History Radio / WaitWaitDontTellMe

* ShoutOut: One week after their somewhat unflattering portrayal of fans of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''[[note]]Creator/FoxNewsChannel's ''Series/RedEyeWithGregGutfeld'' segment the same week was actually less mean, if also pretty boring.[[/note]], 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 UsefulNotes/BillClinton (who got them all right, but they weren't very hard either).

-->'''Peter''': People who obsessively love ''Star Trek'' seem harmless: they go to conventions, they dress up as crew members, they host public radio quiz shows. [...] What were they [the British police] worried about? A whole bunch of pasty-faced nerds running around giving people the [[PressurePoint Vulcan Nerve Pinch]] and crying when it didn't work?\\
'''Faith Salie''': I was on ''Star Trek''[[note]]two episodes of Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine[[/note]], and I was beamed up, and I have found the fans to be nothing but lovely and very timid. And very polite.\\

* RoadkillForDinner: In the [[https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1189180072 22 July 2023 edition of "Bluff the Listener"]], former NBA player Damien Lillard, famous for "buzzer-beaters", was given the subject "buzzard eaters", i.e. roadkill cuisine. The first question had to do with why an annual roadkill cooking contest held in Texas might knock off points,[[note]]gravel in the meat[[/note]] while the second was about a roadkill cook who got special recognition for "Stripped and Shaved Beaver Tail".[[note]]he got a spot on ''Series/MasterChef''[[/note]]

** When then-teenage fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson played Not My Job she was asked questions about "stuff old people like". One of them was about NPR.

** 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.

-->'''Peter''': [after a segment on Music/BritneySpears where Tim sounded even more resigned than usual] What ''does'' make you happy, Tim?\\

* StupidStatementDanceMix: One recap episode featured Mo Rocca's various stutters and hesitations mixed together into a raging techno beat.

* 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 (until the 2020 coronavirus pandemic), all episodes are recorded in front of an audience; the ones in Chicago are recorded at the Chase Bank auditorium downtown.

--->'''Paula:''' Wait a minute, wait a minute. Wouldn't that give off a terrible smell?
--->'''Peter:''' It would.
--->'''Paula:''' Wouldn't that cause people to answer questions oddly?

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** With the N-word in question being "{{Nerd}}". Peter Sagal claims the right to mock nerds due to (nominally) [[JustForFun/OneOfUs being one himself]].

-->'''Peter:''' Now it's time for a new segment we're calling...
-->'''Carl:''' ''([[ScareChord melodramatic sting]])'' Does this barrel [[DoesThisMakeMeLookFat make my butt look fat]]?

''Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!'' is a radio quiz show that airs weekly on Creator/{{NPR}} and recorded in Chicago. 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 from complications of Alzheimer's disease in 2018.

* '''Not My Job''': At the midpoint of every episode, a celebrity guest is brought in (normally over the phone, although many will come in person if they're in Chicago or if the show swings by their hometowns) and quizzed about a topic far outside their expertise (except when they had [[Literature/TheAreasOfMyExpertise John Hodgman]] on, of course; [[Series/{{Jeopardy}} Ken Jennings]] also confounded them). Creator/StephenKing, for instance, got questions about Teletubbies and the like, while Creator/LewisBlack stumbled through three questions on Miss Manners. Creator/LeonardNimoy had to answer questions about not being the ''other'' Spock (Dr. Benjamin, child care specialist), either. UsefulNotes/BillClinton got ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' as his topic and got all three of the questions right.

* '''Not My Job''': At the midpoint of every episode, a celebrity guest is brought in (normally over the phone, although many will come in person if they're in Chicago or if the show swings by their hometowns) and quizzed about a topic far outside their expertise (except when they had [[Literature/TheAreasOfMyExpertise John Hodgman]] on, of course; [[Series/{{Jeopardy}} Ken Jennings]] also confounded them). Creator/StephenKing, for instance, got questions about [[TastesLikeDiabetes Teletubbies and the like]], while Creator/LewisBlack stumbled through three questions on Miss Manners. Creator/LeonardNimoy had to answer questions about not being the ''other'' Spock (Dr. Benjamin, child care specialist), either. UsefulNotes/BillClinton got ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' as his topic and got all three of the questions right.

* AbsenteeActor: Guest hosts will be brought in for when Peter, Carl, or Bill need to take some time off. In Peter's case, a regular panelist will usually step in, but occasoinally luminaries like Creator/TomHanks will take a turn at the lectern.

** Neko Case was a popular guest first before becoming a panelist in 2013. Likewise ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' champion Ken Jennings, who was a guest twice and then took a turn as a panelist.

* BringingInTheExpert: In lieu of ridiculing a particular news item Peter will sometimes phone up an expert to ridicule it for him. The most famous example is probably the [[https://www.npr.org/2012/07/07/156251701/he-cannot-lie item about Washington Mutual bankers]] on retreat reportedly performing a banking-themed version of "Baby Got Back" (the first line had "bucks" for "butts", and so on) at the height of anti-banker sentiment over the subprime mortgage crisis. To comment on this, Peter brought in Music/SirMixALot himself (eliciting a surprised gasp from Mo Rocca). Mix got all the best lines.
-->'''Sir Mix-A-Lot:''' You know, I was actually really strongly considering writing this song for them but I couldn't get "bonus" to rhyme with "anus".

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

* GrammarNazi/GenderNeutralWriting: For years, the intro for Lightning Fill in the Blank included the line "Each of our players now has sixty seconds to answer as many fill-in-the-blank questions as ''they'' can." At some point in the late [[TheNoughties Noughties]] they abruptly abandoned the "singular they" so that the intro now said "...as he or she can," the form in which it remained thereafter.

* GrammarNazi: For years, the intro for Lightning Fill in the Blank included the line "Each of our players now has sixty seconds to answer as many fill-in-the-blank questions as ''they'' can." At some point in the late [[TheNoughties Noughties]] they abruptly abandoned the "singular they" so that the intro now said "...as he or she can," the form in which it remained thereafter.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** Subverted when the panelists realized that they could say "hump" (as in dogs hump legs) and [[RefugeInAudacity lampshaded it as much as possible]].
** After the FCC lifted the ban on "fleeting obscenities," Peter and Carl had this exchange:
-->'''Peter Sagal''': Of course, this means we no longer need to have Carl on an 8-second delay.\\
'''Carl Kasell''': Damn straight, Peter!

* PopculturalOsmosisFailure: Played straight then subverted on the April 7, 2012 episode. Roy Blount Jr., asked about the "mother of Blue Ivy", doesn't know the answer and predicts it will be someone whose name he doesn't recognize. When he's told it's Music/{{Beyonce}}, at first he pretends not to know who that is before admitting he does recognize the name.