WWDTM: Pedro Pascal, Chris Perfetti, Heather Gay, and more!
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What moments from 2025 are highlighted in this episode?
From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. That big ball in Times Square doesn't drop until it hears me count down from ten. I'm Bill Curtis, and here is your host at the Studebaker Theatre in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. The new year has begun, but since we're so nervous about what's going to happen, we've decided to just pretend that it hasn't. 2025 isn't over until I say it's over. So, we're going to spend another show forthrightly avoiding the future. And we'll start with something it killed me to miss when it happened. Pedro Pascal is one of my favorite actors, so I was extremely jealous of guest host Tom Papa getting to interview him in August.
It was better this way, Peter. You would have fainted dead away the second you saw his face.
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
So great to see you. It's really nice to meet you. I feel like we all feel like we know you because you're literally in every movie.
How do you... I know, I'm sorry about that.
No, you're making us all very happy. How do you keep your characters straight? You must be filming some of these things at the same time, right?
There were intersections, and, you know, I'm in about ten minutes of Eddington, and Eddington is two hours and twenty minutes, so there was time. Right.
It's not that hard.
LAUGHTER
But I mean, what a run. I mean, Narcos and Game of Thrones, Marvel, DC, Star Wars. Are you going to leave anything for any other actor? No.
No.
No, it's all mine. You started as an actor in New York mainly, right? You were a struggling actor in New York? Yes, yes.
That was like the longest role of my life was struggling actor.
Wow. And you must have started getting parts there and you slowly, did you do commercial work, that kind of stuff?
I mean, I couldn't get arrested, to be honest with you. I had a little bit of a promising start with jobs that were in Los Angeles, actually. But as far as New York was concerned... it just was a rough go. I was a waiter and I was really bad at it. But I still didn't have the skill to learn something else. And I did eventually learn how to wait tables. I became good at it, but boy, it took years.
What was the struggle in waiting tables for you? What was the hard part?
just the logistical labor of meeting everyone's needs in the right manner, you know, act one, the water, act two, the drink, act three, the, you know what I mean, upsell, you know, like the whole everything and making them feel attended to and respected and everything.
What insights does Pedro Pascal share about his acting career?
And I, you know, I desperately didn't want to be there.
I want to be honest with you. I've never understood the waiter's journey until that moment, Pedro. That was beautiful. Like, wow. I'm going to tip more every time.
Like, I see what you're doing, man. So at that time, what was scarier, the world in The Last of Us or your first apartment in New York?
Oh, gosh.
Wow.
Okay. Yeah, exactly. I mean, you know, I thought my apartment was really cute. And I... When I moved out to Brooklyn, the only place I could afford was a tiny little place in Red Hook. And I remember taking a friend of mine to it years, years, years later while I still had the lease. And she looked like she was going to cry knowing that I lived there for 12 years. Like she just was dumbfounded. And it was hilarious. So I don't know, maybe to some people... My apartment in Red Hook, Brooklyn. But to me, definitely the post-apocalyptic fungal nightmare. Although there was a lot of fungal nightmares in that apartment.
LAUGHTER
I was curious for The Last of Us, which is so brilliant, but I know so many people, and Peter, who I'm filling in for today, he played The Last of Us on his PlayStation, the video game, and he talks to me about it like he's so moved by that game. It really hooked people in a profound way. Did you play that game before you starred in the adaptation?
No, I tried. I really, really did try. I tried. I tried. And my nephew didn't have the patience, so he took the console from me.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What moments from 2025 are highlighted in this episode?
0:04–3:30
2
What insights does Pedro Pascal share about his acting career?
3:30–5:56
3
How does Pedro Pascal manage multiple character roles?
5:56–8:36
4
What challenges did Pedro Pascal face as a struggling actor?
8:36–13:18
5
What unique experiences does Chris Perfetti discuss from Abbott Elementary?
13:18–16:50
6
How does Chris Perfetti relate to his character in Abbott Elementary?
16:50–20:37
7
What does Heather Gay reveal about her experiences on Real Housewives?
20:37–24:13
8
What surprising facts does Heather Gay share about her new book?
24:13–47:34