Copyright © 2011 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

PETER SAGAL, host:

Now, on to our final game, Lightning Fill in the Blank. Each of our players will have sixty seconds in which to answer as many fill in the blank questions as he or she can. Each correct answer now worth two points. Carl, can you give us the scores?

CARL KASELL, host:

We have a tie for first place, Peter. Luke Burbank and Charlie Pierce each has three points. Kyrie O'Connor has two.

SAGAL: All right. Well, Kyrie, you're then up first. So, the clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. Rebel leaders rejected an African Union peace plan and asked for more help from NATO in blank.

Ms. KYRIE O'CONNOR (Deputy Editor/Blogger, Houston Chronicle): Libya.

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: During interrogations in Cairo this week, blank was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack.

Ms. O'CONNOR: Hosni Mubarak.

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: To kick off his reelection bid, President Obama held fundraisers in blank.

Ms. O'CONNOR: Chicago.

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: After a twelve day trial, homerun king blank was convicted on one count of obstruction of justice.

Ms. O'CONNOR: Barry Bonds.

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: The actor best known as "the Verizon Guy," revealed that at his grandmother's funeral, he overheard a friend mutter blank as her casket was lowered into the ground.

Ms. O'CONNOR: Can you hear me now?

SAGAL: Of course.

(Soundbite of bell)

(Soundbite of laughter)

SAGAL: Kind of cruel. Conservative critics were outraged after J Crew published an ad featuring its president Jenna Lyons blanking.

Ms. O'CONNOR: It's the pink toenail thing.

SAGAL: Painting her son's toenails pink, right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: ABC announced Thursday that it is cancelling two of its long running blanks, "All My Children" and "One Life to Live."

Ms. O'CONNOR: Soap operas.

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: To avoid offending anyone, third graders at an elementary school in Seattle will only be allowed to have plastic Easter Eggs if they blank.

(Soundbite of gong)

Ms. O'CONNOR: If they bring in a note from their parents.

SAGAL: No, if they call them spring spheres.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Ms. O'CONNOR: Oh, that's so irritating because they're not spheres.

SAGAL: They're not. They're spring ovoids, but that's not illative. Calling Easter Eggs, Easter Eggs could upset people who don't celebrate Easter, not to mention all the poor chickens, who have to watch their young mercilessly stuffed with chocolate. So instead we get Spring Spheres. Spring Sphreres come in Solstice Baskets.

(Soundbite of laughter)

SAGAL: They're delivered by the generous Candy Rabbit, a good friend to other inoffensive childhood heroes like Winter Fat Guy.

(Soundbite of laughter)

SAGAL: And the Tooth Confirmed Bachelor.

(Soundbite of laughter)

(Soundbite of applause)

SAGAL: Carl, how did Kyrie do on our quiz?

KASELL: Kyrie had a great round, Peter, seven correct answers for fourteen more points. She now has sixteen points and the lead.

SAGAL: Impressive as always, Kyrie.

(Soundbite of applause)

SAGAL: We flipped a coin and Luke has elected to go next, so here we go. Luke, fill in the blank. A month after the disaster in Japan, regulators have raised the nuclear crisis rating, putting it on the same level with blank.

Mr. LUKE BURBANK (Podcaster, Too Beautiful to Live): Chernobyl.

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: After a standoff at the presidential palace, the former president of the blank surrendered and was arrested.

Mr. BURBANK: Ivory Coast.

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: Re-enactors gathered at historic battle sites to mark the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the blank.

Mr. BURBANK: Civil War.

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: Arrests began Monday in France as the ban against women wearing blank went into effect.

Mr. BURBANK: Burqas.

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: To get out of sentencing for her crime of forging prescriptions, a California woman showed the judge a blank.

Mr. BURBANK: A false piece of paperwork.

SAGAL: Yes, but it was a forged note from a doctor.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: Charlie Sheen and Warner Brothers gave conflicting reports over whether they had been in talks for him to return to blank.

Mr. BURBANK: "Two and a Half Men."

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: Bloomberg reported that Apple may begin selling white blanks, at long last, at the end of the month.

Mr. BURBANK: iPhones.

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: In a shocking video, Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus was caught blanking at an official ceremony.

(Soundbite of gong)

Mr. BURBANK: Napping.

SAGAL: Stealing a pen.

(Soundbite of laughter)

SAGAL: In the video, Klaus is seen taking the pen out of its box and admiring it, casually moving it under the table, and then returning his now empty hands to the tabletop. Czech staffers say, no, he's not a thief, he was acting within established Czech state protocols, and cited as evidence the Czech coat of arms, which features a white double tailed lion slipping a stolen sword into its pocket.

(Soundbite of laughter)

SAGAL: Carl, how did Luke do on our quiz?

KASELL: Luke had six correct answers, for twelve more points. He now had fifteen points. But Kyrie still has the lead with sixteen.

SAGAL: All right.

(Soundbite of applause)

SAGAL: So how many then does Charlie need to win?

KASELL: Seven correct answers.

SAGAL: All right. Here we go. This is for the game, Charlie. According to a new poll, the percentage of Americans who have a blank dropped to the lowest levels since 1983.

Mr. CHARLIE PIERCE (Author, "Idiot America"): A job.

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: This week an appeals court upheld a ruling stopping the implementation of blank's controversial immigration law.

Mr. PIERCE: Arizona.

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: The latest Republican to form a presidential exploratory committee is former Pennsylvania Senator and Fox commentator blank.

Mr. PIERCE: Santorum.

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: The Winklevoss twins, made famous by the movie "The Social Network," have lost their suit against blank.

Mr. PIERCE: Facebook.

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: A car chase in Florida took an unusual turn when the perpetrator took time out to blank.

Mr. PIERCE: Go through a drive-thru.

SAGAL: Right. Pick up some lunch.

(Soundbite of bell)

(Soundbite of laughter)

SAGAL: This week People Magazine named American Idol judge and pop star blank as the World's most beautiful woman.

Mr. PIERCE: J Lo.

SAGAL: Yeah.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: Foreign dignitaries and former boyfriends and girlfriends of the couple were among the names on the guest list for the upcoming Royal blank.

Mr. PIERCE: Wedding.

SAGAL: Right.

(Soundbite of bell)

SAGAL: A penguin at the Sea Life Centre in Germany has fallen in love with blank.

(Soundbite of gong)

Mr. PIERCE: J Lo.

SAGAL: No.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. PIERCE: Why not?

SAGAL: She's too tall?

Mr. PIERCE: What's wrong with that penguin?

SAGAL: A penguin has fallen in love with a rubber boot.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. PIERCE: Please tell me it's platonic.

SAGAL: I hope so. The course of true love never did run smooth, and for Bonaparte the penguin, in love with a...

(Soundbite of laughter)

SAGAL: A black and white Wellington boot, it's even more difficult.

Mr. PIERCE: Wait a minute, Bonaparte fell in love with a Wellington?

SAGAL: Yes.

Mr. PIERCE: Hey.

SAGAL: Hey.

(Soundbite of laughter)

(Soundbite of applause)

SAGAL: Says his keeper, "He rubs his nose on the boots and cuddles up to them."

Mr. PIERCE: Oh Jesus.

SAGAL: "He gets very excited, showing off and trying to seduce the boot."

(Soundbite of laughter)

SAGAL: Sadly for Bonaparte, the boot rejected his advances, reportedly calling him a heel.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. BURBANK: He'd been seeing a flip-flop behind the penguin's back.

SAGAL: Carl, did Charlie do well enough to win?

KASELL: He needed seven correct answers to win, and he had seven correct answers.

SAGAL: Whoa.

KASELL: So with seventeen points, Charlie Pierce is this week's champion.

SAGAL: Congratulations, Charlie.

(Soundbite of applause)

SAGAL: In just a minute, we're going to ask our panelists to predict what poor Mitt Romney will do to finally steal some of Donald Trump's thunder and get some press.

Copyright © 2011 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.