Our (early) endless summer with Lucy Dacus and more!

Thankfully, over at pop culture happy-hour, it's literally our job.

“We break down what's actually worth watching, listening to, and pretending you already knew about.”

So the next time someone says, "Did you see that?" You can say, "Yeah, copiously. Follow NPR's pop culture happy-hour wherever you get your podcasts." From NPR, NWB-easy Chicago, "This is way, way, don't tell me the NPR news quiz. I am the only man still allowed to wear white, after Memorial Day."

Bill Curtis, and here's your host at the Stuttabaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago with an I.P. there's Seiko. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, everybody. As you know, every summer has an official theme, so we're taking the week off to wait until this year's theme is announced,

so Bill and I don't get it wrong again. We were so embarrassed during a hot girl summer when Peter and I showed up as lukewarm boys. So while we wait for the official announcement, we're here to offer you some delightful things we did over the last year, so let's start with an extended version of our interview with actor and comedian Tiffany Hattish, from November of 2025. Peter, ask her, "What jobs she took to support herself during her early years?"

And one answer was a little surprising. An energy producer at Barron Botmitsfuss? Yeah, Barb Botmitsfuss executive parties, Christmas parties,

Hanika parties, a funeral roles, you name it, of my job to produce amazing energy too.

“So wait a minute, so you were kind of a hype woman?”

You were like, "At the crowd, hyped up?" I wouldn't call that a hype woman, what I call it is the energy producer. Okay, I got you, I got you, so I'm just, I'm just, I'm just flashing back. You call it a hype woman, that felt like flavor-flate to me. No, that's not it, okay.

Amazing, all right, let me try this. This is my grandma grandpa get about the cheer of the energy so good they got to start dancing. All right, so yeah, so like, I do actually, so I'm thinking back many, many years to my own barmitsfuss, this was a very long time ago, and I did not have an energy producer of any kind. And it was a boring party weapon.

It was pretty dope! It was pretty dope! So it's too late now, it's too late now, but- Isn't that too late? All right, throw you at a 67-30 point.

We can do that, and thank you for that extra bit of my age, it crippled me.

But first of all, so if you had been at my barmitsfuss many years ago,

how could you briefly demonstrate how you would have energized the party,

“so it was not the drab synagogue assembly room experience that it was?”

First, I would go to you, and I would go young Peter. Yes. He used to take my beautiful brown hand and follow me down. And I would leave you out to the dance floor, and I would stand you right next to me, and I would say, follow my lead, do whatever I do, okay, in smile the whole time.

No matter how it feels, just smile the whole time. And I would start with a side-to-side step plan, right? When you side-to-side step plan, with me, Peter, do it. That's right, please, I mean, I guess what I'm talking about! Here we go, man!

I'm talking about... I'm talking about... I'm... I am... I am... I am retroactively, I am very excited and extraordinarily embarrassed. I am like... because that's... that, yeah, that world. That is a Jewish way, it is a world. Yes, yes, Peter, I would be real with you, I've seen Tiffany, she could make a traital spin without spinning. She's got that in it. She just... and then it just draped all the time.

And you did this for how many years? For 11 years. 11 years. That was just a... was one, it was one really long bar mitzvah, no, no, no, I did 500. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh my god. Oh, there are blue, I got flew out, I got flew out, I got flew out, you got to get flew out and out,

home on people, flew out, it flew out, man, flew out, flew out, you flew out, you flew out, I flew out, were you flew out in a private jute? What? No, it was definitely a public transport ticket. Okay, yeah, how come, for a way, wait, don't tell me, we didn't float her in! I should have!

I, I, I, you can't afford it, you can afford it, you can afford it, you can't afford it, I got it. That's sadly true, but you recently had your own bot mitzvah, right?

Who did you hire? Because we have convinced me of the usefulness of this.

“Did you hire your own energy producer for your bot mitzvah, or did you handle that yourself?”

I hired the same company that I used to work for, I hired them and we brought in younger, more vibrant energy producers, and then like Billy Crystal did my Alia. No, she's a silver man sister, she, she, you know, officiated my whole bot mitzvah, Susan Silverman, like it was the most beautiful, it was beautiful. I want to ask you, one of the things I also learned is that during your years of struggle,

you still had ambitions, you knew, and you said sometimes in public that you were going to make it, you were going to be big. Now that, well, you have, you became incredibly famous with girls trip and many

stuff since then, what is that like the first thing you did when you started making real money?

A lot of microscope. A microscope? Yeah, about a $359 microscope, that picture is a bacteria, and I can upload those bacteria to Google, and I can find out exactly what it is. The me, okay, so in my mind, it was me developing my relationship with God and just seeing all the things he created. Did you notice some bacteria look just like people? Really? I mean, I thought there were like, some of them were like

rod shaped, and some of them were squiggly, but you're saying that you look like that. Yeah, some of them is ugly, it's ugly, it's ugly. I'm like, oh God, God, I see what she was doing. This guy's a bacteria, like this, like this Candida. And I know this. And I'm just curious about all this stuff. God,

“that's like, that's why I'm like swimming with sharks and suck, because you see all the plant”

lights and animal life down there, and you just like, look how creative he is. Yeah, I'll create it. That could be your last thought just before one of the sharks, it's your, I know. You know what I'm saying? You're going to think sharks don't really like people like that. That's why they bite him and spit him out, because we two are sitting. So as long as I keep drinking soda growl, I'll do this. Tim and he had it. It is a joy to talk to you, but we haven't

invited you here to play a game. And this time we are calling it girls trip, make girl trip. You started in girls trips, so we're going to ask you about comic strips, about girls, girl strips. Got it? Yeah, it's okay. Oh, I thought we were going to be some elf. I'm like, I know. I know. I know. Boy strip clothes. I bet you do. But no, I wanted to clarify that's what we're doing. We're a weekend show for families. Okay. Here you go. Okay, I'm Lisa. There we go. Here's your two to three

questions, right? You win our prize for one of our listeners, Bill, who is Tiffany Haddish playing for.

Liz Patterson of at the Georgia. All right, here's your first question. The most famous girl

strip is of course Kathy, that long running strip about a single woman with issues. Kathy ended its run in 2010, but it left its mark on the comic strip industry. How? A, the strip in which he married her boyfriend Irving was so bad, the phrase "marrying Irving." Now means ruining your comic strip forever. Be whenever a comic strip writer can't think of something for a character to say, they just say, "ack!" Like Kathy did, or see the highest praise, one comic artist can

say to another is, "I thought I was reading Kathy." You're going to go for B, the comic strip writer can't think of anything for a character to say, they just say, "ack!" No, I'm afraid it was marrying Irving, marrying Irving because people believe that that's like the comic strip equivalent of jumping the shark. Here's your next question. The Barbie doll was in part originally inspired by a German newspaper comic strip called Lily, who was Lily, the character Lily,

where she A, the beautiful wife of an ugly bricklayer named Kenneth, B, a "high end call girl" or C, a beauty pageant winner who became a surgeon, an astronaut and an Olympic gymnast. Well, I would like it to be C, but I feel like it's, especially when Barbie came out and all of that around the time, I will go with A. You're going to go with the beautiful wife of an ugly bricklayer? Wait, wait, wait, wait, so what was the second one? The second one was that Lily, the

character on whom Barbie was partially based, was a "high end call girl" more of an escort. Yes. Well, then I'll go with, you know, you're going to go with B and see, yeah, because the way you

chart make up was, and stuff, and she always had her boobs out. That's right, you have figured it out,

“that's what Lily was. So Lily was a, you've got it right. Lily was a risque”

comic for adults in the '50s in Germany, and the company started making dolls of Lily, and the wife of one of the founders of Mattel was in Germany, saw one and said, hey, I can work with that. All right, here's your last question. The comic strip "Little Orphanani" ended its run in 2010. What was the adorable Orphan's fate? In the very last little Orphanani comic strip was at A,

parents were the Roman Ops, making her air to the Russian throne, or see, she instantly aged

the 90 years that had passed since the first strip been crumbled into dust.

Like, Thanos? Very much like Thanos, yes. Well, what was that again? And again, was that she was being held captive by an Eastern European war criminal.

“B, and I'm gonna go with, she got kidnapped, and that's how they came with the movie, uh, taking.”

That's exactly right. Wow. In fact, I believe in the final frame of the final strip, Daddy Warbox is saying it to a phone. I have certain skills. No, in the very last strip, Annie, who, by the way, during her life in the comics, was constantly being kidnapped. Annie is being held in Guatemala by a man known as the Butcher of the Balkans. And as far as we know, she is still there.

Okay. I'm right in the letter. All right. Bill, how did Tiffany Hattish do in our quiz? Are you kidding? She rewrote the quiz. Here's a winner in everything. You have, you have, you have fought the energy in this. I told you tell me, you did not exaggerate.

“Oh, yeah. It's still going. She's still going. Ryan was your advanced man.”

Tiffany Hattish is an Emmy and Grammy winner. You can see her in her new show, Tiffany Hattish goes off. It is streaming on peacock now. If it is a quarter as fun as talking to her in real life,

it will be amazing. Tiffany Hattish, thank you so much. Thank you.

We'll be with us. We will be back soon. Take care. Thank you. Bye-bye. When we come back, we revisit our trip to Hawaii with a master of the ukulele and talk to a woman who's set a record by swimming there. That's when we return with more weight weight, don't tell me from NPR. From NPR, NWB Easy Chicago, this is weight weight, don't tell me the NPR news quiz.

I'm Bill Curtis and here is your host. At the stood-of-acre theater in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Peter, say go. Thank you, Bill. Thanks everyone. Thank you so much. So, we are spending the week preparing for summer, getting a base layer for our

tans and working on finally achieving that beach body. Did you know they make suit jackets with

matching speedos? So, while we desperately hit the gym, here's some more delightful interviews from the past year to entertain you. In October of last year, we all went to Hawaii, where we talked to one of the great living masters of that island's traditional instrument

“The ukulele. Peter's first question, too, type money. How the hell do you pronounce the ukulele?”

Ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, ok. Ok. Ok. Ok. Ok. Ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, ok. How about if you give it the appropriate respectful name and I just continue to screw it up, because that's, you know we could do that for probably like 10 to 15 minutes. We can do that and that's really great. So, you and I mentioned this started playing the ukulele at a very young age, right? Yes, I started when I was five and it was just the instrument that I grew up

learning how to express myself. Right. And I so happened to love classical music, metal music, but it's all played on this instrument. I want to get to that because that's one of the things you are known for, but you were busking you were out on the streets at five, you went up with your father? I started actually when I was seven, more mature, but that's a very reasonable age to send your child out onto the streets to try to make money. Yes, I had a hard work ethic back in the

day and so I started playing on the streets of Kulakawa Avenue. Right, that's the big commercial district to win Waikiki with all the big shops on it, restaurants, tourists walking up and down all night. Exactly, exactly, I loved it and I kept doing it until the age of 13. Wow. And that's where one of the singers from the Don Ho show saw me playing was on the streets of Waikiki. And so I got to meet Uncle Don. I like to call him Uncle Don. Sure. I like to call Uncle Don.

Right, Uncle Don. He really, you know, he took me under his wing and, you know, really showed me the ropes of how much it takes to put on a show. Right. And so I was with him for five years until his passing and he really just introduced me to Waikiki and then from there, I started touring all over the world because the Uncle Lella, everyone loves the Uncle Lella. That's absolutely true. That's absolutely true. So it is true that one of the things you've done is you've really expanded

because you're known for example for some remarkable covers. You just put out a cover of

“Johnny Mitchell's big yellow taxi. Right. And so is there like anything like people would not expect”

to hear somebody play really well to you clearly that you love to play for them? Yes. I'm just going to go ahead and play it. Go ahead. And for those of you, yes. But those would be nice to take at home this could be any of the panelists. You can't see this. Yeah. All right. Here we go. [Music] [Music]

Wow. That's amazing. I was, I was a little bit rusty, but once I got caught, I was a little bit rusty.

But once I got caught, I thought we were going to do like smoke on the water or something, but no, something. Did you do that? Yeah. Yes, they're right. Wow. Well, Taimani, we have asked you here to

“play a game we're calling mini guitar, meet mini golf. So. Okay. You like smaller instruments?”

We thought we'd ask you about the tiny version of golf, miniature golf. Answer two to three questions correctly. You'll win our prize for one of our listeners. Also who is Taimani playing for? Jim Joplin of Lawton, Oklahoma. All right. All right, Oklahoma. And you know, they just love

the ukulele and Oklahoma. So here's your first question. Most historians agree that miniature golf

was invented in Scotland in the 1860s for one very specific reason. What was it, A? It was made for women who weren't allowed to play real golf because it was considered improper for them to

“raise their arms above their shoulders. Be a local aristocrat said, "Love the game, but can we do”

without all that walking?" Or see, so a notorious sports gambler could win a bet that he could finish a whole round of golf in half an hour. Oh gosh, you know, I'm not much of a walker myself. So I would love to say B. B. Maybe not the vibe. No. Not the vibe. You know, there's other, you know, I'm just getting this feeling of, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Apparently, back in the Victorian Scotland, you couldn't have ladies scandalizing society by showing their pits. Why didn't doubt go with

misogyny? Exactly. All of them. All of them. All right, that was very good. Now, back in the early days, many golf courses used to be different than they are today. How so? Was it A instead of mechanical obstacles like windmills? Children were hired to leap onto the course and swat away your ball. B instead of hitting your ball into the mouth of a fake clown in the last hole, you do it to a real clown. Or C instead of turf, the surfaces were made of goat hair dyed green.

You know, I just keep getting these feelings. Oh, the vibe is feeling great. You know, I'm going to go with the ocean like the sea. The sea wise choice being this thing of why yes, it was sea dyed goat hair. Wow. Was the surface of choice? This was before after turf, of course. Last question, you can play thousands of mini golf courses around the world, including in some unusual places like which of these. On the lip of a volcano in

Stromboli, Italy with real lava providing some of the obstacles. B 400 feet underground

in an abandoned Transylvanian salt mine or C on the roof of the second to tallest building in Dubai,

You're going to go with the Transylvanian salt mine, you're right. It is calm. Wow.

It is called Solina Terta and it's got a whole amusement park down there along in the

“mini golf. It's the most popular underground tourist attraction in the world. What's it called?”

Solina Terta. No smart remarks, Paula. Also, how did Timonate do on our quiz? She's got the vibes, three out of three. There you go. Yeah. Timonate is a singer-songwriter of what if a world's most celebrated, ukulele players for tour dates, head to timonate.com/live. Timonate. Timonate everybody shut up.

So when we went to Hawaii, we of course took a plane, but champion-long distance swimmer Becca Mann saved on baggage fees and swam there. In addition, it's swimming across the Maui channel and back. Becca is a two-time national champion in the ten-kilometer swim. And when she joined his last year, yes, toast, the Geed Forced, ask her what spending that much time in the water does to a person. So, you know, what are the things that I thought about like when thinking about

these adventures that you go on is that you're in the water for a really, really, really long time.

“So what are some of the weird kind of physical side effects of this kind of swimming?”

So when you're in salt water, you will start swelling. So like about nine hours in my nostrils of Barcelona together. And then when I got out of the water, my youthy level was hanging onto the back of my tongue. And I put it in salt for the rest of the day. It was disgusting. Oh, good. This is where I pretend to really know what a youthy level is. It's the things in the back of your throat. Oh, got you. Either way, I sense that this is bad.

I, that, this again kind of conjures the question of like, why do you do this to yourself? But, um, what is your, like, what's your big goal now? I mean, you've already done so much. Is there another, like, a record do you want to say? Yeah, so I actually took after that so my took five years off the swimming. That was like the last thing that I wanted to do with my career because I just

narrowly missed my third Olympic team and I didn't want to end on a failure. So, um, I love swimming.

And I figured why not just see how long I can love swimming for in one period. And then after that took five years off and I was just really missing swimming. So, I got back into it a year ago and then, um, made the national team again after five months of training. So, I'm covered. Thank you. That'd be perfect. Yeah. So, um, now I'm just kind of taking it six months by six months and seeing what happens from there. And as long as I keep enjoying getting into

the pool every day to train, I'm going to keep sticking with it. When you're in the open water, are there people that are, like, watching you or tracking you in some ways? You're not, you're not completely by yourself, right? Yeah. So, um, there was a kayak that was probably like five to ten feet away from me the whole time and then a boat that would stay like 200 meters ahead. And then every, like 20 minutes, I'd swim up to the boat and my mom was actually on the boat

and she was violently seasick the whole time. She's never doing this again.

And she'd throw me a feed. We call them feeds. They're basically just, like, liquid fuel. So, like, a gatorid with, like, some sort of energy gel melted into it. So, um, yeah, I wasn't fully alone. Even though, like, I couldn't touch the boat. Nobody was allowed to touch me, um, because then you're just qualified if that happens. But, um, there were people nearby. You guys, I need help or anything. Okay, so there are people nearby. My question is, what's the most incredible thing you've seen in the

open ocean because I won't be going. I need to live, I care, if they threw you.

“Um, I think I've seen three sharks and I really love sharks. Um, all of them were, it was”

two black tip reef sharks and then one white tip reef shark. And I think that they're just such beautiful creatures. Um, all of them were, like, very peaceful. And, yeah, I love, I love all the animals. They're probably surprised to see you. Yeah. What are you doing in my house? Oh, yeah, they have, they have a real little. They have a real reputation for being peaceful. So, that's, those ones in particular, I'm at some nice ones. Well, so speaking of, like, fish,

have you ever, like, had a relationship with a fish in this style of my octopus teacher? I can't say that I have. I mean, are you open to that?

and just, like, casually do laps, but also smoke everybody and show off? Definitely. I think

depending on what kind of mood I'm in. Oh, back a man. Well, we've actually asked you here to play a game we're calling. Tanks for joining us. So, you know all of them. You know it's right. You know all about open water. So, we're going to ask you about closed water, aquariums. Answer two out of three questions correctly and you'll win our prize for one of our listeners, the voice of any of us on their voicemail. Bill, who is Becca playing for? Ryan Campbell,

of Houston, Texas. All right. All right. I won't lay you down, Ryan. Here's your first question.

The San Antonio Aquarium has a touch tank, which can provide guests with unique experiences,

“like which of these. Is it A, an archer fish, speeding water directly into your boyfriend's eye?”

Is it B, an octopus grabbing your six-year-old by the arm and trying to climb out of the tank to get the rest of her? Or is it C, the can you handle a line-fishing challenge? I'm going to say C, just because I don't know if the aquarium would be able to get away with the

first kill. Oh, it is B. They got away with an octopus grabbing a kid.

Don't worry. Don't worry. The kid is fine and it only took three adults armed with ice packs to make the octopus let go. All right, here's your next question. The San Antonio Aquarium had another situation in 2018. When one of their sharks went missing, fortunately they were able

“to track it down quickly because security footage showed what? Was it A, one shark was hiding on”

the bottom of its tank while another shark buried it in the sand? Was it B, the shark jumping a barrier into the blue go whale tank where it was now playing where the whale like they were best friends? Or was it C, two people lifting the shark out of its tank, putting it in a baby stroller and walking out of the aquarium? Okay, I feel like it could be any of these three things. C seems like it would be the most fun. So I'm going to go with C. You're right, it is C. Oh my God.

I can't believe you got that. Police recovered the shark from the guy who wanted it for the quote extensive aquarium habitat in his garage. I really see a lot of myself in that guy. All right, here's your last question. According to a 2017 interview, when the sharks at one aquarium wouldn't mate, the staff saw the issue by doing what? Was it A, piping something Peppa's push it into the enclosure? Was it B, putting Jasmine oil into their water as an

“Afro-Disiac? Or was it C putting lipstick on the female shark? What is it? Okay, what's the audience thinking?”

Hey, okay, I can't say no to that then, it has to be A. Oh my God, that's right. Push it is a cross species sexy song. Wow. Bill, how did Becca do in our quiz? Well, she did swim a very long way. So we're going to call her a winner, two out of three. Yeah. All right, I think you can call the audience the true winner. Well, Becca, man, is a champion open water swimmer and a writer.

Becca, man, thank you so much for joining us on a way like that. Thank you for having me. When we come back, our panel continues to do anything other than study for our quiz. And singer-songwriter Lucy Dake as tells us how she started her career in music as a favor to a friend. That's when we come back with more weight weight. Don't tell me from NPR. From NPR and WEEZ, Chicago. This is Weight Weight. Don't tell me the NPR news quiz.

I'm Bill Curtis and here is your host at the Suitabaker Theatre and the fight arts building in Chicago. Peter, say go. Thank you, Bill. Thank everybody. Hey, if you want to come see us in person,

We'll be in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 9th and in Sonoma, California, on July 30th.

For tickets and information to all our live events, go to NPR Presents.org. Right now, Bill and I are busy getting the playlist just right for NPR's annual beach limbo party. Everybody is surprised by how low I can. But I'm going to be honest with you. I hope our panelists are spending there week off studying the news because apparently, some of them haven't figured out

that when they appear in our show, I might ask them about it. Here's some of our panelists covering up for their ignorance by being funny. Eugene, don't be alarmed but this week,

“we were sure that your airplane is not actually outdated and old just because it still has what?”

No engine? No, that would be a problem. No, it should be a lot.

That it still has no smoking sign? Close. Not only does it have no smoking signs, which it shouldn't have because nobody smokes in airplanes, but it also seems to have still what? Oh, the astray. Astrays. Yes. People have been seeing astrays in the laboratories of planes and thinking, oh my god, how old is this plane, right? You think, oh no, was this plane built in the sixties and then you think about how well us people

who were built in the sixties are holding together right now and you start to panic. But you can relax. The Washington Post reported this week that the FAA still requires that all airplane bathrooms still have astrays. That way they can guarantee that the dirtiest thing in there

“is not the toilet seat. Oh, why do they have them? The idea is you're not allowed to smoke”

on airplanes and they tell you when they give the announcement, if you smoke in and their smoke detectors and the bathrooms, if you smoke in there, it's a crime don't do it. But what if somebody does anyway? And they want to make sure that if somebody does breaks the law and lights a cigarette in there they want a safe fireproof place for them to put the cigarette besides a trash can say full of paper and you especially don't want them flushing them down the toilet because

that blue stuff in there, that's leftover jet fuel. Wow, so then what happens to the cocaine that I have in there? Well, you can snort that right after toilet seat. Also, people are upset about a lot. It's true, yeah. Actually, I wasn't even a question as with people are upset. Now, people are upset in Thailand after a parade there went by this museum full of priceless cultural artifacts and then what happened? They broke in and so no, no, I'll give you ahead.

We don't know why they routed the annual subwoofer celebration parade by the National Museum of the TV. Oh, wow. Yes. I grew up in the South and Doos who have these woofers in their cars and they drive by and they rattle every dish, every window in your house and so they just rattled those artifacts and destroyed them. That's exactly what happened. The loud music from the parade shattered, priceless artifacts. The parade celebrates this particular province's unique

contributions to Thai culture, including Rod Haye, which is the relatively recent tradition

of modifying cars and trucks with, yes, super powerful loudspeakers. Okay, bad enough, but why

did the parade also follow those with floats filled with those soprano singing so high they shattered lives. The noise was so loud and not several priceless pieces of historical pottery off their shelves onto the floor where they shattered. What's the problem? Now, there are a bunch more objects and they're much more reasonably priced. Yeah, it's going to say it and they were bracelets before. Now they have a price. Exactly. Now we know. Capitalism. For

“for a dollar. I think it's great. More destructive, more destructive parades. I want to see”

like a macy's Thanksgiving day parade where a wind gust makes Snoopy take out the entire metropolitan museum. That you know what? Something close. Well, I used to have this picture that I got from a newspaper and I had it on my notebook for the longest time. It was one time at the macy's day parade, you know, they had a underdog inflatable. Yeah. And he had like a menacing look like his eyebrows were and he was pointing and a gust of wind caught it and it went

like towards people and the people scattered. Sure. And it was such a great so that's actually how I mean it didn't destroy a museum but what I do feel is a similar story and that's why I told

pet owners, all dogs are what? The popular belief is that they're all lovely so I would say what are we even asking before. All dogs are destined for hell. I'll give you a hand maybe don't narrow it down. These are the creatures that literally chase their own tails. So actually they're all really dumb? Yes, dumb. I knew that. I knew that about my dog. Yeah, mine too. Mine's very dumb and she's loud about it. Yeah. The New York Times wants you to know your dog is most likely

not a genius, which is weird because they're always trying to get my dog to sign up for the

word. Opening word. Josh, yes, you have a pug idea, smart or dumb. She's so dumb. We bought her a step so that she can hop up onto the couch because the couch cushions kind of high. She sits on the step. I'm just like, you know what I'm going to say? I have a pug too. Is your pug smart? No. So dumb. What is your dog smell like? Your pug smell like? She doesn't smell great. Mine has a very distinct smell. I want to know if this is just a pug thing. Is it because we've had moments

of that freedom? Freedom. Yeah. That's all dog. My dog smells like freedom. Freedom. You smell like freedoms. You're like, this dog isn't that bright. And then you smell them and you're like,

just what do we do? Right. Finally, Lucy Dake is one of the most popular singer-songwriters

working today, both on her own and with the super group Boy Genius. When she joined us in December, I asked her if it was true that she put out her first record as a favor to a friend. Yeah. He had a school project to do. And my friend was working at Reba McIntyre studio. Yeah. And he was like, no one's scheduled on this Saturday. She released Nathan. And so the whole record we recorded it in one day, uh, illegally. I don't know if it's illegal. But without approval. Right.

“And I guess the first question is, did he get a good grade? I think you're asking that. Really?”

He didn't like, he didn't fail and have to have you record another record, did he? Yeah. And that's what the story is. Yeah. Exactly. It was the second project. Yeah. So that's an amazing story. You started playing guitar. I'm told at 12 years old? I would say the correct answer is yes. The correct answer is yes. I like the fact that you're already into the quiz aspect. That's good. I'm not very, um, I'm still like not the best at guitar.

I feel like guitar at that time was hardly visible. Really? But you're actually quite an accomplished guitarist. You were on a list of some one of the greatest of all time I saw. Yeah.

Do you remember? I'm always curious about this artist like yourself. Like what your first

“songs were like when when your first wrote a song. Do you remember what it was?”

Um, I had a song called "Super Cupid," which was like, while I want "Cupid" to come to me. I was probably like seven years old. What? No, no. You were already like pining for a partner at seven? Yes. Yeah. I mean, I also had a song that was about people who are upset when someone cheats on them. But it is probably their fault because why would they cheat on you if you weren't hard to be with? Again, I was probably like eight years old. Oh my goodness. Wow. You were eight years old

years old. Well, what's happening at your elementary school? I'm glad I don't remember. Yeah. You, you also, in your early days before you recorded that school project and began to become very popular, you worked at a, I didn't even know that these still existed within a young person's lifetime, but a photo processing shop in Richmond where you grew up. Wow.

“Richmond camera. Richmond camera. Did that experience inspire any of your writing?”

Well, it was so mindless and it was eight hours a day and so I would sit and do my like to do, to do, to do, to do, to do, to do, and then I had a pad of paper and I would write songs and I'd get home and I'd get on the guitar and write like a song a day at that time, which is not like what I do anymore. Wow. Have you considered, I mean, you seem to be nostalgic for when you were that productive. Have you considered taking on like a mindless

day job again just to reignite the creative spirit? Yeah, I think you're being funny, but I thought I didn't, we thought about that. Yeah, I'm ready. You're ready. You're ready. Somebody, somebody higher this woman for drugs works. So you can reach the photo counter at Walgreens. I think that's exactly how you drive. Why not? In 2019, you released a song on certain holidays throughout

How did you decide which holidays to do? The real truth is that I had recorded a bunch of things

“for no reason because it's fun to do and I was like, when are these going to see the world?”

And so I realized that some of them have like a holiday aspect. Others are kind of can make it up. Like dancing the dark, we just said that Bruce Springsteen's birthday is a holiday. Which I stand by and then like in the air tonight like that was kind of eerie so we did it for Halloween. I also wanted to ask, as you say, one of the holidays Bruce Springsteen's birthday and you do think that's a holiday or a big fan, right? It wasn't my house growing up. I mean, it was written

that we had like a big calendar in the kitchen where we put like, you know, fastball practice, church, Bruce Springsteen's birthday. Please tell me, please tell me you called it the Springsteen. I have to call my dad. I saw a picture of you with Springsteen, so you didn't meet him, right? Did you tell him about the Springsteen? No. What I already knew, like I'm not that like saved when I meet people but he is so important to my dad and to me and I like showed up at

a friend's birthday party and like saw him and I was like, I need to go. I'm about to make a fool of myself. And so I was crying at the party with friends like this is weird and I should go. And so then I turned around and he was right there and he actually like knew me and knew my music

“already so I was just like, I think you're the best. And he was very gracious and he kind of,”

he seems to be like the guy that you want him to be, which is not always true. It's always so.

Well Lucy Dake as it is a pleasure to talk to you and we have invited you here to play a game we're calling Boy Genius, Meet Boy Geniuses. So your band is called Boy Genius or we're going to ask you three questions about geniuses who are also boys answer two or three. Well, you're okay, you're rolling your eyes. I didn't warn you earlier it would be dumb. I mean, you can be. You can be. Yes, it's awesome. Okay. Let's go. All right, I appreciate that. That was very charitable.

Okay. So as I was saying, answer two to three questions correctly and you'll win our prize one of our listeners. Also, who is Lucy playing for? Kimberly Ramos of Chicago Illinois. All right.

Here's your first question. Math Genius Saborno-Bare started at NYU last fall at the age of 12.

“When a reporter asked him, do you sometimes wonder at the fact that you're only 12? What was his response?”

A, quote, why wonder at that when there's dark matter to wonder about. Be, quote, not really, I've seen my birth certificate. Or see, quote, yes, mainly when my classmates go to a bar without me. I'm going to say the second option. I think it's two. You are right. But let's be. Yes, he was he said yes. I've seen my birth certificate. He is a math genius. He can count to 12. All right. Here's your next question. Doogie Houser was a fictional boy genius who, in the show,

completed med school of the age of 14. But the actor who played at Neil Patrick Harris was not a medical prodigy. So how did he get through the scenes where he had to spell out a lot of medical jargon while performing surgery? Was it A? He recorded each big word just one at a time and then the editors would just cut away to the nurses a lot to make it sound like he was saying it all at once. Be, he put a card with his lines written on them inside the surgical wound he was supposed to be operating on.

Or see the actor playing the patient in the operating table would whisper the lines to him taking advantage of the faculty couldn't see his mouth under a oxygen mask. How does it be? Because it be. You're right. Yeah. It was he. All right. Here is your last question. Get this right. You'll be perfect. Boy geniuses from around the country were once invited to participate in a game show called "Our Little Genius"

where prodigies answered nearly impossible questions in the pursuit of winning $500,000 but the show,

the recorded never aired. Why? A. The network head said people already feel dumb watching

game shows. Now we're going to make him feel dumber. B. The phone a friend feature failed when every single contestant asks does my mom count? Or see it was shut down when it's revealed the kids weren't actually geniuses producers were just feeding them the answers right before they filmed.

you are correct. It was C. The whole thing is a scam. Never broadcast.

“Also, how did Lucy do in our quits? She did great. Three out of three.”

Well done. Lucy Davis is a singer songwriter and won the third of the super group of boy genius her new album forever is a feeling is out now. Lucy Davis, thank you so much for joining us on what we've done trying to do. Thank you for loving me. It's a pleasure to talk to you. Take care. Thank you. Bye bye.

“That's it for our spring is the best time to prepare for summer edition. We'll be back next week with”

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Miles Dernboss, and Lily and King. Special thanks as always to Monica Hickey, Peter Gwyn,

is helping us get sunscreen and that hard to reach spot on our backs. Our visual host is Emma Choy, our ops manager is just Sierra Vardach, technical direction of some more on a white or CFO's Colin Miller. Our production manager is Robert Newhouse, our senior producers in Chilag and the executive producer of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. That's Mike Danforth. Thanks to everybody you heard on this week's show. That would be all our panelists, our all our fabulous guests,

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