Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - Podcast Rankings and reviews

Emma Choi is like if Kai Ryssdal and the Car Talk Guys had a baby. She makes you feel like she’s hosting the worlds best sleepover and you are invited along with her guests. I love how she mixes the famous with the not so famous and takes us on whimsical rabbit holes to find something new while laughing. She’s tongue and cheek without being snarky, gracious without taking herself or anything else too seriously. I love this show.

I LOVE this show. Like, I’ve been a consistent listener every weekend for almost 2 decades. But the last year or two of episodes have been concerning to me — I love most of the panelists, especially Tom Papa, Negin Farsad, and Alonzo Bodden, but Peter Sagal has become strangely rude to many of the call-in guests (and not in a funny way) and talks over many of the celebrity guests. In a recent show with Gary Oldman, he barely let Oldman talk or show any of his personality. Sagal also was rude to a woman who called in who had a name from a song, and when he asked her if she was named after the song, she gave a long answer about why she WASN’T, and he replied by saying that she should just say she WAS because people would get bored of her real story. That episode left a very bad taste in my mouth and it’s been hard to move past that. I would love to see someone else take the reins of the show, such as Tom Papa or Negin Farsad — who are incredible guest hosts — and hear more from Chioke I’Anson as an alternating moderator with Bill Kurtis.

Always funny … it’s my go to podcast when I need a mental pick me up. I am guaranteed to laugh more than once. And that’s what I often need to carry on with my day.

I love, love, LOVE, this podcast!! I listen to podcasts every morning when I workout or walk. During my walk this morning I wanted to look for something new and stumbled upon this (I’m a huge NPR fan), so I figured let me give it a listen. A few minutes in I was laughing and playing along with the quizzes. There was one point I was laughing so hard that some of the fellow morning walkers who I occasionally see stopped to ask what I was listening to that had me laughing that hard. Now this podcast is saved and will be apart of my listening routine!

Wait wait plus is one thing but having to pay to even listen to old episodes is absurd. Having listened to Wait Wait for 18 years and contributed to NPR for longer this is just too much.

I obviously will not be listening to Wait wait unless you somehow remove this absurd subscription. Paying for bonus content is one thing but paying to listen to your normal programming is quite another.

How do you expect to attract a larger audience if they can’t hear your content without committing to a monthly or annual subscription?

This was the first podcast I ever subscribed to back in 2004 or so. I have listened religiously since then and was even at Carl Kasell’s final show as part of my law school graduation celebration. I have adored this show and it’s panelists for the majority of my life but in recent years I have found myself less interested in turning it on. NPR lost its way during the Trump years becoming profoundly both-sides-y and milquetoast and WWDTM has followed suit. It hasn’t gone stale it’s gone soggy. I couldn’t even finish the last couple of weeks. Find something better. HDTGM is a good option.