OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:
This is ASK ME ANOTHER, I'm your host, Ophira Eisenberg, your hostess with the mostest answers. Let me introduce you to our ASK ME ANOTHER puzzle guys, John Chaneski.
JOHN CHANESKI: Hi Ophira, how you doing? It's great to be back.
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EISENBERG: Great to have you and Art Chung.
ART CHUNG: Hey Ophira.
EISENBERG: You'll be hearing more from them later in the hour, as they will lead us in some puzzles to come. And the man who is always making sweet, sweet music, Jonathan Coulton.
JONATHAN COULTON: Hello.
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EISENBERG: Onstage are our first two contestants. Let's welcome Brendan Sullivan and Alexandra Kalinowski.
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EISENBERG: Brendan?
BRENDAN SULLIVAN: Yes.
EISENBERG: Hi.
SULLIVAN: Hi.
EISENBERG: You're a Ph.D. student at NYU.
SULLIVAN: I am, yes.
EISENBERG: Congratulations.
SULLIVAN: I guess so, yeah.
EISENBERG: All those student loans you like not so much.
SULLIVAN: No, they're not... they're not too bad, not too bad.
EISENBERG: Good, what are you studying?
SULLIVAN: I am getting my Ph.D. in art history.
EISENBERG: Oh.
SULLIVAN: Yeah, I do 15th-century art.
EISENBERG: 15th-century art, that is my, my favorite century, yeah.
SULLIVAN: 15th century, oh yeah, very relevant to today, yeah, plenty of jobs available so...
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EISENBERG: In 15th-century art? Kinko's, there's Kinko's.
SULLIVAN: That's right, always.
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EISENBERG: Welcome. You're going to love our game, I can tell. And Alexandra, you are trained in opera; you write and you sing pop?
ALEXANDRA KALINOWSKI: Yeah.
EISENBERG: You write pop songs?
KALINOWSKI: Yes, it's great. It's like being in middle school again. You know, like go through all those emotions and write them all down and when you read them out loud, just as a poem you sort of want to throw everything away. And then as a song, suddenly it works. It's sort of magic.
EISENBERG: Oh yeah.
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EISENBERG: Like when you journal and then you put it to song and like they're lyrics, they're lyrics.
KALINOWSKI: Yeah and so therapeutic.
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EISENBERG: Fantastic. Well, the first game that we are going to play is called For The Fun Of It. Unlike our other games where you win millions of dollars, this game is just for the fun of it. No.
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EISENBERG: Let me tell you how it's going to work. In this game, we're looking for common phrases and song titles that include the words "for the," OK? Like "take a turn for the worse." Isn't that an uplifting example? Oh.
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EISENBERG: Yay. Or, for example, I'll do one with Jonathan. In boxing, if you don't get up by the time the referee says 10, you are...
COULTON: Yes. You are down for the count. You have lost the boxing game.
EISENBERG: That's right, you are a chump.
COULTON: Yes.
EISENBERG: For the... I like it in boxing, though, when they get tired and kind of hug each other. Like let's just be friends.
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COULTON: Yeah, that's cute, it's so cute.
EISENBERG: Yes. So common phrases, song titles with "for the" in them. And Jonathan, you're going to... you might help me out with some of these, right?
COULTON: Yeah, I will. I should mention, a couple of these are audio cues. So I'll be playing a bit of a song and the song title is the answer. And you can ring in but just wait until I'm done, because I'm a very important person.
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EISENBERG: He costs a lot, so we're trying to get the most out of him. OK. And whoever gets the most points will move on to our final round at the end of the show, Ask Me One More. Are you ready, contestants?
SULLIVAN: Yes.
KALINOWSKI: Yes.
EISENBERG: We shall begin. Like the von Trapp family, it's what you would do to escape in a hurry, particularly toward a mountainous region.
SULLIVAN: Head for the hills.
EISENBERG: Brendan, yes.
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EISENBERG: Unless you already live in the hills.
SULLIVAN: No, I don't.
EISENBERG: In which case, I don't know, what do you do, take to the woods?
SULLIVAN: Stay where you are.
EISENBERG: Stay where you are?
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SULLIVAN: Everything's fine.
EISENBERG: Everything's cool. Don't listen to others. On this former hit on Bravo, clueless men got helpful tips from experts in fashion, design, grooming, food and culture. Alexandra.
KALINOWSKI: Queer eye for the straight guy.
EISENBERG: Queer eye for the straight guy, that's right.
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EISENBERG: Subtitled, hey straight guys, get it together.
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EISENBERG: This is an audio clue.
COULTON: Here we go.
(SOUNDBITE OF JONATHAN COULTON PLAYING THE GUITAR)
COULTON: (Singing) Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste. Been around for a long long years, stole many a man's soul and faith.
SULLIVAN: "Sympathy For The Devil."
EISENBERG: Brendan, you are correct, "Sympathy For The Devil."
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EISENBERG: According to Casey Kasem, you should keep your feet on the ground and keep doing what? Brendan.
SULLIVAN: Reaching for the stars?
EISENBERG: Reaching for the stars.
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EISENBERG: He's so positive. Doing great. It's something really nice to look at, you might say it's a large meal for your peepers. Brendan.
SULLIVAN: Feast for the eyes?
EISENBERG: Feast for the eyes.
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CHUNG: Very fast.
EISENBERG: I know, always. Feast for the eyes. OK, now it's time for an audio clue.
COULTON: Yes, here comes your audio clue.
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COULTON: (Singing) You want a piece of my heart. You'd better start from the start.
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SULLIVAN: Everybody's working for the weekend?
EISENBERG: Yes.
COULTON: Yeah.
EISENBERG: Everybody's working for the weekend.
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EISENBERG: Pride of Canada, Loverboy. OK quick now, what's the floral nickname for the Kentucky Derby? The floral nickname? They are looking around, they are confused.
KALINOWSKI: Can I call Google?
EISENBERG: Can you call Google?
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EISENBERG: Google's not available, yeah.
CHUNG: I think, you know, the horses get something at the end.
EISENBERG: It's the horses?
COULTON: They do.
SULLIVAN: Race for the, I guess roses, that's not the right thing, but no, I don't know.
COULTON: That's close.
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SULLIVAN: I feel bad.
COULTON: That's close.
EISENBERG: OK, well you know what? We're going to put it out to the audience. Does the audience know what?
UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Run for the roses!
EISENBERG: Run for the roses. Run for the roses. Brendan sort of almost made it to that. OK, so let's see right now.
CHUNG: Well right now, Brendan's got a big lead, but we've got a few more questions. So Alexandra, you're still in it.
EISENBERG: It's anyone's game. It's anyone's game, Alexandra.
CHUNG: By that we mean Brendan's game.
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EISENBERG: Anyone's game.
CHUNG: Anyone's game.
COULTON: It's anyone's game, anything could happen. This is radio, people.
EISENBERG: It's for the fun of it, OK? It's for the fun of it.
COULTON: It's just for the fun of it, anyway; are you having fun? Because that's all that counts.
KALINOWSKI: I'm having a glorious, glorious time.
COULTON: Yeah, good, good.
EISENBERG: Yeah. In baseball, it's a term for getting a single, double, triple and home run all in the same game.
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KALINOWSKI: You have art history and opera in the same place, I don't think you're going to get an answer.
EISENBERG: You never know. You never know what a secret hobby might be. Baseball, that is a secret hobby, isn't it?
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EISENBERG: A dirty secret for someone in opera and art history?
COULTON: Yeah, well...
CHUNG: It's like when a car swerves into the bike lane.
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EISENBERG: Wow.
SULLIVAN: Wait, the answer's like that?
EISENBERG: Yeah the answer is like that.
CHUNG: Oh no, not you guys.
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COULTON: That's the most confusing clue I've ever heard, but good luck.
EISENBERG: I know. OK yeah, it's sort of the EGOT of baseball. You know what? I'm going to put it out to the crowd, why not crowd?
UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Hitting for the cycle!
EISENBERG: Hitting, yes, hitting for the cycle.
COULTON: I agree, it sounds made up, it sounds totally fake.
EISENBERG: Yeah, I know.
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EISENBERG: Doesn't it really? Yeah. OK, we have an audio clue, Jonathan.
COULTON: Yes, we do.
(SOUNDBITE OF JONATHAN COULTON PLAYING THE GUITAR)
COULTON: (Singing) My baby, he don't talk sweet, ain't got much to say.
EISENBERG: Brendan.
SULLIVAN: Let's hear it for the boy.
EISENBERG: Let's hear it from the boy.
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COULTON: So reluctant to ring that bell.
EISENBERG: Yeah, I think we need to hear a little more of that song, Jonathan.
COULTON: No, I think that's - I think that's enough of that song.
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EISENBERG: From, of course the soundtrack to "Footloose."
CHUNG: That's right, the wonderful Denise Williams.
EISENBERG: Wonderful Denise Williams, yes and one of my favorite lines from a movie. There's a time to laugh, a time to cry, a time to mourn and a time to dance.
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EISENBERG: Oh, close to my heart. OK.
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EISENBERG: In the 1990s, conservatives tried very hard to shut down this federal agency for giving grants to controversial artists such as Karen Finley and Robert Mapplethorpe.
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SULLIVAN: The National Endowment for the Arts?
EISENBERG: National Endowment for the Arts.
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EISENBERG: Brendan, I love that you went "oh" because you felt you wanted Alexandra to ring in, right? You're starting to develop feelings for your contestant. That's a very common thing that happens in this game.
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EISENBERG: OK. And because he's so good at it, we have one more final audio clue. Jonathan.
COULTON: Here we go.
(SOUNDBITE OF JONATHAN COULTON PLAYING THE GUITAR)
COULTON: (Singing) Blah, for the blah-be-do(ph). Of sentimental verse, of nothing in my purse. Of chuckles when the preacher said, for better or for worse.
SULLIVAN: Thanks for the memories.
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EISENBERG: Thanks for the memories is right.
Congratulations Brendan, you scored more points. You will be joining us in our final Ask Me One More round at the end of the show. How about a hand for Alexandra, a fantastic contestant.
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EISENBERG: Thank you guys so much, you made it fun for us, you made it for the fun, you made it for the fun, thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF JONATHAN COULTON PLAYING THE GUITAR)
COULTON: (Singing) Etta's(ph) there, the corner stand; she wonders where she is. And it's strange to her, some people seem to have everything. Nine a.m. on the hour hand and she's waiting for the bell. She's looking real pretty, waiting for her clientele. She works hard for the money, so hard for it, honey. She works hard for the money, so you better treat her right. She works hard for the money, so hard for it, honey. She works hard for the money, so you better treat her right.
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EISENBERG: Jonathan Coulton, a song that speaks to me and the 99 percent.
COULTON: Indeed.
EISENBERG: That's right.
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EISENBERG: Now it's time where we talk about our mystery guest, which is kind of like a blind date, but not as awkward. And our mystery guests always look like their photo. At the end of the show, these are our special guests that come on and tell us a little bit about themselves and then we test their wits in a trivia showdown written just for them. Art, do we have a hint as to who our mystery guest is?
CHUNG: We do. This week's mystery guest is all about the love. He loves Liberty floral shirts, he loves Jonathan Adler and he loves dressing dummies and I think he loves what you're wearing.
EISENBERG: Huh, why thank you. I like the fact that our mystery guest loves me already, that's a nice thing. Loves dressing dummies, that's interesting. Stupid people are very hard to dress, thanks Art.
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EISENBERG: If you're listening to us now and thinking, I could do that, great, prove it. If you want to be a contestant, find out about us on Facebook or Twitter, @NPRAskMeAnother, or you can send us an old-fashioned email to askmeanother@npr.org and we'll send you a quiz and find out if you have the right stuff. So coming up, we're going to perform a mad word experiment, so fire up your Bunsen burners, plus more trivia puzzles and mysteries to come.
I'm your host, Ophira Eisenberg and this is NPR's ASK ME ANOTHER.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.