WWDTM: Laufey

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 WBZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. If my voice wore pants, I'd buy them in the big and tall section.

0:33I'm Bill Curtis and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal Thank you Bill, thanks everyone We are very excited as well for this week's show because later on we're going to be interviewing Leve, the brilliant Icelandic pop jazz musician and yes, Icelandic pop jazz musician is what you get when you ask ChatGPT to create the perfect NPR guest. But if you want to prove that your intelligence is not artificial, give us a call and play our games. The number is 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Let's welcome our first listener contestant.

1:15Hi, you're on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. Hi, this is Shannon. I'm calling from Flagstaff, Arizona. Hey, Shannon. How are you? Oh, Flagstaff is great. I'm excited to talk to you guys. I'm very excited to talk to you. Flagstaff is a great place to be because you're up and high and away from the brutal heat, right? Yeah, I just moved here like two weeks ago from Phoenix, and I'm not moving back. Yeah, just in time. What do you do or will you do there now that you're there? About 15 minutes ago, I got an offer from a cardiac physician as a nurse at the hospital here. So I'm pretty... Oh, my gosh. This is great.

1:49Did Flagstaff get a new job? Come on our show. We don't talk in a way. Don't tell me. Yeah, everything's... It's the best day ever. I hope you studied to be a nurse. Well, Shannon, it's great to talk to you, and congratulations on all the good things, but let me introduce you to our panel this week. First up, a comedian appearing at Hey Nani in Arlington Heights, Illinois, August 1st. It's Adam Burke. Hi. How are you? Hello. Congratulations. Thank you. Next, a comedian whose album, Yell Joy, is available to buy at Blonde Medicine. It's Joy Yell. Nicole Johnson. Hi Shannon. Hi Joelle. And an actor and writer who will be appearing at Chicago's I.O.

2:28Theater in the acclaimed show Two Square this very weekend. It's Peter Gross. Hi. Hey Peter. So Shannon welcome to the show. You're going to play Who's Bill this time. Of course Bill Curtis is going to start us off by recreating two or three shall we say voices from the week's news. If you can correctly or explain just two of them then you will win our prize. Any voice from our show you might choose for your voicemail. Are you ready to go? Yes. All right. Your first quote, then, is from ranking House rules committee member Congressman Jim McGovern. They're scared bleep-less over those files. McGovern was explaining the move by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson as he shut down Congress early to avoid having to reveal what?

3:10Is that the Epstein file? It is the Epstein file. Speaker Mike Johnson ended the House session a day early, saying he wanted lawmakers to have more vacation time to be with their families or travel to the secret sex islands they love. Now, Johnson was dealing, of course, as all the Republicans are, with hordes of conspiracy theorists in their own party demanding to see these Epsom files, so he did the perfect thing to put them at ease, shutting down the government to avoid talking about it. I also do appreciate that, like, I learn a lot from Trump sometimes, like whenever you're in trouble for something, and just be like, Obama.

3:50And... Yep. Yep. No, it's true. The administration is trying so hard to distract from all this. They're bringing up Hillary's emails. Remember that one? Yes. They're investigating Obama. They're like, oh, Epstein files. Hey, guys, remember Pizzagate? Yeah. It is. It's like a... Well, it's the summer, so it's a time that a lot of old men go on tour and play their greatest hits. Exactly. Yeah, he's going to be like, William Henry Harrison died in 30 days. This is horrible for Trump because he's so eager to distract attention from this. He's being forced to do his job. He's being forced to actually talk about government.

4:27And it's so funny how obvious some of the distractions are. He's opening up an inquiry into the last season of Game of Thrones. Now that I want to know. Okay, that, all right. That finally unites the nation. Yeah. No, it's the first thing seemingly that has stuck to Trump. So the Democrats are now pushing him on it too, right? They're all like Epstein files. We want to see the Epstein files. Nothing has united Democrats and Republicans like this since they all went to Jeffrey Epstein's island together. I know, man. If you want to trade Bill Clinton for Donald Trump, that is a trade I will make.

5:02Exactly. All right. Here, Shannon, is your next quote. Ideally, I'd have nice natural hair. But if you don't have it, you have to buy it. That was a man speaking to the New York Times about how these days it is now less and less embarrassing for men to wear a what? Is that a wig or a toupee? Yeah, toupee. Yes, very good. Toupees are not embarrassing anymore. The stigma of artificial hair replacement is gone. It's no longer shameful or embarrassing to be bald. Those things are all true, not just things my therapist told me to say. the shift in attitude toward toupees is thanks to tiktok particularly clips from a woman who's called the toupee queen she shows off her clients getting surprisingly good-looking hairpieces because if you're going to shell out a thousand bucks for a custom-made natural-looking toupee you're going to want to make sure there's a video on the internet letting everybody know it's a complete fake i also want men to be more confident about it because i know white men y 'all get weird about baldness because you think just black men could be hot and bald, but no.

6:11But they're so hot. They really are. Listen, my boyfriend is half white, half Asian, so I got a little Keanu. But he's bald, so he looked like Neo when he came out of the duck store. Like, get your bald head, baby. I like to rub it. Before we go further, did you say duck sauce? I did say duck sauce. This is the thing. And these things cost$1 ,000. You can get$1 ,000 to pay, and you can get someone literally called the toupee queen to put it on. But then you have to trust men to take care of them. Right. And we won't. We won't. Within a week, that thing's going to look like a dog that's been dead for a year.

6:51Yes. Right. And then they call her up like, I don't know what happened. I just showered in it and put on a football helmet and slept in the helmet. And then I played rugby and stuff, and now it looks like crap. Yeah. I do like the vision of more men sleeping in do rags, though. I'm going to get y 'all some bonnets. All right, Shannon, here is your last quote. Somebody, a few years ago, predicting his own obituary. Born 1948. Died whenever. He bit the head off a bat. Well, that man died this week, but most obits saved the bat biting for the second paragraph. Who was it? The great Ozzy Osbourne.

7:34The great Ozzy Osbourne. went to his reward this week at the age of 76. An amazing cultural figure. He basically invented heavy metal as we know it. He and his band Black Sabbath personally terrified thousands of parents in the 1970s as they corrupted their children. And then they mortified thousands of children in the 90s who had to watch their parents headbang to Black Sabbath. But even Ozzy knew the one thing everybody focuses on is that one time he bit the head off a bat on stage, which is so unfair to him, he also bit the head off a dove. I know, as a gesture of peace. It does, yes. Are these doves and bats in like a purse?

8:21Or a lady bag? They're part of the entourage. This guy had an amazing rock and roll life. He got banned for years from performing in San Antonio. Because he urinated on the Alamo. Which I'm sure plenty of people did when they were fighting. It was four days. I know, true. I mean, why hold it against him? Yeah, there was no bathroom back then. 1840 something. He was an inspiration to me because I drink a lot. And then when I think about quitting, I would look at him and be like, I'm aight. Yeah, how old was he? 76? He was 76, which is older than a lot of people, including himself, thought he'd ever get, given his lifestyle.

9:01But this is the crazy thing. He not only basically invented heavy metal, more or less, he also invented reality TV because the MTV show The Osbournes from the early 2000s was the first show that realized the possibilities of just having cameras follow famous weirdos around all day. He inspired an entire generation to share with the nation how talentless your kids are. Yeah. Yes. And Will Smith, they're on that train. Don't be ashamed. So he got a couple of ducks. Bill, how did Shannon do in our quiz? Can't do any better than three in a row. Shannon, you're great. Thank you, guys. Take care, Shannon.

9:45Thank you.

9:56All right, panel, time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Peter, an intern at an elite Manhattan law firm made a big impression during her first week on the job when she did what? She solved an unsolvable case. No. She ate an uneatable burrito. She dreamed an impossible dream. Exactly. What's a good hint? No, I will give you a hint. When I said she made a big impression, I meant a dental impression. She bit one of her bosses. She bit 10 of her colleagues. What? Now, it can be a big law firm, big law, it's a big deal. It can be hard to stand out as a summer intern. So one woman made sure she will never be forgotten after she bit 10 people before she was finally fired.

10:49She bit 10 people. How did she get to 10? Does the company have a nine free bite policy? I think I've read the courtroom drama she's written about this. It's called You Can't Handle the Tooth. Ah. Yeah. According to the law business blog that reported it, she bit people, quote, not in an aggressive, we're beefing way, but more of a faux quirky manic pixie dream girl crossed with the Donner Party vibe, unquote. You would be mad if you were one of the first nine where she didn't get fired. Right. Was the tenth like the boss or something? I don't know. Or maybe it was just a round number. Or a judge.

11:30There was definitely like an 11th person who was like, hey, I hear someone's biting people in here. No, no, man, you missed it. You missed it. We just fired her.

11:46Coming up, our Bluff the Listener game is just like riding a bike. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT-TO-PLAY. We'll be back in a minute with more Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR.

12:04Support 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.

12:18From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis. We are playing this week with Peter Gross, Adam Burke, and Joyelle Nicole Johnson. And here again is your host at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sago. Thank you, Bill. 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 Wait, Wait NPR. Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, this is Serenity and I'm calling from Arlington, Virginia. Hey, Serenity, what do you do there in Arlington?

13:00So right now I'm actually working at Salon Monti and that is the salon from Monti Durham from Say Yes to the Dress. Oh, wow. You might have heard of that show. I have heard of that show. So you're sort of making people look beautiful. No, no, no. I don't do that. I just check them in and check them out. Oh, I see. And get them drinks and stuff. Okay, that's also good. Well, welcome to the show, Serenity. You're going to play the game in which you have to tell truth from fiction. Bill, what is Serenity's topic? A Tour de la Tour de France. Ah, the Tour de France, a sport for athletes who don't realize that if you want a yellow jersey, you can just buy one.

13:39But this week, we learned something new about that famous and age-old race. Our panelists are going to tell you about it. Pick the one who's telling the truth, and you'll win our prize, the wait-waiter of your choice in your voicemail. Are you ready to play? I'm ready. Let's go. Let's go. Let's hear first from Adam Burke. While most people may be familiar with the Melio June or the yellow jersey, which signifies the winner of each stage of the Tour de France, few may know about the L 'Anton Rouge, the dubious distinction given to that rider, which managed to bring up the rear of the pack in the famous bike race.

14:12While many riders over the years have decided that any distinction is better than none and tried to nab that spot, few have been as dedicated as Yves Perrault, who not only has finished dead last in each stage for a record-breaking four times, but has launched both a society and restaurant dedicated to the art of being the worst in your field. At my L 'Antoine Rouge Bistro in Lyon, Yves explained, you can dine on what is universally regarded as the worst cuisine in the region while listening to truly the most terrible chancels and musicians I could find. Perrault has taken his penchant for failure worldwide, launching the Société Internationale du L 'Antoine Rouge, which invites people from all walks of life around the globe to stake their claim as being the absolute crappiest in their chosen disciplines.

15:00We, of course, have a competition for the worst of the worst, Perrault explains, and the most poorly written application also wins the prize.

15:10A four-time winner of the L 'Antoine Rouge for the worst racer. is inspired to create an entire culture around being bad at things. Your next bicycle spiel comes from J.L. Nicole Johnson. If you Google the Tour de France, a few questions pop up. Has there ever been a black rider? Once. Do they pee on themselves while riding? Yeah. Do the riders consume alcohol during the race? Sometimes. The last question sparked the interest of Jolie Laurent. Every year, they would cheer on the riders of the Tour de France at the finish line. The French writers would always celebrate with a glass of red wine, which got Jolieta thinking, why should they have to wait till the end of the party?

15:52So Ivory d 'Energie, or drunk energy, was born. Ivory d 'Energie is a red wine-based energy drink. That's right, they gentrify for a loco.

16:08Every French person knows that the only bad thing about red wine is that it makes you sleepy. But not Ivory d 'Energie. Two Tour de France teams now swear by the drink According to one writer Red wine is good enough for a pregnant woman It's good enough for an athlete biking all over France

16:34In France, a fabulous popular new energy drink Based on red wine Your last tale from La Tour comes from Peter Gross Patrick Donquoise and Joel Gautillard have the most unique jobs at the Tour de France. It's become tradition for Frenchmen who live along the 2075-mile route to take out time from their busy schedule of surrendering to their mistresses to mark the streets with graffiti. So tour organizers hired Patrick and Joel to cover up said graffiti. What specific type of graffiti is the most common? Well, a French journalist described the scene on the track this way. As the van begins its descent, the penis in all its myriad forms springs up as far as the eye can see.

17:22Every July, these two men grab their paintbrushes and go about dismembering the course. Sometimes merely altering the images for expediency. Explaining their process to a local paper, they said, We are adding feet to hide the genitals, so we have made an owl. No one knows why they went with owls when they had so many other birds at their disposal. Cockatiels, cockatoos. Besides, everyone knows owls are hooters, which is a totally different type of graffiti.

17:56All right, so here are your choices from Adam Burke, one of the preeminent winners of the Lantern Rouge, meaning the worst racer, has opened both the restaurant and now a contest, from Joel Nicole Johnson, a new energy tank popular with the riders based, of course, on fine French red wine, or from Peter Gross, that there are two men whose real job it is, is to travel the course before the racers get there and remove or alter the rude graffiti. Which of these is the real story from the Tour de France? I really think it's the third one. You think it's Peter's story of covering up the graffiti. All right.

18:37Well, you've chosen Peter's story. We spoke to a reporter who actually covers the race to bring you the real story. His job is the effacer du zizi, which literally translates as the penis eraser. That was local France editor Emma Pearson talking about the penis repainter of the Tour de France. Congratulations, Serenity. You got it right. You're in a point for Peter Gross. and you've won our prize. The voice of your choice from our show on your voicemail. Congratulations and well done. Thank you. My 16-year-old son will be really proud of this. I'm sure he will. Thank you so much for calling and playing, Serenity.

19:21Take care. Thank you, thank you.

19:27And now the game we call Not My Job. Some hip musicians seem to come out of nowhere, but Leve, our guest today, was born to it. Growing up in Iceland, she soloed on cello with the Icelandic Symphony at the age of 15, and she was the youngest ever competitor on Iceland's Got Talent. Now she's only 26 years old, but she's already won a Grammy, and she'll be touring arenas around the country this fall in support of her new album, A Matter of Time, which drops next month. Leve, welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you.

20:02I've been listening to your music all week, getting ready for this. I am entranced and amazed and don't know how to describe it. And apparently this is a thing. People keep saying you're a jazz musician or you're a pop musician or you're a classical pop jazz musician. What do you say? I'm Leve. There you go. That's all you need to know. She's Leve. That's it. That's all. You grew up, I understand, as a musician from a very young age. your mother plays violin with the Icelandic symphony. So she had you, she had you like playing violin, cello, piano from an early age, right? Oh yeah. I had the whole, whole package.

20:41Yeah. Um, she's from China. So it was kind of, you know, inevitable, uh, upbringing, but I learned cello and piano growing up and definitely had to practice every day. Did you, did you ever rebel at all? Did you ever like, I don't want to practice and go up, want to go outside of you? I think this new album might be my first act of rebellion. Really? How so? I feel like I just, I don't know. There are a couple of swear words in there. All right. She literally just covered her mouth because she said swear words. Is there a song called, I don't want to practice anymore. I just I feel like for the first time I I refused to really truly refused to be boxed in with this with this album right I just my You broke the rules absolutely you're you're reaching out that I You were not trained although your voice is astonishing and reminds me of like the great singers of all time, but You were not trained as a singer In fact, I read that you said you did a singing competition as a kid and the judge said you sounded like a divorced 40 year old

21:56She did yeah, I mean bless her like that was definitely meant to be a compliment, but I Mean they were like, oh, you're so worldly you've been around I think he was trying to say that I had like I had I've always had a very deep voice right i was quite young i've grown into it now i think right i was odd and i am odd i think it worked out for the better right okay yeah do you actually that's kind of interesting do you think yourself as an odd person um less and less or or rather i just own it now but yeah i mean i was like a back then especially i was a 13 year old girl who was only interested in seeing songs from the Great American Songbook in Iceland.

22:39Yeah. Because your music is so redolent of like classic American song, I was delighted to listen to a duet you did with Barbra Streisand. Yeah. Our audience is like, whoa, really? I am also like, whoa, really? It's shocking. So I'm assuming, just given your background and your training and your interest, you knew who Barbra Streisand was. I thought my manager was pranking me. Really? It just seemed so far sought. I thought, I was like, huh, this is a funny joke. Like, you got me. But it was true. And how did you find the great Barbara? I mean, I feel like I've never not known Barbara. I have to ask you about your creative director, who is your identical twin sister.

23:31Yes. Which is delightful. you must have been tempted to try the thing that everybody assumes identical twins do all the time which is swap in for each other like maybe you're tired, maybe you've done the concert maybe you don't want to go meet the fans as you're obligated to do, can you send out her and she'll do it? well they all know who she is and they all want to meet her too so it doesn't help it doesn't help, then it's like even when I go out on my own, it's like where's Junia? so yeah, we did swap one What happened? What was the occasion? It's a secret. Oh, that's great. So wait a minute.