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City of Twins

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

And we have our first two contestants, Nate Metcalf and Collette Smith.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Nate, you are an actor and a playwright.

NATE METCALF: I work for a company that does theater for children. We go into elementary schools and do shows for kids on electrical safety, water conservation, recycling, that kind of thing.

EISENBERG: Well, that is very educational.

METCALF: It is. It's not high art but you run around, slap rubber fish to your head, and say, hey, you don't stick a fork in a toaster and call it a day.

(APPLAUSE)

METCALF: These kids have not seen "Tom and Jerry." They need this education.

EISENBERG: And Collette, you are representing the geek girl gamer.

COLLETTE SMITH: Yes, I am.

(APPLAUSE)

SMITH: Yes, we are. I LARP in a live action role playing group. I do werewolf and vampire.

EISENBERG: Really?

SMITH: Yes.

EISENBERG: OK. Do you have a favorite? Is it werewolf or vampire?

SMITH: I kind of like my werewolf character the best.

EISENBERG: Yeah, and what is it?

SMITH: Her tribe is described by the other werewolves as being a bunch of dirty tree-hugging hippies.

(LAUGHTER)

JONATHAN COULTON: Those are the worst werewolves. Honestly.

EISENBERG: As we are coming to you from St. Paul, our first game is appropriately called City of Twins. And the premise could not be simpler. This quiz is about famous twins - real, fictional, identical, fraternal, but all creepy.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: So ring in when you know the answer and the winner will move on to our Ask Me One More final round at the end of the show. Let's do it. The twin sisters born Esther Pauline Friedman and Pauline Esther Friedman grew up to be better known by what pennames which they used in their long-running newspaper advice columns?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Collette.

SMITH: Ann Landers and Dear Abby.

EISENBERG: That is perfectly correct.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: Though they are better known for their disputed role in the creation of Facebook, the Winklevoss twins also competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics in what event?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Nate.

METCALF: Synchronized luge.

(LAUGHTER)

METCALF: They go down at the same time.

COULTON: I think that's just an exhibition event at this point.

METCALF: Doggone it.

COULTON: I don't think that's an official sport. Collette, do you have a guess?

SMITH: Track and field?

COULTON: No, I'm sorry. It's not track and field. It was rowing, specifically, coxless pairs rowing. So insert joke here.

EISENBERG: Hmm. Insert joke there.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Lisa Kudrow played both the "Friends" character Phoebe and her twin sister, Ursula, a role that originated on what other sitcom?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Nate.

METCALF: "Mad About You."

EISENBERG: Correct.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: Twelve year old sisters Lisa and Louise Burns made their only film appearance playing the creepy Grady films in what 1980 horror film?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Nate.

METCALF: "The Shining."

COULTON: You got it.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: You've seen "The Shining," clearly, right?

METCALF: (impersonating Jack Nicholson) Here's Johnny.

EISENBERG: Yeah. Right. The only thing creepier - those twins were creepy but I will have to say Shelly Duvall is slightly creepier than those two twins.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: She's - right. Right. I know it. She's the straight man through the whole thing.

EISENBERG: Yes.

COULTON: But she's one of the creepiest things on the screen.

EISENBERG: So scary. In Greek mythology, what were the names of the twins who became the constellation Gemini?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Collette.

SMITH: Remus and Romulus.

EISENBERG: Oh, I'm sorry; that is incorrect.

COULTON: Nate, can you steal?

METCALF: Castor and Pollux.

EISENBERG: Yes, that is correct. Castor and Pollux.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Those names did not catch on.

COULTON: Chang and Eng, the original Siamese twins, adopted what last name after they settled in North Carolina and became farmers?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Nate.

METCALF: Bunker.

COULTON: Yeah. Well done.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: That's how they fit in.

COULTON: That's how they fit in.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Oh, you mean the Bunkers? Nah, I never noticed anything. No.

EISENBERG: This is your last clue. What twin TV stars turned fashion designers run their own couture label named The Row?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Collette.

SMITH: The Olsen twins.

EISENBERG: That is correct. Yes.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Puzzle guru Art Chung, how did our contestants do?

ART CHUNG: Well, in the City of Twins Nate was the winner.

EISENBERG: Congratulations, Nate. Collette, fantastic opponent. Nate, you'll be moving on to our Ask Me One More final round at the end of the show.

(APPLAUSE)

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SO HAPPY TOGETHER")

COULTON: (singing) Imagine me and you, I do. I think about you day and night. It's only right to think about the girl you love, to hold her tight. So happy together. If I should call you up, invest a dime, and you say you belong to me, it'd ease my mind. Imagine how the world could be so very fine. So happy together. I can't see me loving nobody but you for all my life.

(singing) When you're with me, baby, the skies will be blue for all my life.

EISENBERG: Jonathan Coulton.

(APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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