Editing Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! (section)

==On-air segments==
[[File:Bill Kurtis and Peter Sagal of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!.jpg|thumb|right|Kurtis and Sagal, 2017]]
Though there are some deviations from time to time, episodes of ''Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'' feature the following format:

===Opening tease===
As with other NPR programs, ''Wait Wait'' offers a one-minute top-of-hour billboard teasing the program that will follow the network's hourly newscast (which traditionally starts at one minute past the hour). In this minute, the host offers a humorous comment on the week's news, mentions the identity of the week's interview guest, and sets up an out-of-context reading by the announcer of a quote or game title from the episode.

===Who's Bill This Time?===
The contestant is asked to identify the speaker or explain the context of three quotations from that week's major news stories as read by the announcer (usually Bill Kurtis). Each answer is followed by a humorous discussion of the story by the host and the panelists. Two correct answers constitute a win for the contestant. Prior to Kasell's retirement, the segment was known as "Who's Carl This Time?" and he read the quotations. Whenever Kurtis is absent, his first name is replaced by that of the person filling in for him in the game's name.

===Panel questions===
In two separate segments each week, the host asks the panelists questions regarding less serious stories in the week's news, awarding them one point for each correct answer.  The questions are phrased similarly to those featured on ''[[The Match Game]]'' or ''[[Hollywood Squares]]'' to allow the panelists to offer a comedic answer in addition to their real guess as well as a hint from the host if needed. The answer is often followed by a discussion of the story.

===Bluff the Listener===
Each panelist reads an unusual story, all sharing a common theme. Only one of the three stories is genuine; the contestant wins the prize by choosing it. A sound bite from a person connected to the genuine story is played to reveal whether the contestant's guess is correct. Regardless of the outcome, the panelist whose story is chosen scores one point.

===Not My Job===
{{external media | width = 210px | float = right |  audio1 = [https://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/2006/11/04/13109791/ Jimmy Wales plays "Not my job"], 10:19, [[NPR]], November 4, 2006<ref name="w8w8">{{cite web | title =Not My Job: Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales | work = Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! | publisher =[[NPR]] | date = November 4, 2006 | url =https://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/2006/11/04/13109791/ | access-date =January 13, 2017}}</ref> }}
{{For|a full list of "Not My Job" participants|List of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! guests}}

A celebrity guest calls in (or occasionally appears onstage) to be interviewed by the host and the panelists as well as take a three-question multiple-choice quiz. In ''Wait Wait''{{'}}s early years, "Not My Job" guests were mainly pulled from NPR's roster of personalities and reporters; the pool of guests later expanded to include guests of greater celebrity. As the segment's title suggests, the guests are quizzed on topics that are not normally associated with their field of work.  For example, former U.S. Secretary of State [[Madeleine Albright]] was asked questions on the history of [[Hugh Hefner]] and ''[[Playboy (magazine)|Playboy]]'' magazine,<ref>{{cite interview | subject=Madeleine Albright | interviewer=Peter Sagal |title=Not My Job! | url=https://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/archrndwn/2003/dec/031206.waitwait.html | type=Interview: Audio | work=Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! | publisher=NPR/WGBH | date=December 6, 2003 | access-date=January 13, 2008}}</ref> while author [[Salman Rushdie]] was asked about the history of [[Pez]] candy.<ref>{{cite interview | subject=Salman Rushdie | interviewer=Peter Sagal |title=Not My Job! | url=https://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/archrndwn/2001/sep/010908.waitwait.html | type=Interview: Audio | work=Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! | publisher=NPR/WGBH | date=September 9, 2001 | access-date=January 13, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=NPR's 'Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me!' You Can't Make This Stuff Up. Or Can You? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/04/arts/television/04brenn.html?_r=0 |work=[New York Times] |date=June 4, 2006 |last=Brenna |first=Susan |access-date=July 22, 2016}}</ref> Often, the subject matter of the quizzes serve as an oblique yet comic juxtaposition to the guests' fields of work, such as when ''[[Mad Men]]'' creator/producer [[Matthew Weiner]] was quizzed on ways people try to cheer others up ("Glad Men") in a March 2015 appearance.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2015/03/28/395741081/not-my-job-mad-men-creator-matthew-weiner-gets-quizzed-on-glad-men "Not My Job: 'Mad Men' Creator Matthew Weiner Gets Quizzed On Glad Men,"] from NPR.org (March 28, 2015)</ref>

===Listener Limerick Challenge===
Kurtis (or the announcer) reads three [[Limerick (poetry)|limericks]] connected to unusual news stories, leaving out the last word or phrase of each. The contestant wins the prize by correctly completing any two of them. The limericks are written by Philipp Goedicke.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/features/2001/011116.limerick.html Limerick Lesson by Philipp Goedicke] Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me.</ref>

=== Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank ===
In the Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank, each panelist has to answer as many questions as they can in 60 seconds with each correct answer earning the panelist 2 points. At the end there is a question whose answer gets an expanded clarification by Peter or whoever is guest hosting; this question usually deals with an especially odd or obscure news story from the week.