Ask Me Another

The show we recorded at Central Park's SummerStage was so jam-packed, we couldn't include everything in the radio show. In this podcast-only extra, singer-songwriter Nellie McKay and house musician Jonathan Coulton perform McKay's song, "Bodega." (Say it with us: "boh-DAY-guh.")

(Rebroadcast) In the Ask Me Another justice system, contestants are quizzed by two separate yet equally important groups: the puzzle gurus, who investigate pop culture and word oddities, and the score keepers, who prosecute the answers. This week, hear their stories as we test our V.I.P., political pundit Keli Goff, on her favorite series, Law & Order. Plus, celebrate history’s greatest thinkers, from Confucius to Carly Rae Jepsen.

(This is a podcast-only extra.) Actor and writer B.J. Novak (NBC’s The Office, Inglourious Basterds) joined Ask Me Another recently as a Very Important Puzzler. When asked if he grew up in a game-playing family, he launched into a story about the time he played Scattergories with the King of Pop. Listen to the extended cut of his epic tale.   This is a sneak peek of the show we recorded in New York City at Central Park's SummerStage on June 14th, 2013. Hear the full episode on July 12th, 2013.

If you're the type of person who gives your pet a name like "Chairman Meow," then you'll be right at home with this week's games. We'll combine highbrow folks (world leaders) with the lowest form of comedy (puns), spend a little time in Celebrity A-A, and find out what happens when house musician Jonathan Coulton applies his mellow song stylings to the electric wizard, Jimi Hendrix. Plus, we have the inventor of fantasy baseball, Daniel Okrent, on the show to play a game about the sport's most hilarious oddities.

Sorry, Beatles fans: This hour, Jonathan Coulton turns some of the Fab Four's most beloved hits into trivia questions about famous historical figures. Is nothing sacred? We'll also put the King of Horror's son, novelist and B-movie aficionado Owen King, in the puzzle hot seat as our V.I.P. Plus: Play a game that has nothing to do with the HBO series Game of Thrones, and translate common expressions into medical conditions. When it comes to our contestants, you never know what is going to come out of their alimentary canals

(Rebroadcast) Science takes center stage this week as we play games about scientific discoveries both intentional and accidental. We'll get brainy with our Very Important Puzzler, host of WNYC's Radiolab Jad Abumrad, as he talks about his quest to become a science vampire. Plus, we roll the dice on clues about our favorite board games and find out the premises of fake TV show adaptations, from Finding Emo to Oy! Story.

Word nerds, unite! This week’s show will whet your appetite for wordplay with a game that mashes up famous names and food items into portmanteaus. Our Very Important Puzzler, comedian and co-creator of The Daily Show Lizz Winstead, is a bonafide game fanatic who shares the definitions of her own, made-up vocabulary. Plus, get tongue-tied in Italian and find out which of your friends have “aptronyms” for names. It may even be you.

You can always count on Ask Me Another to cover a wide range of useful knowledge. In this episode, learn the middle names of former Presidents while solving famous murder mysteries from the movies. And this week's Very Important Puzzler, author Dan Kennedy, will teach you about his eclectic interests, including trout fishing, fighting forest fires and blurring the lines between fiction writing and real life.

(Rebroadcast) This week's versatile V.I.P., Rosie Schaap, has had spells as an author, an ordained minister, a fortuneteller, and a bartender — which serves her well during a delectable drinking game. And with quizzes covering highfalutin children's literature, crossbred celebrities and a geologist's favorite Queen song, this week's contestants show a little versatility, too.

This week, Ask Me Another leaves the decision making up to host Ophira Eisenberg, as we revisit some of her favorite games from the past two seasons. Ophira's motto: the weirder, the better. We'll analyze literary classics and bestsellers based on one-star Amazon reviews, flip through the pages of etiquette manuals published in the early 1960s, and even attempt the impossible: play Pictionary...on the radio! Plus: a tribute to a Billy Joel classic, reading advertising slogans like Valley Girls, and a quiz all about Starchild, Demon, Space Ace, and Catman — otherwise known as the rock band KISS. It's a trip down Ophira's memory lane — no flashback sequence necessary.