PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Now it is time to move on to 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 they can. Each correct answer now worth two points. Bill, can you give us the scores?
BILL KURTIS: I sure can. Negin has four points. Josh has four. And Helen has five.
SAGAL: All right. Negin and Josh are tied. I will just arbitrarily choose Josh to go first. Josh, fill in the blank. On Thursday, President Trump floated the idea of delaying blank.
JOSH GONDELMAN: The election.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, Nancy Pelosi made blanks mandatory on the House floor.
GONDELMAN: Masks.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Thursday, former GOP presidential hopeful blank died from coronavirus complications.
GONDELMAN: Herman Cain.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After a number of people complained that they were flying the Confederate flag, a bed and breakfast in Michigan took down their blank.
GONDELMAN: Vacancy sign.
SAGAL: No, their Norwegian flag. With 26 nominations, HBO's "Watchmen" led the pack for the 2020 blank awards.
GONDELMAN: Emmys.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Visitors driving through...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...A safari park in England were alarmed when they saw a group of baboons blanking.
GONDELMAN: Mating.
SAGAL: Carrying chainsaws.
GONDELMAN: That's way worse.
SAGAL: Primates are known to crawl all over the cars of visitors driving through the park, which is fun for the whole family except when the monkeys are carrying screwdrivers, knives and, in one case, chainsaws.
HELEN HONG: What?
SAGAL: No one's sure where they're getting the tools. Some employees blame teenagers pranking them. Others think the baboons are practicing to be the world's smelliest NASCAR pit crew.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Josh do on our quiz?
KURTIS: Josh had four right - eight more points. He now has 12...
(APPLAUSE)
KURTIS: ...And takes over the lead.
SAGAL: All right, Negin. You're up next. Fill in the blank. On Thursday, Presidents Bush, Clinton and Obama attended the funeral for civil rights icon and Congressman blank in Atlanta.
NEGIN FARSAD: Lewis.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: John Lewis. On Tuesday, blank said he plans to unveil his running mate next week.
FARSAD: Joe Biden.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, the death toll from blank in the U.S. surpassed 150,000.
FARSAD: Coronavirus.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: In a controversial move, the White House announced it will move 12,000 U.S. troops out of blank.
FARSAD: Portland.
SAGAL: (Laughter) Germany. A woman attempting to hire an assassin to kill her husband was caught when she realized blank.
FARSAD: Like, she - her ATM funds were low.
SAGAL: No, she was caught when she realized that rent-a-hitman.com is not a real website.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: On Monday, search giant blank announced employees would be allowed to work remotely through 2021.
FARSAD: Google.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Sunday, Olivia de Havilland, best known as the co-star of blank, passed away at 104 years old.
FARSAD: Oh. "Gone With The Wind."
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Claiming that they've damaged property and disturbed patrons, two blanks...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...Were banned from a bar in Australia this week.
FARSAD: Patrons?
SAGAL: No, two emus. The two emus were constant visitors of The Yaraka Hotel bar in Australia because sometimes you drink to forget God made you a flightless bird.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Club owner Gerry Gimblett finally had enough, saying, the emus are, quote, "very smelly, and they create great stains," unlike the human pub dwellers who are very smelly but create even greater stains.
FARSAD: (Laughter).
SAGAL: Bill, how did Negin do on our quiz?
KURTIS: She had five right - 10 more points. She now has 14 and takes over the lead.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: All right. And how many, then, does Helen need to win and finally make her parents proud?
KURTIS: (Laughter) Five to win.
SAGAL: You can do it, Helen. Here we go. Fill in the blank. On Monday, the GOP unveiled their new $1 trillion blank bill.
HONG: Coronavirus stimulus.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, it was reported that Supreme Court justice blank was admitted back into the hospital for a nonsurgical procedure.
HONG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Thursday, NASA successfully launched a new rover tasked with finding proof of life on blank.
HONG: Mars.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: In an effort to aid economic recovery, the Fed said they would keep blanks near zero for the foreseeable future.
HONG: Interest rates.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Firefighters in Florida were unable to save a man's car from being destroyed by a fire after the man blanked.
HONG: Set it on fire.
SAGAL: Drove around with a lit scented candle burning in his car.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: On Monday, the Moderna company announced it was receiving more federal funding for its blank.
HONG: Oh, vaccine.
SAGAL: Right, coronavirus vaccine.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, Target joined Walmart in announcing they would be closed on blanks-giving this year.
HONG: Thanksgiving.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Citing the company's privacy policy...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...Amazon says they can't reveal the identity of the person who keeps sending a man in the U.K. blank.
HONG: Pizzas.
SAGAL: No, rubber duckies.
HONG: What?
SAGAL: Every day for the past three weeks, delivery drivers have dropped off a single rubber duck at the man's home. And the identity of the sender is still unclear. Many even reached out to Amazon to help solve the mystery and to make sure that the packages were supposed to be for him and not those two sweet, gay puppets who live down the street.
HONG: (Laughter) That's real creepy.
SAGAL: It is. Bill, did Helen do well enough to win our quiz?
KURTIS: She had six right for 12 more points, which means, with a total of 17, she is the champ this week.
(APPLAUSE)
HONG: Woohoo.
SAGAL: Yay, Helen.
HONG: Get off my back, mom and dad. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.