WWDTM: The First Quarter Century, pt. III

00:04: From NPR and WBEC Chicago, this is, wait, wait, don't tell me.

00:09: The NPR news quiz.

00:11: Who needs a beach bod when you've got this bill bod?

00:17: I'm Bill Curtis and here's your host, Dutti, Studebaker, Theatre and the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago, Illinois.

00:24: Peter Segal.

00:25: Thank you, Bill.

00:26: Thanks, everybody.

00:27: Thank you so much.

00:28: Thank you so much.

00:30: So this year is the 25th anniversary of our show.

00:34: A fact so unbelievable, we need to take the occasional week off just to sit around and deal with it.

00:39: But it is true, and to prove it, here are some highlights from the first two and a half decades of our show.

00:46: We've been around so long we've been able to see entire careers happen in front of our eyes.

00:51: For example, back in 2010, we asked a performer from Chicago Second City to come by and try his hand, answering our questions.

01:00: It was Kegan Michael Kee.

01:03: Kegan, the last supper has been a favorite subject of artists for centuries, the most

01:07: famous version, of course, Leonardo da Vinci's.

01:09: There are hundreds more though.

01:10: Well, scientists looked at different versions of the scene painted over the centuries and

01:14: discovered that over the years something has changed in the picture.

01:18: What?

01:21: The way that Jesus looks.

01:22: No.

01:23: The food on the table.

01:24: Yes, exactly.

01:25: But how has it changed?

01:26: Oh, it's become less caloric.

01:29: LAUGHTER

01:32: I mean, like, as we get to the 19th century, oh, look, he's having more fibers.

01:35: It's okay for him.

01:37: But not that it will do him much good.

01:38: Right.

01:41: No, no, not that.

01:42: It's changed not in a particular good way.

01:44: You're onto something.

01:45: You're onto something.

01:46: The food as depicted has changed.

01:47: I'll give you a hint.

01:48: This study was done by the International Journal of Obesity.

01:52: Oh.

01:54: super size. Super size my last supper.

01:57: Yeah, it's like...

01:59: It's like, it's...

02:00: Same Paul says, you want me to super size that?

02:02: Yeah, yeah.

02:03: There's more food.

02:04: Yes, there's just more food.

02:06: All the fortune sizes are larger.

02:09: Hard one. Hard one.

02:12: This is from a study published, as I said, in the International Journal of Obesity,

02:16: it looked at 52 renderings of the last supper,

02:19: and it found that in the last thousand years,

02:21: the apparent amount of food on the supper plates has increased by about 70 percent.

02:27: This obesity scientist say reflects the typical portion sizes of the period in which the paintings remain.

02:33: And that's why modern versions, one's painted in the last 20 or 30 years, modern versions

02:37: of the last supper show Jesus and His disciples enjoying a KFC boneless bucket in 36 ounce big gulps.

02:46: And keeping with this trend, many modern churches are moving to the double stuff communion

02:50: Yes.

02:55: Keegan, three months ago, the U.S. patent and trademark office created a new trademark

03:00: office for entrepreneurs, specific entrepreneurs in a specific business, and then they promptly shut it down.

03:06: So what can you no longer trademark?

03:10: Marijuana.

03:11: Marijuana, indeed.

03:12: For three months, growers and dealers of medical marijuana were allowed to seek trademarks

03:17: for names like Maui-Waui, Chronic, Purple Totenburg.

03:24: Oh, the Purple Totenburg.

03:25: That's the Purple Totenburg.

03:26: That's the Purple Totenburg.

03:27: Take that stuff.

03:28: All of a sudden, you're talking in different voices.

03:30: Exactly.

03:30: If you're just starting, just take the sky blue, to the merge.

03:33: Yeah.

03:34: Or the mauve.

03:35: Now, it's all over.

03:36: It turns out somebody in the patent office

03:37: realized that selling marijuana is still a federal crime.

03:40: Time.

03:42: So maybe the federal government shouldn't allow you to trademark your illegal product.

03:46: The patent office was just overrun with confused pot heads submitting patents not for their

03:50: pot but for ideas they'd had while using it.

03:55: For example, patent for method of just like thinking of a food and then you can taste the

04:01: food and all you had to do was think of the food.

04:04: Damn.

04:05: And then there was this idea that came in and was like in a patent form was like, did anyone ever patent getting a patent?

04:11: Because then anytime somebody gets a patent you get money.

04:15: But then when I get the patent for patenting patents,

04:18: do I just have to give the money to myself, whoa?

04:20: LAUGHTER

04:21: LAUGHTER

04:22: MUSIC

04:23: MUSIC

04:24: MUSIC

04:25: MUSIC

04:27: Then eight years later, Keegan had gone on to become a superstar

04:31: comedian and actor first with a sketch show, Key and Peel,

04:34: and then many movies and TV shows.

04:36: So we asked him back just to brag that we knew him first.

04:41: became really fantastically well-known for key and appeal and the next thing I

04:45: know you were in the cover of I think time magazine

04:48: what that was crazy I was not expecting that that we got to be on the

04:52: the cover of time for the uh... some at the we wrote we also were on the cover of time for

04:57: the hundred most influential people in the world or something in 2014 it was crazy oh something like that you know

05:03: we might have been number forty six i don't know i'm not

05:10: I was on the cover of Time Out magazine.

05:12: I don't want to brag.

05:17: So, there are so many things about Key and Peel.

05:20: We could just talk about some of the amazing sketches.

05:22: We should cut right to the chase, which is your anger translator sketch,

05:26: in which Jordan Peele, your partner, played the president.

05:29: Where did you come up with this idea for the sketch?

05:30: And tell me exactly in your view, who were you playing? you playing

05:34: okay so so i'm playing a guy named lukegaard who is from the trot

05:38: and we remembered and i can't remember his name senator wilson who said you lie

05:42: yes it was a congressman named joe wilson from russian congressman joe wilson that's it

05:47: and we thought not to the president stuck between a rock and a heart place he can't express himself

05:52: or or he he'll be a catch health for it

05:54: so what if we can invent a surrogate

05:57: for the president who can get angry for him instead and that's how lukegaard was born

06:02: you actually did this sketch when you translate the president's anger into words with the actual president

06:09: right i i got to be with the president like ten minutes

06:13: and it comes in the room and he's like uh... that's my boy came well well and and of course and then i go

06:25: hope there's not a red dot on my forehead

06:30: there was a point though prior to you performing with the president where you

06:34: found out that the president was watching your sketches about you and the president

06:39: and liking them and how did that feel

06:41: well that was that was crazy because we were given the opportunity to meet him in twenty twelve

06:46: and and the thing that just melted me in Georgia's heart that he looked at both of us and he said

06:51: uh... got a player hard to be a brother on TV all of the other wow

06:57: at the end of the experience he went and had a clear stroke she asked one of his

07:01: age to hand him a bottle of water he unscrews the bottle of water takes a sip and

07:06: then he fangs as he had been poisoned by the water

07:12: he just drank his water and oh no I'm not kidding I'm kidding I'm joking

07:19: Well, Keegan Michael Key, we could talk to you all day, but we can't.

07:27: Because we really invited you here to play a game we're calling.

07:31: Bet you don't know these peels, friends.

07:34: So you were partnered very successfully with, of course, Jordan Peel,

07:37: so we thought we'd ask you about other peels.

07:40: Get two of these peel-oriented questions right.

07:42: You'll win our prize for one of our listeners, the voice of anyone from our show.

07:44: They choose on their voice mail.

07:46: who was Keegan Michael Key playing for.

07:48: William Fitzpatrick of Miami, Florida.

07:51: All right.

07:52: William Fitzpatrick of OK, a good Irishman.

07:54: All right, here we go.

07:55: Here's your first question.

07:57: The first peel is the peel 50.

07:59: That is the world's smallest car was made in the 1960s.

08:05: One of the most interesting features of this three-wheeled vehicle was what?

08:09: A, if you parked it on a sewer grate, it could fall through.

08:13: B, instead of a reverse gear, you got out of the car,

08:16: walked around, grabbed a handle, pulled it backwards, walked back in, got it, and drove off.

08:20: For a C, instead of looking through a windshield, the driver's head poked up through the roof.

08:24: And you looked around that way.

08:26: Ah, okay. I am going to go with C.

08:30: You're going to go with C, that instead of a windshield, you actually just poked your head up through the roof.

08:34: And I'm trying to read your syntax, Peter.

08:38: Yeah.

08:39: You need to believe that I should then say B.

08:42: Wow.

08:46: I was really trying to be neutral, but apparently I gave it away because it is be in fact.

08:50: Wow.

08:51: Thanks.

08:52: No, it's an amazing thing.

08:55: The Peele 50 is a tiny little car and it was so light that your users could get out, pick it up,

09:00: and pull it backwards when they had to go in reverse.

09:02: Amazing.

09:03: It's not very safe.

09:05: Your next Peele is Sir Robert Peele.

09:07: He was an early 19th century British politician who his legacy is still felt to this day.

09:14: He gave his name to something.

09:16: What was it?

09:17: A. He founded the British police force, which is why British police men are still called

09:20: Bobby's.

09:22: B. He was the first person to import oranges into Britain, which is why they are said to have peals.

09:28: Or C. He was the first person to brush his hair to fall on either side of his face, framing it nicely. which is why we call that a haircut known as the bob uh... interesting

09:42: i'm going to go with a because that

09:44: that's not the most plausible to me

09:47: a was the one that the british police force were named bobby's yes and you're right

09:54: dot the p.m. is the father of british police that's what they're called bobby's

09:59: your last p.l. is john p.l. he was very famous in influential

10:03: British DJ died about five years ago.

10:06: Yes.

10:07: He discovered singer Billy Bragg when what happened?

10:12: A, he bet somebody he could make anybody

10:14: into a successful pop act, including why this waiter right here.

10:19: B, he said on the air one day, he was quite hungry

10:22: and the unknown Bragg brought him a curry.

10:25: Or C, he heard Bragg singing in the shower

10:27: of the next department over and went and banged in the door to ask for a tape. uh...

10:34: you think it's a that he'd like somebody you can make anybody into a pop singer including this guy right here including this guy right here

10:40: i like that idea but it was in fact

10:43: it was be he was on the air john pelt a very popular radio program he was

10:47: broadcasting live is that i'm quite hungry didn't get dinner

10:49: billy bragg who was an unknown singer said uh-huh

10:52: well went out got a curry brought to the studio and a demo tape

10:56: gave him the career of the guy listen to the tape the next thing you know billy bragg was making records

10:59: That's what happened.

11:00: That's amazing.

11:02: It was pretty great.

11:04: That was pretty good.

11:05: That's pretty great.

11:06: Seizing the moment, Bill, how did Kegan Michael Kee do in our quiz?

11:09: Oh, you got two out of three right.

11:11: And as he knows from his experience here, that's a winner.

11:14: Yes, indeed.

11:16: We're very forgiving.

11:19: Kegan Michael Kee, thank you so much.

11:21: So great to talk to you again.

11:22: Congratulations, everything.

11:25: It's all kisses.

11:26: Bye-bye.

11:32: When we come back, more Hollywood royalty, including a woman named Queen King.

11:36: Well, in translation anyway, that's when we return with more.

11:40: Wait, wait, don't tell me?

11:41: From NPR.

11:45: From NPR, and it'll be easy Chicago.

11:51: This is Wait, wait, don't tell me the NPR news quiz.

11:55: I'm Bill Curtis and here is your host.

11:57: these, due to Baker Theatre and the Fine Arts building in downtown Chicago.

12:02: Peter Sadoff.

12:03: Thank you, Bill.

12:05: Thanks, everybody.

12:06: So, as we've been saying, we've been doing this show for 25 years, and in that time,

12:10: we've been able to interview some really impressive people, including some major Hollywood stars.

12:16: It's just the law of averages.

12:18: If you let 100 monkeys make a news quiz, they'll get some A-listers every once in a while.

12:26: So here is our 2019 interview with actor and director,

12:29: Regina King, who was starring as a superhero in the HBO series Watchmen.

12:34: Now, at one point, Mo Rocca, on our panel,

12:37: realized something interesting about Ms. King's name.

12:40: But can I just say, I just realized that Regina means queen.

12:44: So you're like super royal.

12:46: Yeah.

12:47: Queen King.

12:48: That was Namaste.

12:49: Real?

12:52: So your parents, I presume, Mr. and Mrs. King,

12:55: they decided that they would name their daughter Regina, who just emphasized that as well.

12:58: Yeah, they took it even a step further.

13:00: My sister who's four years younger than me,

13:02: they named her Rayna, which also means Queen.

13:05: That's right.

13:06: I understand.

13:06: There you go.

13:07: Was that, I mean, you've done it,

13:09: but still was it hard to live up to?

13:12: I'll be honest, I didn't really know what I was living up to until I started taking Spanish

13:18: and until I went like, oh, yeah.

13:21: Okay.

13:22: There's some big stuff here.

13:23: Yeah, I know.

13:24: And now I want to talk a little bit about Watchmen because it's weird because this is it's based on a very famous comic book

13:29: That came out some time ago that's very very popular to comic book nerds and I I know as you know that comic book nerds are the most relaxed forgiving people

13:43: So have you have you had like any encounters yet? Have you been down to like comic con to deal with it yet?

13:48: I have and you know what what so far so good

13:53: We got a standing old at our screenings.

13:56: Really?

13:56: So no, you know?

13:58: Well, I'm...

13:59: And do you hope that, like, you can move on this

14:01: to be, like, in Marvel movies and just, like,

14:03: make the superhero thing work for you as a rest of your crew?

14:05: You know what?

14:06: Right now, I'm just hoping I just see one or two people this Halloween dress like me.

14:12: Oh, that would be awesome.

14:14: Well, that's the measure.

14:15: That's the measure.

14:16: That.

14:20: What does your character wear?

14:22: Oh my God, it is amazing.

14:27: Instead of a cape, I have like this skirt that flows like a cape.

14:32: So when I walk it just billows out,

14:35: and it's all leather, it's all black.

14:39: It has a hood, and I spray paint my mask on.

14:43: Oh yeah.

14:44: And you're better than that.

14:45: Tag your own face.

14:46: Yeah.

14:48: So we heard that you have a pretty interesting celebrity crush

14:51: crush that you've admitted to at least.

14:54: Yeah, is it Sam Elliott?

14:55: It is Sam Elliott.

14:57: Yeah.

14:59: How did you develop a crush on Sam Elliott?

15:02: Any of the ladies out there, did you see Roadhouse?

15:05: So some of the men, if you need them, just something

15:08: about when he has that rubber band in his mouth

15:11: and he's pulling his hair back, and he's about to whoops them.

15:15: As it was just sexy, this little girl.

15:18: You have a, you traveling pretty good.

15:20: You're on the AC in here.

15:21: I know.

15:23: You travel in pretty a-list circles.

15:26: Have you run into Mr. Alley at it any time?

15:28: Oh my God, and I had to let him know.

15:30: Did you really?

15:31: Was that like, did you just blur it out?

15:33: It was like, hi, Sam Alley and I'm a JD King.

15:34: I've had a question for you forever.

15:36: It's something like that.

15:37: Really?

15:38: Who do you think is the hottest person on NPR?

15:42: Wow.

15:44: Carry Groves.

15:46: There.

15:46: Right.

15:48: No games like that.

15:50: Well, Regina King, it is an absolute pleasure to talk to you.

15:54: We've invited you here to play a game that we're calling.

15:57: I'm not a watchman.

15:58: I'm a watchman.

16:01: So you're starring in Watchmen.

16:02: So we thought we'd ask you about watchmen,

16:05: specifically the people who collect luxury watches.

16:10: So we wrote a wonderful piece by Gary Steingart

16:12: in the New Yorker about his obsession with watches.

16:15: And we were going to ask you three questions

16:17: about this particular obsession, get to right, you win our prize.

16:21: You ready to play?

16:22: OK.

16:22: All right.

16:23: Choki, who is Regina King playing for?

16:26: Benjamin Bruening of Davis, California.

16:28: All right, here we go.

16:29: First question, which are these is a real term

16:32: for something that collectors look for in a desirable watch?

16:36: Is it A, emotional complications?

16:40: B, nimble felanges?

16:42: Or C, thick beefy lugs?

16:45: Oh.

16:51: Or if you like, which of these things would you want to see on a Sam Ellie?

16:54: I was going to say.

16:56: The Biffy Lugs.

17:00: You're going to go for that? That's right. Very good.

17:02: Biffy Lugs.

17:03: I love the Biffy Lugs.

17:06: Lugs are the part of the watch that the wrist band attaches to, and you want thick Biffy

17:13: That's what.

17:13: Nice.

17:14: All right.

17:15: Someone wants to be if you want to.

17:16: Somebody wants to be if you want to.

17:17: Next question.

17:19: You've probably seen those watches with the really

17:21: enormous faces, like the size of T-Sauces

17:23: that were popular just a few years ago.

17:25: What do watch aficionados call those watches?

17:28: A. L'Orealage de Enjeu L'Éville, or French for Hubcap Watch.

17:34: B. Penis Extenders.

17:37: O. Or C. U.W.O.'s for unidentified risked objects.

17:45: The world penis is fun, so I'm gonna go with penis.

17:50: You're right.

17:51: That's what they call him.

17:54: What?

17:57: According to Mr. Steingart, the true watch of Fishingotto does not care for those overly large watches

18:03: and believes they are an expression of male insecurity.

18:06: I don't see the relationship between the two.

18:09: Like, you look at some big watch and that tells you what?

18:13: Well, I think it might tell you that they're making up for something else.

18:16: I think that's the idea.

18:17: Really?

18:18: For a short second hand.

18:19: That can't be true.

18:20: LAUGHTER

18:27: All right, so you're doing really well here, Virginia.

18:29: One more luxury watches, unlike, you know, common watches are made by hand and by craftsmen.

18:33: At one factory in Germany, the watchmakers work under stringent rules, including which of these?

18:38: of these. A, they're not allowed to drink ever. B, they cannot eat tick-tax because they

18:44: could be confused with tick-tocks. Or C, they're not allowed to eat any roughage because

18:49: it's believed in test and will gas harms the mechanism.

18:53: Oh, that last one's out of fun.

19:00: But I'm going to go with A.

19:05: or right again, the night of the break.

19:07: It is believed by these German watchmakers

19:12: that any drinking at all makes the hands shake

19:14: and you don't want that in your luxury watchmaker.

19:16: Chilky, how did Regina King do in our show?

19:18: Regina King is a superhero with an Oscar.

19:22: She got all three right.

19:23: That's true.

19:23: Yes.

19:26: Regina King is starring in Watch Minute Premier's and HBO October 20th.

19:32: It's coming up soon, TikTok.

19:33: Regina King, thank you so much for joining us.

19:36: I'm way away from telling you.

19:38: Such a pleasure to talk to you.

19:39: Congratulations on everything.

19:41: We look forward to more things later.

19:43: Bye-bye.

19:44: Thank you.

19:45: Bye-bye.

19:45: Thanks.

19:46: Thank you.

19:47: Thank you.

19:50: Another advantage of being around a long time

19:53: is you get to interview parents and then someday their children.

19:56: Actor Tom Hanks was one of the first big stars

19:58: we ever interviewed on this show back in 2005.

20:01: and then six years later we interviewed his son Colin Hanks.

20:05: Peter asked him about his latest big role on a series

20:08: that many other stars had also taken part in.

20:11: So I'm gonna write about that.

20:13: Do you like actors hanging out and hollering?

20:15: Oh, I hope I get the serial killer role in this season's Dexter.

20:18: Oh, well, yes, of course.

20:20: But it's always sort of like you make believe like,

20:23: oh, yeah, I'm gonna, I could be on that show.

20:27: and really the reality is it's so difficult to get on

20:31: any show for that matter must less one as good as as dexter

20:36: uh... so you know when the agent said

20:38: what about dexter would you like to be on dexter said yes sure

20:41: thinking their net never going to happen

20:44: are you gonna be i know in general the seasons tend to revolve around a single

20:49: primary serial killer who's sort of dexter's nemesis is that you this time

20:52: around uh... it is uh... myself along with uh...

20:57: Edward james all most of that's very good yeah so it's the two of us that uh...

21:01: that dexter has to to find this is the seventh season of dexter the six

21:05: it is the six and it is anybody ever on this tv show dexter which i have seen

21:09: enjoyed every look around and go wait a minute where are all these serial colors coming from this is crazy

21:14: well this is not the first time television has uh... made you know sort of a strange and unbelievable co-incidents

21:21: i mean every time peri mason took a job

21:24: uh... it wasn't originally to defend a murder case it was always the person came

21:28: to him for something entirely different and then the very next morning they were accused of murder

21:34: well just think of a cabit cove

21:36: or you know right yeah yeah people are getting killed left and right in this

21:39: time a little down right and then they had her character go to new york

21:43: as if this should be daunting to someone who came from a small town where everyone's dead

21:50: and it's also not too different from a lot of the sort of medical programs you have

21:54: where invariably someone will come in complaining of

21:58: oh my stomach hurts or i have some chest pain and they go oh it's this

22:02: and then all of a sudden some doctor realizes but waited could be this

22:06: right low-end the whole that's every episode

22:09: does it earn a t-v show now we understand uh... your father's also an actor yet uh...

22:15: was on the love book by the way was was a great that reference

22:20: that how is he dealt with your fame and success he's taking it poorly really

22:26: he's feeling uh... he's feeling a little bit older

22:30: yeah um... as he always said you may be younger

22:34: and taller and better looking but i way more than you

22:39: i hate to ask this because i like to think well the guy but your father

22:42: Tom Aink, does he ever try to sponge off your success?

22:45: Oh, every day.

22:47: Really?

22:47: Yeah.

22:49: It's somewhat more seriously.

22:50: Was it daunting to want to go into acting yourself?

22:55: Well, keep in mind, I'm going to be 34 years old in just a few weeks.

23:02: So when I was younger, it was, you know, my dad dressed up in drag on bosom buddies,

23:09: bodies and that was what i was having to deal with at the time

23:13: hey listen we know you're big on twitter we followed you on twitter

23:16: yet and uh... it's your twitter bio describes you as quote that guy

23:20: from that one thing you think is way underrated yet unquote what is that thing

23:26: uh... that thing apparently is everything on my resume there you are

23:30: uh... no in that there's always someone who just says you know he man

23:35: that thing that uh... the blank movie blank that's way underrated.

23:40: It's a great compliment because they mean like I think it's good, but you should know a lot of people.

23:45: I mean a lot of people.

23:46: That thing that you did, that thing that you did is not suck nearly as much as everybody else says it does.

23:52: This is what the things they've said.

23:53: Oh my god.

23:54: It's terrible.

23:55: So I just sort of been taking that and embracing and running with it.

23:58: From your Twitter feed, we would say that you are somewhat obsessed with music.

24:02: Is this fair?

24:03: This is a fair assumption, yes.

24:05: And are you an a band or are you a musician yourself?

24:07: i was in two very horrible bands

24:10: uh... they were underrated they were underrated they're better

24:13: they're better than everybody said college uh... i like that i like that uh... but

24:17: yeah i would i played uh... i played bass guitar in in high school and in

24:21: college and then i actually uh... i fractured my thumb

24:25: so my bass career went went by by what was the name of the band sir uh... one of the okay

24:33: In combination, this is going to sound very strange.

24:35: That's why we asked.

24:38: First one was called Pontius Pilate.

24:42: OK.

24:43: I didn't know why.

24:45: I just liked the name.

24:46: I since found out who Pontius Pilate was.

24:49: Wait a minute.

24:50: You didn't know?

24:51: I had no idea.

24:53: They did that great song I want to wash your hands.

24:56: Yeah.

24:57: Yeah.

24:58: Very good.

24:58: I love that.

24:59: The other one was called the Underlords.

25:04: The Underlords?

25:05: Yeah, they were both, well, let's just say they were both noble attempts.

25:11: Did you start those bands or how did you get involved in them?

25:14: I did not start those bands.

25:15: I joined those bands.

25:16: I'm the quiet bass player.

25:18: And did you say what's the name of the band?

25:21: Uh, yeah, I did.

25:21: And they said the Underlords.

25:24: Hey, listen, I just wanted to hang out with someone.

25:28: Well, Colin Hanks, we have invited you here to play a game.

25:31: We're calling...

25:32: Till death that we part.

25:34: At least until I get a better offer.

25:37: So, Kim Kardashian is getting a lot of grief for filing for divorce after only 72 days of marriage, as we've discussed.

25:43: But compared to some other celebrity weddings,

25:45: She and her husband, what's his name, practically grew all together.

25:49: We're gonna ask you three questions about other short-lived celebrity marriages.

25:53: Get to right, you'll win our prize for one of our listeners. who is Colin Hanks playing for.

25:57: Colin is playing for Chris Spinn Brem of the Calb, Illinois.

26:01: All right.

26:03: Chris Spinn Brem.

26:04: Wow.

26:05: Wow.

26:08: Here's your first question, Colin.

26:10: Guns and roses, singer Axel Rose,

26:12: may not appear to be the most romantic man.

26:15: That's because he's really not.

26:18: His brief marriage to his wife, Aaron Everley,

26:20: began when he popped the question, how?

26:22: A, at 4 in the morning, he said to her, marry me or I'll kill myself.

26:27: B, he let her look under slash his hair where he had hidden a ring.

26:32: Or C, he said, you and the jungle baby, the jungle of wedded bliss.

26:37: I'm going to go with A.

26:39: You're gonna go with A at 4 in the morning,

26:40: he said, marry me or I'll kill myself?

26:42: Yeah.

26:43: Yes, that's what he did.

26:44: Wow.

26:45: That was so romantic.

26:46: It is.

26:47: That's what I did.

26:48: That's what I did.

26:49: Popping the question and popping the cry for help.

26:52: Yeah.

26:53: She said yes, they were divorced just a few weeks later.

26:56: Oh, wow, that's romantic.

26:57: Isn't it?

26:58: Isn't that a shock?

26:59: Romantic.

27:00: Next question, the late actor Dennis Hopper was married

27:03: to singer Michelle Phillips from Mama's in the Poppies for eight whole days in 1971.

27:09: What did Mr. Hopper have to say about his brief marriage

27:12: much later, did he say, A, quote, next time I get married,

27:15: I'm going to spend a little time with the lady first.

27:19: B, quote, seven of those days were pretty good,

27:22: or C, quote, no big deal, I return a lot of the clothes I buy, too.

27:27: Oh.

27:28: Oh, which, uh, I'm gonna go with B just because that made me laugh.

27:34: Seven of those days were pretty good?

27:35: Yeah.

27:36: That's right, that's what he said.

27:37: Wow.

27:40: Talked to the Men of York Times in 2005, he said,

27:43: seven of those days were pretty good.

27:44: The eighth day was the bad one.

27:47: All right, last question.

27:49: One of the more famous of the celebrity marriages

27:51: in the 1960s was the brief joining in wedded bliss

27:54: of Ernest Borgnein and Broadway star Ethel Merman

27:58: in Merman's autobiography, the chapter My Marriage to Ernest Borgnein consisted of what?

28:05: A, the words, wait a minute.

28:08: Did I marry Ernest Borgnein?

28:11: Be a full-color reproduction of Edgar Munche's painting, the scream or see a blank page uh... well

28:24: i don't know why don't we go for b

28:26: you go for b a reproduction of months painting the screen

28:29: do you share why not actually it was a blank page now that i got anything

28:35: what would earn a board nine of done

28:38: marie f.l. merman for thirty two days he explained that he ended their marriage after that brief period because of Ethel Merman's incessant complaining

28:45: that more people were recognizing him in the street than her.

28:49: Oh.

28:50: It's made it very mad.

28:51: Yeah.

28:51: Carl, how did Colin Hanks do in our quiz?

28:53: Colin, you had two correct answers, so you win for Crispin Brem.

28:57: Yeah, that's amazing.

28:58: Well done.

28:58: Nice.

28:59: APPLAUSE

29:00: Colin Hanks is starring in Dexter on Showtime this season, Colin Hanks.

29:04: Thank you so much for being with us.

29:05: Bye, Colin.

29:06: Bye, everybody.

29:07: Thank you so very much.

29:08: Bye, Colin.

29:10: Thank you.

29:12: When we come back, it's nothing but happiness and puppies.

29:15: Literally, we'll be back in a minute with more weight weight, don't tell me?

29:19: From NPR.

29:29: This message comes from NPR Sponsor, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.

29:34: Director of Sustainability, Mandy McKay, shares one of the many ways their team is thinking

29:39: about how sustainable brewing practices also help make operations more efficient.

29:44: We earned Platinum Zero Waste certification back in 2013, and that means we're diverting

29:51: 99.8% of our waste from the landfill.

29:54: And most of that is through recycling, composting, or reuse.

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30:28: Learn more by visiting SierraNevada.com.

30:31: Must be 21 or older. Please drink responsibly.

31:01: people from so many different walks of life. For example, one of our favorite things to do

31:06: has been to have musicians on the show and then not let them play any music.

31:13: It's a great way to throw them off their talking points or singing points.

31:18: In 2010, we were joined by the great Bobby McFerrin composer, conductor and multiple

31:23: Grammy-winning musician who managed to get some singing in anyway.

31:27: I love to sing especially in restaurants.

31:31: Really?

31:32: What sort of things do you want to do?

31:33: Well, you know, when you get something on the menu that you really, really want, you know, you've got a taste for something.

31:40: There's always a very celebratory kind of moment when there's something on the menu that you've been dying to.

31:45: It's okay.

31:46: So here we are in a restaurant.

31:47: In a restaurant, you're looking at, you see something and the waiter comes over and says,

31:49: you might take your order and they say, oh, I'd like, oh, I'd love with this food.

31:57: That ever happened at Danny?

31:59: Just a single note out.

32:00: Because it's such a joyful thing.

32:02: Sure.

32:03: I have a feeling that this audience right now

32:05: doesn't want me to say another word, actually.

32:08: I think they just want you to go.

32:11: Do you see what I mean?

32:11: Sure.

32:13: Yeah, your panelists are with them, too.

32:15: Yeah, I'm so happy.

32:16: I'm so happy.

32:17: I'm so happy.

32:18: I'm so happy.

32:20: I'm so happy.

32:21: I'm so happy.

32:23: I'm so happy.

32:24: Why am I?

32:25: You're stump.

32:26: I'm dumb, man, because I basically am just going to talk until you start doing something again,

32:30: and then I'm going to lay down.

32:32: If I can just get you to go, then my job here is done.

32:35: So you've done so many different things in music.

32:38: Tell us how it all got started.

32:40: Did you like form a band?

32:41: Did you sing with your friends?

32:42: I've been working musician since I was about 14.

32:44: Really?

32:44: You were singing, you were playing?

32:45: I wasn't singing at the time.

32:46: I was playing piano.

32:47: I was a pianist until I was about 27.

32:49: Yeah.

32:50: I was convinced I was a pianist, but I always

32:52: had a nagging suspicion in the back of my head that I wasn't.

32:55: And it is.

32:56: I have that same thought.

32:57: Yeah.

32:59: I was living in Salt Lake City at the time

33:01: because I was working at the University of Utah Dance

33:03: Department as one of their accompanists.

33:05: And I was walking home for lunch period.

33:07: It was about noon.

33:07: It was July 11, 1977.

33:09: See, I really remember those.

33:10: You do?

33:10: By the time I got to my house, I recognized that I was a singer.

33:14: I called up the Hilton Hotel.

33:16: And I got on an audition for the very next day.

33:19: I knew five songs.

33:20: I sang, you are the sunshine of my life.

33:23: I sang that.

33:24: I sang a tune by a group called Blind Faith.

33:27: Come down up your throne and leave your balance.

33:32: I sang that and three other pieces and they hired me.

33:35: Now those, I only knew five songs.

33:37: Right.

33:39: He hired me.

33:40: I had a month before my gig started.

33:43: So I learned a song a day.

33:44: I had about 35 songs when I started.

33:46: And that's how it all began.

33:48: Right, very cool.

33:50: You wrote that?

33:52: I wrote that.

33:53: That's great.

33:55: That's really good.

33:57: I like that.

33:57: You just open up your mouth.

33:59: You open up your mouth and you go.

34:01: That's it.

34:01: Yeah, I open up my mouth other people go.

34:04: But that's different talents, baby.

34:06: Different talents.

34:07: Very, very good.

34:09: I know.

34:10: Oh, I know.

34:11: Well, we are utterly delighted to have you with us.

34:12: In Bobby McFarron, we have asked you here today

34:15: to play a game we are calling...

34:17: Doorhead. worry.

34:19: Okay, it's all right.

34:28: So you sang famously, don't worry, be happy and a certain percentage of the population

34:31: said to help with that and went back to being miserable.

34:35: We're going to ask you three questions about being unhappy.

34:38: Get to right, you'll win our prize.

34:39: One of our listeners, Carl's voice on their voice mail or answering machine, whatever they got.

34:44: Carl, who is musician Bobby McFarron playing for?

34:46: Bobby is playing for Annie Earling of Chevy Chase Maryland.

34:49: Annie Earling for energy.

34:52: Eh, eh, eh, eh.

34:53: Eh.

34:56: I'm guessing the answer is yes, but are you ready to play?

34:58:

34:58: You seem to be the go.

34:59: OK.

35:00: Here's the first question.

35:01: A recent survey of tweets tweeted shows

35:04: that people are most unhappy when, a, the moment they arrive

35:07: at work, b, Thursday evenings, c, right after eating something they shouldn't have eaten.

35:14: Thursday evenings, I guess.

35:15: You're right Thursday evening.

35:19: But isn't that when Seinfeld is on?

35:21: Apparently not anymore.

35:24: The survey went over all these tweets, millions of them, and looked for certain unhappy keywords,

35:28: and then looked at the timestamp in the location.

35:31: And it turns out if you want to be unhappy,

35:32: the place to be, and the time to be there,

35:34: New York City Thursday night.

35:37: How about that?

35:38: How about that?

35:39: You answered that so easily.

35:40: Are you yourself sad on Thursday evening?

35:41: I'm psychic.

35:42: Oh, okay.

35:46: All right, next question you're doing very well.

35:48: If you're psychic, this will be not your problem.

35:50: Okay.

35:51: If you're dealing with a really unhappy person according to one scientific study,

35:56: what's something you could do to an unhappy person to make them even more unhappy if you were so inclined?

36:05: Hey, say the words, get over it.

36:08: Be show them a happy picture or see sing sing you think singing would make an unhappy

36:16: person even unhappier yeah it was actually show them a happy picture oh sorry oh

36:23: according can I redo the test you know we have another chance here okay but I

36:30: had to do two out of three you do that's on it and what does this person get

36:33: this person gets Carl's voice in their home answer machine okay and the

36:36: wasn't. You want to take it up with Bobby Carl? I mean, all right, this is exciting because

36:50: if you get this correct, we win. Here we go. Last one. Here we go. Let's say you're dealing

36:53: with somebody, but you don't know if they're a happier, unhappy person. According to yet

36:58: another scientific studies, what might be a good clue that they're a generally unhappy

37:03: A, they wear ties, B, they really like TV or C, they routinely send food back in restaurants.

37:12: Okay, well I think it's TV actually because they probably, you know, like on the couch,

37:17: hanging out, they don't want to get up and do anything because that's probably what it is.

37:20: And it is that, congratulations, that's right, you understand?

37:25: Well done.

37:28: Thank you.

37:29: The University of Maryland study found that unhappy people watch more TV.

37:34: That may not be surprising, but it might be that they really like it.

37:38: So if you want to know who was watching Cougar Town, it's all the moaps.

37:42: Carl, how did Bobby do on our show?

37:44: Well, enough to win for Andy Earling of Chevr Chase,

37:47: Maryland. He had two correct answers.

37:49: Well done. Andy Earling. Excellent. Excellent.

37:56: But before I let you go, I'm gonna ask anything you want to sing in or four or with this audience?

38:04: Four or with.

38:05: Okay.

38:07: Tumana tum tumana tum

38:12: Tumana tum tum

38:16: It's been great to be here tonight

38:20: Tum tum tum

38:22: Great to be here tonight

38:26: Stop

38:27: Bobbie McFarring, ladies and gentlemen.

38:31: Oh!

38:46: Finally, we talk to one of my very favorite authors, Susan Orley, the only acclaimed writer

38:52: of literary nonfiction to be portrayed on screen by a multiple Oscar winner opposite a completely insane Nicholas Cage.

39:00: So you wrote this book, The Orchard Thief, that got made into a movie called Adaptation,

39:05: which weirdly enough is not so much about the story of your book, although it includes

39:09: it, it is about the writer trying to adapt your book, The Orchard Thief, and you are

39:14: in it, or rather you are portrayed in it by Merrill Streep.

39:18: Right.

39:19: Before I get any further, how was that for you?

39:22: It's got to be cool.

39:23: Well, pretty kooky as you can imagine.

39:26: I can imagine.

39:27: I often fantasize about being played by Marl Street, but it seems unlikely.

39:31: Yeah.

39:31: And it happened to you.

39:32: What did you give up?

39:33: All right, thank you.

39:34: It was, I would say, probably as close to an out-of-body experience as anyone could ever imagine.

39:42: Right.

39:43: I have a question.

39:44: When Marl Street plays you in a movie,

39:46: does she come over to your house and follow you around the kitchen to try to act like you?

39:51: Well, this is terribly embarrassing,

39:52: but I will tell you what happened.

39:54: I was very excited when I heard

39:56: that Merrill Streep was going to play me.

39:58: So I would come into my office at the New Yorker

40:01: and I would just very casually say to my colleagues, oh, could you guys tidy up?

40:07: I think Merrill Streep might be coming by today.

40:10: Just to study me.

40:12: Yes.

40:13: And then she wouldn't come by and another week would roll around.

40:16: And I'd again say to people, could you

40:18: kind of clean up in here guys?

40:20: I mean, I think Merrill Streep's probably going to come.

40:24: And study me.

40:26: Well, at one point I said to the producer,

40:28: so look, I mean, is Merle Street gonna come?

40:31: And they said, oh, we already shot her scene.

40:36: She really just wanted to create the character

40:39: kind of on her own and didn't want to study you.

40:44: And then, so I was eating a lot of humble pie at the office.

40:49: So let's talk about Rinton Tintin a little.

40:50: I want to say, there's so much in that book I did not know.

40:54: for example that uh... rinton ten was not a character but a real dog

40:58: and that is exactly what drew me into the story because having grown up

41:04: at the very tail end of rinton ten having been a tv star

41:08: and knowing him just as a character television it completely astonished me to

41:15: learn that he was a real dog born in nineteen eighteen

41:20: and a dog who had had a huge career and a sort of global acclaim in the nineteen twenties he was probably the top box office earner

41:31: for many years he was known all over the world

41:35: i mean in the twenty is when rinton didn't was in a movie

41:39: he was the name above the title he was the big deal really

41:43: such a big star that when he died in nineteen thirty two

41:47: the news interrupted broadcasting all over the country

41:52: i love the fact that you write that that the gossip magazines used to write about

41:56: him like a movie star that they say he lived in a hotel sweet with his wife

42:00: net right right actually my favorite report was

42:03: where they presumably interviewed his wife man that

42:07: who said he was putting aside her career

42:10: for the time being because of the demands of motherhood

42:14: hey i understand that you're quite an animal person at home you have this

42:16: you wrote about this raising chickens in the new york you have this sort of farm

42:19: in in upstate yeah we have all we have a lot of critters we have

42:23: chickens and turkey's and ducks and cap do you have dogs i've a dog

42:28: since re researching uh... rinton ten for ten years are you terribly disappointed in your dog

42:34: and we have a lot of talks where i kind of say look

42:38: that rinton ten supported his master for years

42:42: right have you done for me lately

42:45: Can I say, by the way, and I say this to you,

42:47: someone has written a book about a famous performing dog

42:50: that I did not get a dog until I was a freshman

42:52: in high school, 14 years old, say.

42:54: And by that time, I was so ruined by fictional dogs,

42:58: ranging from all the movie dogs, the TV dogs, to Snoopy.

43:02: And then you get a real finally, after a lifetime,

43:04: a kid's lifetime, of wanting one, you get a dog, and it's just a dog.

43:09: It doesn't talk to you.

43:11: It doesn't run errands for you, bring you yours.

43:14: It doesn't even bring many slippers.

43:15: It's kind of panted and ran around and occasionally would poop outside.

43:18: That was it.

43:19: Right, isn't that what marriage is like too?

43:23: Were you poop outside?

43:28: Well, Susan Arlene, we have invited you here to play a game.

43:31: We're calling Rintin 10.

43:34: Does that's the begin-gin-getting?

43:38: So we were talking about Rintin 10

43:39: and somebody said that sounds like the Tin-Tin comics

43:41: and that sounded like Tonton's from Star Wars

43:44: and we sort of got carried away.

43:46: So we're gonna ask you three questions

43:49: based on three things that sound like the title of your book.

43:53: Oh good.

43:55: I'm probably guaranteed to flunk all of these.

43:58: That's the plan.

43:59: But if you answer two out of these three questions correctly,

44:03: you'll win a prize for one of our listeners,

44:04: Carl who's author Susan Orlean playing for?

44:06: Susan is playing for David Gaye's of Oak Park Illinois.

44:10: Ready to play?

44:11: I am.

44:12: All right.

44:13: Tin Tin is, of course, a famous Belgian comic book hero

44:17: and he's the basis for the new Steven Spielberg movie.

44:19: His BFF, Captain Hattick, is known for his elaborate curses.

44:22: Which of these is a genuine Captain Hattick Exploative?

44:26: A, blue blistering bell bottom baller dash.

44:29: B, filibustering French fried frankincense.

44:33: Or C, hairy hedgehogs on a stick.

44:37: Whoa.

44:38: Yes.

44:40: I'll say number one.

44:42: Blue blistering bell bottom ball, DASH?

44:44: Yeah.

44:44: You're right.

44:45: Oh!

44:47: That's good.

44:48: So that was Tim Tain.

44:49: Next up, Tonton.

44:51: As all Star Wars fans know, there are the beasts

44:54: and the ice-planted, hot, famous for that bit.

44:56: We're hands solo cuts one open to make a nice warm hot pocket for the injured Luke Skywalker.

45:01: What is the latest Tonton themed Star Wars merchandise?

45:04: A, the Craftsman Star Wars Edition Chainsaw, which

45:07: is, quote, tough enough to open a tonton.

45:10: Be a sleeping bag that looks like a tonton.

45:12: You unzip and get to keep yourself warm by climbing in.

45:14: Or see a loaf shaped to look like a tonton

45:17: to be enjoyed on a Star Wars nerd holiday called Life Day.

45:22: Ooh, I'm going for beat.

45:23: You're going to for beat the sleeping bag?

45:25: Yeah.

45:25: You're right.

45:26: Oh my god.

45:27: This is the tonton sleeping bag.

45:28: I can't believe it.

45:29: Which is great is that this, the tonton shaped sleeping bag,

45:32: which you could cut open and then crawl inside yourself,

45:35: was actually an April Fool's joke on a website called Thinka Geek,

45:38: but the response that was so overwhelming that they just actually started manufacturing them.

45:43: All right, we've had 1010, ta-tang, how about ta-tang?

45:46: The GPS system that uses celebrity voices to give directions, which of these

45:49: is a real celebrity instruction you can get on your ta-tang GPS is at A, Snoop Dogg,

45:55: saying, Jesus Frieza puts your quiza in the ignition,

45:59: B, Kim Kardashian saying, if you turn left at the next light,

46:02: I'll marry you.

46:04: Or see, Kormack McCarthy saying, the road is long, hungry, cold.

46:08: Find food or die.

46:09: Yes, that is the way of it.

46:11: Oh my God.

46:14: Oh, God.

46:17: Well, I know which one I would buy,

46:19: but my guess is that it's number one.

46:22: Snoop Dogg?

46:23: Yep.

46:23: You're right.

46:25: Very good.

46:26: Oh.

46:27: Here.

46:29: Here's a sample of Snoop Dogg helping you find

46:32: You're way.

46:33: Jesus, freeze up, put your keys up in the ignition and let's turn this thing on.

46:37: There you go.

46:38: You ready to go?

46:39: Carl, how did Susan Arlene do in our quiz?

46:41: Susan, you had a great game.

46:42: Three correct answers, so you win for David Gays.

46:46: Well done.

46:47: Good.

46:48: Bravo.

46:52: I am so proud.

46:54: You should be.

46:55: I really am.

46:56: I'm really proud.

46:58: You know what, Susan, you get a bacon treat.

47:00: Yeah.

47:01: Wow.

47:02: Susan Orlean is the author of the new book,

47:05: Rent in 10, The Life in the Legend.

47:07: It's out now.

47:07: Susan, thank you so much.

47:09: Thank you, Pierre.

47:10: Thank you everyone.

47:11: Bye bye, Susan.

47:12: Thank you.

47:13: That was it for this week's Deep Dip

47:14: into two and a half decades of news quizzing.

47:17: Wait, wait, don't tell me.

47:18: So production of NPR and WB Easy, Chicago, an association with urgent haircut, productions,

47:22: Doug Berman, Ben Neville and Overlord.

47:24: Philip Gaudica writes, our lemurics,

47:25: our public address announcer, his Paul Friedman, our tour manager, Ashina Dommel,

47:29: thanks to the staff and crew with the Studebaker theater,

47:31: BJ Lead have been composed of our theme, our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles

47:35: Nrumbos and Lillian King.

47:36: Our vibe curator is Emma Choi, special thanks to Monica Hickey.

47:39: Peter Gwynne is our time traveling de l'Orien.

47:42: Technical direction to Somalornow Yter, CFO is Colin Miller.

47:44: Our production manager is Robert Newhouse, our senior producer is Ian Chilock, and the

47:47: executive producer of Weight Weight Don't Tell Me is Mike Danforth.

47:51: Thanks to everybody you heard, all of our panelists, all of our guests, of course Bill

47:55: Curtis, and two of our dear friends who have since left us, Carl Castle and Pete

48:02: and thanks to all of you for listening.

48:04: I am Peter Segal, we'll be back next week.

48:20: This is NPR.