OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:
Want our next special guest to play for you? Follow ASK ME ANOTHER on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Next up, a game called When Three Become Two. Don't worry. It's not another lecture about polyamory.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: It's a mash-up game. Let's meet our contestants. First up, Rebecca Ferrer. You're a school counselor. That sounds like very gratifying work.
REBECCA FERRER: I enjoy it.
EISENBERG: OK, so what's one of the greatest compliments a student has ever paid you?
FERRER: (Laughter) A couple weeks ago, a student came into my office. And he goes, I want to tell you something, but I'm afraid it's going to come out weird. I thought, very few things you could tell me could be weird at this point...
EISENBERG: Sure.
FERRER: ...In my career. And he goes, do you watch the show "Brooklyn Nine-Nine?" And I said, I love it. He goes, OK, you remind me of Amy Santiago. And I was like, what? And then I thought about it, and I was like, yeah, you're right. He goes, you never let me touch your good pens. And I was like...
(LAUGHTER)
FERRER: ...That sounds like something Amy would do. And she did.
EISENBERG: Yeah.
FERRER: Yeah.
EISENBERG: I love that you have good pens.
FERRER: You know, when you're in a school, and you've got a good pen, you kind of want to hold onto it...
EISENBERG: (Laughter) You got to hang onto your good pen.
FERRER: ...Until the ink runs out. Yeah.
EISENBERG: Absolutely.
FERRER: Yeah, yeah.
EISENBERG: So Rebecca, when you ring in, we'll hear this.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
EISENBERG: Your opponent is Christopher Downs. You're a writer on the Australian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"
CHRISTOPHER DOWNS: Yes, I am.
EISENBERG: So is there a big difference between the Australian version and the American show?
DOWNS: There is now. There - it was the same years ago. And they developed in the U.K. a half-hour, every-night format called "Hot Seat." There are a lot of new rules.
EISENBERG: What?
DOWNS: There are no lifelines, although there are now new lifelines. And you can pass, and it's a whole thing.
(LAUGHTER)
DOWNS: I was working on the show for three months before I got all the rules down.
EISENBERG: Right.
DOWNS: Yeah.
EISENBERG: And the quiz questions - are they at all specific to Australian pop culture?
DOWNS: They are more specific to Australian pop culture. I only know this because I keep getting questions about America rejected...
FERRER: (Laughter).
EISENBERG: Oh.
DOWNS: ...Because there is an assumption that I am now too American, which clearly I'm not. You can hear it.
EISENBERG: Yeah.
DOWNS: But every time I write a question with anything in the Northern Hemisphere, they're like no; he's gone to America now; no, we can't...
(LAUGHTER)
DOWNS: ...Can you stick to Australia, please?
EISENBERG: Right, more Kylie Minogue.
DOWNS: Yes. I'm at my limit of Kylie Minogue questions.
(LAUGHTER)
DOWNS: I'm at capacity.
EISENBERG: Yeah.
DOWNS: Yeah.
EISENBERG: Christopher, when you ring in, we're going to hear this.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
EISENBERG: Remember, Rebecca and Christopher, whoever has more points after two games will go to our final round. Let's go to your first game. This word game is called When Three Become Two. In each clue, you'll mash up a celebrity with a three-word name and a famous duo.
JONATHAN COULTON: For example, if we said after starring in "Phantom Thread," this actor and his partner trekked across the country with Sacagawea, you would answer Daniel Day-Lewis and Clark.
EISENBERG: The three-named actor will always come first, and the duo will always come second. OK, here we go.
COULTON: After she changed the game forever, this "Battle Of The Sexes" tennis player went on to star in a Broadway musical about her relationship with the ruler of Thailand.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
COULTON: Christopher.
DOWNS: Billie Jean King and I.
COULTON: Yeah, that's right.
(APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: After he finished writing "Infinite Jest," this author and his claymation dog took a rocket to the moon to get some cheese.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
EISENBERG: Christopher.
DOWNS: Wallace and Gromit - OK, wait - David Foster Wallace and Gromit.
EISENBERG: Yes.
(APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: Nice. I would love a claymation adaptation of "Infinite Jest."
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: Could you imagine the amount of clay that would take? So much clay - so long.
COULTON: Go on a girl's trip with this actress from "Menace II Society" and "The Matrix Reloaded," who's half of a major firearms manufacturer. Her husband is Will Smith.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
COULTON: Christopher.
DOWNS: Jada Pinkett Smith and Wesson.
COULTON: Yeah, that's right.
(APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: You know this actor from "Ed," "Stella" and this episode of ASK ME ANOTHER. He's also one half of a power tool brand.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
EISENBERG: Rebecca.
FERRER: Michael Ian Black and Decker.
EISENBERG: That is correct.
(APPLAUSE)
COULTON: This Scottish man invented the telephone so that he could tell everyone about his favorite twee Scottish indie rock group.
(LAUGHTER)
COULTON: But that's just the consequence of sound.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
COULTON: Christopher.
DOWNS: Alexander Graham Bell and Sebastian.
(APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: That's right. Actually, Alexander Graham Bell lived in Scotland, Canada, U.S., England. It's like the potato people tour.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: But Scottish - there you go.
COULTON: This is your last clue. He wrote America's national anthem, then teamed up with a comedian to play President Obama's anger translator.
(LAUGHTER)
COULTON: Rebecca.
FERRER: Francis Scott Key and Peele.
COULTON: You got it. That's right.
(APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: Oh, yes. That was great. Christopher is in the lead.
(APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: Have you decoded the secret puzzle we embedded in the last five episodes of ASK ME ANOTHER? If so, I have some bad news. We did not actually embed a puzzle in the last five episodes.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: But the good news is that you should be a contestant on our show. Just go to amatickets.org. Coming up, relationship expert Esther Perel is going to explain everything that went wrong in every single one of our relationships.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: And then we can all ignore her and make the same mistakes again anyway.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: I'm Ophira Eisenberg, and this is ASK ME ANOTHER from NPR.
(APPLAUSE)
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