Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is an hour-long weekly news radio panel show produced by WBEZ and National Public Radio (NPR) in Chicago, Illinois. On the program, panelists and contestants are quizzed in humorous ways about that week's news. It is distributed by NPR in the United States, internationally on NPR Worldwide and on the Internet via podcast, and typically broadcast on weekends by member stations. The show averages about six million weekly listeners on air and via podcast.[2]

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
Genre
Running timeApprox. 50 min.
Country of originUnited States
Language(s)English
Home stationWBEZ in Chicago, Illinois
Syndicates
Hosted byDan Coffey (1998)
Peter Sagal (1998–present)
Announcer
Created byDoug Berman
Produced by
  • Miles Doornbos
  • Ian Chillag
  • Jennifer Mills
  • Lillian King
  • Robert Neuhaus
  • Lorna White
  • Colin Miller
  • Shayna Donald
Executive producer(s)Mike Danforth
Recording studioChicago, Illinois
Original releaseJanuary 3, 1998 (1998-01-03) –
present
Audio formatStereophonic
Opening themeB. J. Leiderman[1] (composer)
Websitewaitwait.npr.org
Podcastwww.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/

Format
Further information: List of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! episodes
Taping of a 2010 episode at the Chase Auditorium, with panelists Adam Felber, Roxanne Roberts, and Keegan-Michael Key

Until 2020, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! was taped in front of a live audience in the Chase Auditorium beneath Chicago's Chase Tower on Thursday nights.[3] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, episodes were recorded remotely beginning March 2020, largely from panelists' homes, with sound effects added for broadcast.[4] Live tapings resumed in August 2021.[5] In June 2022, the show moved to the Studebaker Theater in Chicago's Fine Arts Building.[6][7] Episodes are periodically recorded on tour in venues across the United States.[8]

The show is hosted by playwright and actor Peter Sagal. When the program had its debut in January 1998, Dan Coffey of Ask Dr. Science was the original host, but a revamping of the show led to his replacement in May of that year. The show has also been guest-hosted by Tom Bodett, Luke Burbank, Adam Felber, Peter Grosz, Tom Papa, Mike Pesca, Richard Sher, Bill Radke, Susan Stamberg, Robert Siegel, Brian Unger, Drew Carey, Tom Hanks, Helen Hong, Jessi Klein,[9][10][11][12][13] Maz Jobrani,[14] Negin Farsad,[15] Alzo Slade,[16] Josh Gondelman[17] and Karen Chee.[18]

Wait Wait... listeners also participate by telephoning or sending emails to nominate themselves as contestants. The producers select several listeners for each show and call them to appear on the program, playing various games featuring questions based on the week's news. Prior to October 21, 2017, the usual prize for winning any game was to have Kasell (named "Scorekeeper Emeritus" following his retirement) record a greeting on the contestant's home answering machine or voice mail system; after Kasell's death in 2018, the prize was changed to have a host or panelist of the contestant's choice record a greeting.[19]

Panelists

In addition to the regular panelists listed below, the show also occasionally features one-off guest panelists.

Regular Wait Wait... panelists (l–r) Roy Blount Jr., Amy Dickinson, and Mo Rocca sign autographs following a 2010 taping in New Orleans.

Regular[20]

Past panelists[21]

On-air segments
Kurtis and Sagal, 2017

Though there are some deviations from time to time, episodes of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! feature the following format:

Opening tease

As with other NPR programs, Wait Wait offers a one-minute top-of-hour billboard teasing the program that will follow the network's hourly newscast (which traditionally starts at 1 minute past the hour). In this minute, the host offers a humorous comment on the week's news, mentions the identity of the week's interview guest, and sets up an out-of-context reading by Kurtis of a quote or game title from the episode.

Who's Bill This Time?

The contestant is asked to identify the speaker or explain the context of three quotations from that week's major news stories as read by Bill Kurtis. Each answer is followed by a humorous discussion of the story by the host and the panelists. Two correct answers constitute a win for the contestant. Prior to Kasell's retirement, the segment was known as "Who's Carl This Time?" and he read the quotations.

Panel questions

In two separate segments each week, the host asks the panelists questions regarding less serious stories in the week's news, awarding them one point for each correct answer. The questions are phrased similarly to those featured on The Match Game or Hollywood Squares to allow the panelists to offer a comedic answer in addition to their real guess as well as a hint from the host if needed. The answer is often followed by a discussion of the story.

Bluff the Listener

Each panelist reads an unusual story, all sharing a common theme. Only one of the three stories is genuine; the contestant wins the prize by choosing it. A sound bite from a person connected to the genuine story is played to reveal whether the contestant's guess is correct. Regardless of the outcome, the panelist whose story is chosen scores one point.

Not My Job
External audio
audio icon Jimmy Wales plays "Not my job", 10:19, NPR, November 4, 2006[22]
For a full list of "Not My Job" participants, see List of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! guests.

A celebrity guest calls in (or occasionally appears onstage) to be interviewed by the host and the panelists as well as take a three-question multiple-choice quiz. In Wait Wait's early years, "Not My Job" guests were mainly pulled from NPR's roster of personalities and reporters; the pool of guests later expanded to include guests of greater celebrity. As the segment's title suggests, the guests are quizzed on topics that are not normally associated with their field of work. For example, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was asked questions on the history of Hugh Hefner and Playboy magazine,[23] while author Salman Rushdie was asked about the history of Pez candy.[24][25] Often, the subject matter of the quizzes serve as an oblique yet comic juxtaposition to the guests' fields of work, such as when Mad Men creator/producer Matthew Weiner was quizzed on ways people try to cheer others up ("Glad Men") in a March 2015 appearance.[26]

Listener Limerick Challenge

Kurtis reads three limericks connected to unusual news stories, leaving out the last word or phrase of each. The contestant wins the prize by correctly completing any two of them. The limericks are written by Philipp Goedicke.[27]

Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank

In the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank, each panelist has to answer as many questions as they can in 60 seconds.

Television

In 2008, National Public Radio reached an agreement with CBS Entertainment to create a television pilot of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me![28] Peter Sagal and Carl Kasell would be in the pilot, and Doug Berman would be the executive producer.[29]

On November 16, 2011, BBC America announced that the show would make its television debut with a "2011 Year in Review" special airing on December 23, to be retransmitted by NPR stations on the 24th and 25th. The taping included two American panelists—Wait Wait regulars Paula Poundstone and Alonzo Bodden—and British newcomer Nick Hancock.[30] In December 2018, NBCUniversal announced it was developing a television version of Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me![31]

Live cinema

On May 2, 2013, an episode was performed at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City and was streamed live via satellite as a Fathom Events presentation to hundreds of cinema theaters throughout the United States and Canada.[32] The show included host Peter Sagal, announcer Carl Kasell, and panelists Mo Rocca, Paula Poundstone, and Tom Bodett. Celebrity guest Steve Martin won in the Not My Job segment.[8]

Awards
Peter Sagal (third from left) and the crew of Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me at the 67th Annual Peabody Awards

In April 2008, Wait Wait won a Peabody Award.[33] The program website was nominated for a Webby Award for Humor in 2008.[34]

References
  1. "BJ Leiderman, NPR Biography". NPR. Retrieved April 25, 2007.
  2. Johnson, Steve (December 19, 2016). "NPR's 'Wait Wait' is even more fun live". Chicago Tribune.
  3. "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Ticketing". WBEZ Chicago.
  4. Ethan Bauer (May 1, 2020). "For this NPR host, the show goes on ... even during a pandemic". Deseret News. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  5. Peter Crimmins (August 6, 2021). "'Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me' makes its return to live audiences in Philly". WHYY. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  6. "'Wait Wait' for May 21, 2022: With Not My Job guest Mandy Moore". NPR. May 21, 2022. Event occurs at 0.47.
  7. "'Wait Wait' for June 11, 2022: With Not My Job guest Kenan Thompson". NPR. June 11, 2022. Event occurs at 1.00.
  8. "See the Show". NPR. National Public Radio. March 15, 2013. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
  9. "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!- August 12, 2006". NPR. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
  10. "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!- August 27, 2005". NPR. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
  11. "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!- August 14, 2004". NPR. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
  12. Roti, Jessi. "Tom Hanks to guest host 'Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me' in Chicago". Chicago Tribune.
  13. "'Wait Wait' For March 11, 2017: With Not My Job Guest Neal Brennan". NPR.org.
  14. "'Wait Wait' For May 15, 2021, With Not My Job Guest Elizabeth Warren". NPR.org. May 15, 2021.
  15. "'Wait Wait' for Jan. 29, 2022: With Not My Job guest Jeremy O. Harris". NPR.
  16. "Rosie Perez on her first meeting with Spike Lee and her favorite Rihanna song". NPR. February 18, 2023.
  17. "Malala Yousafzai on winning the Nobel Peace Prize while in chemistry class". NPR. March 4, 2023.
  18. "Sam Waterston on being the most recognizable pretend lawyer in New York". NPR. March 18, 2023.
  19. Adams, Erik (March 4, 2014). "Carl Kasell steps down from Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me". The A.V. Club. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  20. "About The Panelists". NPR. July 21, 2009. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  21. Pham, Linh. "NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!: Stats and Show Details". Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  22. "Not My Job: Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales". Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!. NPR. November 4, 2006. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  23. Madeleine Albright (December 6, 2003). "Not My Job!". Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! (Interview: Audio). Interviewed by Peter Sagal. NPR/WGBH. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
  24. Salman Rushdie (September 9, 2001). "Not My Job!". Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! (Interview: Audio). Interviewed by Peter Sagal. NPR/WGBH. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
  25. Brenna, Susan (June 4, 2006). "NPR's 'Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me!' You Can't Make This Stuff Up. Or Can You?". [New York Times]. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  26. "Not My Job: 'Mad Men' Creator Matthew Weiner Gets Quizzed On Glad Men," from NPR.org (March 28, 2015)
  27. Limerick Lesson by Philipp Goedicke Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me.
  28. 'Wait' may soon get answer on TV vision, Chicago Tribune, September 9, 2008
  29. ""Wait, Wait" To Become TV Show? - mediabistro.com".
  30. "BBC America And NPR To Bring Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me! To TV In December". November 16, 2011. Archived from the original on August 4, 2018. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  31. "NPR's 'Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me' Is Being Developed for TV By NBCU's Wilshire Studios". December 11, 2018.
  32. "Fathom Events - Wait Wait..Don't Tell Me!". Retrieved May 3, 2013.
  33. 67th Annual Peabody Awards, May 2008.
  34. "Webby Nominees". Webby Awards. 2008. Retrieved June 29, 2008.
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