Format
The show is hosted by playwright and actor Peter Sagal. When the program had its debut in January 1998, Dan Coffey of Ask Dr. Science was the original host, but a revamping of the show led to his replacement in May of that year. The show has also been guest hosted by Luke Burbank, Adam Felber, Peter Grosz, Richard Sher, Bill Radke, Susan Stamberg, Robert Siegel, Brian Unger and Drew Carey when Peter Sagal is on vacation.
Carl Kasell, who also served as the newsreader on Morning Edition, is the show's official judge and scorekeeper. Korva Coleman, Corey Flintoff, Jean Cochran, and Bill Kurtis (referred to in the show as "legendary anchorman" Bill Kurtis) among others, have served this role. Each week, a panel of three humorists, journalists, and/or comedians are chosen to participate in the program.
Wait Wait... listeners also participate by telephoning or sending e-mails to nominate themselves as contestants. The producers select several listeners for each show and call them to appear on the program, playing various games featuring questions based on the week's news. The usual prize for winning any game is to have Carl Kasell record a greeting on the contestant's home answering machine or voice mail system. In most cases, the contestants receive a bit of latitude in getting the correct answer, such as getting another guess and a hint should they initially guess wrong, or getting credit for correctly identifying everything about a news-maker except their name.
The show typically closes with the "Panelists' Predictions", during which each panelist provides a headline that is designed more to make the listener laugh than to actually predict a real news story. That segment usually ends with Carl Kasell stating that if any of those come true, "we'll ask you about it on Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!"
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is usually recorded in front of a live audience at Chicago's Chase Auditorium in the Chase Tower on Thursday nights. Until May 2005, the show was recorded in one of Chicago Public Radio's studios, with no audience and often with one or more panelists calling in from other locations. The show often travels to various cities in the United States and produces a road show in front of a live audience for promotional and station relation purposes.
Several shows a year, usually coinciding with holidays, are compiled from segments from past episodes, or feature holiday-related theme programming (such as for the 4th of July, an entire program based on questions from American history adapted to fit the current events format), and are either recorded in front of an audience for later broadcast, or at WBEZ's studio facilities without an audience.
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