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Lightning Fill In The Blank

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Now, onto our final game, Lightning Fill In The Blank. Each of our players will have 60 seconds in which to answer as many fill-in-the-blank questions as he or she can. Each correct answer is worth two points. Bill, can you give us the scores?

BILL KURTIS: Marina has two...

SAGAL: Hey.

KURTIS: Peter has three, Tom has four.

SAGAL: OK, Marina, you are in third place. You're up first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, Fox News announced they were canceling the next GOP debate after blank announced he didn't want to participate.

MARINA FRANKLIN: Trump.

SAGAL: Yep. On Monday, the White House reported they had captured an American fighting for blank in Iraq.

FRANKLIN: Oh, ISIS, I think.

SAGAL: Yes. On Thursday, a former member of Ukraine's parliament was sentenced to two years in prison for exchanging blank for votes.

FRANKLIN: Food?

SAGAL: Actually, yes. He exchanged grilled chicken for votes.

SAGAL: On Tuesday, Pope Francis officially approved making blank a saint.

FRANKLIN: Making - Mother Teresa.

SAGAL: Yes, very good.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Police in the U.K. on the lookout for a suspicious man walking along the highway carrying a small child instead found blank.

(LAUGHTER)

FRANKLIN: An eggplant?

SAGAL: No.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: A garden gnome.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: After police caught up with him and discovered that the child was actually a garden gnome, they arrested the man and then, this is true, they tweeted out a picture of the gnome to see if anyone would claim it as their child.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Bill, how did Marina do in our quiz?

KURTIS: She got five right. And that's 10 more and a total of 12.

FRANKLIN: Oh, God.

KURTIS: She's got the lead.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: OK. Peter, you're up next. Fill in the blank. This week, the Obama administration withdrew its plan to allow blanking off the Atlantic coast.

PETER GROSZ: Drilling - oil drilling.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: After the U.S. warned of a potential attack a suicide bombing hit the capital of blank this week.

GROSZ: Turkey.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: For the first time ever, an official from blank acknowledged a link between football and brain disorders.

GROSZ: From - oh, from the NFL.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

GROSZ: OK.

SAGAL: On Wednesday, stocks rose after the Federal Reserve announced they were scaling back potential blank increases.

GROSZ: Rate increases, yeah.

SAGAL: Yes, interest rate.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: An Ohio man asked to say the alphabet during a sobriety test refused on the grounds that he was blank.

GROSZ: Drunk.

SAGAL: No. He said I will not recite the alphabet because I am unfamiliar with it.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: This week, Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg confirmed they would return for a fifth blank movie.

GROSZ: Terrible, "Indiana Jones" movie.

SAGAL: Yes. On Wednesday, Frank Sinatra, Jr., best known as the son of blank, passed away at the age of 72.

(LAUGHTER)

GROSZ: Sammy Davis, Jr.

SAGAL: That's right.

(APPLAUSE, LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: That would be quite the scandal wouldn't it? Wouldn't it?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Frank Sinatra, Sr. - this week, a waiter in New York was charged with petty larceny and possession of stolen goods after he was caught blanking.

GROSZ: He was where?

SAGAL: He was a waiter in New York.

GROSZ: Stealing dinner rolls.

SAGAL: No. He was caught giving away free sodas at the IHOP where he worked. According to the owners of the International House Of Pancakes franchise where he worked, William Powell is a thief who gave away over $3,000 worth of free drinks. But according to William Powell, he is a modern-day Robin Hood. He said that. How does he know? The recipients of his liquid bounty are poor, needy and desperate. Well, they're eating at IHOP.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Bill, how did Peter do on our quiz?

KURTIS: Well, he got five right. That gives him 10 more points. With a total of 13, he takes the lead.

SAGAL: Well done. All right. How many then...

FRANKLIN: Oh, somebody.

SAGAL: ...Does Tom Bodett need to win?

KURTIS: Five to win.

SAGAL: All right, Tom. This is for the game. On Thursday, an American student was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor after he attempted to steal a propaganda banner in blank.

TOM BODETT: North Korea.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: After consulting with government leaders, Vladimir Putin ordered a withdrawal of Russian troops from blank this week.

BODETT: Syria.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, Secretary of State John Kerry accused blank of committing genocide.

BODETT: Oh, ISIS in Iraq.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Sea World announced this week that it was ending its controversial blank breeding program.

BODETT: The orca.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, a health and safety training event in England was canceled due to blank.

BODETT: Due to illness.

SAGAL: Yes, due to health and safety concerns.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Tuesday, FIFA confirmed it had taken bribes from countries hoping to host the blank.

BODETT: The - the World Cup.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: No, how could it be? On Thursday, archaeologists confirmed that blanks tomb may contain hidden chambers.

BODETT: King Tut.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, a couple in Queensland, Australia, accused of keeping an unlicensed pet rabbit tried to avoid the fine by blanking.

BODETT: They - they hid it in - in a hat.

SAGAL: No.

(LAUGHTER)

BODETT: They pushed - they pushed it into a hat.

SAGAL: No. They claimed that their enormous pet rabbit was merely a long-eared guinea pig.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: It turns out that owning an unlicensed rabbit in Queensland, Australia, is a crime punishable by $44,000 fine or time in jail. So the couple in question did everything they could to convince the police that their giant rabbit was just a very strange guinea pig.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Bill, did Tom do well enough to win? I think he did.

KURTIS: What a comeback, seven right, 14 more, total of 18 and the win.

SAGAL: Congratulations, Tom.

FRANKLIN: All right.

(APPLAUSE)

FRANKLIN: Wonderful.

SAGAL: Show these whippersnappers how it's done. In just a minute, we're going to ask our panelists to predict what Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland will do to finally convince the Senate to confirm him.

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