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Bluff The Listener

BILL KURTIS: Support for NPR comes from NPR stations and the NPR Wine Club - offering wines from around the world with the stories behind each one and bottles inspired by favorite NPR shows. Available to adults 21 years or older - learn more at nprwineclub.org.

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(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KURTIS: From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME, the NPR News quiz. I'm Bill Kurtis. We are playing this week with Mo Rocca, Tom Bodett and Helen Hong. And here again is your host at the Bushnell in Hartford, Conn., Peter Sagal.

(APPLAUSE)

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Thank you so much. Right now it's time for the WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME Bluff The Listener game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play our game on the air. Hi, you're on WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME.

KATE: Hi, this is Kate (ph), calling from Portland, Maine.

SAGAL: Portland, Maine?

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: The other end of New England. I'm going to - so you're a Mainer? Are you from Maine? Are you a lifelong Mainer?

KATE: Actually, believe it or not, I just moved up here from Hartford, Conn.

SAGAL: Oh, my God.

(APPLAUSE, CHEERING)

SAGAL: Why are you applauding her? She abandoned you.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Well, Kate, welcome to the show. You're going to play the game in which you have to tell truth from fiction. Bill, what is Kate's topic?

KURTIS: Make it a blockbuster night.

SAGAL: Who doesn't love a blockbuster movie? Anybody who saw "Fifty Shades Freed," that's who. But...

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: ...Other than that, everybody loves them. This week, we read about a blockbuster movie causing a problem beyond just being terrible. Our panelists are going to tell you about it. Pick the one who's telling the truth, you will win our prize - the voice of your choice on your voicemail. Are you ready to play?

KATE: I am.

SAGAL: All right. First, let's hear from Helen Hong.

HELEN HONG: The family film "Paddington 2" has made over $200 million at the box office and achieved a rare 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But there appears to be an unintended dark side to the story about the delightful bear. The film features Hugh Grant as the villain who frames Paddington for a crime and sends the innocent bear to prison. The actor's famous posh English accent is sending some children into a PTSD-like state. Parents across the U.S. and even some parts of Canada are reporting children being triggered by proper English accents.

(LAUGHTER)

HONG: My local NPR station sometimes plays the BBC World Service, says one concerned mother. After watching "Paddington," I noticed Hayley (ph) would only face the wall whenever the BBC was on.

(LAUGHTER)

HONG: Another parent is afraid she'll never be able to watch "Love Actually" ever again.

(LAUGHTER)

HONG: It's one of my favorite movies of all time, but we have to fast forward through the Hugh Grant scenes because Timmy will freak.

(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: "Paddington 2" causing post-traumatic terror of Hugh Grant amongst the nation's young. Your next story of a movie causing problems comes from Tom Bodett.

TOM BODETT: Long, long ago - like, maybe six weeks - when the largely invisible village of Wauconda was in Illinois and the home of the landmark nature bog rather than in Africa, containing the only known deposits of vibranium and ruled by a very cool cat. The Wauconda community northwest of Chicago cleverly spelled its name W-A-U-C-O-N-D-A to hide its presence, but fans of the "Black Panther" Marvel blockbuster set in Wakanda - W-K-A-N-D-A (ph) - are not fooled. Alise Homola (ph), who works at the Village Hall, reported, we had a guy call, and he was shouting "Black Panther" and Wakanda forever. That seemed like a lot of fuss over a bog.

But it soon became clear to the residents of Wauconda, Ill., that their many years of peaceful obscurity were over. People tweeted pictures of Wauconda's Bulldog Grill with comments like, this must be Black Panther's favorite burger joint. The mythical Wakanda is a noble land with flying cars worth protecting. The Illinois Wauconda has a national landmark bog. Wauconda forever - to kids growing up on the bog, it only seems that way.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: The...

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: ...Blockbuster film "Black Panther" poses unwanted attention for the town of Wauconda, Ill. Your last story of a Hollywood hit giving folks a headache comes from Mo Rocca.

MO ROCCA: High school senior Emily Isaac (ph) wants to take a fish to prom - specifically, a freshwater bass. The Birchwood, Tenn., native explains, I grew up with Lake Chickamauga in my backyard. My very first friend was a smallmouth named Roscoe. I think it was his stripes that attracted me. I rushed home every afternoon to feed him insect larvae. He passed in 2011. But then she met a 14-pounder named Rodolfo (ph).

(LAUGHTER)

ROCCA: The moment I saw him, I was hooked. I mean, I flopped hard.

(LAUGHTER)

ROCCA: This boy is fly. She kept their relationship a secret until she saw Best Picture winner "The Shape Of Water" last December.

(LAUGHTER)

ROCCA: Emboldened by the story of a romance between a mute woman and a humanoid amphibian, she put Rudolfo in her bathtub, took a selfie of the two of them and announced her intention to bring him to prom as her date. James K. Polk High School Principal Ed Powell (ph) is not cutting her any slack. Ms. Isaac is not bringing a fish to prom. To wield a giant tank onto our dance floor so she can prove a point isn't just weird - it's dangerous. I'll happily lend her my bigmouth Billy Bass for the night if that'll satisfy her.

(LAUGHTER)

ROCCA: But Ms. Isaac isn't taking the bait. This is about inclusion. The cis-species, pescaphobic, virulently mammalianist policies of this administration cannot stand.

(LAUGHTER)

ROCCA: Plus, they're being anti-immigrant, she added, pointing out that Rodolfo is half-Chilean.

(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: So which of these three recent Hollywood hits caused a problem for somebody? Was it "Paddington 2," which, according to Helen Hong, is causing children to hate and fear Hugh Grant more than is appropriate?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: From Tom Bodett, the movie "Black Panther," which has brought all kinds of unwanted - sometimes drunk - attention to the not African town of Wauconda, Ill.? Or from Mo Rocca, was it "The Shape Of Water," which inspired a young woman to bring her pet fish lover to prom?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Which of these is the real story of movieland trouble?

KATE: I'm going to go with the Wauconda story.

SAGAL: You're going to go with the story of Wauconda, Ill...

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: ...Getting confused for Wakanda, Africa. All right. Well, that is Tom's story. Well, to bring you the correct answer, we spoke to someone who's actually deeply involved in this story.

LINCOLN KNIGHT: We've had a lot of fans calling the village of Wauconda. Some people just call and yell...

(APPLAUSE)

KNIGHT: ...Wakanda forever and hang up.

SAGAL: That was Lincoln Knight - his name. He's the mayor of Wauconda, Ill. He was talking about the minor annoyance they've been enduring as people confuse them for this country of Wakanda. I'm going to guess it's actually the best thing that's ever happened...

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: ...To Wauconda, Ill., right? Anyway, the point is, Kate, you got it right by picking Tom's story. He was telling the truth.

(APPLAUSE)

BODETT: Thank you, Kate.

SAGAL: Congratulations.

KATE: Thank you.

SAGAL: You've won our game - our voice of anyone you like, plus a point for Tom. Thank you so much for playing.

KATE: Thank you. Take care.

(SOUNDBITE OF KENDRICK LAMAR & SZA SONG, "ALL THE STARS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.