Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Schedule

Welcome, Fan o’ the Wait Wait!

You are here because you want tickets to the hottest live taping of an NPR News Quiz Show located in the basement of a bank in North America.

Also, tapings at locations outside of Chicago are NOT sold on this page. To get those tickets, go to the NPR WWDTM site. In addition to purchasing your tickets, this page is chock full of good info about WWDTM.

FAQs

Do you accept refunds or exchanges?

We do NOT offer refunds. Seriously. And we don't exchange purchased tickets for other dates. Your request for a refund or an exchange will more than likely be ignored. It's not personal.

When is the taping?

Tapings are Thursday nights. Doors open at 7:00PM; taping begins at 7:30PM and lasts until app. 9:30PM.

When do tickets go on sale?

Six weeks in advance of the taping date, on Fridays at 10:00 a.m.

All General Priced tickets to Chicago tapings are $30.00. Premium Seats are $85.00. PREMIUM Seats include seating in the first two rows, center plus a bag of WWDTM swag.

What about large group sales?

Large groups need to contact me directly two months in advance of the show date they'd like to come to. I will make the tickets available for a one time purchase at that time. A large group is 40+—anything less can simply purchase tickets when they go on sale.

Are the seats assigned?

Yup. We sold tickets as non-seat specific for, like, seven years and now we're making the bold move into the 1990s by selling assigned seats. So E 27 means you'll sit in seat 27 of row E. Cool, huh?

What if the show is listed as SOLD OUT?

If the show date you're looking for is SOLD OUT that means there are no more tickets for sale, even if it's your birthday or you are Carl Kasell's dentist's cousin's friend. We do have a "first come, first served" waiting list that signs up at 6:00 p.m. on the night of the taping. Sometimes we even have rush tickets. No guarantees but there are no guarantees in life, right?

Also—A rush ticket is when you go to the box office just prior to the start of the show (Usually the last 20 min) and get your ticket for whatever seats they have.

Can I buy tickets and give them to my mom?

Nope. We used to be flexible with this but with scalper websites like Stub Hub and Craigslist putting our tickets on sale for far over the face value of the tickets, the policy in place now is that the purchaser of the tickets must be present with a picture I.D.

Where do I park?

There is no downtown parking affiliated with WWDTM or Chase Bank. For directions, click here. Parking options include the Millennium Park Garage (and a bit of a walk), the SELF Park on Madison just west of the bank, or the street. The Blue Line stops at the bank, however, and I'd suggest parking near a Blue Line stop out of downtown and grabbing that to the show.

Is there anything else I should know?

There are no refunds or exchanges for purchased tickets through WBEZ or NPR. Seriously. See question number one.

CHASE BANK is located at 10 S. Dearborn.

The auditorium has 456 seats.

There is no age limit for audience members although we like to think there is an IQ limit.

Any and all ADA Sign Language Interpreter Requests need to be made within two weeks of expected attendance. Beyond that, we cannot guarantee this service.

If you use a wheelchair and wish to sit in your chair during the taping, go ahead and buy the tickets for anywhere in the auditorium. Then arrive NO LATER than 6:45 PM and I'll escort you down before I open the house to seat you in our handy removeable seat sections.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT Gift Certificates. We are no longer selling open-ended gift certificates for the show. Not because we are all Scroogey or anything like that. I'd suggest you buy tickets to a specific date and bring your giftee with you.

Finally,

If you have a question I failed to address, email our Assistant House Manager, Tyler Greene at tgreene@wbez.org. He's very courteous and patient. You'll like him.

If he fails to answer your question, email me (Don Hall—I'm the snarky one…) at dhall@wbez.org. I will caution you however, if you do not take the time to read the FAQ and then ask a question already answered, I will return your lack of intellectual rigor with sarcasm (I can't help it.).

I can tell if you decided to simply NOT read this. Your questions will expose you.