WWDTM: Amber Maykut

0:04From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm the voice that puts the fun in defund public broadcasting. Chioki Ianson.

0:21And here is your host at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Chioki. Thank you, everybody. We've got a fabulous show for you today. Later on, we are going to be talking to Amber Maycutt, known as the taxidermist to the stars. Now, among the many things we have already learned from her, stuffed animals are not actually stuffed. No, they're just trained to stand there very still. We are always eager to hear your tricks of the trade, so give us a call. The number is 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Let's welcome our first listener contestant.

1:01Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hey, this is Matt calling from Auburn, Alabama. Hey, how are things in Auburn, home, of course, of the university, right? What do you do there? I actually work at the Southeastern Center of Robotics Education. It's an outreach office where we work with teachers to help them get comfortable incorporating educational robotics into their classrooms. Oh, okay. Now, I was worried because I thought that meant you taught robots, and I think, frankly, they're smart enough. You are not the first person I've said that to that responded with that concern. Really? Well, welcome to our show, Matthew.

1:33Let me introduce you to our panel this week. First, she's a stand-up comedian whose Peacock special, Love, Joy, is now available on Jet Blue flights. It's Joyelle Nicole Johnson. Hey, Matt. Do you fly Jet Blue? I promise I will starting now. Yes. Okay. Get your mentor in. Next, he's a writer for Stage Screen at something called Books and is also the co-host of the podcast, Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone. It's Adam Felber. Hello, Matthew. Hey, Adam. And finally, making her debut on our panel this week, she's a TV writer who also plays Dungeons & Dragons on Dropout. She's making a feature film, even though nobody asked her to.

2:14Please welcome Rekha Shankar. Hi, Matt. Hey, Rekha. So you're going to play Who's Chayuki? This time, Chayuki Ayanse. And filling in for Bill Curtis is going to read you three quotations from the week's news. If you can correctly identify or explain just two of them, you'll win our prize. Any voice from our show, you might choose on your voicemail. Are you ready to go? As ready as I can be. Here we go. Your first quote is somebody celebrating a supermarket purchase. I just got approved for financing on a dozen. That was BuzzFeed actually talking about the record high price of what? Is that eggs?

2:47It is eggs. Eggs have hit a record high price. They're expected to rise by at least 20 % more this year. This makes grocery shopping so difficult. You have to go to like Stop and Shop for everything else and then hit Sotheby's for the egg auction. This week, the average price for eggs hit$7 a dozen. Well, you know what they say. If you want to make an omelet, you need generational wealth. I would just like to say that this, I don't relate to this because my boyfriend is a bougie egg buyer. So we've been paying like eight dollars. Yes. Have you guys seen the Vital Farms eggs? Okay, a couple people know what I'm talking about.

3:29You must not have kids either. So those are at$11 now. Well, what makes them worth$11? It's like an orange yolk. Oh. The yolk is orange. As opposed to the sad gray yolks that we've been getting. The sad yellow yolks. Prices are up because there's a big shortage. It's due to bird flu, a lot of other things. And this is true. a lot of grocery stores are limiting each customer to just two cartons of eggs. And even worse, some are just selling Lucy's.

4:03I feel like, am I nuts? Two dozen eggs per person seems reasonable as a loser. We were wondering, it's like people who walk in and go, just 24 eggs in one day? How am I supposed to get through till tomorrow with only 24 eggs? But admit it, you want them more now than you used to. Yeah. They're valuable. They're valuable. Exactly. You just buy them and hold them. And I'm sure in a couple of years, they'll be worth even more. All right. Your next quote, Matthew, is from Timothy Chalamet. I put on 20 pounds because, believe it or not, I was thinner than the guy. Chalamet was talking about how he prepared for his role as what famous singer?

4:46Nobel laureate Bob Dylan. That's right, Bob Dylan.

4:52Despite appearing in the movie A Complete Unknown as Dylan with the physique best described as, when he took his shirt off, I was worried about him. Timothy Chalamet says he gained 20 pounds to play Bob Dylan. How can that possibly be? Where is it? Maybe he has like this amazing dump truck. He's never turned toward the camera. Well, he's not special because I did the same thing to prepare for the role of me in the pandemic. There you are. And everybody appreciated your dedication to the craft. The thing is, who thought you would have to gain weight to play a young Bob Dylan? His favorite food back then was cigarettes.

5:31Oh, you missed his fat period. Yeah, when he was singing Tangled Up and Stew. Like a rolling scone. The pant sizes they are a-changing. Lays Lady Lays. stuck inside a mobility scooter memphis blues again blubber on the tracks anyway this is the story of the dairy queen hurricane are you freestyling right now he is yeah oh my goodness uh whether or not he did it isn't this like a thing to get an award because isn't it true right that your your odds of getting an oscar or always increased if you had to make yourself either older or uglier to get the role. The De Niro factor. Right. Yes. Instead of hiring someone with the body type, they're like, no, Christian Bale must alone lose 4 ,000 pounds in one year and then gain them back the next year.

6:31Yeah. Exactly right. And instead of hiring an ugly chick, they was like Charlize Theron. They're like, monster must be Charlize Theron. Yeah. Give trolls work. Come on. It really, really, when you think about it, it does seem unfair to the homely community. We are thriving and we just need work.

6:53All right. Here is your last quote. 51 % of Americans suffer from P-ziety. That was from a recent study that finds P-ziety is a growing problem. That is the anxiety that you're going to miss something when you do what? When you go to the bathroom? Exactly right. According to a new survey, 51 % of people put off going to the bathroom for fear of missing something fun. This is why if I'm in the middle of a great conversation, but I've got to use the bathroom, I say, hey, everybody, let's take this to the toilet. Missing something fun? And is that based on experience? Like people coming back from the bathroom and being like, now they're having more fun?

7:34If you come back from the bathroom and people are having more fun than when you left, you're the problem. That's true. And people start plying you with more drinks, right? To make you go again. Yeah. I have a terrible bladder. Shout out to the terrible bladder community. And yeah, okay. I feel seen. And I'm just, I hate how long movies are now. Right? Like there should be intermissions because like I had to pee right before Defying Gravity and Wicked. No. Like holding your pee during that song is very terrible. Yeah. When she hits that high note, everything releases. Absolutely. And they stalled a good 20 minutes before that song actually got sung.

8:13So you were in pain, I'm better. Absolutely. Ain't that much Kegels in the world. I feel like I have the opposite of anxiety. No, P-ziety. P-ziety. I said anxiety. P. I'm more confident. You know what? I'm going to stop. I want to hear your story. But anxiety is better. It's better. It's a better name. It is better. It is better. I feel more confident when I go to the bathroom. That's my chill zone. That's where I do my connections or my wordle. I'm like in the zone in the bathroom. I gain strength It's it's like it's a confidence right P confident P fitance, right? So you you're not having P ziety you're having like P yearning.

8:50Yeah, I learned to pee You're like this movie stinks. This party is awful, but soon I will be urinating. Yeah, that's how you're I'm not what I'm looking forward to I understand I understand and besides you don't need to stop a conversation when you go to the bathroom. That's what FaceTime is for All right. Jokey, how did Matthew do in our quiz? No zeros, just ones. Hey! Matthew, get all three right. Congratulations, Matthew. Thanks so much. Thank you so much for having me. Bye-bye. Thank you.

9:27Right now, panel, it's time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Joelle, bad news for people who want to take advantage of the low fares and clean, austere aesthetic of Spirit Airlines. A new policy says they won't let you board if you appear to be too what? Pretty? I don't know. Close enough. I'm going to give it to you. The answer is sexy. What? That's why I don't fly Spirit, Peter. Exactly, you know?

9:58And that's why I'm on Spirit all the time? Spirit Airlines, this is true, has announced a you're not leaving the airport wearing that policy. You cannot board if you have a bare midriff or exposed breasts or buttocks or are wearing see-through clothes. This is unreasonable. If I could afford clothes, I wouldn't be flying Spirit. What's the downside? Why don't you want sexy dressed people on a plane? What happens when that happens. They have not explained that, but they believe it is distracting to other passengers. What are the other passengers doing that's so important? And here's the thing. You're sitting together in a tube.

10:37Having flown Spirit Airlines, the one thing you very much want while flying Spirit Airlines is to be distracted from the fact you're flying Spirit Airlines. Yeah. You know who I think should be banned? What? People with open-toed shoes on the airplane. Really? Dad. Gross. By the you're also not allowed to have lewd or vulgar tattoos. On Spirit? On Spirit Airlines. Oh, because I've seen it on Delta.

11:06I'm too sexy. Coming up, our panelists make some beer money in our Bluff the Listener game called 1-888-Wait-Wait-To-Play. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait-Wait-Don't-Tell-Me from NPR.

11:24From NPR. and WBEZ Chicago. This is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Chioki Ianson, filling in for Bill Curtis. We're playing this week with Adam Felber, Rekha Shunker, and Joyelle Nicole Johnson. And here again is your host at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Chioki. Thank you, everybody. Right now it's time for the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Bluff, the listener game. Call 1-888-Wait-Wait to play our game in the air or check out the pinned post on our Instagram page, at WaitWaitNPR. Hi, you're on WaitWaitDon'tTellMe. Hi, Peter. Hi, who's this?

12:04Alexis from Chicago. Chicago? All right. What are the most of the amazing things to do here in Chicago? What do you like best? Oh, my favorite place is the Cultural Center, actually. It's that Tiffany Dome that does it for me. It's fabulous. That free museum right in the middle of downtown facing Millennium Park. Gorgeous. Always an art installation there. It's fabulous. One of the many jewels of our city. For those of you who don't know, what is the city paying you, Peter? Not enough. Well, welcome to our show, Alexis. You're going to play the game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction.

12:41Choki, what is Alexis' topic? Every day I'm hustling. Every day I'm hustling. Every day I'm hustling. Go.

12:52It's nice to make a little extra money in your side hustle, you know, like a lemonade stand or tax evasion. Our panelists are going to tell you about a unique side gig we read about in the news. Pick the one who's telling the truth and win the wait waiter of your choice in your voicemail. Are you ready to play? Heck yeah. Heck yeah. Let's do it. Let's hear first from Joyelle Nicole Johnson. Elaine Smalls of Decatur, Georgia is royalty in her social circles. She's been adept in her life at an odd talent, returning anything, an ability that has earned her the moniker, the take back queen. Now you can hire Elaine for anything from returning an old laptop that conked out past its warranty to furniture your child destroyed.

13:31She doesn't even need a receipt. Final sale isn't in her vocabulary. Her most popular service is her send back special. For$20 and the price of an Uber, she will come to the restaurant you're eating at and send the food back that you do not like. She'll even teach you how to do it yourself Baby steps First you learn to send back a dish because you didn't order it After just a couple of weeks You'll be comfortable sending back dishes based on vibes alone None of your friends will go to dinner with you anymore But at least you're getting what you want Her disclaimer I only do this for large corporations Mom and pop stores are safe from my cordial indignation When asked if she feels bad about taking advantage of corporations Her response Eat the rich They can afford it A woman who is paid To return or send back Things you don't want When you don't have the gumption to do it Your next story of a little something on the side Comes from Adam Felber You're a nerd on a date with a woman who's way out of your league Who knows why she swiped right on you But here you are Worse, as you come back from the men's room Your date is being harassed by a huge scraggly haired ruffian Who is nearly twice your size You act quickly Putting yourself between the interloper and your date You yell at him, warn him off make karate hands and give him a firm shove on his meaty shoulder, and somehow, miraculously, he backs off.

14:49Your date looks at you with newfound admiration. You're the hero. What she doesn't know is that her harasser is a 28-year-old Malaysian named Shazeli Suleiman, and you hired him for exactly this moment. Yes, Shazeli is a self-proclaimed villain for hire, and he recently started advertising his services on Facebook with the pitch line, Are you tired of your partner thinking you are weak? For a reasonable fee, I can help you prove it wrong. Although there are some obvious public disturbance risks involved, our entrepreneur insists it's all harmless. Quote, it's all an act like WWE. No one gets hurt.

15:26I am the only loser.

15:31A man who rents himself out so you can beat him up and impress your date. Your last bit of business comes from Rekha Shankar. Every night is fight night for Ellen Walkman. In Conchahawken, Pennsylvania, school teacher Ellen Walkman is channeling her skills into a nighttime gig as a family judge. Someone who can come to your family's house and hang back on the walls like a chameleon until a fight breaks out and then she will say who was right. Like many teachers, she has a rigorous preparation process. Before arriving to this job as a family judge, she asks the clients what color their walls are so that she can buy a shirt that blends into the walls to the point that she's unnoticeable to the family.

16:14At one recent gig, Walkman explains how Uncle Joe and Aunt Doreen were having a pig roast, but no one wanted to clean up the carcass. When it was time for her to settle the fight, she did what any good judge would do. I made them wrestle. Walkman says her new side gig has become quite lucrative, and outside of the odd brawl or two, she can decide any fight in 60 seconds or Nevertheless, the secret, always side with the mom. All right, these are your choices. Somebody has come up with a pretty lucrative side hustle providing an unusual, but it turns out much needed service. Was it from Joelle Nicole Johnson, a woman who will come to wherever you are and return the thing that you bought, but now you do not want, including restaurant dishes.

16:57From Adam Felber, a man who will show up and pretend to threaten you so you can pretend to beat him up so your date will be very impressed with your manliness or womanliness, whichever. Or from Rekha Shankar, a woman who works as a family judge who'll be at your house and when a fight breaks out, she will leap in to decide who is in the right. Which of these is the real story of a side hustle we found in the news? Well, choice B does just sound like dating in Chicago and as a single person, I understand. But I think I'll have to go with Doyle. Oh, wait a minute. Okay. Okay, you thought that choice B, that was Adam's story, right?

17:38You thought that sounded like dating in Chicago? Does this happen to you all the time? It sounds very plausible, like somebody would do it. It sounds like it's already a scheme, but I will have to go with Joyelle. All right, you're just going to pick Joyelle's story. Okay, Joyelle, of course, that is the story of the woman who will come to wherever you are and return what you do not want, no matter what they say about it. Well, to bring you the correct answer, we spoke to someone who knows a lot about this real story. Most women would agree that it would be a huge turnoff, if not a deal breaker, to witness their boyfriend beating someone up.

18:12No way! Yes way! She gasped. Yes way. It turns out Adam was telling the truth as I tried to indicate. He didn't want me to get a point. She's a Chicagoan. I was on her side. But I also want to like I think your reaction to like the idea of like somebody hiring somebody to beat them up was like, oh, that's old hat. I've seen that a million times. I can't be the real. No. I've done it. It's no big deal. Not a new thing. It's all right. Well, anyway, you have not won our prize, but you did win a story. Not only did you win a point for Joyelle, but I think you have endorsed a brilliant business idea.

18:47Yes. Because as I heard you describing it, I was like, I want to hire that woman today. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you so much for playing. Take care. Bye-bye, Alexis.

19:02Hero. I could be your hero. Fighting for your love soul. And now the game where we ask people about things they know nothing about. We call it Not My Job. Amber Maycutt grew up as a young woman in New Jersey with an odd interest. Taxidermy. They thought she was crazy, but after years of work, She has now become, quote, the taxidermist to the stars. We're delighted she's joining us now from her not-at-all-creepy studio. Amber Meka, welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi. Hi. It's great to see you. You're appearing on our screens from your studio, surrounded by some of your work, which is very impressive.

19:44First of all, we saw that you were called Taxidermist to the Stars. What exactly does that mean? How did you earn that title? I guess that a lot of celebrities have bought stuff for me or commissioned work for me, or I go to their houses and fix their taxidermy and hang it up for them. Can you describe, without breaking any confidences, what the kind of work you've done for some of these people? Let's see. So for Drew Barrymore, I did some framed butterflies to hang on the wall. And then for Amy Sedaris, I did a pheasant. and then for Adam Jones, he's the guitarist of Tool. I did a ram head with four horns on it and a goat head for the band Slayer.

20:31I'm sure the goat heads are very popular with the whole heavy metal genre, right? They all need goat heads. Yeah, definitely. Could you, I mean, I think people should understand this, that when we're talking about your taxidermy, for the most part, we're not talking about what they're thinking of, which is like, I don't know, a deer head, mounted above a bar or in a cabin somewhere. Could you describe your work and what makes it special? Sure. A lot of what I do is called anthropomorphic taxidermy. So it's kind of giving life, human characteristics or activities to the taxidermy. So behind me here, I have like a raccoon cowboy.

21:05So it's a raccoon wearing a cowboy hat and a red bandana around his neck. And he's doing finger guns with his paws. You know, I didn't look closely before, but I'm going to say that's exactly what that is. Yeah? Yeah. That one's actually for Justin Long and Kate Bosworth that's shipping to LA. And then the one next to it is actually a squirrel riding a horse, waving a cowboy hat. Cowboy theme happening here. And that one's for Maura Tierney, who's an actress from the show ER. Yes, yes. So that one was actually part of her personal collection, and it was an antique that was really worn down and the fur falling out.

21:47So I remounted the whole thing so it's a fresh mount on the original horse with the original hat. So I have so many questions. Let's just focus on Justin Long's raccoon with the cowboy hat and the finger guns. Yes. So that one is probably one of my best sellers that went viral online. I made one once, and then I put it online in my online shop that people could just click and buy it. Right. So that was like your idea. Justin Long's like, God, he saw that. He said, I must have that. And so he could just stand in front of it in his own presumably palatial Hollywood home and just make little pew-pew noises, right?

22:31I guess so, yeah. So you came up with it. Where did that come from? Were you like thinking about raccoons and going, you know what would make them even better? Oh, geez. I don't know. I write down things in the middle of the night sometimes that make no sense at all. So who knows? Do you have, can I ask, some people come to you now with commissions, right? They say, we want this. Yep. Can you tell us the weirdest thing you've been asked to do? Oh, geez. I don't know. Nothing seems weird anymore, right? sometimes i have to pause and wonder if i'm getting trolled or people are messing with me or if this is a serious request or not but sometimes people will send in photos of people or be like can you make a mouse look like my boyfriend and like send photos of their boyfriend can you make a mouse look like their boyfriend yeah like make different you know their outfit basically and like records that they like they're holding and it was rat boy summer recently is there like the taxidermists have like their own aesthetic like what what makes a great taxidermy what do you what do you even call it a great work of taxidermy yeah a mount a good mount a good mount thank you so taxidermy is if you see like the mannequin behind me on the one side so this is a himalayan goat on one side that's mounted with the skin on it already and the one on the other side is just a mannequin with just a form.

23:57So it's an anatomically correct mannequin to that specimen. How do you get anatomically correct models of animals or do you make them? So there's taxidermy supply companies, dozens of them in the U.S. where you can order, you know, your deer mannequin or skunk mannequin and then you basically, it's kind of tailoring in reverse. You whittle down your mannequin or build up your mannequin to custom fit it to your skin. And then you use glass eyes that are also anatomically correct to the specimen, to the millimeter, a wire for the tail, and then you do, you know, you kind of clay for musculature and sculptural work, and sew it up, do your hair and makeup, do airbrushing, painting.