.

Or C, look at all the fun our residents had at the QVC watch party.

This one,

I'm believing B makes the most sense.

The party starts at core and ends when up.

You know, I'm pretty sure they might have said that at one time, but the one we saw was the fun at the QVC watch party.

The line to get in, the QVC watch party

went down the block.

Now, this is all right, because there's one more to go if you get this right, you win everything.

Now, the founder, of course, was the late Jimmy Buffett, quite a remarkable guy with a remarkable career, and he found his musical success relatively late in life.

In fact,

after years of trying and failing to be successful in music, he was just about to quit it and go into what business when he did finally have his first hit record.

So, what was he going to be?

A, a marijuana smuggler.

B, he was going to go into private equity, or C, he was going to go into the Catholic priesthood.

The audience is all yelling A, Mario Smith.

They're saying, I hear him.

I hear Chicago live, clear.

I got to go with the crowd, baby.

Let's go A.

Yes, yes, it is A.

He says

that

he was living out in Florida and he was just about to buy a Boston whaler to bring merchandise to the beach at night when his third album became a big hit and the Jimmy Buffett we know and love was born.

Bill, how did Sterling do on our quiz?

Two out of three, she reached paradise.

Sterling K.

Brown is an Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor whose new show is Paradise, which you can stream on Hulu Now, or catch it Mondays on ABC starting April 7th.

Sterling K.

Brown, what an absolute joy to talk to you.

Thank you so much for joining us.

You're the best.

When we come back, we hear from Saturday Night Live veteran Vanessa Bear and the voice of Smokey the Bear.

We'll be back in a minute with more.

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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, Illinois, Peter Sagal.

Thank you, Bill.

Thank you, everybody.

Thank you so much.

So, as we've said, Bill and I and the rest of the crew were on vacation.

And what better way to celebrate our time off than by listening to something that happened the last time we had time off?

Every time I listen, it's like I'm not there all over again.

In February of this year, for the first time ever, both Bill and I took the week off.

Without either of us there,

is it even the same show?

It's like the ship of Theseus or some other thing that a Stone College freshman thinks is profound.

Here's guest host Tom Papa and guest scorekeeper Chokia Yansen talking to actor and SNL alum Vanessa Bayer along with panelists Rachel Feinstein, Peter Gross, and Shantira Jackson.

When you look at your body of work, you have this great

ability of being so sweet and likable, and then you kind of have this subversive kind of cutting comedy.

I guess my first question in real life, are you as sweet as you look?

Oh, I mean, you could ask Rachel

to an extent.

I think I am sweet, but I do love to gossip.

Yes, yes.

She's very lovely and warm, but she'll get into it.

Vanessa has never clutched pearls around me once.

I've never seen her clutch her pearls.

It seems that your whole family has a really great sense of humor when I've heard you talk about your family and especially

they were especially helpful getting you through challenges when you were younger.

Was that something that just came natural or did that come out of the challenges?

I think that me, you know, particularly when I was a teenager and I had leukemia, I think my family really, their senses of humor were like really,

really came out.

And I think it made us all kind of funnier because we learned that that was sort of a, you know, a thing that put us at ease, it put everybody we knew at ease, and so I think it

made everyone funnier, right?

Just to just to kind of get through it.

And it's funny, I've heard you tell stories about how you start off just trying to like protect yourself and and be strong, just all of you, just to get through it.

But then when you when the skies started clearing and it seemed like you were going to be okay, you didn't really stop

taking advantage of some of the goodwill that people had towards you.

I'm pretty sure I earned some

stuff forever.

Yeah, I would, you know, the big term in my family was dropping the L-bomb.

Like, you know, my dad got out of the speeding ticket because he said that I was sick.

This was like year, I was done with treatment and stuff like that.

Like, yeah, using it, you know, I feel like if you survive something like that, or honestly, if you survive anything, you should get perks forever.

Oh, yeah.

At least like a Starbucks gift card.

Yeah, come on.

What did you get out of when you were a teenager?

Well, the huge thing was gym class.

But also, I will say, to this day, you cannot climb up a rope and touch the top of the rope.

It's like one of her biggest flaws.

And I have to live with that.

So that's a trade-off.

I've never heard about your audition for SNL.

What was that like?

You know, I got myself into such a good headspace before my SNL audition.

And I'm like, I'm just going to enjoy this.

It feels like it's like going to lead to positive things.

I mean, I'm a real big optimist.

You can tell by the way I'm telling the story, but like, I just was so excited to be there.

And I was like, I just want to be so present for this.

Sorry to sound like, oh, we get it.

But like, I want to be so present for this.

Yeah.

And did you know when you were done that you had in fact nailed it?

I, well, I was told they're not going to laugh.

So don't be offended if they don't laugh.

Nobody laughs.

Right.

they did laugh i remember after my first character they laughed and i was like whoa i didn't even think this was possible um what was the character was it the bar mitzvah kid no i did a different um little boy who who was really into rocks i did

i love that there's multiple boys multiple little boys incredible yeah he was really into rose quartz

and they laughed right away yeah they laughed right away and then they called me back a week later, and I met with Lauren.

And I was told I would hear within the next day.

And then so my parents stayed up all night.

Oh, that's great.

We didn't hear.

And then like a week later, I got a call from a producer.

Vanessa Bear, we've asked you here to play a game we're calling...

It's a Golden Jubilee.

Okay.

You're helping SNL celebrate their golden 50th anniversary, but they're not the only one turning 50 this year.

Answer our three questions about other things that started in 1975, and you'll win our prize for one of our listeners, the voice of their choice, on their voicemail.

Chioki, who is Vanessa playing for?

Liz Ward of Austin, Texas.

All right, here's your first question.

Jaws turns 50 this year and wouldn't be nearly as iconic without John Williams' memorable two-note theme.

When he first played it for Steven Spielberg, what was the director's response?

A, he got so scared he fled the studio in terror.

B, he reminded Williams that they were only paying him per note, so he better step it up.

Or C, he said, quote, that's funny, John.

Really, what did you really have in mind for the theme of Jaws?

My guess is C.

You're right, C.

That was fast with confidence.

Okay,

here's your next question.

50 Cent turned 50 this year, and almost as famous as his music is his feud with fellow rapper Ja Ruhl.

Things got so heated at one point that 50 Cent did what?

A, convince Ja Rule to invest in this super cool and not at all shady thing called the Fire Festival.

B, bought 200 front row tickets to a Ja Rule concert so he'd have to perform to an empty arena.

Or C bought the URL jaul.com and made the home page just say more like Ja Fool.

My guess is B.

You're right.

B.

Whoa.

That was really rough.

What a tough.

That's so funny that he did that.

I know.

Also mean.

So mean.

All right, here's your last question.

Okay.

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton married for the second time in 1975, with Taylor saying, quote, we married once again, back where we belonged, where we always belonged.

What did she say ten months later?

A,

quote, these have been the most beautiful 10 months of either of our lives.

B, quote, were you to look up love in the dictionary, certainly you'd see a picture of Richard and me.

Or C, quote, we can't be together.

Happy birthday,

C.

You're right, C.

The couple divorced shortly afterwards.

Chioki, how did Vanessa Bayer do on our quiz?

She got all three right.

Yeah.

Nice job.

Vanessa Baer is an actor and comedian who's celebrating SNL's 50th anniversary.

Vanessa Baer, thank you so much for joining us on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.

Military commanders, intelligence officials, diplomatic power players, they know things you may not about where the world is headed.

And we will pull back the curtain on what they're thinking on Sources and Methods, NPR's new national security podcast.

Our team will help you understand America's shifting role in the world.

Listen to Sources and Methods from NPR.

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Where'd you get those shoes?

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You know, like the sneakers that make office hours feel like happy hour, the boots that turn grocery aisles into runways, and all the the styles that show off the many sides of you.

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In April, guest host Karen Shee talked with actor Brian Tyree Henry, star of the TV show Atlanta and Apple TV's Dope Thief.

But Karen asked him about his greatest role ever.

Brian, I wanted to ask, you've you've been nominated for an Oscar Atonian and Emmy, so my next question was, how does it feel to achieve the pinnacle of cinematic success?

By which I mean voicing Smokey Bear?

To be honest with you, it feels like the role I was born to play.

Oh, wow.

I truly love going to national parks shirtless as often as possible.

So I feel like it was a method acting gig.

Okay, wait, going off of this, though, I did have a question.

Mary, kiss, kill, Smokey Bear, Paddington Bear, and Winnie the Pooh.

Okay.

Mary, I would say Mary

Smokey for the benefits.

You can get it to any national park you want, so clearly.

Right.

Mary

Kiss, I would kiss Paddington because, you know, he deserves it.

And he'll taste like marmalade.

So that's that.

Nice.

And you got to kill Winnie because put your pants on.

I have another question, which is that you've been in Transformers, The Eternals, and Spider-Man.

These are all huge franchises, and I wanted to rewind all the way back in time and ask, do you remember what your very first role was?

Yes, embarrassingly enough, I was Santa Claus in my preschool production.

I don't even know what this play was about, but I remember I had like a cotton ball beard, you know, when they glued this beard together.

And, you know, all the parents were there, and I was the final part of this Christmas play.

And I'm playing Santa Claus and I have Mrs.

Claus with me.

And we've been rehearsing all week.

And literally, as it comes to me, I pull my beard down and go to my teacher off the side of the stage.

And I go, What's my line?

Which in a photo that my mother captured, you can see this woman full of rage going, Merry Christmas, Brian.

And here I am now, a tawny second.

Well, now when you do witted Oscar, you have to start off your speech by saying, Merry Christmas.

Mary, what's my line?

Yeah.

Going off of that, I wanted to ask, you've been a part of so many iconic projects, both on stage and on screen.

What are you most recognized for when you're out in the world?

I believe there's a black person on this panel.

Did I hear you?

Yeah, it's me.

I'm here.

Yeah.

Wait, wait, don't tell me.

It's this guy.

Paperboy.

It always, I mean, I can be in the, in places where there's a population of 300 people and somebody is going to scream paperboy at me.

But it's changing.

It's changing.

I went to my local grocery store not too long ago because, yes, I like to buy my own groceries everywhere.

And this woman was like, hey, I just want you to know that I just want to know, are you the actor from Dope Thief?

And I threw my arms around her.

I was like, thank you.

Thank you so much.

Yes, I am.

Thank you so much.

So it's all shifting, but Paperboy is usually the thing that.

Were you at?

Was it the grocery store?

Was it Irwan?

Was it the Greg Grocery Shop?

It was close.

Close!

Sprouts!

Close!

It was Sprouts!

Oh!

How dare you!

How dare you!

Irwan!

All right.

All right, Brian Tyree Henry, we've actually invited you here to play a game that we're calling.

BTH Meet BTS.

That's right.

You are Brian Tyree Henry, BTH.

So we're going to ask you about one of the biggest bands in history, BTS.

So answer three questions about the K-pop icons, and you'll win our prize for one of our listeners.

Bill, who is Brian playing for?

Britton the Trinite of Round Rock, Texas.

Bless your heart for thinking I don't know any of these answers, but let's go.

Okay, here's your first question.

After forming in 2010, BTS became one of the biggest bands in the world.

They're so popular that which of these is true?

A.

They were the only band that Pope Francis had on his iPod.

B, the crowds at BTS concerts are so loud that the noise is faintly detectable from space.

Or C, almost one in 10 visitors to South Korea go there for BTS-related reasons.

I'm going to say the last one, one in 10 go to Korea.

NPR reported that BTS adds $5 billion annually to South Korea's economy.

Wow.

Oh, my God.

What can K-pop do for you?

All right, Brian, here's your next question.

BTS thinks a lot about their lyrics, so much so that they do what before recording them.

A, run them by a women's studies professor.

B, have their official official fan account send out definitions for any particularly big words.

And C, make sure they sound just as good screamed out loud or whispered to yourself alone in your bedroom.

Well, the last one I do myself, so that's.

I'm going to say the second one about having someone look up the words that seem.

Hmm, do you want to guess again?

I only want to be on games that gaslight me like this one.

Thank you.

Okay,

the third one.

Listen, I'm going to give you one more guess.

Merry Christmas.

Okay, the first one.

That's correct.

All right, here's your last question.

Fans were worried about the future of BTS because all South Korean men are required to complete a year and a half of military service before the age of 28.

So as BTS neared their deadline, the government got involved.

How?

A.

They negotiated a special two-year truce with North Korea to make sure BTS would stay safe.

That's all it takes.

B, they passed a special law allowing anyone to defer their service as long as they're in a hit k-pop band.

And C, they amassed a, quote, strategic BTS song stockpile.

Refer their service?

That's correct.

I got it.

After a bit of deferring for a world tour, all of the BTS members have since enlisted.

So, Bill, how did Brian do on our quiz?

Brian, you did great.

You get him all right.

You're a winner.

Brian Terry Henry is starring in Dope Thief on Apple TV Plus.

Brian, thank you so much for joining us on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, you Thrush.

That's it for our Vacation 2 Vacation Harder Edition.

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

Our tour manager is Shane Adonald, BJ Leaderman, composed of our theme.

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

Our vibe curator is Emma Choi.

Technical direction is from Lauren White, our CFO is Colin Miller.

Our production manager is Robert Newhouse, our senior producer is Ian Schulog, and the executive producer of Wait Wait, Tell Tell me, that's Mike Danforth.

Thanks to everyone you heard, all our panelists, our guests, and of course, Bill Curtis.

And thanks to all of you for listening.

I am Peter Sagal.

We'll be back next week, revivified with a new sense of well-being.

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