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Panel Questions

BILL KURTIS: From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME, the NPR news quiz. I'm Bill Kurtis. We're playing this week with Helen Hong, Tom Bodett and Peter Grosz. And here, again, is your host at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Ga., Peter Sagal.

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Thank you, Bill. Thank you, no one. In just a minute, Bill dusts off his old copy of Catcher In The Rhyme in our Listener Limerick Challenge game. If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Right now, panel, it is time for a game that, this time, we're calling...

KURTIS: The Viral Load.

(LAUGHTER)

KURTIS: Coronavirus news is coming out faster than sneezes out of that person you sat down next to on the train. We're going to throw them at you rapid-fire with a true-false answer. Get it right. You get a point and a squirt of Purell. You ready to play?

PETER GROSZ: (Laughter).

HELEN HONG: Oh, god. I need that squirt of Purell.

SAGAL: Well, here we go.

GROSZ: Finally, a prize that means something on this show.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: All right. Well, Helen, we'll start with you. Helen, true or false? - on Friday, experts flocked to New York for a coronavirus conference to find solutions to the crisis.

HONG: False.

SAGAL: That's right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: That's right. The coronavirus conference was canceled because of coronavirus.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Tom, true or false? - in response to toilet paper shortages, an Australian newspaper printed eight blank pages for people to use instead.

TOM BODETT: That's true.

SAGAL: It is.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Helen, true or false? - a strip club in Florida announced it would be closing due to coronavirus for the foreseeable future.

HONG: False.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: They announced all customers would get free face masks.

GROSZ: (Laughter).

SAGAL: Peter, true or false? - Catholic churches in Colorado announced they would be replacing holy water with hand sanitizer.

GROSZ: False.

SAGAL: No, it's true. Tom, true or false? - in response to face mask shortages, some citizens in Japan have begun wearing women's underwear on their faces.

BODETT: I hope so. True.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Helen, true or false? - a Smurf rally in France was canceled due to the coronavirus.

HONG: False.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: The Smurf rally went on.

HONG: (Laughter).

SAGAL: And 2,000 people dressed as Smurfs showed up. The mayor said, quote, "we must live." Peter, true or false?

GROSZ: (Laughter).

SAGAL: Our audio engineer washed their hands before fixing your microphone.

GROSZ: True?

SAGAL: Yeah.

GROSZ: Yay.

HONG: (Laughter).

GROSZ: I got one right.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SAGAL: Right now, panel, some more questions for you from the week's news. Peter, Spotify offers a lot of curated playlists. But now they're in hot water after reports that it displayed ads for the horror movie "It Chapter Two" in the middle of a playlist of what?

GROSZ: Like, kids' song.

SAGAL: Exactly right - kids' songs.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: The Spotify-curated list was called Classical Lullabies. So imagine...

GROSZ: (Laughter).

SAGAL: ...You put your baby down for a nap, turn on some soothing music. And then, just as they're drifting off to slumberland, Pennywise the Clown comes on and says...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IT CHAPTER TWO")

BILL SKARSGARD: (As Pennywise) For 27 years, I dreamt of you.

GROSZ: (Laughter).

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IT CHAPTER TWO")

SKARSGARD: (As Pennywise) I craved you.

SAGAL: No, kids, there's no monster in your closet.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: There is one in the Alexa, though.

HONG: Wow. That's...

GROSZ: That's amazing. So it's like, oh, there's a monster in the device that talks to me and listens to me.

SAGAL: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

GROSZ: And when I go to sleep, it reminds me that it's been waiting for me for 27 years.

BODETT: (Laughter) Oh, god.

HONG: That ad really was terrifying.

SAGAL: So - yeah, it is. And people got upset. And they, you know, called up Spotify. But they say, no. What - we didn't know that this playlist was designed primarily for children. And reading down the list, you can see the names of such adult-oriented albums as - and this is all true - "English Nursery Tunes" and "For Children Vol. 1."

HONG: (Laughter).

SAGAL: The ad placement has caused several families to cancel their Spotify subscriptions, explaining they're going to need the money for therapy.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Tom, in a few months, a new law in Virginia will finally make it legal to do what in public?

BODETT: You can spit.

SAGAL: No.

BODETT: No - oh, urinate, of course.

SAGAL: Of course, no.

HONG: (Laughter).

GROSZ: Of course.

BODETT: So I've got that on the brain. Do you have a hint?

SAGAL: I do. It's about bleeping time.

BODETT: Oh, you can have sex in public.

HONG: No.

SAGAL: No.

(LAUGHTER)

GROSZ: Tom, you're not making a good argument for you getting a ventilator right now.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Does anybody else know?

HONG: Yes.

SAGAL: What?

HONG: It's cussing.

SAGAL: Yes. Swearing...

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

HONG: Cussing.

SAGAL: ...Is now legal in Virginia. Swearing in Virginia has been illegal since 1792, which is how the state was able to stay a Virgin-ia all this time.

GROSZ: So slavery was cool, and cursing was bad.

SAGAL: Yeah. Exactly.

GROSZ: Well, as long as you have your priorities in order (laughter).

BODETT: It never occurred to me that you couldn't curse someplace.

SAGAL: Right.

HONG: Wait. Has this ever actually been enforced?

SAGAL: I - they haven't enforced it in many, many years. It's one of those things.

HONG: Like, if you cursed in front of - if you curse on the street in Virginia, could a cop be like, all right?

SAGAL: Ooh, got you.

GROSZ: I bet it's like, you know, like, really, like, snooty, old women who are like, I'm making a citizen's arrest. This gentleman...

(LAUGHTER)

GROSZ: He referred to human waste with a certain four-letter word.

(LAUGHTER) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.