Ask Me Another

In this podcast-only extra, Peter Sagal, host of NPR's "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!" defends his nerd status, claiming he's not an International Grandmaster Nerd, but more of a Regional Competitor Nerd. Hear more from VIP Peter Sagal on Ask Me Another #222, available starting September 6, 2013.

Our first ever Really Hard Edition revisits some of the trickiest games played on Ask Me Another. Yes, this episode is full of subjects known to put fear (or, for some, joy) into your hearts: philosophy, history, math. But fret not. We’ve put our own spin on them, and injected healthy doses of comedy, music, pop culture and puns. Amid these grueling rounds, get into the head of puzzle editor Art Chung, who reveals the process behind creating the show’s games. Plus, how could we have a Really Hard Edition without anagrams from NPR's puzzlemaster, Will Shortz?

If you believe in magic, then this week’s show is for you. We’ll play word games based on Missy Elliott lyrics, do our own version of a TED talk, and brush up on our foodie lingo. We’ll also learn about irregular plurals, and take a thesaurus to the Oscars. This week’s V.I.P. is comedian and podcaster Julie Klausner, who dishes on pop culture and her love of The Monkees.

(Rebroadcast) For our first-ever show on the road, we chose a city near and dear to our hearts: Boston. In this rousing hour, taped live at the Wilbur Theatre, we poke a little ‘pun’ at the local accent, imagine famous songs as if they had been written about Boston neighborhoods, and sing everyone’s favorite Fenway Park anthem. Plus, we step up our own game, bringing you three guests and hometown heroes: film critic Wesley Morris, young adult author Lois Lowry, and the wit of Capitol Hill, former Congressman Barney Frank. We have to hand it to Bostonians—they are not ones to shy away from the puzzle hot seat.

(Rebroadcast) The “Frankenstein-Dracula,” the “King’s Indian” and the “Fried Liver” are all famous ways to do what? As this week's V.I.P., International Grandmaster of chess Maurice Ashley, knows, they're all strategies to begin a chess match. In this episode, Ashley divulges his own chess-playing strategy that combines Zen-like meditation with CIA-like mind games. Plus: anagrams for foodies, cartoon characters with speech impediments, and gender-bending pop songs. Ready to play? Check and mate.

Strap on your safety goggles: we’re turning up the Bunsen burners for a special math and science-themed episode, recorded at the 2013 World Science Festival. Play games that contain a Periodic Table spelling bee, turn pop songs into algebraic equations, and imagine if Greek goddesses had their own franchise of Real Housewives. Plus, our Very Important Puzzler, Cornell University math professor Steven Strogatz, is on a mission to prove that math isn’t scary, but actually joyful.

This week, test your trivia prowess in games about celebrities who share the same name, tech companies that sound like Star Wars planets, and musicians whose names sound delicious. Plus our Very Important Puzzler, comedian, actor and author Michael Ian Black, reveals how becoming a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle launched his career. Hear him break out his best Valley Girl accent in the game “Just Do It?,” and since he’s a poker enthusiast, we up the ante with a card-themed quiz.

Would you classify your high school self as an A/V nerd, band geek or mathlete? This week’s show pays homage to them all. In the games, we’ll spoil some famous films by not spoiling anything at all, teach you how to “put a Björk in it,” and make an inordinate amount of cat jokes. And Paul Feig, director of Bridesmaids and The Heat, discusses why funny women should be bigger stars, and reflects on the legacy of his beloved creation, the short-lived TV series Freaks and Geeks.

In this podcast-only extra, director Paul Feig (Freaks and Geeks, Bridesmaids, The Heat) talks with Ask Me Another host Ophira Eisenberg about his early forays into show business. These include performing magic at a nursing home and, a few years later, stand-up comedy in a Detroit biker bar. Plus, hear which whip-smart movie inspired him to get into filmmaking, and how he fared in his past game show experiences. Hear more from VIP Paul Feig on Ask Me Another #219, available starting July 19, 2013.

This summer spectacular, recorded outdoors in New York City's Central Park, is a jam-packed show. The Office's B.J. Novak hits the puzzle hotseat for a Shakespearean pop quiz, Wet Hot American Summer filmmaker David Wain flaunts his movie trivia prowess, and Kurt Andersen, host of PRI's Studio 360, stakes his claim as a literary romantic. Plus, a ukulele-strumming Nellie McKay joins Jonathan Coulton to sing the catchiest songs of summers past, and NPR Puzzlemaster Will Shortz tries to stump contestants with a doozy of a final anagram showdown.