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, can you give us the scores?
BILL KURTIS: First time happened for me in three years - a three-way tie.
SAGAL: Oh, my goodness.
ADAM FELBER: Whoa.
HELEN HONG: What?
ROY BLOUNT JR.: Whoa.
FELBER: We've got to break out that three-sided coin.
HONG: Ooh.
SAGAL: Yeah, I know. OK, Roy, you're going to go first. Fill in the blank. In an interview this week, President Trump said that it seemed unlikely that he would be questioned by blank.
BLOUNT JR.: By Mueller.
SAGAL: Right, Robert Mueller.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, North and South Korea said they would actively cooperate at the blanks in February?
BLOUNT JR.: They're going to talk.
SAGAL: At the...
BLOUNT JR.: Oh, the Olympics.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, federal regulators rejected Energy Secretary Rick Perry's plan to subsidize struggling blank.
BLOUNT JR.: Coal.
SAGAL: Right. And nuclear plants.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, California GOP Representative blank announced he would retire from Congress at the end of the year.
BLOUNT JR.: Darrell Issa.
SAGAL: That's his name.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a woman in California returned a blank to Costco and demanded a refund.
BLOUNT JR.: A dead Christmas tree.
SAGAL: Indeed.
BLOUNT JR.: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: With an overtime win against Georgia, blank won the college football championship on Monday.
BLOUNT JR.: Alabama.
SAGAL: Yep.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After he won a Golden Globe for best actor, five women took to Twitter to accuse blank of sexual misconduct.
BLOUNT JR.: James Franco.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After being accused of lying on his resume, Trump's nominee...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...For Health and Human Services post said his employee records were blank.
BLOUNT JR.: The work of a genius.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: He said that his employment records were destroyed in a tornado.
BLOUNT JR.: Oh.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: According to the resume he presented, Robert Weaver spent almost ten years as a senior administrator at St. John's Medical Center in Missouri. But most of the hospital staff said they've never even heard of him. On top of that, Weaver said he couldn't provide any official employment documents because they were all lost in a tornado.
BLOUNT JR.: Yeah.
SAGAL: And any copies he might have saved at home were eaten by his dog, which is now living with his girlfriend in Canada.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Roy do on our quiz?
KURTIS: He sets a high bar - seven right, 14 more points...
(APPLAUSE)
KURTIS: ...Total of 17 and the lead.
HONG: Wow.
SAGAL: Moving down the table - Helen Hong, you're up next. Fill in the blank. On Tuesday, a federal court temporarily blocked President Trump's move to end the blank act.
HONG: DACA?
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, Vermont's Senate approved the use of recreational blank.
HONG: Marijuana.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: According to officials, dozens of Californians remain missing after flooding caused massive blanks throughout the state.
HONG: Mudslides.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, former Arizona Sheriff blank announced plans to run for Jeff Flake's Senate seat.
HONG: (Groaning) Arpaio.
SAGAL: Right. This week...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...A conference on bitcoin announced it would not accept payment in the form of blank.
HONG: Bitcoin?
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...U.S. officials said that a spy satellite launched by private space company blank was lost on its way to orbit.
HONG: SpaceX.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Thursday, Ecuador's government granted WikiLeaks founder blank citizenship.
HONG: Julian Assange.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Police in Texas were able to successfully identify...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...An armed robbery suspect because he had blanked.
HONG: Told them his name?
SAGAL: No. Because he had had his Social Security number tattooed on his forehead.
HONG: What?
(LAUGHTER)
HONG: Darwin Awards.
SAGAL: Thanks to several eyewitnesses, police in Houston were able to pin a series of armed robberies on Robert Charles Wooten. He was easily identified thanks to his height, his hair color and also the fact that he had his full Social Security number tattooed on his forehead.
(LAUGHTER)
HONG: Wow.
FELBER: That's not bright, but you know what would be bright? Having it tattooed on your forehead backwards.
HONG: (Laughter).
SAGAL: You're right.
BLOUNT JR.: That would be smarter.
SAGAL: He said he only robbed the stores to help pay for all the loans taken out under his name because, somehow, his identity keeps getting stolen.
(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Helen do on our quiz?
KURTIS: What is happening? She got seven right - 14 more points...
BLOUNT JR.: Helen and I are - yeah, hey.
KURTIS: ...Total of 17. They're tied.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Oh, my gosh.
HONG: Uh-oh.
SAGAL: What's amazing is if they did almost perfect, that means Adam has to be pretty much perfect to win. Is that right?
KURTIS: Pretty much - seven to tie, eight to win. You got to be perfect. Here we go.
BLOUNT JR.: Adam is a very stable smarty-pants.
SAGAL: It's true.
HONG: (Laughter)
FELBER: Very stable.
SAGAL: OK, Adam. This is for the game. Fill in the blank. On Tuesday, Senator Feinstein released the transcript of blank founder Glenn Simpson's testimony to Congress.
FELBER: Fusion GPS.
SAGAL: This week...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...The Trump administration announced plans to end the temporary protected status of over 200,000 refugees from blank.
FELBER: El Salvador.
SAGAL: Right. On Wednesday...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...ICE agents arrested two dozen people after raiding 98 blank stores.
FELBER: 7-Elevens.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, federal judges struck down blank's congressional map, calling it unconstitutional.
FELBER: North Carolina.
SAGAL: Right. On...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...Wednesday, Russian officials strongly warned the U.S. against blanking.
FELBER: Um, planking.
SAGAL: No, against...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...Meddling in their upcoming presidential election.
BLOUNT JR.: Ooh.
FELBER: Oh, we would never.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: This week, South Korea announced plans to strongly regulate the trading of blank.
FELBER: Nuclear weapons.
SAGAL: Cryptocurrencies. "Ladybird" and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" were the big winners at this year's blanks.
FELBER: Golden Globes.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: In Spain, doctors decided not to perform a scheduled autopsy...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...After the corpse blanked.
FELBER: Turned out to be alive.
SAGAL: Yes. I'm going give it to you.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: They found out because the corpse started snoring.
FELBER: Ooh.
HONG: Wow.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: The sleeping corpse was found unconscious, declared dead by three different doctors. Together, they prepared the body for autopsy. But then the corpse started snoring. Once he was awake, the man vowed to never again watch "The Crown" with a bunch of medical students.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Did Adam do well enough to win?
KURTIS: This is historic. He got six right - 12 more points. He now has a total of 15. So he didn't quite make it. But we have 17, 17, 15 - two winners right there.
BLOUNT JR.: All right.
FELBER: There you are.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Feel good about it. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.