PETER SAGAL, HOST:
It is time - believe it or not - for our final game, Lightning Fill In The Blank. Each of our players will have 60 seconds 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: Mo and Roxanne each have two. Adam has three.
SAGAL: All right. Excellent. We have flipped a coin. Roxanne has elected to go first. Here we go. On Monday, Senator John McCain returned to Washington to help Republicans start the process of repealing blank.
ROXANNE ROBERTS: Obamacare.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A study published Tuesday found that 99 percent of the brains donated by former blank players showed signs of brain damage.
ROBERTS: NFL.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, Secretary of State blank denied reports he was planning to resign.
ROBERTS: Rex Tillerson.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, President Trump awarded medals of valor to the officers who responded to the shooting at a congressional blank game.
ROBERTS: The Congressional Baseball - Softball Game.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: In a sign that a community can come together and move on, a petition in Florida is calling for a Confederate statue to be replaced by blank.
ROBERTS: Snooty the manatee.
SAGAL: Yes, a statue of Snooty the manatee.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: At Comic-Con this week, Simpsons creator blank announced he was creating a new show for Netflix.
ROBERTS: I'm going to mispronounce his name. Matt Groening.
SAGAL: It's Groening, but I'll give it to you.
ROBERTS: OK.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After users protested, Microsoft announced this week that it would not kill off its blank drawing program.
ROBERTS: Paint.
SAGAL: Microsoft Paint.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: As people prepare for the solar eclipse in a few weeks, retailers report that they are seeing record demand for blank.
ROBERTS: Sunglasses?
SAGAL: No, weed.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Officials in Oregon are expecting a 40 percent increase in marijuana sales because of the eclipse on August 21. Apparently, a lot of people don't think they can enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime natural event without some enhancement. Remember, do not smoke too much because instead of enjoying the eclipse, you will spend the whole time looking around for the sun switch so you can turn it back on.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Roxanne do on our quiz?
KURTIS: Too bad she missed weed. She got seven right. That's a lot.
SAGAL: All right.
KURTIS: Fourteen more for a total of sixteen.
(APPLAUSE)
KURTIS: That's a big lead.
SAGAL: All right, Mo. Mo, you are up next. Fill in the blank. Following a closed-door meeting with senators, President Trump's son-in-law blank reasserted that he did not collude with Russia.
MO ROCCA: Jared Kushner.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a district judge ruled that Trump's blank commission can ask states for voter data.
ROCCA: Voter registration.
SAGAL: Voter fraud. I'll give it to you.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, President Trump announced plans to nominate Kansas Governor blank as ambassador of religious freedom.
ROCCA: Sam Brownback.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Following a two-day meeting, the Federal Reserve decided to leave key blank rates unchanged.
ROCCA: Interest rates.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a British artist unveiled a new painting she made using blank as her material.
ROCCA: Saltwater taffy.
SAGAL: No, 300-year-old snot recovered from a book.
ROCCA: Oh.
SAGAL: On Thursday, former presidential candidate blank announced the title of her new book would be, quote, "What Happened."
ROCCA: Hillary Clinton.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, a new law in Washington State made it illegal to hold your blank while driving.
ROCCA: Probably to hold your cell phone.
SAGAL: Yes, your cell phone.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a woman in Philadelphia was arrested for stealing a taxi and then blanking.
ROCCA: She stole a taxi. And then she began charging customers.
SAGAL: Right. She began picking up fares.
ROCCA: Right. Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Good for her. According to police...
ROCCA: She made good.
SAGAL: ...The 65-year-old woman caught the cabber on midnight, asked to make a quick stop at a gas station. When the driver got out to buy something from inside, the woman leapt into the front seat and drove off. After that, officers say she continued to pick up fares for about an hour. Though most people were fooled, one of the passengers said he really should have known that the woman wasn't a taxi driver because the car did not smell like a dead animal. Bill, how did Mo do on our quiz?
KURTIS: It doesn't happen often. But we have seven right from Mo, 14 more points and a tie...
SAGAL: All right.
KURTIS: ...At 16 all.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: So how many, then, does Adam need to win?
KURTIS: Seven to win.
ADAM FELBER: I predict one.
SAGAL: All right. This is for the game, Adam. Fill in the blank. This week, the House passed a bill imposing new sanctions on blank.
FELBER: Russia.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: According to U.S. officials, within a year, blank could develop a missile that could reach the continental U.S.
FELBER: North Korea.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, Foxconn, the producer of most of blank's products announced plans to open a factory in Wisconsin.
FELBER: Apple.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, Forbes announced that blank had dethroned Bill Gates to become the world's richest person for a moment.
FELBER: Jeff Bezos.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: According to a leak from the Trump administration, Attorney General Jeff Sessions will soon be investigating blanks.
FELBER: Leaks.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: According to new data released on Thursday, social media site blank lost over 2 million users last quarter.
FELBER: Twitter.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Sunday British cyclist Chris Froome won his fourth blank title.
FELBER: Tour de France.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a man in Washington, D.C., who was trying to retrieve his cell phone blanked.
FELBER: Fell down a garbage chute.
SAGAL: Yes. That's exactly what he did. Oh, my gosh.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Oh, my gosh. He was throwing trash down the chute. He said, oh, my gosh, I dropped my phone. He leaned in to look for it. And he fell in, fell down. And this is funny. He got stuck. But he also got his phone back. So he called the fire department.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: They came. They got him. They pulled him out. They looked at his phone. They found out it was a Blackberry, and they helpfully threw it back down the trash.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, did Adam do well enough to win?
KURTIS: Yes.
SAGAL: He did. That's amazing.
KURTIS: He got 8 out of 8, 16 more points - total of 19. It almost never happens.
FELBER: Thank you, Chicago.
SAGAL: That rivals the Cubs' big comeback.
(APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.