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    Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

    Behind the scenes at Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!: Taping draws lots of laughs and out-of-this-world guest

    Elizabeth Rhodes
    Jun 26, 2015 | 12:35 pm

    Nearly 3,000 excited Houstonians filled Jones Hall to capacity on Thursday night to watch the taping of Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!, NPR's wildly popular weekly news panel game show.

    Host Peter Sagal, along with announcer Bill Kurtis and panelists Maz Jobrani, Alonzo Bodden and Paula Poundstone, had crowds howling at topical gaffs during the nearly three-hour taping, which was followed by a brief question-and-answer session and a reception.

    The night was full of laughter, and if you weren't lucky enough to score tickets ― even the pricey "premium seats" sold out in only a few weeks ― the show will air on Houston Public Media's News 88.7 Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m.

    There was plenty to note during the taping (some parts will be edited out to fit the 1-hour broadcast), but here are five things that captured my attention:

    1. Sagal does not like June weather in Houston

    While high temperatures in the low 90's don't sound like much to a vetted Houstonian, it's a different story for a Chicagoan like Sagal. He apparently ran along Buffalo Bayou in the morning before the performance and said it was nothing but "desiccated bull skeletons and random members of the Bush family."

    Of course, Poundstone disagreed with Sagal’s assertions: "I thought it was nice."

    During the question and answer session following the show, one audience member had a biting response to Sagal's disparaging comments about Houston’s weather: "Can I have your number so I can call you in Chicago in November?"

    2. It's fun to make jokes at the expense of conservatives

    "This might be the most exciting night for liberals in Houston," Sagal rightfully stated as he welcomed the NPR-loving crowd. Whether it's making fun of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia's use of phrases like "jiggery-pokery" and "pure applesauce" to describe the recent healthcare ruling or mocking Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal for hiding a camera in a tree in his yard to capture his family's reaction to his decision to run for president, conservatives were certainly the butt of many jokes — much to the delight of the audience.

    3. The questions aren't as hard as you might expect

    While you might expect the questions on an NPR news quiz to be extremely difficult, they are fairly easy if you keep even a wandering eye on current events.

    "One of my standard jokes is that one of the reasons our quiz is so easy — our questions are not hard — is because we want the people at home to be able to know the answers because in focus groups, the No. 1 hobby among public radio listeners is feeling smug," Sagal joked to CultureMap.

    Although some of the questions were tricky ― who knew bees contribute more to the British economy than the royal family? ― many were related to broader current issues like the Supreme Court ruling on health care and retailers refusal to sell anything bearing the image of the Confederate flag.

    4. Houstonians love our NASA ties

    The show paid special tribute to Space City as astronaut Sunita Williams appeared as the guest for the "Not My Job" segment. Williams, who spent nearly a year in total on the International Space Station, holds records for total space walks by a woman and most space walk time for a woman. Williams enlightened the crowd on her out-of-this-world experiences, ranging from living in close proximity with hyper-intelligent spiders to her unfortunate incident with a container of wasabi mayo that exploded all over her ― and the station.

    5. Everyone loves Sagal ― and with good reason

    From the moment Sagal stepped out onto Jones Hall's enormous stage, you could feel the crowd hanging on his every word. Whether he was interacting with the panelists, Kurtis or even the call-in contestants, it was clear that the Wait! Wait! host knows how to hold an audience. At several points during the taping, audience members clapped and hollered so loudly following the announcement of his name that he used hand signals to quiet the raucous crowd.

    ---

    Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! airs at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday on Houston Public Media's News 88.7.

    The segment's "Not My Job" guest was astronaut Sunita Williams, who spent nearly a year aboard the International Space Station.

     
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    A Roman Holiday (Season)

    All roads lead to Houston museum's blockbuster exhibit of Imperial Rome

    Tarra Gaines
    Jun 11, 2025 | 3:15 pm
    ​The Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times"
    Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
    The Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times" ("Statue of Trajan" Minturno, Italy, 2nd century, marble, National Archaeological Museum, Naples)

    Houston's holiday season will have a distinctly Roman feeling this year, as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is bringing the glory of the Gladiator era to Texas. On November 2, 2025 through January 25, 2026 the MFAH presents the monumental new exhibition “Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times.”

    Featuring 160 objects of antiquity, including marble sculptures, frescoes, mosaics, delicate glass vessels, and exquisite bronze artifacts, the exhibition will transport visitors back in time to the Roman Empire during a flowering of art and architecture. The MFAH partnered with the Saint Louis Art Museum to organize the exhibition, which will showcase many pieces that have never been on view in the U.S.

    While Emperor Trajan might not be the most famous — or in some cases, most infamous — of the Roman emperors, he ruled between 98 and 117 C.E. during the empire’s height and was the second of the so-called “Five Good Emperors” of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty. He was also the first emperor born outside of present-day Italy, in what is now Andalusia, Spain. During his reign, he granted citizenship and rights to some peoples from conquered lands. The exhibition will explore how this time period expanded what it meant to be a Roman and how art reflected Rome’s power and promoted the empire’s values and ideals.

    \u200bThe Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times"
      

    Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

    The Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times" ("Statue of Trajan" Minturno, Italy, 2nd century, marble, National Archaeological Museum, Naples)

    From statues of prominent men and women of the era, including Trajan, to vivid frescoes and furnishing from the villas of Pompeii, the objects in the exhibition will tell fascinating cultural and political stories of life in imperial Rome. To add context to the artworks and objects of antiquity, the MFAH will recreate a section of Trajan’s Column, which was a towering pillar with a spiraling narrative frieze, one of the few monumental sculptures to have survived the fall of Rome.

    “Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times” brings such a wealth of objects to Houston thanks to unprecedented loans from the renowned antiquities collections of Italian museums including Museo Nazionale Romano, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, the Parco Archeologico di Ostia, and the Musei Vaticani. It would would likely take months of travel across Italy to see this much art.

    “This is truly a rare opportunity for U.S. audiences to experience spectacular objects from this glorious era of the Roman Empire,” said Gary Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of the MFAH, in a statement. “We are enormously grateful to our colleagues in Rome, Naples, and Vatican City for lending these treasures to us and broadening the appreciation of Italy’s cultural heritage.”

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