A tick-filled odyssey

17:44Faith Salie:A service that will take your unread books and make them look well-loved. Your last lit bit comes from Josh Gondelman. With the massive sales of romantic novels the past few years, publishers saw only one problem. Unless we start counting Jack Reacher movies as books, men don't read. And that's how bromanticy was born. It's a combination of fantasy and bromance, a term popularized in the aughts after men decided friendship was for girls. Now, tales of men platonically befriending mythical creatures are climbing the bestseller list like a fairy tale prince scrambling up Rapunzel's ponytail. An ad exec learns to relish the little things in life while riding piggyback style through Manhattan on his best buddy with the head of a bull in the smash hit novel New York Minotaur.

18:41A charismatic yeti brings a neighborhood together with his exciting block parties in Neighborhood Squatch. And Paul Giamatti is already set to star as the titular clay monster come to life who reunites a group of childhood acquaintances from the Lone Star State at his weekly poker night in the film adaptation of No Limit Texas Golem.

19:10Faith Salie:So we've got three stories from the literary world for you. Which of these is a new development in the written word. Is it from Faith Saley, a service in which underemployed academics will feed you literary references for use in daily conversation to make you seem smart? From Hari Kondobolo, a service that will take your brand new never-read books and make them look as if you read them by aging them? Or from Josh Gondelman, the breakout new genre, Bromantasy, in which men have perfectly platonic but friendly relationships with fantasy creatures. Which of these is the real story we found in the literary world this week?

19:52It's a job to wear out books for people. I want that job, so I'm going to go with Hari.

19:58Faith Salie:Or you're going to choose Hari's story about the service that wears out your books. Well, to bring you the correct answer, we spoke to an expert. The technical handlers would bend back its pages, dog-ear them, spill a little wine on the pages. That was Jeff Dolvin. He is a professor of English at Princeton. And he was an official book handling agent, making books look well-loved for a fee. You got it right, Lisa. Congratulations.

20:31I went out on a date with him. He's kind of the Matt Damon of Princeton. Oh, my God. What are the odds? I don't know.

20:44Faith Salie:Wait a minute. Hang on a second, Faith. That's a good question. What are the odds? This is nuts! Back to you, Lisa. Congratulations, Lisa. You got it right. Hari was telling the real story. You have won our prize. It's winners all around. Oh, I'm kidding. Bye-bye.

21:08Faith Salie:And now the game we call Not My Job. All the actors on the hit sitcom Abbott Elementary have to work with child actors, of course, but nobody is better at that than star Tyler James Williams because he was one. He made his acting debut at the age of four. He became a star at 13, playing the title character in Everybody Hates Chris. He has just received his fourth Emmy nomination for his role as a grown-up in Abbott Elementary, and he joins us now. Tyler James Williams, welcome to Way Way to Comic. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. If I'm not mistaken, you made your debut as a performer on Sesame Street at the age of four.

21:49Faith Salie:Is that right? Yes. That is absolutely correct. And do you even remember that? And if you do, what do you remember? Of course. Everybody remembers their first day at work. I remember seeing behind the curtain for the first time, seeing Elmo and Big Bird and the actual people who were playing them. and like really getting dropped in. I was a very serious child, you have to understand this for context. So like, I was like, ah, my peers, we're all about to do our thing. I see you preparing yourself, Carol. So all these other kids saw Big Bird as a giant, wonderful bird, and you're like, that's my colleague.

22:29Yes, yes. We both have our SAG cards. We're in the same room.

22:34Faith Salie:Were you, you started at four, you became a star, Chris Rock picked you to play basically himself as a teenager, a young teen in his show Everybody Hates Chris. So you've been a working actor all through childhood. I'm sure that was very normal childhood, right? Just like everybody else's. Exactly like everybody else's. There's nothing unique about it. Nothing unique about it. I mean, I ask this. I'm leaping ahead a little bit because you're playing a teacher in a school. Did you ever actually go to a school on a regular basis? Or were you working too much? So I went to school from pre-kindergarten to sixth grade in like an actual brick and mortar school.

23:15Yeah. And then I started working so much that it became a thing where I needed now studio teachers. And once everybody's pre-started, that was it. So I never stepped foot in an actual high school. Didn't go to prom. Didn't do any of those things. Don't feel like I missed it. I went to the Emmys and the Globes. So it's kind of the same thing. Thanks. Just with older people.

23:38Faith Salie:Yeah, so like, so like, so like peers are like, oh, it's going to be great. Our theme this year is Into the Future. And you're like, yeah, my theme is global fame. Okay. Let me talk briefly about Everybody Hates Chris. This, of course, was the show that Chris Rock created about his own childhood growing up in Brooklyn. Am I right? Like at first he didn't want to cast you because he thought you were too good looking? Yeah, that's what I heard.

24:07It's kind of crazy. Yeah, apparently that was like a real note that was coming that when it came down to like the last, I think it was me and maybe two other people, that was a real concern there. But I guess it came down from the top that it was like, yeah, but this is TV. Yeah. Everybody was better in TV. What a great reason to not get a job, if that's how it happens.

24:31Faith Salie:Yeah, that's the thing that you usually hear from the people who didn't get it. Yeah, they thought I was too good looking otherwise. Yeah. But do you remember where you, because that was a huge role, obviously life-changing. Do you remember where you were when you got the news? I was on the plane flying back home because I thought I didn't get it because I was too good looking.

24:49So they didn't tell me. Usually with these things, right, if you go back, if they, like I was from New York, so they flew me to LA to do a screen test. And they tell you if you fly back home, that's it. So I'm on the plane with my mom. And this is also like not too far out from like 9-11. So they have like really strict rules. And my mom gets a phone call from a manager and they're like trying to get her to take, like turn the phone off. And she's like, I kind of need to just really, if you could just give me five minutes, that would be great. And they, my manager called them to say, get off the plane.

25:23They want you to stay. Now, again, this is a post 9-11 world. So we tried to get off the plane and that went very badly. what does this family know about the plane so i'm sorry ended up flying back to new york and then

25:38Faith Salie:they brought me back really so like you're like no you have to turn the plane around my son here was just cast as chris rock yes in a new sitcom about chris rock's childhood and they're like yes ma 'am sit down in that seat or we will have you arrested we've heard crazier stories yeah there's Marshall on the plane. I just imagine the anxiety of you not getting a gig because you're too good looking and you're on the plane thinking, which one of these ugly fools got my job?

26:11And I just, I want to say for the record, we're all on this show doing radio because we are too good looking for TV.

26:22100 % good. I can see you. Thank you. It would be too much. It would simply be too much.

26:28Faith Salie:So let's move on to Abbott Elementary, the hit show. You just were nominated for the fourth time. And it's a show that looks upon its characters who are elementary school teachers for the most part as heroes. I imagine the show must be very popular with actual elementary school teachers. And do people come up to you on the street and thank you for that? If there's a teacher within 100 yards of me, I'm going to know. I'm going to know. I'm going to know. They're either going to tell me or I'll see it in their eyes. Right. There's a weird now like teacher thing that we have. But I love it. It's one of the greatest joys of my career.

27:07Faith Salie:Well, Tyler James Williams, it's a joy to talk to you. We've asked you here to play a game we're calling. Everybody loves these Chrises. So you starred in Everybody Hates Chris. About Chris Rock. Okay. But what about the Chrises that everybody loves? The Hollywood Chrises. Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, and Chris Pratt. We're going to ask you three questions about those A-list actors, all named Chris. Get two right. You'll win a prize for one of our listeners. Also, who is Tyler playing for? Diana Carlson of Sacramento, California. All right. All right, Diana. Ready to do this? Do it. Yeah. Okay, here we go.

27:41Faith Salie:In 2007, Chris Pratt, who'd go on to star in Guardians of the Galaxy, lost out the lead role in the film The Lookout. He was shocked that someone else got the part. Why? A, because the character's name was Chris Pratt. B, it was written and directed by his own mother. Or C, he put up all the money for the production as a vehicle for himself. God, I want it to be C so bad. Because that would be my favorite Hollywood story. I'm going to go with A. You're going to go with A. You're right. So in the movie The Lookout, Chris Pratt lost the role of Chris Pratt to Joseph Gordon-Levitt. All right, here's your next question.

28:32Faith Salie:Chris Evans went on huge success, Captain America, Knives Out, great guy. But in 1999, he played what may be, according to some, his greatest role. What was it? A, the ball-peen hammer in Tool Story. B. Odysseus, the only human character in The Muppet Odyssey or C. the character Tyler in the board game Mystery Date I'm not really up on my deep Chris Evans lore I would have prepared more had I known I'm going to go with C You're going to go with C. The character Tyler in the board game Mystery Date You're right again For those who don't know Mystery Date, it's a classic game, goes back 60 years, and you try to end up dating somebody great and not the, quote, nerd.

29:24Faith Salie:And in the mid-90s edition, Chris was the model for Date Tyler, who surfs. There you go. All right, get this right. You get it perfect. Here we go, last one. Chris Hemsworth almost lost out on his breakout role of Thor in the Marvel movies because Marvel executives worried that fans would turn on him because of something from his past. What was it? A, a viral video in which he hits his thumb with a hammer and cries. B, he was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars Australia and really, really sucked. Or C, he had written an essay for the New York Review of Books talking about how stupid comic books are.

30:12Yeah, that would scare the s*** out of Marvel. Yeah,

30:20Faith Salie:let's let it ride. You're going to go for C, yes. Chris Hemsworth, Australian hunk, wrote an essay for the New York Review of Books. No, he was on Dancing with the Stars. He had been, before being found by Marvel, a celebrity on TV in Australia. He was on Dancing with the Stars and apparently was so terrible, says the Marvel executive, that all the women in his office were watching the video and laughing, and they were figuring that nobody would take him seriously as Thor. But he got the part anyway. Also, how did Tyler do in our quiz? Two out of three is a passing grade to me. Congratulations.

30:52Well done.

30:59Faith Salie:Tyler James Williams is up for an Emmy again for his role in Abbott Elementary. May you have as much luck there as you did here. You can stream all five seasons of Abbott Elementary right now. It is fabulous and heartwarming and very, very funny. Tyler, thank you so much for joining us on our show. Thank you, guys.

31:21Faith Salie:In just a minute, Alzo tells you about the world's grossest dessert in our Listener Limbic Challenge. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to join us in the air. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR.

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32:51From 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, Hari Kondabolu and Faith Saley. And here again is your host at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Alzo.

33:13Faith Salie:In just a minute, we check each other for Limertyx to prevent Rhymes disease.

33:21Faith Salie:Oh, we lost him. I'm sorry, you knew what you were in for when you bought a ticket. No whining now. Anyway, it's our listener at Limerick Challenge coming up. If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Right now, panel, time for more questions for you from the week's news. Faith, this week we learned about a new trend in weddings. Couples are letting guests get more involved in the big day by doing what? Oh, is this betting? Yes, betting on the weddings. Yes. The New York Times, again, reports that many couples are making prop bets. part of their weddings.

33:56Faith Salie:Guests can bet on things like the length of the first kiss, who will cry while making a toast, what the first dance will be, but they are not allowed to make the obvious bet, how long will this marriage last? That's right. This totally changes the role of the best man. He's going to be leaning in during the first kiss like we're at 2.8 seconds, just hold on. Yeah, I think if that had been around when I got married, I wouldn't have even needed a registry I would have just taken a cut off the insider trading. I'd be like, what song do you think is going to be the first dance? For a price it could be.

34:34Faith Salie:The couples who do this say it's a great way to keep the guests involved throughout. And also it's the only way I could get my dad to come.

34:46God, can you gamble on everything now? Isn't that what Kalshi is? Is Kalshi a thing? That's a thing, right? Yeah. You can basically bet on anything.

34:55Faith Salie:Hey, he brought up Calciate with five bucks also.

35:01I owe you five because I thought he was going to say Polymark.

35:06Faith Salie:Faith, we know sleep is very important, of course. So if you want absolutely the best night's sleep for just$57 ,000, you can get the world's greatest what? Mattress? No, not a mattress. Come on. Oh, that sounds like it's bigger, more experiential. No, it's actually smaller than a mattress. Smaller than a mattress. A pillow? Yes. Pillow. For just$57 ,000, the tailor-made pillow company offers a custom-made pillow with, quote, cooling Tercel cover and, quote, high-tech tailoring and a, quote, 24-carat real gold cover, which makes perfect sense to me. Whenever I see a gold bar, I say, wow, that looks so soft.

35:50Faith Salie:What is Tercel? Tercel, I have no idea, but it is expensive. Yes, it is. That was my first car. Makes me sleepy. Yeah, for$57 ,000, they better run over my head with a Toyota Tercel. But remember, the rule of thumb is you don't spend more than a third of your annual income on your car. Yeah, that would be tough for me to be like, ah, you know, I can't do this destination wedding. My net worth is tied up in pillow. Hari, the BBC is renowned for their nature documentaries. They recently came up with an amazing way to get a camera really close to a wild animal without scaring it away. They just hide the remote-controlled camera where?

36:36Faith Salie:Inside them. The animal? Inside the animal. All right, I have a number of questions. Good answer. Survey says. I'm just imagining the footage on the documentary and David Attenborough saying, well, it's very dark in here. Very, very dark. No, that's not it. Can I get a hand? You can. It looks great. They have the look down. I don't know if they've gotten the smell down. Poop. Yes, poop. What? No way. What? The camera inside an artificial pile of dung. Oh, God. A poor PA has to do that. That would work so well for house keys. It's true, too. You're right. If it's artificial. That's right. It's called, of course, the dung cam.

37:19Faith Salie:It's basically a giant fake poop like you find in a joke shop, right? Except it's got an HD camera inside and it can move. It's motorized. The only thing scarier than a tick chasing after you. Exactly. It's like a scat attack. Well, that's the thing. I mean, it says something weird about the animal's level of intelligence. The animals are like, what's that? Oh, just a giant pile of dung rolling straight towards me. No, Biggie. These beetles are getting strong. It's a bowel movement. Exactly.

37:57Faith Salie: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 right here at the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago. You can also catch us on the road. We'll be in Huber Heights, Ohio, just outside of Dayton, on September 3rd. If you want a little extra, you know, side piece, entertainment-wise, our comedy grab bag stand-up show is back. It's Wednesday, September 9th at the Den Theater here in Chicago, hosted by none other than Alzo Slade, with comedy from our panelists, special guests, and even, well, me.

38:31Faith Salie:For tickets and information to all our live events, go to nprpresents.org. Hi, everyone. Wait, wait, don't tell me. Hi, this is Ashley calling in from Alexandria, Virginia. Alexandria, Virginia, in the greater Washington area. What do you do there? I'm an educator and I lead teacher professional development. Really? I've got to ask, you're an educator, a teacher. Do you watch Abbott Elementary? Oh, absolutely. Love it. Is it a realistic depiction of what life is like as a teacher? Say so. Okay, yeah, yeah. Well, Ashley, welcome to the show. Alzo Slade is going to read you three news-related limericks with the last word or phrase missing from each.

39:08Faith Salie:If you can fill in that last word or phrase correctly in two of the limericks, you will be a winner. Ready to go? Absolutely. Here is your first limerick. Big gourds with cold juices are swelling, so its heat relief markets are selling. Though a sweet juicy slice would really taste nice, I cool down by just hugging a... Melon or a watermelon? A melon, yes, absolutely. This week's hot online trend. Showing up in your feeds. Pictures of overheated babies in China cooling down by hugging giant melons. Winter melons. They're a kind of gore native to Southeast Asia that is apparently great for absorbing body heat.

39:47Faith Salie:And by happy coincidence, they tend to grow to be one baby long. This has like a real, like, I don't know what the global economy is doing, but this is like a depression era. Oh, I remember when I was a boy and we had no money, we didn't have any of this air conditioning. We had to hug melons and we liked it. You leave a melon at the bottom of the river till summer begins. You dig it up, you hug it Alright, here is your next limerick While we still hear some high whiny tones We're creating mosquito free zones The small bugs discover We track, chase, and hover We hunt them with really small Ooh Phones?

40:34Faith Salie:Like telephone? No, no They hover, we heard that word We track, chase, and hover Yeah. We hunt them with really small... Really small? Hmm. How about if I just give it to you? It's drones. Oh, drones, drones, drones. Oh, drones, yeah. A French startup is now taking pre-orders for the micro-drone. They're tiny autonomous flying machines, which use sonar to detect mosquitoes, chase them down, and then kill them by chopping them up with their propellers. And even if it doesn't work, it's going to be way more exciting to watch than a citronella candle. Now, it's not ready for market. They're putting out like a proof of concept video.

41:20Faith Salie:It has one of their drones successfully killing a moth in midair. And really, what's a moth but a bigger, slower mosquito that was just minding its own business and never heard of it? Yeah, if you really want to get into butterfly murder, it sounds like the technology is there. I don't hate mosquitoes that much That this technology should exist Really? Yeah You don't hate mosquitoes? They're the most deadly animal I do hate mosquitoes Right More than hippopotamuses? Yes Wow They kill more people than any other animal I'll tell you what It's not a fair fight if we involve drones We can't be bringing the military industrial complex When we had fly swatters already Alright, here is your last limerick This picnic guests rarely enchants.

42:07A dessert they could hardly enhance. This chef adds a bunch for a tiny black crunch. Now he's jailed because we shouldn't eat...

42:17Faith Salie:Ants? Ants, that's right. A Michelin-starred restaurant in South Korea is facing heavy fines after garnishing a sorbet with black ants. Intentionally. This is how you remember Michelin is a tire company If you want to try ant sorbet without having to travel to South Korea Just drop your ice cream cone on the sidewalk and wait Then that's just a honeypot because you bring in those drones Those ants are cooked Alzo, how did Ashley do in our quiz? She did good, she got two out of three That's a win for me Congratulations, Ashley Well done. Thank you so much for playing. Thanks for having me. Take care.

43:05I like bugs that live in the mud Like ants that are black and red I like beetles really big And bees of bars around my head I like bugs

43:16Faith Salie:I like bugs Bugs The bigger they are, the better I like them

43:28Support for this podcast and the following message come from National Geographic's new series, Pompeii, Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston, a three-part docudrama from the executive producers of Loki. Join Tom Hiddleston on a time-spanning journey into Pompeii as he traces real people through the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, searching for those who survived. Pompeii, Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston, is now streaming on Disney Plus and Hulu. You know this feeling? You see a news story during a busy workday and think, I'll catch up later. Make Consider This from NPR part of your daily news diet. This week, we break down the new Pentagon request for war funding, the U.S.

44:08nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, and the case against the Tate brothers. Short episodes, clear takeaways every afternoon. Consider This. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

44:20Faith Salie: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. And each correct answer now worth two points. Alzo, can you please give us the score? Of course. Hari has three. Faith and Josh are tied up with two. Okay. How is that possible? So that means Faith and Josh are tied for second. I'm going to arbitrarily choose Josh to go first. Here we go. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, Donald Trump signed a nuclear power deal with blank. A Saudi Arabian?

44:48Faith Salie:Right. Despite an initial test that was a false positive, the FDA says the cyclospora outbreak is still tied to blank from Taylor Farms. Lettuce. Right. This week, two experimental chatbot models owned by Blank hacked into another company without any human prompting. Open AI. Right. On Sunday, Manosphere influencer Blank and his brother were arrested in Miami. Andrew Tate. Right. This week, a man who was caught on video getting tossed eight feet in the air by a bison at Yellowstone said that getting thrown didn't hurt, but Blank did. Landing? Yes. Good bit. For the second time this year, the average price of Blank rose above$4 a gallon.

45:23Faith Salie:Gas. Right. On Tuesday, astronomers in the UK discovered that blank once had underground rivers of magma. Venus? No, Mars. This week, a court in Alabama said that a woman who was out on bail for attempting to poison her husband may have violated the terms of her release when she blanked. Poisoned him again? Yes, or tried to. Wow.

45:46Faith Salie:In 2025, Sarah Baker was arrested for attempting to poison her husband but made bail under two conditions. One, that she not make contact with her husband. And two, that she definitely not try to poison him again. Whoops. If you have to say it. Yeah. Also, I think Josh did really well. Yeah, I think he studied this week. He got seven right for 14 more points. Total of 16. All right. And the lead. Wow. Okay. That means that Faith is up next. Next, here we go. Fill in the blank. On Tuesday, France became the latest country to ban blank for kids under 15. Social media. Right. On Monday, Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 50 % blank on imports from Canada.

46:31Faith Salie:Tariff. Right. This week, tropical storm Bertha made landfall in the U.S., prompting blank warnings across the East Coast. Flood. Right. After confirming four new cases, health officials in Delaware declared a blank outbreak. Neasles. Right. This week, a man in Denver was arrested for breaking a window on a train and blanking. Mooning people. No. Well, I'm going to give it to you. He surfed naked. On top of the train. According to a new study, 156 is the maximum human blank. Oh, IQ. No. Age. Despite the success of Toy Story 5, blank announced it was laying off dozens of animators. Pixar. Right.

47:08Faith Salie:Doctors were surprised this week a woman brought in with heart attack symptoms was diagnosed with blank. Labor. She was in labor. No, she was diagnosed with being too happy. After examining the woman, Some doctors say she has a rare condition called happy heart syndrome, where your body gets flooded with the natural chemicals associated with extreme emotion. The cause was her daughter's wedding three days earlier. Oh, it's a sweet story, but I'm terrified what's going to happen to her when she finally discovers the true meaning of Christmas. Also, how did Faith do on our quiz? She fell just a little short of Josh.

47:43She got six right for 12 more points, total of 14. Josh is still in the lead.

47:53And how many then does Hari need to win? Well, I'm the judge. Hari, how much money you got? I'll tell you. Hari needs seven to win.

48:04Faith Salie:All right. Here we go, Hari. This is for the game on Sunday. Spain defeated Argentina to win the 2026 blank. World Cup. Right. On Tuesday, Pete Exeth testified that the war with blank had cost the U.S. 37 billion dollars. Iran. Right. On Thursday, the EU announced a$1 billion fine against search giant blank. Google. Right. This week, Andy Burnham was sworn in as the new prime minister of blank. The UK. Right. Just a few summers after orca whales were spotted wearing salmon as hats, scientists have now observed whales playing a new game blank. Salmon volleyball. No. Ramming into fish so hard that they explode.

48:44Faith Salie:Don't knock it till you tried it. On Monday, the American Heart Association recommended limiting blank consumption to five cups a day. Coffee. Right. In an incredibly rare feat, a woman in Australia gave birth to identical blanks. Twins. No? Come on, that's not rare. Quadruplets. This week, a family from Utah on vacation in California were shocked when they noticed the picture on the wall of their Airbnb was a picture of blank. Them. Exactly right. According to one of the family members, quote, But we're looking at this picture, and my dad is like, that looks like me. They didn't believe him until they spotted more members of their family in the water on this beach picture around him.

49:22Faith Salie:Apparently, the artwork came from a San Diego photographer who, quote, takes aerial beach photos and enlarges them as artwork for vacation rentals, unquote. And that's fine. But the weird thing was, it was a picture from next summer.

49:42Faith Salie:How did Hari do? Did he do well enough to win? Oh, man. So close, Hari. So close. You got six right for 12 more points. Total of 15. Josh wins with 16.

49:58Faith Salie:Coming up, our panelists predict after the Odyssey what will be the next ancient text to be turned into a blockbuster movie. But first, let me tell you all that Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is a production of NPR and WBZ Chicago in association with Urgent Aircraft Productions, Doug Berman, Benevolent Overlord. Philip Godica writes our limericks. Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our ops manager is Jasira Fardak. Thanks to the staff and crew at the Studebaker Theater. B.J. Liederman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Dornbos, and Lillian King. Special thanks this week to Blythe Roberson, Janie Hoffman, and Dom Banias.

50:27Faith Salie:Our Trojan horse is full of Peter Gwynn's. Emma Choi is our vibe curator. Technical directions from Lorna White. Our CFO is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. Our senior producer is Ian Shillock. And the executive producer of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is Mike Danforth. Now, panel, what will be the next ancient text made into a movie? Hari Kandabolu. Oedipus Rex with RuPaul playing Oedipus and the mother.

50:56Faith Saley. Coming soon, Pixar's Kama Sutra. and Josh Gondelman. Next summer, Seth Rogen and Eric Andre get Rosetta stoned. And if any of that happens, panel, we'll ask you about it on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.

51:14Faith Salie:Thank you, Alzo Slade. Thanks also to Faith, Sally, Josh Gondelman, and Harry Gondelman. Thanks to our fabulous audience at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago. Thanks to all of you for listening. Wherever you are, I'm Peter Sagal. We'll see you next week from Sonoma, California.

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52:22Hi, it's Terry Gross, host of Fresh Air. Hey, take a break from the 24-hour news cycle with us and listen to long-form interviews with your favorite authors, actors, filmmakers, comedians, and musicians, the people making the art that nourishes us and speaks to our times. So listen to the Fresh Air podcast from NPR and WHYY.