WWDTM: Reneé Rapp

0:00Support for NPR and the following message come from Yarl and Pamela Moan, thanking the people who make public radio great every day and also those who listen to listen. our news quiz. I'm the voice so big it won't fit in the overhead compartment. Bill Curtis. And here is your host at the Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, everybody. Great to be back home. And, you know, it's early fall in Chicago. It's really the best time here. We got bright skies, cool breezes off the lake. We got both football and baseball. And we just want to give a big warm welcome to all the visiting National Guardsmen from Texas and Oklahoma.

0:59Hey, everybody. Welcome. Oh, no. We love them. Just everybody have a great time. Enjoy yourselves. And make sure you order ketchup on your hot dogs. We love when you do that. later on we're going to be talking to actor and pop star Renee Rapp but first we want to hear your singing 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 hi you are on wait wait don't tell me hi I'm Abby I'm calling from Chicago hey and what do you do here in the greatest city in the world I am a flight attendant Oh, wow. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. What is the number one annoyance to flight attendants such as yourself?

1:46Oh, God. I think it has to be the shoes and socks off. Oh. But, like, flights under, like, two hours, like, we don't need to be that comfortable. Right. I think, but. Well, thank you for your service, Abby. Let me introduce you to our panel this week. First up, say hello to the writer of the Style Memo newsletter for The Washington Post. It's Shane O 'Neill. Hello, Abby. How are you? Hi. Good. Next, we welcome back the founder of the Freeville Literary Society and Free Cinema. Her Asking Amy newsletter is on Substack. It's Amy Dickinson. Hi, Abby. Hi. And a comedian you can see at the Beale Street Theater in Kingman, Arizona, September 27th and at Grand Comedy Club in San Diego October 4th, it's Alonzo Bowden.

2:41Hello, Abby.

2:45So, Abby, you're going to play Who's Bill this time? Bill Curtis, of course, 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. Any voice from our show you might choose for your voicemail. Are you ready to go? I think so, yeah. All right, here we go. So your first quote is from Vladimir Putin, caught on a hot mic at a big summit this week, talking about wellness. Human organs can be continuously transplanted. People could even become immortal. That was just one of the creepy things overheard as Putin talked with what other world leader at their big summit in Beijing this week?

3:24Ooh, I might need a hint. Well, it was in Beijing, and he was talking to another world leader. The president of China. Yeah, Xi Jinping, president of China. They got together. They got together without us. A lot of people got worried when the U.S.'s two biggest global enemies met in an unprecedented show of unity. Would they gang up on us? So it is reassuring that apparently all they talked about was harvesting our organs so that they could stay in power forever. When you talk about not reading a room, you have leaders that nobody wants around tomorrow talking about how to live forever.

4:11And you have to remember, they're doing all this weird talk about like organ harvesting through a translator, of course, right? You should have seen like this translator's face when Putin said, no, you need a nice youthful donor like this guy here. Do you think that they knew the mic was on and this was just a beautiful troll of Trump? Like, they're talking about how to live forever and he's not there. Do you know how much that would drive him nuts? We do know that our president is jealous of those guys, so maybe he's trying to get in on this. In fact, that's what it turns out they were throwing out the residents at the White House, throwing out the windows.

4:47It was Trump's old organs.

4:52I mean, I would like to hear Vladimir Putin saying, Fame, I'm going to live forever. I'm going to learn how to fly. Fly, hi! The New York Times article on this points out that there is no evidence that replacing a person's organs one by one can, in fact, extend a person's life, which is why Putin is planning to surprise some lucky person and do it all at once. All right, Abby, here is your next quote. It's about new research into a habit that many of us have. Just one more episode. Just one more episode. That was Science Blog summing up a new study, a real one that finds out that what habit is actually good for you?

5:33Binge watching? Binge watching, yes! It's good for you. Sitting on the couch and binge watching TV for hours at a time is good for your health. This is great news. Bedsores are the new abs. So this study had to be funded by Netflix and DoorDash. Probably, yes. And DoorDash, yes. It's an interesting collaboration in silence. No, the idea, all right, follow along here, is that binge-watching entire series of TV rather than just like little TikToks or intermittent episodes, it helps you imagine complicated alternate narratives to get involved in that can help you escape or give context to the pains of your daily life, right?

6:16So, for example, is your boss just incredibly annoying? Why not take just a long mental stroll down the happy corridors of severance? Or, you know, if you're tired of dressing like a human being, you can watch Emily in Paris and get all sorts of severance. Exactly. Yeah. But now that we know that binge-watching is good for you, it's ruined. It's like one more thing we have to be guilty about not doing. Oh, man. I need to get in my 10 ,000 minutes of screen time. Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. I just heard binging was good for you and I was texting my dealers. I understand. Do Americans need another reason to lay on the couch all day?

6:54Like, aren't we good enough at that without another saying, yeah, this is really good for me? Can't you just say I'm an American and just lay down? Right. Exactly. Just own it. You don't need it. Just lay down. You don't need an excuse. I mean, my brain is so rotted from TikTok that when I watch a full 30 minutes of cops, I'm like, yeah. Good for me. Yeah. I have achieved something. Yeah. All right, Abby, your last quote is actually a 1970 review of a classic Bob Dylan album titled Self-Portrait. What is this crap? That was just one of the reviews cited by a writer in The New Yorker this week who's arguing that critics these days need to be what?

7:41Meaner. Yes, meaner. Critics need to get mean again According to the New Yorker's music critic Kalefa Sana, that no-talent hack He's absolutely right The main problem with the world right now Is that everybody is just too nice But you know, I agree Like, lots of criticism, so-called, you know, critics They really just tell you the story You know, it's been ages since I've read Well, probably since my last book came out. Exactly. A real slam. It's true. I don't know about other critics. I can say in sports this has happened. Like Stephen A. Smith has brought in this thing of the sportscaster, sports announcer, what are being so critical.

8:30And the problem is you didn't play. Right. How can you tell somebody whether they're good at it or not? You haven't been there. I mean, as a counter to that, I occasionally will critique things or write reviews of things. I would say, shut up. Yes. All right, well, you shut up. No, you shut up. You shut up. This is the good old days. There we go. This is the Algonquin roundtable right here. Exactly, pretty much. That's just what it was like. Part of the problem these days, of course, is the online community of fans and how mean they can be, right? For example, this is true. The music magazine Paste wrote a scathing review of Taylor Swift's recent album, The Tortured Poets Department.

9:12But they refused to admit who wrote it because they were afraid of retaliation against that person by Swifties. That's true. You do not mess. I mean, really, you don't mess with Swifties. Absolutely not. They are vicious. And if they ever found out who wrote the line, and this is real from that review, quote, quote, Sylvia Plath did not stick her head in an oven for this, unquote. Whoa! We'd have the first ever person in the witness protection program for music criticism. Wow. Bill, how did Abby do in our quiz? Our flight attendant hit 30 ,000 feet and she hasn't come down yet. Is that good? That sounds good.

9:53That's a winner, three in a row. Well done, Abby. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.

10:04Right now, panel, time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Amy, saying they will use drones, dogs, and even lasers. The city council in California thinks they finally have a plan to manage what? It has to be about toddlers. It isn't. Dang. Dogs. It is an animal. They came from the north, from Canada. Geese. Geese, yes. Damn geese. For years, Foster City, California has been trying to get the Canada geese out of its parks. Canada geese, as I'm sure you all know, poop every 20 minutes. They also have horrible attitudes. They're the bird that makes you think, you know, God does make mistakes.

10:46So now the city has come up with a solution. After many years, they've got a big elaborate plan. It uses drones, dogs, and lasers. They're hoping to make the parks inhospitable to geese. They're calling the plan non-lethal. But when asked about that, they said, oh, no, you mean for the geese? Oh, no, we're killing them. when geese are pooping all over your city and not the neighboring cities, you might want to look at your city. That's true. Like, what are we doing that the geese have found us such a nice target? I just love that the plan was hatched. They were like, we got to solve this geese problem.

11:19We're going to ask the weird kid from sixth grade for a plan. Lasers and dogs and drones, robot dogs. Shoot them all with the lasers. The dogs have lasers and the drones have dogs. Yeah, that's what we're going to do. I'm actually doing that.

11:38Coming up, do the right thing in our Bluff the Listener game called 1-888-Wait-Wait-Dot-Play. We'll be back in a minute with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR.

11:49Support 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.

12:03From 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 Shane O 'Neill, Amy Dickinson, and Alonzo Bowden. And here again is your host at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill, and 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 on the air. How you are on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, this is Clark Greger from Plymouth, Minnesota. Oh, Plymouth, Minnesota. I know it. What do you do there? Oh, well, I'm on the city council, and I love to be outside in our parks where we also have geese.

12:47You do. But you're Minnesota nice. You would never use, like, lasers, drones, and dogs on the geese, would you? Never, no. No. Well.

12:58I love Minnesota. Clark, welcome to the show. You're going to play our game in which you have to tell truth from fiction. Bill, what is Clark's topic? Good Samaritan in the news. Sometimes a hero steps forward to help when no one else will, which is great because I certainly want to do it. I'm busy. Our panelists are going to tell you about a good Samaritan we found in the news this week. Pick the one who's telling the truth and you will win our prize, the wait waiter of your choice in your voicemail. Are you ready to play? I sure am. All right. First, let's hear from Amy Dickinson. Mariana Komienovic and Jim Klassen are a retired couple living in rural British Columbia whose phone started ringing off the hook last spring and these strangers calling them from all across Canada wanted to know one thing.

13:41How do I use my new grill? The couple figured out that the Napoleon Grill Company has mistakenly listed their telephone number on their customer support page. But instead of complaining, well, they just answered the questions for six months. They gave out grilling advice, technical fixes that they had researched themselves, and genially shot the breeze about rural life in Canada and, I suppose, how the Oilers were doing this year. So eventually, the girl company sorted out the glitch. But in recognition for their faithful service, they named the couple Honorary Customer Service Ambassadors and gave them a brand new grill.

14:23And what are they doing with it? They're hosting the staff of Napoleon Grills to a cookout. Now that's service. A couple in Canada who unwittingly became the customer support line for a grill company and just went ahead and did it. Your next story of somebody doing the right thing comes from Alonzo Bowden. Andy Keene loved the gym. He loved the workout, the vibe, and of course the results. What he couldn't stand was lazy people not putting their weights away. Nothing was more frustrating than getting a 25 pound dumbbell and having to search for the other one. So Andy decided to do something about it.

15:01He started putting the weights away. He soon realized he was getting a full body workout, just carrying weights back to the racks. His good deed was paying off. Soon his entire workout routine was cleaning the gym. He was even picking up treadmills to get rid of the dust bunnies underneath. The man was yoked and soon his gains were an inspiration to many. His habit was picked up when someone posted on Instagram, look at this guy being so considerate at the gym. Something that's never been said before. Now cleaning up the gym is the new hot fitness trend. Andy says it's a problem because now all the weights are already put away.

15:43So his next goal is cardio while returning shopping carts from the grocery store parking lot. A man starts putting the weights back at the gym and creates a whole new fitness craze. Your last story of people helping people comes from Shane O 'Neill. Skip Lindstrom of Racine, Wisconsin had noticed that some of his neighbors were having a hard time keeping up their front yards. I grew up on this block and keeping a neat lawn was always a point of pride for us, Skip said. Then he added unprompted, also don't you wish it were Christmas every single day? You see, Skip is kind of a Christmas freak, but he also likes helping his neighbors.

16:23So Skip started knocking on his neighbor's doors. I'd say, hey, let me tidy up your lawn. And they'd say, sorry, I can't afford to help. And I'd say, no, no, no, I'll do it for free. Also, don't you wish it were Christmas every single day? For neighbors in need, Skip will mow your lawn, pole weeds, trim edges, and prune bushes. All he asks in return is permission to decorate your house in Christmas lights that will stay up year-round. I don't much care for Christmas, said Roger Elroy, standing next to a seven-foot inflatable Santa Claus on an 85-degree day in late August. But for free lawn care?

16:54Yeah, I guess. One by one, everyone on the block got on board. Now, Skip is finally mounting his most ambitious design yet. Giant letters tacked under the facade of every house on that block that spell out Christmas every day. It's a labor of love, but it's cutting into the time he has for landscaping. In fact, several of the lawns on his block are starting to look a little overgrown. All right, so here are your stories of somebody doing the right thing for once. Is it from Amy Dickinson, a couple in Canada who unwittingly became the customer service agents for a grill company and just kept it up.

17:33From Alonzo Bowden, a guy who started picking up the weights in his own gym and started a whole new fitness craze by doing so. Or from Shane O 'Neill, a Wisconsin man who took care of everybody's lawn just in return for it being Christmas every day. Which of these is the real story of somebody doing good? Well, I'm tempted by the Wisconsin man, but I think that the couple in Vancouver are more Minnesota nice. so I'm going to go with that. Yeah, and there is a strong bond between Canada Nice and Minnesota Nice, so I can see how you went there. You betcha. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Love it. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

18:13Yeah, all right. Well, to see if you're right, let's listen to this. It is actually one of the do-gooders themselves. We were actually getting sometimes up to 20 phone calls a day. That was Mariana Komlinovic. talking to the CBC about her time as a part-time grill fixer. Congratulations, Clark. You got it right. You earned a point for Amy just for telling the truth, and you've won our prize, the voice of your choice, and your voicemail. Well done, sir. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you for playing with us today. Take care. Call me, it's okay. It's okay to call me. Call me, it's okay. It's okay to call me, call me, it's okay And now the game we call Not My Job.

19:05Singer and actor Renee Rapp starred as the meanest mean girl, Regina George, in the musical movie version of Mean Girls. She's also released a hit album of her own songs, and if you want to know what she thinks of her sudden, deserved massive fame as a pop star, her latest album is called Bite Me. Renee Rapp, welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you. Thank you. I'm so excited to talk to you. I loved you in the Mean Girls movie. I loved your first album. But mainly, I am so excited to know that an absolute, genuine, double-A grade pop star was a theater kid. Yeah. Yeah. It's my roots. It is.

19:47It's my roots. Like, how young were you when you first got into theater? I wasn't really into theater immediately. I was always I was just always a huge fan of pop stars And a huge fan of singers And musicians And then I Was just so I think annoying to be around for my family That they were like Well you would do well in the theater And they were right And also you'll have rehearsal Late into the evening Exactly I can't be around for too long Which was nice But I did, I missed a lot because I was in theater. I missed the death of my first pet. I missed the death of my hamster. My mom had to braid that on her own because I was in a thrilling production of Annie.

20:34Did the sun come up the next day, Renee? Just asking. The sun absolutely came out tomorrow and I took myself back to that damn tin bucket and did a hard knock life 10 times better in lieu of my hamster's death. Wow. I love that even at 10, you were able to take that tragedy of the loss of your hamster and transform it into art. Absolutely. I was like, how can I make this about myself? Your first album, Snow Angels, came out a few years ago. Massive hit. Your new album out this summer is called Bite Me. And it has songs. These are just the titles that you wrote the lyrics to. Mad, Leave Me Alone, Why Is She Still Here?

21:15I Can't Have You Around Me Anymore, And I Think I Like You Better When You're Gone. so renee we just met but is everything okay no no at the time no not at all i was um i was just at such a point in my life where everyone felt so um how do you say it like politely everyone was just so annoying to be around and I was so fed up with myself. I was fed up with my work life. I was like, I don't have fun anymore. And I wanted to write an album that was like, I want everyone to get and stay the hell away from me. And I kind of did exactly that. It is thematically the title. Bite Me. Yeah. Because I can't say, I'm not really sure if I can cuss, so if you need to bleep me out, it's okay.

22:14I can't really say, like, get the f*** off my back in a title, because then, like, everything is going to censor me, you know? And then that just won't sell, girl. So I had to find a way. I'm glad you leavened your rage and bitterness with a little bit of commercial sense. I think that's smart. Yeah. Exactly. People say that I'm on media train. That's censored, so watch it. Okay. It's an amazing record, and the songs are stunning and fun and crazy and great, and I recommend it to everybody. I want to ask you one more thing. You were on Stephen Colbert recently and you talked about, I was deeply surprised because I thought I knew you from your work, about your massive crush on Mark Cuban.

22:57Whoa. The billionaire. Whoa, whoa. I know. I understand that this doesn't really seem like my thing. No. You know, it's a boy. For one thing. I have like a very specific brand of like that age of like white boy that like really does it for me for some reason like there's like a thing there that they do that I'm super into like it's kind of like he to me is the equivalent to like Jason Sudeikis on Ted Lasso and then there's this other guy who also is kind of in that I'm forgetting his name off the top of my head but he plays like the evil um brother in Game of Thrones. He's Cersei Lannister. You know the incest?

23:41He's the boy in the incest. Oh, that guy. Yeah, okay. I know who you mean. So deeply. Nicholas Coster-Waldo, that guy. Love. You know what? Yes, I'm so obsessed with him. I saw him at a game one time, I think. I went up to him and he didn't even get a word. I was like, love you. You're so cute. There's something about you that really gets me going and walked away immediately. So they fall in that category of like that bracket of white men like I love them and there's so few middle-aged men That I like sure I don't mean to be presumptuous here But like these are all middle-aged men with full heads of hair wearing like dark suits if you squint those are just butch lesbians

24:27Butch lesbians with jobs girl that's what I like That's what I like. No. Well, it is an absolute joy to talk to you, Renee. And we have, in fact, asked you here to play a game we're calling Bite Me, Edward Cullen. Please bite me. So your new album, as we have mentioned, your new album is called Bite Me, which, of course, immediately reminded us of the Twilight Vampire Saga. Answer three questions about those moody, damp vampires. Oh, God. And you will win a prize for one of our listeners, the voice of anyone from our show, they might choose for their voicemail. Bill, who was Renee Rapp playing for?