Game Show Or No Game Show?

Transcript

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

For a game called Game Show Or No Game Show?, say hello to our contestants Amy Percosky and Bonnie Knecht.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: So we're fairly confident that both of you like game shows because you are here.

BONNIE KNECHT: This is true.

AMY PERCOSKY: Yes.

EISENBERG: So what is your favorite one growing up, Amy?

PERCOSKY: I always remember watching "The Price Is Right."

EISENBERG: Sure, yeah. I liked it too. Have you watched it recently?

PERCOSKY: I haven't, actually. I work during the day time so...

EISENBERG: Yeah, good for you.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: You have a job and stuff.

PERCOSKY: Yeah.

EISENBERG: How about you, Bonnie? What's your favorite game show?

KNECHT: We watched a lot of TV Land so it would be "What's My Line?".

EISENBERG: "What's My Line?" is fantastic. Yeah, that was a great one.

KNECHT: Yeah, when they had the cow washer on twice to watch how - her job was washing cows.

EISENBERG: Yes, exactly.

KNECHT: No one guessed that.

EISENBERG: Well, that one was a hard one to guess. Almost as hard as this game, which is called Game Show Or No Game Show? because we're going to read you some real and made-up game shows from around the world. OK, and you just have to yell game show if you think it's real, or no game show if you think it's fake. And you actually don't need the buzzers. We're going to rotate back and forth, but there still will be a winner. OK, Bonnie, we're going to start with you. "The Dylan Thomas Pub Quiz" on BBC Radio, Welsh celebrities answer trivia questions about Welsh poet and playwright, Dylan Thomas. And since it's public radio, the winner does not go gentle into that good night with an actual prize, unless you count personal satisfaction.

KNECHT: Let's say, not a game show.

EISENBERG: You'd hope, but that is a game show.

(LAUGHTER)

KNECHT: Oh, dang-it. All right.

EISENBERG: How long could that game show possibly last, is what I thought.

KNECHT: That's my question.

EISENBERG: And you know what the answer is? Two episodes.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: It lasted twice, and they were like, no.

WILL HINES, BYLINE: Even in Wales, they were like, that's enough.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Amy, "Fawn, Fawn, Fawn (ph)." In this low-budget Scottish public television version of name that tune, songs are sung in Gaelic and played on the ukulele and kazoo by Scottish singer-songwriter Findlay Napier.

PERCOSKY: I really want that to be true so I'm going to say game show.

EISENBERG: You're correct. That is a game show.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Although, I do believe low-budget Scottish public television show is redundant.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Back to you, Bonnie - "Professors Showdown." In Croatia, two PhD candidates are asked a battery of 1,000 questions on live TV. Whoever answers the most correctly gets a three-year contract to teach at a Croatian community college.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: The loser becomes their TA.

(LAUGHTER)

KNECHT: I - as I'm in education, I really hope that that does exist so I'll say yes, it is a game show.

EISENBERG: No, that is not a game show.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Amy, this game is called "Who's Your Daddy?" In this U.S. - that's right - United States-based game show, a young woman meets eight men, one of whom is her long-lost father. Each man tries to convince her that he's her real father over several days of bonding. And at the end, if the woman picks her real father, they split the prize. If she picks the impostor, the imposter gets all of the prize money.

PERCOSKY: That says both evil and sad. I'm going to go with game show.

EISENBERG: It was on Fox. You are correct.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Here we go, Bonnie - "Win Your Annulment." Divorce is basically illegal in the Philippines. On this Filipino game show, "Win Your Annulment," three unhappily married couples attempt to epically fail at a series of personality quizzes to prove that they are incompatible. The couple that scores the fewest points wins an annulments.

KNECHT: Let's call it a game show.

EISENBERG: No, that's not a game show.

(LAUGHTER)

KNECHT: Zero for three sounds good.

EISENBERG: That's OK. I do love the idea of a quiz where people have to fail. Just that - yeah.

KNECHT: I'm winning that one.

EISENBERG: You're doing great.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: And finally, Amy, "Penitents Compete." This Turkish pilot starts like an old joke - a Rabbi, a priest, a monk and an Imam greet a series of 10 atheists trying to convert each one to their faith. If they succeed, the now-converted atheist wins a trip to the holy land of their new chosen faith.

PERCOSKY: What?

(LAUGHTER)

PERCOSKY: Game show.

EISENBERG: That is a game show.

(LAUGHTER)

HINES: What a strange talent you have, Amy. What a...

PERCOSKY: I pick ridiculous very well.

KNECHT: I do not.

(LAUGHTER)

HINES: Well, it was an interesting round, but our winner for that was Amy. So well done, Amy. And we will see you in our final round at the end of the show.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: As Don Draper might say, ASK ME ANOTHER isn't just an hour of puzzles, word games and trivia. It's a map between your brain and your heart. So stick around. I'm Ophira Eisenberg from NPR.

(APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.