The Magic Behind NPR

Last night was Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!, the NPR News Quiz live from the Chase Auditorium Proctor's Theater in beautiful downtown Schenectady, New York!

First, the dinner review:

My guests were my married friends, B and A.  We stopped into Bangkok Bistro for a bit of dinner before heading to the show. Bangkok was hopping.  It's a small location that obviously used to be something else back in the day.  There were painted tin ceilings and beautiful scenes of Germany on the wall (I can't remember if it was a mural or paper, but it was old).  The overly loud music was a constant stream of female country singers (this is an incredibly weird thing for Upstate NY).  To say the place lacked a Thai influence in the ambiance and decor would be the understatement of the year.  It was an interesting blend of historical Schenectady, the Old World and maybe that $3 Chinese Lantern gave it a bit of Asian flavor.  It took over ten minutes for our waiter to come by and another twenty before he brought us water.  Our food took another half hour after that.  Our waiter barely looked at us.  Luckily the theater is a block away because we weren't finished until fifteen minutes before show time.  The food was ok, but nothing to write home about.  I mentioned that the place was hopping, and it was, but there couldn't have been more than 15 tables in the place and there were plenty of waiters. The prices were outrageous for the portions.  Most of the Thai in this area is a bit more expensive, but my favorite restaurant, Capital Thai in Albany, charges much less for a lot more food. On a scale of 10 I'd give the food a 4 and the service a 2.

Let's go on with the show:

We made our way over to Proctor's, it was my first show there.  The theater was jam packed with NPR junkies and everyone seemed to be in good spirits despite the fact that we felt like a herd of cattle as we made our way to our seats.  Apparently the theater has recently undergone extensive renovations and it showed.  The theater was spectacular!!  Dozens of chandeliers, intricate designs in the ceiling and beautiful walls and seating were looking new and and really gave you the feeling of stepping back in time.

Proctors-stage

The stage was simple (but opposite what I had imagined), two podiums on stage-right, one with the name Carl Kasell (squee!), and the other, Peter Sagal.  Stage-right held two tables, the one in front had three seats for our panelists and another in back held five or so of the people listed at the end of the show who make the magic happen (Doug Berman, Emily Ecton, etc.). 

After a brief introduction by local NPR super star, Alan Chartock (who reminded us that the fund drive begins in June and that we should call 1-800-323-9262 to become a member of WAMC!)* the lights finally went down.  A rotating ball with spinning, colorful lights swept across the stage and theater as Sirius (by the Alan Parson's Project...you know, the song from the beginning of the Bull's games!) played overhead, sending the audience into fits of laughter.  Our panelists, Mo Rocca, Amy Dickenson and Charlie Pierce were greeted by the enthusiastic crowd.  When Carl was called out on stage, everyone went nuts (at least I did!)!  Peter Sagal was next and I was struck by his lack of hair.  Don't get me wrong, ain't nuthin' wrong with a bald man, in fact it can be quite sexy, but in my mind Peter had these wavy, thick locks of golden hair.  The rest of him was just as handsome as I'd imagined.

Carl and Peter

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Peter gave us the rundown of how it all works.  The main difference between what you hear on the radio and what I saw last night was that on the radio you don't hear the flubs or the dirty answers that are sadly edited for broadcast.  Peter also informed us that when they go on the road they like to have a local celebrity join them on stage.  Of course this was hot discussion over dinner.  Who's going to play Not My Job?  B had suggested Eliot Spitzer, I told him NO WAY after the way Wait Wait had roasted him in the last month.  A suggested that it might be our new governor, funny man, David Paterson.  That, I would've loved!  So when Peter prefaced telling us about our guest, he said that this was no joke...I leaned over to B and said, you MUST be right!  Peter did confirm that several months ago the show was approached by Mr. Spitzer's staff who informed them that the governor was a fan of Wait Wait and would love to do the Not My Job segment.  Whoops!!  Instead, we were visited via phone by Adam Savage of Mythbusters.  B and A were thrilled, being huge fans of Mythbusters.  I've never seen it (no cable), but Adam was clever, charming and armed the panel with many jokes that would continue throughout the evening (although we'll see if the ones about elephant dung will make it to air!).  Adam also informed us that we were the largest audience he'd ever addressed while not wearing pants.

Wwdtm_lineup_final

The panelists were delightful.  It was so cool getting to hear Charlie Pierce laugh in person.  Amy, Mo and Charlie played off of each other throughout the evening and truly looked like they were having a ball.  Much of the comedy was visual: Amy stroking an imaginary beard, Mo discouraging the audience from hinting at answers, all three of them crossing their arms at poignant moments (something you'll understand when you hear this week's show).  It was great to see them really having fun with the live audience.

The show was followed by a short bit of housekeeping (this is where the magic comes in!).  Peter, Carl and the panel were each instructed what lines they had to redo (either for sound purposes, flubs or cleanliness).  After about five minutes of that Peter and Carl wandered into the audience for a bit of Q & A.

Peter and carl

Carl informed us that in the old days, when it came time to record the message for an answering machine he would get on the NPR jet and fly to the winner's house and crash for a week.  ;-)  Another person, who today I'm sure is thinking to herself, oh my gosh, I can't believe I asked that, asked Carl why she knew his voice.  She said she obviously knew him from the show, but had heard his voice elsewhere but couldn't place it.  After a stunned silence from Peter and the crowd everyone roared with laughter.  Peter told Carl to go ahead and tell her about his day job.  "From NPR News in Washington, I'm Carl Kasell" gave rise to massive applause from the audience.

It was great fun.  I'd love to see another taping (although Peter did remind us that we were nuts for paying for tickets when we could've listened in our pajamas for free on Saturday morning).  These folks seem to love what they do and it was very cool to be a part of that NPR magic.

*The fund drive is crazy out here.  Alan spends a ton of time on the air trying to generate donations.  He once sang the phone number to Camptown Races so that's how I hear it in my head.  But I've heard him read the number in a hoarse voice so many times over the years I think I'd remember it even with Alzheimer's.