WWDTM: Paul Giamatti, Laufey, and more!

Support for NPR and the following message come from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Investing in creative thinkers and problem solvers who help people, communities, and the planet flourish. More information is available at Hewlett.org. From NPR and WBEC Chicago, this is Weight Weight Don't Tell Me The NPR News Quiz. Turkey too dry, just pour this rich voice all over it. I'm Bill Curtis and here is your host at the Studebaker Theatre in the Fine Arts building in Chicago at the moment. Peter Segal. Thank you Bill. Thanks everybody. So you got everything ready for Thanksgiving. You bought all the groceries for the big meal. You prepared the guest room for the one relative you like and you prepared a lie about not having a guest room for the relatives you don't like. But if you are like a lot of other people this year you forgot one thing, something to be thankful for. No worries, we've got you. Thank you, Miss. As a daughter, she driver with a big hot bag of gratitude. This hour we'll be sharing some of the great things that happened on our show this past year and you'll see why we are thankful for every one of them. Last summer actor Paul Giamati joined this at Tanglewood in Western Massachusetts. He's the kind of actor who feels like someone you know. So Peter asked him, what do people think they know about him? Usually when I talk to actors with extremely long and very careers like you I ask, what role you're most often known for but in your case I wanted to ask something slightly different which is based on all the roles you've played, what kind of assumptions do people make about you as a real person? Oh lots I mean the wine thing everybody assumes I know all about wine. Yeah I don't know crap about wine. I know literally nothing. I really? Nothing. You're telling me it was all an illusion. It was all an illusion. It was all pretend. Oh wow, that's terrible. I love horses. I love horses. I've got a ride version. What works? There you go. Is there like a paradigmatic Paul Giamati role? Like who do they? There's a role that they say we got to get Paul Giamati to the surface. Geez I don't know. I mean it used to be I would get a script and I'd open it and I'd be reading it and I would come to a character where they say kind of a dishevelled man sort of shuffles into the room or something. An angry voice is heard off camera. She yelling in the bathroom or something. I was like this is my part okay. Get out the highlighter right there. There we go. Yep and so it's yeah I was generally you know there's a there's an angry middle management type of steps in. Just as soon as you see the line what the hell are you doing? That's actually the highlight. That's yeah exactly. Wow you've got you you started out in theater you started in Yale and like a lot of actors you worked away up. One of your first TV roles I was told was men in sleeping bag. Correct. In YPD Blue. That's right. Well it was it was yeah it was one of the first kind of roles I had on television training. I'd been doing some legit theater. Of course. And then I took a day off to go play man in sleeping bags. Yeah yeah and that's what did they have you do as man in sleeping bags? Not witness the crime is what I did. Really? Yeah they came to question us about who witnessed the crime and I said not me man and that was it. I was in the sleeping bag and there were Dennis friends who's who saw anything that happened I said not me man. And were you down on the ground looking the ground? Yep I was down exactly. I was looking up at Dennis friends I went not me man. It's amazing so many years later you can still remember your lines. Yeah yeah. I was doing some research I found this profile of you from the Guardian. You really worked too much research. I read this profile of you was in the Guardian newspaper from 2007 it was titled Paul Giamatti Mr. Potato Face. Have you had your vengeance upon them? I'm the Guardian. Yeah. No not yet. I mean I um I'm in the doubt Nabi movie that's coming out. Oh there you go. I feel like yeah. I feel like in a sense in that movie I stick it to the English a little bit. Really? Are you the guy who shows up until the Earl of Grantham he's doing it wrong? Let's say it's close to that yeah. Really? Sort of. You know you'll have to see the movie. Okay. Yeah. Was that I'm assuming I mean we actually have met some of the actors. It seems like that's a lot of fun to do. Oh really fun. Yeah. The people are terrific. It was really great. They dress you up. They dress you up and I play the kind of doofy American who comes in and sort of you know there's all like what is this tea business? I don't get that sweaty. I'm talking about sausage rolls and you know I'm more like. Since I brought it up I have to mention the movie Big Fat Wire in which you were in fact dyed completely blue. Correct. Can you explain for those who didn't see that movie why were you dyed completely blue? I stole a kid an idea from a kid for a screenplay. I play a big movie producer. Yeah. And I steal the kid's idea and the kid gets revenge on me in various ways but one way is dumping a bunch of blue dye in my swimming pool. Right. And so then I go for a swim and I get dyed blue. Right. Yeah. Listen man. You know I made I made decent money. Yeah so big you know. Listen. You know. I mean what was I going to do say now? Yeah I know. And did you lie there? And did you lie there as they were spray painting you blue for two hours? Yeah. Oh two hours. Saying I am the graduate of Yale School of Drama. Absolutely. I tell you interesting little thing about that they spray with tattoo ink like that. It was blue tattoo ink and every night the guy had to or somebody had to rub it off of me. It stayed up. Ha ha. It stayed. It stayed on my feet for about six months. We couldn't get it off my feet. So my feet were blue for about six months. Just a little bit of trivia. Yeah you're on. Yeah. And did your friends and family just sort of understand this? Yes they did. Yes. Yeah very understanding people. It wasn't like you went home and your wife is like Paul do you have gangrene? Yes I do. You have. I am among them in the larger sense. You've very devoted fan base. And in fact they have created the wax Paul now movement. Are you aware of this? I, yes I'm aware of it. Yeah I think it's a thing of the past. I think that I think that train has left the station. I don't think I'm getting a wax statue of Mad Am too. So that idea was that people they actually created a movement to get you Paul Giamatti, star stage and screened their own wax figurine at Mad Am Tussos. Yes they tried to and it didn't work. Right. Yeah. Did you, I don't know how you qualify that's my question. Yeah. What's the qualification for getting a wax statue I don't know? Right. If I can't get one who the hell can get one. To Christ second. I mean, I mean, my God right? Right? Now that would have been, that would have been, that would have been retirement time. Yeah. That would have been my gum done. That's good. I don't need any more honors than that. Well Paul Giamatti. Yes. Well Paul Giamatti, we have asked you here to play a game we're calling Holdovers 5. Leftovers? Yup. Oh. So you just started a movie called The Holdovers which was great but it made us think of leftovers. A lot of people liked it. Nice. Good. Right. And that movie made us think of leftovers which of course made us think of Tupperware. And so two or three questions about the iconic food containers and you will win our prize for one of our contestants. The voice of anyone they choose for their voicemail. Bill, who is Paul Giamatti playing for? Barbara Jack Litch from Sol's Berry Connecticut. All right. Good question. Ready to go? Yeah. Good question. OK. Everybody loves Tupperware including your fellow celebrities like legendary singer Pati LaBelle. Oh. You know this because she recently told an interviewer what? A, that Elton John stole her Tupperware and never gave it back. B, that her concert writer includes eight quart-sized Tupperware containers so she can take home leftovers. Or C, that she keeps the cramans of her three late husbands in them so they can quote, stay fresh. Oh. Hmm. Cramans. Boy. Cramans sounds like something you can eat. Yeah. In jazz. From your neighbor. From your neighbor. From your dressing room. Hmm. Sophocer. Now I guess I'm going with that one. I guess I'm going with the remains of his feet. No, it was Elton John. Oh. Wow. Yes. You mentioned that she is a big heart. She did back in the 60s. When she was pretty big, but Elton John was just a starving young piano player. She came to her house. Not only did she feed him, she gave him leftovers to take home in Tupperware. And she says, 50 years later, never got a pound. That's amazing. That's awesome. All right. You have too much chances. Here's your next question. Tupperware is in just for leftover food. A Tupperware container was used at one point for storing which of these? A, Queen Elizabeth's collection of favorite earrings. B, Albert Einstein's brain. Or C, two pounds of plutonium left over from making the first atomic bomb. That seems absurd to me. Yes. That would just melt the plastic. Even Tupperware could even do that. Einstein's brain was stolen by a guy. Right? Right? Yeah. And they drove around with it in the trunk of their car. I think. I'm going to actually guess it's that one. Einstein's brain, you're right. Yeah. So what happened was Einstein's brain was moved from his body after he died by the doctor who did the autopsy. There was no law against it then. When he did drive across the country in an attempt to return it to Einstein's descendants, he did put it in a Tupperware. Amazing. So this is last question. Earl Tupper, the guy who invented Tupperware. Wow. Really? Wow. He was a prolific inventor. He also came up with which of these ideas? A, a fish-powered boat. B, a combination belt buckle and photo frame. What? No, that's not interesting. That's for C, the jet ski. Oh. Hold on, hold on. This is hard. I want to go with fish-powered boat. Yeah. I think that's kind of cool. A fish-your-choice, a fish-powered boat? He actually came up with the idea for all of them. Wow. Oh. Oh. Good question. Wow. He left a notebook behind with all these ideas, including all the ones I mentioned. And yes, one of them was a motorcycle for the water that looks just like a jet ski. He never patented it, but he did come up with it. Wow. There you are. He's like Leonardo da Vinci back then. He really was in many ways. Wow. Bill, how did Paul Giamatti do in a great? Two out of three. That's a Wim Paul. Yes. Yeah. With a champ. They're celebrating in Salzburg. Yeah. You're going nuts and soul-free. Woo! Setting things on fire. Pushing cards up. Paul Giamatti is an Oscar nominee in any winner. You can soon see in Downton Abbey, the grand finale coming to theaters on September 12th, or the episode Eulogy of Black Mirror available right now. Paul Giamatti, thank you so much for joining us. Paul Giamatti. Paul Giamatti. When we come back, three hilarious stories about Dentistry and how the 25-year-old musician Leve makes herself sound like a middle-aged woman singing torch songs for a lover lost at sea. That's when we return with more. Wait, wait, don't tell me. From NPO. This message comes from Wise, the app for international people using money around the globe. You can send, spend, and receive in up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Be smart. Get Wise. Download the Wise app today or visit Wise.com, T's and C's apply. Support for NPR and the following message come from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, investing in creative thinkers and problem solvers who help people, communities, and the planet flourish. More information is available at Hewlett.org. I'm Bill Curtis and here is your host at the Studebaker Theatre in downtown Chicago, Peter Seigel. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, everybody. This week we are piling up things to be grateful for on your Thanksgiving table. Could you move that plate? I don't want to get any cranberry sauce on our recycled gun dep. For example, here's a bluff the listener game from May with panelists Dulce Sloan, Harry Kunderbolo, and Tom Papa. Hello. This is Simon from Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville, North Carolina is one of my very favorite places in this green earth. You enjoy it just like the beautiful outdoor life in Asheville. I do. It is a beautiful place. We have the mountains. We have the mountain biking. Despite everything that happened last year, it's still my favorite place. Well, me too. Well, thank you so much for calling Simon. You're going to play our game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction. Bill, what's Simon's topic? Tooth and consequences. We all know the basics of dental care. Don't forget to floss. Don't eat too many sweets. Don't take fluoride advice from RFK Jr. It's a stain. But this week we learned about another unexpected oral hygiene oopsie. Our panelists are just going to tell you about it. Pick them on and telling the truth, and you can win the weight weighter of your choice in your voicemail. Are you ready to play? I'm ready. All right. First up, let's hear from Dulce Sloan. We all have fond memories of the wise cracking, opera singing, drag icon known as Bugs Bunny. But a botched procedure at a dentist's office in cold chest to remind had the whole town asking, what's up, Doc? Fita Evans went to local dentist Dr. Kurt Yash in the spring of 2022 to get a set of veneers. Her and hundreds of other people in town got a shiny new set of years because Dr. Yash was new to town and running a special. Well, after six months, Fita noticed an odd taste in her mouth and her two front teeth were starting to become larger and longer. While not shopping one day, she noticed other people with the same affliction. Her wife also noticed and very gently said to her, y'all need to call that dentist. This place started a little like a rabbit's den. Fita immediately called the dentist's office. Assistant apologized profusely and explained that Fita was one of many with this Bugs Bunny syndrome. It was caused by an effective adhesive and they would fix the problem free of charge as long as Vita promised not to lead a bad, y'all preview. Everybody in one particular town ended up looking like Bugs Bunny because the adhesive on their veneers all failed at the same time. Your next story of a dental error comes from Harry Khandabolu. When Chicago dentist Jonathan Freeman renovated his practice, he went all in drilling a big screen TV into the ceiling so his patients could watch shows. However, after spending a fortune on his giant TV, Dr. Freeman bought a discounted package deal from a company called Humpty. Their direct to dentist package offers specialized TV shows licensed only for dentists with things you've never seen like truck swap, the great Serbian baking show, and of course the last season of the office. At first his patients were resigned to watching Humpty programming but they started drifting to one show, the secret lives of central Nova Scotian wives. Dr. Freeman's patients are so hooked on the show they will do whatever it takes to get to the dentist. Patients are even opting out of anesthesia and raw dogging their wisdom teeth surgeries to not miss out on episodes. They are considering moving the show from Humpty to a more popular streamer like Streevy or Smudge Direct. Are those real? Who can tell? A dentist's exclusive TV programming brings people to ruin their teeth just so they can watch it from the chair. Your last story of a mouth mistake comes from Tom Papa. Direct toothbrushes can do a lot of things. Time your brushing, enhanced deep cleanings, and now catch your lover having a secret dirty affair while you're at work. Paul Jones, a private investigator of ARF investigators, worked with a client who became suspicious of her husband after noticing the unusual times he brushes teeth. She knew he wasn't great at dental hygiene. Sometimes he would forget he brushed his teeth, walk back into the kitchen and need a stack of Oreo cookies like a hungry diabetic raccoon. But the smart electric toothbrush app connected to his electric toothbrush showed he was consistently brushing his teeth late in the morning on Fridays when he should have been at work. The private investigator exposed that the husband had started an affair with a work colleague and they'd meet every Friday when the wife and kids were out of the house. Before out of five dentists agree. That when a digital toothbrush says someone brushed their teeth at 10.48 am when they were supposed to be at work at 9, they're probably naked. Alright. Somewhere someone was a little too devoted to dental hygiene. Was it from Dulce, Sloan, everybody who went to a particular dentist all of a sudden one day looking like Bugs Bunny. From a hurry, Kunder Bolu, people who saw a particular dentist ruining their teeth just so they could watch his TV programming on the ceiling or from Tom Papa, a man whose cheating ways were betrayed by his own smart toothbrush. Which of these was the story of a dental mishap that we found in the news? I'm going to have to go with Tom Papa. I think the toothbrush will have a hundred of these here. We're going with Tom to bring you the correct answer. We spoke to an expert on the real story. As a professional he's always home at 10 am on a Friday. Yes, it is a long one. But we would definitely want to look into a little bit more. That was Jordan Alexander's share of RA Private Investigators and Security Incorporated confirming that yes, that would be suspicious behavior. Congratulations Simon, you got it right. Tom was telling the truth about the feeder. You're in the points of time. You want to surprise the voice of your tracing, your voice melt well done and congratulations. Thank you. Thanks for playing with us today. Take care. Hey, it's Peter. Now if you are anything like our typical fan, you must be an enthusiastic evangelist for our show. You tell everybody about it. You have strangers on the street, you lean into cars with open windows and say, hey, have you ever heard about as they drive away? There's a much simpler and less dangerous way to spread the news about our show if you're a fan. Just go to the podcast site that you get this from and rate us and review us. People really dig that. So, if you like, wait, wait, remember to rate us and review us. But, you know, positive way. The musician Leve writes and performs songs that are all over TikTok, but they feel like you could have heard of them in a 1950s cabaret. So naturally, when she joined us, we asked her how she defines her sound. Thank you. Thank you. I have been listening to your musical all week getting ready for this. I am entranced and amazed and quite don't know how to describe it. And apparently, this is a thing. People keep saying you're a jazz musician or you're a pop musician or you're a classical pop jazz musician. What do you say? I'm Leve. There you go. That's all you need to know. She's Leve. That's it. That's all. You grew up, I understand, as a musician, from very young age, your mother plays violin with the Icelandic symphony. So she had you like playing violin, cello, piano from an early age, right? Oh yeah, I had the whole package. He's from China, so it was kind of inevitable upbringing, but cello and piano growing up. And definitely had to practice every day. Did you ever rebel at all? Did you ever like, I don't want to practice and go outside? I think this new album might be my first active rebellion. Really? How so? I feel like I just, I don't know. There are a couple of swear words in there. I'm, I, ooh. Oh, she literally just covered her mouth because she said swear words. Is there a song called, I don't want to practice anymore. I feel like for the first time, I refused to really, truly refuse to be boxed in with this, with this album. So I just, I'm, I broke the rule. You broke the rules. Absolutely. You're, you're reaching out. You were not trained, although your voice is astonishing and reminds me of like the great singers of all time, but you, you, we're not trained as a singer. In fact, I read that you said you did a singing competition as a kid and the judge said you sounded like a divorced 40-year-old. Yeah. She did. Yeah, I mean, bless her. Like, that was definitely meant to be a compliment, but I, I mean, they were like, oh, you're so worldly. You've been around. I think you were trying to say that I had like, I had, I've always had a very deep voice. Right. I was quite young. I've grown into it now, I think. Right. I was odd and I am odd. I think it worked out for the better. Right. Okay. Yeah. Do you, actually, that's kind of interesting. Do you think yourself as an odd person? Less and less, or rather, I just own it now, but yeah, I mean, that was like a, back then, especially I was a 13-year-old girl who was only interested in singing songs from the Great American Songbook in Iceland. Yeah. Because your music is so retellent of like classic American song, I was delighted to listen to a duet you did with Barbra Streisand. Yeah. I know. Our audience is like, whoa, really? I can't, but also like, whoa, really, it's not cool. So I'm assuming just given your background and your training and your interests, you knew who Barbra Streisand was. I thought my manager was pranking me. Really? I've been listening to it since so far, so I thought I was like, this is a funny joke. Like, you got me. But it was true. And how did you find the Great Barbra? I mean, I feel like I've never known Barbra. I have to ask you about your creative director who is your identical twin sister, which is delightful. Have you must have been tempted to try the thing that everybody assumes identical twins do all the time, which is swap in for each other? Like maybe you're tired. Maybe you've done the concert. Maybe you don't want to go meet the fans. Is your obligator to do? Can you send out her and she'll do it? Well, they all know who she is and they all want to meet her too. Yeah. Doesn't help. Doesn't help. Then it's like, even when I go out on my own, it's like, where's, where's Eunia? So, yeah. Yeah, that hasn't. We did swap one time. What happened? What was the occasion? It's a secret. Oh, that's great. Wait a minute. So wait a minute. It's a secret. You can't tell me. Does that mean like, there's somebody who thought they had to date with you, but it was really Eunia, or there's a music video in which we think we're watching you, but it's really Eunia? No, that's not it. No to those two, but it's something else really good. I don't think I can move away from that. Are we talking to Eunia right now? I don't have her doing press yet. No. That might become necessary one, you know, then you get to the next level and there's so many people in your town. I know, we can do it with a US and Europe tour at the same time. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Is there a way, if we were in a situation where we didn't know if we were talking to you or your twin sister, Eunia, is there a way to tell you apart? Like, there's something about her that's very different than you. Well, I sing. Ah! Well, I guess it could force me to sing. Really? Yep, the Korean international relations. So you could probably ask her about some foreign policy and she'd be able to answer and I would kind of stare at you blankly. You'll just start singing. Well, Leigh, we are so delighted to talk to you and we have asked you here today to play a game and we're calling it, why is it still so light out? Your new record coming out soon is called A Matter of Time. So we thought we'd ask you about a controversial matter of time, Daylight Savings Time. Answer two to three questions correctly. You will win our prize for one of our listeners. My Daylight Savings knowledge is, we don't really do that. Okay. All right. Well, light out and I'll be playing Summer because the sun just doesn't set. It doesn't. All right. Bill, who is Leigh-Ve playing for? Brandon Green of Seattle, Washington. All right, you ready to go? Here's your first question. The idea of Daylight Savings Time was first suggested by Benjamin Franklin. He told the French that they could save money and candles in the evening if they just got up earlier in the morning. But the idea didn't catch on in France for a few reasons, including what? A, it was defeated by the French candle lobby. B, the French wanted it to get dark early for easier sneaking to their mistress's homes. Or C, Ben Franklin was just kidding. You're going to go with B. It was B that they wanted to sneak over to see their mistress's. Yes. I don't. Yes, yes. Okay. I'm afraid it was C. Ben Franklin was just kidding. It was a joke. Who would ever do a silly thing like that? Get up earlier than you had to. Come on now. All right. You still have two chances. This is not a problem. Here's your next question. Daylight Savings Time was introduced in America during World War I. But it wasn't very popular as is evidenced by what happening after the war. A, TimeX introduced their daylight savings proof clock, which couldn't be turned back or forward. B, the state of Connecticut made it a crime to turn your clocks back. Or C, a bill introduced in Congress that would have imposed a national bedtime of 8 p.m. I'm going to go with B again. And this time you're right. It was. The state of Connecticut made it illegal if you were caught in Connecticut with a clock showing anything but Eastern Standard Time you could spend 10 days in jail. All right. You have one last question and I'm optimistic because it's about your home. Iceland does not have daylight savings time as I'm sure you know. And the reason is in that 1994 to astronomers from the University of Iceland convinced the government to abolish it. What was their primary argument? A, the ancient Vikings who founded the nation believed sleeping late was in a front to Odin. B, it was bad for Icelandic horses who got agitated when all of their meals suddenly came an hour earlier. Or C, it is just so annoying. Being B and C. Yes. We take our horses very seriously. I'm aware. Convenienting their food schedules. I could see that being an issue. But also it being just so annoying is also very Icelandic. So I've said I want to say I'm going to say C. You're right again, Leyve. Bill, how did Leyve do in our quiz? Well, she's a butter of course. She's from a long way from here. Congratulations. There you go. Congratulations. Leyve, I got to say I've been enjoying listening to your musical week. It was even more fun to talk to you. Thank you so much for joining us. Leyve is a Grammy Award winner who's about to start touring behind her new album. A matter of time, that drops August 22nd. Leyve, thank you so much for being on Weight Weight Don't Tell Me. What a pleasure. Good luck with the tour. Bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. When we come back, the man who made Superman fly again in the nicest person ever to earn an Olympic medal for stabbing people. That's when we return with more of Weight Weight Don't Tell Me from NPR. From NPR and WB Easy Chicago, this is Weight Weight Don't Tell Me. The NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis and here is your host at the Studebaker Theatre and the Fine Arts building in downtown Chicago, Illinois. Peter Sagan. Thanks Bill, so we're here to help if you are still trying to make conversation with your visiting in-laws. Let's say somebody has gone off on politics and the room falls into an awkward silence. You can say, hey everybody, remember when writer director James Gunn was on Weight Weight? Wasn't that great? And it was. Here's proof from back in July when I asked him about his early influences. That is, that is everything I grew up with. Comic books, you know, punk rock music and zombie movies. Yeah, all the things I love. When did you start making your own things, your own comics and films? I started writing, drawing my own comics, probably when I was nine years old and then started making movies with my brothers at about 11 or 12 years old. And what were some of those first movies? Do you remember? Do you have them? I do. I have some of them. There's one with play-mobile figures that I stopped motion animated, but it was very bloody, so they're just, you know, cutting each other up and getting bloody. Then I had another one in which it was a zombie movie in which one of my brothers became a zombie and ate the other one. That was also very, very bloody. And then I had another one where one brother killed another brother. That was, that was very, there was a thing. I'm in the folks didn't take it a therapy. Did your brothers ever complain like James, we know you're the creative genius in the family, but could we do something other than kill each other or were they into it? My one brother has a catch-up foe. I won't say who's the foe. But this is true. He cannot be around catch-up because I made him lie on the colonel or in cold catch-up for too long and if he's around catch-up, he freaks out. Really? Well, I want to talk about Superman and I love it all and I have his theory white so good. And that's because you take the emotions of all these characters really seriously, but you're not afraid of admitting that like superheroes can be really silly. So for example, your new movie Superman starts immediately. Superman falls in the sky, hits the ground and we see right away that the underwear is back on the outside. Yeah, okay? I was so excited. I love the bottoms. I love his bottoms. His trunks. It leaves something to the imagination. Superman's wholesome. I don't want to see his junk. Yeah. And so, and then this next thing that happens is he falls to the ground and he is rescued by crypto, the superdog, who is this fabulous mutt who is wearing a red Superman cape. And you're like, okay, one thing I know about this Superman movie, there will be no blooding. I mean, I love all of that crazy stuff that was in the comic books that I grew up with, flying dogs and giant monsters and robots and sorcery. And that's just part of the fun of it all for me. I want to ask about the dog. Everybody loves the dog. The dog is a CGI creation that's based on your own dog, your rescue dog, Ozu. That's Ozu, that's right. And so does Ozu know that he is now an international movie star? Ozu doesn't know anything. He barely knows where he was two seconds ago. Even for a dog, he's not very smart. Are you asking if he also attacks himself every time he sees himself? No, really? Yeah, he hates crypto. He hates crypto. Every time crypto is on screen, he attacks the screen. Oh, wow. He's a maniac. But I will say the one thing that's really been cool is last week, interest in adopting dogs went up over 500%. Yes, I saw that. I wouldn't get too carried away with this idea that people are adopting dogs. Wait till they find out that their dogs won't wear a cape. We're having too much fun, but we have worked to do. James Gunn, it is such a joy to talk to you. And we have asked you here to play a game we're calling. James Gunn meets the T-shirt gun. Superman classically faster than a speeding bullet. But can you be faster than a speeding T-shirt? Shot from a gun. Answer two to three questions about T-shirt guns correctly. You'll win our prize one of our listeners. Bill, who is James Gunn playing for? Avaluas of San Diego, California. All right, you ready for this? Oh, yeah. Oh, he's ready. Here's your first question. The technology behind T-shirt guns, as we know them, was developed during World War II. As a way to fire grenades. But it wasn't till what happened that the inventors realized that this pneumatic gun had other applications. A, one of the scientists was trying to pack efficiently for a trip and stuffed his socks in the barrel of the gun. B, the inventors forgot to bring grenades when it was time to demonstrate the weapon. And they had to improvise with beer bottles and potatoes. Or C, one inventor went to clown college and later retooled all his wartime ideas for use in his act. Oh, good gosh. Okay, so I don't think it's three. So it's either ARB. Right. I'm going to, I'm going to go B. You're going to be in your right, James. You're going to be in your right, James. They realized they didn't have any grenades. We had to demonstrate it for the hires up. And they found out it was just the perfect size to launch bottles and potatoes very fast and very far. In fact, it was so successful they even used to shoot potatoes at actual planes in wartime. Boy, how, how humiliating would it have been? It's humiliating would it be to be brought down by a potato? It's true. All right, let's leave the Irish army out of it. Yeah. Here's your next question. That's very good. The modern day T-shirt gun was developed by a college mascot and it's been spread around the world. But not all mascots were equally good at using it. Like, for example, chip the mascot of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Who once did what? A, launched a t-shirt that went into the marching band's tuba and got stuck. So tightly that eventually they had to cut the tuba with a hacksaw to get it out. B, rolled up the shirts so badly that they only flew three feet before opening up and fluttering to the ground. Or C, accidentally held the t-shirt gun backwards and launched a shirt directly into his own crotch. It is Boulder. I'm going to go with the C. You're right again. And yes, you can watch it on YouTube and when you do you'll discover not only our t-shirt guns powerful, but those mascot costumes, not as padded as you might think, judging by his reaction. All right, let's see if we can make this perfect. Your last question. Not everyone should use a t-shirt gun. In fact, an Oklahoma woman was arrested for using a t-shirt gun. Why? A, she was trying to rob a t-shirt store. B, she was using it to shoot cell phones and drugs over the walls of a prison to a friend inside. Or C, she had it tucked inside her coat and did not have a concealed t-shirt gun carry permit. Okay, this is, I don't want to let Ava down, so I'm hoping that it's B. It is in fact B. Wow. There he is. It's a product moment of my life. You should have tied the prison and shot the supplies into the prison. Bill, how did James gun do in our quiz? He is a super man. Getting all free right. Good going, James Gunn is a director writer and the co-hat of DC Studios. James Gunn, what a joy to talk to you. Thank you so much. We'll talk to you soon. Bye bye. Bye bye. Bye bye. If you'd like to play on air, call to leave a message at 1-888-188-924-892-4. You can see us most weeks right here at the Studio Baker Theatre in downtown Chicago, where Catch Us on the Road will be in Phoenix, Arizona on December 4. Tickets and info are at nprpresents.org. Finally, in June we spoke to an American athletic pioneer. Ibti Hajma Hamid was the first American Muslim woman to win an Olympic medal and she even helped Nike develop the world's first hijab for athletes. When she joined us in June, Peter asked her how she became so competitive. Well you know I'm the middle of five kids and I think naturally when you grew up in a large family, things are just naturally competitive. We would race each other in the pool. You want to get the last slice of pizza. Small things like that where I feel like you're just in small competition. I do feel like having an older brother who used to bully me a little bit definitely brought out this fierce competitor from an early age. Right, yeah. I've just had a curiosity. Has your brother ever won an Olympic medal in anything? Just check it. Oh for him to hear that. You were good. You were good at a lot of sports but you gravitated defencing and how did that happen to be? Happened to be driving past a high school in my hometown and from Maplewood, New Jersey in the car with my mom. And from the road you could see fensers in the school cafeteria. And my mom was like, I don't know what it is but they're covered so I want you to do it. I'm not. Yeah, really she went over to she had no idea what they were doing. They were just wearing head to toe outfits with a mask and you're like that's for you. He thought they were wearing helmets so that's how little we knew about fencing at the time. But you know I was a kid who would eventually wear hijab and I really struggled trying to find my space in different sports when I was just always out of uniform in a sense. And when I started fencing it just felt like home from the very beginning. Right and you picked up saber of the three weapons it is by far the coolest am I correct? Oh the best for sure. Yeah, I don't even know what the other weapons are. Yeah exactly who cares about that. Are you one of those fensers who I've seen many times who after every successful point just goes nuts just like shouts and screams and victory or you more of a quiet assassin type? In my mind I'm quiet assassin but then I watch video and I'm like oh my god. Does that ever does that kind of competitiveness ever cross into the rest of your life? You know it's I feel like I have like a I don't know if it's like OCD but I have this everything has to be perfect and I really struggle when things aren't exactly the way that they're supposed to be. Whether I'm you know fencing or I don't know mowing the lawn whatever it is I really need it to be perfect. I understand. I just imagine you just mowing the lawn and after every road. You have. Really into this. Really? To the lawn mowing? I will say that my parents have the best lawn on the block. I imagine. You've earned many medals and other honors but one of the most impressive to me is that you were one of the women immortalized as a Barbie. I'm imagining do you I have to assume you have a Barbie of yourself somewhere right? Oh man I have so many of them like. If I I was like if I have a bunch of kids and my sisters have a bunch of kids then we need like 100 Barbie. Yes. And the people from Mattel were like I'm sorry excuse me. Well if Dihaj Muhammad it is a particular pleasure to talk to you and we have asked you here to play a game we're calling. Take a stab at this. You used to stab people professionally so we thought we'd ask you about other people taking a stab at something that is trying something for the first time. Answer two or three questions correctly you'll win our prize for one of our listeners. Bill who is Ibn Tihaj Muhammad playing for? Sean Pratt of Medicine Wisconsin. All right. Ready to go? Here you go here's your first question in 2019 a woman in Turkey took a stab at flying for the very first time. It didn't go great though because shortly after she got to the airport she did what? A sat down in the luggage conveyor belt thinking it would take her to the plane. B. they got onto the plane and sat down in the first empty seat she saw the copilets. Or C. drank an entire bottle of vodka in the security line when she was told she couldn't bring it on board. Well first of all she's crazy that we know. A suit. She got on the conveyor belt. Take her to the back. She sat in the copilets seat or she drank an entire fifth or whatever vodka because she couldn't bring it on the plane. I'm so stressed out for her I'm gonna go with C. You're gonna go with C. That was a little strange but okay. I'm afraid you all were wrong. You should feel terrible about yourself. It was actually I'm speaking to them. It was A. Who's gonna happen? Think about it. She goes this. You never been there before. She goes to the airport. She checks her bags. They take the bag. They turn around. They put it on that conveyor belt that takes it behind the scenes to the plane. She goes great. Thank you. She climbs over. Gets on it herself. Wee! You still have two more chances. Here we go. Here's your next question. 18 years old Brendan Shanahan decided to try professional hockey. One of the first things he did was get in a fist fight against fellow hockey player Rick Vave. Why? Was it A? He'd heard of the first thing you're supposed to do in a hockey game. Find the biggest guy on the rink and punch him in the nose. Because Rick Vave had just broken up with his older sister or C. Four years earlier, he'd asked Vave for an autograph and Vave had refused. Oh. C. It was C. He'd asked Vave for autograph. Vave says, get away from your kid. And the next thing you know, it's five years later, they're on a rink somewhere, and he gets punched in the face. That C found it so aggressive. I feel like I had to say that. I know. I don't know what that would have done if you hadn't chosen that. So you were wise. All right. One more question. If you get this right, you win. Oh my gosh. People should not be alone for the first time when they try getting high, like one woman who started texting all her friends about what? A. How crate and barrel should be called barrel and crate. B. How really good it feels to put a wet q-tip up your nose. C. About how sorry she was for thinking mean things about all of them, which she proceeded to list. Oh. Oh. Does the panel have anything to say? Yes, B. I just heard it in my ear. Let's go with B, and we'll send Sean home with him. You're right, it's B. Bill, how did it D. Hodge do on our quiz? He is a perfectionist, so she got two out of three, which is a win. Congratulations, one more for your trophy, Joe. What a thrill to talk to you. Ibtihage Muhammad is a retired U.S. Olympic fancier, the founder of Luella by Ibtihage, and the author of three best-selling children's books, more info about all the things that she does can be found at IbtihageMahamed.com. IbtihageMahamed, what a joy to talk to you. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye. That's it for our hears, what you're thankful for, addition. Wait, wait, don't tell me, is a production of NPR and WB, EasyChicago, an association with urgent hair-cut productions, Doug Berman, Benevolent Overlord, Philip Gautica writes, our lemma-ix, our public address announcer, is Paul Friedman, our tour manager, Ishaen Adonel. BJ Leader, and Composed Art Theme, our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Durmboss, and Lily and King. Special thanks, as always, to Monica Hickey, Peter Gwynne is the whipped cream and our sweet potato pie. Our vibe curator is Emma Choi, technical director of some more in a white or CFO's Colin Miller, a production manager is Robert Newhouse, our senior producer is Ian Chilock, and the executive producer. Wait, wait, don't tell me, is Mr. Michael Danforth? Thanks to everybody you heard on this show this week, all of our panelists, all our guests, of course Bill Curtis, and thanks to all of you for listening, I'm Peter Segal, we'll be back next week. This is NPR. Support for NPR and the following message come from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, investing in creative thinkers and problem solvers who help people, communities, and the planet flourish. More information is available at Hewlett.org.