WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
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From NPR and WBEC Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm the guy who had to permanently retire from the wet T-shirt contest in Daytona Beach so somebody else could win. Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thanks, everybody. Thank you.

Who said only students get to celebrate spring break? This week we are giving you a well-deserved holiday from whatever the hell is going on with the help of some amazing interviews from the past few years. While we elbow aside a bunch of Florida state sophomores so we can be first in line for frozen margaritas,

Here's a conversation with Eric Idle of Monty Python. Now as a longtime Python fanatic, it was a dream come true for me to talk to him. And I only wished he could have joined us in person when we talked in October. Turns out he felt the same way. I loved my time in Chicago. I'm married to a Chicago woman and I have lots of Chicago relatives. So I'm very, you know, I love Chicago. Yeah, that's really great. It's a good town.

And let me put it this way. When you walk the streets of Chicago, we're a very cool, sophisticated place, I know. But do people recognize you and go nuts because they, like me, were Monty Python fans growing up? Well, luckily, no. That can really spoil your shopping, you know. Yeah. You get recognized from time to time. And that's just one of the pitfalls of being on television. I agree.

I'm curious that when the show came to the US on PBS, it became this huge thing. And I was wondering, was that the initial reaction that Monty Python got in the UK or was it more reserved, as we might expect from the stereotype? No, there was almost no reaction whatsoever because they put us on late on a Sunday night and the BBC were trying to find out if people were still watching television at 10.15. And so for all you knew, nobody was watching?

Well, at first, absolutely nobody knew. And nobody was watching it, and then bit by bit. And we were very fortunate that we'd actually finished doing the show before it was actually played on American television. So we didn't have to suffer the same fate as people on Saturday Night Live and that. We were quite anonymous and surprised by it all. You mean the same fate as, like, massive fame and wealth? You mean that fate? Well.

Well, that for sure, because we work for the BBC. But yes, it was a nice surprise when we were suddenly on public television. It was great. Now, one of the things that a lot of us who first saw Monty Python, maybe even people now have this reaction, is how could they possibly get away with this absolute nonsense on television?

And I heard you tell a story that if the BBC ever tried to give you notes or tell you you couldn't do something, you would all go in and physically intimidate them? Well, yes, because there were six of us. We were mostly over six foot. And so we'd all got degrees and we were very smart and proud. And we would go and, you know, they would be very alarmed at that sight of us. So...

But at first we were executive free, so it was absolutely perfect. When did you know that Monty Python had become like a phenomenon? Something that like everybody knew and everybody treasured?

pretty much, well, certainly in America, if not the whole world? I think we were pretty surprised when we opened the Holy Grail in New York and suddenly there was Python mania and we were trapped in the cinema and it was very surprising to us and quite funny. I mean, in Canada we were known and we were surprised then. We came through the

through the customs and there was a big cheer and we looked behind us because we thought there was a rock and roll group behind us and they were cheering for us and they'd all come to the airport. It was quite extraordinary. So we became what I call mock and roll. LAUGHTER

Speaking of rock and roll, I also found out that Monty Python and the Holy Grail, your legendary, and it was your first movie, The Pythons, was actually financed by some of the biggest rock stars in the world. Well, the biggest rock stars in Britain, anyway. Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and Genesis and Jethro Tull. They put money into that, and I still pay them from Spamalot.

Do you really? Yes, of course. You send a check to Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull because he put up like... I write them out personally, yeah, so they know where they're coming from. In addition to knowing all these rock and roll bands in the 70s, we've also heard stories that you either yourself as a group used to throw these pretty legendary parties. Is that true?

I've always enjoyed it. We always had some good parties because I, you know, I like to play music and we always have singalongs and ding-dongs and we still do that. Right. We heard once that, like, you threw a party in the late 70s and the cast of Star Wars, which was filming at the time, came over. Well, Carrie Fisher rented my house in London for filming The Empire Strikes Back.

And they were very depressed in Harrison Ford. They'd been in England for a long time. They were depressed. Yeah, that'll do it. So I pulled out a special liquor we bought from Tunisia. And the party started. And by chance, the Stones were around the corner in Abbey Road. And they all came round. And this party went on all night. And they were finally picked up by their cars at 6 o'clock. And we all went off to bed. And I'm happy to say I ruined one of the scenes in Star Wars.

LAUGHTER Do you know which scene you ruined and how you ruined it? Well, because they stayed up all night. They blamed me. I mean, they're adults, you know. It was a scene where they meet Billy Dee Williams and they come off the plane and they, you know, Carrie says, Hi. And they're all completely high. You know, they've been up all night. LAUGHTER

That is an amazing bit of Star Wars lore, and I don't know if everybody knows it. That is amazing. Speaking of musicians, the Stones came by to your party. I also, again, for the first time, found out, was it true that...

Elvis Presley was a big fan of yours? He was a huge fan. And I met Linda Thompson, who was his girlfriend. And she said at night in Memphis, when the television stopped about 2.30 in the morning, Elvis would make her do Monty Python sketches with him. And not just anyone. She'd go, hello!

Hello, Mrs. Entity! And I said, I don't believe you. She convinced me finally because she knew the words. I want to talk to you about the musical, of course, which went on to be a huge hit and won Tony's and then was revived and won Tony's again. You had always been a musician. In fact, you wrote Always Look on the Bright Side of Life from the end of Life of Brian. Thank you.

We heard that that is the number one song played at funerals in the UK.

I'm proud to say that it still is. It's been that for 20 years. Really? Yes. I'm happy to say it replaced my way. Oh, that is good. I think, yeah, that is definitely improvement. I mean, have you ever been to a funeral and all of a sudden the choir, they start doing it in harmony? No, they play the record, I'm happy to say. Unfortunately, they don't pay royalties. Funerals don't pay royalties? Yes.

They don't. I think it's wrong. Quite wrong. Well, Eric Idle, it is a huge honor for me, especially, to talk to you and a pleasure to have you here. And we have invited you here to play a game that we're calling... Spam, spam, spam, spam, and spam. Now.

As I'm sure you know, it was that famous Monty Python spam skit that is responsible for the fact that unwanted email advertisements is called spam. But we wanted to know if you knew anything about spam email. So we're going to ask you three questions about it. Answer two right, and you will win our prize for one of our listeners, the voice of anyone they might choose for their voicemail. Bill, who is Eric Idle playing for? Andy Hill of Boston, Massachusetts.

Alright, you ready for this? Yes. Alright. Here's your first question: The first genuine mass advertisement that people called "spam" went out to the users of Usenet, a precursor to the internet, in 1994. What did it advertise? A. A then unknown new TV series called "Friends", B. A new canned meat product called "Spam Plus", or C. Jesus Christ?

I would say Spam Plus. Spam Plus. You think that Hormel, the manufacturer of Spam, which, by the way, has embraced Monty Python and Spam. Perhaps not. Could it be Friends? Well, that would be an interesting way of advertising a brand new television show on something called Usenet. Yes. Yes.

But that leaves us with Jesus Christ then. It does. So in many situations in life, all you're left with is Jesus Christ. Yes, the message was headed, global alert for all, Jesus is coming soon. And it was sent to the hundreds of thousands of people who were on Usenet at the time. So not only was it annoying, it was also incorrect.

Here's your next question. Now, one of the odd things about spam is while that everybody hates it and they really hate the people who send it out, it doesn't make the advertisers themselves a lot of money. One study showed that you would make more money and suffer less social disapproval if you did which of these? A, dined and dashed once a month. B, played saxophone in a subway car. Or C, stole a car.

I was there, stole a car. Yes, that's right. Stealing a car. People don't like car thieves. It's true. But at least you could sell the car and make some money. All right. Here's your last question. One of the most notorious spammers ever was a man named Alan Ralski, who was actually convicted of fraud for sending out all those spam emails. Before that, though, he had another punishment. What? A, he fell for a spammer himself and ended up sending all the money he had to a fake prince.

B, he typed so many fake emails that his fingers all broke. Or C, people found his physical address and signed him up for every piece of junk mail they could find, resulting in him getting thousands and thousands of magazines and pamphlets every day. I would say C. You're right again.

Bill, how did Eric Idle do in our quiz? Well, he woke up on the better side of life because he got all right. Congratulations, Eric. Thank you very much.

Eric Idle is one of the founders of Monty Python. He is also the Tony-winning creator of Spamalot and the author of the new Spamalot Diaries, out now. Eric Idle, an absolute pleasure to talk to you. Thank you so much for joining us on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.

When we come back, the greatest bassist ever to come out of Philly and actor Diane Lane and how she ran away and joined the circus at the age of seven. That's when we come back with more Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR.

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From NPR and WBEC Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thanks, everybody. Thank you.

So we've officially declared it's spring break for all of our listeners this week. Now, we thought about going to the same places we used to hang out in college, but for some reason, when we go there, they think we're undercover police officers now. Damn, now where am I supposed to score my uppers? So, as we find people our own age to do shots with, anti-inflammatory turmeric shots, of course, here's some more of our favorite conversations from the last year.

Last June, we went to Philadelphia to interview a man who had grown up just a few blocks from where we were talking to him and had become one of the most famous jazz bassists in the world. Now, of course, being a famous bassist is a bit of a contradiction, which is one of the things I asked Chris.

Christian McBride about? Well, I always say being a famous jazz bass player is being like a famous plumber. Because I might not get invited to the party, but you need me.

So when you were starting out, were you immediately into jazz? Was that your first love? No. I wanted to play with James Brown. Really? That was your thing? Yes. Which I'm very happy to say I eventually did, but I grew up as an R&B kid. And you actually got to play. You played with a lot of people.

people, but you actually got to play with James Brown. I got to play with Mr. Brown, yes. And what about, what's it like meeting your heroes in the case of Mr. Brown? It's complicated. Yeah. That's what everybody says. We heard that he used to levy fines on his band members if they screwed up. But that was standard practice for a lot of band leaders in the 40s and 50s. You know, Ray Charles did that, Lionel Hampton did that, Benny Goodman did that. That was part of the gig, you know, like if you screwed up.

$10 coming out of your pay at the end of the night. Now, of course, James Brown kept that practice going long after everybody stopped doing it. Significant part of his income, I'm sure, by the end. So when did you get into jazz?

When I first started playing the double bass when I got to middle school, because I'd been playing the electric bass for a couple of years, my great uncle Howard, who's the other bass player in the family, he was so excited. He said, come over to my house, I got something for you. And now that he found out that I was playing the double bass, he said, hey, I'm going to turn you on to the cats. So he spent the whole day playing nothing but jazz albums for me.

And my great uncle had this very cool way of, you know, he would put a record on and he had a chair similar to this. He would sit down, he would sit way down like this. He'd light up a cigarette, have a glass of wine, and he would start playing air bass along with the record. And, you know, he would slap me on the arm and say, hey, listen to what Coltrane is about to do. And he pointed at the record, ooh, you hear that? And so...

It was so entertaining watching my great-uncle listen to jazz. I said, well, if jazz makes him that cool, then I want to be cool, too. So that one visit with my great-uncle. Does he also do that during movies? Probably. I don't know how many ensembles and groups you've started in your career, but my understanding is the latest one is called The New John. Wow.

Actually, the new John is... I should say, for non-Philadelphians, that's not the name John, that's J-A-W-N. I actually have a new group since the new John. Oh, I'm sorry. So the new John is the old John. I see, yeah. Right.

Could you explain to non-Philadelphians what a John is? It's a person, place, or thing. You know, Joyelle could have a new partner or whatever. Hey, you seen Joyelle's new John? A new John? Really? Yeah. Well, it's interesting because I grew up in Atlanta, so John, which is also, that's how, I guess that's the place they call it, the dozens. Yeah. So when we're going back and forth, that's what we call John. Well, see, John...

John has different versions regionally like in New York it's joint someone said in Memphis this is funny they said it's junt yeah and so I don't know what it is on the west coast yeah who cares laughter

I'm sure Kendrick Lamar will tell us. Right, right. Well, Christian McBride, it is such a pleasure to talk to you in your hometown, and we have asked you back here to play a game we're calling Bass Pro meet Bass Pro. Oh, man. I was afraid. Really? You anticipated that? I was hoping it would be baseball and not bass. Oh, boy. You ever been to a Bass Pro shop?

No. They're one of the best stores in the world. Yes, I love a Bass Pro Shop. Exactly. So you know about... That was a good look, Joe. You're a world-renowned genius when it comes to the bass, the instruments. So what do you know about Bass the Pro Shop?

We're going to ask you three questions about the outdoor store that is not REI. Answer two out of three questions correctly, you'll win the prize for one of our listeners, the weight-waiter of their choice on their voicemail. Bill, who is jazz legend Christian McBride playing for? Chris Dunn of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All right.

So Bass Pro Shops are famous for their enormous sales floors and the things on them, like giant aquariums, actual running streams through the floor and more. All of that natural beauty, though, can backfire as in which of these cases? A, one store in Texas is now home to a family of geese who refuse to let anyone go near the camping supply section.

B, at a shop in Florida, a man showed up with a net, scooped a 50-pound fish right out of the aquarium, and then just walked out with it. Or C, a store in Kansas was declared a protected environment for a species of endangered fish, and now nobody is allowed inside. Hmm.

Yeah, well, considering this is America, I would go with B. Right, meaning this is the place where people just go in there and take that fish. Put a price tag on it. That's right. You're right. Yes, that's what happened. And according to the store, the thief, and perhaps for all we know, the fish, is still at large. Maybe he was rescuing it in a Finding Nemo kind of way. We don't know.

Now, next question. One of the most famous Bass Pro Shops is the one in Memphis, Tennessee. In addition to being very popular, it is notable for one other reason. What is it? A, all of the fish in the aquarium are descendants of the fish that Elvis had in his aquarium. B, it has an actual moat you can test drive their motorboats in. Or C, it is located inside one of the largest pyramids in the world.

Well, I know the arena where the Grizzlies play is actually called the Pyramid, right? I'm going to go with C. Yeah, it is. Yeah, the Pyramid was built for some civic purpose. That's a big junk. It's a big junk, yeah. It's meant to be a two-thirds scale model of the Great Pyramid of Giza, and just like that world wonder, it was also built by aliens. And now there's a Bass Pro Shops in it, which is pretty awesome. All right, here's your last question.

Sadly, not everyone is happy with Bass Pro Shops. In fact, a man once filed a $5 million lawsuit against that company over what? A, the fact that he spent over $3,000 on premium fishing gear and still could not catch anything. That sounds American. B, they stopped replacing his $12 pair of socks after about 10 times, even though they had a lifetime guarantee.

Or C, he got dysentery after getting thirsty in the middle of the store and taking a drink from one of the artificial trout streams. Oh. Whoa. Well, I already got two out of three. You did, man. I'm actually going to go with A. You're going to go with A, the fact that he spent $3,000 on fishing gear and still couldn't catch anything. No, it was actually B. It was about the return of the socks. Bill, how did Christian McBride do in our quiz? Well, he's a winner. Two out of three. That's a win. Congratulations. Yay!

Christian McBride is a Grammy-winning bassist and the artistic director of the Newport Jazz Festival and the Jazz House Kids. Christian McBride, everybody!

Last August, we talked to Diane Lane, who had been nominated for an Emmy at that time for her performance in the TV show Feud, 45 years after making her film debut at the age of 14. She had been performing even before that, doing experimental theater in downtown New York and on tour in Europe.

Peter asked her about the effect of that formative experience. I'm still in therapy about it. No, I'm kidding. The world was a different place then. It was, you know, there was no airport security. We didn't need it. I remember getting off the plane and running into my mother's arms and around my neck and

Could have been anything, but it was a five-pound, well, maybe a two-pound tortoise. And I had bought it on the River Seine in Paris, because back in the day, they sold animals by the river in Paris. Don't ask. So you came off the plane, you hold the tortoise out to your mother, and your mother says, what?

She shrieked. And I had that turtle for years. His name was George. Turned out George was female. Did you know that the bottom side of a tortoise will reveal the gender? Because the male have a slight indentation curve so that they can mount the female. Oh.

You know what I love? That tortoise lied to me. I love the idea of you being on the set of your first big movie, A Little Romance, with Sir Lawrence of the Louvier, and you telling him stories like this. It's adorable. I was much more two ears, one mouth around Lord Larry. I can imagine. You have played a comic book character.

In your case, more comic book character adjacent, but you played the mother of Superman. Martha Kent, yes. Martha Kent, famously. And this is the Henry Cavill Superman, right? Okay. Yes. Yes. You're like, okay, was that his name? Okay, yes. So how have you found, after all the other things you've done, after being a well-known person, you had your Rat Pack period and all these other periods, to be like a star at Comic-Con? Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh.

I have, I am such an introvert. I don't know how I would handle that. So you've never been. You didn't have to do that. You didn't have to go to Comic-Con and all the Superman fans were like... I dodged it. I did. I chickened out. I was just, those crowds, they make me, I have Ajita, as my friends say. Ajita. You have Ajita, as they say in New York. How can a shy person be constantly on screen? Isn't that weird? Yeah.

Yes, I told you my therapist is rich So the latest project you're in it's a TV show it is remarkable it is called Feud it's about a very real situation in New York society in the 60s and 70s when Truman Capote wrote a book that enraged His society friends of whom you are one. I portrayed slim Keith slim Keith who was a real person and

Yes. Socialites, extraordinaire, a real maven, a real connector of other people. I don't know. I think of them as sort of sassy pants, sassy pants, people, sassy pants, people, sassy pants, people. That's what that's what Truman Capote called them. And that's what made them so mad.

You've been promoting this TV show all week, and you've been asking about it and answering questions, as you've done for us. Before we move to the game, is there anything else you'd like to talk about? Is it...

I don't feel safe suddenly. Oh, this is a safe space. This is a safe space. This is totally a safe space. If there is anything on your mind, Diane Lane. Would you like to talk more about the underside of turtles? For example. No, I'm open to talking pretty much about anything. I'm starting to sweat now, but that's okay. That's okay. All right.

Well, we actually have something for you to talk about because we have invited you here to play a game that we're calling Swan versus Swan. So, as we've established in the TV series you play, one of the society ladies that Truman Capote called Swan. So, we thought we'd ask you about actual swans.

The water fountain. The bird. The bird. Answer two to three questions about swans correctly, you'll win our prize. One of our listeners, any voice they might choose in their voicemail. So Bill, who is Diane Lane playing for? Ryan McGee of Prescott, Arizona. Are you ready to do this? Sure. Okay. Here's your first question. Swans are notoriously temperamental, but one pair of swans had to be forcibly removed from a lake in Austria because they kept doing what?

A, hunking the melody of ABBA's Dancing Queen, B, pooping on every single couple that were trying to take engagement photos at the lake, or C, attacking anyone who got near their nest, which didn't have any eggs, just a bunch of red Solo cups. Oh, it's gotta be C. It is C. The swans...

Apparently had mistaken these cups for their eggs and would attack anyone ferociously who dared to approach them. That was very good, and I liked your instincts. You know your animals.

as we have established. Now, probably the most famous swan is, of course, the ugly duckling, right? From the beloved children's story. Spoiler alert! I'm sorry. Wow, just cut right to the end there. That's the story, of course, that teaches kids that everyone is beautiful in their own way and you shouldn't accept the judgment of others. In the original version of the story, the ugly duckling is finally approached by a group of regal swans ready to claim him as their own

What is the first thing the ugly duckling says to them? A, quote, finally, a family of my own. B, quote, and this is why no one should ever be judged in their appearance alone. Or C, quote, kill me. Well, I believe it's A, but B is fun too. Let's go with A.

It was actually C. Yeah! Thankfully, the swans did not exceed to the duckling's request, which is shocking, given what we know about swans. All right, you've gotten one right. You have one to go. If you get this right, you win. Yours is not the only TV show that we have had with swans in the title. Back in 2004, Fox broadcast a show called The Swan.

What was that show's premise? A. It was just a remake of "Everybody Loves Raymond" but replaced Ray Romano with a live swan. A reality competition in which self-proclaimed ugly ducklings are given lots of plastic surgery until at the end one is judged the most beautiful. Or see a documentary show that just shows the daily life of Bucky, a swan that lives in a pond in New Rochelle, New York.

Wow, I want C to be true, but I'm going to go with B anyway. Because that's the world we live in, isn't it? Yes, that's what it was. The Swan, which apparently was very popular, still only lasted one season because it was kind of gross. Bill, how did Diane Lane do in our quiz? Two out of three, Diane, that is a win in our case. Congratulations. Congratulations.

And let me say, since you have an Emmy nomination for your show, Swans, may I say I hope this is not the last thing you win this year. Thank you. Yay!

Diane Lane is an Emmy nominee for her role as Slim Keith in FX's Feud, Capote vs. the Swans. You can stream the whole series on Hulu now. It is remarkable. Diane Lane, thank you so much for joining us on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. APPLAUSE Coming up, a punk icon and a pair of comedians making the Midwest cool again. That's when we come back with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR. MUSIC

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Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at netsuite.com slash story. From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host. At the Studebaker Theater and the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thank you.

And thanks, everybody. So we have been enjoying a spring break this week, and I have to tell you, we are not even done with the show, and we're already partied out. When I was a young man, it wasn't a good night out unless I had already started the next one.

So while we take a break from our break, here's two more great conversations we had in the last year. First, Kathleen Hanna, founder of the seminal feminist punk band Bikini Kill. She joined us in July and I asked her why she was getting the band back together. I really need a beach house in Malibu and feminist art pays so well that

I just figured, you know, go for the millions. I mean, clearly with everything going on in the world, we are just like kind of reinvigorated to sing the songs again. Absolutely. Um,

It just felt like the right time. I didn't want to sing these songs 15 years ago, and I really want to sing them again now. They feel really... It feels good physically to sing them on stage. Maybe when you sang them 30 years ago, it worked, but the effect wore off. Now you have to reapply Bikini Kill. Let's talk about your background. I was reading in your book that you recently published, Rebel Girl, which is a remarkable memoir. But I was surprised by so many things in it. One of them...

I was so surprised by your first time singing on stage, which you say in the book was like a really important moment when you realized that's what you wanted to do. Could you tell us about that? Yeah, I got the part of Annie in the musical Annie. Yes. If you're going to play Annie, that's the show to do it in, yeah. Yeah.

Well, what actually happened was a woman who had a son who went to the school complained that it was sexist, that there weren't very many parts for boys in it. So the play actually ended up being a really horrible mashup of Annie and Oliver. Also, you know, about orphans, I guess they were like, let's do one of the boy orphans and girl orphans. Wow. And then they were fighting each other. So it was like West Side Story. Yeah.

He was like two feet tall, and I was like four foot eight, so I really felt like it was not a fair fight. Right. And he was a very cute, sweet kid, and he made everybody cry with that dumb Where Is Love song. Where Is Love. It's a tearjerker. It is a tearjerker. Can you still do, or have you been tempted to do the big song tomorrow from that show? Oh, I do it all the time. Can we hear it? I can't do it with earplugs on. Let's see. The sun will come out.

I can't do it right now. The next word is tomorrow. I literally, I just drove here from Hershey Park, Pennsylvania. I was like, I was, I was on roller coasters for like 10 hours. So I'm sort of like fried. Did you just go to hang or were you guys playing at that, that there's a big venue there?

No, we don't play venues that big. It's not that big? Okay. Thank you very much. You could. You deserve it. Yeah, of course. You know, I went to ride the Super Duper Looper again because I rode it when I was like 10. And so I took my son so he could ride it. And he loves roller coasters. He's an enthusiast. That's great. I was just there a month ago. Wow. It's thrilling. It's thrilling. It's a nice park. It's a nice park. When you walk around in a big public place like Hershey Park,

Are you recognized by your fans from any of the projects you did? But I'm thinking mainly of Bikini Kill. No, and oddly, the day that we went, it was Foo Fighters who were playing. And Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl used to be in Nirvana, and we were friends with them when we all first started playing music. And...

everyone was wearing Nirvana shirts and Foo Fighters shirts and not one person recognized me. So as I was sort of on the rise, I was like coming to terms with, did I make the right decision? Should I have signed to a major label? And I was like, you know what? My son is so psyched right now and we're having a really good time and no one's coming up and bothering us. And I was like, this is actually kind of awesome. Yeah, there you go. That is great. Thank you.

Now I wish it would make the story perfect if it turned out that Dave Grohl had played Oliver in that production. Well, Kathleen Hanna, it is a pleasure to talk to you. We have invited you here to play a game that this time we're calling Kathleen Hanna meet Hanna-Barbera. Hey, you lit up. I think you and I are similar in generation, so you must remember that Hanna-Barbera is the legendary animation studio

Behind beloved shows like the Flintstones and Scooby-Doo and less beloved shows like the Partridge Family 2200 AD. So we're going to ask you three questions about Hanna-Barbera, the animation studio. Get two right and you'll win our prize. One of our listeners, the voice of anyone they might choose in their voicemail. Bill, who is Kathleen Hanna playing for? Sonny Paley of Georgetown, California. So here's your first question. Flintstones fans take the show very seriously. So when many of them realize that no one ever mentions what

Barney Rubble's job is, they began calling the studio at all hours. The calls were so frequent that the studio responded how? A, by having whoever picked up the phone immediately say, I know why you're calling. You want to know what Barney Rubble did for a living? He worked at the quarry. B, by making a special eight-hour-long episode that follows Barney's entire workday minute by minute. Or C, by just canceling the show out of spite. LAUGHTER

Oh, God. That's so hard. I thought he... For some reason, I was thinking he worked at the bowling alley. Um... He just spends a lot of time there. I think A won. That's right. A. And no surprise, the majority of those calls were late at night from drunk people. Next question. That was very good. After the Flintstones, Hanna-Barbera had another huge hit with Scooby-Doo. Now, in order to create Scooby, animators did what? A. Gave an actual Great Dane LSD and watched how it acted. Huh. Huh.

B, gave themselves LSD, looked at a Great Dane and drew how it looked. Or C, studied all the desirable traits of award-winning show dog Great Danes and then drew the opposite. Oh, wow. I'm going to say, I guess I'll go with the safe answer, three. But I think it's really two. But I'm going to say three. It is three, or rather C. And I feel bad that you saw it as the safe answer. Yeah.

So they interviewed a great game breeder, but like what's the most perfect example of the breed? If it's a perfect dog, what does it look like? And she described it, and they just drew the opposite. All right. Though they were hugely successful, as we remember from our childhoods, Hanna-Barbera loved to work fast and cheap, so sometimes a mistake slipped through, like which of these in the Saturday morning cartoon Super Friends? A, sometimes the superhero's pants would disappear mid-scene.

B, sometimes Batman's voice would come out of Superman's mouth. Or C, sometimes Green Lantern had three arms. Oh, that's B. Actually, yes, it was B. It was actually all of the above. I love when I do that. Not a lot of quality control back in our youth, am I right? Bill, how did Kathleen Hennon do in our quiz? She killed the bikini. Kathleen, you're something.

Not many people do that well. That's true. Three right. Congratulations. Kathleen Hanna is a singer, songwriter, and punk icon. Her new memoir, Rebel Girl, is out now. It is a bracing and moving read. And you get to see her on tour this summer with Bikini Kill. Kathleen Hanna, thank you so much for joining us on Wait, Wait, Don't Talk. It's been an enormous fun. Take care.

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Finally, one of my favorite conversations from last year with Bridget Everett and Jeff Hiller, stars of the remarkable HBO show, Somebody Somewhere.

It's a hard show to describe, so when they joined us in November, Peter asked them to do it. I don't know, you know, it's a slice of life, it's about friendship, it's, you know, it's about making each other, lifting each other up, and, you know, we're not afraid of a fart joke, you know, I don't know if you say that on NPR, I don't know.

Our show is all fart jokes. Really, I know. You and I have the same formula. Bridget, since you are from Manhattan, Kansas, and it is a show set in Manhattan, Kansas about a woman from Manhattan, Kansas, I'm assuming that everything we see in the show actually happened, right? Oh, yeah, pretty much. Give or take six... I can't talk like this. I was going to say something naughty. I'm going to leave. LAUGHTER

And Jeff, I'm told that your character that you play is awfully close to your real life experience. Is that the case? Yeah, we both love Vitamixes and we're both, you know, middle-aged homosexuals with asymmetrical faces. That's true.

Was meant to be, Peter. It was meant to be. Right, right, right. It occurs to me, Bridget, that I don't know of any other major piece of entertainment set in Manhattan, Kansas, so you must be like a queen there because you have done for Manhattan, Kansas what, say, Game of Thrones did for King's Landing. You put it on the map. That's right.

You know, they actually did a Bridget Everett day for me a couple years ago. So if anybody ever wants to go to Mad Night in Kansas, I think it's March 5th every year. They make a little Bridget Everett donut and a Bridget Everett beer. Wait a minute. It's not just... Wait a minute. Hold on. I mean, it's not just like they had a day for you when you showed up. They...

There is an actual day on the calendar every year. The kids get off school. Oh, what are you doing for Bridget every day? That's right. As a great LL Cool J says, dreams don't have deadlines. So that's amazing. I did want to ask you this, though, because the show is, the characters you play are broadly similar to you. They have similar styles, maybe in similar backgrounds.

Would you both love to play someone next or soon who is nothing like you? And if so, what kind of character would that be? I'm waiting for the train wreck spinoff for me and Tim Meadows to do like a little freaky at the taco bar. How about you, Jeff? Do you have any idea? Like if I could, if you said, oh my God, somebody somewhere, what a huge hit. You can write your own ticket. You can play anything you want. What do you want to do?

Well, I've been playing a lot of serial killers lately. And that's nice to be someone who you know. Exactly. I thought for a second you were kidding, but are you not kidding? Have you been playing a lot of serial killers? I have been playing a lot of serial killers.

I imagine that's kind of a mixed blessing because you get steady work, right? Serial killer is always popular. What is it about you, you think, that makes them think, hmm, serial killer, psychopath, sex criminal, Jeff Miller. You know, I just got a face for murder. I do. You give me precious back. You give me precious. Well, Bridget Everett and Jeff Hiller, this is really fun. And we...

Have asked you here to play a game that this time we're calling Nobody Nowhere. So obviously since your show was called Somebody Somewhere, we thought we'd ask you about Nobody Nowhere. That is three questions about places where it's hard to find anybody. Tim, who are Bridget and Jeff playing for? Jack Powers of Las Vegas, Nevada. Okay.

Come on, Vegas. Come on. Now, you guys, as we do this, you're allowed to argue. You're allowed to team up. You're allowed to play this however you want. Here we go. Here's your first question. The loneliest and most desolate place on Earth is Antarctica, an entire continent whose population never exceeds about 5,000 people. Despite that, one scientist who was there in December of 2013 managed to do what?

I think it's C. You too, I think it's C. I'm so glad you feel that way. Wait a minute, so you're saying it's the Freezing Man Festival.

The audience is objective. I was going to pull the trigger, but the audience is shouting no, no, no. Audience, what do you think it is? They always know. They think it's B. Okay, let's do B then. We've got to do a prediction. They always know. Okay, let's go B. They don't always know, but they did this time. Let's go B.

A scientist was sitting there and he's like, what the hell? And he turned on Tinder and he swiped right on this woman who was camping on the ice about 45 minutes away by helicopter.

And they did meet up, but they say nothing came of it that time. What a pit's ending to a great story. I'm so sorry. All right, here's your next question. Now, the loneliest place that anybody has ever been that we know of is the moon. Only 12 people have ever visited the moon. Now, the first astronaut to do it after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin was Pete Cronin.

What were Pete Conrad's first words after stepping off the lunar lander onto the surface of the moon? Was it A, one small step for a man, one giant step for mankind, suck it, Neil. B, so where can I get a drink around here that's not recycled urine? Or C, whoopee!

You're messing with us, right? Right. This guy sounds like a... I kind of am, but one of them is real. Well, he said one of those things as he stepped out of the van. Oh, this man is wild. I love him. I love, I love, like, TT. I like, I think, I think it's the TT. He drinks the TT, the TT one. The TT one? I don't know. I feel like it's Whoopi. So you're going to go with two different answers. Bridget, you're going to take the recycled urine, and Jeff, Whoopi. Yeah, we're diverging in two different woods.

Jeff is the winner. Jeff is correct. All right, Jeff has already won. He got two right. Let's see if Bridget can catch up. Your last question. In 1993, a French man's car broke down far out in the Moroccan desert.

And he was so far out there was no way for him to get back. So to save his own life, he stripped down the car and he built a motorcycle from the parts and drove it back to civilization. And when he got there, what happened? A, his wife said, oh, were you gone? B, he was ticketed for riding an illegal vehicle. Or C, at the celebration of his miraculous return, he died when a popped champagne cork punctured his head.

If it's not C, it's got to be C. Bridget, you can't die from that. That's a fun answer. That's a fun answer. Come on, you've got to do better. You can die from that, and I'm willing to give it a shot. All right, Bridget wants to go with he died ironically from the popped champagne cork. What do you think, Jeff? I think it's the ticket. You think he got a ticket? I think it's the ticket. Once again, Jeff is correct. Wow.

So, Tim, how did Bridget and Jeff do on our quiz? Jeff got all three questions correct. Yeah. It's a record. It's a record. It's a record. It never happened before. Bridget Everett and Jeff Hiller are stars of Somebody Somewhere on HBO and Max. Season three is out now. Catch it. It is remarkable and heartwarming and funny. And every now and then, Bridget says something very dirty. Bridget and Jeff, thank you so much for joining us on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Awesome to have you. Thank you.

That's it for our Spring Break Edition. Wait, wait, don't tell me. It's a production of NPR and WBEZ Chicago in association with Urgent Haircut Productions and Doug Berman, Benevolent Overlord. Philip Godeka writes our limericks. Our public address announcer is Paul Friedman. Our tour manager is Shana Donald. BJ Lederman composed our theme. Our program is produced by Jennifer Mills, Mylon Dornboss, and Lillian King. Special thanks to Monica Hickey. Our Jolly Good Fellow is Hannah Anderson. Peter Gwynn is the little worm at the bottom of our bottle of tequila. Our vibe curator is Emma Choi. Tech

Technical direction is from Lorna White. Our CFO is Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse. Our senior producer is Ian Chilock. And the executive producer of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is Mike Danforth. Thanks to everybody you heard on this week's show. All of our panelists, our fabulous guests, and of course, Bill Curtis. Thanks to all of you for listening. I'm Peter Sagal. We'll be back next week tanned, rested, and ready. This is NPR.

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