PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Now, onto to the final game - Lightning Fill In The Blank. Each of our players will have 60 seconds in which to answer as many fill-in-the-blank questions as he or she can - each correct answer now worth two points. Bill, can you give us the scores?
BILL KURTIS: Negin has 3. Paula and PJ each have 2.
SAGAL: OK. We have flipped a coin. PJ has elected to go second. So Paula, you're up first. Fill in the blank. On Thursday, President Trump falsely claimed that Democrats had inflated Hurricane Maria's death toll in blank.
PAULA POUNDSTONE: Puerto Rico.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Sunday, Vice President Pence said that he'd be willing to take part in an interview with special counsel blank.
POUNDSTONE: Mueller.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, Senator Cory Booker released more documents about Supreme Court nominee blank that were deemed confidential.
POUNDSTONE: Kavanaugh.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Thursday, the White House outlined a proposal for new trade talks with blank.
POUNDSTONE: Oh, maybe China?
SAGAL: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Last weekend, Georgia State's humiliating 41-7 loss to North Carolina State was made even worse when their coach blanked.
POUNDSTONE: Oh. I don't know.
SAGAL: Tore his bicep, celebrating the team's only touchdown.
POUNDSTONE: Oh.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, a public health advisory was issued in New Hampshire after mosquitoes carrying blank were discovered.
POUNDSTONE: Zika?
SAGAL: No, West Nile, in...
POUNDSTONE: Oh, West Nile, of course.
SAGAL: ...This case. After taking away Pluto's planet status back in 2006, researchers are now moving to classify blank as a new planet.
POUNDSTONE: Pluto.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: He's out. He's in. He's out. He's in. This week, an Oregon novelist who wrote an essay...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...Called "How To Murder Your Husband" was charged with blanking.
POUNDSTONE: Murdering her husband.
SAGAL: How did you know?
(LAUGHTER)
POUNDSTONE: I just guessed.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: It was just like an episode of "Murder She Did."
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: The woman has been charged in connection with her husband's death after publishing a book called "The Wrong Husband" and an essay titled "How To Murder Your Husband." She'll be going away for a long time both because the evidence is so strong and because her newest book is called "So Having Murdered Your Husband, Here's How To Represent Yourself In Court."
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Paula do? I thought she did well.
KURTIS: Very well - six right, 12 more points, 14 gives her the lead.
SAGAL: Whoa, well done, Paula.
POUNDSTONE: Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: All right. PJ, you're up next. Fill in the blank. On Monday, the White House announced it was working on plans for a second nuclear summit with blank.
P.J. O'ROURKE: North Korea.
SAGAL: North Korea, yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, President Trump authorized new sanctions against any country that meddles in U.S. blank.
O'ROURKE: Grand juries.
SAGAL: No, elections - I know.
O'ROURKE: Oh, yeah.
SAGAL: Following allegations of sexual harassment, longtime CBS chief blank stepped down on Sunday.
O'ROURKE: Oh, Les move - movie - Moonves.
SAGAL: Moonves.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, Manhattan's district attorney dropped over 3,000 open cases related to blank possession.
O'ROURKE: Drug.
SAGAL: Right. Well...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...Marijuana. This week, a gym in New Zealand opened a new room, the first in the world in any gym to be devoted entirely to blank.
O'ROURKE: That butt chair from Ikea.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Taking selfies. At their...
POUNDSTONE: Oh, Lord.
SAGAL: ...Developers conference on Wednesday, Apple unveiled the newest version of the Apple Watch and the blank.
O'ROURKE: The iPhone.
SAGAL: Of course.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
O'ROURKE: In one of its first Instagram posts, the State Department rebranded itself as blank.
O'ROURKE: Oh, the Deep State Department.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: The Department of Swagger. This week, a man in New Hampshire was fined...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...One hundred twenty-four dollars for blanking at the beach.
O'ROURKE: Urinating.
SAGAL: No, for kicking a seagull that had stolen his hamburger.
(LAUGHTER)
O'ROURKE: He should have urinated instead.
SAGAL: According to police, the man had just sat down to enjoy his burger when a seagull stole it right out of his hands. He then tried to shoo the bird away but ended up kicking it. That drew the fine. We should say for longtime NPR listeners, the seagull in question is a bird and not recently retired All Things Considered host Robert Siegel...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...Who does spend his time lurking on beaches and stealing people's lunches.
(LAUGHTER)
O'ROURKE: Being that it's NPR, we should probably also update the condition of the bird.
SAGAL: The seagull is fine.
O'ROURKE: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did PJ do on our quiz?
KURTIS: Four right, 8 more points, total of 10; he trails Paula.
SAGAL: All right. So how many, then, does Negin need to win?
KURTIS: Six to win, Negin.
NEGIN FARSAD: OK.
SAGAL: Here we go, Negin. This is for the game. On Tuesday, President Trump marked the 17th anniversary of blank with a speech in Pennsylvania.
FARSAD: September 11.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, the attorney general of Colorado sued pharmaceutical giant Purdue Pharma for their role in the blank crisis.
FARSAD: Opioid crisis.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: According to a report published Wednesday in The New York Times, the U.S. is detaining a record number of blank.
FARSAD: Children.
SAGAL: Yes, migrant children.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, adult film star blank announced she'd be releasing a book about her alleged affair with the president.
FARSAD: Stormy Daniels.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a pilot in the U.K. was fired after it was revealed that he blanked during the hiring process.
FARSAD: Was on LSD.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: No. He was fired for listing Jabba the Hutt as a reference.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: After winning an Emmy Award for his role in "Jesus Christ Superstar Live," John Legend became the youngest person ever to blank.
FARSAD: EGOT.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, the Seattle Storm swept the Washington Mystics to claim their third blank title.
FARSAD: Grand Slam.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: WNBA.
FARSAD: Oh.
SAGAL: After meeting a woman named Nicole at a bar and...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...Hitting it off, a student at the University of Calgary tried to find her by blanking.
FARSAD: By using a turkey caller.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: He tried to email every single person named Nicole enrolled at the university.
(LAUGHTER)
POUNDSTONE: But then what happened? Do you know end of this story?
SAGAL: I do.
POUNDSTONE: Yeah. Tell it.
SAGAL: The man met Nicole during a night at the bar. And he got her number. But what do you know - it wasn't the correct number.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: So undeterred and somewhat clueless, he's saying - he looked in the student directory, found everybody named Nicole. And he sent them all a mass email saying, hello, I'm me. If you're the Nicole, please get in touch. It's easy to relate to. I mean, everybody knows how embarrassing this is when you're trying to reach one person but you click reply to all Nicoles. Since then, the women, who have all met on this email group, have started to get together to meet without the guy.
(LAUGHTER)
FARSAD: This is, like, the premise of a romantic comedy.
SAGAL: It really is.
FARSAD: It's amazing.
SAGAL: Bill, did Negin do well enough to win?
KURTIS: She needed one more point to win.
FARSAD: Aw.
SAGAL: Aw.
KURTIS: That means that Paula is our winner.
(APPLAUSE)
O'ROURKE: And it's...
SAGAL: Well, Paula, I should say congratulations. Or as they say in the turkey hauler, (imitating turkey gobble).
(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.