Remember Me?

Transcript

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

For a game titled Remember Me, we have Whitney Booth and Jonathan Lee.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Jonathan, you are a reality television show editor. You create what we see. You are the real storyteller.

JONATHAN LEE: Well, I worked on one that's actually called "Man Finds Food."

EISENBERG: And what's the premise? Oh, let me guess.

(LAUGHTER)

LEE: He finds food.

EISENBERG: Yeah, he finds food. I really did think, in the beginning, that - I was like, oh, so you drop some people in the wilderness, and they have to...

(LAUGHTER)

LEE: Find food.

EISENBERG: You're like, these restaurants are down weird streets.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Whitney's visiting us all the way from Nashville - nice.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: What do you do to keep your memory sharp?

WHITNEY BOOTH: Chardonnay.

(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)

LEE: Good answer.

BOOTH: I actually find that I end up telling the same stories to people over and over, which is annoying to both me and them, but I feel like it's, like, locking everything down.

EISENBERG: The chardonnay doesn't care, does it?

BOOTH: It doesn't care at all. It never minds.

EISENBERG: Jonathan, how about you?

LEE: I was going to say crossword puzzles.

EISENBERG: Oh, but...

LEE: I guess with chardonnay, I'll say marijuana.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: I like when we just get honest.

JONATHAN COULTON, BYLINE: Yeah, let's get down to it, man.

BOOTH: All about it.

COULTON: It's refreshing to hear the truth.

EISENBERG: Well, you guys have a music game coming your way, so let's bring back our VIP, Ingrid Michaelson.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Ingrid, would you like to answer the question of what you do to keep your memory sharp? We have chardonnay and marijuana.

INGRID MICHAELSON: It sounds like two strippers' names.

(LAUGHTER)

MICHAELSON: I really don't - I don't have a sharp memory. I've given up on trying.

(LAUGHTER)

MICHAELSON: I forget things all the time, and I just - that's it. I don't - I'm done. It's over for me.

EISENBERG: I like that tactic. You're like, sharp memory, let it go.

MICHAELSON: Yeah, I've given up.

EISENBERG: (Laughter) Jonathan.

COULTON: So we are about to play a music game. What we've done is we've rewritten the lyrics to the hit song "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye, or as I call him, Gotcha.

(LAUGHTER)

MICHAELSON: It's like a pirate - got ye (ph).

COULTON: To be about films that feature characters whose memories are somehow changed or impaired. So just tell us the movie that we are singing about and the winner will move on to our Ask Me One More final round. Here we go.

(Singing) Now and then I think of when we were together, but I decided to erase those memories. I will struggle to hold on to you, despite the fact that you erased me, too. Will Charlie Kaufman make us ride this train forever?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Whitney.

BOOTH: "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind."

COULTON: That's right.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Chardonnay is helpful for that, too.

BOOTH: Oh, yeah.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

COULTON: (Singing) We don't want you knowing there are aliens among us. I was a cop, but now I make these shades look good. Pay no attention, that's just Agent K. If you wouldn't mind, just look this way. You'll forget once I have used my neuralyzer.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Whitney.

BOOTH: "Men In Black."

COULTON: That's right.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: These are coming across super sad.

(LAUGHTER)

MICHAELSON: I'm not going to help with that much.

COULTON: No, keep it sad, man. Keep it sad. You ready?

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

(Singing) No, I don't remember meeting you. I'm not rude; I have a problem with my short-term memory. So if you are the guy who can make me fall in love each day, then we'll pull through.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Whitney.

BOOTH: "50 First Dates."

COULTON: Yeah.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: The lengths someone will go to forget Adam Sandler.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: I feel like Whitney's - Whitney's doing well 'cause she's just sitting around drinking chardonnay watching movies all the time.

BOOTH: The same ones over and over...

COULTON: Yeah.

BOOTH: ...And over and over (laughter).

COULTON: Here we go.

MICHAELSON: (Singing) Now and then I used to frown about my dull existence. Living in the suburbs, just a housewife longing to escape. But then I read this personal ad, wildest thrift store jacket looks so rad. My head received a whopping blow, so now I'll be Madonna rather than the girl you used to know.

(CHEERS, APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Yeah, Whitney, I'm not sure if you'll get this.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Jonathan.

LEE: "Stepford Wives"?

COULTON: I'm sorry. That is incorrect. Whitney, do you know what it is?

BOOTH: No, I can't even think of something funny to say.

EISENBERG: (Laughter).

JOHN CHANESKI, BYLINE: We can give a clue. Rosanna Arquette was in this movie.

LEE: "Boyhood"?

BOOTH: No, that's Patricia Arquette.

COULTON: All right, that's the end of the game, and the end of the show. Thanks, everybody, for coming.

(LAUGHTER)

MICHAELSON: Tell them what it rhymes with. Mesperately meeking musan.

COULTON: Mesperately meeking musan.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: "Desperately Seeking Susan."

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: (Singing) Just go to sleep and I'll commence. Plant a thought inside your brain while you just lie there dreaming. Is corporate spying so intense? Does my top keep spinning? Does this dream make sense?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Whitney.

BOOTH: "Inception."

COULTON: Inception is the right answer.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: All right, this is your last question.

MICHAELSON: (Singing) Where were we supposed to swim? I can't quite remember, but it had something to do with Sydney. I just found your next of kin. Turns out he's a clown fish with a lucky fin.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Whitney.

BOOTH: "Finding Nemo."

COULTON: "Finding Nemo."

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: John Chaneski, what happened in that game?

CHANESKI: If I recall correctly, Whitney took that game and is moving on to our ASK ME ANOTHER final round.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Ingrid, before you go, can we convince you to play us one more song?

(CHEERS)

MICHAELSON: Yeah. No, as I'm tuning my ukulele.

EISENBERG: Yeah, you're like I'm just tuning this for my next gig.

MICHAELSON: Yeah, of course. Yes.

EISENBERG: Thank you.

MICHAELSON: (Singing) Somewhere over the rainbow way up high, there's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby. Someday, I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me, where troubles melt like lemon drops away above the chimney tops. That's where you'll find me. Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds, they fly so high. Birds fly over the rainbow. Why then, oh, why can't I?

(APPLAUSE)

MICHAELSON: Thank you.

EISENBERG: Ingrid Michaelson. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.