Yo Yo Yo!

Transcript

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Our next game is called Yo Yo Yo and here to play it are Yoav Vardy and Paul Sookiasian.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Yoav, I can't believe we put you in a game called Yo Yo Yo.

YOAV VARDY: Yeah, I was called out for a lot of my life.

EISENBERG: You were - really?

VARDY: Yo-yo was a consistent nickname.

EISENBERG: Instead of...

VARDY: It's very easy.

EISENBERG: So everyone would just be like yo, Yo-yo. Paul, you're visiting from Philadelphia; nice to have you. What is the weirdest thing anyone's ever yelled at you on the street, Paul?

PAUL SOOKIASIAN: I'm actually in the suburbs, so I don't get much screaming at me. It's a more genteel place. I mean, the worst it gets there is maybe like nice Honda or something like that, I don't know.

JONATHAN COULTON, BYLINE: That's pretty mean though.

EISENBERG: Yeah, you got a Honda. That is sarcasm by the way. Yoav, how about you?

VARDY: Well, I used to live and go to school in Oxford and wear the ridiculous kind of black gowns and so because of the glasses I got a lot of oy, Harry Potter.

EISENBERG: Oh, yeah. But, you know, in my mind that would be a compliment.

VARDY: Oh, yeah definitely.

EISENBERG: You're like thank you. In this game, each answer is going to begin with the sound yo, so of course we want you to shout that yo like a real New Yorker like yo. Let's go to our puzzle guru, Art Chung, to give us an example.

ART CHUNG, BYLINE: So if I said this world-famous cellist has won 15 Grammys the answer would be Yo-Yo Ma.

(LAUGHTER)

CHUNG: Or Yo-Yo Ma.

EISENBERG: Or Yo-Yo Ma.

CHUNG: Yes.

EISENBERG: And the winner will move on to the final round at the end of the show. Dating at least as far back as ancient Greece, this toy relies on the principle of angular momentum.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Paul.

SOOKIASIAN: The yo-yo.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: It was great acting, Paul.

EISENBERG: (Laughter) The answer is correct but you could grab the little phone and go yo-yo.

SOOKIASIAN: Oh - oh, yeah, that, that.

EISENBERG: Yeah, right.

SOOKIASIAN: All Right.

EISENBERG: Next question - you might try this kind of rapid switching between head voice and chest voice while you hike through the Alps.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Yoav.

VARDY: Yodeling.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Though he sounds like a Hall of Fame Yankee catcher, this Hanna-Barbera cartoon character lives in Jellystone Park.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Paul.

SOOKIASIAN: Yogi Bear.

EISENBERG: OK, I'll give it to you. Yes, Yogi Bear. This word is an acronym for a phrase that roughly translates to just do it.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Yoav.

VARDY: YOLO.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: I like the breaks, I like your pause; I like your delivery, Yoav. YOLO is correct. This national park located in Northern California is famous for its granite cliffs such as Half Dome and El Capitan.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Paul.

SOOKIASIAN: Yosemite.

EISENBERG: There you go; Yosemite is correct.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: An accomplished painter, performance artist and musician, this New York resident collaborated with her husband on the album "Double Fantasy."

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Paul.

SOOKIASIAN: Yoko Ono.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Yes.

SOOKIASIAN: I'm not good at this yo thing. I'm from the suburbs, remember?

EISENBERG: It's OK, it's OK. I feel like you have a lot of soul in there, Paul. Yoko Ono is correct. All right, this is your last clue. Take milk and ferment it with some bacteria to get this very cultured dairy treat.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Yoav.

VARDY: Yogurt.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Yes. Art Chung, how did our contestants do?

CHUNG: It was a close game but, Paul, congratulations; you are moving on to the final round.

(APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.