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Panel Questions

BILL KURTIS: From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME, the NPR News quiz. I'm Bill Kurtis. We are playing this week with Faith Salie, Janelle James and Tom Bodett. And here again is your host at the Chase Bank Auditorium in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal.

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Thank you, Bill.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: In just a minute, Bill heads to the top of Mt. Everest because there ain't no mountain rhyme enough.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: It's the Listener Limerick Challenge. If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-888-WAITWAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Right now, panel, some more questions for you from the week's news. Faith, this week it was revealed that President Donald Trump never does something that he believes is bad for your health and will shorten your life. What is it?

FAITH SALIE: Read.

SAGAL: No.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: That's not the thing that we found out about this week.

JANELLE JAMES: Spend time with his kids.

SAGAL: No, we knew that, too.

TOM BODETT: But he's right about that.

JAMES: Yeah, right.

(LAUGHTER)

SALIE: Is it eating or - no - or exercising, no. Yes. Well...

SAGAL: Exercising is the answer, yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SALIE: Ah.

SAGAL: The reason that our president does not ever exercise is because he believes the human body is like a battery with a finite supply of energy.

SALIE: Sure.

SAGAL: And if you expend the energy, you'll die sooner.

BODETT: You know, I always kind of - I've had this argument with my wife often, who is a lifelong runner. And I - you know, I kind of exercise. But I've had this theory that you have, like Trump, that you have so many heartbeats.

SAGAL: Right.

BODETT: You know, like, each of us. It's in our DNA. You get this many heartbeats in a lifetime. And if you keep your heart rate up all the time you're just burning them, you know?

SAGAL: Yeah.

SALIE: Right.

JAMES: Talking to the new secretary of health (unintelligible).

BODETT: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

SALIE: That's right.

SAGAL: Trump's remarks about not liking exercise came as a huge surprise to everyone except anyone who has ever seen him.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: If he is a battery, he's just like a human-sized nine volt.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Just a big, square, oblong shape with knobs on top. It's OK to say that because it is not fat shaming if the person you are talking about cannot feel shame.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Tom, witnessing the fun that citizens in other parts of the country are having, people in New York are coming together to try and legalize what?

BODETT: So they're seeing it in others - oh, well, marijuana?

SAGAL: No.

BODETT: Well, that would be obvious.

SAGAL: Something that almost - something, apparently, that is legal everywhere else but is technically illegal in New York.

BODETT: But everybody else is doing it and it's fun. Is it a summertime activity?

SAGAL: It's an anytime activity.

BODETT: Oh, spitting on the sidewalk.

SAGAL: No.

(LAUGHTER)

BODETT: I love that.

SALIE: That's why you moved to Vermont.

BODETT: Yeah, it is.

JAMES: Summer in the city is spitting on the sidewalk.

(LAUGHTER)

BODETT: Let's see, it can't be - I - can I have another hint?

SAGAL: Well, it's sort of like the movie "Footloose" except it involves bureaucracy.

BODETT: Dancing.

SAGAL: Yes. It turns out...

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

BODETT: What?

SAGAL: ...That dancing is technically illegal in New York City.

JAMES: That's true.

SAGAL: It's true.

BODETT: Oh, my.

SALIE: Wait. What do you mean? I live in New York. You live in New York. Do - you knew this and you didn't tell me?

(LAUGHTER)

SALIE: What, you wanted me to get hauled off to jail?

SAGAL: Maybe...

BODETT: For the record, I'm safe.

JAMES: I've seen you dancing.

(LAUGHTER)

SALIE: Wait, is this dancing in public?

SAGAL: No, any dancing anywhere. You see, there's a law in New York City that makes dancing illegal in any venue without a, quote, "cabaret license." And nobody has a cabaret license. The law has racist roots. It was only enforced until about 20 years ago, and then briefly again when Giuliani was mayor.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: No. The law was formulated back in the '20s to keep jazz from spreading, you see.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Now jazz keeps itself from spreading by continuing to allow 35-minute xylophone solos.

(LAUGHTER)

SALIE: Is there now - are people galvanizing to change this?

SAGAL: Yeah, people are like, OK, we got to undo this law. So everybody - because technically all those dance clubs in New York have been breaking the law.

SALIE: This is exciting. I feel like I have a purpose now. I mean, you know, I marched for science in New York City a month or so ago. And now I can dance for...

SAGAL: Dance for it.

JAMES: I mean, I've seen some people dance and I'm like, they should go to jail.

(LAUGHTER, SOUNDBITE OF MARTIN DENNY'S "FANDANGO") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.