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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Radio.WaitWaitDontTellMe 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Radio.WaitWaitDontTellMe, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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* '''Who's Carl This Time?''': Carl reads quotes from the news and the caller must identify who said them.
* '''Bluff The Listener''': The panelists each read an odd "news story". Only one panelist has a true story, and the listener guesses who.
* '''Not My Job''': At the midpoint of every episode, a celebrity call-in guest is brought in and quizzed about a topic far outside their expertise (except when they had [[The Areas of My Expertise|John Hodgman]] on, of course; [[Jeopardy
* '''Listener Limerick Challenge''': Carl reads most of a news-inspired limerick; the caller has to complete it.
* '''Lightning Fill-In-The-Blank''': The final "speed round" in which panelists quickly go through questions on the rest of the week's news.
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* [[Are You Sure You Want to Do That?]]: If someone guesses the incorrect answer for their question, Peter Sagal will urge them to change it.
* [[Ascended Extra]]: Peter Sagal was originally one of the show's regular contestants, before being promoted to host.
* [[Berserk Button]]: After a caller displayed doubts in a "Bluff-the-Listener" story of a alcoholic recovery/shooting camp, panelist P.J. O'Rourke got angry, saying that, as a Republican, his party is largely made up of drunks with guns.
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* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Mo Rocca is planted firmly in this territory.
* [[Cool Old Guy]]: Show announcer and judge Carl Kassel
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: In 2006 [[The Simpsons (animation)|Harry Shearer]] did the "Not My Job" segment, which that week had questions about the infamous 1980 variety show ''[[Pink Lady
* [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: The show started in January 1998, but was relaunched in May of that year with several changes: Peter Sagal took over hosting from Dan Coffey, they introduced the "Not My Job!" segment with guests, and so forth. Some other differences from the early years:
** For quite some time, scores in the Not My Job round were given nicknames after the first person to achieve that score. For instance, a Stamberg (named after the first guest), meant no points were scored.
** The round was also much harder to play since the questions had no central context and were instead based on quotes made during the week (closer to the interstitial questions between rounds).
** For the first few years, the guests were mainly NPR contributors since the show was done in-studio and those were the only people they could get. Their first major guest was
** Carl's voice as a prize was more or less a placeholder since they really couldn't afford anything better. By the time they could, the message was such a beloved prize that they kept it that way (and it helped prevent any breaking of NPR's rules about contests.)
** In the earliest shows, the final round was either an "essay" question had each contestant make up a funny story (scored by Carl out of 10 points), or Lightning True-False, before being replaced with the current Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank round.
* [[Funny Answering Machine]]: The prize offered to most contestants.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Subverted when the panelists realized that that they could say "hump" (as in dogs hump legs) and [[Refuge in Audacity|lampshaded it as much as possible]].
** After the FCC lifted the ban on "fleeting obscenities," Peter and Carl had this exchange:
{{quote|
'''Carl Kasell''': Damn straight, Peter! }}
* [[Golden Snitch]]: There are only seven to nine points available before the speed round; in Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank each panelist has eight questions worth two points each.
* [[A Good Name for
* [[Gretzky Has the Ball]]: During the 2010 World Cup, panelist Tom Bodett admitted that he knows nothing about Soccer, which becomes a problem when his son asks him about the game.
{{quote|
'''Tom:''' Uh, he was off-sides.<ref>Which is not as bad as you might think; especially since soccer's offside rule can be incomprehensible to American viewers.</ref> }}
{{quote|
'''Tom''':Uh, he's special. }}
* [[Homemade Sweater From Hell]]: Mo Rocca got into a bit of trouble when he invoked this and had an online knitting group up in arms.
* [[I Am One of Those, Too]]: Hilariously, [[Kevin Smith]] had ''actually read'' the random book on which they based his Not My Job quiz. They even let him explain one of the ridiculous stories in it. (The book in question, incidentally, was a strange-science book called ''Elephants on Acid''.)
* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: Every week, to introduce the Listener Limerick Challenge.
{{quote|
** It seems to get lamer every week, sometimes achieving [[Beyond the Impossible]] levels, causing Peter to at one time crack, "Look, if you got better ones, send 'em in, OK?"
* [[N
** Same thing with making New [[Joisey|Jersey]] jokes.
* [[Panel Game]]: A rare American one.
* [[Quintessential British Gentleman]]: A story about a British Airways flight that accidentally announced it was going to crash led to this exchange between the panelists:
{{quote|
'''Adam Felber''': When we said 'water landing' we meant another round of drinks! }}
* [[Scotireland]]: During a show around St. Patrick's Day, Peter notes (being radio, we can't see) that Carl is wearing a kilt, noting that it's traditionally worn by the Scottish.
* [[Self
** When teenage fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson played Not My Job she was asked questions about "stuff old people like". One of them was about NPR.
* [[Shout
* [[Small Reference Pools]]: Averted,
* [[Sound to Screen Adaptation]]: [[CBS]] ordered a pilot for a television version.
** In a nod to the format's British origins, in December 2011 ''Wait Wait'' aired a version of the show on BBC America as a Christmas special, with one British panelist (presenter and comedian Nick Hancock) and a British Not My Job guest ([[Neil Gaiman]]). The format was altered to eliminate the audience call-in segments, since it was being taped in advance, so the panel got more questions and Carl's return-from-commercial intros for Peter were beefed up with jokes. A not-quite-identical audio version ran in the weekly slot on NPR.
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[[Category:NPR]]
[[Category:Game Show]]
[[Category:Wait Wait...
[[Category:Radio of the 1990s]]
[[Category:Radio of the 2000s]]
[[Category:Radio of the 2010s]]
[[Category:TV Series]]
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