Comments on: Wait! Wait! I've run out of episodes!

Question: Wait! Wait! I've run out of episodes!

CaptApollo — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:47:52 -0800

I am madly in love with NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. Please recommend similar shows, preferably available via podcast.

I have an unhealthy obsession with this show - I often use it as amusing noise to go to sleep, listen to it while commuting, etc. I've heard all the episodes many times, and need to expand my options.

By: holgate

holgate — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:02:40 -0800

The News Quiz is the obvious British equivalent. You'd probably need to be au fait with the week's British news for some of the jokes, but most of it crosses the pond unscathed.

(Most of Radio 4's panel games are a good fit: ISIHAC isn't podcast, but you can snaffle it if you have the kit.)

By: metabrilliant

metabrilliant — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:07:11 -0800

PublicRadioFan.com has a list of podcasts, one section of which is "funny programs". You might try experimenting there. Unfortunately, one of my favorites, Says You, isn't likely to come out with a podcast, so you'll have to give that a listen online.

If you're a classic Trek fan at all (just a wild guess based on your username), you might get a kick out of Look at His Butt. It's ostensibly all-things-Shatner, but it covers a wide range, and both hosts are a hoot. It's my occasional late-night guilty pleasure.

By: blue_wardrobe

blue_wardrobe — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:11:03 -0800

Seconding the News Quiz -- or without the need to understand the British news scene, you can catch episodes of Just a Minute for some of the same type of humor. BBC.

Also seconding ISIHAC (I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue).

By: cosmicbandito

cosmicbandito — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:29:34 -0800

Quite Interesting is another quiz show in a similar vein to Wait Wait. Here's an outtake

Very British. It's like a cross between WHo's Line is it and Wait Wait.

By: mumkin

mumkin — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:56:53 -0800

Unfortunately QI is video, and not available as a podcast. When you find it online it's usually via YouTube, sliced up into eight-minute segments, making it no fun at all to fall asleep to. It is, however, brilliant and worth your attention when you're awake.

What is it about Wait, Wait that appeals to you so? The faux quiz-show format? The bite-sized internal structure? The current-events aspect of it? The panel of media personalities with celebrity call-in guest? The voice of Carl Kassel? The humor? The hour-long length? The live studio audience? If you could have one single aspect of similarity, which would you choose? Two? I ask this because I feel like we're focussed on the fairly limited pool of news-related-humorous-quiz-shows, and there is very likely a broader pool of material to suggest if only we knew what your essential criteria were.

And preemtively, I'll suggest The Guardian Unlimited's Science Weekly podcast, which is not a quiz show, but is current events (in science) in multiple segments, done by an irreverent ensemble crew, and something I enjoy falling asleep to.

By: YoungAmerican

YoungAmerican — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:58:06 -0800

I would reccomend the much funnier but non-quiz-oriented The Bugle, which features Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver (of the Daily Show) having a very funny conversation about the news.

If it's just the WWDTM tone you like, you might try "Says You," or the British version, "My Word," or possibly Michael Feldman's "Whaddya Know?"

By: Alison

Alison — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:10:13 -0800

Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know? is a very, very midwesterny version of Wait, Wait. It has similar news quizzes, but people get actual prizes, not that I wouldn't be excited to get Carl Kasell's voice on my answering machine.

By: gjc

gjc — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:16:08 -0800

"Whad'Ya Know" versus "Wait Wait" is the difference between Wisconsin and Chicago. Literally, that's where they are, respectively, produced. I'd almost say that Whad'ya is approaching that mythical old-timey style of midwesternness that Prairie Home Companion has perfected.

By: CaptApollo

CaptApollo — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:43:37 -0800

mumkin thanks for making me clarify. I think it's the irreverent yet pseudo-intellectual take on current events (for pseudo-intellectual read: not a 'funny' version of TMZ). Mostly it's just smart banter, I guess. Interaction is key - not a monologue

Good points about Whad'Ya Know v Wait Wait - I think I'm definitely more in the Chicago school here - Feldman can get very, uh, unfocused in his audience segments.

So, an educated panel being clever about mostly non-trashy current events seems to be what I'm looking for.

Though the chance to win a nifty voicemail greeting is not to be underestimated.

By: pinky

pinky — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:02:04 -0800

The Whad'Ya know podcast is truncated. I subscribed to it for a few weeks and then unsubbed - it just wasn't the same.

By: ncc1701d

ncc1701d — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:31:02 -0800

possibly the slate explainer podcast? it's topical and intelligent. i'm personally not a wait wait fan, so grain of salt and all that. as for witty banter, one cannot beat the genius that is jordan, jesse, go!

By: ncc1701d

ncc1701d — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:33:37 -0800

oh and you may like npr's sunday puzzle.

By: grabbingsand

grabbingsand — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:49:40 -0800

This might be a bit odd, but you ought to seek out some old episodes of My Word, a radio quiz/panel show from the BBC. The classic episodes are from 1956 or so, but they're brilliant.

(In fact, I think I've found some episodes here, though I'm pretty sure that collection isn't supposed to be available for free.)

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:47:01 -0800

Interestingly enough, one of the producers is a Mefite. :)

By: holgate

holgate — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:55:34 -0800

BBC Five Live's Fighting Talk could be described as a sporting version of The News Quiz, though it's probably much less intelligible for non-Brits. (I wish they'd kept The Treatment in that general spot, which was a really good, funny weekly roundup show.)

You may want to look at This Sporting Life, which is two Australian blokes in character ostensibly talking about sports you'll know little about, but generally just playing everything for laughs. The fake commercial breaks are especially fun. It's currently off the airwaves, so you're stuck with archives, but it fits the bill for 'amusing noise at bedtime'.

Also, check your metamail.

By: Hot Like Your 12V Wire

Hot Like Your 12V Wire — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:08:15 -0800

As far as humor and current events go, you may enjoy Fair Game with Faith Salie's podcast.

By: arcticseal

arcticseal — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:10:23 -0800

I download Fighting Talk (BBC R5), the Now Show (BBC R4), The News Quiz (BBC R4) and the Bugle (The Times Online). I think all of which my fit your bill.

FT is a great show even if you're not a huge sports fan.

Love this thread!

By: arcticseal

arcticseal — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:12:26 -0800

doh..."may fit your bill"...

Andy Zaltzman from the Bugle was on Fighting Talk this week.

By: Mo Nickels

Mo Nickels — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 05:48:22 -0800

I concur with the recommendation for "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue." Somebody made a torrent out of more than 400 episodes of the show--30 years' worth--so look for that. It's really quite good and often has me laughing out loud.

By: clavicle

clavicle — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:31:50 -0800

Yeah, I second mumkin's questions about what exactly you like about Wait Wait. For another data point in the meantime, I love Wait Wait; second the suggestion for My Word (and if you like that, you might try My Music too); don't care about cars but have a dopey affection for Car Talk; love the Puzzlemaster segment on Weekend Edition; and HATE HATE HATE Whaddya Know with the FIRE OF A THOUSAND SUNS.

By: The corpse in the library

The corpse in the library — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 09:35:52 -0800

The funniest podcast I know is The Ouch! Podcast. I am in love with it. My love for it is as strong as clavicle's hatred for Whaddya Know. (My hatred for Whaddya Know -- or, as I call it, The Dead Air Show -- is also as strong as clavicle's hatred for it.)

By: melodykramer

melodykramer — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:33:19 -0800

You might also want to check out Love and Radio and In the Loop, both of which I podcast (along with TAL) and listen to on the way into work. Also a "radio literary-musical tragic-comedy" might be up your alley.

By: dawson

dawson — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:39:28 -0800

This is very likely my favorite thread ever. Thanks for posting this question, CaptApollo

By: garlic

garlic — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 07:14:29 -0800

If it's the panel, plus topical news then Slate's Political Gabfest may be a good fit. Also, Real Time with Bill Maher has a similar format, if you don't mind the more obvious bias than Wait Wait, or the Gabfest.

If it's topical news + interviews with people to discuss, than On the Media by NPR / PRI may be to your liking as well.

By: mumkin

mumkin — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:26:09 -0800

It occurs to me that you might enjoy The Ricky Gervais Show podcasts if you've not heard them. Unfortunately, the old episodes are no longer free—they've bundled up each season of the podcast and sell them as $6.95 6-hour audiobooks—but it's the kind of humorous banter that I think you're looking for.

By: joeclark

joeclark — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 14:23:17 -0800

No, absolutely not: If you like "Wait, Wait" you will find it has nothing in common with "Fair Game," which isn't a humour show, or even funny, in any guise.