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 they can. Each correct answer is now worth two points.
Bill, can you give us the scores?
BILL KURTIS: Paula and Peter each have three. Faith has two.
SAGAL: OK. Faith, you are in third place. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. On Tuesday, Democrats in the White House reached an agreement on a trade deal that will replace blank.
FAITH SALIE: NAFTA.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, Time Magazine named blank their person of the year.
SAGAL: Greta Thunberg.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, rescue workers in New Zealand continued their search for survivors of an unexpected blank that hit the island on Monday.
SALIE: Volcano.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Thursday, CNN announced they would host the next blank in Iowa.
SALIE: Debate.
SAGAL: Right, Democratic debate.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: In the ceremony at the Independent Fitters carpet store, surrounded by friends and family, a woman in England married her blank.
SALIE: Carpet.
SAGAL: Yes, she did.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: She married a rug named Matt. On Wednesday...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...Disgraced Hollywood producer blank reached a tentative $25 million settlement with his accusers.
SALIE: Harvey Weinstein.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that 2019 was Alaska's blankest year on record.
SALIE: The hottest.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A middle school bus in Florida had to be evacuated...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...After the driver was overwhelmed by blank.
SALIE: Body spray.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
PETER GROSZ: She ran the table.
SAGAL: Did you know that or did you just assume that...
SALIE: I I did know that.
SAGAL: The bus driver was forced to pull over because the smell of AXE body spray was so powerful that he thought kids on the bus might choke. The bus was aired out. EMTs were called in, declared everybody safe. But the officials say it could have been much worse. The bus could have been exposed to what middle-schoolers smell like without any body spray.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: So it seems like Faith did pretty well.
KURTIS: Well, pretty well couldn't have done any better. Eight right, 16 more points, total of 18. She's in the lead.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: All right, we've flipped a coin and Paula has decided to go last. That means, Peter, you're next. Fill in the blank. In a report released on Monday, the inspector general confirmed that the investigation into blank's election meddling was unbiased and justified.
GROSZ: Russian meddling.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: In a report released on Monday, the IG criticized the FBI's handling the investigation into blank's election meddling.
SAGAL: Russia.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After two unsuccessful attempts to form a new government, blank's parliament announced a third set of elections.
GROSZ: Oh, Israel.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Sunday, President Trump said that North Korean leader blank was damaging their special relationship.
SAGAL: Kim Jong Un.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Two Wisconsin men on their way home from a Packers game were arrested for drunk driving and starting a fistfight over blank.
GROSZ: Over who got to wear the only one cheese hat in the car.
SAGAL: No, over the show "How I Met Your Mother."
On Thursday, NASA announced that they had found water ice just below the surface of blank.
GROSZ: The moon.
SAGAL: Mars.
On Monday, Paul Volcker, the former chair of the blank, passed away at 92.
GROSZ: Chair of the board.
SAGAL: Chair of the Federal Reserve.
GROSZ: Oh. Oh, OK.
SAGAL: Animal control officials in Las Vegas say...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...They have no idea who's responsible for the sudden outbreak of pigeons blanking.
GROSZ: Turning into tigers at the "Siegfried And Roy Show."
SAGAL: No, the outbreak of pigeons wearing tiny cowboy hats.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: People started spotting birds wearing tiny red cowboy hats early last week. And officials are baffled. No one is sure if this is a one-man operation or the work of a really bored group of haberdashers.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Either way, Animal Control says they're worried about the birds' safety because if they're wearing the wrong color hat when they walk into the pigeon saloon, there might be a gunfight.
GROSZ: Now there's pigeons in Las Vegas?
SAGAL: Yes, people are finding pigeons...
GROSZ: They are so lost. Why are they in Las Vegas?
KURTIS: (Laughter).
SAGAL: There are pigeons everywhere.
GROSZ: In the desert. There are desert pigeons.
SAGAL: Pigeons follow humans.
SAGAL: Well, that's my point.
SAGAL: There you are.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Peter do on our quiz?
KURTIS: He got four right, eight more points, total of 11. And he trails Faith.
SAGAL: All right, how many then does Paula need to win?
KURTIS: Eight.
GROSZ: Fourteen.
(LAUGHTER)
KURTIS: Eight to win.
SAGAL: Here - right. Here we go, Paula. This for the game.
PAULA POUNDSTONE: Yeah.
SAGAL: On Wednesday, the House passed a bill authorizing the creation of a sixth branch of the military known as blank.
POUNDSTONE: The Space Force.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, a federal judge in Texas blocked the White House from using military funds to build blank.
POUNDSTONE: The wall.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, The Washington Post published documents that showed U.S. officials hid indications that the war in blank was unwinnable.
POUNDSTONE: Afghanistan.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, the World Anti-Doping Agency banned blank from participating in global sports for four years.
POUNDSTONE: Russia.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a nursing home in the U.K. fulfilled a resident's bucket list when they gave her blank for Christmas.
POUNDSTONE: A little clip of Boris Johnson's hair.
SAGAL: No, they gave her exactly what she requested, which was, quote, "a stripper with big biceps and a large chest."
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, an appeals court upheld comedian blank's sexual assault conviction.
POUNDSTONE: Bill Cosby.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Best known as the puppeteer behind the Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, blank passed away at 85.
POUNDSTONE: This is the depressing question game.
(LAUGHTER)
POUNDSTONE: Caroll Spinney.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Saying she was annoyed that her husband was going out drinking all the time...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...A woman in the U.K. blanked.
POUNDSTONE: She got a puppy.
SAGAL: No, she built a bar for him in her backyard. The woman spent $23,000 converting her backyard garden to a pub complete with bench, a "Space Invaders" game and a sad, old man sitting alone in the corner who's been there - like, 6 in the morning. She says she hopes this will convince her husband to spend less time at the bar and more time drinking in a safer environment at home with their two kids.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, did Paula do well enough to win a showdown?
POUNDSTONE: I should've.
(LAUGHTER)
KURTIS: Well, she got six right, 12 more points. Fifteen, however, is short of Faith's 18.
POUNDSTONE: Oh, there it is.
SAGAL: Congratulations, Faith.
SALIE: Thank you.
(APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.