If You Didn't Know, Now You Know

On-air challenge: This week is the annual "new names in the news" quiz. You're given some names that you probably never heard of before 2012, but who made news during the past 12 months. You say who they are. These names were compiled with the help of Kathie Baker and Tim Goodman, who were players on previous year-end quizzes.

Last week's challenge: Take the last name of a famous actor. Drop the first letter, and you'll get the last name of a famous artist. Drop the first letter again, and you'll get the name of a god in classical mythology. What names are these?

Answer: [Charles] Grodin, [Auguste] Rodin, Odin

Winner: George Bastuba of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Next week's challenge from listener Ben Bass of Chicago: First, name a U.S. state capital. Rearrange its letters to spell the name of another American city. Remove one letter and read the result backward to spell a third American city. Finally, move the first letter of that to the end to spell a fourth American city. The cities are in four different states. What are they?

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to next week's challenge, submit it here. Listeners who submit correct answers win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: Include a phone number where we can reach you Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern.

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Sir Peter Westmacott Plays Not My Job

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

This segment was originally broadcast on Aug. 24, 2012.

We do what damage we can on this show, but it's not often we get the chance to cause a real international incident. So we're very excited that Sir Peter Westmacott, Great Britain's ambassador to the U.S., has agreed to play our game called "No homework, extended naps and eight hours of recess!"

A lot of big-time politicians got their start as little politicians, running for the student council. We'll ask Westmacott three questions about strange doings in the school halls of power.

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Phew! You Survived The Mayan Apocalypse. Now What?

Photographer David Blackwell and his wife prepared for the apocalypse. Cats and cat food? Check. Toilet paper? Check. Exploding volcanoes and hurtling asteroids? Not so much.

David Blackwell/Flickr Photographer David Blackwell and his wife prepared for the apocalypse. Cats and cat food? Check. Toilet paper? Check. Exploding volcanoes and hurtling asteroids? Not so much.

David Blackwell/Flickr

Good morning! If you can read this, then we offer our congratulations on surviving the Mayan Apocalypse!

You've evidently made it through the initial cataclysm caused by the collision of Earth with an unknown comet, a massive solar storm, a burst of radiation from the center of the galaxy, the mysterious Planet X (aka Nibiru), or some other catastrophe that scientists assured us wouldn't happen.

Before retreating to your secret underground bunker, we prepared the following survival guide to help you make the most of life in the wake of worldwide disaster.

Step 1. Cure That Hangover

So you spent the night partying like the world was coming to an end ... and then it did. Time to rehydrate, maybe pop some aspirin, whatever it takes to get you back on your feet and into full-fledged survivalist mode.

Step 2. Meet Immediate Needs

Start with the basics: water, food,and shelter. Regular Shots readers will have already prepared emergency kits for such dire situations as zombie infestations and weddings, and those will come in handy now. If you don't have one, it's never too late to grab some canned food, bottled water and first aid supplies. Feel free to raid the homes of less fortunate neighbors who didn't make it — they won't have much use for this stuff anymore.

Step 3. Safety In Numbers

Speaking of neighbors, you should try to befriend any other survivors you meet. According to the preparedness blog In Case of Survival:

"Since there's safety in numbers, you never know when you'll need someone to watch your back. And, you know, finding a survivor group to join will probably be easier if people in that group actually like you."

Tips for winning acceptance include being kind and fair, and sharing resources. You might try to link up with members of the American Preppers Network, who've been preparing for the end of the world for years. Even if you don't meet any trained survivalists, look for people with skills like gardening, basic construction and medical training.

Step 4. Put Down Roots

In the long term, you'll need to start growing your own food. This may be easier or harder depending on the type of disaster the world has just experienced.

According to NASA, collision with a large comet or small mystery planet could cause an "impact winter" — dust clouds that blot out the sun for years at a time, altering the climate and making it very difficult to grow crops. A massive burst of interstellar energy, on the other hand, could deplete the ozone layer, fill the atmosphere with smog and cause acid rain.

Either way, you'll be relying on canned and dehydrated food until the atmosphere recovers enough to start farming. Make sure to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables (you could use Thomas Jefferson's garden as a model).

Step 5. Procreate (carefully)

We've heard reports that some people tried to get a head start on the eve of destruction. But we'd suggest proceeding responsibly, after you've had a chance to assess your food supply and get the lay of the scorched land.

After a few years any remaining birth control pills and condoms will have expired. There are, however, low-tech ways that can help you to choose when to repopulate the planet.

They're not as effective as the best pre-apocalypse methods, but we're evidently going to have to get used to lots of back-to-basics approaches to life from here on out.

Good luck out there, dear reader. The future of the human race is up to you!

Oh, wait. What? There was no apocalypse, you say?

Um, where's the coffee?

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Sandwich Monday: The Latke Double Down

NPR

We all remember the KFC Double Down: the sandwich that replaced bread with fried chicken and changed our lives for the fatter. Just in time for Hanukkah, the Jewish Journal has created the Latke Double Down, which replaces the bread with latkes, aka fried potato pancakes. They fill theirs with lox. We filled ours with brisket, because brisket.

Peter: This can't be legitimate Jewish cooking, because it's delicious.

Eva: It really is great. I was so hungry.

Mike: I think you mean Chungry.

NPR

Peter: Why couldn't the ancient Hebrews have invented THIS to eat while fleeing slavery in Egypt? Passover would have been a delight.

Mike: Why is this sandwich different from all other sandwiches?

Ian: We eat this sandwich why? Because it's delicious.

Robert befriends the sandwich before eating it.

NPR Robert befriends the sandwich before eating it.

NPR

Robert: It's a shame they cut that one song from the original version of Fiddler on the Roof: "If I Were a Fat Man- Oh Wait... I Already Am."

Leah: Unfortunately since I'm half Jewish, latke fat only goes to the right side of my body.

Ian: This does seem like the wrong sandwich for a holiday commemorating a shortage of oil.

Mike: I need a Shabbos Stomach to digest this for me.

Ian has a religious experience.

NPR Ian has a religious experience.

NPR

Ian: This is the best thing Colonel Sanderstein has ever created.

Mike: The negative: you eat this, you have a heart attack. The positive: you make some mother so proud of her son who became a doctor.

Robert: This sandwich proves you could never call Hanukkah the Festival Of Lite.

[The verdict: honestly, one of the greatest sandwiches we've ever had. Just two latkes, with brisket, sour cream and a touch of applesauce. Unbelievable.]

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Economist Paul Krugman Plays Not My Job

Phil Walter/Getty Images

This segment was originally broadcast on July 28, 2012.

Paul Krugman — a professor at Princeton, an op-ed columnist for The New York Times and author of many books — has been called "the Mick Jagger of political/economic punditry."

Krugman is known for his direct style, so we don't think he'd do terribly well in the delicate art of diplomatic gift giving. We've invited him to play a game called "Well, it's a nice gift but we're going to invade your country and take your stuff." Three questions about diplomatic gifts.

Copyright © 2012 National Public Radio. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

CARL KASELL: From NPR and WBEZ-Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT...DON'T TELL ME!, the NPR News quiz. I'm Carl Kasell, and here again is your host, at the Chase Bank Auditorium in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal.

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Thank you, Carl.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Thanks everybody. So usually, usually you think of science as being dull, filled with numbers and guys sitting around working out complicated equations on blackboards. But there's also exciting sciences, like economics.

KASELL: One of the most exciting, scintillating economists in the world, Noble Laureate and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman joined us a few months before the recent election, along with panelists Kyrie O'Connor, Mo Rocca and Simon Amstell.

SAGAL: Professor Paul Krugman, welcome to WAIT WAIT...DON'T TELL ME!

PAUL KRUGMAN: Hi there.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: It's a pleasure to have you. So, you were once called, we found, the Mick Jagger of Political Economic Punditry. Does that sound about right to you?

KRUGMAN: Yeah, except for the, you know, the strutting and the sex and all that. Otherwise, I've got it all down.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Now, wait a minute. I have seen you on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," and you strut like a rooster, sir.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: You have a reputation for being very smart and for not - how to put this - shall we say suffering fools gladly.

KRUGMAN: Yeah, yeah, there are so many fools that if you try to suffer them at any great length, there's no time left.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: The word I have seen associated with you is shrill. Have you heard that one?

KRUGMAN: Yeah, I kind of like that.

SAGAL: You do?

KRUGMAN: The shrill and all of that, I guess - you know, when people call you shrill that means they don't actually have any way to answer what you just said. So that's a good sign.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: You started with the New York Times around 1999, if not mistaken, writing about economic issues primarily. And you became very well known and very influential. You won the Nobel Prize. By the way, winning the Nobel Prize, does that shut up one's critics?

KRUGMAN: Well, no, it doesn't shut them up. I mean, but it does mean that people stop saying that you're an idiot for about two weeks.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Two weeks? Because I mean...

KRUGMAN: Two weeks. Then it's right back.

MO ROCCA: It's the honeymoon period.

SAGAL: Because I remember at the time you were engaged in all of these debates, very sometimes intense about the Bush economic program and what it would do. And you had a lot of people criticizing you and dismissing you. And then you won the Nobel Prize. And I, in your shoes, would have such a hard time not saying "Aha" to everybody.

ROCCA: You should wear it when you go on Stephanopoulos' show.

KRUGMAN: Yeah. When it happens, it's such a blur. They worked me like a dog. I mean the thing is all for the sake of the Swedes, not for you. And as my wife said, you know, the two great things are first that you won this and second that we're never going to have to do this again.

SAGAL: Really?

KRUGMAN: Oh yeah.

SAGAL: So you're saying it's a pain in the butt to have to win a Nobel?

KRUGMAN: Well, the actual going through the process of collecting it is thrilling but exhausting and...

SAGAL: Do they make you, like, run and chase it? I mean what are you talking about?

(LAUGHTER)

KRUGMAN: I maybe talked to about eight different or ten different groups a day. Oh yeah, I shouldn't complain.

SAGAL: Right.

KRUGMAN: But it was a very strange out of body experience.

SAGAL: When you've been in an argument with somebody who just won't listen to you, have you ever been tempted to say, "Well, my Nobel says you don't know what you're talking about, pal?"

(LAUGHTER)

KRUGMAN: No, it doesn't work, among other things, because there are some idiots who've won Nobels.

(LAUGHTER)

KRUGMAN: So it's not...

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Wait a minute.

ROCCA: Names.

SAGAL: Name a couple.

(LAUGHTER)

KRUGMAN: Oh no, there I'm not going to go.

SAGAL: Yeah, okay.

SIMON AMSTELL: I have a question.

SAGAL: Yes.

AMSTELL: Paul?

KRUGMAN: Yes.

AMSTELL: Hello?

KRUGMAN: Hi there.

AMSTELL: What about the economy?

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

KRUGMAN: It looks like it might rain.

SAGAL: What about it? Simon, what do you want to know about it?

AMSTELL: Maybe it's time to stop banging on about the Nobel and sort it out.

(LAUGHTER)

ROCCA: Yeah.

KRUGMAN: Yeah.

Earn that Nobel.

SAGAL: Well, you have...

AMSTELL: Sorry.

SAGAL: You have just written a book. It's called "End This Depression Now."

AMSTELL: Good idea.

KRUGMAN: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: I'm not used to books that shout at me what to do. I found it a little intimidating.

KRUGMAN: Well, yeah, I mean it's not you that it's supposed to intimidate. It's supposed to intimidate some people who might actually do something.

SAGAL: Right.

KRUGMAN: It won't work, of course, but I'm trying.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: I mean, here's the thing. I mean your solution is even, at least to my amateur eyes, very simple, is that you think that the solution for the current problem is that the government should spend a lot more money than it's spending. And that seems very contrary to the current wisdom. Everybody else, including President Obama, says no, no, no, we have to stop our spending.

KRUGMAN: We got a lot of history, got a lot of stuff that says that let's talk about cutting spending after this depression is over but not now. And now is the time we should actually be spending more.

SAGAL: You're usually right, but no one listens to you.

KRUGMAN: Yeah, you know, Cassandra, people forget the myth, right?

SAGAL: Right.

KRUGMAN: They call you a Cassandra, and people forget she was always right. Their curse was that nobody would listen.

SAGAL: I remember, for example, in the early 2000's, you were saying that the Bush tax plan would create huge deficits. You were correct.

KRUGMAN: Yeah.

SAGAL: Later on, you talked about a housing bubble that would eventually explode. And you were right about that. And yet, still no one listens to you.

KRUGMAN: Yeah, well, if you're not telling people what they want to hear, most of the time you're going to get people not listening. But sometimes they do. It always helps.

ROCCA: Do people listen to you at home?

(LAUGHTER)

KRUGMAN: Oh, at home? The difference is on the economy I'm always right but at home I'm always wrong.

SAGAL: Really?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: You had this interesting idea though about how we could save our economy that I thought everybody should listen to, because it's a great idea. Stage an alien invasion.

KRUGMAN: Yeah, a fake alien invasion. Which we have to solve by - you know, to be prepared for that alien invasion, we have to improve our infrastructure and educate our kids. I mean that's how the Great Depression ended, right. I mean FDR could never get approval to spend enough money. You know, WPA and all of those programs helped...

SAGAL: So he faked an alien invasion?

(LAUGHTER)

KRUGMAN: No, well, it was the threat of war. And we were actually out of the depression before Pearl Harbor because we'd started our build up to prepare in case we got involved in World War II. So, you know, what you want is the same thing except without the actual war part.

SAGAL: Really? Do you have any sort of clever way of doing that? Can you like...

KRUGMAN: Maybe I gave the game away with the fake aliens. But, you know, National Public Radio can do this by having the fake aliens.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: That's true. That's true.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Hold on. Carl, you have a newsman's voice. Can you announce an alien invasion?

KASELL: Oh, absolutely.

SAGAL: Go for it.

KASELL: Ladies and gentleman, turn on your radios and your television sets. Instructions are coming down on how to handle this. Please follow those instructions.

SAGAL: There, economy saved. Bingo.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Well, Paul Krugman, we are delighted to talk to you, but we have also invited you here to play a game that we're calling?

KASELL: Well, it's a nice gift, but we're still going to invade you and take your stuff.

SAGAL: You are known for your direct, confrontational style, so we think you wouldn't do well in the delicate art of diplomatic gift giving. We're going to ask you three questions about diplomatic gifts. Get two right and you'll win our prize for one of our listeners, Carl's voice on their home answering machine. Carl, who is Professor Paul Krugman playing for?

KASELL: He is playing for Arne Bathke and Amy Lett of Lexington, Kentucky.

SAGAL: Ready to do this?

KRUGMAN: Sure.

SAGAL: Here is your first question. It is well known that on his historic visit to China, President Nixon received a pair of pandas from Chairman Mao. Panda diplomacy they called it. But what did Nixon give to Mao in return? Was it A: A pair of musk oxen? B: A chainsaw sculpture made by his aide Chuck Colson?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Or C: A secret tape of his and Chairman Mao's private conversations?

(LAUGHTER)

KRUGMAN: I'm going to go with the Musk oxen, although I have to say it doesn't sound so plausible.

SAGAL: It was in fact the Musk oxen.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

(APPLAUSE)

KRUGMAN: All right.

SAGAL: They were named Matilda and Milton. And after they were transferred to the Chinese, it was discovered they had mange. And this is all true. President Nixon told Kissinger to deal with it. I don't know why he gave them Musk oxen but he did.

ROCCA: Is that the scent? What is musk?

SAGAL: They're a breed of oxen.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Next question: In 2009, President Obama gave British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a set of DVDs of great American films. There was one problem, though, what? A: 18 of the 25 movies featured a British villain? B: They were American DVDs and would not play in British machines? Or C: Brown complained to Obama that he had already seen all of them?

(LAUGHTER)

KRUGMAN: I'm going to guess B, because I've had that problem.

SAGAL: Really?

KRUGMAN: Not being able to play European DVDs on our machine.

SAGAL: Yes, you're right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: They were Region 1 DVDs.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: This was discovered when Brown sat down to watch one at 10 Downing Street. All right, you're doing very well. This befits a Nobel Prize winner. Last question: One of the oddest gifts presented to an American president in recent years was the gift from the billionaire Sultan of Brunei to President George W. Bush in 2004. What was it? Was it A: a concubine?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: B: A copy of the book, "The Worst Case Scenario Handbook?" Or C: A simple plastic beach bucket and shovel?

KRUGMAN: Oh boy.

SAGAL: Yeah.

KRUGMAN: None of these is possible. So I'm going to go with the beach bucket.

SAGAL: Here, President, we want you to play with this.

(LAUGHTER)

AMSTELL: What voice were you doing there?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: That was my Sultan of Brunei.

AMSTELL: It's very good.

SAGAL: Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: You went for the beach bucket. No, it was actually the book "The Worst Case Scenario Handbook."

KRUGMAN: Oh good god.

SAGAL: The Sultan of Brunei presented that to the president of the United States, even though it's an American book. We don't understand why. It must prove that even the Sultan of Brunei, a billionaire who flies in a private 747, sometimes buys a last minute gift at the airport.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

KRUGMAN: All right.

SAGAL: Carl, how did Paul Krugman do on our quiz?

KASELL: Well, Paul had two correct answers, Peter, and that was enough to win for Arne Bathke and Amy Lett of Lexington, Kentucky.

SAGAL: Congratulations.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: I'm guessing this is right up there with the Nobel Prize.

KRUGMAN: Oh, it's great. Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

KRUGMAN: I'll treasure this memory always.

SAGAL: I'm sure you will. Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize winning economist and columnist for the New York Times. His latest book is "End This Depression Now." Professor Paul Krugman, thank you so much for joining us.

KRUGMAN: Thanks so much.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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Hugh Bonneville Of 'Downton Abbey' Plays Not My Job

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

America is obsessed with Downton Abbey, the British series about a family so wealthy that they can't feed, clothe or care for themselves. Hugh Bonneville plays the patriarch of the family, and we've invited His Lordship to play a game we're calling, "Welcome to America, Lord Grantham."

Since Downton Abbey shows us British culture at its height, we've decided to create a quiz about the American equivalent — the TV show that shows America not only as it is, but as we most wish it to be. He'll answer three questions about TLC's Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.

Copyright © 2012 National Public Radio. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

And now, the game where people do something dumb to take a break from being so smart the rest of the time. America is obsessed with "Downton Abbey," the great British series - yes, we all love it.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: It's about a family so profoundly stupid, they can't feed, clothe, or care for themselves in any way.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Oh, I'm sorry. My mistake. They're not stupid, they're rich.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Hugh Bonneville plays the patriarch of the family, Lord Grantham, and we are delighted to welcome his Lordship to WAIT WAIT...DON'T TELL ME! What a pleasure to see you.

(APPLAUSE)

HUGH BONNEVILLE: Thank you. It's lovely to be here.

SAGAL: Now, I've been watching the show and really loving it, but I'm not clear to the protocol. So how should we address you? Milord? Your Grace?

(LAUGHTER)

BONNEVILLE: Hugh.

SAGAL: Hugh. Nobody on the show calls you that, but all right, we'll go with that. People I know and admire and work with and are friends with loved the show. I would say, what's it about?

They'd say, well, you know, it's all about the love affairs, and the clothes and the intrigue of who's in love with whom. I'm like, oh, that's a soap opera. Great, I'm not interested. And then I started watching it, and it is absolutely great. And it has made me into an idiot.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: I used to care about important things, and now I'm like, oh dear, will Lady Mary accept Mr. Crowley's proposal? I don't know.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: I can't stop. Can you explain why this show is so compelling?

BONNEVILLE: I genuinely don't know. I'm delighted, but I don't know why.

SAGAL: Yeah.

BONNEVILLE: I think one of the things is that Julian Fellowes, who writes every episode, is a huge fan of a soap we have in Britain called "Coronation Street."

SAGAL: Right. That was a classic soap that's been on for many, many years.

BONNEVILLE: Yeah. And he's also a great fan of "The West Wing."

(APPLAUSE)

BONNEVILLE: So if you put the soap elements and the pace of "The West Wing" and a bit of period drama, so you think you're watching something intelligent, then....

(LAUGHTER)

BONNEVILLE: Then you've got a recipe for something.

SAGAL: Right.

BONNEVILLE: But I think, over and above that, the production aims high. Whether it succeeds every time, I don't know, but it's set in a beautiful castle in the south of England. Yorkshire, sorry, in the north of England, but we film it in the south. And, you know, you...

MAZ JOBRANI: Wow, you must have a really great zoom lens.

(LAUGHTER)

BONNEVILLE: I don't know, I think you could analyze it to death, but please don't, just stay watching it.

SAGAL: I will. We'll be happy to. One of the things about the show is a lot of the appeal, even to me, a schlub like me, is the extraordinary grace, and the clothing and the design of the home and all the accoutrement. If the show is so much about elegance and a way of living that I can only aspire to or imagine aspiring to, why does every episode begin with the shot of a dog's butt?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: It's the weirdest thing. It's like we've got a palace, we've got these beautiful actors, we've got motorcars, but let's start with the dog's butt.

BONNEVILLE: And my name next to it.

SAGAL: Exactly.

(LAUGHTER)

BONNEVILLE: Someone up there hates me. I don't know. I don't know why. It's an interesting opening choice. But it's become a bit of a thing about the show now.

SAGAL: Yeah.

BONNEVILLE: Hound's bum.

SAGAL: Really?

BONNEVILLE: Yeah.

SAGAL: That's what they call it.

BONNEVILLE: Hash tag hound's bum.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: I'm actually very curious, is it - do you know - historically accurate in the sense that it depicts...

BONNEVILLE: Yes, dogs have always looked like that, from behind.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

BONNEVILLE: Sorry about that.

SAGAL: In the sense that is this how people of that station lived at that time?

BONNEVILLE: I think it - as I said earlier, I think it aspires to some degree of authenticity. And if it makes someone reach for the history books and learn a bit more about that era, terrific. But no, ultimately, it's a fiction. But we do have a wonderful historical adviser on set, a guy...

PAULA POUNDSTONE: Does he drink?

(LAUGHTER)

POUNDSTONE: Hugh, do you know whether it's accurate or not?

BONNEVILLE: No.

SAGAL: Really?

BONNEVILLE: No, no.

POUNDSTONE: So if it makes someone else reach for a history book.

SAGAL: Right.

PAUL WALLICH: Yeah, yeah, yeah, not me, I'm too busy.

POUNDSTONE: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

ADAM FELBER: He's busy learning lines.

BONNEVILLE: Exactly.

POUNDSTONE: Oh, my mistake.

FELBER: And doing the fake British accent.

BONNEVILLE: Exactly.

SAGAL: Yeah, he's excellent.

(LAUGHTER)

FELBER: It doesn't maintain itself.

SAGAL: Do you ever, like, wonder? I mean, do you ever go to Julian Fellowes, the writer, and go, look, so you're telling me these incredibly wealthy, powerful people sit around the house all day, amusing themselves with walks and perhaps a horse ride if they're feeling really active, and then they just wait for someone to ring a gong, where they put on formal clothes.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: And are fed dinner and then they all go to bed and don't have sex. Are you telling me that's...

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: That's how these people live?

BONNEVILLE: Peter, you're making it sound very shallow and silly.

SAGAL: No.

(LAUGHTER)

FELBER: Isn't there one guy who works? Someone's got to bring home the money. No?

SAGAL: No, nobody works. There's a thing where somebody says I have a job, and people are like "You have a job? A job?"

In fact, I don't know what Lord Grantham does. You always seem to be sitting there, writing at your desk. And I don't know what you're writing, because you have no job. Are you writing like all play and no work is pretty much my whole day. All play and no work is pretty much my - I mean, what?

(LAUGHTER)

POUNDSTONE: He's been filling out an application during several episodes.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Slightly more seriously, I am very impressed by, frankly, your performance. The fact that your role is to play this person who embodies this aristocracy and this position and this authority, and you do it fantastically well. You act like a lord. Did you have to - he does, does he not?

JOBRANI: Oh, he does.

(APPLAUSE)

POUNDSTONE: He seems like kind of a regular guy.

JOBRANI: Yeah.

SAGAL: Well that's my question; I mean what did you have to do?

FELBER: The tank top is a bit much.

SAGAL: What did you have to do?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: I mean, to be the lord, what do you have to put yourself into to be the Lord Grantham?

BONNEVILLE: Oh my goodness, well, you know, you just put on the suit and follow Julian Fellowes around a bit. I mean he's a lord.

(LAUGHTER)

BONNEVILLE: It's just dressing up in frocks and prancing around. I love it.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: I do that at home, but I try to keep it a secret, actually.

POUNDSTONE: Yeah.

SAGAL: There's, broadly speaking, one group of actors that play Lord Grantham and his family, another group of actors who play the downstairs servants. And obviously, on screen there's a very hierarchical relationship. Does that ever like seep into the offstage? I mean, do you find yourself asking, like the actor who plays the butler, to fetch you something from the craft table?

(LAUGHTER)

BONNEVILLE: Funnily enough, it's sort of the opposite. I mean, Sophie McShera, who plays Daisy, the kitchen maid, is a monster, absolute monster.

SAGAL: Really?

(LAUGHTER)

BONNEVILLE: "Bonneville. Get me some tea, Bonneville." She's always doing that.

SAGAL: Really?

BONNEVILLE: Oh yeah, terrible.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Well, Hugh Bonneville, we are delighted to have you with us. We've asked you here to play a game we're calling?

CARL KASELL: Welcome to America, Lord Grantham.

SAGAL: So, we were thinking, your show, "Downton Abbey," shows us British culture at its height. What would be the American equivalent, the TV show that not only shows America as it is, but as we most wish it to be? So we're going to ask you three questions about the show "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo," on TLC.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Do you know the show? It's the American "Downton Abbey."

BONNEVILLE: Right.

SAGAL: Much like - no, it is.

BONNEVILLE: Yes.

SAGAL: Much like "Downton Abbey" shows a British family dealing with the misfortunes and slings and arrows of time, so does Honey Boo Boo in different problems, same dignity. Carl, who is Hugh Bonneville playing for?

KASELL: Hugh is playing for Louise Garland of Los Angeles, California.

SAGAL: OK.

(APPLAUSE)

BONNEVILLE: Louise, I'll do my best.

SAGAL: "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" is, as I'm sure you know, I'm sure everybody here knows, a reality show that follows the adventures of a 6-year-old girl named Alana, nicknamed Honey Boo Boo, who enters beauty pageants. Her nickname is obviously Honey Boo Boo.

What are the nicknames of the rest of her family? Is it A: Mama June, Sugar Bear, Pumpkin, Chubbs and Chickadee? B: Haily Joe, Joseph Joe, Mary Joe, Girly Joe, and Gwyneth? Or C: Angel Hair, Linguine, Ravioli, Mostacolli, and Cavatopi?

(LAUGHTER)

BONNEVILLE: Can you give me the first one again?

SAGAL: The first one was Mama June, Sugar Bear, Pumpkin, Chubbs, and Chickadee? The second one was...

BONNEVILLE: It's got to be that. It's got to be A. It's got to be A.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: You're going to go for that? I'm just asking you.

BONNEVILLE: I'm going to go for A.

SAGAL: You're right. It is...

BONNEVILLE: Hey.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: June is the mother, Sugar Bear the father, Pumpkin, Chubbs and Chickadee are Honey Boo Boo's sisters. That's good, Hugh. That was done in an aristocratic way. Here is your next question. Which of these is a real title of an episode in the first season of "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo?" A: "A Spoon, A Jar of Glue, and Trouble?"

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: B: "She Ooooohed Herself?" Ooooohed spelled O-O-O-O-O-H-E-D. Or C: "The End of Western Civilization?"

(LAUGHTER)

BONNEVILLE: I'm going to go with B.

SAGAL: You're going to go with B, "She Ooooohed Herself?"

BONNEVILLE: Yeah.

SAGAL: You're right, she ooooohed herself.

BONNEVILLE: Hey.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Here's the synopsis of "She Ooooohed Herself": Alana meets with a new pageant coach and learns her hardest routine yet. Then, the whole family throws Chickadee a baby shower. It was moving.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Here's your last question. The producers knew Honey Boo Boo's show would be a success when it did very well against another popular program being broadcast at the same time. What was it? Was it A: "The Walking Dead?" B: "The Late Show with David Letterman?" Or C: The third and final night of the Republican National Convention this year?

(LAUGHTER)

BONNEVILLE: The convention, C.

SAGAL: Yes, it was the convention.

JOBRANI: Hey.

POUNDSTONE: Whoa.

FELBER: Nice.

POUNDSTONE: Wow.

SAGAL: The fourth episode of "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" was counter programmed against Mitt Romney's big night in Tampa, and it did really well. It beat all the cable networks, the news networks in the 18 to 14 demographic, which is why we still have Honey Boo Boo.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Carl, how did Hugh Bonneville do on our quiz?

KASELL: He had three correct answers, Peter. So, Hugh, you win for Louise Garland.

SAGAL: Well done.

(APPLAUSE)

FELBER: Hey.

JOBRANI: Hey.

SAGAL: Hugh Bonneville stars as Lord Grantham in Masterpiece Classic's "Downton Abbey." The third season begins in January. Hugh Bonneville, what a pleasure to meet you in person and to have you with us.

BONNEVILLE: Thank you.

POUNDSTONE: Thank you, Hugh.

SAGAL: Thank you so much.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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Untangle An 'Act Of God'

On-air challenge: Every answer is a familiar three-word phrase in the form "____ of ____." The letters in the first and last words of each phrase are rearranged. You give the phrases. For example, "Cat of Dog" becomes "Act of God."

Last week's challenge from listener Henry Hook of Brooklyn, N.Y.: In a few weeks something will happen that hasn't happened since 1987. What is it?

Answer: A year with no repeat digits (1987, 2013)

Winner: Darren Dunham of Santa Clara, Calif.

Next week's challenge from listener Adam Cohen of Brooklyn: Name two articles of apparel — things you wear — which, when the words are used as verbs, are synonyms of each other. What are they?

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to next week's challenge, submit it here. Listeners who submit correct answers win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: Include a phone number where we can reach you Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern.

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