According to our friends at NPR, when “Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!” host Peter Sagal goes on vacation, only one person has the chops to fill his shoes: Tom Hanks.
You read that right. The two-time Oscar-winning actor will guest host an episode of the NPR news quiz, taped in front of a live audience in Chicago.
This special show with Tom Hanks will air at 10 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 14, on KUT 90.5.
"Of course, I was excited to find out that in my absence, one of the stars of the classic sitcom "Bosom Buddies" would be hosting the show," says Peter Sagal. "I was disappointed to find out that it wasn’t going to be Peter Scolari, but I’m sure this Hanks fellow will do fine. I hope he’s been doing some useful preparation since "Bosom Buddies" went off the air in 1982, because this is a pretty high profile gig."
Each week, Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me! offers live audiences and listeners a comic review of the week’s news. For this special episode, Tom Hanks and human-scorecard Bill Kurtis will guide panelists Paula Poundstone, Luke Burbank and Faith Salie, and a special “Not My Job” guest through a series of games designed to quiz them on headlines and showcase their wits.
Now in its 18th year, the Peabody Award-winning show has an audience of more than 3.9 million listeners weekly on 727 NPR member stations. The Wait Wait podcast is downloaded more than seven hundred thousand times a week. The radio show is a co-production of NPR and Chicago Public Media. All episodes are also available as a podcast in the NPR One app and wherever podcasts are available.
Read the NPR press release.
