Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is
National Public Radio’s weekly
quiz program, in which a panel of comedians/witty journalists compete to see who is most current on
current events
.
Panelists include humorist Roy Blount, Jr., former BBC and Times of London correspondent Sue Ellicott, comedian Adam Felber, writer P.J. O'Rourke (Atlantic Monthly), writer Charles Pierce (Esquire), and Washington Post writer Roxanne Roberts. Listeners call in to participate by completing limericks on recent news stories or attempting to select an actual event from among three bizarre news stories (two of which are created by the panelists and one of which is real). Winning contestants get the "most exciting prize in public radio," that of NPR announcer Carl Kassell recording the outgoing message on their home answering machine.
The show, produced at WBEZ in Chicago, is recorded on Friday, edited, and sent out to NPR affiliate stations on Saturday, who may broadcast it Saturday or Sunday. Carl Kassel, host of NPR's Morning Edition, plays sidekick and official scorekeeper to the show's host, playwright Peter Sagal.
The show is the brainchild of NPR's Doug Berman, the producer who has overseen the growth of NPR's comedy juggernaut, Car Talk.
Sources:
My radio;
"Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" National Public Radio Web site, <http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/> (20 March 2002)
Felber, Adam. Fanatical Apathy. <http://home.earthlink.net/~adameft/blogger.html> (29 April 2002)