I tried guys, i really did. I have listened to probably 5 programs of this show, but i just don’t get it.
To me it seems like back in high school, the Drama Club had all of these inside jokes, hilarious to them but nonsensical to anyone else listening.
Is this “Zippy The Pinhead” in a radio-gameshow format?
I loved WWDTM for years, and then suddenly one day, as though a toxic dosage level had been reached, I became completely sick of Peter’s smarmy voice and the smug, chuckling hilarity of the show. Now I can’t change the channel fast enough.
What’s the big deal? If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it. I love WWDTM, I hate Tell Me Another, I’m not sure why and I don’t really care if other people feel the same.
Preach it.
My 70-something mother LOVES Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. So does my 20-something son. They are both intelligent people with good senses of humor. But hey, me too, and I can’t stand listening to the show. It’s astonishing to me that a program can be so relentlessly unfunny.
hmm, I really like Wait Wait and feel tepid on the subject of Tell Me Another.
Love both shows. Look up Ophira Eisenberg’s (from Tell Me Another) stories on Moth Radio Hour.
Isn’t it “Ask Me Another”? I like both shows OK. Don’t love ‘em, but WWDTM has flashes of brilliance, and Ophira Eisenberg is kind of comfortable and pleasing, like your smart and slightly hip family member. On WWDTM, I wish Peter Sagal would let the other panelists talk more. Over the years, it’s seemed to move from a show built around the panelists’ wit to mostly Sagal reading jokes. I still like the jokes, but it’s less fun than I remember it being early on.
But, if you don’t like it, OK. As my dad would say, “that’s why they make chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla.”
No love here for Says You!?
Wait Wait is some of the funniest radio I’ve ever heard and the only radio program or podcast that is a must listen for me every week.
The two shows are really of different categories, so I don’t know why the OP would lump them together.
Agreed, but Sagal isn’t just reading jokes. He’s often responding to the guests unscripted, and can come up with pretty clever satirical commentary on the spot.
So, yeah, I guess if someone is looking for fart jokes or something like that it’s not going to be their cup of tea.
It seems to me they are both quiz shows from the same source which are supposed to be humor based and run back to back in many markets where the real prize is bragging rights despite the fact you are rewarded with some nominal prize which has absolutely zero resale value. (And I would say having a celebrity do your outgoing voice mail message is VERY cool if not resalable, and I am not sure what makes the AMA Rubik’s Cube distinct but I am sure it has to do with drawing attention to the fact you won it on a national quiz show.) All that to say- that seems like the same category of show to me, don’t see how they could be more similar in fact.
I love both shows, although I prefer the previous format of Ask Me Another where there were several competitions throughout the show leading to about seven or eight contestants answering questions for the grand final, winner take all, single elimination quiz. (The new format with only four contestants playing head to head in a best of three semi-finals is less fun. Plus I have never heard one funny or interesting moment within the new “mystery guest” segment. They also made better use of the guest star in the older format- first giving a quiz, then taking a quiz with a quasi interview wound into their appearance.)
This thread reminded me that the show I actually tuned in to hear was “Car Talk”. Even that was not a laugh fest, but I became very familiar with the cast of characters, and they certainly seemed to be having fun making the show. I listened to that like it was a game show—I would try to anticipate the true nature of the problem and beat the brother’s to the correct answer. By the time I was listening the questions were less technical (what is the proper spark plug gap for my 1976 Buick) and more murder mystery (my car runs fine all the time— except going up this one road that climbs out of our little valley. [Answer- partially clogged fuel filter is okay for level roads at any elevation, but does not deliver enough fuel on a long uphill climb].) Car Talk was made entirely of comfortable and familiar elements:
Anyway, after CAR Talk was over, I would sometimes leave the radio tuned to NPR. Some quiz show about things no one cared about. After that was another quiz show from Wisconsin of all places, and like someone said above, it seemed like pretentious people playing to each other (if not the Drama Club then it was the Latin Club or the Chess Club). These shows were often on in the background, and on very rare occasions I would hear a portion of something that was amusing. Then one day I was driving and didn’t want to hear my girlfriend’s voice for another second and turned up the radio. It happened to be one of those shows where everything comes together! Every single sentence was comedy gold and still very witty and high brow. I would be trying to remember some line I just heard and three more hilarious quips would appear before I could fathom the genius.
I started listening in earnest soon after that. I was a bit disappointed they weren’t all gems, but I stuck with it. Wait, Wait was pure improve and sometimes brilliant, but often just … trying too hard to be funny. Whad’Ya Know was even less funny. But I listened and learned the rhythms and personalities. Eventually, I just felt comfortable with the shows and their characters (which never happened for me on Prairie Home Companion or any other NPR show) and missed them if Monday rolled around and I hadn’t heard them. By then I didn’t care if they were funny or not, but they usually were.
Then my local station added Ask Me Another; three straight hour of must listen. Eventually Whad’Ya Know was dropped. Most weeks when I get to listen to both WWDTM and AMA that is my favorite two hours of the whole week. I understand they are often pretentious and less than hilarious, but I very much enjoy both shows (and this from a guy who has been a registered Republican for over twenty years).
+1 here. A favorite podcast. Sagal is self deprecating and really quick in impromptu situations. So I hear the smug within that context. And with guest hosts like Tom Hanks and Jesse Klein, what’s not to love?
And because Paula Poundstone ;). She’s her own thing and I find that thing hilarious, but get where others might not.
Both were graduates of MIT, believe it or not.
The important thing about CarTalk was how comfortable they were with each other and the callers. That made them geniunely funny. Even when they were making fun of people there wasn’t any malice in it. It’s an important distinction.
I like both, but I only listen to them in the car.
I like the categories WWDTM comes up with for “Not My Job”. (not real examples). “You are Taylor Swift – we will ask you about swifts the bird”. “You played Iron Man – we will ask you about Bessemer”. “You’re an expert on tornados, we will ask you about the Cyclone roller coaster”
On AMA Jonathan Colton is a geeky national treasure. And the quizzes are often very clever IMHO.
Brian
I remember when they had Neko Case on and they asked her questions about Necco wafers.
One of my all time favorites was when singer Neko Case was on, and her questions were about Necco wafers. There was one question about how soldiers in the Civil War had carried Necco wafers, and it turned into this extended improvisational riff on Ken Burns “Civil War” with everyone making up letters home about their Necco wafers. Absolutely hilarious.
I’ve only listened to WWDTM, not Ask Me Another. I love WW and think it’s one of the funniest, wittiest, and cleverest shows around. BUT if you aren’t familiar with current events, you’ll never get it. So maybe that’s the problem. The show’s humor depends on the level of knowledge of the audience… so, if you don’t get it, it’s you, not the show. I know the 19-20-year old students I’m in class with at my community college would be completely clueless.
Yeah- love Wait, Wait but hate Ask Me Another.
Can’t explain it. Don’t really care. Listen to what you enjoy and ignore the rest.