The Excitement of NPR Live
NPR's quiz show Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! hasn't taped an episode in Seattle since 2001, but last night at the Paramount, they had a sold-out venue full of Seattleites dressed up in their best fleeces eager to clap and guffaw on cue. Apparently, a radio show that runs about forty-five minutes on the air takes more than twice that live, including a humorously eerie segment at the end of the night where the cast quickly records disembodied do-overs of the lines they flubbed the first time around.
Twitchy, constantly moving host Peter Sagal and stoically dignified (and beloved) scorekeeper Carl Kasell were both on hand, along with a smattering of producers, interns, radio engineers, and the panel, consisting of three comedians: Paul Provenza, Paula Poundstone, and Adam Felber. They ran through all the regular segments ("Who's Carl This Time?", "Bluff the Listener"), and Jonathan Poneman, Sub Pop cofounder, was the special guest for "Not My Job." Said the sixty-five-year-old lady next to us, "I don't know who that is."
Well, she's not missing much. Even considering the past and continued influence of Sub Pop as a label, Poneman as a radio guest is kinda a dud. Was he stoned? Nervous? Overly ironic? Or just burned out? Whatever the case, Poneman was slow-speaking and slow to get to the point. He made some douchey liberal pat-on-the-back comments about the real estate market and the condo-ification of Seattle. Despite his obvious lethargy, he stated that he was "driven by enthusiasm," and actually claimed "grunge will never die." We're hoping a great deal of his segment gets somehow whittled down into a half-interesting interview.
Besides that, the show was funnier live than on the air. Sagal and the panel were hilarious, with one joke after (and sometimes on top of) another. They had plenty of local-themed comedy about composting, flannel, the pitiful state of the Mariners, and Microsoft as an "implacable force for evil." There was also a long, sure-to-be-edited digression on Clippy, the Microsoft Office assistant, that had Peter Sagal pounding on the podium and crying with laughter. Even Carl Kasell had to chuckle at that one.
Last night's episode of Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! will air on KUOW tomorrow at 10 a.m.
