WWTDM: Gary Oldman

24:24I've got quite a collection. It's kind of fascinating, though. You don't just use the same one. Don't name your agent. Just say your agent. You could use it for years. Now, what you can do, though, is because you don't win and you don't get to speak it, No one knows. So what you do is you can dig one out from years ago and just change. It's so good. Because you go, oh, that was a good one. I never got to say that. Yeah, that was a good one. So let me dig that one out and kind of like move with you. It's sort of cut and paste the thing. As long as you don't make references to like some rights or something of a country that doesn't exist anymore.

25:11The people of Yugoslavia need their...

25:18Gary, it is an absolute pleasure to talk to you again. And once again, we have asked you here to play a game. And this time we are calling it... The Slowest Horses of All. You are, of course, star in slow horses, as we have discussed. So we thought we'd ask you about the very slowest horses. That is hobby horses. Hobby horses are, of course, the toy. It's a stick with a horse's head. and people actually ride these hobby horses in competitive events called hobby horsing, where they go around gates and jump over fences and do dressage just like real horses. So we're going to ask you three questions about hobby horsing.

25:56Get two of them right. You will win our prize for one of our listeners, the voice of anyone they may choose for their voicemail. Ayesha, who is Gary Oldman playing for? Martin Oliver of Los Angeles, California. All right.

26:12Ready to do this? Have you heard or seen hobby horsing? I have seen it. Yeah, it's pretty out there. It's pretty out there.

26:25So, now, if you've watched it, and there are many videos online, you can watch them, you'll notice that it's very popular with young girls. But, according to Hobby Horse Riders Australia, boys are starting to get interested in the sport, but with a notable change. What is it? A, they prefer hobby warhorsing with jousts. B, they make and ride hobby dinosaurs. Or C, boys' rules allow them to turn the horses around and pretend the sticks are guns.

26:56I'm going to go with jousting. You're going to go with jousting. That is a natural choice, but it's actually hobby dinosaurs. Hmm. No, I can't. Yeah. My three-year-old, by the way, could have explained this to you, but you still have two more chances, so you're all good here. The very first American Hobby Horse Championships were held just last month in Michigan, and the competitors who came had to deal with some significant obstacles, such as which of these? A, due to a quirk in Michigan law, the horses had to be stabled and given adequate food and water, even though they are not real. B, those who flew there could not bring their hobby horses on board the plane because they could be used as a weapon.

27:40Or C, the Northern Midwest Alliance for Animal Liberation, which on the first day of competition tried to liberate the, quote, spiritual horses. Okay. Okay.

28:01Okay, I'm going to have to go with C. No, I'm afraid it was B. They could not bring the hobby horses onto the plane because they are essentially four-foot-long sticks. You could use them as a weapon. Okay, that was the obvious one. Yeah, I know. All right, you have one more chance here. Let's see what happens. some competitors use the hobby horse for every event but you know when it's time to retire your loyal hobby horse don't worry because you can always do what a bring them to lincoln massachusetts where they can live out the end of their days with other hobby and rocking horses in a grassy kind of pasture.

28:44E, just break them in half to create two hobby ponies. Or C, send them to a factory to be turned into wood glue.

29:00I'm thinking, when you're done with the horse, I'm not saying that you literally turn it into two ponies, but you just snap this thing over your knee and throw it in the bin. No, it was actually A. Nobody knows

29:27who put the first rocking horse in this pasture near Lincoln, Massachusetts, but it has been joined over the years by dozens more hobby horses, rocking horses so Aisha yeah how did

29:45Oscar winning and sometimes frankly a little intimidating actor Gary Oldman do on our quiz well um you know I think that because he has lost a lot and with the Emmys and things like that I think we should give it to him. I think you're right.

30:10You're always a winner here. If you happen to still have the Emmy speech handy, you can roll it out now. Well, congratulations on this big win. I hope it makes up for everyone.

30:27Gary Oldman is an Oscar-winning actor, and if you have not yet watched him in the show, Slow Horses on Apple TV. I envy you because you get to start from the beginning. Gary Oldman, thank you so much for joining us. I'm Wait, Wait, Don't Tell me. What a pleasure to talk to you again. Take care. Awesome.

30:49In just a minute, Ayesha introduces you to a very big, very small, new international superstar. And our listener, Limerick Challenge. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to join us on the air. We'll be back in a minute with more Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR.

31:12From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Aisha Roscoe. We're playing This Week with Brian Babylon, Peter Gross, and Karen Chee. And here again is your host at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Aisha. In just a minute, in just a minute, Aisha gets in a fight with a porky rhyme. If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-888-wait-wait. That's 1-888-924-8924. Right now, panel, some more questions for you from the week's news. Peter, according to the New York Times this week, there's something that we thought only happened to toddlers, but now we know it happens to adults, too.

31:53What is it? They make in their pants. Peter, what did you do? We have meltdowns. We have tantrums. Yes, tantrums. That's the answer. Psychologists have suggested that the reason small kids often have temper tantrums in the afternoon is because of, quote, after school restraint collapse. The idea is they've been at school, preschool, whatever, behaving all day, following orders. They get home. All that pen-op stress comes pouring out. And adults have the same experience, right? I mean, so yeah, don't get upset at them. It's just a case of the terrible 32s. That is true. After I've behaved so well on this panel, I always go back and just trash the dressing room.

32:43I just curse like crazy. I mean, if you think of it, it makes sense because, you know, adults, what do you do? You go to work, right? You're dealing with crises. You're dealing with stress. You just repress it all. You don't react, then you go home and you go directly into family life and you blow up because you just don't have a moment to just like decompress first. And also because they wanted blueberries, but not these blueberries. I hate these blueberries. Go away. Also alcohol, I think happens. Yeah. Yeah. Brian, this year's hottest aesthetic for decorating your home is being inspired by a certain group of people.

33:19Who are they? Hottest aesthetic? Like the vibe? Like the vibe. Oh, yeah, yeah. The aesthetic, the look. I don't know. Give me a hand on that. It's amazing how you can refresh the look in your house when you got the house. What? Oh, realtors. No. No, I don't know. What do you... When you got the house? Homeowners? Like people who buy a house? This is a dumb question. This is a dumb question. Like, what do you mean? People who have bought homes? Let's just group guess this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not homeowners? Garden gnomes? I'll give a hint. Basically, it's people who have been able to free themselves from the little voice that was holding them back because they got the house and the little voice had to move back in with his mom.

34:05Is it recently divorced people? It is. What? It's actually called divorced mom core. Oh. Cottage core. Divorced mom core is what this is called. Divorced dad core is like, ugh. That's rough. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You don't want to direct our Divorced Dad Corps. You don't want to do that. See that coffee table? Domino's box. Divorced Mom Corps, it's all about apparently, you know, the fact that these women finally get to do exactly what they want, indulge the women. Without a man telling me what to do. Exactly. In Divorced Mom Corps, quote, natural light floods the rooms and there's a certain piece that comes with knowing every item in the house reflects their taste, unquote.

34:48Like they take down that live laugh love sign and put up the live love who's laughing now Wait a second if I know most heterosexual couples the woman is the one who put up the live laugh love sign It wasn't like oh man, I got rid of my husband's like every you know, this is a knitting house My husband is like it's wine o 'clock I'll be taking this wine o 'clock thing and this ball of yarn.

35:23Coming up, it's Lightning Fill in the Blank, but first it's the game where you have to listen for the rhyme. If you'd like to play on air, call or leave a message at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. You can see us most weeks right here at the Studebaker Theater in downtown Chicago. You should also check out this week's edition of our How to Do Everything podcast featuring the great Tom Hanks. and a fact that will change the way you look at chimpanzees forever. Hi, you're on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Hi, Alex Pilot from Knoxville, Tennessee. Hey, how are things in Knoxville, Alex? They're very good.

35:54I'm starting to finally feel like fall. Oh, I'm so glad to hear. Fall is beautiful in Tennessee. What do you do there? I'm a medical writer by day, and I make stained glass on evenings and weekends. Oh, wow, that's incredibly cool. Now, stained glass often is like representational. Do you like do pictures of something in your stained glass? I pretty much do nature stuff. I like to make flowers and insects and bats and kind of a mix of pretty and creepy and weird things, all of the above. Well, Alex, welcome to the show. Aisha Roscoe right here is going to read you three news-related limericks with a last word or phrase missing from each.

36:24If you can fill in that last word or phrase correctly into the limericks, you will be a winner. Ready to go? Sure thing. Here is your first limerick. At the zoo, the lines move at a clippo, wave hello, take a pic, and then dip-o. Mu Dang's rosy cheeks make the visitors shriek. But move on, you can't crowd this young... Hippo. Yes, the newest international megastar is Mu Dang, a baby pygmy hippo born in a Thai zoo. Her keeper posted some photos of her on Facebook soon after she was born, and she went globally viral so quickly, quarterback Aaron Rodgers thinks she's a hoax.

37:12Mudang, the name roughly translates to bouncy pork, is so irresistibly adorable that this is all true. She has become a makeup influencer. Sephora Thailand put up a picture of her with the tip, wear your blush like a baby hippo, which means like just wallow in mud, right? Here, Alex, is your next limerick. The pilot gets on the air, sweet. will the passengers please take their seat and do not expose your stinky gross toes. Please refrain from exposing bare feet. Yes. You got the word right and the emotion. People are learning just this week that flying barefoot isn't just something that'll make people glare at you and secretly text about you.

38:05It can actually get you kicked off the plane now. Except if you're in an exit row and an emergency bare feet count as an extra pair of hands. So people like bearing their feet on airplanes have become such a problem that the airlines have had to specify dress requirements as official policies. So for example, American Airlines policy now prohibits, quote, offensive clothing and bare feet. Wow. So if you really want to make flight attendants nuts, just wear offensive shoes and socks. What are they going to do? Make you take them off. Can they really kick people off? They really can. God bless it.

38:45Yeah, I know. Finally, something good in the news, right? But what if you're wearing flip-flops? Does that count if you take your flip-flops off? Leave them on. You have to leave them on? But your foot's already out. I've been sitting down and I've seen toes pop from me. It's always like out your periphery. It's like that's a toe there. Hello, Brian. Yeah, it's like that. All right, here is your last limerick. Gastric winds blow our home life apart. So we found a solution that's smart. We go out for a walk and make sure that we talk. So my partner can't tell when I fart. Yes, indeed.

39:30Canadian actor, TV host, and food blogger Marilyn Smith is recommending what she calls nightly fart walks with your partner to help maintain healthy blood sugar and unhealthy boundaries. So we all know that walking right after a meal can help regulate your blood sugar, keep it from spiking. but as Smith says, we eat a lot of fiber so we have gas and you fart when you walk. So she and her husband enjoy what they now refer to as their regular fart walks. It's another way just to let your partner of many years know that you have just given up. That's what I was thinking. But that's assuming that your stomach has to be on that cycle like what if it's not, hey man I'm just going to wait until you go to bed to let this out versus right after you eat and the walk.

40:21What if the fart's not ready to leave? That's why they're perfect partners for each other because they have the same fart cycle. They're in sync. That's when you know. That's when you know it's love. My girlfriend and I have a thing where we're like, oh my God, same thought. We were thinking the same thing. And people are like, same fart. I was farting the same time as you were. It's actually kind of nice that they do it as a couple, but why do they make their kid come along to score? Aisha, how did Alex do in our quiz? He did an amazing job. Three out of three. Perfect score. Well done. Congratulations.

40:56Congratulations. Thanks.

41:16Now on to our final game, Lightning fill-in-the-blank. Each of our players will have 60 seconds in which to answer as many fill-in-the-blank questions as they can. Each correct answer is now worth two points. Aisha, can you give us the scores? Okay, so Peter has three, Brian has two, and Karen has four. Whoa! Alright, well, this means, Brian, you're in third place, you're up first. The clock will start when I begin your first question, fill-in-the-blank. On Tuesday, Israel took credit for the thousands of electronic devices that exploded in blank. Lebanon. Right. On Thursday, scientists again linked animals at a market in Wuhan with the early spread of blank.

41:55Coronavirus. Right. This week, the Justice Department announced they were seeking over$100 million from the owners of the ship that destroyed the key bridge in blank. Baltimore. Right. On Tuesday, Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have guaranteed access nationwide to blank. IVF? Yes, in vitro fertilization. This week, experts suggested that one effective way to avoid getting microplastics in your brain is to stop blanking. Cocaine? No. The answer is breathing. Oh. On Tuesday, the harvest supermoon coincided with a partial lunar blank. Eclipse? Right. On Monday, a leading group of pediatricians warned against buying a blank for your kids.

42:38iPad? No, trampoline. This week, Australia released data from 2023 revealing that nearly half of all airplane noise complaints came from blank.

42:51Didgeridoos? No, came from the very same guy. Oh, yeah. His name is Jackie O. Didgeridoos. do. Out of the 51 ,000 noise complaints called in to the Australian Aviation Authority last year, 21 ,000 came from just one man in Perth, Australia. That means that on average, he called to complain 59 times a day for an entire year. It's gotten so bad that when you call the 800 number they put up for complaints, the automated message just says, press one for Spanish and two if this is Jim again. Aisha, how did Brian do in our quiz? So Brian got five right for 10 more points, and Brian now has 12 points and the lead.

43:34All right. Very good, Brian. Peter, I believe you are up next. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve announced a half-point blank cut. Interest rates. Right. Three days after a failed assassination attempt, blank held a rally in Michigan. Trump. Right. This week, the WHO declared blank resistant infections a global health risk. Antibiotic? Right. After denying a report detailing shocking comments left on a porn site, Mark Robinson vowed to stay in the race for governor of blank. Pornville. North Carolina. Right. This week, a beverage maker in Columbia challenged Coca-Cola's trademark so they could freely sell their own drink, blank.

44:15Cola Coca. No close, Coca-pola. This week, research that led to the creation of obesity drugs like blank won the Lasker Medical Award. Ozempic? Right. This week, the hottest calendar for 2025 went on sale. It features a year's worth of pictures of cats showing off blank. They're six-packs. No, they're testicles. Now, I know what you're thinking. Okay, great. Finally, it's here, but only 12 months of cat testicles? No, no. Don't worry. This is a daily calendar. It'll make the perfect gift for anyone looking for a good laugh or hoping to test just how strict their office's HR policies are. Ayesha, how did Peter do on our quiz?

44:59So Peter got five right for ten more points, and so he now has 13, and Karen needs five more to win. All right, then. Karen, this is for the game. Fill in the blank. On Tuesday, a judge denied bail to hip-hop mogul blank. Did he? Yes, also known as Sean Combs. According to experts, the Starlink satellites launched by blank are interfering with astronomical observations. Uh, Russia? No, they launched by Elon Musk. This week, the Teamsters Union declined to endorse a candidate for blank. President. Right. According to a new study, three cups of blank a day may be good for your heart. Coffee? Right.

45:32This week, a state senator in Kentucky is recovering well after he drove blank into blank. Um, a car into a hay bale. No, a riding lawnmower into his swimming pool. This week, police dispatchers in Dover, Delaware, are being praised for their quick actions in helping rescue a sinking boat in blank. The ocean.

45:56You could have just said the water. That would have been even more. It was actually in Dover, England. When a man saw his brother's boat was sinking in the English Channel, he quickly Googled the phone number for the Dover police, clicked the first result, and was connected to a dispatcher 3 ,500 miles away in Dover, Delaware. Thankfully, the operators acted quickly. They got rescue services dispatched to the sinking ship, and they should arrive sometime within the next two months. Ayesha, did Karen Chi do well enough to win? No. Oh. No. So Karen got three right for six more points. So with 13 points, Peter is this week's champion.

46:39Well done.

46:44In just a minute, we're going to ask our panelists to predict what will be the big news to come out of the rat summit in New York City. But first, let me tell you all that Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago in association with Urgent Haircut Productions, Doug Berman, Benevolent Overlord. Philip Godeker writes our limericks. Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our tour manager is Shannon Donald. Thanks to the staff and crew at the Studebaker Theater. And this week, we want to note the passing of our friend, the journalist and author, Neil King Jr. He did a lot of remarkable things in his life.

47:17But to us, the most impressive was helping to raise his daughter, Lillian King, our beloved colleague and friend here at Wait Wait. Our condolences to Lillian, her sister Frances, and their mother, Shayla Murray. We love you, Tilly. B.J. Lederman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Durnbos and Lillian King. Special thanks this week to Monica Hickey. Our celebrity pygmy hippo is Peter Gwynn. Emma Choi is our vibe curator. Technical directions from Lorna White. Our CFO is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. Our senior producer is Ian Chillog.

47:47And the executive producer of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me is Mr. Michael Danforth. Now panel, what would be the big news out of the big rat summit in New York City? Brian Babylon. Rats will get a tax break for adopting Ninja Turtles.

48:06Karen Chi. We're going to stop giving them grasshoppers. And Peter Gross. Gary Oldman will unveil his flawless, brilliant plan to turn all the rats into wood glue. And if any of that happens, we'll ask you about it on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you so much. Aisha Roscoe just took a fabulous job. Filling Bill Curtis's impressive shoes. Thanks also to Karen Chee, Brian Babylon, and Peter Gross. Thanks to our fabulous audience here at the Studio Maker Theater. Each and every one of you. Thanks to everybody who's listening at home or wherever you may be. I'm Peter Sagal. We'll see you next week in Kansas City mode.

48:53This is NPR.