Ask Me Another (radio)

Ask Me Another
Hosted by Ophira Eisenberg
Air dates since May 4, 2012 (2012-05-04)
Website http://www.npr.org/programs/ask-me-another/

Ask Me Another is an hour-long radio puzzle game show produced by WNYC and National Public Radio. It is hosted by the Canadian comedian Ophira Eisenberg and features, as its "in-house musician" or "one-man house band", the independent rock musician Jonathan Coulton. It is typically recorded in The Bell House in Brooklyn, New York. The show has been produced since 2012.

Format

The show features four to five individual games based on particular puzzle topics, wordplay, and trivia, interspersed by chatter from the show's hosts, as well as a segment featuring an interview and one or more games involved the guest of the week, the "Very Important Puzzler".

Nearly all games are played by two players at the show's recording. The rules of each game vary but are explained to the contestants prior to the game, with the general goal to score the most points for that game. In the case of a tie, a final question is asked to settle the tie. The winning player proceeds with all other winners to the final game at the end of the show. This last game is a series of trivia questions with answers sharing a common theme, such as answers that include the name of a musical instrument in them. This round is played in a spelling bee style in which if one contestant does not know the answer, the next one in line may attempt to answer the same question; if one player gets the answer, all those that missed it are eliminated. This is played until either one player remains, or if they run out of questions, a final tie-breaking question based on whomever rings in first and answers correctly. The prize for winning this round is typically a small bit of memorabilia provided by the week's current Very Important Puzzler, but generally of low monetary value.

Other contestants who may call in by phone or be named as the contestant for a game played by the Very Important Puzzler win either an "Ask Me Another" anagram tee-shirt or a Rubik's Cube.

The Very Important Puzzler (V.I.P.)

Guest stars on the show are referred to as "Very Important Puzzlers", and typically participate in two segments on the show. Recent guest stars have included:

Types of Games

Though the show's writers design many different kinds of games, there are some commonly recurring types of games. These include:

Puzzle Gurus

The show's games are created by a staff of puzzle designers, and one of these puzzle designers in particular, usually referred to as a "puzzle guru", typically appears on the show along with host Eisenberg and musical sidekick Coulton as a third individual who directs the flow of activity on the show. There have been several of these since the show's creation, including:

Substitute In-House Musicians

On shows where Jonathan Coulton is taking a break from recording as the in-house musician, he has been replaced by:

The Show's "Anagrammed Ending"

The show typically ends with host Eisenberg reading the credits identifying people who worked on the show. Some of the names she reads are translated by the show's participating puzzle guru into anagrams. Typically the puzzle guru announces at the beginning "Hey, my name anagrams to..." and then announces the anagram. As Eisenberg lists others that worked on the show, the puzzle guru interjects the anagrammed forms of their names as well. Eisenberg then signs off the show by announcing that she is "Her ripe begonias" (an anagram for her own name). Occasionally, for comic effect, the puzzle guru will also provide an anagram for the call letters of WNYC ("CNYW").

Some examples of anagrams presented in the shows ending sequence are as follows:

Role On Show Original Name Anagram of Name
Host Ophira Eisenberg "Her ripe begonias."
In-House Musician Jonathan Coulton "Thou jolt a cannon."
Puzzle Guru John Chaneski "Oh heck, ninjas."
Puzzle Guru Art Chung "Narc thug."
Puzzle Guru Will Hines "Hell, I wins."
Puzzle Guru Greg Pliska "Sparkle gig."
Puzzle Guru Mary Tobler "Later, my bro."
Venue The Bell House "Hot heel blues."

Links

Web page for the show

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/8/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.