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Brian Lehrer: Now we'll take your calls on your Halloween costumes this year. Whether you've been planning out your costumes since September 1st, or you've rolled out of bed and thrown on a wig this morning, we want to know, listeners, what are you dressing up as this Halloween or what are your kids dressing up as this Halloween? 212-433-WNYC. Yes, we get to have a little Halloween fun. 212-433-9692.

We do acknowledge that it's a Tuesday, and if you're an adult without kids, maybe you've already gotten dressing up out of your system over the weekend, Halloween weekend, you're welcome to tell us what your costume was over the weekend, what got all the giggles at the bar or stunned people at your costume party Saturday night. 212-433-WNYC. Somebody told me that there's a picture floating around the station of somebody who dressed up a dog as me. I haven't seen it yet, but what did you go as over the weekend, or what are you or your kids going as today? 212-433-9692.

We're always interested in political costumes on this show. We always get some very creative political costume call-ins. If you're staying in as your calls are coming in, I also want to alert you to some programming happening here on the station tonight. It's become a tradition on WNYC to run episodes of the public radio show Snap Judgment. Their popular spinoff series, Spooked, to be particular, on Halloween night, and tonight is no exception with two back-to-back episodes of true-life supernatural stories told firsthand by people who can barely believe it happened themselves.

Spooked, and it challenges skeptics of the supernatural, daring listeners to confront the unknown. That's tonight on the station from 9:00 until 11:00. First, right now, we'll find out what you're going as or what your kids are going as, or what you went as over the weekend this Halloween. 212-433-WNYC. We'll take your calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. All right. To your calls on what you're dressing up as or your kids are dressing up as, or you already dressed up as over the weekend for this Halloween. I'll just add that we love a good New York City-themed costume. I mentioned the political ones before the break, so anybody going as your favorite subway line? We've seen that, or perhaps you pulled out your best fleece vest, chinos, and collared shirt to cosplay a finance bro? I'm sure a few of you are wearing this already on this chilly October morning and it's not a costume.

One excellent New York City-themed costume idea we came across in New York magazine was a Rat On The Run. Did you see that, from the Sanitation Department's campaign alerting us all of the new trash set out times earlier this year? All you need to recreate Rat On The Run is a blue carry-on suitcase and a rat onesie. We all have those at home, right? Michael in White Plains you're on WNYC. Hi, Michael.

Michael: Hi. I'm going as a WNYC-listening suburban dad, and I'm giving out treats for grownups; wine, beer, and espresso.

Brian Lehrer: [laughs] Very cute, Michael. Yes, treats for grownups. Why don't they do that? More people should do that. Treats for grownups. All right, Michael. Thank you very much. Oh, and I forgot to say, but some people are doing it anyway, you can also write to us what your costume is on a text message. Listener writes, "My daughter is going as a very fashionable Parisian bedbug." They have a big bedbug outbreak in Paris right now. That's funny. "I'm going as an empty chair labeled, Speaker of the House. A little dated." Admits that listener as they write that in. You can text to 212-433-WNYC, your Halloween costumes as well. Susie in Astoria, you're on WNYC. Hi, Susie.

Susie: Well, hello, and happy Halloween. I am currently dressed as a giant jack-o'-lantern. An orange dress with a collar and a hat. As you know, it was a long holiday weekend. Friday, I was a wayward mime, working a big party called City of Gods. Being a wayward mime, I got to talk to people because that made me wayward. Tonight, for the parade, I will be a very, very long-necked giraffe because as everyone knows, a vampire's favorite animal is a giraffe because it can suck all down the neck. There'll be blood and vampires.

Brian Lehrer: Nice. Do you have a really high giraffe neck costume that you'll put on your head?

Susie: In fact, it's about 5 feet long, about the diameter or size of a hula hoop because the theme is Round and Round, I think, this year. I'm a round neck with a little head sticking out, little tiny arms at the bottom, and vampires.

Brian Lehrer: Susie, you are the best. Thank you very much. Have fun out there at the parade tonight. Claire in Bay Shore, you're on WNYC. Hi, Claire. What are you going as?

Claire: Hi, Brian. I'm going as a basket case.

Brian Lehrer: How do you do that?

Claire: I take two loosely woven-- the type of bread baskets you could get at a dollar store and you string them together with ribbons that will tie below your chin, but you do it bottom to bottom, and I've taken a dish towel or something soft, a face cloth, to put in the basket that goes on my head. Then I tie it around my chin and I walk around as a basket case.

Brian Lehrer: Did you ever do that one before?

Claire: Yes, I have.

Brian Lehrer: Did people get it?

Claire: Yes, they did. I did it at work and people thought it was hilarious.

Brian Lehrer: Claire, it sounds hilarious. Have fun being a basket case. Joseph in Mahopac, you're on WNYC. Hi, Joseph.

Joseph: Hi. Thanks for taking my call. I'm dressing up as a heat pump. I worked for a small nonprofit in Putnam County, New York called Sustainable Putnam. I'm trying to convince people to convert their home heating system from a fossil-fueled system to electric heat pumps.

Brian Lehrer: A climate activist Halloween costume. How do you dress up as a heat pump?

Joseph: Well, it's a little hard to describe, but essentially, the indoor unit goes over my head. It's a piece of cardboard actually, but it looks like the indoor unit to a heat pump. Then the outdoor unit is around my body with the fan around my belly.

Brian Lehrer: Neat. Joseph, thank you very much. That's our climate story of the week. John in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, John. What are you going as?

John: Hi, Brian. Well, the kids got us into a Super Mario Bros group costume this year. I'm Mario, my son is Luigi, my daughter is Princess Peach, and they decided my wife was going to be Toad. We've been running around all weekend doing our thing, and I've been jumping around saying, "Itsumi, Mario," and someone stopped me and informed me that itsumi in Japanese means superb or super. This whole time we've been thinking Mario is saying, "It's-a-me, Mario," in an Italian accent. He's actually been saying, "Super, Mario," in Japanese.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, that is awesome. I love the group costumes when people get together and dress up as different people from a group like that. I love when those families come to my door. That is awesome, John. Thank you very much. Celia in Riverdale, you're on WNYC. Hi, Celia.

Celia: Hi, Brian. My granddaughter is in eighth grade and she and eight of her friends are going as Pitbull the singer, with bald heads and everything.

Brian Lehrer: A whole group of them going as the same thing?

Celia: Yes. There's nine Pitbulls in eighth grade today.

Brian Lehrer: [giggles] Thank you very much. Kerry in Uniondale, you're on WNYC. Hi, Kerry.

Kerry: Hi, Brian. My nine-year-old is going as a military Barbie and my five-year-old is Bingo from the Bluey show. Do you know that show?

Brian Lehrer: No, but I'll take your word for it.

Kerry: Oh, okay. Really popular. Then I'm the [unintelligible 00:09:25].

Brian Lehrer: A big show with the kids, I know.

Kerry: Yes, it's a big show for the kids. I'm just going as the mom who's [unintelligible 00:09:31] kids around trick or treating all day.

Brian Lehrer: [giggles] Kerry, have fun out there. A few coming in via text message. Listener writes, "I was over the weekend, zombie Donald Trump. You can't kill me, and Donald Jr., will be my vice president so I can die in office, but the ring continues." That's the theme that they laid out in the text message and described the costume. I guess you can imagine it, zombie Donald Trump. Let's see. "Hi, not a costume but a Halloween riddle." Oh, this person is not revealing the answer to the riddle, so I'm not going to read it on the air. Instead, I'm going to go to Sam in Brooklyn. Hi, Sam. This is about a costume you saw, right?

Sam: Correct. This is a costume I saw on the subway the other day. The woman is wearing a black dress with a white outfit over it and she has little signs attached to her. One says [unintelligible 00:10:30], one says ego, one says transference, one says superego. I'm looking at her and trying to figure out what it is, and I finally realized that she was a Freudian slip.

Brian Lehrer: [laughs] That's hilarious, Sam. I'm glad you passed it on. Jane in Wantagh, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jane.

Jane: Hello. Hi, Brian. I was just telling the answering person, I was a traffic cone and my son was Bob the Builder and my spouse was a bat. Not all together, just each our own little thing.

Brian Lehrer: Bob the Builder with a traffic cone, very nice. Let's see. Peter in St. Petersburg, you're on WNYC. Hello, Peter.

Peter: Yes, thank you for my call.

Brian Lehrer: That's Florida, not Russia, I presume.

Peter: Yes. Here's my costume. Now, it's really two costumes. You've got to imagine you're viewing from the side, and so it's a coffin. Well, below the waist, I'm a grave digger. You see my legs and a dummy carrying the coffin on his back. Above the coffin, the coffin is open. Above the waist, I'm Dracula waking up, looking around. I'm carrying myself to a grave. What do you think?

Brian Lehrer: I think it's really scary, Peter. Thank you very much. All right, we're about out of time for this. I'm going to mention a text that just came in responding to the Freudian slip caller. Apparently, there was a movie reference there. Listener writes, "The actress, Meg Ryan, played a Freudian slip in a movie called D.O.A a long time ago." Oh, and the other person just texted the answer. The answer is in my riddle, a Halloween riddle. "What kind of shoes do ghosts wear?" I don't know. I don't get it.

Somebody's going to have to text me the answer to that. Do we have a last one? Let's see. Oh, this is a political one. Michael in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Michael: Hey, Brian. Thanks so much for taking my call. I really, really love your programming. I am going this evening as an evangelical. [chuckles] I have a vintage 1975 powder blue suit with-- It's a three-piece suit with great big lapels, and I have vintage cowboy boots, and I'm going to paint my face white and go out.

Brian Lehrer: Because I don't want to insult evangelicals, but you're really going as a televangelist is what you're going as, right?

Michael: Yes, that would be more accurate, as a caricature. It's a caricature.

Brian Lehrer: You have the Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson vibe there, right?

Michael: Yes. [laughs]

Brian Lehrer: Okay, Michael, thank you very much.

Michael: All in good humor. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Brian Lehrer: Michael going as a televangelist. Last one in text message, for all the creative different kinds of things that people do, the classics still matter, and somebody wrote, "Just placing a bed sheet over my head and cutting eyelid holes." Classic. Yes, it is. Yes, it counts. Have fun, everybody, out there on Halloween night. Brian Lehrer on WNYC. One more segment to come. Stay with us.

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