Lightning Fill In The Blank

Transcript

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Now it's time to move on to our final game, Lighting Fill In The Blank. Each of our players will have 60 seconds in which to answer as many fill-in-the-blank questions as he or she can. Each correct answer now worth two points. Bill, can you give me the scores?

BILL KURTIS, BYLINE: Tom has four, Peter and Amy have two.

SAGAL: All right, we have flipped a coin. Amy has elected to go first. So Amy, the clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. Both Chris Christie and Lindsey Graham took their first steps towards entering the blank this week.

PETER GROSZ: Presidential election.

SAGAL: Yeah, for 2016.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Officials for the World Health Organization announced that the blank outbreak in Africa was on the decline.

GROSZ: Ebola.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Thousands of protesters gathered in Tahir Square to mark the fourth anniversary of the uprising in blank.

GROSZ: Egypt.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: A full 10 months after it went missing, officials declared that the disappearance of blank to be an accident.

GROSZ: The Malaysian airline.

SAGAL: The Malaysian airplane yeah.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Police in Texas arresting a drunk driver on the side of the road were briefly interrupted by blank.

GROSZ: Another pair of cops arresting them.

SAGAL: No, it was another drunk driver crashing into their squad car.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: On Monday, the Church of England consecrated its first ever blank Bishop.

GROSZ: Female.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: IKEA announced it would begin selling vegan blank this spring.

GROSZ: Chairs.

SAGAL: No, meatballs.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Most chairs are already vegan except, of course, for the meat chairs that Senator Tester favors on his ranch. Two parents in France were disappointed when a court forbade them from naming their baby blank.

GROSZ: Meat chair.

SAGAL: No.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: They were not allowed to name their baby Nutella.

GROSZ: Good.

SAGAL: The judge told the parents that naming their child after the famous chocolate hazelnut spread was against the child's best interest and would lead to, quote, "mockery and unpleasant remarks later on in life." The judge then suggested the parents consider a more manly, typical French name like Michel.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: All right. How did Peter do on our quiz?

KURTIS: Peter got six right for 12 more points. He has the lead with 14.

SAGAL: All right. Amy, you are up next. Fill in the blank. Confirmation hearings for Loretta Lynch, Obama's blank nominee, began on Wednesday.

AMY DICKINSON: Attorney General.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: According to a new report from the Department of Labor, U.S. blank claims have dropped to a 15-year low.

DICKINSON: Jobless.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Due to the continuing conflict in Ukraine, the EU announced that it would be extending sanctions against blank.

DICKINSON: Russia.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Professional golfer Brooke Pancake confused fans when she signed an endorsement deal with blank.

DICKINSON: Waffle House.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Exactly right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Thursday, scientists in China...

DICKINSON: What?

SAGAL: On Thursday, scientists - just accept it and move on. On Thursday, scientists in China announced the discovery of a new 50-foot blank.

DICKINSON: Meteor.

SAGAL: Dinosaur. Strong sales of the iPhone 6 pushed blank's profits to a new global record this week.

DICKINSON: Apple.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: 911 dispatchers in the East Bay of Northern Calif...

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

SAGAL: ...Have asked residents to please stop calling emergency services when blank.

DICKINSON: East Bay, Calif. - when seals come up and ring their doorbell.

(LAUGHTER)

DICKINSON: That really happens.

GROSZ: God, I hope that's right.

SAGAL: No. She - they asked the community to stop calling 911 when Facebook goes down.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Apparently it was an epidemic. They put out a statement that said, we are here to handle matters of life and death. And while we understand it is very important to you, it is not a matter of life and death when Facebook goes down.

GROSZ: I don't know what Jenny is listening to on Spotify.

(LAUGHTER)

DICKINSON: Oh, my God.

SAGAL: All right. How did Amy do on our quiz?

KURTIS: Well, she did pretty good - five right, 10 more points, 12. But Peter Grosz has the lead still.

SAGAL: So how many then does Tom need to win the game?

KURTIS: Five to tie, six to win.

SAGAL: All right. Here we go, Tom. This is for the game. On Thursday, Raul Castro said that if the U.S. wanted to normalize relations with Cuba, it would first have to close blank.

TOM BODETT: Guantanamo.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: After being arrested last week on corruption charges, Sheldon Silver agreed to resign as the speaker of blank's state assembly.

BODETT: New York.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Health officials announced that the blank outbreak that started in Disney Land has now spread to eight other states.

BODETT: Measles.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Comcast has apologized after sending customer Ricardo Brown a bill addressed to blank.

BODETT: Oh, it was really nasty. It was like, you fat idiot or you - it was a - it was an insult.

SAGAL: It was. And I'm going to give it to you because you probably were too shy to say it. It was A-hole Brown. During an interview with People magazine, Broadway legend Joel Grey blanked.

BODETT: Came out as gay.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: A Florida woman charged with grand theft auto...

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

SAGAL: ...Said she knew the truck she was driving was stolen, but she didn't blank.

BODETT: She didn't obviously care.

SAGAL: No. She said I know it's stolen, but I don't think it was that stolen.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: The police in Florida found this woman driving this truck that was reported stolen. She told them she was just borrowing it from a friend. When they pressed her further, she said, yeah, she knew the truck was stolen. But she really didn't think it was that stolen. Eventually, the police agreed with her, and they reduced her sentence from grand theft auto to good theft auto.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Bill, did Tom Bodett do well enough to win?

KURTIS: Well, he did very, very well. And it's something of an historic moment. He got five right, 10 more points, 14 and a tie with Peter. Co-champs.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: There you are. In just a minute, we're going to ask our panelists to predict what will be the big surprise out of this year's Super Bowl. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.