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March is Women's History Month!

Taylor Swifties

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Ready or not, here are our next two contestants: Sean Patterson and Jonathan Turer, settling in behind the puzzle podiums.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Welcome to you both.

SEAN PATTERSON: Hi.

JONATHAN TURER: Thank you.

EISENBERG: Jonathan Turer, interesting last name, because you also do tours.

TURER: This is like destiny.

EISENBERG: You're a tour - oh my god.

TURER: It's strange.

EISENBERG: New York City tour guide, that is fascinating. You have themed tours. One of the themes is the tour of fear.

TURER: There's a lot in the city to be afraid of.

EISENBERG: I agree with you.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: You take the tourists, you're like don't go down this street. That kind of thing? I'm going on your tour, that's all I can say. And Sean, welcome. You have a pretty amazing career as a lyricist.

PATTERSON: Well, I've not written anything you've heard, so I don't know that it's all that amazing.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Hey, it's amazing, okay.

PATTERSON: Thank you.

EISENBERG: I'm going to do this right now for you. I'm going to help you out.

PATTERSON: I needed the encouragement.

EISENBERG: Yeah, you're doing great. What are you currently working on?

PATTERSON: I have a show opening in New Orleans actually.

EISENBERG: Look at that.

PATTERSON: Yeah.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Congratulations. You're both wordsmiths in your own way, and that's good because this game is called Taylor Swifties. That's the name of Taylor Swift's fans, right, Taylor Swifties?

GREG PLISKA: That's actually the name of her ex-boyfriends.

EISENBERG: Oh.

PLISKA: Whoa, whoa, no more Taylor Swift jokes.

EISENBERG: There's just so many of them that many of them are here tonight. That's why there was that sound.

PLISKA: None of them or all of them? So, yeah, this game is based on the classic word puzzle called Tom Swifties. A Tom Swifty features a spoken sentence and a pun which describes how the sentence itself was spoken.

For example, I really hate eating shellfish, said Tom, crabbily. Shellfish, crabbily. Good, you like that. It's clever.

EISENBERG: It's funny. Yeah, it's funny.

PLISKA: So we're going to play the celebrity version of this game. We're going to give you clues to famous people whose names can be turned into adverbs by adding the letters L-Y to their last name. For example, I did a Joe Jonas and Taylor Lautner and John Mayer and Jake Gyllenhaal and Zac Efron and Connor Kennedy and Harry Styles, said?

EISENBERG: Taylor Swiftly. Yes, because that's a list of Taylor's ex-boyfriends, but he said them very fast, or swiftly.

PLISKA: Just remember that these celebrities have last names that can be kind of turned into adverbs by adding L-Y to the end. The clues will give you a hint to the identity of the celebrity and the adverbial form of their last name. I hope that make sense because we're going to start playing.

(LAUGHTER)

PLISKA: All shock jocks go to the back of the boat, said?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

PLISKA: Jonathan?

TURER: Howard Sternly.

PLISKA: Yes. Yes, Howard Sternly.

(APPLAUSE)

PLISKA: Xena the Warrior Princess never has to follow anybody's rules and regulations, said?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

PLISKA: Sean?

PATTERSON: Lucy Lawlessly.

PLISKA: Very good, yes.

(APPLAUSE)

PLISKA: I wrote "The Joy Luck Club" while lying on the beach said?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

PLISKA: Jonathan?

TURER: Amy Tanly.

PLISKA: Yes.

(APPLAUSE)

PLISKA: Tanly, Amy Tan, the author of "Joy Luck Club." Here's another one for you. Actually, mad dogs and Englishmen are terrified of the midday sun said?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

PLISKA: Sean?

PATTERSON: Noel Cowardly.

PLISKA: Yes, very good. Noel Coward, the speaker of that quote and the author of that lyric.

(APPLAUSE)

PLISKA: "30 Rock" is such a campy show said?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

PLISKA: Jonathan?

TURER: Tina Feyly.

PLISKA: Tiny Feyly, yes. Fey being a word that means campy. When I walked on the moon, I could bicep curl six times as much as I could on earth said?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

PLISKA: Sean?

PATTERSON: Neil Armstrongly.

PLISKA: Yes, of course.

(APPLAUSE)

PLISKA: Now, I want you all to go home and use that word in a sentence.

(LAUGHTER)

PLISKA: Donna Martin, D-O-N-N-A M-A-R-T-I-N said?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

PLISKA: Jonathan?

TURER: Tori Spellingly.

PLISKA: Yes, Tori Spellingly.

(APPLAUSE)

PLISKA: She played Donna Martin on "Beverly Hills 90210," of course. Step right up, step right up, get your copies of "A Brief History of Time" right here, said?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

PLISKA: Jonathan?

TURER: Stephen Hawkingly.

PLISKA: Yes. Stephen Hawking, the author of "Brief History of Time."

(APPLAUSE)

PLISKA: No, I deserved an Oscar nomination for "The Devil Wears Prada," not Meryl Streep, said?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

PLISKA: Sean?

PATTERSON: Oh, Stanley Tuccily.

(LAUGHTER)

PLISKA: No, I'm afraid that's not correct.

PATTERSON: Really?

PLISKA: Really. Jonathan?

TURER: I've only got Anne Hathawayingly.

PLISKA: Shall we open this to the audience?

EISENBERG: Let's throw it out there.

(SOUNDBITE OF AUDIENCE YELLING)

TURER: Emily Bluntly.

PLISKA: Emily Bluntly, yes, Emily Blunt, the actress from that film. Ophira, do we have a winner?

EISENBERG: Just by a hair. Jonathan, congratulations, you'll be moving on to our Ask Me One More final round.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: That was a close game. Well done to the both of you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.