OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:
OK. Up next on ASK ME ANOTHER, we have our contestants, Roger Craig and Sam Meyer.
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EISENBERG: Welcome. Sam, now you write a blog.
SAM MEYER: Yes.
EISENBERG: What is it about?
MEYER: I write a blog about cocktails.
EISENBERG: Wow. That is the most fantastic blog of all.
MEYER: It's cocktailians.com
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EISENBERG: Yeah.
MEYER: Thanks.
EISENBERG: And what interests you about cocktails?
MEYER: It's easier than cooking, it's - you can work with a smaller palette of ingredients and...
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MEYER: ...and you're drunk by the end of it.
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EISENBERG: Right, it's easier than cooking. I never thought of it that way.
MEYER: Yes.
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EISENBERG: And Roger Craig, welcome.
ROGER CRAIG: Hello. Hello Ophira.
EISENBERG: Hello. So, you have a business that I don't quite understand. I'd love to hear what it is. Predictive analytics.
CRAIG: That's right. So we do business analytics and predict the future using data to make better...
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EISENBERG: I know you're trying to make it sound interesting.
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CRAIG: I know. I went into the little spiel there. We essentially, yeah, help predict the future with the past.
EISENBERG: Awesome, I'm with you.
CRAIG: Yeah.
EISENBERG: That's good to know. I'm about to introduce our game, but I have to also just point out, Sam, that Roger is a - the fourth highest Jeopardy winner of all time. I think something like that, right?
CRAIG: Yes.
EISENBERG: You would know for sure, I'm sure.
CRAIG: I've been told.
EISENBERG: Hold the record of the most money ever won ever.
CRAIG: Yeah. I just lucked out. It was amazing.
EISENBERG: Yeah that's luck.
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EISENBERG: Yeah, that is luck. Fantastic.
CRAIG: Thank you.
EISENBERG: But Sam, don't get worried.
MEYER: I only made it through one of those episodes.
EISENBERG: You made it through one episode. And as I've learned, anything can happen on this show. But let's talk about this game. It's called "Spot the Mistake." Now you see, NPR fans are some of the sharpest listeners in all of the radio world. So, if they think that they've heard our reporters make any sort of mistake like a wrong fact, a grammatical error or even a mispronunciation, they are all over it.
So, in this next puzzle, we're testing the fact checking skills of our contestants and the audience at home. And to help us out, we've asked a few NPR reporters and friends of the show to read some news items with a mistake intentionally inserted somewhere in the copy. Aha. So...
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EISENBERG: ...you're going to get one point for identifying the mistake in the story and another point for correcting it. If you ring in but get either part incorrect, your opponent can steal. OK? And let me just reiterate. These brilliant NPR reporters would never make these mistakes.
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ART CHUNG: Never.
EISENBERG: What you're hearing right now is something we've put together for the purpose of a game show.
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EISENBERG: They were kind enough to lend their voices for our game. So listeners, I repeat, we made this up. It's a game. Don't call in.
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EISENBERG: Don't write. We love you but we know.
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EISENBERG: Here we go with our first clue.
JOEL ROSE: Despite direction by Tony winner Julie Taymor and music by Bono and The Edge of Aerosmith, the troubled rock musical Spiderman, Turn off the Dark, had the longest preview period in Broadway history, with more than six months of performances before its official opening. Joel Rose, NPR NEWS.
EISENBERG: Sam.
MEYER: The error was that Bono and The Edge were in Aerosmith. They're actually in U2.
EISENBERG: That is correct. Well done Sam.
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EISENBERG: Here's your next news spot.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK: Another twist in the London tabloid scandal. News Corp. executives are being questioned in a wide-ranging judicial inquiry about their knowledge of phone hacking and police bribery on their watch. Next up are News Corp. CEO and Chairman Roger Murdoch and his Son James. David Folkenflik, NPR NEWS.
EISENBERG: Roger?
CRAIG: The CEO of News Corp. is Robert Murdoch.
UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBER: Whoa!
CRAIG: Oh.
(LAUGHTER)
CRAIG: Sorry. Jesus.
JONATHAN COULTON: Audience says no.
CHUNG: Sam.
MEYER: The Chairman of News Corp. is Rupert Murdoch.
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EISENBERG: All right. Let's play the tape to hear the answer.
FOLKENFLIK: Oh correction. Roger Murdoch was the Airline Pilot, played by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1980...
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FOLKENFLIK: ...spoof movie "Airplane." Rupert Murdoch is the man in the hot seat in London.
CRAIG: I should point out, on "Jeopardy", you only need to have last names.
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EISENBERG: Oh.
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EISENBERG: Roger, Roger. Roger, Roger.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: Are you ready for another?
CRAIG: Yes.
FRANNIE KELLEY: The 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees included legendary hip hop crew Run DMC, known for hit singles "It's Tricky" and "Born This Way." Rapper Eminem was present at the ceremony, to honor the trio. Only the second hip hop group ever to be inducted, after Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five.
EISENBERG: Roger.
FRANNIE KELLEY: For NPR MUSIC, I'm Frannie Kelley.
EISENBERG: Roger.
CRAIG: "Born This Way" is by Lady Gaga, they did "Walk This Way."
EISENBERG: Mm interesting. Let's listen to the answer.
FRANNIE KELLEY: "Born This Way" should be "Walk This Way."
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FRANNIE KELLEY: "Born This Way" is a Lady Gaga song.
ROBERT SMITH: President Obama has had a hard time keeping his economic advisers during his first term. The last remaining member of the President's initial economic team is Treasury Secretary Ben Bernanke. The President selected Bernanke to succeed Hank Paulson in that office. Robert Smith, NPR NEWS, New York.
EISENBERG: Sam.
MEYER: The Treasury Secretary is Tim Geithner and Ben Bernanke is the chairman of the Fed.
EISENBERG: Mm. You sound so confident about that.
(LAUGHTER)
MEYER: I hope so. I don't know.
EISENBERG: All right. Let's play the tape.
SMITH: The error is that the Treasury Secretary is Timothy Geithner. Ben Bernanke is the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
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EISENBERG: Yes you are correct.
All right. The scores are in. Sam, you're going to be moving on to our final "Ask Me One More" round at the end of the show.
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EISENBERG: Roger, what a pleasure having you on. Thank you so much. Great competitor.
CRAIG: Thanks for having me.
EISENBERG: My pleasure. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.