PETER SAGAL, HOST:
All right, it is time to play our final game, Lightning Fill In The Blank. Each of our players will have 60 in which to answer as many fill-in-the-blank questions as he or she can. Each correct answer now worth two points. Bill, can you give us the scores?
BILL KURTIS, BYLINE: Three for Maz, three for Tom, and two for faith.
SAGAL: Faith, you're in third place. You're up first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. The White House announced Tuesday that they plan to remove blank from the list of nations that sponsor terrorism.
FAITH SALIE: Cuba.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Thursday, nerds around the world rejoiced as the newest trailer for blank was released.
SALIE: "Star Wars."
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, episodes in the U.S. and Israel criticized Russia's plan to sell missiles to blank.
SALIE: Iran.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: In a profile for Time Magazine, blank wrote that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was, quote, "almost always correct."
SALIE: Oh, Scalia.
SAGAL: Yeah, Antonin Scalia.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A Canadian advocate for the anti-vaccination movement changed her position after blank.
SALIE: After seven of her hers kids got sick.
SAGAL: Yes. With whooping cough. Very good.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, Brazilian supermodel blank took her last walk down the runway.
SALIE: Gisele.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A Georgia man's mother-in-law is expected to make a full recovery...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...After he blanked.
SALIE: Oh, after he accidentally - after he had her heart transplanted into him.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: She'll make a full recovery after her son-in-law tried to shoot an armadillo only to have the bullet bounce off the armadillo...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...Off a fence, through a door and hit her in the back.
(LAUGHTER)
TOM BODETT: Likely story.
SAGAL: She was taken to the hospital. She'll be fine. But Mr. Larry McElroy, who did this, immediately began adjusting the angle of the armadillo so he'd get a better shot next time.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Faith do on our quiz?
KURTIS: We knew she'd catch up. Faith got six right for 12 more points. She now has 14 and the lead.
SAGAL: Well done.
BODETT: Formidable.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Well, we flipped a coin. Maz has elected to go second. Here we go. Fill in the bank. Two men were charged with planning an attack on a military base in Kansas in order to show their support for blank.
MAZ JOBRANI: ISIS.
SAGAL: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, the EU formally accused search giant blank of antitrust violations.
JOBRANI: Google.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Thursday, the Russian defense minister said the U.S. was to blame for his country's invasion of blank.
JOBRANI: Ukraine.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A Washington state man was suspected of robbing a restaurant when he was caught with a blank.
JOBRANI: Turtle.
SAGAL: No, with a large canvas bag with a dollar sign printed on it filled with money.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: A military helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in San Diego nearly hitting blank, who said, quote, "I'm in the danger zone."
JOBRANI: Nearly hitting blank.
SAGAL: Who said, I'm in the dangers zone.
JOBRANI: Tom Cruise.
SAGAL: No, Kenny Loggins, the guy who wrote the song.
JOBRANI: Oh, awe man.
SAGAL: Twenty-one-year-old golfer Jordan Spieth set a scoring record on his way to winning the 2015 blank tournament.
JOBRANI: Masters.
SAGAL: Yes indeed.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: An Air Alaska flight in route to Los Angeles...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...Had to make an emergency landing just 14 minutes after takeoff due to blank.
JOBRANI: There was a guy in the cargo space.
SAGAL: Yes, he had fallen asleep. A baggage handler had decided to take a nap in the cargo hold.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: The Air Alaska flight had just taken off when passengers began hearing strange noises coming from beneath the floor. After an emergency landing, airline employees discovered that a baggage handler had fallen asleep in the fully pressurized, spacious and temperature-controlled area beneath the main cabin. After a delay, the plane was able to continue its journey to LA, but not before everyone in coach demanded a free upgrade to the cargo hold.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Maz do on our quiz?
KURTIS: Pretty good. Maz got five right for 10 more points, total of 13. Trailing Faith by only one.
SAGAL: All right. So how many then does Tom need to win?
KURTIS: Six big ones.
SAGAL: Here we go, Tom. This is for the game. Fill in the blank. President Obama announced Tuesday that the U.S. would dedicate $200 million in humanitarian aid to help blank combat ISIS.
BODETT: Iraq.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Eight educators in Atlanta were sentenced to prison this week for their part in a massive blank ring.
BODETT: Oh, the testing scandal for the No Child Left Behind.
SAGAL: Yeah, the cheating - test cheating.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Officials in Australia, China and Malaysia agreed to a plan that would double the search radius for the blank that disappeared last March.
BODETT: Malaysia Airline.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A New Jersey man has recovered after he blanked trying to kill bedbugs.
BODETT: After he just couldn't eat one more.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: He blew up a rental car.
BODETT: Does that work?
SAGAL: Apparently. I believe the bedbugs are dead. So is the Chevy. New research published in the journal Neurology found a link between heavy blanking and memory loss.
BODETT: Grilled cheese sandwiches.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
BODETT: Heavy grilled cheese sandwiches.
SAGAL: Heavy snoring. A man injured in a car accident in China discovered his injuries...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...Were the least of his problems when blank showed up at his hospital bedside.
BODETT: His - when blank showed - I don't know, his ex-wife.
SAGAL: No, all 17 of his girlfriends.
BODETT: Oh.
SAGAL: After a car accident brought the man to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, medical staff began to reach out to his loved ones to inform them. A few days later, 17 women, all claiming to be his girlfriend and all without knowledge of the others, showed up at the bedside. Man's attending physician says it's the first time in the hospital's history that someone in good health asked to be placed in a medically-induced coma.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, did Tom do well enough to win?
KURTIS: He got three right for six more points. Total of nine. Couldn't catch Faith.
SAGAL: No.
KURTIS: Today's winner.
(APPLAUSE)
BODETT: Was there ever any doubt?
SALIE: Yes.
SAGAL: In just a minute, we're going to ask our panelists to predict where and when we will next see a Gyrocopter. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: We incorrectly refer to Alaska Airlines as Air Alaska.] Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.