© 2024 WGLT
A public service of Illinois State University
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Panel Questions

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

BILL KURTIS: From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME, the NPR news quiz. I'm Bill Kurtis. We are playing this week with Maeve Higgins, Eugene Cordero and Peter Grosz. And here again is your host, a man who once left his house, Peter Sagal.

(LAUGHTER)

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Thank you, Bill. In just a minute, Bill demands no green M&M's in his contract rhymder (ph) in our Listener Limerick Challenge. If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-888-WAIT-WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924.

Right now, panel, some more questions for you from the week's news. Peter, restaurants, as you know, are struggling to survive in the pandemic, but one restaurant in Budapest has figured it out. They keep diners completely safe by seating their patrons in a what?

PETER GROSZ: In - oh, one person in the restaurant at a time.

SAGAL: No.

GROSZ: Like, only solo tables.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Although somebody else has done that. But no, not this restaurant.

GROSZ: Oh, really?

SAGAL: Yeah.

GROSZ: Can I get a hint?

SAGAL: Yeah, sure. You get three trips all the way around to finish your meal.

GROSZ: Can I get a good hint?

(LAUGHTER)

GROSZ: Three trips around - like, a merry-go-round thing?

SAGAL: Sort of - think vertical.

GROSZ: Oh, a Ferris wheel.

SAGAL: A Ferris wheel...

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Exactly right.

MAEVE HIGGINS: Oh.

GROSZ: Oh, that's fun.

SAGAL: That's right, a Ferris wheel - because the one thing missing from the fine dining experience was motion sickness.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: A gourmet restaurant in Budapest offered diners the chance to enjoy a prix fixe gourmet meal in an open-air Ferris wheel car for $144 a person, and it sold out almost instantly. All the diners are seated in separate cars, and instead of all breathing the same air together, you slowly move into someone else's old air.

GROSZ: (Laughter).

HIGGINS: I kind of hate that idea because I already have a hard time getting the waiter's attention. So I feel like I'd just be, like, do you have any butter, butter, butter, butter - and then I'd be back up at the top again. And then it would take a very long time to get to the bottom. I'd be, excuse me, hi. Do you have any butter, butter, butter...

GROSZ: When you're at the bottom, they're, like, I'm on break. I'm sorry.

SAGAL: Yeah.

EUGENE CORDERO: I would assume that that would be a great restaurant because I remember Ferris wheels being very comfortable...

SAGAL: Oh, yes. Yeah.

CORDERO: ...Sitting down for a while.

SAGAL: It has some problems. The diners have complained of being cold. But it worked out a lot better than their first idea, which was to serve meals on a Tilt-A-Whirl.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Maeve, slow lorises, the animal, have gained Internet fame as one of the most adorable, cutest animals in the tropical forest. Well, this week, we learned they've got something else going for them. What?

HIGGINS: Something as well as being cute. So, like, they...

SAGAL: They're adorable. They're absolutely adorable.

HIGGINS: Yeah. I think it's that, like, they have medicinal properties if you boil and eat them.

SAGAL: No.

HIGGINS: (Laughter).

SAGAL: All right. I'll give you a hint. I'll give you hint. Oh, so that's what those adorable fangs are for.

HIGGINS: They are deadly. They can - they're deadly and can bite you.

SAGAL: Yes, they're venomous creatures.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: They have...

HIGGINS: Oh, my gosh.

SAGAL: The very sweet slow loris has a flesh-eating venom.

HIGGINS: (Laughter).

SAGAL: If you don't know what a slow loris is, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Just to understand the story, just imagine the cutest, flopsiest-eared (ph) puppy you can think of. Now imagine it holding a machete.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: And what's weird...

CORDERO: Yeah.

SAGAL: ...Is that the slow loris frequently uses its highly toxic venom on one another. There's an epidemic of slow-loris-on-slow-loris crime.

CORDERO: I usually bite other humans who are cuter than me.

SAGAL: Sure.

CORDERO: I'll tell you that right now. If I am - you know, if I'm walking down the street, I'm, like...

HIGGINS: Yeah.

CORDERO: Is that dude hot? I bite him right on the neck.

GROSZ: I've known you for a while, Eugene. You've never even come close to biting me.

(LAUGHTER)

CORDERO: Well, you just need bigger eyes, bud.

SAGAL: Yeah.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HUNGRY EYES")

ERIC CARMEN: (Singing) I've got hungry eyes. I feel the magic between you and I. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.