Special Message 4

Transcript

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

I noticed another call came in to our answering machine here. This one, I can't help but notice, has a Washington, D.C., area code.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Hi, everybody. This is Barack from Washington, D.C.

(CHEERS, APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Carl, for 30 years on MORNING EDITION, yours was the voice America woke up to. You brought us the news of everything from presidential elections to the fall of the Berlin Wall. We trusted you to tell us what happened, and why it mattered. And then for some reason, you joined a show where Peter Sagal makes you read goofy limericks and imitate everybody from Britney Spears to Barack Obama.

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: It turns out they all sound like Carl Kasell.

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: Anyway, we're glad you did. Over the years, WAIT WAIT ...DON'T TELL ME! has become an institution in my hometown of Chicago and across the country. And Carl, you've been its heart and soul. I will never forget my time on the show. A lot of people didn't know my name, but you guys were already making fun of it.

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: Carl, congratulations on an incredible career and a well-deserved retirement. We will miss you, but it's good to know you won't be giving up everything. Who knows, maybe in a few years you'll get a call from another contestant - Barack, from Chicago. And if I win, I'm glad you will still record my voicemail.

(CHEERS, APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: And Carl, just this one time, would you do the honors?

CARL KASELL: This is NPR. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.