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Lightning Fill In The Blank

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 is worth two points. Bill, can you give us the scores?

BILL KURTIS: Marina has two...

SAGAL: Hey.

KURTIS: Peter has three, Tom has four.

SAGAL: OK, Marina, you are in third place. You're up first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, Fox News announced they were canceling the next GOP debate after blank announced he didn't want to participate.

MARINA FRANKLIN: Trump.

SAGAL: Yep. On Monday, the White House reported they had captured an American fighting for blank in Iraq.

FRANKLIN: Oh, ISIS, I think.

SAGAL: Yes. On Thursday, a former member of Ukraine's parliament was sentenced to two years in prison for exchanging blank for votes.

FRANKLIN: Food?

SAGAL: Actually, yes. He exchanged grilled chicken for votes.

SAGAL: On Tuesday, Pope Francis officially approved making blank a saint.

FRANKLIN: Making - Mother Teresa.

SAGAL: Yes, very good.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Police in the U.K. on the lookout for a suspicious man walking along the highway carrying a small child instead found blank.

(LAUGHTER)

FRANKLIN: An eggplant?

SAGAL: No.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: A garden gnome.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: After police caught up with him and discovered that the child was actually a garden gnome, they arrested the man and then, this is true, they tweeted out a picture of the gnome to see if anyone would claim it as their child.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Bill, how did Marina do in our quiz?

KURTIS: She got five right. And that's 10 more and a total of 12.

FRANKLIN: Oh, God.

KURTIS: She's got the lead.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: OK. Peter, you're up next. Fill in the blank. This week, the Obama administration withdrew its plan to allow blanking off the Atlantic coast.

PETER GROSZ: Drilling - oil drilling.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: After the U.S. warned of a potential attack a suicide bombing hit the capital of blank this week.

GROSZ: Turkey.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: For the first time ever, an official from blank acknowledged a link between football and brain disorders.

GROSZ: From - oh, from the NFL.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

GROSZ: OK.

SAGAL: On Wednesday, stocks rose after the Federal Reserve announced they were scaling back potential blank increases.

GROSZ: Rate increases, yeah.

SAGAL: Yes, interest rate.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: An Ohio man asked to say the alphabet during a sobriety test refused on the grounds that he was blank.

GROSZ: Drunk.

SAGAL: No. He said I will not recite the alphabet because I am unfamiliar with it.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: This week, Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg confirmed they would return for a fifth blank movie.

GROSZ: Terrible, "Indiana Jones" movie.

SAGAL: Yes. On Wednesday, Frank Sinatra, Jr., best known as the son of blank, passed away at the age of 72.

(LAUGHTER)

GROSZ: Sammy Davis, Jr.

SAGAL: That's right.

(APPLAUSE, LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: That would be quite the scandal wouldn't it? Wouldn't it?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Frank Sinatra, Sr. - this week, a waiter in New York was charged with petty larceny and possession of stolen goods after he was caught blanking.

GROSZ: He was where?

SAGAL: He was a waiter in New York.

GROSZ: Stealing dinner rolls.

SAGAL: No. He was caught giving away free sodas at the IHOP where he worked. According to the owners of the International House Of Pancakes franchise where he worked, William Powell is a thief who gave away over $3,000 worth of free drinks. But according to William Powell, he is a modern-day Robin Hood. He said that. How does he know? The recipients of his liquid bounty are poor, needy and desperate. Well, they're eating at IHOP.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Bill, how did Peter do on our quiz?

KURTIS: Well, he got five right. That gives him 10 more points. With a total of 13, he takes the lead.

SAGAL: Well done. All right. How many then...

FRANKLIN: Oh, somebody.

SAGAL: ...Does Tom Bodett need to win?

KURTIS: Five to win.

SAGAL: All right, Tom. This is for the game. On Thursday, an American student was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor after he attempted to steal a propaganda banner in blank.

TOM BODETT: North Korea.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: After consulting with government leaders, Vladimir Putin ordered a withdrawal of Russian troops from blank this week.

BODETT: Syria.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, Secretary of State John Kerry accused blank of committing genocide.

BODETT: Oh, ISIS in Iraq.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Sea World announced this week that it was ending its controversial blank breeding program.

BODETT: The orca.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, a health and safety training event in England was canceled due to blank.

BODETT: Due to illness.

SAGAL: Yes, due to health and safety concerns.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Tuesday, FIFA confirmed it had taken bribes from countries hoping to host the blank.

BODETT: The - the World Cup.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: No, how could it be? On Thursday, archaeologists confirmed that blanks tomb may contain hidden chambers.

BODETT: King Tut.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, a couple in Queensland, Australia, accused of keeping an unlicensed pet rabbit tried to avoid the fine by blanking.

BODETT: They - they hid it in - in a hat.

SAGAL: No.

(LAUGHTER)

BODETT: They pushed - they pushed it into a hat.

SAGAL: No. They claimed that their enormous pet rabbit was merely a long-eared guinea pig.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: It turns out that owning an unlicensed rabbit in Queensland, Australia, is a crime punishable by $44,000 fine or time in jail. So the couple in question did everything they could to convince the police that their giant rabbit was just a very strange guinea pig.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Bill, did Tom do well enough to win? I think he did.

KURTIS: What a comeback, seven right, 14 more, total of 18 and the win.

SAGAL: Congratulations, Tom.

FRANKLIN: All right.

(APPLAUSE)

FRANKLIN: Wonderful.

SAGAL: Show these whippersnappers how it's done. In just a minute, we're going to ask our panelists to predict what Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland will do to finally convince the Senate to confirm him.

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WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME is a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago in association with Urgent Haircut Productions - Doug Berman, benevolent overlord. Philipp Goedicke writes our limericks. Our house manager is Don Hall. Our assistant house manager is Tyler Greene. Our intern is Isabellatrix Lestrange Robertson (ph). Our web guru is Beth Novey. Special thanks to the crew at Chase Bank. B.J. Leiderman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Miles Doornbos. Technical direction is from Lorna White. Our CFO is Ann Nguyen. Our production coordinator is Mr. Robert Neuhaus. Our senior producer is Ian Chillag. And the executive producer of WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME every week is Mr. Michael Danforth. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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