PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Now onto 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 he or she can. Each correct answer now worth two points. Bill Kurtis, can you give us a score?
BILL KURTIS, BYLINE: Paula and Faith each have three, Charlie has two.
SAGAL: All right, so Charlie, you are indubitably in third place. You will start first. Here we go. The clock will start when I begin your first question, fill in the blank. On Tuesday, the CDC confirmed the first date case of blank to be diagnosed on U.S. soil.
CHARLIE PIERCE: Ebola.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: eBay announced that it would be spinning off its electronic payment service blank into a separate company?
PIERCE: PayPal?
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Two groups of scientists published reports this week that found a definitive link between extreme weather events and blank?
PIERCE: Climate change.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After an accident involving a tractor, ex-Congressman blank passed away at 73.
PIERCE: James Traficant.
SAGAL: James Traficant, yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: An outbreak of food poisoning struck the annual blank this week?
PIERCE: Oktoberfest.
SAGAL: No, Food Safety Summit.
PIERCE: Oops.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Microsoft announced the follow-up to their Windows 8 operating system would be called Windows blank?
PIERCE: Windows 9.
SAGAL: No. Actually they're skipping nine. It's Windows 10. Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps achieved another personal record when he was charged with his second blank?
PIERCE: DWI.
SAGAL: Yes, indeed.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A man in Pennsylvania explained to police that he fired a bullet through his neighbor's window because he blanked.
PIERCE: Ducked.
SAGAL: No because he didn't know any other way to safely unload his gun. After the man fired a round into his neighbor's house, Pennsylvania police confronted him and he apologized. He said he just didn't know any other way to get that bullet out of the gun. They told him if you want to fire your gun without getting in trouble, next time just aim at the White House like everybody else.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Charlie do in our quiz?
KURTIS: Well, pretty good. He got five right for 10 more points. He now has 12 points and the lead.
SAGAL: Well done, Charlie.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: We have flipped a coin and Paula has elected to go last, so Faith you're up next, fill in the blank.
SAGAL: In Venice, civil rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin finally settled down and married actor blank?
FAITH SALIE: George Clooney.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Thursday, George W. Bush told reporters that he is encouraging blank to run for president.
SALIE: His brother Jeb.
SAGAL: Indeed.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Recovery efforts are underway after an eruption of a volcano in blank.
SALIE: Japan.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: And this week, California became the first state day to adopt blank means blank consent law.
SALIE: Yes means yes.
SAGAL: Indeed.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After police were able to easily find an Oregon man who was hiding from them in a bush, the man said he regretted blanking.
SALIE: Putting on so much cologne.
SAGAL: You're exactly right, Faith.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A gathering of Nobel laureates in South Africa had to be had to be canceled after blank failed to obtain a visa.
SALIE: Was it Stephen Hawking?
SAGAL: No, the Dalai Lama.
SALIE: Oh.
SAGAL: Risking more protests, Spain's constitutional court halted preparations for the Catalonia region's blank vote.
SALIE: They want to secede - secession vote?
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A man in Texas was arrested when he agreed to blank before robbing a bank.
SALIE: Was arrested when he agreed to do something before robbing a bank?
SAGAL: Yes.
SALIE: Get naked.
SAGAL: No. He agreed to show the teller two forms of ID.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: So what happened was - he's like, give me your money. And then they said well, I can't give you your money until you show me two forms of ID, said the extremely coolheaded teller. So he's like oh, OK, and he showed the ID. And if that weren't embarrassing enough, things were even worse for him when he realized he didn't have any place to store his new cash and immediately circled back in line to open a free checking account. Bill, how did Faith do on our quiz?
KURTIS: She got six right. Twelve more points you got, for 15 points and she has a lead.
SAGAL: All right.
SALIE: Oh my.
(APPLAUSE)
PAULA POUNDSTONE: This is a situation here, that's what it is.
SAGAL: It's a situation.
POUNDSTONE: It's a situation.
SAGAL: How many then does Paula need to win?
KURTIS: We're coming down to the wire. She needs six to tie, seven to win.
SAGAL: Oh my gosh, Paula. Here we go, this is for the game.
POUNDSTONE: All right.
SAGAL: Fill in the blank.
POUNDSTONE: Yeah.
SAGAL: On Thursday, the TUrkish parliament began debating whether or not to fight join the fight against blank.
POUNDSTONE: ISIS.
SAGAL: Right, ISIS, ISIL.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A federal appeals court ordered North Carolina to restore their state's same-day blank registration.
POUNDSTONE: Same-day voter.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A grocery store worker in New York was fired from his job and eventually arrested after he blanked.
POUNDSTONE: He stole a lot of food.
SAGAL: No - well, he did actually. He tried to hide $1,200 worth of stolen meat down his pants.
POUNDSTONE: Exactly.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Executives at Netflix announced that their first original movie would be a sequel to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden" blank.
(LAUGHTER)
POUNDSTONE: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Mom.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Hidden Dragon, Paula.
POUNDSTONE: Yeah, yeah.
SAGAL: On Monday, the Detroit Lions confirmed that their tight end had injured himself while blanking.
POUNDSTONE: Being stalked by a lion hunter.
SAGAL: No. He injured himself while trying to keep his dog from peeing in the house. Joe Fauria was forced to miss the Lions game against the New York Jets after he sprained his ankle lunging to keep his puppy from making a piddle on the floor. Fauria admits he's embarrassed by the injury. He's excited to get back on the field and suffer a concussion so he can forget about the whole thing.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, did Paula do well enough to win?
KURTIS: Well, she got six more points for a total of nine, but with 15 points, Faith is this week's champion.
(APPLAUSE)
POUNDSTONE: It was a shellacking.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Congratulations, Faith.
SALIE: Thanks.
SAGAL: In just a minute we'll ask, now that California has banned plastic bags, what will they ban next, those do-gooders? But first, let me tell you that support for NPR comes from NPR stations and CarMax, offering more than 35,000 used cars and trucks online and in stores from coast to coast. Learn more at carmax.com. Pimsleur language programs, offering tools to record an answering machine greeting in fifty languages, learn more at pimsleur.com and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, developing solutions to support strong families and communities for America's children at aecf.org. WAIT WAIT DON'T TELL ME is a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago, in association with Urgent Haircut Productions. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.