Peter Sagal

Peter Daniel Sagal (born January 31, 1965) is an American humorist, writer, and host of the National Public Radio game show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! and the PBS special Constitution USA with Peter Sagal.

Early life, family and education Sagal was raised in a Jewish family in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, son of Matthew and Reeva Sagal. Matthew was a telecommunications executive, and Reeva was a schoolteacher who became a stay-at-home mother.

Sagal is a 1987 graduate of Harvard College, Together, they entered a competition to write the Hasty Pudding production and were selected to develop their script "Between the Sheiks".

Career After graduating from Harvard, Sagal pursued several different occupations, all connected to the theater or writing. While living in Los Angeles, he appeared as a contestant on the game show Jeopardy! in April 1988, in which he was placed second.

Sagal then moved to New York to pursue a theater writing career. a humorist, and an author. Sagal has written several plays that have been performed across the United States and internationally.

Screenwriter Sagal has written screenplays, one for a 1996 science fiction / martial arts thriller, Savage (1996 film). He received a story credit for Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, a 2004 sequel to the original Dirty Dancing adapted from his screenplay Cuba Mine.

He appeared as himself in the "Pay Pal" episode of the animated television series The Simpsons. In that episode characters Lisa and Tumi listened to an episode of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! featuring Sagal and announcer Carl Kasell.

Sagal has appeared in three television specials based on his radio show: Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! (2008), Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!: A Royal Pain in the News (2011), and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me Live! (2013).

Sagal has appeared as himself in documentaries. These include:

Constitution USA with Peter Sagal—PBS TV miniseries documentary in 2013 Narrator of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's performance of Leonard Bernstein's operetta Candide National Geographic Explorer—TV series documentary (hosted one episode) in 2016 A Personal Journey Through and To The Constitution—based on the 2013 PBS documentary Constitution USA with Peter Sagal

Journalist A runner of marathons, Sagal writes the Road Scholar column for Runner's World magazine. He has also written for The New York Times Magazine, the Chicago Tribune,

Sagal and the Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! team contributed a feature called Sandwich Monday to The Salt, NPR's food blog. For five years, each Monday the Wait Wait team ate a new and different kind of sandwich for lunch. Then one of the team members would write a tongue-in-cheek blog post describing the food. Sandwiches included Fritos-topped Papa John's pizza, and Burger King's YUMBO.

Author In the early 1990s while he was living in Minneapolis, Sagal was hired to ghostwrite an autobiography of the 1970s pornography director Gail Palmer.

In October 2018 Simon & Schuster published Sagal's memoir The Incomplete Book of Running. In the book Sagal reflects on his journey of becoming a serious runner near the age of 40 and documents his varied experiences in running, including crossing the finish line at the 2013 Boston Marathon moments before the bombing. Donya Currie of the Washington Independent Review of Books wrote of the memoir, "In addition to taking the reader along on some races and training runs, and giving insight into the importance of a supportive running group and good nutrition, Sagal entertains with sprinklings of fascinating research."

Awards and honors The Theater Visions Award for best new play from the Laurie Foundation Named one of the top ten Jewish entertainers from New Jersey by New Jersey Jewish News. The Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! podcast is also heard by a million people every month.

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! has not been without controversy. For instance, in December 2014, Sagal attempted a joke about a Diocese of Brooklyn Christmas ad depicting a young woman taking a selfie with a picture of Jesus. He asked why Jesus did not just take the picture for her, and answered "His hands were occupied." Critics including Fox News host Bill O'Reilly and Dallas First Baptist Church senior pastor Robert Jeffress called the joke blasphemous and accused Sagal specifically and the secular media in general of mocking Christianity. O'Reilly stated that if Sagal's comment was salacious he should be fired. When asked about the incident, NPR President and CEO Jarl Mohn said, "he show's goal is to poke fun at the news and make people laugh" and he "regrets that we didn't succeed in this case".

Personal life Sagal was married from 1994 until his divorce in 2013.