BILL KURTIS, BYLINE: From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT DON'T TELL ME, the NPR News quiz. I'm Bill Kurtis and we're playing this week with Roxanne Roberts, Faith Salie and Tom Bodett. And here again is your host at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh, Peter Sagal.
PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Thank you so much, everybody. In just a minute, Bill rhymes so hard, your ears will fall off. It's the "Listener Limerick Challenge." If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1(888) WAIT-WAIT, That's 1(888) 924-8924. But right now panel, some more questions for you from the week's news. Roxanne.
ROXANNE ROBERTS: Yes, sir.
SAGAL: An equal rights group has come out against the FX show "American Horror Story," saying the show in its new season is promoting unfair stereotypes about whom?
ROBERTS: The show is about carnival people.
SAGAL: Yes.
ROBERTS: And so there are the two-headed ladies and there are the different carny acts.
SAGAL: There are, but there's one in particular. And I'll point out the two-headed ladies do not have a pressure group.
ROBERTS: Clowns.
SAGAL: Yes.
ROBERTS: Clowns.
SAGAL: Clowns.
ROBERTS: Yes, I forgot the clowns.
SAGAL: The new season of "American Horror Story" features a psychotic evil clown, or as they're commonly known...
ROBERTS: Clowns.
SAGAL: A clown, yeah. Well, the confusingly named Clowns of America International is taking issue with the stereotype and they should be upset. No man should be judged by the color of his skin, even if that color is white with a giant red smile and he put it there himself. And while usually clowns deal with their anger by killing and eating the children who linger too long at the birthday party, this time they're going to the media. We do not support in any way any medium that adds to the fear of clowns, said the head of Clowns of America International.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: You may have hurt his cause when he chose to hold his press conference under your bed, just after you turned off the lights.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: OK, I'm just going to do, like, an informal poll here.
SAGAL: Yeah.
ROBERTS: OK, clowns - cute or creepy?
FAITH SALIE: Pretty creepy.
TOM BODETT: Honestly, I haven't had a lot of clown contact...
SAGAL: Yeah.
BODETT: ...In my life.
SAGAL: Yeah, well, because of that restraining order from many years ago.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Tom, a California man whose parrot went missing for four years suspects it may have flown really far away when, upon its return, it did what?
BODETT: It spoke to him in a foreign line language.
SAGAL: It did, specifically Spanish.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Darren Chick - that's the owner's name - Darren Chick says that when his parrot Nigel disappeared four years ago, it spoke with an English accent, as all things named Nigel do.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: But then this week, when Nigel finally return, the bird would only speak Spanish. Avian experts are amazed that a parrot could learn to mimic a completely different language in such a short time. But they give credit to Pimsleur language programs, whose unlimited series uses interactive software alongside audio instruction to teach you a foreign language.
SALIE: This is true. Nigel kept asking for Larry.
BODETT: Larry?
SAGAL: Nigel kept asking for Larry?
SALIE: Yes, yes. They're trying to figure out who Larry is.
SAGAL: He also apparently kept saying, what happened?
BODETT: Oh, so he went to Tijuana.
SAGAL: Yeah, exactly.
(LAUGHTER)
BODETT: Of course.
SAGAL: Larry. I'm sorry, Larry's not here. Faith.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: Let's just call her Larry. Larry.
SAGAL: Larry.
SALIE: Yes, yes, si?
SAGAL: Faith, a man was arrested after an altercation with an employee of a Doubletree Hotel in Bristol, Connecticut, and charged with what?
SALIE: Aggressively mopping.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SALIE: That's such an awesome story.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: 30-year-old John Thornton was allegedly upset with the way the employee was mopping the floors and took it upon himself to demonstrate in a, quote, "aggressive manner." This makes him both a criminal and the perfect roommate.
(LAUGHTER)
SALIE: It kind of makes you think if there's, like, a gang rivalry, like, there's the aggressive moppers and the swiffers.
BODETT: Oh yeah.
SALIE: Right?
BODETT: Yeah.
SAGAL: (Singing) When you're a swiff, you're a swiffer.
SALIE: Yeah.
SAGAL: Never mind. Roxanne, in an effort to save water, college students in England are being encouraged to what?
ROBERTS: OK, so I have three options. Option one is pee in the shower.
SAGAL: And that would be right.
ROBERTS: OK.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: No need. Dare I ask what were options two and option...?
ROBERTS: No, no, we're not going to go there. We don't need to go there.
BODETT: Right, right.
SAGAL: If you thought living in dorms was gross before, now you will know for sure.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Organizers of the Go with the Flow campaign...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...At the University of East Anglia, say students could save over 15 million gallons of water if they just start multitasking. This is a great way for people to help the environment without going to boring Greenpeace meetings. Next time somebody asks you to sign a petition or donate money to help save the Earth, you can confidently say students of East Anglia, I do my part in the shower.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: It's the very least you can do.
BODETT: I once had a friend tell me that he thought they were just two kinds of people in the world - people who pee in the shower and people who don't.
ROBERTS: This is a subject of huge debate...
BODETT: I mean, I thought that was a broad generalization myself.
SAGAL: You think there's a third kind of person?
BODETT: Well, I think - or even more.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WATER")
BRAD PAISLEY: (Singing) I was three years old, splashing everywhere. And so began my love affair with water. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.