PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Now onto our final game, Lightning Fill In The Blank. Each of our players will have 60 seconds 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: Paula and Tom each have two. Negin has three.
SAGAL: OK. We have flipped a coin, and Tom has elected to go first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, the House voted down a GOP-backed blank bill.
TOM PAPA: Voting rights bill.
SAGAL: No, an immigration bill this time. On Thursday, Internet pharmacy PillPack was purchased by online retail giant blank for $1 billion.
PAPA: Walmart.
SAGAL: No, Amazon. This week, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won a House seat in blank, ousting longtime representative Joseph Crowley.
PAPA: New York.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Police in Ohio had no trouble tracking down a bank robber after he blanked during the heist.
PAPA: Went to an ATM.
SAGAL: No. Gave the teller his driver's license.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: This week, Oklahoma became the 30th state to approve blank.
PAPA: Hot dogs serving cotton candy.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: No. Medical marijuana. On Tuesday, a judge in the U.K. granted ride-sharing app blank a license to operate in London.
PAPA: Uber.
SAGAL: Right. This week...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...A drunk driver in Michigan was busted...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...After police caught him blanking at an intersection.
PAPA: Eating a cotton candy hot dog.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: When they went up to the car stopped in the middle of the intersection, they found him trying to make a sandwich for his dog.
(LAUGHTER)
PAPA: Same thing.
SAGAL: Police suspected that this guy might be drunk 'cause it was right there in the middle of the intersection. The man told officers he had parked there 'cause he was making a sandwich for his dog.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: To the man's credit, the sandwich was really quite good, and he had paired it with a nice Chianti.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Tom do on our quiz?
KURTIS: Tom got points for creativity.
SAGAL: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
KURTIS: He got two more - four right, six points. And this will surprise you, you're in the lead.
PAULA POUNDSTONE: There you go, Tom.
SAGAL: Do you want to enjoy that for a sec?
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: All right, Paula.
POUNDSTONE: Yeah, baby.
SAGAL: You're up next, Paula.
POUNDSTONE: Yep.
SAGAL: Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, the White House announced they had set a date for the summit between President Trump and blank.
POUNDSTONE: Putin.
SAGAL: Right. On Monday...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...President Recep Erdogan claimed victory following a snap election in blank.
POUNDSTONE: Turkey.
SAGAL: Right. This week...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...It was revealed that Trump's former campaign manager, blank, had received a $10 million loan from a Russian oligarch.
POUNDSTONE: Manafort.
SAGAL: Right. This week...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump's chief of staff, blank, was planning to step down before the end of the year.
POUNDSTONE: Kelly.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Police in Tennessee suspected a man of cocaine possession after he blanked.
POUNDSTONE: After he talked quickly for a long time.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: After he sprinkled cocaine over a police officer's head.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: For the first time in the tournament's history, Germany was knocked out of the group stage of the blank.
POUNDSTONE: World Cup.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a British woman realized she may have had a bit too much to drink when she woke up and found blank.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
POUNDSTONE: No idea.
SAGAL: She had kidnapped a neighbor's dog.
(LAUGHTER)
POUNDSTONE: Oh, yeah.
SAGAL: In our second story featuring drunk people and dogs, Toni Robinson was enjoying a night out when she came across a dog on the street. Thinking that it was her friend's dog, she picked it up, brought it home. It wasn't until she sobered up that she realized her mistake and returned the dog the next day. This is the third time Robinson has actually kidnapped a dog while drunk.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: But to her credit, she made each dog a sandwich.
(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Paula do on our quiz?
KURTIS: Five right, 10 more points, total of 12. You do slip into the lead, Paula.
SAGAL: There you go. All right. So the next question is...
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: ...How many does Negin need to win?
KURTIS: Five to win.
NEGIN FARSAD: OK.
SAGAL: Here we go, Negin. This is for the game. Fill in the blank. This week, satellite images reveal that despite promises to the contrary, blank has continued updating their nuclear research center.
FARSAD: North Korea.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, 17 states sued the Trump administration in an attempt to force the government to reunite blanks.
FARSAD: Families.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Migrant families. A new bipartisan bill introduced this week calls for blank to be granted statehood by 2021.
FARSAD: Puerto Rico.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Sunday, Saudi Arabia formally ended their ban on blank.
FARSAD: Women driving.
SAGAL: This week...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...Houston Astros star Alex Bregman became the first player in Major League Baseball history to blank.
FARSAD: Hit a lot of home runs.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: No. He was the first player ever to shave his mustache in the middle of a game.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, Joe Jackson, the father and manager of blank passed away at the age of 89.
FARSAD: Michael Jackson.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a Florida man pulled over for drunk driving told police he was innocent because blank.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
FARSAD: Because it was crocodiles having sex in front of him that made him drive badly.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
POUNDSTONE: No. His dog was driving.
SAGAL: That's what he said. And you may think, oh, it's yet another story about a drunk guy with a dog, but it's not because the twist is there was no dog in the car.
(LAUGHTER)
POUNDSTONE: Because...
(APPLAUSE)
POUNDSTONE: Because that drunk lady had kidnapped it only moments before.
SAGAL: Exactly.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: They pulled him over. They found a driver with an open bottle of rum. The man said he was innocent and blamed the bad driving on his dog, who'd been driving. And, of course, there was no dog because it had been taken by this drunk lady who was taking it home.
POUNDSTONE: It's all part of the same fabric.
SAGAL: It really is. Bill, did Negin do well enough to win?
KURTIS: Yes.
SAGAL: Hey.
FARSAD: Oh.
(APPLAUSE)
KURTIS: Five right, 10 more points, 13...
SAGAL: Nice.
KURTIS: ...One ahead to be our winner this week. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.