WWDTM: Chip Caray

0:00This message comes from 3 Questions with Andy Richter. Pod Club newsletter. Sign up and you'll get fresh podcast recommendations every week, handpicked by the people that live for this stuff. You can subscribe for free using the link in today's show notes or at npr.org slash pod club.

0:47From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. Filling in for Bill Curtis, I'm the man with the gooey butter voice. Oh, yeah. Chioki Ianson. And here's your host at the Fox Theater in St. Louis, Missouri, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Chioki. Thank you, St. Louis. Thank you all so much. What a pleasure to be back with you. Later on, we're going to be talking to a native of St. Louis, who is now the play-by-play announcer for his hometown team, the St. Louis Cardinals. That's Chip Carey. Now, as a Chicaguan, but as a gentleman, I am not going to bring up with him that the Cubs just clinched a playoff berth.

1:38Oh, no. Oh, now you want us defunded. Okay. Way to warm up the St. Louis crowd, Peter. Anyway, you, though, are up to bat first. Give us a call. 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. Hi, it's Ellie Fishbein. I'm calling from St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis, Missouri? Yep. Why on the phone? We can hold for a few minutes if you want to run down to the theater. Yeah, I'm currently sprinting. All right. Ellie, let me introduce you to our panel this week. First up, she was recently named one of Vulture's comedians you should and will know.

2:21It's Rachel Koster. Thank you. Next, a writer whose band, Super Spreader, will be at the Village Arts Theatre in Valley Village, California on October 10th. It's Adam Felber. How you doing, Ellie? Hi. And a comedian you can see this very weekend at the Louisville Comedy Club in Louisville, Kentucky. And next weekend at Laughs Comedy Club in Seattle, it's Dulce Sloan. Hello. Ellie, welcome to our show. You're going to play Who's Chayoke? This time, Chokiai Anson right here filling in for Bill Curtis is going to read you three quotations from this week's news. If you can correctly identify or explain two of them, you will win our prize.

3:00Any voice from our show, you might choose for your voicemail. Are you ready to go? Let's go! Let's go! Here is your first quote. Jerry felt he had no choice but to resign. Now, that was a man named Ben talking about his business partner Jerry's decision to leave their company after 47 years. What's their company? Ben and Jerry's. Ben and Jerry's. One of the most iconic couples in history. Ben and Jerry, they've broken up and it's really upsetting. It just isn't the same to say, I'm going to go curl up with a pint of Ben. So Jerry Greenfield is leaving the company. He founded with his partner back in 1978 because he says their corporate owner, Unilever, won't let him express his political opinions they apparently got upset with his new custom flavor, Release the Chocolate Chipstein Files.

4:02That was very funny. Did you find this upsetting, or is it just... I think it's more upsetting that he got half of all the names. Like, who wants to order a pint of Garcia? That's true. Or Chunky. I don't think I've ever had Ben and Jerry's. Really? You have your whole life ahead of you It's very expensive It is very expensive Like I didn't, I mean, I get it But like, I don't want to know what a monkey tastes like I see your point It no longer contains real monkeys Oh, well then why even try it? Now that he's gone, Unilever is going to take Ben and Jerry's habit You know, of naming flavors after celebrities in a new direction Instead of Cherry Garcia Try some Kid Rocky Road.

4:50Boo! Boo! Oh, you're going to like this next one I have in the freezer. I'm sure you have a few. Tucker Carlson's White Chocolate Supremacy. That one I would try. Okay. Well, it makes it... But it's just vanilla ice cream with white chocolate in it. Exactly. No, it's vanilla ice cream, white chocolate, and mayonnaise swirls. You know what? Mayonnaise don't deserve this, bro. Mayonnaise put on your sandwiches for you. You want to disrespect mayonnaise like that. Your next quote is from a writer in GQ talking about the return of a certain style of clothing. I wrestled my way into a pair. I was red in the face and out of breath.

5:41So what kind of jeans, we are told, are back in fashion, whether we like it or not? Oh, God, it has to be skinny jeans? It is. Skinny jeans are back. They have returned just when I have perfected my non-skinny jeans body. In addition to being seen all over Fashion Week runways, supermodels like Bella Hadid and Kate Moss have been seen just strolling around in skinny jeans. And if they look great, you absolutely know you all will too, right? Skinny jeans are only a skinny woman's problem. Those jeans are skinny when I put them on, baby. I'm just glad that, uh, I've got teenagers at home, and I'm glad that for the first time they're going to know what it's like to have clothes that are out of style.

6:31Yeah. Eat it, kids! Yeah. By the way, Vogue magazine has endorsed this trend, so it now has the force of law. Vogue ain't talking to me. Really? No. What did you say to them? Listen. This is for a specific segment of the population. Right. Right. And all this truly, all Vogue magazine does is terrorize white women. That's the whole, that's what all these fashion magazines are for. Right. is older white women and older gay men terrorizing young white women. It's working. I'm ****. Yeah! I'm a disaster. Me, on the other hand, most of my clothes are stretchy and Maine and China. I'm very flammable.

7:25I can't be near a warm cup of coffee half the time. My shirt will melt. Vogue has never been talking to me. So whenever they're like, oh, skinny jeans are back, they might as well say, oh, we're wearing wooden shoes. Girl, you ain't talking to me.

7:41Only thing I can do with a Vogue is rub them pages of perfume on me and keep it moving.

7:53All right. Your last quote is from a New York Times commenter who was reviewing one of the features of Apple's new AirPods. It won't be improving the lives of professional interpreters. So what will these new AirPods be able to do? They're supposed to interpret languages. Yes, they will instantly translate spoken languages. This is amazing. Yes, we're all for this. The new AirPods use AI to translate other languages instantly so you actually hear what the other person is saying, but in English through your headphones, right? Which means I learned how to ask, where is the library, for nothing. Here's my problem with this feature.

8:39Yes. Is it going to tell me how to respond back in that language? No. Then what the hell is the point? Well. Because if all I can get is input, but I can't provide any output, I still can't communicate. You can give them your waxy earpods and put them in there. Yeah, you can do that. Of course, if they have their own AirPods and iPhone, you need both, you'll be able to converse magically. Uh-uh. Give me two cans and a string. You know, I tried a pair, and I'm sad to report it also works with your pets. Does it really? I did not really want to know what my cat thinks of me. It's bad, man. Worse even than you imagined.

9:22Yeah, way worse. Choki, how did Ellie do in our quiz? Ellie is wise beyond her years. She got all three right. Congratulations, Ellie. Yay. Yay. Done like a St. Louisan. Thank you so much for calling and playing. Next time, come see us in person. Thank you. Take care. Bye-bye.

9:46Right now, panel, time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Adam, owners of top-end Chevy Corvettes, the models that cost more than$100 ,000, are being asked to bring their cars back to the dealer to fix a defect. And that defect might cause the cars to do what when you're pumping gas? I'm on wait, wait, don't tell me. So I'm going to go with explode? Yes, indeed.

10:10The cars, sometimes when you're pumping gas and them explode into flames. This became apparent because guys posted videos of their cars blowing up at the gas station with captions like, hey, does anybody know if they're supposed to do that? Little red car. These are the Z06 and ZR1 Corvettes. These are sports cars that can go up to 235 miles per hour, which is useful to get away from the Corvette next to you that just caught fire. This isn't fair. That man's going through a midlife crisis.

10:45I lost my wife. I lost my job. At least I have my vet. No, he didn't lose those things. He left them. I left my wife. I left my job. There we go. There we go. For a second, I thought you were going to say that the cars were moaning when they were getting gas in them, because that's their food. Girl, what? I don't know. I just was so certain that that was what it was going to be. Wait a minute. You're sitting here, I'm thinking they've got this weird defect. People would be putting gas in them and they go, mmmm, or something. What noise would, in your mind, what noise would a Corvette make when you gave it gas?

11:18Basically exactly like what I just did, maybe like, mmm, saffron or something. I don't know. And I know that makes no sense, guys, but that was just what I wanted it to be. I want it to be that now. Yeah. Now, apparently there's a fan in the car that doesn't turn off when you turn the engine off, and it can blow spilled gas onto the Hutt engine. Chevy is asking owners to bring in the car to get it fixed, But if it blows up before that, Chevy advises walking away from the explosion in slow motion without looking back.

12:00Coming up, we save the earth 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 NPO. This message comes from WISE, the app for international people using money around the globe. You can send, spend, and receive in up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Be smart. Get WISE. Download the WISE app today or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply.

12:29From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Chioki Ianson. We're playing this week with Adam Felber, Dulce Sloan, and Rachel Koster. And here again is your host at the Fox Theater in St. Louis, Missouri, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Chioki. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, everybody. Right now it is time for the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Bluff listener game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play our game in the air. Hi, you are on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, this is Kaylee calling in from Aurora, Colorado. Hey, Kaylee, how are you? I'm doing great. How are things in Colorado?

13:07Oh, they're always wonderful. Yeah, that's true. It's Colorado. Of course it is. What do you do there? I am a stay-at-home parent, but I also teach theater, do admissions for a university, and am an amateur playwright. Let me tell you, I used to be one myself, and in a way, every playwright is an amateur playwright. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good thing. It's true. Well, Kaylee, welcome to the show. It's great to have you. You're going to play the game in which you must try to tell truth from fiction. Joki, what is Kaylee's topic? Reduce, reuse, recycle. Reusing old things instead of getting new ones is a great way to save the earth.

13:43It's why we here at Wait, Wait haven't come up with a new joke in more than 10 years. Our panel is going to tell you about a creative reuse in the news this week. Pick the one who's telling the truth. You'll win the Wait, Waiter of your choice on your voicemail. Are you ready to play? Yeah, let's do it. All right, let's do it. First, let's hear from Rachel Koster. Unlucky in love in a city where the weather is always getting chilly at 7 p.m. and crazy hot in the morning, 28-year-old Becca Aarons has found a solution to a problem caused by being a bachelorette in Los Angeles. After a series of dates, Becca found that her Subaru Forester was filled to the brim with hoodies dates had left behind.

14:22I don't even go on that many dates, said Becca, lying, but I always get chilly. The hoodies range in styles. Some are so soft and some are so disgusting. and one even says certified hustler on the back. When asked if the man was indeed a certified hustler, Becca responded, no. Her solution to the excess hoodies was to create elaborate quilts for nearby orphanage. St. Anne's Orphanage was thrilled to receive hundreds of new blankies for the children in their care. Sister Agnes, one of the caretakers, celebrated Becca's generosity but also expressed on behalf of all the nuns that Becca should find true and meaningful love and date guys with more swag.

15:03A very clever woman uses all the hoodies left over from her dates to make beautiful quilts. Your next repurposing parable comes from Dulce Sloan. In today's edition of, oh, you've been rich for too long, singer-songwriter Elton John decided to buy himself some new knees. According to a new documentary released this month, he had both kneecaps removed because, well, he old, and replaced with expensive new model. But what to do with the old ones? Like the bronze baby shoe from days gone by, John sent his worn-out patellas to his favorite jeweler, who dipped them in pure gold and turned them into a pendant necklace and a brooch.

15:52The pendant was easy to make because there was a large hole in his right patella that the necklace was able to loop through. Now, I'm not a body mechanic, but I think a hole in a kneecap is, and pardon me for being technical, very, very bad. But John is very happy with the result, saying, quote, I honestly think these are timeless pieces that will last for centuries. Yeah, well, Elton John, he may have some nice jewelry and an EGOT, but you know what he ain't got? Kneecaps! Elgin John, the legendary musician, recycles his own kneecaps into high-fashion jewelry. Your last story of a new life for an old thing comes from Adam Felber.

16:41Montana farmer Jeremy Pease became a viral sensation this month for his video of his incredibly effective new bear repellent in action. It's not a nasty chemical or an elaborate trap, though. Farmer Jeremy uses Lego. I heard a bear outside my house one night, jumped out of bed to take a look, and stepped on one of my grandkids' dang Lego bricks. As I looked down at that bear sniffing around my garbage, it hit me. Jeremy went on eBay and bought some bags of loose Lego bricks from grown-up kids who had no use for them, then scattered them at locations around the farm and waited for his next nocturnal visitor.

17:14The video shows a black bear finding its way onto Jeremy's property. It ambles confidently forward until one big ursine paw comes down on a tiny Lego brick, at which point the bear hops sideways only to bring another paw down on another brick, looking for all the world like a chubby suburban dad doing that familiar Lego owie dance and presumably cursing in a traditional manner before retreating back into the woods. That bear got off easy, one commenter wrote. At least he didn't have to try to put together one of those X-Wing fighter kids. All right, these are your choices. We found one of these stories in the news about conscientious reuse.

17:57Was it from Rachel Koster, a woman who found all these hoodies, her various dates had left, and decided to make them into beautiful quilts, from Dulce Sloan, Sir Elton John reusing his own worn-out knees to make beautiful jewelry, or from Adam Felber, a Montana farmer using old Lego pieces to repel bears because they don't like stepping on them any more than we do. Which of these is the real story of reuse we found in the news? Oh, man, I think I've got to go with B, Elton John. You're going to go with B, Elton John. Sounds like the kind of thing he might do, I guess. All right, well, to bring you the correct answer, let's listen to this.

18:37They're very porous, and so we had to paint them with acetate. You know, in a thousand years, this will be Elton John's kneecap. That was one Theo Fennell talking with Sir Elton John about his kneecap jewelry that will last a thousand years. Congratulations, Kayla, you got it right. You have won our prize, a voice of anyone you might choose as well as a point for Dulce. Congratulations, and thank you so much for calling. Take care. Bye. Bye-bye.

19:14And now the game we call Not My Job. Chip Carey is part of one of America's great sports broadcasting dynasties. His grandfather, Harry Carey, was a legendary sportscaster here in St. Louis. And then in another city to the north, his father, Skip Carey, became a Hall of Fame broadcaster himself. And Chip, born and raised here in St. Louis, may have outdone them both by achieving every kid's dream and becoming the voice of his hometown team, the St. Louis Cardinals. Chip Carey, welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you, sir. Now, that's amazing. The story I just told is kind of amazing in and of itself, this multi-generational legacy of broadcasting excellence.

19:55And it goes on. Your son is also a professional broadcaster, I believe, for the Oakland A's. Correct. Yeah. Now in Sacramento. Now in Sacramento. He started the A's, yes. Soon to be Las Vegas A's, I think. Fingers crossed. I believe the technical name is the Undisclosed Location A's. Correct. Yes. But here's the thing that I find crazy is that you're all actually named Harry. Yeah, scary. Harry Carey. Our family's last name was really Carabina or Carabina. Right. And Harry started working at a local radio station here in St. Louis. And the station manager said, Carabina doesn't sound good on radio.

20:31So change the name. So it became Carey. My dad is or was Harry Carey Jr. I'm Harry Carey III. I have identical twins. The first one who popped out got the name. He's Harry IV. We have four kids and three boys, one girl. So, yeah, there's four of us. And I happen to know, so it's like, so it's Harry and then your father who is Skip. Yes. And then you're Chip. Yep. And your son is? Depends on what he does as far as grades are concerned. I understand. Okay. Did you get to pick your own nickname? No, sadly, it was the old proverbial Chip off the old block. I wish it was really original. I was wondering about that because I happen to know that these jobs, play-by-play for major league teams, not to mention other sports, are very hard to get.

21:13Oh, no, they're not. Apparently. So I'm assuming... Let me tell you something. I carry this around. In fact, it's on my screensaver. Little words you guys might have heard of. Let me find it here. Get to my photos, sorry. Nepotism. Yes. Hold on. The practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives, friends, or associates, especially by giving them jobs. It's on my screen. There you are. There you go. Don't have to be good. You just got to pop out of the right place. I know. But I always assume. Wow. This sounds like a great deal. How can I get some? I want to go back. I understand.

21:51I mean, I just assume that the talent runs in the family, that you both, as you say, you all popped out and went wah, wah, wah in a deep baritone voice. Yeah, well, it's funny. That's the biggest misconception about our family. Harry was born and raised here in St. Louis. He grew up over in Lafayette Park or Lafayette Square, right? Yep. His mom died when he was young. His dad left the family when he was three or four years old, so he had no knowledge of who his dad was. His aunt worked at the International Shoe Company building over on Shoto, over that way. Ironically enough, my maternal great-grandfather also worked for International Shoe Company.

22:32That's another story. But Harry tricked my dad into getting into the business. My dad was a Webster Groves statesman. You guys all know Webster Groves. And his dream was to be a professional football player. He blew out his knee, and Harry said, well, you've got to find something else to do. So he decided to have dad do the high school football roundup on Camo X with the great Bob Highland, who ran Camo X Radio for so many years. And dad did his first show. Harry said, called every single bartender in town and said, Skip's done at 945. Call the station and tell him how great he was. And that sort of allowed my dad to have the bug bite him, as it were.

23:09There you are. You know, one of my questions for you, as a very experienced baseball announcer, is how you fill the time when there's nothing much else happening. And I think you just demonstrated it. Ah, well. That was remarkable. It was a BS in journalism. it's actually easier on TV because you have the pictures I'm really lucky here in St. Louis I've only been here three years but I've had a phenomenal partner in Brad Thompson if you follow the Cardinals Brad is so good at what he does Ms. Sloan has a question for you I would just like to say I have absolutely no idea what is happening right now it's more of a comment than a question I've given context But I can say, the way you have explained all of these things, I am so glad you use your powers for good.

24:04Might want to ask my wife about that. Well, I feel like you can talk to anybody out they draws. That's a known fact. So I'm glad you have picked this line of work because you would have been a vicious lawyer. Oh. Oh, especially if you had a billboard and was working on accidents, everybody would have got$36 million. I'd be the guy and I love you man in the Speedo. Hey, you know. Yeah, so thank you for doing what you do because you could have been a menace. You have been, as far as I was able to tell, broadcasting professional sports at the highest level since around 1987. Yeah. I think I've got to ask you this.

24:41Yeah. Harry Carey, for those who don't, it was very distinctive. And people do imitations of Harry Carey to this day. Will Ferrell, I believe this is true, got a job on Saturday Night Live by doing a Harry Carey impression. Yes. Can you do a Harry Carey impression? Some people say, you guys want to hear it? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if it's any good, but I'll try. Arnie Harris was the late great director of the Cubs. He was fantastic about telling a story about the game that had nothing to do with the game. Right. So, pitch is made. he shoots to a couple in the bleachers on a warm summer day at Wrigley.

25:18Boyfriend, girlfriend, smooch. Cut back to the pitcher. Pitch, smooch. Happens a third time. Harry says, Arnie, I got it! And Steve Stone says, what are you talking about? He said, he's kissing her on the strikes, she's kissing him on the balls.

25:42Like I said, That went on air, too. That was a real thing that he said on live television. All I can say is it's terrifying to see your future. It really is. Oh, God. That's a true story. I believe you. Well, Chip Carey, we have asked you here to play a game yourself for once, and it's a game we're calling... What do you know about these Cardinals? The St. Louis Cardinals and the Cardinals of the Catholic Church have a lot in common. Neither one can hit. We were going to say elaborate uniforms and they all wear little hats, but that's also true. We're going to see what you know about the other variety of Cardinals.