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Any Questions #57

WAMC's Ian Pickus and resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel finally cut to the heart of their show: this week's quiz is all about stupid questions.

Last week's challenge
Take the first name of a well-known political leader. Remove the vowels from this person's name and you'll be left with the organization the person runs. Who is it and what is the organization?
Answer: The political leader is REINCE Priebus, and the organization is the RNC.

THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY: STUPID QUESTIONS
On-air questions: September 28 is Ask a Stupid Question Day. It was developed by teachers in the 1980s to encourage students to ask more questions in class. In honor of a holiday that seems tailor-made for a silly little show like this, this week we've got a quiz full of stupid questions.

1. Which filmmaker wrote the 2002 book titled Stupid White Men, released one year after his documentary Bowling for Columbine?
2. On a 1982 episode of Late Night with David Letterman, a dog named Muggsy sneezed on command. This was part of the first installment of a recurring segment known by what three-word name?
3. Which musician released the 1985 album Dare to be Stupid, featuring parodies of hit songs by Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, and the Kinks?
4. In 1992, a sign hung in Bill Clinton's headquarters in Little Rock listing three messages to help focus the campaign. Number two was “The economy, stupid.” Which famous political strategist hung the sign?
5. What African-American comedian said, “Fathers are the geniuses of the house because only a person as intelligent as we could fake such stupidity”?

Extra credit
1. What 1890 Oscar Wilde novel contains the line “Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives”?
2. Which cartoon series created by Matt Groening and set in the 31st century had an episode titled "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid," in which Earth is attacked by giant brains?

This week's challenge
Think of two five-letter synonyms for “stupid person.” One starts with D, and the other starts with I. Drop one letter, and you can rearrange the remaining nine letters to spell a process that a stupid person probably isn't very good at. What are the synonyms and what is the process?

ANSWERS
On-air questions
1. Michael Moore
2. Stupid Pet Tricks
3. "Weird Al" Yankovic
4. James Carville
5. Bill Cosby

Extra credit
1. The Picture of Dorian Gray
2. Futurama

A lifelong resident of the Capital Region, Ian joined WAMC in late 2008 and became news director in 2013. He began working on Morning Edition and has produced The Capitol Connection, Congressional Corner, and several other WAMC programs. Ian can also be heard as the host of the WAMC News Podcast and on The Roundtable and various newscasts. Ian holds a BA in English and journalism and an MA in English, both from the University at Albany, where he has taught journalism since 2013.