We become friends and neighbors with Olivia Munn
48 min
•Apr 4, 2026about 2 months agoSummary
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! episode featuring guest Olivia Munn covers major news stories including NASA's Artemis II moon mission, Donald Trump's Supreme Court appearance, and pandas attempting to mate at the National Zoo. The show includes games, panel discussions, and Munn discussing her acting career spanning from local news to television and film.
Insights
- Cocaine contamination in waterways is becoming a widespread environmental issue affecting animal behavior across most ecosystems globally
- Political figures are increasingly subject to celebrity-style paparazzi coverage, blurring lines between entertainment and political accountability journalism
- Endangered species breeding programs face significant challenges due to animal behavior and require innovative solutions like observation windows
- Actors with journalism backgrounds bring unique storytelling perspectives to entertainment roles
- Emerging fitness and wellness trends often prioritize novelty and technology over evidence-based approaches
Trends
Environmental contamination from illicit drugs entering waterways and affecting wildlifeExpansion of paparazzi and celebrity-style coverage into political figures and government officialsTechnology-driven fitness innovations using electrical stimulation for muscle engagementAcoustic and ultrasonic technology applications in food safety and cleaning processesStreaming platforms investing in prestige television with A-list talent (Apple TV+)Direct-to-fan monetization models for established artists through subscription platformsAwareness campaigns using shock tactics and visceral design for public health messagingCross-platform career trajectories for entertainers spanning journalism, gaming, and acting
Topics
NASA Artemis II Moon MissionDrug Contamination in WaterwaysSupreme Court Political VisitsEndangered Species Breeding ProgramsPaparazzi Coverage of PoliticiansStreaming Television ProductionFitness Technology InnovationUltrasonic Food Cleaning TechnologySunscreen Awareness CampaignsDirect-to-Fan Creator MonetizationAaron Sorkin Television WritingLocal News Journalism CareersElectoral Politics and Public Figures
Companies
Apple TV+
Olivia Munn stars in the series 'Your Friends and Neighbors' which premiered on the platform
NPR
Produces Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! and distributes it through NPR app and podcast platforms
WBEZ Chicago
Co-produces Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! in association with NPR
NASA
Artemis II moon mission discussed as major news story of the week
TMZ
Expanding paparazzi coverage beyond celebrities to include politicians like Senator Lindsey Graham
National Zoo
Featured for pandas attempting to mate, marking significant breeding program development
NBC
Olivia Munn worked at NBC affiliate in Tulsa early in her journalism career
The Daily Show
Olivia Munn served as correspondent before transitioning to acting roles
Patreon
Bob Dylan launched a Patreon page offering exclusive content including AI-read essays
Kit Kat
Company praised thieves who stole 12 tons of their product in Europe for having excellent taste
People
Olivia Munn
Guest discussing her career from local news in Tulsa to starring in 'Your Friends and Neighbors'
Nagin Farsad
Hosting Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! episode, filling in for Peter Sagal on spring break
Bill Curtis
Public address announcer reading news quotes and game questions throughout episode
Peter Sagal
Regular host of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! on spring break during this episode
Rachel Costa
Panel member and host of TikTok series 'Boy Room'
Joy-El Nicole Johnson
Panel member who runs bi-monthly stand-up show 'Frankenstein's Baby'
Peter Gross
Panel member performing in improv show 'Two Square' at UCB Theater
Bob Dylan
Launched Patreon page offering exclusive 70-minute AI-read essay about Aaron Burr
Steve Martin
Mentioned by Olivia Munn as having impressive art collection in his home
Donald Trump
Attended Supreme Court oral arguments and visited Disney World during government shutdown
Aaron Sorkin
Olivia Munn discussed working with him on 'The Newsroom' and his fast-paced dialogue style
Lisa Kudrow
Won Emmy for playing Phoebe on Friends while also publishing neurological research
James Michael Tyler
Played Gunther on Friends, kept on show because he was only one who knew espresso machine
Quotes
"God forbid a woman loves gossip"
Olivia Munn (character in story)•Early in episode
"Talk faster, talk faster. This is great. Like he didn't realize that moment to let that I could talk really fast."
Olivia Munn•During Not My Job segment
"I love the use of negative space. There's only one other thing I say, go, it's really interesting how they collapse three dimensions into two."
Olivia Munn•Discussing art appreciation
"It was probably one of the worst smells I've ever smelled in my life and I've smelled some nasty stuff."
Missouri Fire Chief•Lightning Round
"Yeah, you guys should definitely delete the body cam footage because this is embarrassing."
Joy-El Nicole Johnson•Lightning Round discussion
Full Transcript
We flush a lot of things down the toilet. You know, the obvious ones. But drugs like cocaine are also going down the drain and into our waterways. That's changing the animals that live in it. It's definitely present in most ecosystems on earth now, unfortunately. We're only sort of really starting to scratch the surface and do our understanding of the potential consequences of that. Forget cocaine bear. Learn about cocaine salmon on shortwave, in the NPR app, or wherever you get your podcasts. From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait Wait. Don't tell me the NPR news quiz. Hey, Easter Bunny. Fill those giant ears with my voice. I'm Bill Curtis and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts, building in Chicago, Illinois, Nagin Farsad. Thank you, Bill. And thanks, everyone. I'm filling in for Peter Sagle who's on spring break where instead of a wet t-shirt, he's doing a damp turtleneck contest. But don't worry, we have a great show for you today. We're going to be joined by Olivia Munn, who you can catch on the Apple TV series, Your Friends and Neighbors, a show that makes the suburbs way sexier than they actually are. But first, it's your turn to make some friends. Give us a call to play our games. The number is 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Now let's welcome our first listener contestant. Hi, you're on. Wait, wait, don't tell me. Hi, Nakeem. My name's Hannah. I'm calling from New York City. Hi, Hannah. What do you do in New York? I am a marine geophysicist. I mean, me too. Well, that's great too of us. So what does a marine geophysicist do for fun? For fun? On the weekends, I like to go out and play Irish fiddle. I do some quilting. Oh my god. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Same, same, same, same. Well, Hannah, let's introduce you to our panel. First up, she's a comedian and a host of the TikTok series, Boy Room. It's Rachel Costa. Hi, Hannah. You sound like the perfect girl. Next up, she's a comedian who runs the bi-monthly stand-up show, Frankenstein's Baby, at Union Hall in Brooklyn. It's Joy-El Nicole Johnson. Hey, Hannah. Come on down to our show at Union Hall, baby. And finally, an actor and writer you can see with John Lutz in the improv show, Two Square at the UCB Theater in New York City on April 15th. It's Peter Gross. Hello, Hannah. All right, Hannah. We're excited to have you here. You're going to play Who's Bill this time. Now, Bill Curtis is going to read you three quotes from this week's news. If you can identify two of them, you'll win our prize, which is any voice from our show on your voicemail. Are you ready? Sure. Okay. All right. Your first quote is a headline from Astronomy Magazine. Artemis II crew fixes toilet can now pee in it. So that toilet will come in handy for the crew who took off for where on Wednesday night? The moon. That's right. The moon. So this week, Artemis II took off on its first mission to the moon in decades. That's right. Little known fact, this whole time, we haven't been going to the moon. The launch was actually delayed because the lines at Cape Canaveral TSA were so long. Oh, my God. It's kind of a sign of how bad things are going on earth that people are like, yeah, can we figure out what's going on on the moon? Is that like free? Yeah, I think they really went. Kardashian over here. Yeah, I love a good conspiracy theory. It's one of my favorites that we didn't go to the moon. Well, so this is actually true. So every single previous moon mission, just they just left their poop in bags on the lunar surface. It turns out the moon operates by dog owner. Everybody hates rules. Yeah, that sounds like my block. Like when the snow melts, you're like, oh, come on. Can't poop in the snow and be like, oh, I bet it won't be there when the snow melts. We have to be grateful that the poop on the ground is on the ground. I mean, we can talk our smack about it, but at least it's where it belongs. That's true. Why do we want to live on the moon when dog poop would be like hitting us in the face? Yeah, in the face all the time. Well, not with this special toilet. And actually, this mission that they're on is a test run before NASA establishes a base there to mine resources from the moon. But honestly, we can't change the moon. It'll completely mess up my period. All right, well, here's your next quote from someone visiting the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Dumb judges and justices. Who sat in on Supreme Court arguments this week? The president. That's right. Get out of your system. Now, technically, you're booing Hannah for getting the question right. So you're allowed to talk for her. Well, you're right. This week, Donald Trump became the first sitting president to attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court, and we assume the first president to fall asleep during oral arguments at the Supreme Court. He was just like, I love the Socratic method. I want to hear a lot of people asking questions and peppering somebody with intellectual queries. He called them dumb justices. Didn't he? He nominate most of them. I do. That was my friends too. I chose them. I think they're idiots. You said they're like at your birthday party. Like, look at all the idiots. I think he went probably to intimidate them. Like, oh, they won't be able to talk smack about me and my dumb ideas if I'm actually sitting in the courtroom. And then all the people that he nominated were like, this idea is really stupid. Yeah, I mean, he probably thought Brad Kavanaugh would go, oh, Trump is here or better be more conservative today. Kavanaugh was like, the president's here to hide your beers, guys. We're not allowed to drink in the Supreme Court if the president's here. Honestly, I think he should have done this like undercover boss style, where he's just like wearing a mustache, mopping in the corner like, don't mind me. Do you like working here? All right. Your last quote is a zookeeper at the National Zoo observing some animal behavior. They should just get down to business. That zookeeper was noting that for the first time ever, two what's actually seemed to want to mate. I have no idea. It's not zoo employees. Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure they also want to mate. But here, I'll give you a hint. It's all right there in black and white. Oh, is it the pandas? That's right. The pandas. Two of the National Zoo's pandas were spotted flirting this week. This is huge news because pandas are historically lazy and don't care about sex. They're essentially the opposite of dolphins, the absolute freaks of the animal kingdom. It was interesting because when you said two what's, Hannah was like, I don't want to get canceled. She's got no answer. Two what's. Being endangered species must be so hot. But it does feel like a lot of pressure though. You thrive under those circumstances. I like that. Sorry. Sorry. That's what I do my best work. People are watching me. I have to propagate my species. No, but I love that you're thinking of the pandas kinks. You know what I mean? You have to. One of them might have the same kink as Brian Gnome. We don't know. That was, was that true? Yeah. I love that. I didn't even think. Famously know. The zookeeper do sound like a bit of a creep though. I'm just going to put that out there. Well, I'm going to give you a little bit of insight into how panda business is going on right now. The pandas are actually separate enclosures with a window connecting them. They actually flirt the exact same way humans do. She ignores him while he rubs his giant panda ass on the window. Wait, there's two different. Just like love is blind. Yeah, I was going to say there are two different glass enclosures. It sounds like love is blind. Yeah. So this is, this is actually true. The window connecting them is called a howdy window. And it honestly, it sounds like my personal nightmare. Like you're saying that my crush lives next door and can look at me at any time. I like that. Then you can make sure that he's never talking to other girls. Yeah, there's actually no other girl in all of America perfect to talk to. So but he's like, I don't know. I feel like I'm, I just want to like shop around a little bit. You know, I don't want to get like, like pinned down to one panda. Like you got to go to China then, dude. Yeah, he also might be into koalas and brown bears, polar bears. That's all the bears I know. It was like a really impressive list. Well, the pandas actually won't be allowed to share an enclosure for a couple of years at which point they will presumably pounce on each other and start going at it, ruining multiple field trips. All right, Bill, how did Hannah do? She knows her pandas. Hannah got a perfect score, three and oh. All right. Hannah, great job. Thanks so much for playing the game. Thank you. Bye. Now panel, I have some questions for you about this week's news. Peter. Yes, TMZ is broadening its horizons by no longer just taking pictures of celebrities. Now they're sending paparazzi to capture photos of who? Lindsey Graham at Disney World. That's right. Politicians. Politicians, members of Congress. TMZ is taking a break from saying a size six woman has let herself go by pivoting to politics. This week, TMZ published a bunch of photos calling out Senator Lindsey Graham for going to Disney World during the government shutdown. Even worse, in the photo, he's punching Moana. That's what I saw. I don't know. Did he have on a princess dress? I heard he was wearing a blazer. He was. And also the thing is like, yes, so he's unmarried, so it doesn't have kids. But he was stone cold alone, which I want to know. Did you ask anybody to go with you? Like, was he like, hey, Mark Warner, Democrat from Virginia, want to reach across the island like, go to Disney World with me? Or did he ask some Republicans? He could have been like, Pam, Pam Bonny, I hear you have some time. Yeah. And they would be like, yeah, our woman playing Maleficent is sick. You want to just jump in and be an evil person? I didn't realize there was something more concerning than a Disney adult is an alone Disney. A Disney senator is the worst. Coming up, our panelists get freaky Monday through Thursday in our Bluff the Listener game called 188 Wait, Wait to Play. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me From NPR. It can be hard to keep up with all the new movies on streaming services. How do you tell the good ones worth watching from the bad or the silly ones you can laugh along with or at? On NPR's pop culture happy hour, we're recommending some fun movies you may have missed. Listen via the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis. We are playing this week with Peter Gross, Joy L. Nicole Johnson, and Rachel Custer. And here we get as your host at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Nagin Farsad. Thanks, Bill. Now it's time for the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Bluff the Listener game called 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play our game on 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. This is Eli from Houghton, Michigan. Hi, Eli, what do you do in Michigan? I am studying human factors at Michigan Tech. Human factors? What does that mean? Yeah, it's kind of how to understand how people think and then how you can design make systems easier for people to use. Oh, okay. So are you going to be the reason like I don't lose my mind scrolling on something that I need to log into? Yeah, exactly. Just like that. Thank you in advance. So it's so nice to have you with us, Eli. You're going to play the game where you tell truth from fiction. What's the topic, Bill? I had a weird four days. A whole lot can happen in just four days. This week we came across an incredible story that unfolded over the course of four sevenths of a week. Our panelists are going to tell you about it. Pick the one who's telling the truth and you'll win the Wait, Waiter of your choice on your voicemail. Are you ready to play? Yes, I am. Okay, first up, it's Rachel Koster. When Kimberly Whitney arrived at her four-day silent meditation retreat in the Swiss Alps, she looked forward to the time away from her phone. Until right before check-in, she received an incredibly salacious text from her friend Kathy. The text read, girl, you will not believe what happened last night, voice note incoming. But before the voice note came, her phone was taken. Kimberly tried to clear her mind, but it was impossible. She snuck out to get her phone and listened to the voice note. It went as follows. Hey, Queen, I know you're like in Russia or something, but I ran into Martha who told me I can't tell anyone, but like anyway, she found out Justin secretly has 10 just when Kimberly was about to find out what Justin has 10 of. A beautiful and scary staffer found her. What have we here? She said like Dracula or something. Kimberly's phone was taken again. Instead of enjoying the four-day retreat, she paid $5,000 for, she spent every second trying to find her phone. When reflecting on her time to CNN, Kimberly said, God forbid a woman loves gossip, and for those wondering, Justin secretly has 10 beta fish. Not worth it. All right. All right, a woman on a four-day long retreat who can't stop looking for her phone from Rachel Koster. Your next story of 96 hours to remember comes from Joyelle Nicole Johnson. You can do a lot in four days. You can go to Lollapalooza, enjoy a cruise, or have sex with identical twin brothers. That's what one woman who shall remain anonymous did. In a miraculous feat that I would describe as the MVP of hoe phases, nameless, magnameless since slept with identical twin brothers in four days. And the kicker, a child came from this union. Not much is known about these four days and how they went down, but boy did they. All we know is that she likes one twin more than the other. And now this iconic queen of sexual expression is in court suing to change which twin is listed at the father of the child birth certificate. However, Lord Justice Stuart Smith ruled this week that the paternity is not possible to determine because she slept with her brothers in such quick succession. Lord Parkway added, it would be for a lower court to determine which twins should now be granted parental responsibility. And to that I say, yes, queen, Yolo, enjoy every twin family gathering going forward. Who knows, they might have a hot cousin. All right. So a woman who spent four days getting on with twins and can't tell who the baby daddy is from Joy L. Nicole Johnson, your last story of a quartet of crazy days comes from Peter Gross. 22-year-old Lila Robin was excited on Monday this week when she got her first job out of college at a marketing firm called B-squared. On Tuesday, Lila's second day, she walked into work and found people changing the name on the front door to Harmon Marketing after that company had bought out B-squared that very morning. Lila was a little thrown but determined to make the best out of her first work experience. On Wednesday, her third day, however, Lila showed up to discover the Harmon Marketing building and been converted to a combination Pizza Hut Taco Bell. But Lila pivoted, put on her best face and attended the training session on how to make crunch wrap Supremes. On Thursday, the fourth day, things really changed when Lila arrived at a workplace transformed into a Lockheed Martin factory that made AI weapons systems. It's been a little confusing, said Lila, especially since I went to school for marketing and not manufacturing AI weapons systems, but honestly, I'm just glad to have a job. On her way out of work Thursday night, she saw a truck unloading video games, bad pizza, and giant mouse costumes. No word if she will be working at Chucky Cheese tomorrow. Okay. Okay, Eli. So here are your choices from Rachel Costa, a woman on a four-day long silent meditation who's unable to spend a single second not looking for her phone when they hit it on her. From Peter Gross, a new graduate goes from working in marketing to pizza to weapons all in four days. And from Joyelle Nicole Johnson, a woman who spent four days getting freaky with twins is unable to tell who's the father of her child. Which one is real? I think it's the twins. All right. And to find out which story is true, we spoke with someone who had some insight into the real story. While you don't know who the father is right now, you know for sure who the grandmother is. Who the grandmother is? That was Dr. Nancy Siegel, a psychologist and the director of the Twin Studies Center at California State University Fullerton. Congratulations, Eli. You got it right. You earned a point for Joyelle and you've won our prize, the voice of your choice on your voicemail. Thank you so much for playing with us, Eli. Now we know your inbox is full of receipts and promotional emails you need to unsubscribe to, so we have a crazy idea. Let's put something good in there. The Pod Club Newsletter is a handpicked guide to NPR podcasts. It shows up once a week and might just make you want to open your inbox for a change. Join the club and subscribe at npr.org slash pod club. And now the game where we ask people who've done a lot of things to do one more thing. We call it Not My Job. I'm always curious about an actor's origin story. And today's guest, Olivia Munn, started as a local news reporter in Oklahoma, went on to host a nerdy gaming show, then became a Daily Show correspondent and can now be seen in your friends and neighbors on Apple TV Plus. Olivia Munn, welcome to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. So like we said, unlike a lot of actors, you got your start as a local news anchor. How did that happen? You've made my life. That sounds a lot cooler than what I did to you. This is your chance to say that's what happened. Yeah. We don't know. You were there. I'm fluent in 18 languages. So I graduated college and majored in journalism. And I always wanted to get to LA and I wanted to be an actor. But my mother's an immigrant. And so when I told her I wanted to be an actor, it was like, that's insane. We're not doing that. You're going to be a doctoral lawyer. And then I was like, I just love storytelling. So I was like, what about a journalist? And she's like, well, what exactly is that? So I pointed to like the people on the news. She's like, oh, okay, okay, that's okay. And so I go there and then she made me a deal. She's like, you know, I'll support you if you want to go to LA, only if you use your degree for one year. So I worked at this NBC affiliate in Tulsa and I did the assignment desk and people who have done journalism or printed in the newsroom, the assignment desk is where you get all the calls, you get people calling in like with complaints or nice things, just everything. But there's also all of these police scanners, which is like the most important thing for you to do. There's police and fire department paramedics and you're supposed to listen to all of them at once and be able to call it out. And I was the absolute worst person at that job. I did this close to me, I'm sitting at the desk and I hear nothing and then you just hear a report over there, I've been like, there's a school bus on fire on 83rd street. And I was like, there is. I hear somebody else going like, it's truck tipped over off the highway on 49th and I'm like, really where? And then a year to the day I went in and I was like, I'm leaving, I'm not, I'm not going to be staying here anymore. And they go, great. But woman who's bad at the assignment desk leaves town. Really? Where'd you hear that? I was like, why'd he do that? Oh my gosh, she sounds great. So you, you are famously in the show newsroom. What was it like to do that kind of like Aaron Sorkin dialogue? And can you say it while walking? Yeah. I could one second. My first scene that you see me, it's a big long walk and talk. I remember my first take and I speak fast normally. And then you can make me nervous and I'm like really, really fast talking. And then they cut and the AD came over and was like, director just wants you to just talk a little slower. And then I was like, oh, okay. And then Sorkin pops up and he was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, he's like, talk faster, talk faster. This is great. Yeah. Like too slow for Aaron Sorkin. And I was like, and he was like, no, he's like, it means like, I can get her to say more things. This is great. Like he didn't realize that moment to let that I could talk really fast. And then I was like, am I the only person in the history of Sorkin to be told to slow down Sorkin? And he was like, yes. Well, you're, you're now on friends and neighbors. And John Hamm's character takes to robbing his friends on that show, which made me question, which of your friends or neighbors would you like to rob? Yes. Yeah. So such a good question. You know, I'm not, when I'm in New York, there are so many more like cool, rich, artsy people around. And I mean, he's not, he's my friend through my husband. So I just have to say that when I say that like, don't be like, oh, it's just name dropping because he's not my friend. But I bit to his house and like Steve Martin has like, like the best art that you can imagine. And like, when I go around in his place, I'm like looking, he's explaining stuff. And I'm like, I only know like a few phrases to sound smart or with art. And I go like, Oh, I love the use of negative space. There's only one other thing I say, go, it's really interesting how they collapse three dimensions into two. What that means, I heard somebody say it one. No, but you're an actor. So I really bought it. I mean, yeah. I also love how like you immediately had an answer because you have scoped out that joint. Steve Martin better look out. You are right. Because we are over there for the New Year's Eve party. I was like, said to my husband, like, let's go into the office. I was like, he's got really cool stuff on journal. And he was like, okay, we go in there. But, you know, it's just like, it's like the coolest stuff. Like it's really, he's just like as cool as you think he would be like everything's cool and curated in this. And like the stuff is like right there. And I'm like, I can just, I have that thing where I'm just like, like when I used to go to church and I was a kid, I really wanted to just get up and be like, yeah. And so like, oh, close. I'm like eating a kebab, like right next to like some like ridiculously expensive painting. And I just want to go like that. You want to touch it with your kebab? Great. I want to feel what it feels like, like that something else. It's something, you know, and I should go. You asked me about that. And I'm just literally, well, well, let me remind you, we've asked you here to play a game. We're calling our friends and neighbors. You star in the show, your friends and neighbors. But what do you know about the NBC sitcom friends and the Australian soap opera neighbors? Answer two out of three questions correctly and you'll win our prize for one of our listeners, the voice of their choice on their voicemail. Bill, who is Olivia playing for? Well, this is a Hozi of Greensboro, North Carolina. All right. All right, well, we'll start with friends. Here's your first question. The barista at Central Perk where the friends hung out was Gunther played by James Michael Tyler. Gunther was only supposed to appear in a single episode, but the producers kept him around. Why? Was it A, because Tyler was a huge Knicks fan, so the writers would ask him how to make Joey sounds like a real Knicks fan? Was it B, a network executive thought the way Tyler answered the phone was the funniest thing in the show? Or was it C, Tyler was the only one who knew how to use the espresso machine? Just so you guys know, B and C sound a lot of like... They're saying E. He's just saying banana or cat. They just say no. I believe, I do believe they said cat. Banana and cat sound a lot of... Sounds very similar. Keep going. Okay, they were saying C. Yeah, I feel like that's what they were saying. Okay, C. That's right, the answer is C. I don't know why he wasn't miming using the espresso machine, but anyway, there it was. He actually knew how to use the espresso machine. All right, let's jump over to neighbors. Here's your next question. In a 2013 episode of Neighbors, bad boy Kyle Channing became temporarily blind after staring directly at an eclipse. What circumstance led him to look straight at the sun? Was it A, his kidnappers held his eyes open and pointed them at the sun? Was it B, a dog stole his eclipse glasses and ran away with them? Or was it C, he was trying to win $10,000 in an eclipse staring contest? Okay, so Neighbors is a soap opera, right? Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to guess it's B. That's right, it's B. How did you know? Wow. The dog stole his glasses and he just looked anyway. All right, back to friends. Lisa Kudrow won an Emmy for playing Phoebe on Friends, but she always had a backup plan ready. In the same year that the show premiered, Kudrow also did what? Was it A, published a study in a neurological journal testing if left-handed people are more likely to get migraines? Was it B, completed an internship at the three Michelin star restaurant, the French Laundry? Or was it C, received a patent for a leash that lets you walk five dogs at once? It's A, I could put that one. It's A. That's right, it was A. Okay. Bill, how did Olivia do on our quiz? Olivia was perfect. Three right. Olivia Munn is an actor who you can see on Apple TV pluses your friends and neighbors. Season two premiered this week. Olivia Munn, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks so much, bye. In just a minute, Bill tricks out his new car in the grossest way possible. It's the Listener Limerick Challenge. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to join us on air. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR. This week on Newsmakers, Dana White, the head of the UFC. We're at a place where people can't even talk anymore and if they find out that I'm friends with the president, I'm a mega piece of ****. I mean, I'm talking to NPR right now, right? I talk to everybody. A dialogue with Dana White about politics, culture, and masculinity on NPR's Newsmakers. Listen or watch wherever you get your podcasts. From NPR and WBEC Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis. We are playing this week with Rachel Custer, Peter Gross, and Joy-El Nicole Johnson. And here we get as your host at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, the Yead Farsad. Thanks, Bill. In just a minute, we're going to absolutely blow your mind with a huge curveball, our listener-limrick challenge. If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. But now, panel, I have more questions from this week's news. Rachel, researchers at Cornell have announced that by manipulating low-frequency sound waves, they have found a revolutionary way to do what? Yeah. Can I have a hint, please? Yes. Banana peels really respond to the sound of Al Green. Sexy music makes plants grow. Plants? Just answer it, actually. I'll just tell you, the sound waves can wash fruit. So we've all been praying for a new way to wash fruit. Obviously, a complicated process that can take up to 10 seconds. These researchers found that if you drunk the fruit in water, inject bubbles in the water, and then add sound, the fruit gets 90% cleaner than just rinsing it, and 100% cleaner than just rubbing it on your shirt. Honestly, who are we all kidding with that? I feel like it's probably good to get all the minerals from the outside of fruits. Minerals? It's good for your immune system to just be ingesting stuff all the time, even if it's not necessarily what you meant to. You wear your shoes on the bed? No, no. But they're okay on the couch, right? Right. How do you inject the bubbles? With a soda stream? What I'm picturing is that if you want to get yourself extra clean, you run a nice bubble bath, and then you dunk your head underwater, and you just start screaming, and then you're just so clean. I understand why the left and the right don't get along. The right is probably like, the left is putting music in the water. And apparently we are. Peter, Patreon is an online platform where you can support struggling artists by paying a monthly subscription for exclusive content. So it makes sense that who started a Patreon this week? I would assume like the government or Donald Trump? Here's a hint. Don't think twice about this answer. Wait, is that a reference to it? It's Bob Dylan. Don't think twice. Yes, Bob Dylan. Good job. Yeah. This week, struggling for cash. Yeah, struggling artist Bob Dylan posted a mysterious message on Instagram, promoting his new Patreon page. Fans were shocked when they heard the news, taking to message boards to be like, wait, Bob Dylan knows how to use Instagram? So for just $5 a month, Dylan is offering fans the exclusive content that the legendary songwriter knows they want from him. This is true, a 70 minute essay about Aaron Burr, read by an AI voice. I'm sorry. I mean, right? I mean, just checking here, but can the Nobel committee take away someone's prize? Just ask me. Then he write it and then AI is reading it out loud. Yeah. For 70 minutes. Lin-Manuel Miranda is right there. He would read that. Yeah, exactly. Any better than Bob doing it? He'd just be coughing and wheezing as well. Take two hours. No, but he's always been like that. Yeah, I feel like he started out as a coughing man. All right, I'll try to make this quick. I saw Bob Dylan with some friends July 4th, 1989 at Tanglewood and it was four. No, I was, we were at camp. We went to go see him like on a day off when we were counselors. We were writing down the lists of songs he was playing and we were kind of far away, but not that far away. And we didn't know the name of one of the songs. And based on what he was saying, we wrote down Chubba Chubba Saw-Saw. That's the name of the song. So he's not the clearest singer. I would like to back up Rachel. Coming up, it's lightning fill in the blank. But first, it's the game where you have to listen for the rhyme. If you want to play on air, call or leave a message at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. You can see us most weeks here at the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago and catch us on the road. We'll be in Austin, Texas on June 4th. And let me tell you about something we have cooking up our comedy grab bag stand-up show at the Bell House in Brooklyn on April 24th. It's stand-up in games. Our panelist, Josh Gondelman, is hosting. And he'll be joined by our very own Peter Gross and other special guests. I've been there. It's so fun. For tickets and info to all of our live events, go to NPRPresents.org. Hi, you're on WAI WAI. Don't tell me. Hi there. This is Ivan from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Hey, Ivan. What are you doing Cherry Hill? Well, I'm a retired lawyer and now a full-time musician. Oh, all right. I didn't see that coming. What's your instrument? Clarinet and saxophone, depending on the group I'm playing in. Oh, were you in the marching band? I was in the marching band. Me too, baby. Yeah, Clarinet, marching band. Nice. Well, I love that. Welcome to the show, Ivan. Bill Curtis is going to read you three news-related limericks with the last word or phrase missing from each. If you can fill in that last word or phrase correctly on two limericks, you're a winner. Okay, let's go. All right. Here's your first limerick. My smartphone I frequently check. So from chin to my chest, I'm a wreck. Crags and deep wrinkles are scattered, not sprinkled. All my tech use is aging my... Neck. Yes. That's right. Neck it is. There's a new part of your body to feel weird about. Your neck, according to beauty experts, the more you look at your phone, the worse your neck looks and oh, for the love of God, just let me live. Where are you supposed to find out how to fix your neck if not looking down at your phone? Have you guys ever tried like reading, like laying down and reading like with your hand held up? That's supposedly one of the positions you're supposed to do. That's how you lose a tooth. All right. Here's your next limerick. Because I'm not a natural jock. I give muscles a jolt till I squawk. To lift weights, I'm unable. So I strap on some cables. My muscles will get a quick shock. Shock. That's right. The latest fitness trend is a workout where you do body weight exercises while electricity, quote, zaps your major muscle groups simultaneously for 20 minutes. Ooh, I wonder if when you look in the mirror, you can see your skeleton like in a cartoon. But also for the love of God, just let me live. The shocks are delivered via a quote, damp suit covered in electrodes. And by the way, you had me at damp suit. Yeah. What if we already wear a damp suit to the gym? Can we just strap some of our own homemade electrodes to it? It's terrible. Well, and if you don't want to go to the gym, you can get the same workout at home by doing one squat thrust and putting a fork in the socket. Here's your last limerick. This car is creepy. Don't make me get in. The seats of a sunburn built in. I really abhor the hair and the pores. I am sitting on fake human skin. That's right. In order to raise awareness about the importance of wearing sunscreen while driving, an Australian company reupholstered the seats of a Toyota Camry with simulated human skin that gets sunburn and also for some reason has hair. So yeah, this simulated skin burns when exposed to too much sun, which is a good reminder to take care of yourself, I guess. But it doesn't matter how great your skin is. Nobody's talking to you when you drive a human skin car. Yeah. Or if they are, they're not people that you want to talk back to. Hey, I got a car like that. Made it myself. Nice. It's nice to see another person with a skin car driving around. It was a cover up. A guy who like already had a skin car was like, oh, it's for science. I had a plan for this actually. Simulated. Yeah, yeah. It's fake stuff. It's all fake. Yeah, no, no. It's to warn people about skin cancer. Skin cancer. Right, right, right. It's definitely why I made it. In a town without mailman anymore. Sorry. Bill, how did Ivan do? Ivan got them all right. Congratulations. Good job, Ivan. Thank you, Ivan. Thanks much. Bye, Ivan. NPR's newest podcast is where you can find NPR's biggest interviews. I'm Steve Ensquieb. The program is called Newsmakers. We talk with some of the most powerful and influential people at this moment to put real questions to them and push for real answers. Follow Newsmakers on the NPR app podcast player or you can watch on NPR's YouTube channel. Now on to our final game, Lightning Fill in the Blank. Each player will have 60 seconds to answer as many fill in the blank questions as they can. Each correct answer is worth two points. Bill, can you give us the scores? You know, we have a three way tie. Everybody has two. It will have to fight it out to the end. All right, I'm going to randomly select Joy-L to go first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, President Trump gave a prime time address to talk about the war in blank. Iran. Right. On Monday, airport wait times dropped significantly as many blank workers received their first paycheck in over a month. TSA. Right. On Thursday, Trump fired his attorney general blank. Pamela Bondi. Right. This week, Connecticut was the only school whose men and women's teams both made it to the final four of the blank. Oh, um, March Madness NCAA, somebody sports ball. Right. This week, a group of thieves in Europe who stole 12 tons of Kit Kats were publicly praised by blank. Donald Trump? No, by Kit Kat, who said the thieves had excellent taste. Nice. This week, police in Michigan are facing criticism after a woman they arrested handcuffed and placed in the back of a cruiser was able to blank. Oh, get out of the handcuffs. She was able to wiggle out of the half open car window and escape without any of the cops noticing. My girl. The woman who was being arrested for a parole violation was caught on camera squeezing herself through the cruisers' half open window, wiggling her way to the ground and making a run for it as four cops stood nearby and not a single one of them noticed. It's just one of those rare cases where I'm like, yeah, you guys should definitely delete the body cam footage because this is embarrassing. Yeah. Fun fact about me, y'all. I got the only thing dainty about me is my wrists and I could get out of handcuffs. Yeah. Right. Bill, how did our favorite little criminal do? All right. Eight more points. Settle to 10 and Joelle is leading. All right. So that means Rachel, you're up next. Yes. Fill in the blank. On Tuesday, a federal judge halted construction on Trump's proposed addition to the blank. Borrow. Right. White House. This week, average blank prices in the U.S. rose above $4 a gallon. Right. On Wednesday, Russia said it would continue trying to provide blank with oil despite the U.S. blockade. I'm not sure. Cuba. Cuba. Thanks to a hacker, people who called the White House this week noticed that it came up as blank on their caller ID. Papa John. Epstein's Island. Following years of health setbacks, beloved Canadian diva blank announced her return to the stage. Choline Dion. Right. Oh my God. This week, a town in Missouri complained of a quote unforgettable odor after a truck spilled 40,000 pounds of blank nearby. Fish. 40,000 pounds of tofu. The spilled tofu sat for three weeks before cleanup began, blanking the town with an unforgettable and unavoidable stink. According to the local fire chief quote, it was probably one of the worst smells I've ever smelled in my life and I've smelled some nasty stuff. Okay, Bragg. Bill, how did Rachel do? We're stuck in the loop. Rachel got exactly the same score as Royale. Really? Yeah, both of them have 10. So that leaves you, Peter, fill in the blank. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that Colorado's ban on blank therapy likely violates the First Amendment. Conversion therapy. Right. On Wednesday, sources reported that private space company Blank had filed papers to go public. The yes, SpaceX? Right. On Tuesday, the FDA approved the second blank pill for weight loss. Like Ozempec or something? The GLP. That category. Yeah, okay. This week, auctioneers estimated that one of Bob Marley's blanks would sell for over $30,000. Old joints. One of his dreadlocks. Oh, yeah. Following a rollover crash, golf legend blank pled not guilty to driving under the influence. Tiger Woods. Right. This week, a new study proved that blank could be classified as a musical instrument. The recorder. Sorry, it's already real. It's already really real. So close. I don't know. Manaze. Manaze is a musical instrument. According to a study by Northumbria University, Manaze fits the official definition of a musical instrument. Something that can produce or modify sound in a controlled and intentional way. This is revolutionary news for musicians and marks the first time that you can get sick from listening to music that's been left out too long in the sun. All right, Bill. How did Peter do? Well, in my 12 years here, we have never had a three way time. Oh, you guys are just equally mediocre. It's really hard. Coming up, our panelists predict after his visit to the Supreme Court this week, what'll be the next surprising place Donald Trump will show up. But first, let me tell you that. Wait, wait. Don't tell me. It's a production of NPR and WBZ Chicago in association with urgent haircut productions. Doug Berman, Benevolent Overlord. Philip Godica writes our limericks. Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Thanks to the staff and crew at the Studebaker Theater, BJ Liederman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Dornbos and Lillian King. Special thanks to Blythe Roberson, Monica Hickey and Travis Hagan. It's Gwynne one week since Peter Gwynne looked at me. Amitri is our vibe curator. Technical direction, Lorna White. Our CFO is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. Our senior producer is Ian Chillag. The executive producer of Wayway Don't Tell Me is Mike Danforth. Now, panel, where will Trump show up next? Joelle. A gold plated platinum line, Dominic Crusted Prison Cell. Rachel in his children's lives. And Peter Gross. Driving down Pennsylvania Avenue in a car made of human skin. All right, if any of those show up, you're gonna hear about them on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you, Bill Curtis. By the way, you can see me doing stand up at the Lost Church in San Francisco on April 29th and the Muslims are coming with equally threatening friends. Hope to see you there. In the meantime, thanks to Joelle, Nicole Johnson, Peter Gross and Rachel Costa. I'm Nagin Farsad and we'll see you next week. This is NPR. Since the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Southern states are redistricting. Tennessee was the first state to make it happen. The Republican supermajority there broke up the state's only black majority district. Two years ago, we embedded with the Tennessee legislature to understand what one party power looks like. Listen to Supermajority from NPR's embedded, season 19.