‘Wait Wait’ for September 26, 2026: With Not My Job guest John Cook
JENNIFER MILLS, BYLINE: The following program was taped in front of an audience of real, live people.
ALZO SLADE: From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME, the NPR news quiz. I'm Alzo Slade, your judge and scorekeeper. And if it helps, you can picture me in a little referee uniform.
(LAUGHTER)
SLADE: Here's your host at the Orpheum Theater in Omaha, Nebraska, Peter Sagal.
(CHEERING)
PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Thank you, all. Thank you, Omaha.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Thank you. What a delight to be making our debut here at long last. Later on, we are going to be talking to the legendary former coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball team, John Cook.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: His team once played in front of the largest crowd ever to see a woman's sporting event - 92,000 people. And...
(CHEERING)
SAGAL: ...Whose regular games, season after season, drew a crowd of 10,000 people. So when he walks out here in this sold-out 2,600-seat theater...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...We assume he'd be like, yeah, so where is everybody?
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: But first, we want you to compete in front of this crowd. When you call in to play our games, the number is 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Now let's welcome our first listener contestant. Hi, you're on WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME.
JOHN: Hi, Peter. This is John (ph) calling from Syracuse, New York.
SAGAL: Hey, John, how are things in Syracuse?
JOHN: Not cold yet, but they will be.
SAGAL: I know you get that every year in Upstate New York. What do you do there?
JOHN: I work as a legal aide in our local district attorney's office.
SAGAL: Oh, wow. My expectation would be that the district attorney in a place like Syracuse gets to be with all kinds of raffish kind of criminals.
JOHN: Oh, definitely. Yeah.
SAGAL: Yeah.
JOHN: A wide variety.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: So what your job lacks in pay and makes up in entertainment?
JOHN: That - yes. Yeah, it definitely does.
SAGAL: (Laughter) Well, let me introduce you to our panel, John. First up, it's a comedian out on tour you can see this very weekend at the Laughing Tap in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It's Dulce Sloan.
(CHEERING)
DULCE SLOAN: It's me. Hello, Jonathan (ph).
JOHN: Hello.
SAGAL: Next up, a comedian who's on tour all fall, with the next stop October 2 and third at the Comedy Fort in Fort Collins, Colorado. It's Josh Gondelman.
JOSH GONDELMAN: Hello. Thank you for having me.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: And a contributor to "CBS Sunday Morning" and co-host of the new podcast, "You Could Make This Beautiful." It's Faith Salie.
FAITH SALIE: Hey, John.
(CHEERING)
JOHN: Hey, Faith.
SAGAL: So, John, you're going to play Who's Alzo This Time? Alzo Slade, standing right here, is going to read you three quotations from this week's news. As you probably know, your job is to correctly identify or explain just two of them. Do that, you will win our prize - any voice from our show you might choose for your voicemail. Are you ready to do this?
JOHN: I'm ready to go.
SAGAL: Let's do it. Here's your first quote. It's from a CNN journalist.
SLADE: Very happy to be getting back to work here.
SAGAL: That journalist said she was happy to get back to work where, after journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico had been banned all week?
JOHN: That would be the White House.
SAGAL: The White House. Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: The journalists were banned. Oh, no, without White House press briefings, how will we hear how great the war in Iran is going?
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: So the president banned these three outlets. The networks immediately went to court, got an order, letting them back in. But were they really happy about that? Getting banned from this White House must be like when a friend cancels plans and you have to pretend you're upset.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Oh, shoot, I was really looking forward to hearing you yell next to a helicopter.
(LAUGHTER)
JOHN: Do you think they were really sad, or is it one of them days where it was like a snow day as a kid?
SAGAL: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
SLOAN: You're just like. oh, no, I don't have to go cover the president talk? Oh, no.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: Totally, right? Because - they must be such dedicated journalists because they were probably just forgetting what stale Big Mac smells like.
SAGAL: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: And they had to go back.
SAGAL: Now, I want to say that the judge's decision said that the White House pulled the passes without really explaining why. And you cannot do that. The Constitution forbids the government from being a dad who sends you to your room on the grounds, you know what you did.
(LAUGHTER)
SLOAN: So you're telling me that there are things that this president is doing that's not constitutional?
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: I'm sorry if I broke that to you suddenly.
GONDELMAN: That doesn't - no. I mean, Dulce, that doesn't sound right.
SAGAL: Doesn't sound right,
SLOAN: Our president?
GONDELMAN: That's not the Donald Trump I know.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: All right, John, your next quote is from a New York Times commenter.
SLADE: It remains to be seen whether or not the force is with the museum.
SAGAL: What new museum opened in LA this week to mixed reviews?
JOHN: Would that be George Lucas' Star Wars Museum?
SAGAL: Yes, the George Lucas Museum...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...Of Narrative Art finally opened in Los Angeles this week. I can't believe it's been open just three days, and they've already had to rename it the Donald J. Trump and George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: This new museum houses 40,000 pieces of George Lucas' personal collection of memorabilia and collectibles from pop culture. So the experience of visiting it is described as being just like when your nephew asks you to come see my room.
(LAUGHTER)
SLOAN: Wait a minute. Hold on. So y'all paying admission to his storage unit? Is that what this is?
SAGAL: Pretty much. Pretty much.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: "Star Wars"/"Storage Wars" is what this is.
SAGAL: Yeah. Exactly.
GONDELMAN: Yeah.
SALIE: "Storage Wars."
SAGAL: It's a storage unit with a gift shop. There were tons of celebrities at the big opening. There was Oprah Winfrey and Nicolas Cage and Samuel L. Jackson. And the most exciting exhibit, though, has got to be Natalie Portman still in her original packaging.
(LAUGHTER)
JOHN: I'm excited for, like, 25 years from now, when George Lucas put that - you know, opens a way worse museum and is like, this is the museum I've always wanted to open.
SAGAL: Exactly. You have to see the bad museum first.
GONDELMAN: That's right.
SAGAL: All right. John, we have one more quote for you. Here it is.
SLADE: Multi-cat ownership among the group rose a whopping 117% since 2018.
SAGAL: That was our No. 1 news source, petfoodprocessing.net...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...Commenting on the trend of who becoming out and proud cat owners?
JOHN: Oh, I'm going to have to ask for a hint.
SAGAL: Well, it's not just crazy cat ladies anymore.
JOHN: Oh. Oh. Can I get another hint?
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: I understand it's a new world, and the binary is outdated. But in general, what is the opposite of ladies?
(LAUGHTER)
JOHN: New - cat men.
SAGAL: Yes.
SALIE: Yes.
SAGAL: Cat men.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SLADE: (Laughter).
SALIE: (Laughter).
SAGAL: This week, The New York Times profiled the growing number of cat dads, and they used that term repeatedly as if there's nothing wrong with it.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Cat dads are men who are happy to show pictures of their cats and brag about their cats to anyone who will listen, which is no one.
(LAUGHTER)
SALIE: Now, wait a minute.
SLOAN: No.
SALIE: Just...
SLOAN: Pardon me. I don't like what we're doing here. Now, here, I love a cat, but we're saying cat ladies. And then we're calling them cat dads.
SALIE: Exactly.
SLOAN: No, we're giving them - they barely pick - take care of human children. No.
SAGAL: All right.
SALIE: But, you know, the point is, when a woman has a cat, she's a childless cat lady.
SLOAN: Yes.
SALIE: But when a man has a cat, he instantly becomes a parent?
SLOAN: No.
SALIE: A dad.
SAGAL: You're right. I didn't see the injustice in this.
SALIE: How does that work?
SLOAN: Not injustice.
SAGAL: If...
SALIE: How about childless cat men?
SLOAN: Yeah. Catman (ph). And he don't get no thing - it ain't (vocalizing) Catman. No.
(LAUGHTER)
SLOAN: Catman.
SAGAL: One man - one cat - childless cat guy - is that? - you happy?
GONDELMAN: Cat man.
SAGAL: Or cat man profiled by the Times is a long-distance trucker who replaced his passenger seat in the cab with a cat tree so his two cats could accompany him on his routes.
SLOAN: Yes.
SAGAL: This is such a predicament for the hitchhikers. Would I rather get a ride with that cat guy or with a murderer?
SLOAN: Ain't nowhere to sit. The cat tree got shotgun.
SAGAL: That's true.
SLOAN: You can hop in the back with these salmon.
SAGAL: Now, these guys say the stigma around cat guys being, quote, "less dateable" is gone now. But - this is true - they also all told the Times that they are absolutely still not putting cats in their dating profile pictures, 'cause they are crazy cat guys, but they're not crazy.
GONDELMAN: Well, how are you going to put a cat in the picture when you're already holding up the fish?
SAGAL: Exactly. Well, the fish lures in the cat.
GONDELMAN: That's right.
SAGAL: Alzo, how did John do in our quiz?
SLADE: John did great. He got three out of three. Perfect score.
SAGAL: All right. Well done, John.
JOHN: Thank you.
SAGAL: Thank you so much for playing.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CAT MAN")
GENE VINCENT: (Singing) Cat Man's a-coming, you better look out. Cat Man's a-comin', running about. Cat Man's a-comin', lookin' for a girl. Better hide your sister, man.
SAGAL: Right now, panel, time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Faith, this week, the Mamdani administration in New York opened the first of 17 new high-tech public restrooms. Now, these bathrooms have an important feature after exactly 10 minutes of use. What happens?
SALIE: Rats come out and start chewing the toilet paper.
SAGAL: No.
SALIE: Give me a hint.
SAGAL: Well, OK. Well, we've all had this experience sometimes when we have forgotten to lock it.
SALIE: The door opens?
SAGAL: The door opens.
SALIE: Oh, the shame.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: At 10 minutes, no matter what you are doing, the door will open, exposing you to anybody out there. A voice will say at 10 minutes, attention, your time has expired. The door is opening now. And the door opens whether you want it to or not. And, of course, as you're exposed to everyone out there, "New York, New York" starts blaring on the speakers. You know, (singing) start spreading the news.
(LAUGHTER)
SALIE: I mean, that's ample time, though - 10 minutes. That's fair, right?
SLADE: I don't know. Some people's bowels move slower than others.
GONDELMAN: It is...
SLADE: I mean...
GONDELMAN: It is prejudice against the IBS community.
SLADE: That's right.
SAGAL: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
SLADE: I mean, not to give too much information, but I have to warm up like an old Chevy when I'm in there.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: At the opening, when they opened up the first one, and he demonstrated the Mamdani said, quote, "too many New Yorkers know what it's like to have nowhere to go," unquote. Mr. Mayor, that is subway elevator erasure.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: That's right. The problem isn't that people had nowhere to go.
SAGAL: Exactly.
GONDELMAN: It's coming out.
SAGAL: Yeah. They were going everywhere.
SLOAN: Everywhere.
GONDELMAN: We had too many places.
(SOUNDBITE OF FRANK SINATRA SONG, "THEME FROM NEW YORK, NEW YORK")
SAGAL: Coming up, a Bluff the Listener game 20 years in the making. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play. We'll be back in a minute with more of WAIT, WAIT... DON'T TELL ME from NPR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SLADE: From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is WAIT, WAIT... DON'T TELL ME. The NPR news quiz. I'm Alzo Slade. We're playing this week with Josh Gondelman, Faith Salie and Dulce Sloan. And here again is your host at the Orpheum Theater in Omaha, Nebraska, Peter Sagal.
(CHEERING)
SAGAL: Thank you, Alzo. Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. Now it is time for the WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME Bluff the Listener game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to join our game in the air. Hi, you are on WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME.
JANE: Hi. This is Jane (ph) in Baltimore.
SAGAL: Hey, Jane, I love Baltimore. What do you do there?
JANE: I am a law student.
SAGAL: You are a law student.
JANE: I am.
SAGAL: It's the all-law edition of WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME this week. What kind of law are you studying for?
JANE: I want to be an immigration lawyer.
SAGAL: Oh, wow.
(CHEERING)
SAGAL: You are volunteering for hard duty, my friend.
JANE: Yes, I'm really in for it.
SAGAL: You are. Well, you know what you're getting into, and God bless you for doing it. Well, great to have you with us. You're going to play our game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction. Alzo, what's the topic?
SLADE: Where do you see yourself in 20 years?
SAGAL: Now, anybody can have a five-year plan, but to know what exactly you'll be doing in 20 years requires either an amazing amount of ambition or absolutely none at all.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Our panelists are gonna tell you about somebody's new two-decade goal. Pick the one who's telling the truth. You'll win the WAIT WAITer of your choice in your voicemail. You ready to play?
JANE: Yes.
SAGAL: All right. First, let's hear from Dulce Sloan.
SLOAN: Elizabeth Ramirez (ph) of Norcross, Georgia, has mastered a rare skill. Unlike most people, she can actually finish her daily to-do list. Not a check the mail, make dinner to-do list, but a mow the lawn, paint a bedroom and do your taxes in one day to-do list. So naturally, she wanted a bigger challenge. What if she planned out the next 20 years? So at 27 years old, Elizabeth made the most intense to-do list of all time.
March 28, 2029 - meet the love of my life on my birthday in London. May 5, 2033 - give birth to twin girls. November 3, 2035 - open a Subway franchise. Those are the major things in her life, but she even has mundane things like August 5, 2037 - buy aloe for sunburn from beach from last week's trip. Now we've all heard the phrase, if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. Well, this to-do list must be a comedy special.
SAGAL: A woman lays out everything she's going to do pretty much every day for the next 20 years. Your next story of someone's plans for 2046 comes from Josh Gondelman.
GONDELMAN: This October, two friends from Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, will commence an undertaking that has never been completed before, one they believe could take them two decades. It's not a medical breakthrough or an artistic achievement. The pair has set out to be the first people in history to finish the world's most complicated board game. The Campaign for North Africa, a World War II strategy game, requires an estimated 1,500 hours to complete, making Grand Theft Auto look like a round of tic-tac-toe.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: The game has over a thousand pieces, including one for German general Erwin Rommel, who doesn't show up in most family board games for obvious reasons.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: There's even a penalty if the player controlling the Italian army doesn't have enough water for their troops to boil pasta. They say America runs on Dunkin', but apparently Mussolini ran on bucatini. Purcell and Taeger plan to spend five hours a week on their fake war until they're done, meaning they'll wrap up in about 20 years, four times longer than the actual war lasted.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: They're confident they'll do it, even though the only other board game they've ever played together is Risk, and they didn't finish that.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: Devoting so much energy to a board game may seem like an elaborate, old-fashioned way to spend time. But what's more 2026 than starting a forever war in the Middle East for no reason?
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Two young men set out to be the first people ever to complete a board game which will last 20 years. Your last story of a four-by-five-year plan comes from Faith Salie.
SALIE: Anne Berzon (ph) and Heidi Simmons (ph) spent their honeymoon in Greece, where they had the best cheese of their lives, a sheep's milk variety on the isle of Lesbos. The cheese made them feel incredible. It made them stronger, happier and only just a little bit farty. Anne even attributes the cheese with helping her hit the high notes in "I Will Always Love You" at karaoke. This cheese is amazing.
Then they came home to Brattleboro, Vermont, with a cheese starter and a plan. They're curing a cheese that will take two decades to reach perfection. The brides, both in their 30s, believe the cheese, which they're calling lesbian gouda, is, quote, "kind of magical." So they intend to smoke, drink and get unsterile tattoos until they dive into the cheese in their 50s. By then, we'll be through menopause, Anne predicts. All that good bacteria and the lesbian gouda will purge our hard-living sins, Heidi says. And like cheese, we'll just get sharper with age.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: So somebody has planned out the next 20 years. Is it from Dulce Sloan, a woman who simply has decided what she's going to do every day until 2046, from Josh Gondelman, two guys who have decided to start playing a board game so complex that if they do manage to finish it, it will take 20 years, or from Faith Salie, two women who have decided to guarantee their future health, wealth and happiness by aging a piece of cheese for two decades? Which of these is the real long-term plan we found in the week's news?
JANE: Well, I would like for it to be C, but I think B sounds most likely.
SAGAL: So the second story. That was from Josh Gondelman about the board game. Well, to bring you the real story, we spoke to a reporter who covered it.
VICTOR MATHER: Campaign for North Africa is really more about logistics and record-keeping than it is really about playing and having fun.
SAGAL: That was Victor Mather. He's a reporter on the Express desk at The New York Times, who covered the story of the two men about to play the very, very, very long board game. Congratulations, Jane. You got it right.
JANE: Thank you.
SAGAL: You earned a point for Josh for simply telling the truth in a charming way. And you've won our prize - the voice of anyone you might choose in your voicemail. Congratulations and good luck with your studies.
JANE: Thank you.
SAGAL: Thank you. Take care.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TOO MUCH TIME ON MY HANDS")
STYX: (Singing) Is it any wonder I've got too much time on my hands?
SAGAL: And now the game we call Not My Job. Three years ago, 92,000 people packed into Memorial Stadium at the University of Nebraska to watch a volleyball game, setting a world record for the biggest crowd ever to see a women's athletic event.
(CHEERING)
SAGAL: And at that game, just about ending his amazing tenure as coach of that team was John Cook. He led the team for 25 seasons, won four national championships with them and is now a co-owner and manager of the Omaha Supernovas of the Major League Volleyball. He joins us now. John Cook, welcome to WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME.
(CHEERING)
JOHN COOK: Thank you for having me.
SAGAL: I'm going to admit that I'm one of those people who did not know what a big deal Cornhuskers volleyball was until that amazing event that was covered nationally at Memorial Stadium. So what was that like for you to be out there with your players in front of that many people?
COOK: It was surreal walking out and seeing 92,003.
SAGAL: Oh.
COOK: I think the three people are right up there that made it three.
SAGAL: This is true.
COOK: Yeah.
SAGAL: I read that it was 90,003, and I was like, I bet he's going to correct me.
(LAUGHTER)
COOK: So - 'cause everywhere I go, the three people that made over 92,000, they say, we were the three.
SAGAL: Really? Is that, like, a thing?
COOK: Yeah.
SAGAL: Everyone is like, it was me. It was me.
COOK: Everywhere I go.
SAGAL: Really?
COOK: Everywhere I go. Yeah.
SLADE: Wait. And they're here right now?
SAGAL: They are.
COOK: I think they're up right there.
SAGAL: They just follow him wherever he goes.
COOK: Yeah. So it was surreal. It was just, like, out of body experience, and it was a magical night. And a great celebration for women's sports.
SAGAL: How did you...
(CHEERING)
SAGAL: Of course, I mean, amazing. The record was set here in Nebraska. How did you prepare your players for that enormous crowd?
COOK: I just reminded them it's volleyball - pass, set, spike. But, you know, Andi Jackson, who's a current senior right now...
SAGAL: Yeah.
COOK: ...They asked her earlier in the year, you know, about that same question you just asked me, and she said, I don't remember it because I blacked out.
SAGAL: Yeah.
COOK: And I think most of them blacked out. So it was...
SAGAL: I've always noticed when I watch volleyball that after every point - win or lose the point - the women all gather into a little huddle. I'm not quite sure what they're saying, but I assume that that day, they were all getting together and going, man, that's a lot of people.
COOK: Yeah.
SAGAL: Every time.
COOK: Yeah. Yeah.
SAGAL: What do they say? I've always wondered.
COOK: I don't know.
SAGAL: Really?
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: So you're - I mean, 'cause every point, all the players get together.
COOK: Yeah.
SAGAL: Little huddle, break, go back, next lane (ph) point.
COOK: I know...
SAGAL: You don't know what they're saying?
COOK: I know the most common thing we try to get them to say is, hey, next point. Let's win the next point.
SAGAL: Right.
COOK: So that's - but who knows what else goes on.
SAGAL: Do you ever...
COOK: They might be talking about who's up on the stands. And...
SAGAL: Yeah.
COOK: ...What, you know, football player's there?
SAGAL: Yeah. So do you ever wonder if they were, like, talking about you?
COOK: No.
SAGAL: Like, they don't get together, like...
COOK: No. No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...He has some spinach in his teeth. You see that? Yeah, don't tell him. So you, we understand, were yourself a basketball player...
COOK: Yes.
SAGAL: ...When you were a younger man, and then you became, as one of your first jobs, a basketball coach. And the story we've heard, part of your legend, is that they said, OK, you've also got to coach volleyball, and you had no idea and had to go read a book about volleyball.
COOK: That is a true story.
SAGAL: Right.
COOK: And...
SAGAL: So you were coaching all these different sports, but obviously, you went on to become a legend in volleyball. Why volleyball? Why was that your sport that you decided?
COOK: Volleyball is in the fall. So the first sport started school. And we went to the state championship the first year.
SAGAL: Yeah.
COOK: So the school went crazy, and I'm like, well, I must know what I'm doing in volleyball.
SAGAL: Right.
(LAUGHTER)
COOK: No. I have a saying. The longer I coach, the less I know, you know, and I kept learning so much later in my career because everything changes all the time. So you have to be a great learner, and, you know, there was days I'm - I didn't - I felt like I didn't know anything when I was talking about or doing. So...
SAGAL: Right. Now, I'm - you were famous for being a very sort of quiet presence on the sidelines. You were not one of those coaches who ran up and down yelling, right? Was that like a conscious choice, like, you're just going to sit there and let the game go?
COOK: That's what I was trying to do 'cause I had to try to - I was more relaxed there. But in about 2015, coaches started getting up in volleyball. It became a thing, and so everybody told me, like, you need to get up and run around on the sideline. Well, we lost two matches in a row for the first time.
SAGAL: Really?
COOK: Yeah. And my - the captain came and told me - she goes, you need to sit down.
SAGAL: Really?
COOK: Kelly Hunter. And we won 34 straight in the national championship.
SAGAL: Really?
COOK: Yeah. And that's a true story. They know.
SAGAL: I love it. Wait a minute.
COOK: Kelly Hunter.
SAGAL: So...
SLADE: I think what they said, how long does Coach need to sit his a** down?
SAGAL: Yeah. Exactly.
COOK: That's right.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: I was - this - I knew the legend of Cornhusker volleyball, but today I was on the flight here, and people were talking about last night's match. And I've never heard volleyball on an airplane before. But people - they were so excited. Like someone hadn't seen it and someone else was catching them up. It was like "Game Of Thrones" finale level excitement. It was really cool.
SAGAL: Do you have obnoxious guys calling into sports radio like, yeah, I don't think that woman could set a spike on the railroad. You know what I mean? I mean...
COOK: Well, when - I'll give you an example. The last couple of weeks, one of their star players hasn't been playing well.
SAGAL: Yeah.
COOK: So there was articles in the paper...
SAGAL: No.
COOK: ...And everybody's online. What's going on? She's not playing very well. They put so much pressure. Here - you know, it's great, there's all these crowds, but there's a lot of pressure.
SAGAL: Sure.
COOK: And so, yes, they're under the limelight. And sometimes when they're not playing well, they feel like - and I felt this way as a coach. When we lost, I felt like I let the whole state of Nebraska down.
SAGAL: Right.
COOK: And that's how it feels here.
SAGAL: Yeah. Fortunately...
COOK: But it's special.
SAGAL: Yeah. Fortunately, there's not a lot of people here, so it's not...
(SOUNDBITE OF BOOING)
SAGAL: Oh, come now.
(SOUNDBITE OF BOOING)
SLOAN: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
SAGAL: I know how many people live in Nebraska - 90,003.
(LAUGHTER)
SLADE: Ninety-two thousand.
SAGAL: Thank you.
SLOAN: You can't boo him for your population. Y'all need to get out here and make more people.
(LAUGHTER)
COOK: Dulce, I want to party with you.
(LAUGHTER)
SLADE: But, hey, if you party with Dulce, you will be up running around like a chicken with its head cut off (ph).
SAGAL: It's true.
SLOAN: There ain't no sit - no coaching from the bench, Coach. We up.
SAGAL: Well, John Cook, it is an honor to talk to you here in Omaha, and...
(CHEERING)
SAGAL: ...We have invited you for a little competition of our own. It's a game that we are calling...
SLADE: Bump, Sit, Spike.
SAGAL: So you are familiar, of course, with bump and set and spike from volleyball - basic moves. So we thought we'd ask you about three different bumps, sets and spikes. Answer two out of three questions correctly, and you'll win our prize for one of our listeners - the voice of anyone they might choose for their voicemail. Alzo, who is Coach John Cook playing for?
SLADE: Autumn Crane Buckman (ph) of Omaha, Nebraska.
COOK: Awesome.
SAGAL: Obviously, a fan.
(CHEERING)
SAGAL: All right, you ready to do this?
COOK: Let's do it.
SAGAL: First up is bump. Now, the bumps are a birthday tradition in the U.K. That's what it's called - the bumps. And when they do the bumps, friends and family of the birthday celebrant do what to them? Is it A, bang them on the floor for each year of their life...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...B, roll them physically down the road to the nearest pub...
SALIE: (Laughter).
SAGAL: ...Or C, just take them to a dermatologist to remove any odd bumps.
COOK: I'm going to say A.
SAGAL: You're going to say, A, to bounce them on the floor for each year they've been alive. That's right.
COOK: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Bump, bump, bump, bump. All right. That's very good. Now we're going to move on to set. The set of the movie "The Godfather" has become legendary. And if you were visiting that set way back when, you might have seen which of these? A, actors wearing cue cards on their clothes because Marlon Brando refused to memorize his lines; B, Francis Ford Coppola, the director himself, acting out each character in each scene while the real actors were forced to watch him; or C, Angelo DeCarlo, a real mobster, just standing in the set and either nodding or shaking his head at every mafia thing.
COOK: I guess it must be A.
SAGAL: It is A.
SLOAN: Wow.
SAGAL: Yep.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: So Marlon Brando said it wasn't that he couldn't memorize his lines. He said that if he did memorize his lines, he wouldn't sound natural in the way that a normal person would. So...
SALIE: (Laughter).
SLOAN: What?
SAGAL: You know, so he...
SLOAN: That's such a bogus excuse.
SAGAL: That's what he said. So he - so, you know, couldn't he couldn't deliver them in a natural way in the way he could reading them off Robert Duvall's suit jacket. So - all right. You've got two right. Of course, we're going to finish with spike, the finishing move. Police often use road spikes - right? - to stop fleeing cars. But even seasoned officers were surprised when a woman trying to escape them in a car in Utah did what? A, stopped the car, stole the road spikes and took them home to keep birds off her windowsill...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...B, stopped the car and put up a sign - extreme tire damage, do not back up...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...Or C, ran over the spikes, then, while in a standoff with police, called AAA to come replace her damaged tires.
(LAUGHTER)
COOK: I'm thinking C. We'll go C.
SAGAL: It was C.
SALIE: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: She was arrested before AAA could come fix her car. Alzo, how did John Cook do on our quiz?
SLADE: Coach stays undefeated - three out of three.
(CHEERING)
SAGAL: John Cook is the general manager of the Omaha Supernovas, the world's leading professional volleyball team, and the former head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. John Cook, thank you so much for joining us on WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME. Give it up for your very own Coach Cook.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE BUMP")
THE COMMODORES: (Singing) Do the bump, do the bump, baby. Do the bump, do the bump, baby.
SAGAL: In just a minute, we iron some things out in our Listener Limerick Challenge game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to join us on the air. We'll be back in a minute with more of WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME from NPR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SLADE: From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME, the NPR news quiz. I'm Alzo Slade. We're playing this week with Dulce Sloan, Faith Salie and Josh Gondelman. And here again is your host at the Orpheum Theater in Omaha, Nebraska, Peter Sagal.
SAGAL: Thank you, Alzo.
(CHEERING)
SAGAL: Thank you, everybody. In just a minute, it's the one remaining competition in America that nobody cares enough to bet on. It's the Listener Limerick Challenge. If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Right now, panel, some more questions for you from the week's news. Josh, this week, The Washington Post held a debate among their staff and published it. It's about whether or not it's OK to show up to a job interview with what?
GONDELMAN: With iced coffee.
SAGAL: Exactly right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SALIE: What?
SAGAL: We understand you're a big iced coffee drinker yourself.
GONDELMAN: I am a big iced coffee drinker.
SAGAL: So did you get it on your iced coffee news alert?
GONDELMAN: I - yeah, that's right. The Dunkin' app was like, we're mobilizing you. We need you to sign a petition.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: So this question started on TikTok, where a corporate recruiter put up a post saying, do not walk into an interview with an iced coffee or worse, an iced latte. But why not? Well, one, it's unprofessional. And two, it gives you horrible breath for the post-interview goodbye kiss.
(LAUGHTER)
SALIE: Specifically, they were upset about the sweating on the coffee and 'cause it would cause a clammy...
SAGAL: Yeah. Make a clammy handshake. Or...
SALIE: ...Handshake. And the ice would make noise.
SAGAL: Exactly.
SALIE: What is wrong with these people?
SAGAL: And they'd be leaving a little ring on the table. Well, there is a plus side. It shows the potential employers what kind of employee you would be, which is an employee who's going to spill an iced coffee on their lap in the middle of the interview.
GONDELMAN: This is nothing. People will just say anything on TikTok. People will have a TikTok that's like, having a dream is the same as reading a book. And then a million people will be like, that's right. I do think that.
SAGAL: Yeah.
GONDELMAN: You're like, no. It's - just because someone says it on TikTok and gets a lot of response doesn't mean that it's true and doesn't mean it's news.
SLOAN: No. I just thought you went to a job interview. It's no food, no drinks and you have real pants on. Like, I thought that's what we were doing.
SALIE: That's right.
SLOAN: And depending on what the job is, your shirt is a certain level of low-cut. Other than that...
SAGAL: Yep. No coffee.
GONDELMAN: I've always gone by that rule.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Dulce, a new emo album that came out Wednesday, is getting unanimously great reviews, but who put out this album?
SLOAN: Josh Gondelman is right there. Why would you ask me this question?
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: That's...
SAGAL: Are you engaging in stereotypes, Dulce?
GONDELMAN: That's profiling. You're profiling me.
SAGAL: Yeah. OK, fine.
SLADE: But, Josh, you know the answer, don't you?
GONDELMAN: I probably know the answer.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: Thank you, Alzo. OK, is it because we are surprised at this particular individual put out this album?
SAGAL: It's more of an institution that put out the album. I'll give you a hint.
SLOAN: OK.
SAGAL: It's the perfect thing to listen to while drinking a Frosty.
SLOAN: Wendy's?
SAGAL: Wendy's.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
GONDELMAN: I did not know that, actually.
SLOAN: Is this like when SpongeBob put out "The Yellow Album"?
SAGAL: Sort of.
SLOAN: OK.
SAGAL: The new compilation is called "Songs To Listen To In A Wendy's Parking Lot," and it features...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: And it features songs like - and these are all real - "She Said She Didn't Want Fries," and "The Best Combo Meal On The Worst Night Of My Life." It's really - it's good. It's, like, good music.
SLOAN: You know what?
GONDELMAN: Is there one that's like, (singing) your square corners poked out of my round bun?
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Go on.
GONDELMAN: That's all I have.
SAGAL: I know.
GONDELMAN: Really. I don't think you can do more than that.
SLOAN: That's all he had. Honestly, shout-out...
SAGAL: Yeah.
SLOAN: ...To the 45-year-old intern....
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Who came up with this.
SLOAN: ...That got them to put out this album.
SAGAL: Now, of course, now that they're all emo, instead of a Happy Meal, Wendy's is offering a What's The Point Meal.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: And the album art is great. It's the classic picture of Wendy from the logo. You've seen it many times, but now she's dressed like her dad just doesn't understand her anymore.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: Her red hair is just...
SALIE: Goth.
GONDELMAN: ...Bangs covering both of her eyes.
SAGAL: Exactly. Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHE SAID SHE DIDN'T WANT FRIES")
MATTY MULLINS: (Singing) She said she didn't want fries. Whoa. She lied, she lied, she lied. And now she's stealing all mine. Whoa. Not one, not two, not five. And I'm...
GONDELMAN: Coming up, it's Lightning Fill in the Blank. But first, it's the game where you have to listen for the rhyme. If you'd like to play on air, call or leave a message at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. You can see us most weeks back home at the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago. You can always catch us on the road, too. We'll be in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on October 22. And our first show ever in Normal, Illinois, is on November 12. For tickets and information to all our live shows, go to nprpresents.org. Hi, you're on WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME.
KATIE BELL: Hi, Peter, this is Katie Bell (ph) from Kittery, Maine.
SAGAL: Hey, Katie Bell from Kittery, Maine. How are you?
BELL: I'm doing well.
SALIE: Katie, are you a lawyer?
(LAUGHTER)
BELL: I wish. That's funny.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: Nothing makes you feel like you just said something funny like when someone goes, that's funny.
SLOAN: That's funny.
SAGAL: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
SLOAN: That's how, like, old comics laugh at a joke.
GONDELMAN: It is.
SLOAN: Like, ah, that's hilarious.
GONDELMAN: It really is.
SLOAN: Like, all right.
SLADE: Katie's already won.
SAGAL: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: So, Katie, we are delighted to have you. Alzo Slade is going to perform for you three news-related limericks with the last word or phrase missing from each. If you can fill in that last word or phrase, of course, you'll win our prize. Do it two times out of three. Ready to go?
BELL: Ready as I'll ever be.
SAGAL: All right. Here we go. Here's your first limerick.
SLADE: Raw dairy sends my heart a flutter, but bringing it home makes me shudder. I am taking a chance with this shoved down my pants. I just came back from France, smuggling...
SALIE: (Laughter).
BELL: Butter.
SAGAL: Butter.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Yeah. Butter. This week, The Wall Street Journal reported on the growing number of Americans going to France and trying to bring butter home as a souvenir. It's never, though, been harder to be a butter smuggler, a term which, despite what you are all thinking right now...
SALIE: (Laughter)
SAGAL: ...Is a person who smuggles butter.
SALIE: (Laughter).
SAGAL: So we all know French butter is better. It's got a higher fat content, and, of course, it speaks more languages than American butter.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: And it's a real thoughtful gift, too, for your friends back here. You know that thing that you like 'cause it tastes fresh from the farm? Well, it just spent the last nine hours stuffed in my carry-on. Enjoy.
GONDELMAN: Honestly, still less of a chance of giving you diarrhea than anything in America.
SAGAL: Exactly, true. All right, here's your next limerick.
SLADE: With creases, my clothing is sprinkled. Still, I strut around with a twinkle. I'm tired of requiring a boatload of ironing. It's hip to wear clothes that are...
BELL: Wrinkled.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Good news, slobs of the world, ironing is out. Wrinkles are in. All the fancy clothing brands are selling pre-wrinkled items like Toteme's $500 crinkled gauze tank top and Prada's $700 my hotel room doesn't have a steamer shirt. According to the stylists, it's all about being intentional. No, I didn't spill coffee on my pants. I intentionally poured it there.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Between this and the no-hair-brushing trend, looking disheveled has never been more on trend. You're basically telling the world, I don't play by your rules. Also I fell asleep on the way here.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: Never before have I so fully understood the meaning of the term news I can use.
SAGAL: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: This is huge for me.
SAGAL: No, no, honey, this is fashionable.
SLOAN: I haven't ironed clothes in a long time, mainly because a lot of my clothes will melt.
SAGAL: That's a problem.
(LAUGHTER)
SLOAN: You think these pants can withstand the heat of an iron?
(LAUGHTER)
SLOAN: Then, no, you put - you dry them with a hope, and you lay them out with a dream. You cannot...
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: Dream big.
SLOAN: No.
SAGAL: Here we go. Here is your last limerick.
SLADE: I am giving this Amtrak full reign 'cause I'm done with how airports constrain. So I'm going back to the clickety clack in my own private car on a...
BELL: My dad would love this. Train.
SAGAL: Yes, train.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Great news. Private train cars are back. Who hasn't wanted to travel across the country like the body of a dead president?
(LAUGHTER)
SALIE: So it's not just first class?
SAGAL: No.
SALIE: It's your own car?
SAGAL: It's your own car. These are private, high-end, fancy train cars with - they've got lounges. They have full dining rooms.
SALIE: Do you have a valet?
SAGAL: I - presumably. And the people who own them or are renting them attach them to the back of Amtrak passenger cars. It's like old-school luxury travel, how they did it a hundred years ago. But remember, no matter how high-end your train car is, the bathroom is still going to be out of order.
(LAUGHTER)
SLOAN: I want to do - 'cause I'd always wanted to do - 'cause I grew up watching, you know, PBS and seeing Agatha Christie and...
SAGAL: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SLOAN: ...Hercule Poirot.
SALIE: You want to murder somebody in one of those.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: Most people would have jumped to solve a murder on the Orient Express.
(LAUGHTER)
SLOAN: Why you trying to pin me for crime?
SAGAL: Exactly. Alzo, how did Katie do on our quiz?
SLADE: Katie Bell did great. She got three out of three. Perfect score.
SAGAL: Congratulations.
(APPLAUSE)
BELL: Yay. I'm thrilled.
SAGAL: Yay.
SLOAN: Yay.
SAGAL: Thank you, Katie.
BELL: Thank you.
SAGAL: Bye-bye.
(SOUNDBITE OF GLADYS KNIGHT & THE PIPS SONG, "MIDNIGHT TRAIN TO GEORGIA")
SAGAL: Now on to our final game, Lightning Fill in the Blank. Each of our players will have 60 seconds in which to answer as many fill-in-the-blank questions as they can. Each correct answer is worth two points. Alzo, can you give us the scores?
SLADE: Of course. Dulce and Faith are knotted up at two, and Josh is in the lead with three.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: All right. OK, we'll pick Dulce to go first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. On Thursday, dozens of U.N. delegates walked out in protest during a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Blank.
SLOAN: Netanyahu.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, Hurricane Polo briefly became a Category Blank storm.
SLOAN: Five.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Following predictions that it may end all human life, most Americans say they want more regulation of Blank.
SLOAN: AI.
SAGAL: Right. This week...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...A British man attempting to throw a bag of drugs into a prison was repeatedly thwarted by blank.
SLOAN: The wind?
SAGAL: No, by the fact that he couldn't throw it high enough to get it over the wall.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: The estate of beloved singer Blank accused her own nephew of extortion.
SLOAN: Dolly Parton
SAGAL: Yes. On Thursday...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...Coffee giant Blank announced it was closing over 200 locations.
SLOAN: Starbucks.
SAGAL: Yes.
SLOAN: Ooh.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, New Hampshire's Concord Public Library suspended late fees for returned books...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...So a man there blanked.
SLOAN: Fainted?
SAGAL: No, he returned a magazine that was 130 years overdue.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: The...
SLOAN: Did he check it out?
SAGAL: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: Nosferatu of Concord, New Hampshire.
SAGAL: The September 1894 issue of Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine...
SLOAN: Century Illustrated.
SAGAL: Yeah. That's the one with the centerfold of the fully dressed woman could be checked out for one week, making the magazine approximately 48,000 days overdue for a fine of $12,000. But now it's been returned in the grace period, which is great news for that other patron who has had it on hold for a hundred and fifteen years. Alzo, how did Dulce do in our quiz?
SLADE: She did all right. She got five right for 10 more points. Total of 12 and the lead.
SAGAL: All right. So...
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Faith, you're up next. Please, fill in the blank. On Wednesday, Chinese leader Blank arrived in the U.S. for a summit and a state dinner.
SALIE: Xi.
SAGAL: Xi Jinping.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, Paramount reached a settlement to clear the way for their merger with Blank.
SALIE: Warner Bros.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, a new flu shot developed using Blank began its countrywide rollout.
SALIE: Developed using DNA.
SAGAL: Well, close enough. MRNA.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, movie star Taylor Lautner and his wife, Taylor Lautner, welcomed their new baby named Blank.
SALIE: Taylor Lautner.
SAGAL: No, named Lenny Taylor Lautner.
SALIE: Ah.
SLOAN: Boo.
SALIE: So close. So close.
SLOAN: So close. This week, food delivery at Blank agreed to pay $131 million to underpaid New York employees.
SALIE: DoorDash.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Ahead of the VMAs on Sunday, pop superstar Blank announced her new single.
SALIE: Taylor Swift.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, police in the U.K. sentenced a man to nine months in prison after he was charged...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...With driving while drunk and also driving while blank.
SALIE: Underwater.
SAGAL: No. He was arrested for driving while drunk and also driving while blind.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Police say they suspected the man was drunk when they saw him swerving between lanes on the highway, but after pulling him over, they also discovered that he was almost completely blind. They were like, sir, do you have any idea how fast you were going? And he's like, no, I was hoping you'd tell me.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: You have to be so drunk to start driving when you're blind.
SAGAL: Yeah. I know. Alzo, how did Faith do in our quiz?
SLADE: She also got five right for 10 more points. Total of 12. And now she's tied for the lead with Dulce.
SAGAL: All right. So how many then does Josh need to win?
SLADE: Josh, you need five to win, buddy.
GONDELMAN: Thank you.
SAGAL: All right.
SLADE: You're welcome.
SALIE: You can do this.
SAGAL: Here we go, Josh. This is for the game. In a speech to the U.N., the president of Blank said he would never bow his head to Trump.
GONDELMAN: Canada?
SAGAL: No. Although, good guess. Could have been a lot of people. It was Iran, in this case.
On Monday, an issue with telecom lines led to thousands of Blanks being canceled or delayed.
UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE: Flights.
SAGAL: Oh, hush, now.
(LAUGHTER)
GONDELMAN: I guess I got to say it. Flights?
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, NASA announced their next collaborative rocket launch with space company Blank.
GONDELMAN: SpaceX.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: According to Bloomberg, people are turning to Blank to help them quit vaping.
GONDELMAN: Smoking cigarettes.
SAGAL: Exactly right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, disgraced film producer Blank was sentenced to another 15 years in prison.
GONDELMAN: Harvey Weinstein.
SAGAL: Right. On Tuesday...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...Fast food giant Blank announced it would be adding new high-protein items to its menu.
GONDELMAN: McDonalds.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a man in Florida was able to successfully avoid injury after...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...He was attacked by a crab that was blank.
GONDELMAN: Wielding a knife.
SAGAL: Yes. Exactly right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SLOAN: It's true.
SAGAL: True. This man and his dog were both startled when a crab holding a knife came after them while they were out on a walk. Fortunately, the man was able to pick up the crab and move it away safely. Big mistake, though, 'cause that crab is definitely coming back with a gun.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Alzo, did Josh do well enough to win?
SLADE: He absolutely did. Six right. Twelve more points. Total of 15.
SLOAN: Whoo.
SLADE: Josh wins.
SAGAL: Bravo, Josh. In just a minute, we're going to ask our panelists to predict, after the George Lucas Museum for Narrative Art, what will be the next new museum to capture the nation's imagination.
Now, panel, what will be the next new museum? Dulce Sloan.
SLOAN: The Anti-Museum, where they collect everything colonizers stole and gave them back to their countries of origin.
SAGAL: Whoa.
(CHEERING)
SAGAL: Josh Gondelman.
GONDELMAN: The George R. R. Martin Museum, which will be incredibly popular, even if the final story remains unfinished.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: And Faith Salie.
SALIE: The Museum of Extinct Experiences, where you go to rewind videotapes, make phone calls to people you didn't text first and sit in a Chrysler with the windows rolled up while your dad chain-smokes.
(LAUGHTER)
SLADE: And if any of that happens, panel, we'll ask you about it on WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME.
SAGAL: Thank you, Alzo Slade. Thanks also to Dulce Sloan, Josh Gondelman and Faith Salie. Special thanks to Ian Vosburg, Sandi Karstens and everyone at Nebraska Public Media. Thanks to our fabulous audience that came out to see us in Omaha. Thanks to all of you for listening wherever you might be. I'm Peter Sagal. We'll see you next week.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SAGAL: This is NPR.
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