JONATHAN COULTON: From NPR and WNYC, coming to you from The Bell House in beautiful Brooklyn, N.Y., it's NPR's hour of puzzles, word games and trivia, ASK ME ANOTHER. Now here's your host, Ophira Eisenberg.
(APPLAUSE)
OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:
Thank you, Jonathan Coulton. We have a great show for you. Ten contestants are here to play our nerdy games, but only one will be our ASK ME ANOTHER big winner with a prize provided by our VIP. And our VIP is currently starring as Aaron Burr in the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton," which is a hip-hop retelling of the life of Alexander Hamilton, and it is so wildly popular that it is nearly impossible to get a ticket to the show. It is easier to get into Harvard Business School than it is to get a ticket to the show. It is easier to find a vegan who never mentions they're a vegan...
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: ...Than it is to get into the show. Our VIP is Leslie Odom, Jr.
(APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: Leslie Odom, Jr. will be joining us later in the show, but let's get started with our first contestant, Christine DiGiovanni.
Hello Christine.
CHRISTINE DIGIOVANNI: Hello. How are you?
EISENBERG: Good. You are a stay-at-home mom, but in the early days, you worked on QVC?
DIGIOVANNI: I did.
EISENBERG: What were their early products like?
DIGIOVANNI: There was a flea-and-tick collar.
EISENBERG: Sure. For humans?
DIGIOVANNI: A shower radio. For dogs.
EISENBERG: For dogs, OK, good. And what did you do with these products?
DIGIOVANNI: I worked backstage and had to bring them out to the hosts while they sold them.
EISENBERG: So you would hand it to them. They would be like, that what is this?
DIGIOVANNI: And then you, you know, give them the card that they could talk about it for five minutes, and, it was fun.
EISENBERG: It was fun?
DIGIOVANNI: Yeah.
EISENBERG: Yeah. So fun that you were like, that is a job in my past.
DIGIOVANNI: Yes, that is true.
EISENBERG: Very good. Your opponent is Emily Gilmore.
You're a high school Latin teacher.
EMILY GILMORE: Yes.
EISENBERG: A lost art.
GILMORE: So many people were cheering. Latin nerds are here. My people.
EISENBERG: That's right. Christine, what is your favorite horror movie or book?
DIGIOVANNI: I might have to go with "Poltergeist." I just remember that...
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: Yeah.
DIGIOVANNI: ...You know, the whole TV and, you know, getting sucked into the TV. That's very frightening.
EISENBERG: When the guy looks at his face in the mirror and then he starts ripping off all of his flesh. That was awesome.
How 'bout you, Emily? Favorite horror movie or book?
GILMORE: I try to avoid the genre, really.
EISENBERG: You don't like it?
GILMORE: I read "It" by Stephen King when I was in, like, eighth or ninth grade, and it scarred me so...
(LAUGHTER)
GILMORE: ...I try to (laughter) focus on happy things.
EISENBERG: See, if you do this stuff when you're too young, it scars you. I saw "The Exorcist" when I was, like, 6 years old.
(LAUGHTER)
COULTON: I had a similar experience. I saw that movie way, way too young.
EISENBERG: Yeah, and then you're - you're totally...
COULTON: It's pretty scary.
EISENBERG: It's so scary.
COULTON: It's the devil. It's the actual devil, is the thing.
EISENBERG: So the inspiration for this game comes from one of the greatest soundbites in film history.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FRANKENSTEIN")
COLIN CLIVE: (As Dr. Henry Frankenstein) It's alive. It's alive, it's alive. It's alive.
EISENBERG: (Laughter). That is of course the infamous line, it's alive, from the 1931 film version of "Frankenstein." So in this game, every answer is something that rhymes or sounds like the word alive, but you have to deliver it in the voice of Dr. Frankenstein.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: We'll go to Jonathan Coulton for an example.
COULTON: Yes. So if I said, what actor delivered the line this game is based on, you would answer, (imitating Dr. Frankenstein's voice) it's Colin Clive.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: OK, don't worry, the clues will be much more obscure.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: So buzz in when you know the answer, and the winner will move on to our final round at the end of the show.
It's so tall, I can barely see the top of it. It's a hairstyle made famous by The Ronettes or Amy Winehouse.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
EISENBERG: Christine.
DIGIOVANNI: (Imitating Dr. Frankenstein's voice) It's a beehive.
EISENBERG: That's great, yes.
(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: I felt like that was the bride of Frankenstein right there.
COULTON: I'm at a car dealership, and I want to try out this vehicle before buying it.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
COULTON: Emily.
GILMORE: (Imitating Dr. Frankenstein's voice) It's a test drive.
(LAUGHTER)
COULTON: (Laughter). Yes, it is.
(APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: It's so long and green, it's an herb that goes great with sour cream and baked potatoes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
EISENBERG: Emily.
GILMORE: (Imitating Dr. Frankenstein's voice) It's a chive.
(LAUGHTER)
COULTON: (Laughter) This is a ridiculous game.
EISENBERG: I know.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: That is correct.
COULTON: It's like they were born to do it - it's a song-and-dance number from the musical "Grease."
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
COULTON: Christine.
DIGIOVANNI: Oh, it's (imitating Dr. Frankenstein's voice) the hand jive.
(LAUGHTER)
COULTON: Yes, (laughter), that's right.
(APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: That was brilliant.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: It was, like, both Dr. Frankenstein and her thinking about the answer at the same time.
COULTON: I couldn't tell which of that was acting and which was just, like, oh, my God, I don't know what the answer is.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: But it worked.
They're coming to take it from me. It's a percentage of my income that I give to the church.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
EISENBERG: Emily.
GILMORE: (Imitating Dr. Frankenstein's voice) It's a tithe.
(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: I'm going to your church. That's all I'm saying.
(LAUGHTER)
COULTON: It sounds fun, sounds fun.
This is your last clue. It's a hit disco song by Gloria Gaynor about getting over a breakup.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
COULTON: Christine.
DIGIOVANNI: "It's Raining Men?"
(LAUGHTER)
DIGIOVANNI: I know that was incorrect.
(LAUGHTER)
COULTON: Good. You spared me having to say it for you.
Emily, do you know the answer?
GILMORE: It's (imitating Dr. Frankenstein's voice) "I Will Survive."
COULTON: Yeah, that's right.
(APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: Let's go to our puzzle guru Art Chung. How did our contestants do?
ART CHUNG: They both did some amazing impressions. But Emily, congratulations, you're moving on to the final round at the end of the show.
(APPLAUSE)
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