Just Because

Transcript

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Now we're going to crown this week's grand champion. Let's bring back from That's Not What This Is About, Hannah Reff.

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EISENBERG: From Bring Your Eh Game, Kristy Peet.

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EISENBERG: From the Chore Song, Lynn Cartwright-Punnett.

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EISENBERG: From World Makes Money Go Round, Ian Hoffman.

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EISENBERG: And from Tales From The Cryptids, Zach Herz.

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EISENBERG: They'll be playing our Ask Me One More final round. Our puzzle giant John Flansburgh will lead this final round entitled Just Because.

JOHN FLANSBURGH, BYLINE: I call this final round, J.B., J.B., J.B., J.B. Every answer will be a name of a person or a fictional character with the initials J.B. For example, if I were to say, this movie guy, he's a spy. He prefers his martini shaken, not stirred. Anyone would say James Bond - anybody. That's like a super easy clue.

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FLANSBURGH: We're doing this spelling bee-style - one wrong answer and you're out. You'll only have a few seconds to answer. The last person standing is our ASK ME ANOTHER grand winner. Your prize - the creators of Night Vale will write you into an episode of the show, ladies and gentlemen.

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FLANSBURGH: You will be on the show as an intern.

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FLANSBURGH: Our first contestant is Hannah. A pop superstar, he dated Selena Gomez.

HANNAH REFF: Justin Bieber.

FLANSBURGH: That is correct.

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FLANSBURGH: This original "Saturday Night Live" star yelled toga in "Animal House."

KRISTY PEET: John Belushi.

FLANSBURGH: Kristy, that is correct.

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FLANSBURGH: Lynn, the godfather of soul.

LYNN CARTWRIGHT-PUNNETT: James Brown.

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FLANSBURGH: That is correct, Lynn. Ian, this fictional character could stop terrorism in 24 real-time hours - fictional character.

IAN HOFFMAN: Jack Bauer.

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FLANSBURGH: Correct. Ian, you are correct. Zach, author of "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" and "Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing."

ZACH HERZ: Judy Blume.

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FLANSBURGH: Zach, Judy Blume, that's good.

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FLANSBURGH: Hannah, she played Mary Camden on the TV series "7th Heaven."

REFF: Jessica Biel.

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FLANSBURGH: Very good. Kristy, over a decade after his death, his cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" became an international hit.

PEET: James Brown?

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PEET: No, I have no idea (laughter).

FLANSBURGH: I'm sorry, please step to the side. Lynn, do you have the answer to the question?

CARTWRIGHT-PUNNETT: I have no idea.

FLANSBURGH: Lynn, step to the side. Ian, can you steal this?

HOFFMAN: Jeff Buckley.

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FLANSBURGH: Yes. All right, we are down to three - Zach Ian and Hannah. Zach, this actress has won multiple Emmys for her work on modern family.

HERZ: Jofia Bergara (ph).

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FLANSBURGH: Well played, Zach. Our judges are going to take that as a correct - no. No, that's clearly wrong.

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FLANSBURGH: Hannah, do you know the answer? This actress won multiple Emmys for her work on modern family?

REFF: I do. The answer is Julie Bowen.

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FLANSBURGH: Wow. Zach, thank you for playing our game. We are now down to just two players, ladies and gentleman, Ian and Hannah. Ian, he's Barbra's Streisand's stepson, a Goonie and George W. Bush.

HOFFMAN: James Brolin?

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FLANSBURGH: Hannah, can you steal from Ian?

REFF: Josh Brolin.

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EISENBERG: I know that was such a tight game. Ian, thank you so much.

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EISENBERG: You made it. You are ASK ME ANOTHER big winner. Look forward to hearing your name on an episode of "Welcome to Night Vale." One last round of applause for our VIPs, Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor and Cecil Baldwin.

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EISENBERG: And that's our show, thank you for listening. If you would like to come to a live taping or be a contestant, just go to amatickets.org. And you can be a puzzle player any time, any place by downloading our podcast from iTunes, Stitcher or TuneIn. ASK ME ANOTHER's puzzle giant is John Flansburgh.

FLANSBURGH: Hey, my name anagrams to shh narl fun job (ph).

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EISENBERG: Our house musician is Julian Velard.

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FLANSBURGH: Viral June lad.

EISENBERG: Our puzzle editor is Art Chung.

FLANSBURGH: Narc thug.

EISENBERG: With additional puzzle writing by Jonathan Baylis, Eric Feinstein (ph), Karen Laurie, Jess Miller, Greg Pliska and J. Keith van Straaten. ASK ME ANOTHER's produced by Jesse Baker, Josh Rogosin, Eleanor Kagan and Danny Shin (ph), along with Portia Robertson Migas and Eric Newsom. We are recorded by Bill Moss, Kristen Mueller and David Herkin (ph). We'd like to thank our home in Brooklyn, N.Y., The Bell House.

FLANSBURGH: Hot heel blues.

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EISENBERG: And our production partner, WNYC.

FLANSBURGH: CNYW.

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EISENBERG: I'm her ripe begonias.

FLANSBURGH: Ophira Eisenberg.

EISENBERG: And this was ASK ME ANOTHER from NPR.

(APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.