Carl Kasell, Longtime Voice Of NPR, Also Left Great Voice Mails After His Passing

NPR's Carl Kasell (on piano) was a serious journalist, and a
boffo quiz show judge and voice mail provider 

Carl Kasell, the longtime news reader for NPR, died last week at the age of 84.

Upon his retirement from NPR, he got a stint as the funny scorekeeper, judge and prize provider for "Wait Wait....Don't Tell Me!" the humorous NPR news quiz show.  

As Morning Edition anchor before his retirement, Kasell was super serious, but "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!" was his chance to be the comedian for once.

According to NPR:

"Host Peter Sagal says no one could have guessed that Kasell would be so funny. 'The greatest thing about Carl was anything we came up with, he was game,' Sagal says. 'When we were in Las Vegas, we had him come onstage in a showgirl's headdress. No matter what we asked him to do - silly voices, or weird stunts; we had him jump out of a cake once to make his entrance onstage - he did it (with) such joy and dignity."

 "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me," didn't have a budget for prizes to be given to winning contestants, so Kasell just did voice mails for the winners. They were terrific.

Click this link for some examples.