We make Ken Jennings relive the worst moment of his life

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

NPR

Comedy, Other Games, Leisure

4.6 • 37.2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2026

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, legendary Jeopardy champion and host Ken Jennings joins panelists Tom Bodett, Joyelle Nicole Johnson, and Faith Salie to talk swearing on air and making up little lies to tell Alex Trebek

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Transcript

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0:00.0	From NPR and WBEC Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz.
0:11.1	Can't afford $6 gas.
0:14.0	This voice is pure diesel.
0:29.3	I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theater and the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois.
0:30.8	Peter Sago.
0:32.3	Thank you, Bill.
0:33.6	Thank you, everybody.
0:34.7	Thank you so much.
0:37.2	We have a wonderful show for you today.
0:39.6	Later on, we're going to be talking to the host of Jeopardy,
0:45.2	and of course, still the record holder for consecutive wins on that show, Ken Jennings.
0:50.8	We assume he being who he is, he will easily win our quiz.
1:10.9	Then next week, be our guest again, and we'll be for next 74 episodes of Wait Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. You do not have to answer in the form of a question for us, just give us a call. The number is 1-3-8-8-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wat. That's 1-88-9-24. Let's welcome our first listener-contested. Hi, you're on Wait, wait, don't tell me. Hi, this is Veronica Brooks Wee from Raleigh, North Carolina.
1:13.9	Oh, how are things down there in Raleigh? Oh, you know, pretty Raleigh-ish.
1:19.6	Raleigh-ish. What do you do there?
1:22.3	So I actually work for a national nonprofit. I'm the senior vice president of research and policy.
1:28.5	Oh, that's cool. So that's a, that's a, that's a thoughtful intellectual job.
1:32.4	Yeah.
1:36.8	That was a thoughtful intellectual noise.
1:40.1	Well, Veronica, welcome to our show. Let me introduce you to our panel this week. First,
1:43.7	you can see her co-hosting her show Frankenbaby
1:46.0	at Union Hall in Brooklyn on May 18th.
	...

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