That's Not What This Is About

Transcript

JOHN FLANSBURGH, BYLINE: From NPR and WNYC, live from The Bell House in the borough so nice they named it Brooklyn, an hour of puzzles, word games and trivia. It's NPR's ASK ME ANOTHER, and here is your host, Ophira Eisenberg.

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OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Thank you, John - so excited about our VIPs. They are Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor and Cecil Baldwin - otherwise known as the folks behind the immensely popular podcast "Welcome To Night Vale."

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EISENBERG: Now, if you don't know "Welcome To Night Vale," it's a community radio broadcast from a fictional desert town where strange things and surreal things are perfectly normal. It's a world filled with angels, secret police, a shadow government, mysterious hooded figures, glow clouds that rain dead animals and a forbidden dog park. So think Washington, D.C., if it had a nightlife.

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EISENBERG: We'll be talking to them later in the show, but let's kick things off with our first game called "That's Not What This Is About." And here to play it are our contestants, Hannah Reff and Pat Wry.

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EISENBERG: Hannah, you are studying anthropology of food.

HANNAH REFF: I am. I'm in the gastronomy master's program at Boston University, so...

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EISENBERG: I know. It sounds very exciting.

REFF: Yeah.

EISENBERG: And totally made up.

REFF: I know.

EISENBERG: What is that about?

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REFF: We talk a lot about the, like, philosophy and cultural aspects of food - why we eat kale versus why we eat potato chips, why you're fat versus why the government thinks you're fat.

EISENBERG: Right now everybody that's listening to the show is like, why do we eat kale? I need to know.

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REFF: We have snack time during every class period, and there's always hummus.

EISENBERG: Right because it's the internationally OK food.

REFF: Yeah, nobody is too square for hummus.

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EISENBERG: Hummus should run with that.

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EISENBERG: They should run with that. Pat, a language arts teacher who briefly left teaching because you toured with "Fiddler On The Roof."

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EISENBERG: What role? Yente the matchmaker.

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EISENBERG: What is that about? How did that happen?

PAT WRY: Well, I'm a very practical person and after 10 years of teaching my pension was vested.

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WRY: So I said, well, I'm not married. I'm just renting. I sublet my apartment. I went to the audition - well, I went to the audition, got the part, sublet my apartment and went on the road for a year.

EISENBERG: That's amazing. How was it?

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WRY: It was fabulous.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

WRY: I got paid for working three hours a day and reading books.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

WRY: I got to read books for a whole year.

EISENBERG: So what you're saying, what you loved about showbiz was the hours.

WRY: Absolutely, absolutely.

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EISENBERG: Good to know. All right, well, to tell us what "That's Not What This Is About" is about, I'm delighted to welcome back to our show as our puzzle giant, from They Might Be Giants, John Flansburgh.

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FLANSBURGH: Ladies and gentlemen, movie titles can be deceiving. An example - the movie "The Blues Brothers" is not about two siblings battling chronic depression.

EISENBERG: Sort of is, isn't it though, if you think about it?

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EISENBERG: Yeah, so what we are going to do is we're going to read an inaccurate plot based on a real film title. The game is to name the actual film. So ring in when you know the answer and don't worry.

FLANSBURGH: In this epic coming-of-age story, Jason Schwartzman gets kicked out of a prestigious prep school and moves to South Dakota to sculpt a gigantic stone tribute to our nation's greatest presidents.

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WRY: "Rushmore."

FLANSBURGH: That's correct, Pat.

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EISENBERG: Here's your next question. Maya Angelou joins Emily Dickinson and Pablo Neruda in a posthumous writing club.

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EISENBERG: Hannah.

REFF: "Dead Poets Society."

EISENBERG: Yes, exactly.

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FLANSBURGH: In a world, Hilary Swank stars in this comedy about a contest to find a missing infant and claim a seven-figure cash prize.

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FLANSBURGH: Pat.

WRY: "Million Dollar Baby."

FLANSBURGH: That is correct.

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EISENBERG: In this M. Night Shyamalan thriller, we learn that the tools used to direct traffic are actually trying to kill us.

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EISENBERG: Pat.

WRY: "Signs."

EISENBERG: Yes.

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FLANSBURGH: All right, I'm going to do this next - I don't do a lot of impressions, but I just got a couple so I thought I'd do this next one in the voice of the Moviefone guy. Walter Matthau is the gristled television news producer. Poorly trained grizzlies and Kodiaks are the woefully unprepared CNN news anchors. High jinks ensues - press one.

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FLANSBURGH: Hannah.

REFF: "Bad News Bears."

FLANSBURGH: That is correct.

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EISENBERG: Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn are teachers of ancient history in a film about the University of Bologna founded in 1088 A.D.

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EISENBERG: Hannah.

REFF: "Old School."

EISENBERG: "Old School."

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FLANSBURGH: "Old School." Anna Kendrick is the star baseball player who throws a no-hitter without any walks then sings about it without musical accompaniment or auto-tune.

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FLANSBURGH: Pat.

WRY: "Pitch Perfect."

FLANSBURGH: That is correct.

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FLANSBURGH: And Pat for the point.

EISENBERG: This is your final question. Jon Favreau wrote, directed and catered this 2014 movie based on Isaac Hayes's character from "South Park."

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EISENBERG: Hannah.

REFF: "Chef."

EISENBERG: "Chef" is correct.

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EISENBERG: John Flansburgh, how did our contestants do?

FLANSBURGH: They both did great. In fact, it's a tie.

EISENBERG: Oh, look at that.

FLANSBURGH: Very exciting, so who will win - Pat with five points or Hannah with five points? We come to the question. OK. Robert Downey, Jr., portrays the guy who invented a device for removing creases from clothes.

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FLANSBURGH: Hannah.

REFF: "Iron Man."

FLANSBURGH: That is correct, and you are the winner, Hannah.

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FLANSBURGH: Hannah, well done. We'll see you in the final round.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.