History Radio / WaitWaitDontTellMe

One of the few American attempts at the quintessentially British PanelGame format. Based loosely on the BBC program ''Radio/TheNewsQuiz'' (which also inspired ''HaveIGotNewsForYou''), ''Wait, Wait'' airs weekly on {{NPR}} and features NPR News's former anchor Carl Kasell as announcer/scorekeeper. The host is Peter Sagal. Rotating panelists include Tom Bodett, P.J. O'Rourke, Paula Poundstone, Paul Provenza (director of ''TheAristocrats''), and Mo Rocca (formerly of ''Series/TheDailyShow'', currently of ''CBSSundayMorning''). Call-in contestants compete for the prize of getting Carl Kasell to record an answering machine (or [[TechnologyMarchesOn cell phone voicemail]]) greeting; panelists are scored on their performances but don't get anything for winning.

** The guests usually call in, but when the show is on the road, they always have a local celebrity come in to be the show live (such as ZZTop while they were in {{Houston}}). The person they're playing for is also from the city.

* ActorAllusion: After Motel 6 became a corporate sponsor, when he is a panelest, Tom Bodett is ''always'' asked to finish the ad blurb.

* ActorIllusion: After Motel 6 became a corporate sponsor, when he is a panelest, Tom Bodett is ''always'' asked to finish the ad blurb.

** Panelist Paula Poundstone has often displayed anger over the idea of swearing and humor being bad, including moments where she became very angry over a Curse Free Week in California, and when a school district banned "Three-Stooge-Like behavior."

*** One of Paula's most famous moments on the show was her pretend berserk button response to host Peter Segal continuing to milk humor out of the Dick Cheney hunting accident. ("You know what, I don't know why you keep bringing that up. The victim has apologized. What more do you want?")

* DidNotDoTheResearch: In 2006 Creator/HarryShearer did the "Not My Job" segment, which that week had questions about the infamous 1980 variety show ''Series/PinkLadyAndJeff''. The research staff failed to realize that Shearer is heavy into pop culture, especially '''bad''' pop culture, and had been part of a PL&J parody sketch on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive.'' (Of course, no one admits to watching SNL in 1980...) It made for the shortest [[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6507112 "Not My Job" clean sweep in the show's history]].

* DidNotDoTheResearch: In 2006 [[TheSimpsons Harry Shearer]] did the "Not My Job" segment, which that week had questions about the infamous 1980 variety show ''Series/PinkLadyAndJeff''. The research staff failed to realize that Shearer is heavy into pop culture, especially '''bad''' pop culture, and had been part of a PL&J parody sketch on ''SaturdayNightLive.'' (Of course, no one admits to watching SNL in 1980...) It made for the shortest [[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6507112 "Not My Job" clean sweep in the show's history]].

* DidNotDoTheResearch: In 2006 [[TheSimpsons Harry Shearer]] did the "Not My Job" segment, which that week had questions about the infamous 1980 variety show ''PinkLadyAndJeff''. The research staff failed to realize that Shearer is heavy into pop culture, especially '''bad''' pop culture, and had been part of a PL&J parody sketch on ''SaturdayNightLive.'' (Of course, no one admits to watching SNL in 1980...) It made for the shortest [[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6507112 "Not My Job" clean sweep in the show's history]].

* SoundToScreenAdaptation: {{CBS}} ordered a pilot for a television version.

* '''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 [[TheAreasOfMyExpertise John Hodgman]] on, of course; [[Series/{{Jeopardy}} Ken Jennings]] also confounded them). StephenKing, for instance, got questions about [[TastesLikeDiabetes Teletubbies and the like]], while LewisBlack stumbled through three questions on Miss Manners. And, more recently, LeonardNimoy had to answer questions about not being the ''other'' Spock (Dr. Benjamin, child care specialist) either.

* AreYouSureYouWantToDoThat: If someone guesses the incorrect answer for their question, Peter Sagal will urge them to change it.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: In 2006 [[TheSimpsons Harry Shearer]] did the "Not My Job" segment, which that week had questions about the infamous 1980 variety show ''PinkLadyAndJeff''. The research staff failed to realize that Shearer is heavy into pop culture, especially '''bad''' pop culture, and had been part of a PL&J parody sketch on ''SaturdayNightLive.'' (Of course, no one admits to watching SNL in 1980...) It made for the shortest [[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6507112 "Not My Job" clean sweep in the show's history]].

** 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.

** 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.

* GretzkyHasTheBall: 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.

-->'''Tom:''' Uh, he was off-sides.[[hottip:*:Which is not as bad as you might think; especially since soccer's offside rule can be incomprehensible to American viewers.]]

* HomemadeSweaterFromHell: Mo Rocca got into a bit of trouble when he invoked this and had an online knitting group up in arms.

-->'''Peter Sagal''': "In just a minute, Carl tells us about his favorite Franchise/{{Transformer|s}}, Optimus Rhyme."

* ShoutOut: One week after their somewhat unflattering portrayal of fans of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''[[hottip:*:FoxNewsChannel's ''Red Eye'' segment the same week was actually less mean, if also pretty boring.]], they brought on a fan and former ''Wait, Wait'' intern for a brief interview, and used the show as the basis for that week's "Not My Job" questions... for guest contestant BillClinton (who got them all right, but they weren't very hard either).

One of the few American attempts at the quintessentially British PanelGame format. Based loosely on the BBC program ''TheNewsQuiz'' (which also inspired ''HaveIGotNewsForYou''), ''Wait, Wait'' airs weekly on {{NPR}} and features NPR News's former anchor Carl Kasell as announcer/scorekeeper. The host is Peter Sagal. Rotating panelists include Tom Bodett, P.J. O'Rourke, Paula Poundstone, Paul Provenza (director of ''TheAristocrats''), and Mo Rocca (formerly of ''TheDailyShow'', currently of ''CBSSundayMorning''). Call-in contestants compete for the prize of getting Carl Kasell to record an answering machine (or [[TechnologyMarchesOn cell phone voicemail]]) greeting; panelists are scored on their performances but don't get anything for winning.

* IAmOneOfThoseToo: Hilariously, KevinSmith 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''.)

-->'''Peter Sagal''': "In just a minute, Carl tells us about his favorite {{Transformer|s}}, Optimus Rhyme."

* CoolOldGuy: Show announcer and judge Carl Kassel

** It seems to get lamer every week, sometimes achieving BeyondTheImpossible levels, causing Peter to at one time crack, "Look, if you got better ones, send 'em in, OK?"

* GenreBlind: If Peter Sagal urges you to change your answer, your answer is wrong. Celebrity guests playing "Not My Job" frequently haven't listened to the show and think it's a trap.

** 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 (NeilGaiman). 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 return-from-commercial intros for Peter were beefed up with jokes. A not-quite-identical audio version ran in the weekly slot on NPR.

* '''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 [[TheAreasOfMyExpertise John Hodgman]] on, of course; [[Series/{{Jeopardy}} Ken Jennings]] also confounded them). StephenKing, for instance, got questions about [[TastesLikeDiabetes Teletubbies and the like]], while LewisBlack stumbled through three questions on Miss Manners. And, more recently, [[StarTrek Leonard Nimoy]] had to answer questions about not being the ''other'' Spock (Dr. Benjamin, child care specialist) either.

** 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 (NeilGaiman). The format was altered to eliminate the audience call-in segments, since it was being taped it advance, so the panel got more questions and Carl return-from-commercial intros for Peter were beefed up with jokes. A not-quite-identical audio version ran in the weekly slot on NPR.

** In a nod to the format's British original, 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 (NeilGaiman). The format was altered to eliminate the audience call-in segments, since it was being taped it advance, so the panel got more questions and Carl return-from-commercial intros for Peter were beefed up with jokes. A not-quite-identical audio version ran in the weekly slot on NPR.

** In a nod to the format's British original, 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 (NeilGaiman). The format was altered to eliminate the audience call-in segments, since it was being taped it advance, so the panel got more questions and Carl's jokey intros for Peter were beefed up. A not-quite-identical audio version ran in the weekly slot on NPR.

** In a not to the format's British original, 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 (NeilGaiman). The format was altered to eliminate the audience call-in segments, since it was being taped it advance, so the panel got more questions and Carl's jokey intros for Peter were beefed up. A not-quite-identical audio version ran in the weekly slot on NPR.

* ShoutOut: One week after their somewhat unflattering portrayal of fans of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''[[hottip:*:FoxNewsChannel's ''Red Eye'' segment the same week was actually less mean, if also pretty boring.]], they brought on a fan and former ''Wait, Wait'' intern for a brief interview, and used the show as the basis for that week's "Not My Job" questions... for guest contestant Bill Clinton (who got them all right, but they weren't very hard either).

* ShoutOut: One week after their somewhat unflattering portrayal of fans of ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''[[hottip:*:FoxNewsChannel's ''Red Eye'' segment the same week was actually less mean, if also pretty boring.]], they brought on a fan and former ''Wait, Wait'' intern for a brief interview, and used the show as the basis for that week's "Not My Job" questions... for guest contestant Bill Clinton (who got them all right, but they weren't very hard either).

!!''[=~Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me~=]'' contains examples of: