The Game Room

Transcript

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Say hello to our next contestants Darren Osburn and Meghan Towers.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: So this round is called, The Game Room. You are in a game room. what could this be about? In this run all the answers will feature the name of a popular board game. For example, if we said, this cereal's commercials featured the slogan, he likes it, hey Mikey, you would say Life - the board game life. Have you played the board game Life, Darren?

DARREN OSBURN: Yes.

EISENBERG: Fond memories?

OSBURN: I'm playing IT now.

EISENBERG: You are playing it now. This is also life, I know, weird. There was, like, cards and choices. Were there any cards that you remember from Life or that you wish you could maybe draw right now?

OSBURN: Yes, the Mikey likes it card. If you draw the card, you get a free bowl of cereal right there on the spot.

EISENBERG: Aw, you want cereal right now?

(LAUGHTER)

OSBURN: Cinnamon Life sounds good.

EISENBERG: OK, adorable. Meghan?

MEGHAN TOWERS: I would go for the unlimited cheese for life card.

(LAUGHTER)

TOWERS: In the rare gourmand edition of The Game of Life.

EISENBERG: Are you guys hungry? Do we need - all right, now we know what you're goals and aspirations are going forward. All right, let's play the game. Ring in when you know the answer. The Sherman Antitrust Act outlaws this type of anticompetitive industry.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Meghan?

TOWERS: Monopoly.

EISENBERG: Monopoly, yeah.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: In this Shakespearian tragedy, Iago's final words are appropriately, from this time forth I never will speak words. Yeah, mhm, I know.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Darren.

OSBURN: "Hamlet."

EISENBERG: It's not "Hamlet." That is one of the most violent board games.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: But I love the idea of it. No, Megan, can you steal?

TOWERS: Othello?

EISENBERG: Yes.

TOWERS: That's a board game? Seriously?

EISENBERG: That is a board game, yeah.

JOHN CHANESKI: I minute to learn, a lifetime to master. That's their slogan. Yeah.

EISENBERG: The next is a musical clue. Jonathan Coulton?

JONATHAN COULTON, BYLINE: Yes, I need you to fill in the blank in this Taylor Swift song. (Singing) And he's long gone. And he's next to me, and I realize the blame is on me 'cause I knew you were - this - when you walked in.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Meghan?

TOWERS: (Singing) Trouble.

COULTON: Trouble is right.

EISENBERG: That was really an amazing rendition of that song.

COULTON: You know what? Taylor Swift is fantastic.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Am I alone in this one?

EISENBERG: No, no, I'm with you. I just - I couldn't - the way you said it, I was like, is that Jonathan Coulton talking or?

COULTON: I'm not setting up for a joke. I'm serious.

EISENBERG: OK, no that's good. Agreed.

COULTON: Talented young lady.

EISENBERG: In 1952, Richard Nixon gave a famous speech in which he admitted his daughter's dog was a political gift. What was the name of the dog?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Darren cannot stop ringing in. Darren.

OSBURN: Checkers.

EISENBERG: Checkers is correct. Do you know the names of his other pets? He named them after all his favorite pastimes.

OSBURN: Alcohol.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Right - making lists of my enemies. After the U.S.S. Missouri and the U.S.S. Wisconsin were taken out of commission, the U.S. Navy no longer used these types of boats.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Darren.

OSBURN: Battleships.

EISENBERG: Battleships is correct. This Agatha Christie play opened on London's West End in 1952 and holds the record for the longest initial run of any play in history with over 23,000 performances.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Meghan.

TOWERS: "The Mouse Trap."

EISENBERG: Yes "The Mouse Trap." Is that a good thing that it ran that long? What does that mean?

CHANESKI: It was a fantastic play. It was Agatha Christie. It was mysterious. It had a twist ending that no one saw coming. I'm not going to spoiler it for you but.

(LAUGHTER)

CHANESKI: It's like the board game, you had no idea what was happening.

EISENBERG: Right when that little cage at the end fell down. Everyones like, oh, my God, it worked.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: OK, your last clue is - we're just going down memory lane, and we forgot it was a game show. Your last clue is another musical clue.

COULTON: Here we go. Fill in the blank in these Elton John lyrics. (Singing) It's sad, so sad. Why can't we talk it over, though it seems to me this thing seems to be the hardest word.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Meghan.

TOWERS: I actually didn't know, and I just pressed the buzzer. So sorry.

CHANESKI: Whoa. Wait a second. She did not know.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: We're gonna have...

TOWERS: I pass.

COULTON: This is very confusing. All right, Meghan. You pass.

EISENBERG: You pass.

COULTON: You pass. Thanks for apologizing.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Darren do you have a guess as to what it is?

OSBURN: Sorry!

COULTON: Sorry! is correct.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: Meghan, that's what they call a bad beat right there.

EISENBERG: That was like the most Canadian way that could have gone.

TOWERS: So if I had apologized first, I would have gotten it right.

EISENBERG: The answer is Sorry! but you don't believe it. Darren got it. Sorry. Puzzle guru John Chaneski.

CHANESKI: Well, despite that near-miss at the end, Meghan, you still win. Congratulations, you're moving on to our final round.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Coming up we'll talk to our VIP, Ethan Hawke, about a move that took 12 years to film. And we'll quiz him about the year it all began. So stick around. I'm Ophira Eisenberg, and this is NPR's ASK ME ANOTHER.

(APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.