History Radio / WaitWaitDontTellMe

** Mo Rocca is planted firmly in this territory.

* StudioAudience: The first episodes were simply recorded "in Chicago" or "at Chicago Public Radio" and not in front of an audience. Occasionally they would go on tour and record episodes in front of audiences there. This proved to be so popular that now, all episodes are recorded in front of an audience; the ones in Chicago are recorded at the Chase Bank auditorium downtown.

* '''The Trump Dump''': Starting after the election of US President Donald Trump, a segment in which rapid-fire true/false questions are asked of the panelists, having to do with recent news regarding President Trump.

-->'''Peter Sagal:''' If the vaccine ever comes, there won't be enough of it for a long time, so scientists are even now trying to figure out who should get it first, which is leading everybody to try to justify their place in the line [...] When you think about this problem, you have to thank Donald Trump for what he's done. In the last few months, he's made the line for the vaccine about 180,000 people shorter.\\

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Mo Rocca is planted firmly in this territory.

-->'''Peter Sagal''': Peter, a new study finds that people are more likely to believe in God after they do what?\\

-->'''Peter Sagal:''' Adam, a Florida man was arrested for shoplifting after he tried unsuccessfully to hide what in his shorts?\\
'''Adam Felber:''' This is one of those questions where you want me to embarrass myself by saying something like "sausage", and the answer is in fact "sausage."\\
'''Peter:''' Yes, it was a 12-inch-long pepperoni.\\
'''Adam:''' Yeah. ''(laughter)''\\
'''Peter:''' Rodney A. Covington's partially concealed sausage attracted the attention ''(Adam laughs loudly)'' of the manager of the Cash and Carry Convenience Store. Covington explained that he had put the meat into his shorts because he had hurt his hand, you see, and couldn't carry a shopping basket. The manager then noticed the pound of pepper-jack cheese in Covington's hip pocket and called the cops.\\

* BlackHumor: A literal example of DeadBabyComedy on the 5/30/14 episode with Alicia Silverstone who just wrote a book on motherhood. Answering questions taken from hints on baby care in a 50's era guide, one answer concerned babies being rubbed with lard in the belief that the lard helps soften the skin. One of the female panelists piped up with "And it also makes the skin extra crispy when the baby is put on the spit.".

'''Adam Felber''': When we said 'water landing' we meant another round of drinks!+

* RunningGag

** Keegan-Michael Key was a panelist on three shows in 2010 and returned as a guest in 2016.

* TitleDrop: Unintentionally used in the 1/17/15 show during the "Who's Bill this Time" segment, after a contestant hesitated on an answer. {{HilarityEnsue|s}}d.

* TitleDrop: Unintentionally used in the 1/17/15 show during the "Who's Bill this Time" segment, after a contestant hesitated on an answer. {{Hilarity|Ensue|s}}d.

* TitleDrop: Unintentionally used in the 1/17/15 show during the "Who's Bill this Time" segment, after a contestant hesitated on an answer. Her (correct) response, given a moment later, was all but drowned out by the ensuing audience laughter.

** When a bit unexpectedly landed on a joke about Lincoln's assassination, the audience reacted with surprised laughter. The panelist responded, "Too soon?"

* TooSoon: [[invoked]] [[DiscussedTrope Joked about]] during the February 28, 2015 show about [[UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton Hillary Clinton's]] comments on bipartisan cooperation:
-->'''Adam Felber''': She wants to get us into a "nice, warm, purple space".\\
'''Ophira Eisenberg''': That's nice!\\
'''Felber''': What [[UsefulNotes/BillClinton her husband's]] been trying to get into for years.\\
'''Felber''' and '''Peter Sagal''': ''[amidst laughter]'' Too soon? TOO SOON!?
** When a bit unexpectedly landed on a joke about Lincoln's assassination, the audience reacted with surprised laughter. The panelist responded, "Too soon?"

* SomeOfMyBestFriendsAreX: On the 11/16/19 episode, the panel was discussing Creator/DisneyPlus's decision to put ContentWarnings on some of the older works they deemed culturally insensitive. Peter had this to say, "That's the legal equivalent of, I'm not racist, really. [[Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Seven of my best friends are dwarves."]]

'''Faith Salie''': I was on ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Star Trek]]'', and I was beamed up, and I have found the fans to be nothing but lovely and very timid. And very polite.\\

** In 2006 Adam Felber's knack for guessing the setups in the panel questions he got was a running gag (collected in a ClipShow under [[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6696362 "Is Adam Felber Psychic?"]]). In this case the obligatory punchline was not omitted either.

** In 2006, Adam Felber kept guessing the setups (collected in a ClipShow under [[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6696362 "Is Adam Felber Psychic?"]]), and in this case the obligatory punchline was not omitted either.

* ObligatoryJoke: During "Who's Bill This Time?" on the October 8, 2016 broadcast, which also counts as LamePunReaction:
-->'''Peter Sagal''': Creepy clowns hiding in the woods, scaring people on social media. [...] Police are trying to get to the bottom of this. They took a mime in for questioning, but he wouldn't talk.\\

* RevisitingTheRoots: In March, 2020, due to COVID-2020, the show switched from recording in front of a studio audience to Peter and Bill recording from a studio at WBEZ Chicago and the panelists patched in remotely. Peter noted that this was the format the show used originally and joked that no one could understand how they survived those early years.

'''Adam Felber''': When we said 'water landing' we meant another round of drinks!

''Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!'' is a radio quiz show that airs weekly on Creator/{{NPR}}. It is hosted by Peter Sagal with veteran newscaster Bill Kurtis as announcer[=/=]scorekeeper. Previous to Kurtis, the announcer[=/=]scorekeeper was late NPR News anchor Carl Kasell, who stepped down in 2014 and was considered to be the show's scorekeeper ''emeritus'' until he passed away in 2018.

The program is one of the few successful American attempts at adapting the quintessential British PanelGame format and is based loosely on the Creator/{{BBC}}'s venerable ''Radio/TheNewsQuiz'' (which also inspired ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou''). Every week, Peter and Bill are joined by a rotating cast of panelists[[note]]including Tom Bodett, P.J. O'Rourke, Paula Poundstone, Paul Provenza (director of ''Film/TheAristocrats''), and Mo Rocca (formerly of ''Series/TheDailyShow'', currently of ''CBS Sunday Morning'')[[/note]] who play quiz games based on the previous week's news. The topics tend to be silly or focus on the more ridiculous aspects of otherwise serious news stories.

!!''Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!'' provides examples of:

!!Tropes:

* TitleDrop: Unintentionally used in the 1/17/15 show during the "Who's Bill this Time" segment, after a contestant hesitated on an answer, much to the audience's amusement.

* TitleDrop: Unintentionally used in the 1/17/15 show during the "Who's Bill this Time" segment. A contestant was asked about how an NPR correspondent thought it was a bad idea for Boston to host something, and what it was (the 2024 Olympics in case you were wondering). After dropping the title, she got some of the loudest cheering and laughter of that night's show. Peter was not amused.