NPR's Ask Me Another is a lively hour of puzzles, word games, and trivia played in front of (and with) a live audience. Ask Me Another's entertaining melange of brainteasers and fun is a descendant of Weekend Edition Sunday's Puzzle Segment with Will Shortz, but infused with the vibrancy and quick wit of Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me.
Listeners can play along, testing their knowledge of history, geography, literature, grammar, spelling, pop culture and even mathematics along with the competitors called up to the stage.
Yes, we do math on the radio. But it's our distinct brand. Try this on your loved ones: Total number of Brontë Sisters, plus total number of Marx Brothers? Or how about the total of Dalmatians, plus all those Luftballoons, divided by Ali Baba's thieves?
Ask Me Another host, noted comedian and storyteller Ophira Eisenberg, guides listeners with her witty banter aided by the comedic riffs and songs of house musician Jonathan Coulton. Each episode features an interview with a VIP (that's Very Important Puzzlers -- noteable actors, comedians, and authors whose identities are revealed via puzzle clues throughout the show), who then takes a turn in the contestant's chair facing trivia games written especially for him or her.
Produced weekly in collaboration with WNYC,
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Michelle Buteau talks about her new book Survival of the Thickest and her gig hosting the socially-distanced Netflix reality series The Circle. -
Documentary filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Love Fraud) guess the names of cities that are named after objects, or vice versa. What was that joke about Hungary and Turkey, again?
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From the Showtime docu-series Love Fraud, directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady answer the most important question of all: Is it a lizard?
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Comedian Bowen Yang talks about his work as a cast member on the latest season of Saturday Night Live. Then he plays a game about imaginary video game/TV crossovers. -
From Funny or Die's Call & Response Baron Vaughn and Open Mike Eagle suss out if something is a defunct startup, a video game world, or an esteemed contemporary dance company.
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Comedian Baron Vaughn and musician Open Mike Eagle compete in a music parody game about slow prom songs changed to be about things you learned in high school.
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Musician Andrew Bird shares how composer Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas inspired his new holiday album Hark! Then he performs a song off the album called Christmas in April. -
Three out of six women who work at NPR named Carol make their Ask Me Another debut as they lend their vocals in a music parody game that changes the lyrics to Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmastime.
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Jonathan Coulton's kids Theo and Eleanor help their dad and Ophira Eisenberg translate and navigate the latest teen slang. It's "lit!" Are the kids still saying that?
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Richard Kind and Ray Ellin are treated to a music parody game where Jonathan Coulton plays songs by jam bands rewritten to be about fruits you could theoretically use to make jam.
