WWDTM: Anna Kendrick, Jeff Gordon, and more!

0:00Support for NPR and the following message come from Jarl and Pamela Moan, thanking the people who make public radio great every day and also those who listen.

0:14from npr and wbez chicago this is wait wait don't tell me the npr news quiz hey starbucks put down that psl and pick up a ps bill i'm bill curtis and here is your host at the studebaker theater of the fine arts building in chicago illinois My Peter Segal. Thank you, Bill. Thanks, everybody. Now, last week, as I hope you heard, we did our show in Honolulu, Hawaii. And, of course, our plan was to come right back here immediately to do another show for you this week. But we were worried. What if something were to happen and we couldn't get back in time? You should have listened to me and booked tickets on that tramp steamer.

1:02No better way to see the world than from the inside of a cargo hold. So just in case we got delayed in Hawaii somehow We prepared this review of some of our best moments from earlier this year For example in June we were joined live on stage by NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon And it turns out he started winning races when he was just five years old Yeah, I mean I guess I just think all professional race car drivers started racing when they were five or six years old I mean that was pretty common for me I grew up in California, and the kids I was racing with were basically the same age. How does a five-year-old end up in a race car?

1:43Because my kids want one, but I say no. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I had... So my stepfather is actually the one that introduced me to it. He was a machinist and worked on cars, and I think some friends of his would come to him to say, hey, fix my car. Can you make this piece? I'm guessing at that point, maybe they couldn't pay him. And so they said, oh, I've got this old race car that my son used to drive over here in the garage. How about I give you that? It's called a quarter midget. So it's similar to a go-kart, but the engine's in the back, has a roll cage, seat belts, maybe somewhat safer than a go-kart and race on small oval tracks.

2:29And so, yeah, he came home with that and said, hey, hey, look what's outside. And of course, I was just eager to get in and go. Did everybody know, did you know that this was something you were going to be very good at? No idea. No, I had no clue. I'd actually, my first racing experience was previous to that. I raced BMX bikes when I was like four and a half years old. Four and a half. Yeah. What does a four and a half year old get if they win a race? They get to skip their nap? What is the prize? Well, I didn't win a race, so I wouldn't know. Because I realized then that I did not have the physicality to pedal a bicycle as fast as others.

3:15And when I got in the car, I'm like, I don't need that. I've got an engine. Oh, yeah. So, you know, it did come, you know, pretty quick. And I realized, gained confidence and said, oh, I can do this. Right. This is actually another thing I'm very curious about. I know, for example, that on the track, you drivers are in radio contact at all times with your pit. What are you talking about? It's like, oh, did you see what the president just tweeted? I will say there were a few times in my career where I was fortunate enough to have a pretty big lead. Just a few times. And your mind starts to wonder.

3:54And I think there were a few times I know some fans or something happening up in the grandstands. And I radioed to the team and said, hey, did you see that? They're like, seriously, Jeff, you're noticing things up in the grandstand? Really? We're trying to win this race. Get back to the race. I'm going to win, but what are we going to have for dinner later? I'm getting a little peckish out here. The other thing you have to remember is that these radios are being broadcast to everyone. Really? So you have to be careful of things that you say. I didn't always do that well. But you try. Really? So let's say, and I'm sure this happened to you more than a couple times, let's say things go poorly, you spin out, maybe something catches fire.

4:37You have to be careful to say, oh, goodness. I am truly and well fudged. Yeah. That as well as if somebody else caused it. Oh, yes. Then the choice things that you are thinking about saying. Really? I find that, I mean, that is. Here's the part you guys are going to love. Okay. Because you guys are comedians and I'm not. But in order for that to be broadcast, there's a button on the steering wheel. So in order for the driver to talk back to the team, you have to push the button. And these things are being broadcast. So you don't have to push the button. You could just say them. And in my case, 100 % of the time, I wanted to make sure I pushed the button so everybody really knew.

5:26Now, you've retired. And as I said, one of the many things you do in addition to your businesses and philanthropy is you co-on some racing teams, right? Yes. And how hard is it for you to, like, just look at the driver or watch them and just think, just let me do it? I mean, I realize things have evolved. Technology's evolved. The cars drive different today. But what does happen to me, and I think of my wife every time. Because when I was racing, I would get out of the car that day. let's say, you know, we didn't win. And she would go, I don't understand why you didn't just pass that car. This is your wife.

6:05Yeah. She's like, couldn't you just push the pedal down further and just go by? I'm like, honey, I like, it's already all the way there. Like that was as fast as I could go. So I then, while I'm watching the drivers, I'm going, just pass. Why can't you just pass them? Right. And I just think credit to your wife, just comparing to myself, at least she knew you had a pedal. That was neat to me. I enjoyed it. Really, you're like, come on, just do it, just do it, just do it. I know everybody asks you guys after you've, you know, all the racers, current and retired, if you speed when you're driving your car.

6:42I'm not going to ask you that. I know. You're not? I'm not going to ask you that. Well, unless you want to tell me. Do you? I just understood it was like the big cliche that all the race drivers get. Well, I mean, I'm not saying that it's that, you know, I just get in the car and say, how fast can I go? But I mean, I'm still human. Yeah, sure. Sometimes you got to go. What I really wanted to know is if you're just driving, just doing an errand, maybe doing something to your kids, driving out of the grocery store, if you ever say to you, if you're just sitting there and going vroom, vroom. I have one more question, which is that I learned how to drive on a stick shift.

7:16Nice. Does that improve your opinion of me? Yes. 100%.

7:26I have an 18-year-old, soon-to-be 18-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son, and my goal this summer is to get them to learn. Wait a minute. My son is going through driver's head and stuff, so maybe my daughter, I want her to learn how to drive. Here's the question. Are you, Jeff Gordon, one of the greatest race car drivers who have ever lived, going to teach your children to drive? I mean, yes. Reluctantly, because it's probably one of the scariest things I've ever done, is sit in the passenger seat while somebody has zero experience driving, is driving the vehicle. And I kind of like to be in control of the vehicle.

8:09Yeah, so that's probably the most terrified I've ever been, is when my daughter was learning how to drive. Just imagine you turning to your daughter, she's 16, right, whatever she is. you're like, why don't you just pass him? I just want her to use the brakes when somebody's brake lights come on. I'll be happy with that. That's okay. Start there. Well, Jeff Gordon, it is such a pleasure to talk to you. We've asked you here to play a game we're calling Leave the Driving to Us. As we have discussed, you're an accomplished driver. So we thought we'd ask you three questions about passengers. Answer two out of three correctly.

8:40You'll win our prize. One of our listeners, the voice of anyone they might choose for their voicemail. Bill, who is NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon playing for? Kelsey Woods of Wendell, North Carolina. All right. North Carolina. North Carolina. So I've got to take care of my Carolinians. Exactly. Here's your first question. In 2017, a taxi driver in the UK was pulled over for speeding, and he laid the blame on his passengers, telling the police what? A, they kept farting, and it was so bad he had to get the ride over as quickly as possible. B, one of them said, follow that car. And since there wasn't any car in sight, he sped up to find one.

9:19Or C, one said, the acid we just took will kick in in 10 minutes. And whether it happens back here or at our home is up to you. Oh, my gosh. My son is going to be so proud of me for picking A. Your son should be proud because you're right. Yes. Oh, nice. Yeah, he said, he said I had to get out of the car. They were farting so badly. There were three of them. So let's have some sympathy for him. All right. Very good. People love to ride on roller coasters, of course, as passengers, including one in Arakawa, Japan. And this roller coaster is famous for being what? A, a nearly surefire way to induce labor, leading to long lines of pregnant women.

10:03B, it is the slowest roller coaster in the entire country. so slow some riders didn't realize once when it had derailed and stopped cold, or C, it's the world's only one-way roller coaster, meaning every ride ends in a long walk back to the start. Oh, Lord. Well, I don't do anything slow, so I'm not going with B. I'm going to go with the one-way. No, it was actually B, the slow one. It is the slowest roller coaster in Japan. It is called the family coaster. Remind me to never go to an amusement park next time I'm there. All right. This is your last question. If you get this, you win. In 2016, on a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to Kansas City, full of Oakland Raiders fans, the pilot actually took to the PA at the end of the flight to congratulate the passengers.

10:51For what? A, they had, he felt, the most creative heckles of the safety announcement he had ever heard. B, for the first time in his experience, they had drank literally all of the alcohol on board of the plane. or C, every passenger had boarded the plane, stowed their bags, and got their seatbelt buckled in eight minutes flat. Oh, gosh. Oh, my goodness. It's a crowd participation. It really is. B. B, yes, it was, of course, B. They were Oakland Raiders fans. Thank you. They drank all of it during one three-hour flight. Bill, how did Jeff Gordon do? Two out of three. Checkered flag flies everywhere.

11:31There you go. Nice. Jeff Gordon is a NASCAR legend and the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. Jeff Gordon, thank you so much for being with us on the night of your program. Jeff Gordon, everybody. Living legend.

11:53When we come back, we got Anna Kendrick explaining to Paula Poundstone why she looks so familiar. And one more reason to never, ever have children. And that's when we come back with more Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR.

12:13Support for NPR and the following message come from Jarl and Pamela Moan, thanking the people who make public radio great every day and also those who listen.

12:27from NPR and WBEZ Chicago this is wait wait don't tell me the NPR news quiz I'm Bill Curtis and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago Peter Sagal thank you Bill thank you everybody so if you're listening to this it means that despite our best efforts we are still somehow stuck in Hawaii. Honestly, I am so sorry. We intended to get back to Chicago as soon as our show in Honolulu was done. I even wore my Parker to the theater so I wouldn't have to waste time changing clothes once we got back. So as we negotiate our escape from our island prison, we're going to keep bringing you some highlights from the past year.

13:12For example, here's a bluff game we played back in March with Roy Blunt, Faith Saley, and Shantira Jackson. Hi, this is Dustin Durant from Omaha, Nebraska. Hey, okay, so what do you do there in Omaha? Well, my wife and I keep poison dart frogs. We have over 30 different frogs. That's new. You keep poison dart frogs. Do they come when you call them?

13:40They jump at you when you spray water at them, so you've got to be careful when you open it up. You know what? Me too.

13:50We've all been there. All right, Dustin. Well, welcome to the show. You are going to play our game in which you have to tell truth from fiction. Bill, what is Dustin's topic? Don't bring your kid to work. You may remember the day a decade or more ago when NPR had to take your kid to work day and somebody's kid pushed a button and took NPR off the air for more than a minute. This week, somebody's kid did something even more interesting while at their parents' place of work. Our panelists are going to tell you about it. Pick the one who's telling the truth, and you will win our prize, the wait waiter of your choice for your voicemail.

14:31Ready to play? Yeah. All right. Well, let's start then with a story from Faith Saley. Last week, Sharon McGann had to take her 12-year-old son Oscar with her to her admin job at Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Columbus, Ohio. Sharon told Oscar to keep quiet and stay out of trouble. He didn't. He ensconced himself in a confessional. When penitent parishioner Lorna McMahon came into the booth and said through the screen, bless me, Father, for I have sinned, Oscar froze. Then he lowered his voice and replied, tell me all the bad stuff.

15:13My child. Oscar heard confessions for an hour until he farted and laughed so hard that his mom found him. But before she did, young fake Father Oscar doled out some punishing penances like telling one parishioner to listen to kids bop while praying the rosary a Googleplex number of times. A 12-year-old gets taken to church by his parent and ends up taking confessions and learning a little about the world. Your next story of a kid catastrophe comes from Roy Blunt Jr. If you're a German soccer player, we learned this week, it's all very well to bring your little boy to one of your games as long as you tell him this up front.

16:01Don't bite the referee in the balls. a match between two lower level teams was about to begin suddenly it was called off because the only referee was in too much pain let the referee tell it a small child was doing warm-up exercises alongside the players he came closer and closer to me suddenly to my By complete surprise, he gave me a sharp bite in my left testicle. So give the kid a break. Maybe the thing was hanging loose. Anyway, as any parent knows, you can never think of everything you need to tell a child not to do.

16:49A German soccer ref gets surprised by a player's son on the pitch. your last story of a kiddo uh-oh comes from Shantira Jackson. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, or as his friends like to call him, the Met, has a long history of displaying beautiful art pieces and welcoming children of all ages. One day, a docent brought his daughter to work only to immediately lose her. The girl had been to the museum hundreds of times, and she decided it was time to put her own spin on the exhibits. One by one, she went around replacing the placards that give details about the art in the rooms with her own handwritten honest reviews.

17:31The Egyptian room, originally known as the Temple of Dinder, was replaced with the placard that said this stuff in here is pretty cool but don't forget about what happened in the mummy, be chill in here. The room with the antique furniture placard changed from Renaissance Revival Room to skip this room. You can't even sit on any of the couches. Throughout the day, docents were finding and removing the placards display after display. When asked why she did it, the girl said that at school they were learning how the best art is honest art. And also, I just lied and said I had permission to do this.

18:12So one of these stories really happened. Was it from Faith Saley, a 12-year-old who ended up taking confessions at a Catholic church. From Roy Blunt Jr., a kid at a German soccer pitch, well, not using his hands on the ball. Or from Shantira Jackson, a docent's daughter at the Metropolitan Museum, changing the placards on the art to more honest ones. Which of these is the real story of a kid at his parents' workplace? I'm gonna have to go with the soccer ball incident because that's the truth is stranger than fiction And if you're gonna make it up, I don't think they go that far All right, you've chosen Roy's story of the soccer player's son who attacked the soccer referee Well, we spoke to someone who had an opinion on this real story I just felt so bad for the referee and for everyone involved Awesome.

19:12That was Joey Kenward. He's a soccer referee and broadcaster in Vancouver, Canada, talking with, I think, some apprehension about the boy who attacked the referee with his teeth in Germany. Congratulations. You got it right. We earned a point for Roy. You have won our prize, the voice of any one you might choose from our show in your voicemail. Congratulations and well done. Thank you. Thank you. It's a pleasure being on the show. Best to your frogs. Thank you.

19:48In June, we went to Portland, Maine to interview one of that city's native daughters, actor and singer Anna Kendrick, on the stage of the historic Merrill Auditorium. Peter asked her if she had been there before. This is not your first time here in the stage of the Merrill Auditorium. No, no, no. And I'll say that everybody at the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me team has been so helpful and thoughtful. And they sent me a map and a picture of the stage door. And they told me, but don't worry, a man named Colin will escort you there. And I said, I have walked all the way down Congress Street wearing lion face paint to be in a dance recital here.

20:30I have come here to stand behind Judy Collins for one song in the choir during a Christmas special that she did, wearing what can only be described as a Handmaid's Tale-esque robe. And I have come to this stage door to wait in that balcony for 45 minutes in a white button-down and black pants just to sing at the Nutcracker. Oh my God, that's where I know you from!

21:09That was her. That's right. Oh, this is, oh, oh, it's so exciting to see you. So, so not to put too fine a pint on it, but you were a theater kid. Oh, can I just say that earlier before we were recording, Paula mentioned that we, we met and that Paula did know my full name and that even though I started listing all the movies I was in, she still didn't know me. And I just wanted to say that I was only listing the movies at her specific request. Oh, yeah. No. She wasn't just like, oh, you're Anna Kendrick. And I didn't just start going up in the air. End of watch. I didn't count. Pitch perfect.

21:48Ever heard of them? That didn't happen. No. No. It was I put Anna in the uncomfortable position. I said, well, where would I know you from? That's a terrible thing to do, Paula. It kind of was. I apologize. and then every movie she mentioned I'm like no not that way Paula I'd like to remind you I only mentioned one and then I said you know it doesn't really matter and then you took out your phone and you were scrolling and then Paula started naming movies she liked and going were you in that one yeah anyways I apologize for you know making you feel awkward no I love you and I love that we have a rivalry already.

22:33That's true. When you were last here, it was a few years ago, and we talked about Pitch Perfect. And one of the things that I am aware of is that because of those movies, a lot of kids went to college and joined acapella groups. Yeah, I'm so sorry. Well, I was going to ask. Jeez. How do you feel about that legacy? I feel okay about it. I'm into people's hyper-specific interests and passions, and it doesn't matter how dorky it is. I think if you're good at it and you care about it, that's amazing. I will say that over the course, we made three movies, and so I met a decent amount of acapella people in the course of that time, and I was very surprised how many of them said, yeah, but I mean, the original versions of the song are always better.

23:26Right. What are we doing? You know, like if we're listening to a song, maybe the thing that makes the sound of a drum should be the drum So yeah, it's a self-deprecating community and that's also admirable I think Oh really? So those jokes are being made by the acapella people? Yeah, I mean I hope, my god I hope it wasn't just three people in the rest of the acapella community Are like, well you're dead to us now One of the things you've done since the last time we talked to you Is you directed your first film and I heard that you did that and I was like, oh, I'm sure it's like the incredibly charming, sophisticated romantic comedy that I would expect from someone like yourself.

24:02It is a movie called Woman of the Hour, and it is a real-life story about a woman who goes on, played by herself, who goes on the dating game back in the 70s when that was a thing, and gets matched with a serial killer. Yes, true story. True story. It's a true story? Yeah, girl. Yes, Paula, you should see the film.

24:33She's going to watch the movie and go, where do I know her from? Yes, Paula's a very sophisticated woman of taste, and that's why she doesn't know any of my films. I'm just going to point out, given your vast success and fame, it's annoying that you're funnier than we are. and I'd like you to stop. Well, Anna Kendrick, it is so much fun to talk to you here in your hometown. And this time, we have invited you here to play a game we're calling Pitch Perfect Meet Female Dog Perfect. So, as we have gone over, you were in the Pitch Perfect movies. I love a joke that you have to go, oh, what? Oh. So, as we were saying, you were in the Pitch Perfect movies, so we thought that we'd ask you about dog shows.