Tonight, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! came to Portland, Oregon for their third live taping of their show at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Being slightly obsessed with the show, I had to go and try to meet Peter Sagal, Carl Kasell and the gang. The seat that I got was about 9 rows back and had a great view of the stage. Before the show started, the audience was handed out a sheet of paper that had three questions that people would answer, fill in their name and hand back. More on this later.
Tonight’s panelists were Peter Grosz, Roxanne Roberts and Roy Blount, Jr. (who has been one of panelists all three times that Wait Wait has been in Portland). Let’s just say that there were many, many hilarious moments and several not-so-PG jokes and comments; of which, only a few will probably make it on air.
For the Not My Job segment, Wait Wait had Colin Meloy of The Decemberists and he was tasked with answering questions about obscure protests. Why? Lookup “Decemberist revolt” on Wikipedia. Let’s just say that the audience helped Colin get his second point.
After the taping of the show, the producers had collected the sheets of paper that the audience members filled in and returned. They randomly selected one of the forms that had all three correct answers and had the audience member come up on stage. The audience member had to properly complete a limerick in order for the audience to get a small prize. Thankfully, the person got the last work of the limerick correct, and we all cheered.
Right after that, there is the usual audience Q&A session. After about 6-7 questions, I blurted out “Stats, man? What about stats?” (at least, that’s what I tried to shout but was really nervous and anxious). At which, Peter figured out that I was the maintainer of the Wait Wait Stats Page, asked me to stand up, and continued to explain to the audience about the page.
Once the Q&A session was over, I went up and asked for Carl Kasell’s autograph (which he graciously obliged) on the scratch score card I used to track points and scribbled notes. I got to also meet some of the guys and gals that help produce and edit the show. They stated how much they use the page and appreciated what I have done. Next up, the man himself, Peter Sagal. It was the very first time that I got to chat with him in person (though it wasn’t the first time I’ve seen him in person), was able to shake his hands and also got his autograph. He invited me to attend the aftershow meet and greet that OPB had for a select group of supporters.
I went up to the meet and greet, was able to meet and chat with Roxanne Roberts, and chatted with other audience and OPB members that had questions about the Wait Wait Stats Page. I chatted with Peter a little bit more, as well as Emily Ecton (one of the producers that asked if I wanted to be a listener contestant about five months ago).
I had a blast just being at the live taping of the show, but meeting Peter, Carl, Roxanne and the Wait Wait crew in person was unbelievably awesome. You know I’ll be waiting anxiously for the announcement of when Wait Wait will be back in town.