The following is a list of episodes of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! , NPR's news panel game, that aired during 2005. [1] Dates indicated are the episodes' original Saturday air dates. Job titles and backgrounds of the guests reflect their status at the time of their appearance.
Unless otherwise indicated, all Wait Wait... episodes feature host Peter Sagal and announcer/scorekeeper Carl Kasell. Also unless indicated, the show originated from Chicago, either through the studios of WBEZ or, from May 14, 2005 onward, the Bank One Auditorium (which would be rechristened the Chase Bank Auditorium later in the year after Chase Bank's acquisition of Bank One). [2]
Date | Guest | Panelists | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
January 1 | Encore of 8/7/2004 episode featuring author Scott Turow | ||
January 8 | Bob Freer, animal expert and founder of the Everglades Outpost sanctuary | Charlie Pierce, Paula Poundstone, Roxanne Roberts | Show recorded in Fort Lauderdale, FL (Parker Playhouse) |
January 15 | Wrestler Rulon Gardner | Roy Blount, Jr., Kyrie O'Connor, Mo Rocca | Guest host Brian Unger |
January 22 | no guest | Roxanne Roberts, Adam Felber, P.J. O'Rourke | |
January 29 | Celebrity hair stylist Dean Banowetz | Adam Felber, Charlie Pierce, Paula Poundstone |
Date | Guest | Panelists | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
February 5 | Humorist Kinky Friedman | Roy Blount, Jr., Sue Ellicott, P.J. O'Rourke | |
February 12 | Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock | Roy Blount, Jr., Adam Felber, Roxanne Roberts | |
February 19 | Writer Armistead Maupin | Sue Ellicott, Adam Felber, Kyrie O'Connor | Show recorded in Berkeley, CA (Zellerbach Hall) |
February 26 | Composer/conductor Bill Conti | Charlie Pierce, Paula Poundstone, Mo Rocca |
Date | Guest | Panelists | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
March 5 | Author & radio personality Tom Bodett | Sue Ellicott, Adam Felber, P.J. O'Rourke | |
March 12 | Actor Larry Hagman | Kyrie O'Connor, Charlie Pierce, Roxanne Roberts | Show recorded in Dallas, TX (McFarlin Auditorium) |
March 19 | CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer | Adam Felber, Kyrie O'Connor, Aamer Haleem | |
March 26 | Remodeling expert Bob Vila | Roxanne Roberts, Roy Blount, Jr., Mo Rocca |
Date | Guest | Panelists | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
April 2 | Author and Monty Python alumnus Terry Jones | Roy Blount, Jr., Sue Ellicott, Adam Felber | |
April 9 | Singer Engelbert Humperdinck | Aamer Haleem, Roxanne Roberts Mo Rocca | |
April 16 | Tyron Stucks McFarlan, ringmaster of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus | Adam Felber, Charlie Pierce, Paula Poundstone | |
April 23 | Actress & singer Michelle Phillips | Roy Blount, Jr., Mo Rocca, Kyrie O'Connor | Guest announcer/scorekeeper Jean Cochran |
April 30 | Scott Trowbridge, executive with Universal Creative | Roy Blount, Jr., Charlie Pierce, Roxanne Roberts | Show recorded in Orlando, FL (Loews Portofino at Universal Orlando) |
Date | Guest | Panelists | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
May 7 | Georgeanne Irvine, communications manager for the San Diego Zoo | Roy Blount, Jr., Adam Felber, Paula Poundstone | Show recorded in El Cajon, CA (East County Performing Arts Center) |
May 14 | Voiceover artist Don LaFontaine | Adam Felber, Sue Ellicott, Kyrie O'Connor | Wait Wait's first regular show from Chicago's Bank One Auditorium [2] [3] |
May 21 | Los Angeles Times auto critic Dan Neil | P. J. O'Rourke, Roxanne Roberts, Mo Rocca | Show recorded in Ypsilanti, MI (Pease Auditorium) |
May 28 | Actress Maura Tierney | Roxanne Roberts, Charlie Pierce, Richard Roeper |
Date | Guest | Panelists | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
June 4 | Sportscaster Al Michaels | Adam Felber, Kyrie O'Connor, Paula Poundstone | |
June 11 | Actress S. Epatha Merkerson | Paula Poundstone, Mo Rocca, Richard Roeper | |
June 18 | Songwriter Richard Sherman | Adam Felber, Paula Poundstone, Roy Blount, Jr. | Guest announcer/scorekeeper Tom Bodett |
June 25 | Robert Bateman, a U.S. Army Major stationed in Iraq | Aamer Haleem, Charlie Pierce, Roxanne Roberts | Guest announcer/scorekeeper Robert Siegel |
Date | Guest | Panelists | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
July 2 | CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer | Adam Felber, Roxanne Roberts, Mo Rocca | Guest announcer/scorekeeper Scott Simon |
July 9 | Encores of various segments, including an interview with This American Life host Ira Glass | ||
July 16 | Author Chuck Klosterman | Roy Blount, Jr., P.J. O'Rourke, Paula Poundstone | |
July 23 | Drew Curtis, founder of the Fark website | Mo Rocca, Amy Dickinson, Charlie Pierce | |
July 30 | Author Janet Evanovich | Adam Felber, Roxanne Roberts, Richard Roeper |
Date | Guest | Panelists | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
August 6 | U.S. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois [4] | Roy Blount, Jr., Kyrie O'Connor, Paula Poundstone | |
August 13 | NPR Fresh Air host Terry Gross | Tom Bodett, Adam Felber, Roxanne Roberts | |
August 20 | T.R. Reid, Rocky Mountain bureau chief for The Washington Post | Adam Felber, Paula Poundstone, Sue Ellicott | Show recorded in Boulder, CO (Chautauqua Auditorium) |
August 27 | Tim Zagat, co-founder of the Zagat Survey | Paula Poundstone, Charlie Pierce, Mo Rocca | Guest host Adam Felber |
Date | Guest | Panelists | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
September 3 | MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews | Roy Blount, Jr., Kyrie O'Connor, Mo Rocca | |
September 10 | Comedian & voice actor Jonathan Katz | Tom Bodett, Adam Felber, Amy Dickinson | |
September 17 | Author Lee Smith | Roy Blount, Jr., Charlie Pierce, Roxanne Roberts | Show recorded in Chapel Hill, NC (UNC Memorial Hall) |
September 24 | Singer/songwriter Liz Phair | Roxanne Roberts, Mo Rocca, Richard Roeper |
Date | Guest | Panelists | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
October 1 | Author Lauren Weisberger | Tom Bodett, Sue Ellicott, Paula Poundstone | |
October 8 | Miami Herald columnist and author Carl Hiaasen | Paula Poundstone, Roy Blount, Jr., Kyrie O'Connor | |
October 15 | Encore of 1/8/2005 episode featuring animal expert Bob Freer | ||
October 22 | MSNBC Countdown anchor Keith Olbermann | Sue Ellicott, P.J. O'Rourke, Charlie Pierce | |
October 29 | Culinary author and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy regular Ted Allen | Paula Poundstone, Adam Felber, Mo Rocca | Show recorded in Springfield, IL (Sangamon Auditorium) |
Date | Guest | Panelists | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
November 5 | Actor Adam West | Roy Blount, Jr., Roxanne Roberts, Mo Rocca | |
November 12 | Actor Tab Hunter | Roy Blount, Jr., Sue Ellicott, Paula Poundstone | |
November 19 | Columnist and author Dan Savage | Roxanne Roberts, Adam Felber, Charlie Pierce | |
November 26 | Author Clyde Edgerton | Roy Blount, Jr., Charlie Pierce, Roxanne Roberts | Show recorded in Chapel Hill, NC (UNC Memorial Hall) Episode theme: Historical inventions [5] |
Date | Guest | Panelists |
---|---|---|
December 3 | Jim Kelly, managing editor of Time magazine | Roy Blount, Jr., Sue Ellicott, Paula Poundstone |
December 10 | Filmmaker Harold Ramis | P.J. O'Rourke, Roxanne Roberts, Mo Rocca |
December 17 | Alternative medicine expert Dr. Andrew Weil | Roxanne Roberts, Tom Bodett, Charlie Pierce |
December 24 | Actress Kathryn Joosten | Amy Dickinson, Adam Felber, Kyrie O'Connor |
December 31 | Encore of 1/3/2004 episode featuring This American Life host Ira Glass |
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is an hour-long weekly news radio panel show produced by WBEZ and National Public Radio (NPR) in Chicago, Illinois. On the program, panelists and contestants are quizzed in humorous ways about that week's news. It is distributed by NPR in the United States, internationally on NPR Worldwide and on the Internet via podcast, and typically broadcast on weekends by member stations. The show averages about six million weekly listeners on air and via podcast.
Chase Tower, located in the Chicago Loop area of Chicago, in the U.S. state of Illinois at 10 South Dearborn Street, is a 60-story skyscraper completed in 1969. At 850 feet tall, it is the fourteenth-tallest building in Chicago and the tallest building inside the Chicago 'L' Loop elevated tracks, and, as of May 2022, the 66th-tallest in the United States. JPMorgan Chase has its U.S. and Canada commercial and retail banking headquarters here. The building is also the headquarters of Exelon. The building and its plaza occupy the entire block bounded by Clark, Dearborn, Madison, and Monroe streets.