John Cusack rides his Vespa straight into our hearts

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• The episode features guest John Cusack discussing his career, his new graphic novel, and his life in Chicago, including riding his Vespa.  Copied to clipboard!
• The panel segments covered current events, including travel nightmares during spring break, a story about the President gifting shoes to staffers, and an actor's controversial comments about opera and ballet.  Copied to clipboard!
• Listener games included 'Who's Alzo This Time' focusing on recent news stories and 'Bluff the Listener' featuring three stories related to 30-year milestones.  Copied to clipboard!

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Show Opening and Guest Introduction

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(00:00:04)

• Key Takeaway: Alzo Slade is filling in for Bill Curtis, who is absent to accept an Oscar for ‘best pipes’.
• Summary: The show opens with Alzo Slade hosting from the Studebaker Theater in Chicago. Guest John Cusack, a legendary Chicago actor, is announced as the main interview for the episode. Peter Sagal jokes about the effort required to book John Cusack on the show.

Listener Contestant Introduction

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(00:01:03)

• Key Takeaway: Listener Jen Crowley from Roselle, Illinois, owns a dog grooming salon and boutique.
• Summary: The first listener contestant, Jen Crowley, is welcomed from Roselle, Illinois. She discusses her profession as a dog grooming salon and boutique owner. The panel for the week is introduced: Rachel Coster, Adam Felber, and Joyelle Nicole Johnson.

Who’s Alzo This Time Round 1

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(00:02:28)

• Key Takeaway: Spring break travel has become a nightmare due to factors like long TSA lines following a partial government shutdown.
• Summary: The first quote concerns a travel advisory warning college students that ‘Everything that can go wrong will go wrong right now’ during spring break. Panelists joke about the difficulties of modern spring break experiences. Jen Crowley correctly identifies the topic as spring break.

Who’s Alzo This Time Round 2

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(00:04:45)

• Key Takeaway: The President gives dress shoes to his top male staffers without asking for their sizes first, leading to ill-fitting footwear.
• Summary: The second quote references the President talking about a gift given to male staffers, which is revealed to be dress shoes. The staffers reportedly never correct the President when the guessed sizes are wrong. Marco Rubio is mentioned as an exception, photographed riding one of the shoes across the Potomac.

Who’s Alzo This Time Round 3

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(00:06:54)

• Key Takeaway: Actor Timothy Chalamet’s Oscar chances were reportedly put in doubt after he disparaged opera and ballet as culturally irrelevant.
• Summary: The final quote is from an actor who dismissed opera and ballet as irrelevant compared to movies about ping-pong or chocolate. The actor is identified as Timothy Chalamet, who made the comment while talking to Matthew McConaughey. The backlash was significant, especially from the opera community.

Listener Contestant Results

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(00:09:16)

• Key Takeaway: Listener Jen Crowley won the round by correctly identifying two out of the three news quotations.
• Summary: Jen Crowley correctly answered two of the three questions, winning the prize of any voice on her voicemail. The show transitions to the panel’s news quiz segment.

Panel News Quiz: Whole Foods Secret

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(00:09:36)

• Key Takeaway: Every Whole Foods store secretly contains a windowless room referred to as the ‘Whole Foods jail’ for handling minor infractions like incorrect produce scanning.
• Summary: Joyelle Nicole Johnson is asked what every Whole Foods secretly has. After joking about a morgue, the answer is revealed to be a jail. One person was reportedly fined $300 (the price of the brownie) and banned for stealing a brownie.

Bluff the Listener Game Setup

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(00:11:40)

• Key Takeaway: The next game, ‘Bluff the Listener,’ centers on stories involving goals or achievements that took three decades to complete.
• Summary: The show prepares for the ‘Bluff the Listener’ game, where listener Tara from Boise, Idaho, a registered dietitian, will try to distinguish truth from fiction. The topic for the round is ‘30 years in the making.’

Bluff the Listener Round

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(00:14:17)

• Key Takeaway: The true story involved a man claiming free oysters at age 80, accompanied by his father, based on a 30-year-old sign.
• Summary: Panelists present three stories about 30-year endeavors: a lost wedding cake found in an Alaskan bunker, a man claiming free oysters, and a man finally completing a keg stand from college. Tara correctly chose Adam Felber’s story about the oysters.

Interview Segment: John Cusack

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(00:19:08)

• Key Takeaway: John Cusack wrote his first graphic novel, ‘Momo,’ about Antonine Artaud, because he believed no studio would fund a movie about the philosopher yet.
• Summary: John Cusack discusses his long career, noting people still reference his role in Say Anything. He mentions that Grosse Pointe Blank was inspired by his own reluctance to attend his 10-year high school reunion. He still lives in Chicago and rides a Vespa, sometimes carrying gasoline in a bottle due to the small tank.

Game: Say Nothing

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(00:25:34)

• Key Takeaway: Gerald Ratner, jewelry chain head, caused a major incident by calling his own products ‘crap,’ and the attempt to rebrand ‘crap’ as ‘cheap, reliable, and affordable prices’ failed.
• Summary: John Cusack plays ‘Say Nothing’ for listener Jill Farrell of Beaverton, Oregon, focusing on unwise statements. He correctly answers that Jacques Chirac insulted British cooking to Putin, and that a lacrosse fan yelled ‘Sacred Heart has diarrhea’ into a broadcast mic.

Listener Limerick Round Setup

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(00:36:07)

• Key Takeaway: Listener Katie York from Edgewood, Maryland, enjoys Baltimore specialties like egg custard snow cones and Berger’s chocolate cookies.
• Summary: The show moves to the limerick round, featuring Katie York from Edgewood, Maryland. The first limerick describes churning butter while running by securing heavy cream in a Ziploc bag inside a running vest.

Listener Limerick Round Continuation

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(00:38:19)

• Key Takeaway: United Airlines announced a new rule banning passengers from playing audio or video without headphones, threatening flight bans for repeat offenders.
• Summary: The second limerick concerns United Airlines’ new rule against playing media without headphones on flights. The third limerick addresses the internet trend of drinking hot water in the morning for gut health and debloating. Katie correctly answers all three limericks.

Lightning Fill in the Blank

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(00:41:43)

• Key Takeaway: The final game determines the winner, with Adam Felber currently leading with 5 points before the round begins.
• Summary: Rachel Coster, Joyelle Nicole Johnson, and Adam Felber compete in the final round. Adam wins the game by scoring 8 points in this round, bringing his total to 13 points, beating Rachel’s 11.

Show Wrap-up and Predictions

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(00:48:14)

• Key Takeaway: Panelists predict surprising moments for the upcoming Oscars, including Kylie Jenner performing ‘Carmina Burana’ and Misty Copeland slapping Timothy Chalamet.
• Summary: Peter Sagal thanks the guest, the panelists, and the Chicago audience. The show concludes with predictions for the Oscars before Peter Sagal signs off, promising Bill Curtis’s return next week.