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OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:
This is ASK ME ANOTHER, I'm your host, Ophira Eisenberg. And next to me on the stage this week are ASK ME ANOTHER puzzle guys. We have John Chaneski.
JOHN CHANESKI: Hello everybody, hi Ophira.
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EISENBERG: Hi John. And Will Hines.
WILL HINES: Greetings.
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EISENBERG: More from them later on. And right now let's show a little love for ASK ME ANOTHER one man band, Mr Jonathan Coulton.
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JONATHAN COULTON: Why hello.
EISENBERG: All right, onstage with me right now are our first two contestants. Give a hand for Kristina Chacko and Mark Johnson.
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EISENBERG: Hi.
KRISTINA CHACKO: Hello.
MARK JOHNSON: Hi.
EISENBERG: Welcome to ASK ME ANOTHER. So Mark, have you had any trivia experience in your life?
JOHNSON: Just at the bar.
EISENBERG: Just at the bar?
JOHNSON: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: Are you a fan of NPR? Big fan?
JOHNSON: I am. My mum's a huge fan.
EISENBERG: Oh really?
JOHNSON: Yeah, so...
EISENBERG: Is she going to be proud of you?
JOHNSON: Yeah, she's so proud.
EISENBERG: Oh that's so nice Mark!
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: Excellent. And Kristina, you have a very interesting job? What, what is it exactly?
CHACKO: I'm a gastroenterologist.
EISENBERG: Oooh. And what does that mean? Tell us.
CHACKO: Well I, I do many things...
EISENBERG: Yes.
CHACKO: ... but one of them is performing endoscopies where I often end - removing things that don't belong in the gastrointestinal tract.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: Like car keys?
CHACKO: A few people have swallowed their car keys. I have removed...
EISENBERG: A few people have swallowed their car keys!
CHACKO: Yeah.
EISENBERG: You know what, don't answer this question. Don't answer at all. I want to think car keys, maybe a little tiny Eiffel Towers, just all kind of fun things that end up in there.
CHACKO: You never know.
EISENBERG: You never know.
CHACKO: I'm ready.
EISENBERG: Well this - this is a - this is going to be an excellent game, what are we subjecting them to Jonathan?
COULTON: Well Ophira I don't know if you have heard this, I've just heard this news. Apparently there are people listening to us right now on the radio.
EISENBERG: What?
COULTON: Were you aware of that?
EISENBERG: No.
COULTON: Yes.
EISENBERG: Because it's not the year 3000. They can't do that.
COULTON: No, no, no, this is actually an old technology. They have it. And they're listening to us right now. I have no idea how it works, probably demons.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: All right, well we should do something for these people, right? We should give them a game or something like that for...?
COULTON: Yes, we should honor these radio listeners. I don't know if you could hear the air quotes I put around that...
EISENBERG: Aliens.
COULTON: With, with this game, so contestants I'm going to play you some songs that either prominently mention, or are about listening to the radio. Sometimes we're going to ask you to name the artist. We might ask you to complete the lyrics. I'll tell you what we're looking for after I've finished the song.
EISENBERG: And after Jonathan asks his question, we'll ask you both a follow-up question that either of you can ring in in, about whatever we darn well please. How about that?
CHANESKI: And I'll keep score. OK.
EISENBERG: Yeah. All right John. Excellent.
COULTON: That sounds fair.
CHANESKI: It's a deal.
EISENBERG: Contestants are you ready?
CHACKO: Ready.
JOHNSON: Ready.
EISENBERG: OK.
COULTON: (Singing) All we hear is radio gaga, radio gogo, radio gaga. All we hear is radio gaga, radio blahblah. So who sang that song?
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: Contestants.
JOHNSON: Good question.
COULTON: Not all at once.
CHACKO: You, you did?
COULTON: I did just now. But who, who originally sang that song? Who is most famous for singing that song?
EISENBERG: Oh. It's a stumper. All right, that's OK, sometimes at the beginning you need a second. And that second is over. Audience, who sang that song?
UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Queen!
EISENBERG: Queen.
COULTON: Queen. One point for the audience.
EISENBERG: One for everybody else.
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EISENBERG: Here's a follow up question. Either of you can ring in. The shortest song on any Beetles album is 24 seconds long. It's about Queen Elizabeth II, and it's the last song on "Abbey Road." What is it called? They're thinking.
CHACKO: This is the shortest song?
EISENBERG: The shortest song. 24 seconds long. Last song on "Abbey Road."
JOHNSON: That was your guess?
CHACKO: That was my guess.
COULTON: The song title. This is the shortest song.
EISENBERG: Oh that was your guess?
COULTON: It's actually shorter than this question.
EISENBERG: No ideas? All right.
CHANESKI: Audience again, you have a chance to take a substantial lead here? What - what is it?
UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Her Majesty.
COULTON: Her Majesty is right.
EISENBERG: Her Majesty. I think someone else also said Germajesty(ph), which is not right. But that is Jermaine Jackson's son.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: All right. Plenty of time. That is true. Yes that is true.
COULTON: Do we - I have a question.
EISENBERG: Yeah.
COULTON: Do we have enough Tote bags for everyone in the audience?
EISENBERG: We do.
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EISENBERG: We've got Rubik's Cubes, we've got Tote bags. And a show.
COULTON: Yeah, oh right, that's true.
(Singing) Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio. Don't you remember. We built this city, we built this city on... What did we build it on?
CHANESKI: Kristina.
CHACKO: Rock and roll.
CHANESKI: Yes.
EISENBERG: Kristina says rock and roll. And she is correct.
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EISENBERG: You remember! Who could forget? DJ Alan Freed is credited with coining the term rock and roll, as well as organizing the first rock and roll concert, partially in recognition of this, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is located in what...?
COULTON: Kristina.
EISENBERG: ... US City?
CHACKO: Detroit.
EISENBERG: Detroit? Oh I'm sorry, that is incorrect.
JOHNSON: Cleveland.
EISENBERG: Cleveland.
COULTON: He was right, Mark.
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COULTON: Way to go.
EISENBERG: Mark gets a point for Cleveland.
COULTON: (Singing) If you think that love isn't found on the radio. Tune right in you might find the love you lost. Because now I'm sitting here with a man I sent away long ago. It sounded really loud, they said it really loud on the radio. Wow oh oh oh, on the radio. Who sang that song?
CHACKO: The abruptness that you do that.
COULTON: You again.
CHACKO: It's amazing.
COULTON: It's me again, that's right.
EISENBERG: All right.
COULTON: It was a lady singer.
JOHNSON: Stevie Nicks?
EISENBERG: Stevie Nicks, that is a guess. I will give you that.
(LAUGHTER)
CHACKO: Alanis Morissette.
EISENBERG: Alanis Morissette. I'm never going to give - both females who sing. The answer is Donna Summer.
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EISENBERG: It seems like every summer there is a song that is played constantly over the radio, no matter where you go. No escaping it. For example 1986, it was Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach." 2001, "Lady Marmalade." But in 2011, it was the appropriately titled "Party Rock Anthem" by what electronica duo...?
COULTON: Kristina.
EISENBERG: ... With a five letter name?
CHACKO: L-M-F-A-O.
COULTON: Yes.
EISENBERG: You are correct.
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COULTON: (Singing) Now we meet in an abandoned studio. We hear the playback and it seems so long ago. You remember how the jingles used to go. Oh Oh, you were the first one! Oh oh, you were the last one. This is the part that you have to guess, what are the words I should be singing now? Kristina.
CHACKO: "Video Killed The Radio Star."
COULTON: Yes.
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EISENBERG: So everyone knows "Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Buggles was the first video ever played on MTV. But the second video ever played was the song "You Better Run" by what female rocker who would later find that love is a battlefield?
COULTON: Kristina.
CHACKO: Pat Benetar
COULTON: Yes.
EISENBERG: Kristina with Pat Bentar.
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COULTON: (Singing) So I turned the radio on, turned the radio up. And this woman was singing my song. The lover's in love and the other's run away. The lover is crying 'cause the other wont... What?
Kristina.
CHACKO: Stay.
COULTON: Stay is right.
EISENBERG: Stay.
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EISENBERG: That was Lisa Loeb's first and biggest hit. Her big break came when her neighbor Ethan Hawke gave a copy of the song to Ben Stiller, who used it in the closing credits of what 1994..?
COULTON: Kristina.
EISENBERG: ... film? Go ahead Kristina.
CHACKO: "Reality Bites."
EISENBERG: Correct. "Reality Bites."
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COULTON: (Singing) Baby if you've ever wondered, wondered whatever became of me. I'm living on the air in Cincinnati, Cincinnati...
UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Do it.
EISENBERG: Contestants?
COULTON: Oh, you young people.
EISENBERG: Contestants.
COULTON: It's in Ohio!
EISENBERG: Kristina.
CHACKO: Is my home?
COULTON: No. It's my home is not correct.
EISENBERG: Aw.
COULTON: Mark, any wild letters come to mind?
JOHNSON: Z?
COULTON: No. That is a wild letter my friend. You are right. That letter's wild.
EISENBERG: That is a wild letter.
Audience?
UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBERS: W-K-R-P
COULTON: W-K-R-P
EISENBERG: W-K-R-P in Cincinnati. Do you remember that television show from when you were minus ten?
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: So Cincinnati is the home to many Fortune 500 companies, including Procter & Gamble. In the 1930's P&G began sponsoring long running drama programs on the radio, and because of their sponsorships, these shows became known by what nickname?
CHANESKI: Long running TV dramas sponsored by companies that made laundry detergent?
JOHNSON: Soap operas.
CHANESKI: Yes Mark! Way to go!
EISENBERG: Mark.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: Soap operas is correct. Kristina you have scored more points. That means you are going to move on to our Ask Me One More final round at the end of the show. Give her a hand everybody.
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EISENBERG: Another hand for Mark for being a fantastic contestant. Thank you so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.