# Wait Wait Don't Tell Me's greatest moment ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2012, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428 "2012-07-26T05:37:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/21 "2012-07-26T20:07:44Z")
My favorite moment from WWDTM was a Roy Blount quip. They were talking about how George W. Bush had been asked what was the best moment of his presidency. He supposedly replied that it was when he caught a really big fish while on vacation. The panel had some predictable fun with that until Blount said, “I’d like to defend the president on this. I think he was right!” ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/22 "2012-07-26T20:18:47Z")
Oh come on. Everyone knows the answer is Mommy! No? Uh… commies? ---
**Author:** ![ScatteredFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@ScatteredFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScatteredFrog)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/23 "2012-07-26T20:56:25Z")
You’re ALL WRONG! The best WWDTM moment is when they were trading barbs about…[Clippy](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128417631)! (BTW, it’s much more effective if you actually listen to the clip than read the transcription.) BTW…I’d like to go to a recording of WWDTM, but man, it just seems to cost quite a lot for what it is…is it worth paying what they’re asking to see it in person??? ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/24 "2012-07-26T21:31:31Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I heard it when it was first broadcast. Hilarious and yes, everone collectively snorted metaphorical coffee out of their noses, including me in my car. > > Paula Poundstone is consistently quippy. Bobcat Goldthwait was on the panel - for that ep? - and interrupted a bit too much, but was surprisingly funny and non-persona; his voice wasn’t quite as strangled. Yeah, I was surprised at how funny he was. Obviously not as familar with the news as the others, but not the howling mess I anticipated. One more vote for the “Clippy must die” segment, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/25 "2012-07-26T21:34:46Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Weird. Its not in that show, and I didn’t hear it when I listened to the podcast last week. Are you sure you didn’t hear a different episode. Last weeks was the one with the Phantom Tollbooth author. That should be last week’s episode, which the OP was talking about, I thought? I didn’t listen through the show. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/26 "2012-07-26T21:39:14Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Weird. Its not in that show, and I didn’t hear it when I listened to the podcast last week. Are you sure you didn’t hear a different episode. Last weeks was the one with the Phantom Tollbooth author. It’s the 7/14 episode with Brooke Shields as the guest. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/27 "2012-07-26T22:01:38Z")
> [@Nuveena](#): > > Another good Jeopardy! moment was the video daily double in the Starts with a Body Part category. It was a picture of a small rodent. The answer was chinchilla but the contestant guessed titmouse. Ironic since the contestant’s answer is a bird. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/28 "2012-07-27T05:49:32Z")
Related question: who was the comic book writer they interviewed today? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/29 "2012-07-27T16:33:27Z")
Oh, man, I can’t pick out a favorite bit, that show just cracks me up multiple times every time. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/30 "2012-07-27T16:47:31Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > One of my favorites was a couple of years ago when they had singer Neko Case on to play “Not My Job”. The questions were about Necco wafers, and the first question was about them being eaten by Civil War soldiers. The entire rest of the segment turned into one huge hilarious riff on Ken Burns’ “Civil War” documentary. [Online here](http://www.npr.org/2011/07/09/137688630/singer-songwriter-neko-case-plays-not-my-job). From either 7/11/09 or 7/09/11, depending on whether you believe Carl Kasell or the URL. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/31 "2012-07-27T17:29:59Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > My favorite moment from WWDTM was a Roy Blount quip. > > They were talking about how George W. Bush had been asked what was the best moment of his presidency. He supposedly replied that it was when he caught a really big fish while on vacation. The panel had some predictable fun with that until Blount said, “I’d like to defend the president on this. I think he was right!” I remember that - that was great! My favorite moment is one of the type that’s not funny in the reading, but was great to listen to. A listener-contestant called and said she was from some little town out west. Paula Poundstone interrupted and said that her good friend Flossie had moved out there, they’d lost touch, and did the listener by chance know Flossie? The listener said she did (she didn’t really but was playing along), and the subsequent conversation about this mysterious Flossie woman was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/32 "2012-07-27T17:57:38Z")
Well, I just read this to my husband, using my best Carl Cassel voice, and he had the same answer as the listener. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/33 "2012-07-28T04:12:39Z")
My two WWTTM moments: They related a news story about a dog eating a wedding ring, days before the ceremony. (The ring was retrieved by examining the dog’s output.) Then they followed with the musical segue: _This Diamond Ring doesn’t shine for me anymore, and this diamond ring doesn’t mean what it did before…_ And: …a news story about a truck being stolen with its cargo of breast implants. One of the guys wondered about the motives behind such a theft, and unfortunately I can’t convey the sound effect that made his punchline so hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/34 "2012-07-28T13:07:54Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > …unfortunately I can’t convey the sound effect that made his punchline so hilarious. Oh, c’mon, I’ll bet you can try. Or at least tell us where we can get a recording… ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/35 "2012-07-28T14:36:29Z")
I’ve always wanted one of the celebrities who phones in and doesn’t win to volunteer to do the voice themselves. Obviously it doesn’t work if it’s a writer or a chef or somebody else who doesn’t have a well known voice, but if it’s a Henry Winkler or a Leonard Nimoy it’d be a great consolation prize. (Though I’d still honestly prefer Carl just for the prestige.) I’m always irked by the celebrities who Peter Sagal does everything but say “So you want Number 2, as in ‘Number 2 is not the right answer’ number 2, is that right?” to who still get it wrong. One of my favorite guests in recent months was Gary Oldman. Who knew he was that funny? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/36 "2012-07-28T16:35:02Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Oh, c’mon, I’ll bet you can try. Or at least tell us where we can get a recording… I had no idea it would be so hard to find. It was only a couple of years ago. So far the only hits I’ve gotten have been my own post in this thread. I’m on the road this weekend but will try again when I get home. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/37 "2012-07-28T16:48:25Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > [Online here](http://www.npr.org/2011/07/09/137688630/singer-songwriter-neko-case-plays-not-my-job). From either 7/11/09 or 7/09/11, depending on whether you believe Carl Kasell or the URL. The 2011 show was a clip show; Neko Case appeared on the show in 2009. So both are right. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/38 "2012-07-28T18:10:18Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > The 2011 show was a clip show; Neko Case appeared on the show in 2009. So both are right. Diabolically clever of them. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/39 "2012-07-28T20:20:57Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > [Here’s the show’s page](http://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/); the link to the podcast is near the top. I don’t have a time point, but it’s part 6 (of 8) of the show, with the author interview being part 4 and then current news questions to the panel as the next part. > > It’s for July 21, 2012 in case someone dredges up this thread later and a new episode is linked. It’s actually the [July 14, 2012 show](http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=35&prgDate=7-14-2012). ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428/40 "2012-07-28T22:30:51Z")
[http://m.youtube.com/?reload=7&rdm=m7rfp72ds#/watch?v=NxcmoLKVd60](http://m.youtube.com/?reload=7&rdm=m7rfp72ds#/watch?v=NxcmoLKVd60) Clippy must die is the funniest thing ever on this show. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-wait-dont-tell-mes-greatest-moment-ever/629428.md?page=3)