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Lightning Fill In The Blank

PETER SAGAL, host: Now it's time to move on to our final game, Lightning Fill in the Blank. Each of our players will have sixty seconds in which to answer as many fill in the blank questions as he or she can. Each correct answer now worth two points. Carl, can you give us the scores?

CARL KASELL: Charlie Pierce has the lead, Peter. He has four points. Tom Bodett and Amy Dickinson are tied for second. They both have three points.

SAGAL: All right. We have flipped a coin and Tom's elected to go second. Amy, you're up first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. After their prime minister stepped down last weekend, political parties in blank named economist Lucas Papademos to take his place.

AMY DICKINSON: Greece.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: A Soviet scientist denied reports this week that he was the brains behind Iran's blank program.

DICKINSON: Nuclear.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Attorney General Eric Holder testified before Congress this week on the failed arms-trafficking program known as Operation blank.

DICKINSON: Fast and Furious.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Thursday, Herman Cain said he regretted referring to Nancy Pelosi as blank during the debate.

DICKINSON: Princess Nancy.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: A man in Britain bought an iPad from a conman, not realizing it was actually blank.

DICKINSON: A maxi pad.

SAGAL: No, a bag of potatoes.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Bill Keane, the man behind the classic one panel cartoon blank, died Tuesday at age of 89.

DICKINSON: Oh, Family Circus.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: After Eddie Murphy dropped out as host of the Oscars, blank announced he was taking the job.

DICKINSON: Billy Crystal.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Last weekend's earthquake in Oklahoma was so unexpected, one resident said she thought the shaking was caused by blank.

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

DICKINSON: Herman Cain on a bus tour.

SAGAL: No.

DICKINSON: No.

SAGAL: The neighbor's donkey, scratching himself on her trailer.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

TOM BODETT: I've thought that so much.

DICKINSON: If I had a nickel for every time.

SAGAL: For every time. The 5.6 magnitude quake that struck Oklahoma last Saturday was the largest in that state's history, meaning: to even compare, that must be one huge ass out there.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Good news for the trailer owner, though: her earthquake insurance did cover Acts of Donkey.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

(SOUNDBITE OF APOLOGY)

(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: There you go.

DICKINSON: Yeah.

(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: See, I knew those would come in handy.

DICKINSON: Yeah.

BODETT: Oh, there's a comedian in the control room.

SAGAL: Carl, how did Amy do on our quiz?

KASELL: Amy had six correct answers, for twelve more points. She now has fifteen points and the lead.

SAGAL: Well done.

(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Okay, Tom you're up next. Fill in the blank. On Monday, Doctor Conrad Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of blank.

BODETT: Michael Jackson.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Although the deadline passed, players and owners in the blank continued negotiations.

BODETT: NBA.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: After a short battle with liver cancer, boxing legend blank died Monday at age 67.

BODETT: Joe Frazier.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: In what can only be an attempt to drive cookie lovers mad, the Girl Scouts announced they would now be selling blank.

BODETT: Like oat muffins.

SAGAL: No. Lip balm that smells like Thin Mints, Samoas and Do Si Does. This week reality TV mom Michelle Dugger announced that she is pregnant with her blank child.

BODETT: Oh, is this like the 20th.

SAGAL: 20th, yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Monday a federal Judge blocked a plan by the FDA to put graphic warnings on blank packages.

BODETT: The cigarette packages.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: A police officer in England, involved in what may be the slowest police chase ever, tried to slow down the driver by blanking.

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

BODETT: By grabbing his shirt collar. No, by stepping on the heels of his boots.

SAGAL: No, by running alongside the car, tapping on the window and asking her to stop.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: 76-year-old Caroline Turner was driving, very slowly, the wrong way on a roundabout. Officers jogging along going, could you stop, could you stop?

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: She told the officer trying to stop her quote, "There is nothing to discuss, I'm going home."

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Police were then strolled ahead and set up a road block, forcing her to stop when she reached it four hours later.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Carl, how did Tom do on our quiz?

KASELL: Tom had five correct answers, for ten more points. He now has thirteen points. But Amy still has the lead with fifteen.

(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: All right, so how many then does Charlie need to win the game?

KASELL: Six correct answers.

SAGAL: All right. Here we go, Charlie, this is for the game. Thousands of students rioted on Wednesday night after the Penn State board of trustees announced it had fired football coach blank.

CHARLIE PIERCE: Joe Paterno.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: James Murdoch appeared before parliament Thursday to answer more questions about the blank scandal.

PIERCE: Wiretapping or hacking.

SAGAL: Phone hacking, right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: The amendment that would have classified personhood as beginning at the moment of fertilization failed this week in blank.

PIERCE: Mississippi.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: According to weather experts, the storm that hit the coast of blank this week was the most powerful in 40 years.

PIERCE: Alaska.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Firemen in England had to put out a fire that was caused by an exploding blank.

PIERCE: Banger.

SAGAL: Smoke detector.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Maury Povich has invited teen singer blank to get the results of his paternity test on the show "Maury."

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

PIERCE: Justin Bieber.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Police arrested a thief in Tennessee after he grabbed a woman's purse and was caught by blank.

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

PIERCE: Wait a minute, hang on. He grabbed a woman's - is this the guy that hid in the bushes or is that...

SAGAL: Yes, the bushes.

PIERCE: The shrubbery...

SAGAL: He was caught by the shrubbery, very good.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: The thief grabbed the woman's purse out of her shopping cart at Rugged Warehouse store, but got no further than a leafy branch of law enforcement.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Officer Shrub and his partner Hedges.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: He was still stuck when police arrived on the scene. He confessed due to an intense interrogation using the Good Shrub, Bad Shrub rouse.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: I'd let you go but my partner here wants to scratch your eyes out with his thorns.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Carl, did Charlie do well enough to win?

KASELL: He needed six correct answers to win. Charlie had six correct answers. So, with sixteen points, Charlie Pierce is this week's champion.

(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Well done. Well done, Charlie.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.