#4346 The Cold Stove League

Summary

Podcast Summary: TBTL #4346 - "The Cold Stove League"

Episode Information

• Title: The Cold Stove League
• Release Date: November 27, 2024
• Hosts: Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh
• Description: Hosted by longtime friends Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh, Too Beautiful To Live (TBTL) navigates the whimsical and serious aspects of daily life, blending humor with insightful discussions on a variety of topics.

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1. Introduction and Setting the Scene

The episode kicks off with Luke Burbank humorously addressing potential biases in his reporting, paying homage to his role model, Walter Cronkite. Luke quips, “He gave me a gift I can never repay, a $25 gift card to coconuts. If only I had used it before all their locations closed. Tbtl.” (00:00). This lighthearted start sets the tone for an episode filled with camaraderie and playful banter between the hosts.

Andrew Walsh joins in with playful skepticism about the podcast’s relevance, leading to a humorous exchange about their potential earnings:

• Andrew: “We can make a lot of money on this. If you're making these out of thin air, I mean, there's no overhead. We're gonna be rich. Oh, my God. One hundo a day, both of us.” (00:55)
• Luke: “Five hundo a week.” (01:03)

This banter underscores the show's informal and friendly dynamic.

2. Personal Milestones and Birthday Celebrations

The hosts celebrate Luke's birthday with heartfelt yet humorous exchanges:

• Andrew: “Happy birthday.” (03:05)
• Luke: Shares a personal story about receiving a birthday message from Gretchen, an Oakland A's fan considering switching allegiance to the Dodgers. Luke reflects, “I am not going to answer how I'm doing because that's irrelevant. Now what I need to do is convince her not to be a Dodgers fan.” (04:14)

This segment highlights the hosts' personal lives and their knack for intertwining them with broader topics.

3. Sports Talk: Baseball and the Mariners

a. Gretchen’s Team Dilemma

Luke discusses his conversation with Gretchen, who is contemplating shifting her support from the Oakland A's to the Dodgers. He humorously attempts to persuade her by offering to buy Dylan Moore jerseys:

• Luke: “How many Dylan Moore jerseys do I have to buy you to bring you over to the Mariners?” (04:31)

Andrew joins the conversation, adding his thoughts on the longevity of player associations:

• Andrew: “It’s like Ichiro’s assistant.” (04:43)

b. Seattle Mariners’ Offseason and Media Coverage

The hosts delve into the state of the Seattle Mariners, critiquing their offseason preparations and the Seattle Times' focus on minor updates:

• Andrew: “The Mariners are emotionally at the point where they're ready to hire a new hitting coach... this is the lowest level of news you could be giving me.” (08:35)

Luke echoes these sentiments, emphasizing the need to support dedicated sports writers:

• Luke: “Let’s keep these guys employed. Let’s keep the paychecks coming in because... they are scouring the dregs of November non-news to try to justify their jobs as Mariners beat writers.” (09:55)

c. The Extension Cord Saga

A significant portion of the episode revolves around Luke’s neighbor, Seth, and his extended use of an outdoor electrical socket:

• Luke: Narrates the issue where Seth, a helpful contractor, has left an extension cord strung across their walkway for over 20 days, causing mild frustration.

Andrew probes into the situation with humor:

• Andrew: “Are you trying to ask someone on a date or something?” (40:26)

The conversation explores themes of neighborly assistance, communication breakdowns, and the patience required in communal living situations.

4. Family and Work-Life Balance

Andrew shares insights into his relationship with his father, highlighting their differences in work ethics and boundaries:

• Andrew: “My dad is in his 70s... he just does it.” (33:29)

This segment delves into generational differences in approaches to work and personal boundaries, adding depth to the hosts' personal narratives.

5. Donor Acknowledgments

The hosts take a moment to thank their supporters, acknowledging individuals from various locations who contribute to the sustainability of TBTL:

• Andrew: “Thank you, Julie. Also, Alice Weimers and Gabe Claire of Davidson, North Carolina...” (53:04)

These acknowledgments foster a sense of community and appreciation among listeners.

6. Comedy Spotlight: Chris Fleming

A notable portion of the episode is dedicated to discussing Chris Fleming's stand-up comedy, particularly his bit titled "Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me":

• Andrew: Describes receiving multiple fan messages about Chris Fleming’s performance: “Chris Fleming is a very funny person... tied to the show we work on, which is funny.” (56:17)

Chris Fleming’s routine satirizes public radio humor, leading to mixed reactions from the hosts:

• Chris Fleming (Clip): “Where are they recording? Wait, wait, don’t tell me... these elder neoliberals are just...” (57:57)

Andrew expresses a sense of defensiveness towards the portrayal, while Luke emphasizes the humor and relatability:

• Andrew: “It's hard for me to listen to that without feeling slightly personally dissed...” (65:03)
• Luke: “But it's a rich topic because he's basically like, roasting this thing that everyone has a shared experience with.” (66:33)

This discussion highlights the complexities of comedy and personal identity within public discourse.

7. Closing Remarks and Final Thoughts

As the episode winds down, the hosts reiterate their thanks to donors and briefly touch upon upcoming events and personal anecdotes:

• Andrew: “Please join us for that. In the meantime, have a great Wednesday, take care of yourselves and please remember, no mountain too tall and good luck to all.” (74:04)

Luke adds a humorous sign-off related to the extension cord issue:

• Luke: “Power out.” (74:38)

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Notable Quotes

• Luke Burbank (00:00): “He gave me a gift I can never repay, a $25 gift card to coconuts. If only I had used it before all their locations closed. Tbtl.”

• Andrew Walsh (00:55): “We can make a lot of money on this. If you're making these out of thin air, I mean, there's no overhead. We're gonna be rich. Oh, my God. One hundo a day, both of us.”

• Andrew Walsh (08:35): “The Mariners are emotionally at the point where they're ready to hire a new hitting coach... this is the lowest level of news you could be giving me.”

• Andrew Walsh (72:43): “All right, so on that. On that note, Andrew. And again, I want to be. I want to be. I want to be clear here and say that I'm an American hero...”

• Chris Fleming (57:57): “Where are they recording? Wait, wait, don’t tell me... these elder neoliberals are just...”

Key Takeaways

• Personal Relationships: The episode delves into the complexities of neighborly relationships and familial bonds, highlighting both the perks and frustrations that come with close-knit communities.

• Sports Fandom: A significant focus on baseball, particularly the Seattle Mariners, showcases the hosts' deep engagement with sports and their critical perspectives on team management and media coverage.

• Humor and Defensiveness: The segment on Chris Fleming's comedy underscores how humor can intersect with personal identity, eliciting both appreciation and defensive reactions from the hosts.

• Community and Support: Acknowledging donors emphasizes the importance of community support in sustaining creative endeavors like TBTL.

Conclusion

In "The Cold Stove League," TBTL #4346 delivers a blend of personal anecdotes, sports commentary, and comedic critique, all wrapped in the hosts' signature humor and candidness. Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh navigate through everyday frustrations, celebrate milestones, and engage in thoughtful discussions, making the episode both entertaining and relatable for listeners.

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Timestamp Reference:

• 00:00 - System Introduction
• 00:55 - Andrew on Podcast Viability
• 03:05 - Birthday Greetings
• 04:14 - Conversation with Gretchen
• 08:35 - Mariners’ Offseason News
• 33:29 - Andrew on Father's Work Ethic
• 53:04 - Donor Acknowledgments
• 56:17 - Chris Fleming's Comedy Clip
• 65:03 - Andrew on Defensiveness
• 74:04 - Closing Remarks

Note: The timestamps correspond to the points in the transcript where significant discussions occur.

Transcript

[Luke Burbank]

Before we say goodnight, I just want to take a moment to address any perceptions out there regarding bias in my reporting. In divided times such as these, I'm reminded of one of my great heroes, Walter Cronkite. Because of him, I have the integrity to stay firmly impartial. He gave me a gift I can Never repay, a $25 gift card to coconuts. If only I had used it before all their locations closed. Tbtl.

[Andrew Walsh]

I've seen it for years.

[Chris Fleming]

I've warned about it. I hoped with all my heart I wouldn't experience it, I wouldn't see it.

[Andrew Walsh]

But it's now here. What's even the point in this freaking podcast?

[Luke Burbank]

Doesn't even make sense. Why would anybody listen to it? I yell at you because I love you. You listen to me because you love me. Is this a weird dynamic?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, sure. From the outside.

[Luke Burbank]

You know what, dude?

[Andrew Walsh]

We can make a lot of money on this. If you're making these out of thin air, I mean, there's no overhead. We're gonna be rich. Oh, my God. One hundo a day, both of us.

[Luke Burbank]

Five hundo a week.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's rich.

[Luke Burbank]

That's it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, all right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Wednesday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. It's a kind of magic. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. Welcome to the Internet. Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia on a foggy day before Thanksgiving. A foggy day. We don't really say Thanksgiving Eve. Christmas Eve is the only. Is the only day before something that gets the Eve treatment. We don't say Fourth of July Eve. It's a special designation for December 24th. Today is November 27th, I believe. And we are bringing you episode 4346, Six in a Collector series. I also believe.

[Luke Burbank]

Let the fun begin.

[Andrew Walsh]

I had one job yesterday. It was at the very top of the show sheet and it was ask Andrew about the extension cord situation.

[Chris Fleming]

Can you. Can you verify. Can you give me some 41 1.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I absolutely failed at that one job yesterday with the whole show and never asked him. So we will follow up on that today. Also, I have received a piece of comedy performance easily from 10 different people this one particular piece of standup comedy.

[Luke Burbank]

Please welcome God's one and only voice of comedy.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I will be honest with you, I have complicated feelings around the whole thing. We'll play you the piece of comedy and then we'll talk about it. Speaking of God's one true voice of comedy. Look who it is. It's the longest running cobro of the show. Maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ship. Oh, he's hilarious dog. Who is he is Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend and also hbd.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you. Work from home. My birthday today. Hbd.

[Andrew Walsh]

Get that out of the way right here, right now. It's your birthday. Happy birthday.

[Luke Burbank]

I have a conundrum here. On my birthday, I heard from a friend, my friend Gretchen, who we hung out in Los Angeles quite a bit, but we're not in touch all that frequently. But she checks in from time to time on my birthday. She sent me a happy birthday text today. Now, Gretchen is a lifelong Oakland A's fan, a very long time baseball fan her whole life. A's fan, that's a tough draw. Yes. I think goes to just games like me. I think would get there like two hours early. Just sit in the stands by yourself for hours before the game would begin on a sunny day. So I said, hey man, I'm sorry to hear about your A's. Like, how are you doing? And she said, you know, I haven't decided who my new team will be. I hope it's okay. This is a private conversation, but I think it's okay to share it here. She said, I've been a casual Dodgers fan for years, but I'm such a foul weather fan, I'm not sure I can get back with them post World Series, how are you doing? And now I. I'm not going to answer how I'm doing because that's irrelevant. Now what I need to do is convince her not to be a Dodgers.

[Andrew Walsh]

Fan any way possible that her birthday present to you is not becoming a Dodger fan.

[Luke Burbank]

That was originally what I was gonna reply, but instead I wrote, and maybe this is where I could use your help because I think I went with the wrong name here. I wrote, oh, no, please don't go to the Dodgers. How many Dylan Moore jerseys do I have to buy you to bring you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Over to the Mariners demo?

[Luke Burbank]

I'm trying to figure out like what would be.

[Andrew Walsh]

How many Josh Rojas jerseys do I have?

[Luke Burbank]

Your timing on that one might not be great, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Really? Why?

[Luke Burbank]

I'm trying to figure out. Trying to figure out like who is the. Who is the funniest Mariner, Huh? You know, because I was gonna. I could say Vogelbach, but I don't think to a ca. Not a casual baseball fan. But I don't think to a non mariner specific baseball fan, you associate Vogelbach with the M's probably right. Like did we.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it's been a. It's been a while. The thing about Vogelbach is his presence is noted on every team. He's on exactly his unusual dimensions for a pro athlete. And so, yeah, he's kind of the property of whatever fan base has him at the moment. Whereas, like, I don't know if I don't.

[Luke Burbank]

It doesn't have to be current. I kind of like the fact that it's antiquated, but I don't. But I'm with you that Vogelbach is not like imprinted to the Mariners in.

[Andrew Walsh]

The way that I. I mean, we could go with the. The old standby Ryan court.

[Luke Burbank]

How many Ryan court. How many signed or. No, I don't have a signed ball. Like let's.

[Andrew Walsh]

How many actual Ryan court foul balls do I have to offer for you to sweeten this deal?

[Luke Burbank]

Right. I have. Let's see here. Actually, what I have is I have one actual Ryan court foul ball and I have this that I found at a flea market. I believe maybe that. That antique store in Bellingham. A collector's American League West Mariners Championship 1995. A collector's baseball here. The kind of. The hard kind that you wouldn't play with because it's like a collectible one. Yeah, that's.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think that is so 95. That was the amazing comeback year.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. That's where they actually broke the division tie to actually go to the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, we had a play in game against.

[Luke Burbank]

Against the California Angels at the time.

[Andrew Walsh]

The good old California Angels.

[Luke Burbank]

I believe I have that on a VHS tape and on YouTube now because I digitized it and that's where I learned that YouTube. If you digitize an entire classic baseball game and upload it, YouTube will find the memorable moments and say, oh, there's a copyright here where so. And snatch stole this home run at the wall.

[Andrew Walsh]

We only copy written the good parts though. There's a lot of like, there's a lot of two. Two fastballs that were just off the plate that ran it to a full count that we're not put. No one's enforcing the copyright on.

[Luke Burbank]

I could look this up, but do you know who I think was a reliever in that exact play in game?

[Andrew Walsh]

In the play in game who was a reliever?

[Luke Burbank]

Stubborn best friend hanging out watching the sheriff watching Seahawks game.

[Andrew Walsh]

Absolutely. Well, that would have been. I mean that was. That was. That was prime. The prime Norm Shar Now I want to call Norm Charlotte, Norm Charlton era, Andrew, because it's your birthday. I thought my present to you is. Let's just briefly talk about the Mariners here at the top of the show.

[Luke Burbank]

You're just allowing. I'm like, wow, we're really. He's really allowing this.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, you want to talk about cold stove league? November 27th is about as irrelevant as baseball can be, but our beloved Seattle Mariners are. I don't know. I just. I. It just feels like, you know, the brakes are beating the boys just about everywhere you look these days, whether it's politics, whether it's the media entities that are flourishing versus the ones that are struggling. You know, all of it. It's just. And I'll throw the Mariners on the list. It's like, of course, the Mariners, you know, are once again going into the off season without being ready to spend any real money. And the poor Seattle Times, they're trying to, you know, they're trying to make things feel sort of, you know, important and. And meaningful. I get this email from the Seattle Times breaking Mariners, Mariners ready to hire new hitting coach. Oh, yeah, I saw that wasn't.

[Luke Burbank]

It's not going to be Edgar. Edgar has a new title that is basically like, hitting coach who doesn't have to leave home. Did you see that? He did. Basically, Edgar doesn't have to go on the road.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's like Ichiro. Ichiro's assistant. Yeah, whatever.

[Luke Burbank]

Assistant to the. Ichiro.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, Assistant to the guy we still let suit up and shag fly balls for some reason before the game. But, like, it wasn't even. The Mariners are hiring a new hitting coach, which, by the way, a hitting coach in baseball is a very important job. It's, you know, can be very important in terms of how your hitters perform. So it is a thing. But it's like, I don't know, every team has a hitting coach. It's not the manager. It's sort of like. It's a little squishy to me as to. As to how important the hitting coach can be. And then this isn't even saying we know who it is. It's just saying, basically, the Mariners are on. On. On November 24th in the year of our Lord 2024. We are breaking into your email feed to let you know that the Mariners are emotionally at the point where they're ready to hire a new hitting coach. And it was just like, this is the lowest level of news you could be giving me.

[Luke Burbank]

Here's how I want you to think about this as I believe I am a huge fan of Ryan Divish and I'm also a fan of Adam Jude, who writes for the Times about the mariners. And it's November 27th right now. Like, let's keep these guys employed. Like if they want to write. If they want to write about, like the Mariners are considering a new brand of sunflower seed for the duck. Actually, that would be a really interesting story.

[Andrew Walsh]

But anyway, whatever. The, like, button on that.

[Luke Burbank]

Just like, let's keep these guys writing. Let's keep the paychecks coming in because it is. We are like just, you know, what do you do to the dregs? They are scouring the dregs of November non news to try to justify their jobs as Mariners beat writers. Absolutely.

[Andrew Walsh]

And if they. You're right. If they go away, all I'm going to have to listen to is tight on Gonzalez.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Whatever the hell that show is that I hear endlessly advertised on Sirius Satellite while I'm trying to listen to the Mariners game.

[Luke Burbank]

You don't. I listen to that podcast Locked on Mariners and not be confused with Locked.

[Andrew Walsh]

On Sports, which we actually played a selection from yesterday. The David Locke Show.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, that's right. Which is a little bit different. But yeah, the Locked on Mariners is part of the Locked on sports network, but a different Locked. It didn't occur to me that we have some, some copyright infringement or at least some trademark confusion. There maybe is a better way of putting that. But anyway, I, sometimes I listen to that. I just think I need to protect Luke from this because the show is two hosts and one is, you know, a pretty. A pretty go along, get along guy. They both know baseball really well. The other guy is a little bit more of a savant. Like, he really knows baseball. He really, he knows who these players are from the. From the moment they apparently leave the womb. You know what I mean?

[Andrew Walsh]

They become a twinkle in someone's eye in Venezuela.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. Like, he really does know baseball and he really does know baseball players. But he is the grumpiest, most unfun person and they've tried to.

[Andrew Walsh]

I have him locked on the text chain.

[Luke Burbank]

You certainly would.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, I ran into some. Well, I don't know if it's trouble or not, but I noticed during the Seahawks game on Sunday that. So this was the second Sunday in a row where I found myself at home with. Able to give the game my full attention. And I've been kind of, I've been patting myself on the back this, this football season. This is your second birthday. It's Actually your early Christmas present. Now we can talk about the Seahawks.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

But like, I've been patting myself on the back a lot this year about the Seahawks, saying that I've had a pretty. I have not let the fact that there's a game dominate my Sunday. Like, if Becca and I have plans or if we're just hanging out, I'm not going to turn the whole Sunday into sort of like a Seahawks obsession kind of thing. And I've been proud of myself over that because I do think it's been good for my relationship. It's been good for my relationship with the team. But by happenstance, the last two Sundays, I've actually just been home with nothing specific other than various home improvement duties, nothing specific on the calendar other than the Seahawks. And I'm realizing that it takes me no time to just absolutely lock back in on my obsession. And what I realized was Locked on obsession.

[Luke Burbank]

That that could be your.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's my podcast.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Contribution from the Locked on network. It's Luke Locked on obsessing over the.

[Luke Burbank]

Seahawks from the Locked On Mental Health podcast network.

[Andrew Walsh]

From the Locked in as he's on.

[Luke Burbank]

A 5150 from the locked up podcast network.

[Andrew Walsh]

So, like, what I realized was you were probably doing your pop up. I know my brothers were at the game. David and his wife Alicia were at the game, and my brother Sammy and my mother were at the game. So. So my sibs were sort of out of the mix because they were enjoying the game in an irl, as was Ders.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know if you know that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I. Well, I don't, because you haven't blocked.

[Luke Burbank]

But he was at the game as well.

[Andrew Walsh]

All I know is that I. I think it was. Stu popped in to say something funny about Ders's level of like, you know, chicken Littleing, like the sky was falling. And I think Stu said something to like, the first peep on our fun loving criminals thing on Sunday for a very. A hugely important Seahawks game. That I see is Stu kind of laughing at the fact that he sees all these, like, panicked texts from Ders, and then he looks at the score and realizes the Seahawks are in okay shape right now.

[Luke Burbank]

Right. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then I throw in my Westworld, Evan Rachel Wood, you know, little meme. I'm trying to bring that back, by the way. And I've actually been really enjoying in my personal relationships throwing good old fashioned gifts into the mix.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, yeah, I Love a GIF.

[Andrew Walsh]

GIFs. You know, it's. I feel like that has gone Very out of fashion, but I'm ready for it to come.

[Luke Burbank]

I've been making gifts. I'm just getting. Well, no, no, just like, come on.

[Andrew Walsh]

By the way, dude, those are the.

[Luke Burbank]

Pink Panther gifts last night. I mean, yeah, I was actually thinking of the newsletter, but. Yeah, that's right. I stayed up. Those were really. In the morning making Pink Panther gifts again last night.

[Andrew Walsh]

Time well spent.

[Luke Burbank]

How are you dealing with the post election?

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm dealing with it by enjoying your Pink Panther gifts. No, those were really good, man. But. But I. In my own life, I think I've just subbed in the. Like a cry. Like a laugh crying emoji. That's just how I punctuate everything now, which is, I'm sure, loads of fun for people I text with. But I. I've kind of gone back to throwing in a little gif here and there, and it's. It's, you know, it's a little nostalgia hit. I enjoy it. But all that is to say, on Sunday, there was a point that I realized, again, I'm not seeing what Ders is posting, so maybe for you, there was a little more activity in there, but I had posted five posts in a row. Like, I was. I was yelling into a void on Sunday, and at some point I was like, this is a bad look. I need to stop doing this.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I wasn't following along. I usually, when I get done with pop up, I look down and I see, oh, there's been a whole bunch of. There's been a whole bunch of activity. But I, you know, I kind of try to keep an eye on the score when I'm there, but I'm not following the ins and outs. I always say. I always have this fantasy of, like, well, if the Seahawks win, I'll maybe come home and see if there's a. If there's a version online that I can find and sort of rewatch, but then I kind of never do it. Sunday Night Football's on. You know, like, that's what I end up seeing more of. Yeah. So I just saw. I just saw a whole bunch of text messages that I have to then kind of reconstruct into time.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sure. I.

[Luke Burbank]

Later.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is there any other than a fruit fly? Is there something with a shorter lifespan than in the moment?

[Luke Burbank]

An emotional text in the moment. I will say, though, I think about this a lot, like, almost exactly what you describe with the Seahawks. But I remember, and this was probably a couple of seasons ago, like, the text chain was rocking during a Mariners game, that if I'm Being honest probably didn't matter that much because it was a baseball game. You know what I mean? Like, it has to happen at a very specific time of year for it to be important.

[Andrew Walsh]

So chances are there are no unimportant. How many times, Andrew, what I say. I. What I always say to you on Cold Stove League, Is there no unimportant baseball game?

[Luke Burbank]

That's right. I have 168 fingers, and I wouldn't cut any of them off.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thank you.

[Luke Burbank]

Do I have that right? That sounded wrong.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's 162.

[Luke Burbank]

162. Well, you haven't heard my ideas about the expanded season, my friend. Which is what I want to. Man.

[Andrew Walsh]

Fred.

[Luke Burbank]

Which is what I want to talk about after the donors.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, you know what? It's your birthday, Andrew. Anything goes.

[Luke Burbank]

I do like the fact this.

[Andrew Walsh]

I've asked.

[Luke Burbank]

This is a free wheel and Bob Dylan right here.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, I've officially petitioned Rob Men Manfred to add six games in honor of your birthday.

[Luke Burbank]

I'll be honest with you. I grow. I woke up a little bit grumpy today, so I appreciate you just letting us do what we got to do here at the time to help me find my smile, but there was a game where we were all on the thread, and for some reason, it just felt like life or death, and we were just so. You know, you're just always so mad at the Mariners. You love the Mariners, but you're always so mad at them. Because even if maybe the game wasn't, you know, maybe it was in June or something, and maybe there wasn't a lot on the line, it's still. You see, trends. There are frustrations. I don't have to explain this to you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Dash expectations.

[Luke Burbank]

There was one time where we were just, like, so mad and negative and toxic and going back and forth and back and forth. And then Stubbot, who's like, you know, in a time zone, you know, two time zones away, like, wakes up in the morning and looks at the text message. He's like, you guys won 14 to 2. Like, what are you even. He's like, there's nothing like following the Seattle sports thread. Easy for you to say.

[Andrew Walsh]

Byron Buxton.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, Stew, do they still have Byron Buxton?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, maybe he left.

[Luke Burbank]

I can't follow.

[Andrew Walsh]

I meant in. I meant in those days. Like, I was. It was just.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, no.

[Andrew Walsh]

Trying to. I'm constantly seeing. I'm counting. I'm always counting everyone else's money in sports, like, well, yeah, you don't get to be mad because you have, you know, you want. You went to the World Series 10 years ago or something.

[Luke Burbank]

I was. I did wake up this morning. Maybe one of the reasons I'm grumpy is I wanted to send. Stu bought some sort of a Daniel Jones tweet, but I just couldn't figure out a text. But I couldn't figure out. I couldn't figure out what the joke was. And so, yeah, I was just mad at myself, and I just took a frustrated shower. I took a cold shower.

[Andrew Walsh]

I feel like if you could get into the interior of some of those Pink Panther characters which don't have voices. One of them. Who is grumpy? It's because he couldn't think of a good Daniel Jones joke to send his.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. And Buxton is definitely still with the twins. I don't know why. I don't know why.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think he's on the market maybe.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

I thought I saw something the other day that was like. There was. But I could be. I could be hallucinating. All that is to say, Andrew, what is going on with your extension cord?

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, right.

[Andrew Walsh]

And extension.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can I guess?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

You said it's neighbor related. Neighborhood related or neighbor related?

[Luke Burbank]

Both. Both, but mostly neighbor related.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. Is the. Does the extension cord. Is the extension cord on your property or a neighbor's property?

[Luke Burbank]

Our proposal. Birdie.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, is it an animal, a mineral, or.

[Luke Burbank]

Wait, that's not extension core?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah, Birdie.

[Luke Burbank]

No, keep going. Actually, this is because I was. Because when I told you I wanted to tell you about this, there have been some updates that I think take a little bit of the steam out of the story. Maybe a little bit. But I'm actually enjoying this guessing game. I don't know if the listener is. You have a theory. So I told you I have a somewhat. You can guess that it's probably a somewhat. Maybe frustrating or slightly touchy. Slightly touchy story about an extension cord related to my neighbors. That's all you knew coming in. What other questions do you have?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, okay, I'll make a guess. Are they. Are they using your extension cord without asking?

[Luke Burbank]

No.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, close.

[Luke Burbank]

But they're using something of ours.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, but it's not your extension cord. Is it something that plugs into an extension?

[Luke Burbank]

What does an extension cord carry?

[Andrew Walsh]

Electricity.

[Luke Burbank]

Electricity. Excuse me?

[Andrew Walsh]

Electricity.

[Luke Burbank]

No, it's actually not about the electricity usage, but here's the deal. I'll tell you the story, and it's not a huge deal, but. So we have a neighbor named Seth. I guess I'll name And hope that he doesn't hear this. Although, again, nothing's really wrong here. But we have a neighbor named Seth who is a really. He's been like, kind of a little. A little. He's been like a contractor for little jobs for us. Like, he's the one who installed the human door on the garage.

[Andrew Walsh]

He's great to work with your porch and stuff.

[Luke Burbank]

He extended our porch out. Like, honestly, nothing but. Nothing but praise for this guy. In fact, we've tried to hook him up with other friends who have projects going on. And so anyway, and he lives just down the street from us, and I'm glad to know him as a neighbor. We've gotten to know each other better. Oh, he's a big fan of Bingo the cat. We got to know each other better. Who isn't right? And so anyway, he texted me a while back and just. Actually, you know what? I had a missed phone call from him, I think maybe during an episode of TBTL or something. I'm like, a missed phone call from Seth? And there was a voicemail that went along with it, but for some reason, this has never happened before. The voicemail would not play. There was some glitch in the system. And my machine just kept trying to play it and saying, my machine. My phone, which is a machine, like my visual voicemail or whatever it's called on my phone would not play it just like corrupted file or whatever. I'm like, okay. I'm like, this is. But we're not working with Seth right now. This is probably just a pocket dial, right? And eventually I'm like, well, I'll text him. I text him. I'm just like, hey. And this is like, again, actually, yeah, the original voicemail came in at like 10:00am and then probably like 2:00 in the afternoon or something. I text him like, hey, did you actually try to call me before? Was that a pocket dial or whatever? He's like, yeah, you know, I'm doing work on your neighbor's house next door, and I'm just wondering if I can plug. If I can use your outdoor electrical socket. And I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, we have one right at our. We have one at our front door. You would know where it is because it's the one he used when he was working on the deck. So, you know, so. Yeah. Do you have a. Not even said you have a cord long enough. I have a really long cord if you need to add to yours in our garage. He's like, no, no, I got a very Long cord. It's great. So he plugs it in. Now, keep in mind. So this is if you. If you want to picture our house, you're staring at our front door. Okay. It's yellow now, by the way Genevieve painted it. So you're staring at our front door. The power cable would be to the right of the door. Down. Down by your feet, sort of, you know, down low.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yep, yep.

[Luke Burbank]

But the neighbor's house is to the left. Right. So in other words, he plugs in his cable and then carefully strings it kind of across our. Not across our doorway, but across, like the steps and the walkway, you know, so we do have to step over it and then it goes kind of around our house, over the neighbor's fence, and then to their front yard where he's working on things. And I do sort of wonder, like, well, you're working on their thing. Do they not have power? They must not have outdoor power. You would think you would just like crack a door and plug it inside, but maybe nobody was home or whatever. Not a big deal. I'm like, yes, literally, I'm happy to do this for a neighbor. It is literally nothing. I don't do anything for my neighbors. Of course you can use our power. So he strings it across, and then it stays there that night. And then Genevieve's like, what's with the core?

[Andrew Walsh]

They're running a hydroponic grow operation.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. There's a lot of empty. It's not Advil. What do they used to make meth with? A lot of Robitussin bottles? I don't even know. I can't even make good drug jokes anymore. I'm too old. Anyway. So he runs. And then Genevieve's like, what's with the power cable? I'm like, oh, you know, Seth is just using it. She's like, okay. So then I'm like, oh, this must be a two day job or whatever. And then it just stays there. And it just stays there. And then. And this is where I'm thinking to myself, I think Genevieve maybe is more conscious of it than me. Like, maybe she steps over it a little bit more. It's not, I gotta stress, it's not in the way. It's not causing anything. But, you know, eventually the conversation is kind of like, well, how, Andrew, how long is Seth using that for? I'm like, I don't know. Like, I thought it was just a day. And then. And this is why I brought it up to you. I think maybe I told you on Friday or Monday. Oh, we should Talk about this. Because I looked out on my phone, and I was just like, how long has that been there? And the day that I told you that I wanted to talk about this, it was day number 20. Because I did what? Wait, today's the 27th? I think it was like, the 3rd. He reached out and maybe I told you on the 23rd. Or maybe it was like. So I was kind of like, in my head. Because kind of in my head, I've been like, wow, this. What I thought was just one day has been one week. And I'm like, wait, I know we've had two weekends now. And then I looked at my thing. I was like, he texted me on whatever day it is now, that day plus 20. That's kind of a long time, given that the original text message was, hey, can I use your power? You know what I mean? On a random Wednesday or whatever. It wasn't like, hey, I'm working on this project for a while. Can I run a cable for a few days even? And then a few days become more than that. I just literally thought, you're using power for a couple of hours, and then this is where it sort of resolves itself. I'm like, well, we're having people over for Thanksgiving. I mean, obviously, I could just unplug it and throw it over the fence. But Genevieve just texted him and just said, hey, you know, can you move that? Like, we have people coming over for Thanksgiving. And he's like, oh, my God, I totally forgot I'm in Connecticut. He's like, I'm supposed to come back and, like, clean up this thing or.

[Andrew Walsh]

Whatever, come back from Connecticut and take care of this.

[Luke Burbank]

He said, throw it over the fence. And he said, no, you get yourself on a flight and come over here. No, I mean, listen, that's why I say I complain about neighborly things so much. This is not a big problem. It's not. I'm not mad. It's. It's totally fine. And again, I am completely happy to do the neighbors the lowest, lowest favor like this. It makes, you know, it makes me feel good, like I'm doing something when I'm doing absolutely nothing. But again, like, to be honest, like. And it's zero concern about electricity usage because, what, he's using it to power a saw that he uses, you know, for 10 seconds every 15 minutes or something. But I do think, from a communication standpoint, just saying to somebody, hey, can I use some power? I'm working next door to 20 days later, no recognition that this cable has been Strung across, you know, our walkway for that whole time.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. This is my question though, has. How many days was the work going on?

[Luke Burbank]

Apparently still is. Like, that's what. I don't know. I mean, he was like.

[Andrew Walsh]

He was an ambitious project for some renters.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, it's. He's building. It looks like some sort of a. Like a rocket ship and there's two cows in it. And they have signs that say eat more chicken. I don't actually.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's taking forever because the cow's tools are so rudimentary.

[Luke Burbank]

Say that he's plugging them in, but they're just making this glump, glump sound. Yeah. They look really. That's the sound that an electric tool.

[Andrew Walsh]

Going into one of those cow tools.

[Luke Burbank]

But anyway. Yeah. So not, you know, not a huge deal. But you would be. I mean, I heard your reaction when I told you that. I looked it up. It was like, oh, 20 days.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like that's insane though.

[Luke Burbank]

That's. That's. We just need better communication around these types of things, I feel like.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. But my question is, is each day like before I went to Connecticut, would there be the occasional sound of like a power saw sawing? Has this been going on? Like, it's been. This is an ongoing project. Did you say what the actual project is?

[Luke Burbank]

I just told you. He's building a rocket ship. There's two.

[Andrew Walsh]

The home improver in me really wants.

[Luke Burbank]

A science that say eat more chicken. Yeah. He's redoing their front porch.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's.

[Luke Burbank]

I think it's a smallish little front porch. More like kind of like, you know.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like a 20 day project.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's the. I don't know. I don't know if he's squeezing this project in between other. There are some times where he was out there all day. He's replacing the wood with that, like. What's that fake wood? That's trasticky stuff. Yeah, exactly. And so he's cutting that stuff up and like, you know, which makes sense for a rental unit, I think. And the house next door is a nice little house, by the way. But if you, if you weren't living on site, you probably want something that's kind of sturdy and it doesn't matter to you if it's real wood. So he's installing that stuff again. Really like this guy when he was working over there the other day, like when it was day one or two or whatever, I walked over and said. And we chatted for a while. But yeah. So at some point I'm sure the work became lesser and lesser. I haven't heard in a while, but I guess he's in Connecticut. So. Yeah, I'm not exactly sure. I'm not exactly sure why. Yeah, now I'm thinking. I don't want to say too much. I do think he's kind of a forgetful guy. Like, when he finished our door project, he had to remove a bunch of cable, like wiring. He had to move wiring that had gone straight across our garage wall. But now there's a door there, so he had to sort of reroute it and put some extenders in there in those junction boxes or whatever they're called. But then when we went out there, those are they junction boxes, whatever. The little boxes that hide a bunch of wires when they're connected was kind of just left open. And so I'm like, okay, well, I guess we'll sort of shove these wires back in there. You know, it's like wires that are. He extended them by connecting a couple of wires, then using one of those little plastic screw things to connect a cap to connect them. And so I pushed some of them in, but it seemed a little unsafe. And then Genevieve's like, well, I'll push these in. And then got a spark so bad because one of them must not have been capped like the metal. It created blackness on her hand and a black stain. Like it was a big ass spark. And then I just like, texted. I'm like, seth, can you get over here and, like, put these back? Like, I thought maybe there was an expectation that we should put this stuff back. He's like, oh, yeah, I forgot. I meant seems that like, he. He gets close to finishing a project, and then maybe it's like, oh, moves on to the next thing.

[Andrew Walsh]

Last mile problem. As we like to.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Forget the sort of cleanup. And again, nicest guy in the world. When we said that, he came over, he fixed it up. He got everything right. But it sort of seems like maybe. Yeah, he's probably a busy guy. He's got a lot going on. But at some point he just sort of felt like, well, job done. Ish. And then he sort of forgot about the cleanup.

[Andrew Walsh]

Have I told you about. I think I have that. My dad there is a. And I say. I'll say kid, because this person is like 22 years old, but there's a young. A young man named Jaden who has done some electrical stuff here at the house. My dad knows how to do electrical, but it sort of takes him a while. And it's like not his favorite. Yeah, part of the home improving project. I mean, he really knows his stuff. That's the insane part. But he just, like, you know, sometimes it goes faster if I hire this. This guy Jaden, who. Who is a. This is, like, side work for him. Like, he works for a big electrical, you know, contractor. But he. He'll come out sometimes and, like, it's very clear that this is the kid that my dad wished he would have had. This is the son that he never. Because this. This kid, first of all, is, like, married with two kids already, is, like, built. Has built his own house in the country and has wired it himself, obviously knows how to do that. And my dad, when I. When I hired this guy to come in and run all this wire and, you know, do all this electrical stuff that I don't even understand, when he was done, I swear to God, for a week, my dad would not stop talking about this kid's technique for, for instance, putting those wires into those junction boxes.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, yeah? What is the technique?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, it's just. I mean, I don't know other than to say he. It's worked really clean. Everything is just done perfectly. And, like, you know, it's. It's obviously very safe. And it's like he can. He can get a whole bunch of different, you know, wires that are sort of connecting up into a small space, but in this way that's just like. He's just, like, somebody who's really good at his job. But I swear, it was like a week later, and I'd just be, like, standing in the house, and my dad would just go like, God, that kid's work is good.

[Luke Burbank]

Just petting a junction box. Just. Just gently brushing a junction box out.

[Andrew Walsh]

Of the blue, like, apropos of nothing. Whenever there'd be a lull in the conversation, but I'd just be like, God, that kid's work is really great.

[Luke Burbank]

Turn on that. You turn on the garbage disposal. He's like, listen to that. Just the power going through that.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm like, beautiful. I'm like, Like, I'm, like, queuing up my CBS Sunday morning stories on YouTube to try to, like, demonstrate my value.

[Luke Burbank]

You're showing your scripts, and he's just.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, yeah, I'm showing him rundowns from tbtl. And he's just like, yeah, that's that. I can't believe that kid's work. That just amazing that just. He did the technique. So, anyway, I'm. That's. If you need.

[Luke Burbank]

Dad, I punched up a Coors Light commercial on Spec. Do you want to see my notes?

[Andrew Walsh]

Did I tell you though that this was actually and remains a slight bump in the road of, of, of not our relationship, but sort of like there was a, an actually almost tense moment with me and my dad related to this electrician kid, Jaden, so. Well, no one's who's involved in any of this will hear this thankfully. But basically there are these folks that my dad was doing a ton of like handyman work for for like a long time kind of near where my parents live. And I was always sort of joking about how they were my, they were my like competition, my nemesis. Because for a long time I'd be like, hey dad, can I hire you to come down for like these weeks? And he'd be like, I'm working on the Anninsons. And didn't he give them a better.

[Luke Burbank]

Deal or something too?

[Andrew Walsh]

There was a period of time where he was charging them less than me, which really hurt. But, but so I. The other thing about that whole relationship that really ticked me off is, you know, my dad is in his 70s now. He's an insanely fit 70 year old who has never once asked himself, what am I putting into my body right now? Have I gotten my steps in today? Has no awareness of any of that and yet is like, you know, can work so much harder and longer than me. It's really something to behold. That being said, he's not 40.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

And he's regularly like, he'll be like, oh yeah, my rotator cuff's been really bugging me. I was like, why? He's like, well, I, you know, I hung like 400 square feet of sheetrock on the ceiling of the Anninson's basement. I'm like, dad. Or he's like, yeah, I broke up a patio of theirs and carried all the rock, all the concrete out by hand. And I'm like, what are you doing? Why are you doing the hardest physical labor that somebody your age should not be doing for these folks? Can you please tell them, here's the stuff I will do and here's the stuff that I won't do. Because sometimes we'd be doing a project here and he'd be like, that's going to be a real bear. And I would always say, well, dad, let's hire someone to do that stuff. Like if there's something that's just physically punishing, let's not have you do that or I don't even want to do it. Let's hire someone. You know, I'm always That's always my answer to things. Like someone who's not us. But he's over at the Anninson's, like, just like, literally, like jackhammering up an entire patio and then carrying out multiple, like, you know, tons of concrete or something.

[Luke Burbank]

Now, I think I know the answer to this, but just to be very clear, when you're having. When just a quick moment where he's like, oh, my back hurts because of that work over there, my guess is he is not saying that in any way, like, I shouldn't be doing this work work, or I wish they had didn't ask me to do that. He's just kind of like, oh, hard day now my back, you know, it's.

[Andrew Walsh]

Usually like, I've got to take some magnesium. That's his. It'll be like, his leg will literally just like, cramp up. Like we're watching Brit box. His leg will totally cramp up. And it'll be like, ah, I gotta. Gotta take some magnesium. Then he hobbles over to his bedroom, gets some magnesium. He's like, yeah, well, I was, you know, up and down the ladder all day at the Ann since yesterday. So when you say something, never from a complaining standpoint, so when you say.

[Luke Burbank]

Something like, you know, you shouldn't be doing that work, let's tell them. Let's, you know, let's build some boundaries or, you know, some personal boundaries around this for you, that's not like you trying to help him with something that he wishes to happen. It's something that you wish to have.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I wonder if he wishes it to happen. I mean, this is my dad, and this is how we are so different as people. He's just a worker. He just is a. He just doesn't complain. He just does it. In fact, whether he's doing something really around here that's also kind of taxing. And I'm was like, dad, I'm sorry, that looks like that really sucked. He goes, it's what we do. That's his, like, stock answer. So what I think of is he's like a video game character and he only has so much power, and unless he finds some kind of giant mushroom that comes out of a box somewhere, I feel like he's got X amount of power left in his life and I would like it. This has nothing to do with my project. I don't want him to use up his power on my project either. I want him to. I want him to do stuff that is kind of some somewhat interesting in terms. In terms of Home improving and like that. That taps into his expertise, but that doesn't unnecessarily wear down the battery on the rest of his life, whether it's here or whether it's at their house. And so that's really what my desire is. It doesn't have anything to do with, like, I want him here doing that. I want him breaking up the patio here and not there. I want him breaking up zero patios for the rest of his life. But.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I want to give you one quick warning, though. If he does eat a star, all the music is going to start moving way faster. Don't alarmed. It only lasts for about 15, 20 seconds.

[Andrew Walsh]

I will say, the first time that happened, it was kind of upsetting.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I understand that. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

He started spring. It was like a feral cat that I tried to bring into the house. He's just bouncing around the living room. Yeah, but I've seen it happen.

[Luke Burbank]

I've seen it happen to the best minds of my generation.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, I. I look easy. Ginsburg. I looked at him the other night and it was weird. He had run over to the neighbor's yard and he had jumped. Jumped right up to the top of.

[Luke Burbank]

The flagpole and then down chimney for some reason.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it was strange. But here's where. This is where we have legitimately hit a kind of a. I think an impasse was. So at the point where I was hiring this kid Jaden, it was at a moment where I think it was still. I don't know how close we were to the pandemic's kind of what we consider to be sort of the end, or at least things changing related to the pandemic. But what I remember was there was a period of time where it was near impossible to get anyone to come work on anything, particularly very highly skilled, highly specialized things like electricians. Right. And so I had. Because the guy who did the spray foam insulation here, this kid Jaden, is his son, right. So he had said, my son does electrical. And I was like, oh. And I needed someone to do electrical, like, really badly to do like a lot of stuff before that we could, like, put up the sheetrock before the project could move forward. And he said, yeah, I'll give you my kid's number. And I had gotten a hold of this. This guy and he had come out and for a shockingly reasonable price, he had done an insane amount of work here. Like, it just absolutely saved my life. And this felt like an absolute ace in the hole for me. Right. Like, I've got I had now have access to a highly skilled, reasonably priced, very responsive electrician. And this is, this is. In the words of Rod Blagojevich, this thing is gold.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I was going to say if he moves to Seattle, let me know. This thing is.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, Andrew, for you on your birthday. I would share his information, but here's. Here's what my dad had the chutzpah.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh no.

[Andrew Walsh]

To suggest he was like the Anninson's have a daughter down in Portland and.

[Luke Burbank]

She'S got to tell me this is going the direction of an arranged marriage to keep Jaden in the family.

[Andrew Walsh]

They've got this daughter down in Portland and she's been having some. She's got this house, I think may. They may have even bought it for her. I'm not sure. But she's got this place and she's been having some trouble with the electrical there. And can you. I wanted to go ahead and give them Jaden's number to go down there and work on her house. And I was like, absolutely not. I was like, over my dead body. So first of all, these, these folks are going to run down the power, the battery life on your life. And now, now I'm going to be farming Jaden out to their daughter. Like I get like two asks every six months of this Jaden person. Like in other words, because this is the thing too.

[Luke Burbank]

When you have about two opportunities to have him come work, I feel like.

[Andrew Walsh]

I get to ask him about two times every six months. Hey man, if you. And this remains the case, like when you are trying to get somebody to come out to work on your house and maybe this isn't the relationship with you and Seth, but out here it is like you are trying to ask someone on a date or something or.

[Luke Burbank]

Like a big favor. Like not you're hiring somebody for money, but like, hey, could you do me a. Hey, I need a miracle.

[Andrew Walsh]

It is absolutely, it is the most that I psych myself up to send a text message is to one of the people that I'm paying good money.

[Luke Burbank]

You're reading to work on of it. Like, how does this come off? How does this come.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean seriously, I'm running it by various trusted, trusted allies because it's like so it always has to be like, hey man, I know. Hey man, hope you had a good holiday. I know things are crazy, but if you get an afternoon that you could swing by, it's like it's always that kind of level of communication.

[Luke Burbank]

Or not like whatever, things are cool over here too. Like I'm just chilling. But, you know, this is Beck. Is this too thirsty? Is this thirsty? And like, you got, you got to like, somehow like, you know, make it seem casual but also necessary.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm trying to find. By the way, this is one I recently sent to Richard Swanson, who's been doing some stuff. I said, I said, yeah, okay, I get it. If you and Miles could do this for 4,000, including putting the shower pan in and the Hardy backer, et cetera, and can start pretty soon, I'd be happy with that deal. And if not, no pressure. I just need to make a call to keep things moving. Thanks, exclamation point.

[Luke Burbank]

I should really, every time I write it, I am very sincere about it, but I should seriously just get like a tattoo that says no pressure. I like. I write no pressure in emails and texts more than any human being alive. I would challenge anybody. I will go toe to toe with you. I will open up my email archives for the presidential library of Andrew Walsh so that we can see how many times I've written no pressure.

[Andrew Walsh]

I love.

[Luke Burbank]

Usually I write it twice. I will sometimes write no pressure at the beginning and then later on again, no pressure to varying degrees of capitalization.

[Andrew Walsh]

I love if we, we go into the presidential library or the official papers of Andrew Walsh, you go into that room and it's just a bunch of emails that say, no pressure.

[Luke Burbank]

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

[Andrew Walsh]

That, that's the, that's the, that's the totality of the Andrew. Of Andrew Walsh's papers. It's just a bunch of emails. But like, so that's how the interactions tend to go.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, yeah, all that.

[Andrew Walsh]

So in other words, what I'm trying to say is every time I ask for this person who by the way, again, has two young children, a family, a very kind of like time consuming job, and lives kind of far away from me, like every time I ask this person to. Now, granted, I am paying money, I'm paying good money for this, but it's still like, it's an ask. And I'm like, you think, you think I'm going to use up effectively one of my asks on some person in Portland I've never met who's the child of the people who are making you demo a patio? You, sir, are sadly mistaken. And so he would keep. He would bring it up and then I would flip out and then we wouldn't talk about it for a couple of weeks and then he would bring it up and I would flip out and now the conversation has just not been brought up. So I don't know if he. I don't know what happened with it, but I think he's finally realized that this is where I draw the line.

[Luke Burbank]

When you say flip out, what does that actually mean? Are you exaggerating a little bit? Are These, are these 45 second interactions where you're just like, hell, no. And then you sort of just like, let it go or have you like gotten into it?

[Andrew Walsh]

Not into it. It's. It's. My dad and I have an extremely cordial relationship. Like, and we're not ball busty. Like, we don't like, like kind of faux argue about things or like, that's just like not our dynamic together.

[Luke Burbank]

Over zoom.

[Andrew Walsh]

A game changer.

[Luke Burbank]

Look at these.

[Andrew Walsh]

They're still using those commercials, by the way, which I just saw one the other day, and it made me feel like, I definitely think that dad at least voted for Trump, probably both of them.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, I don't.

[Andrew Walsh]

They just had, they had strong Massachusetts Trump energy. And I was like, this is year two of these commercials. In other words, they did well enough that, like, you wanted to bring them back. Ugh. But anyway, that is not the dynamic at all. So when there's even a little bit of a, like, you gotta be kidding me, or like, absolutely no way, like, even that feels kind of tense between us. Cause that's just not the nature of how we tend to communicate. So it would be like 30 seconds, it would be me going like, dad, are you kidding me? Like, you think, like, you want to use up one of our favors from this kid on the daughter of these other people, and then he'll go, all right, all right. And then that's the end of it. That's. That's the conversation.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then like a few weeks later, oh, hey, if you wanted to get me, you know, if you want to get me that info. And then I kind of like, I'm. I'm sort of playing it off a little bit. Playing it up a little bit, like being kind of pretend mad. But as you like to say, Andrew, kidding on the square. So I'm pretending to be irate. I'm not as irate as I'm pretending to be, but I'm low key. A little bit irate.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know if that makes sense.

[Luke Burbank]

Especially the connection to this family that you've already sort of like, put in.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, exactly. If it was like one of my siblings, if he was like, hey, Liz needs some help out in Willard. I'd be like, get him the number.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, he's still probably a little itchy.

[Andrew Walsh]

About that, but no, I wouldn't. That's how much I love my siblings. Like, if Sarah and Josh, if anybody in my immediate family needed this golden ticket, I would absolutely not share with them. Well, he's not Sammy.

[Luke Burbank]

Not Sammy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Even Sammy. Really? Even Sammy.

[Luke Burbank]

Wow.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, you are.

[Luke Burbank]

You are a good guy.

[Andrew Walsh]

But, like, it's just the fact that it is a rando who I will never meet, who is the offspring of the people who are already on my last nerve.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

So anyway, that's the. The good news is that's the highest level of tension between me and my dad. It's that. So that's actually pretty decent.

[Luke Burbank]

I love the way it. Earlier when you were describing the situation, of course, you had already set up what your sort of thesis was, so I knew in context what you're talking about. But if somebody were to just overhear you talking, you're like, listen, this guy, he's. He's working with his hands. He's got a family, he's got two kids. Of course I'm not going to recommend him for a job. Interesting turn at the end of that sentiment.

[Andrew Walsh]

I saw the most. Well, I don't want to say it's the most interesting tweet, but it was a blue sky. I saw an interesting blue sky post that was. I saw a bluk. That was responded to by our friend, television's Chris Hayes. And what the, what the, what the blue sky post was, the original one was this idea of what we. How we think of working class. This is on the subject of if Jaden needs side gigs or not. And what the person was basically saying was, we have this certain idea of what sort of working class means, and yet an electrician is making probably so much more than an adjunct professor in this day and age.

[Luke Burbank]

Really?

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, oh, absolutely. I mean, you know, a lot of these, you know, skilled trades, you're making 60 bucks an hour, 80 bucks an hour. And a lot of these other, you know, jobs that are in academia and certainly in public education and stuff like that, things that we don't think of as kind of quote, unquote, working class jobs are making so much less than people who are doing skilled trades right now because there aren't enough people doing electricity. And there are a lot of people who want to be adjunct professors. And I hadn't thought of it that way, because when you think about working class jobs, you should picture a certain person. But if we're going strictly on what jobs pay, I think that there has been a subtle shift around what the sort of compensation is. I mean, granted, going to college is generally a predictor of making a sort of a higher income, but I think there are some really strong exceptions to that. My point being this kid Jaden has built himself. He showed me these pictures, an absolutely beautiful house that he and his wife and their two children live in on his, you know, his. The money that he earns as an electrician. Like, I think things are going pretty well for him.

[Luke Burbank]

Speaking of television's Chris Hayes or the literary world's Chris Hayes, maybe more appropriately, I did see some dates for his book tour. And since we have a lot. I mean, I don't think. I don't think Chris Hayes needs me promoting his Seattle stop on the book tour. I'm pretty sure that he and Hatchet, who. I don't know who his imprint is, probably have that under control. But I will mention that I was excited to see February 4th here at town Hall Seattle. Chris Hayes will be coming to and talk about his book this side.

[Andrew Walsh]

Would you find it more or less appealing if I was the person he is in conversation?

[Luke Burbank]

Are you. Are you. I was going to ask. Is that you?

[Andrew Walsh]

I think that. I think gears are turning in that direction. I don't know if it'll happen or not, but I.

[Luke Burbank]

Maybe that's.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was going to say that might. Here's the thing that's so funny about.

[Luke Burbank]

Weird that he would ask you and not me. That's so hard.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what literally happened was I texted him and I said, if this, if I'm not in conversation with you there, I will be hurt. Literally. I said to him, and he was.

[Luke Burbank]

Called Constant, you're going to be a little bit bummed. And I.

[Andrew Walsh]

And he was like, oh, I was thinking of asking, but I didn't know if you were too busy. And then I was like, I'll make time for this. He was like, okay, great, I'll. I'll get that set up. So it was, it wasn't like he said, would you do me the honor of doing this? I said to him, if you don't pick me for this, I'm going to be really. I'm going to be really offended by. That's how that came together.

[Luke Burbank]

By the way, Paul Constance, daughter needs an electric electrician.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now, I would say I've really appreciated the work of Paul Constant over the years, Andrew.

[Luke Burbank]

So I only bring up, wouldn't he be your main competitor in a Town Hall Seattle in conversation? I mean, I don't even know. Lindy doesn't do a lot of those anymore, I don't think.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I mean, is Paul still at the Stranger?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think so. I don't think he has been for a while, but I think he's still like. I think a big thing that he does is he's. I often. I think I could be confusing my former Stranger literati literary editors, but I'm pretty sure that. I'm pretty sure that he's like somebody who often does those types of things.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know who my competition is. I do know that a while ago, remember, I did that thing with Amy Sedaris in Seattle that was really fun and she's the best. And then I noticed that she was coming through Portland and I was like, Becca and I were like, oh, I wonder if they'll call you. And the answer was no. They called Courtney Hommeister, the former host of Livewire, and they must have had an amazing time because Amy Sedaris herself Instagrammed like 100 pictures and was like, this was amazing. And I was like, well, that's. That's how, you know Amy Sedaris enjoyed the event. Now, as far as the event she did with me, media Blackout, I was silenced.

[Luke Burbank]

Did you go back and count?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I did not. No, I actually did not. But I also can tell you that I think it was less rapturous.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I don't know. I remember it being a good time. The only thing, it was a really.

[Andrew Walsh]

Fun time, but all thanks to her.

[Luke Burbank]

You know, And I don't know if any of the people listening right now were the people who asked questions in the Q and A. My only thing is, it's like Q&As with audiences are a very dangerous game. Obviously not with the TBTL 10s. You guys are perfect. But like, I just remember, like, you know, Amy Sedaris is such a. I mean, she's been involved in so many projects that you would say would have, like a cult following. I mean, I mean, Veeves and I are, like I said, we literally can't say the word fandango without referencing a joke that she made in 1999 on Comedy Central, you know, so. But there was so much adoration and pent up up adoration for her that sometimes people would ask questions that were not necessarily questions, just like almost Chris Farley ask of. Remember that time you said this? Or parroting back? And I always think that, like, you have to be a very. You have to be very gracious to be Amy Sedaris in a situation like that. Because I don't know if I would have the. I don't know how I would handle that if people, if I start my life with people, like, throwing lines at me, lines that I literally have forgotten because I've moved on to other projects. X.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. Like, yeah. Because she's had multiple different things. Like she did, you know, at home with Amy Sedaris, which was great. Which kind of, like, I feel like, launched Cole Escala a bit. At least that was where I first saw him. And then, like, and then he really. It's like, he's a big deal now, like, with that O Mary show on Broadway and everything.

[Luke Burbank]

Still playing with the Twins. Just in my head about Byron Buxton. Go ahead.

[Andrew Walsh]

He had a cup of coffee.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Cola Scala. Playing, like third base for the Minnesota Twins would be a sight to behold. I would love that so much.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you for being a T.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right, let's thank some of our donors who are supporting TBTL with a financial donation, which is how this thing can happen five days a week, including the day before Thanksgiving and including tomorrow on Thanksgiving. It's thanks to folks like Julie Kumasaka in Marysville, Washington.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you, Julie.

[Andrew Walsh]

Appreciate you, Julie. Also, Alice Weimers and Gabe Claire of Davidson, North Carolina.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. All right, I'm listening. Davidson.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know what I always, what I always bring up when the subject of Davidson, North Carolina is raised is Steph Curry, who I believe went to Davidson.

[Luke Burbank]

I bet you I make the same noise every year, because I don't remember that. But. Okay, gotcha.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, you know what? Tomorrow on the. Well, I don't know if it's a Thanksgiving, if it's a particularly germane topic of Thanksgiving, but something I'm thankful for, this is on the subject of basketball, is this kid who plays for the Philadelphia 76ers who I'm, like, currently obsessed with. I'm wondering if this has come up on LeBatard yet.

[Luke Burbank]

What's the name?

[Andrew Walsh]

That's the thing.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't. I don't think at the top of.

[Andrew Walsh]

My head, I think his last name is, like, McLean. I want to. His name is Jared McCain.

[Luke Burbank]

No, this doesn't ring any bells to me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, maybe we'll talk about it tomorrow or in a future show. But anyway, we stand Jared McCain for reasons that will be explained at some point or not. You know who's fine with that? Alan Bartels of Rancho Cordova, California.

[Luke Burbank]

Alan's very close to flow type type of approach.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. Alan's heard the show. He's like a lot of times they promote things they never get to him. Like, he's just like, this is just. You buy the ticket, you take the ride as well.

[Luke Burbank]

Speaking of Lebatard, as Stubbot would say, Lazy River Dano.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. David Alsop is in Narbean, New South Wales, Australia.

[Luke Burbank]

I thought that stood for not safe work.

[Andrew Walsh]

Narrabeen. I should have. When I saw the word Narrabeen, that's when I should have known we're dealing with an Australian situation.

[Luke Burbank]

David knows how to play Knifey Spoonie. Let's just put it as I see.

[Andrew Walsh]

He'S played Knifey Spoonie before. Thanks, David. Thanks to Kerry Maloney of Seattle, Washington, United States.

[Luke Burbank]

Nice.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then, hey, it's Jaron Schneider, also of Seattle, Washington, United States. I don't know if Carrie and Jaren know each other, but they're both in Seattle. It's a hot zip for us.

[Luke Burbank]

Sure, yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thank you to both of them for the support. Thanks to all of our donors for making TBTL happen today. Hello and welcome to Top Story. There was a moment, I think maybe two days ago, Andrew, where I can't remember if it was right before we started recording or if it was like during a break, but I was. It might have been right before we started recording, but I was sort of like casually scrolling my Instagram like DMS or whatever you call it, you know, just kind of in that mindless way that you kind of can tend to do. And I was struck by the fact that in a matter of like five minutes, I had had maybe three different people send me a link to a stand up comedy bit by the comedian Chris Fleming. Now, Chris Fleming is actually somebody who has been featured on this show in the last two weeks. That donut intro that we were playing.

[Luke Burbank]

Is the comedian very funny?

[Andrew Walsh]

Chris Fleming is a very funny person. And as we always feel I think compelled to mention he is also or they. I don't know what pronouns is.

[Luke Burbank]

Chris. I think I've looked this up.

[Andrew Walsh]

His comedy video was directed. A comedy video?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, his comedy VHS was directed by our friend Kat Sol.

[Luke Burbank]

That's right. Yeah. His actual. I think it was it a peacock special. I might be wrong about that. But yeah, his full length feature length comedy special was directed by Kat.

[Andrew Walsh]

So a bunch of people, including both of my brothers, sent me this. And then furthermore in my email, I've gotten this from many people. I've probably gotten it, like I said, at the top of the show at least 10 times. And at first I thought maybe he mentions TBTL, which would be really weird. I feel like if he knew about the show we would be aware. Or maybe he mentions, I don't know, like a Sunday morning. I was before watching the actual clip I was trying to figure out how is this connect to me specifically because I must be like literally name checked in this for so many people to send it to me and I wasn't. But what was name checked in it or what was referenced is the show. Wait, wait, don't tell me. Which I work on. And the audio is a little dodgy when you watch the video, Andrew. It has subtitles, which is also a phase of life that I've entered which is on tv.

[Luke Burbank]

You mean not on tv.

[Andrew Walsh]

A lot of times it's like oh, but I also don't mind it on a TikTok or an Instagram. Pretty much up for the subtitles being featured or in place just about every time. It's always making my experience better now. But anyway, this is Chris Fleming talking about. Wait, wait, don't tell me.

[Chris Fleming]

Where are they recording? Wait, wait, don't tell me. The Pantheon Notre Dame. I have never heard a louder, more reverby space that is just teeming with 70 year olds losing their minds at jokes about tariffs. Wait, wait, don't tell me. Is getting live at the Apollo reactions from Rose upon rows of Jane Goodall lookalikes. Any man in that crowd could stand up and claim to be the CEO of Patagonia.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's a very good joke by the way. Any man in the crowd at Waitweight could stand up and claim to be the CEO of Patagonia. That's solid.

[Chris Fleming]

These elder neoliberals are just.

[Luke Burbank]

Can you pause it for a second, Luke? Yeah, this is my only. And maybe it's more of a question and I'm the ignorant one here, but would you describe these folks as neoliberals? That's not what neoliberal means. Right. I think you just liberals. That's the one little. That's the one thing about this.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, he says these elder neoliberals, which. What even does neoliberal mean?

[Luke Burbank]

Neoliberal. I've always been confused by it, but I thought of like people in. You know, I was introduced to the phrase probably during the George W. Bush administration, which probably makes me a late bloomer. But like you describe people that he surrounded himself with as neoliberals. Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

Favoring policies that promote free market capitalism, deregulation and reduction in government spending. Yeah, I wouldn't. I would definitely. I've Met the. I've met these people, Andrew, and they're not neoliberals by that definition.

[Luke Burbank]

I think he's just. I think, I think neoliberal sounds more fun and I think he's just mistaken about what it means. I think he just means crunchy liberals.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, right.

[Chris Fleming]

You tune into NPR and you're like, wait, are they replaying Live A right now?

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, no.

[Chris Fleming]

It's just a bunch of 70 year olds gnashing their teeth at Paula Poundstone doing a spoonerism on Tipper Moore's name.

[Andrew Walsh]

I love that remind me of what a spooner is.

[Luke Burbank]

Made me. I think it's when you. I could be wrong and I'm not going to look it up. I'm just going to be bold here and say. I'm pretty sure spoonerism is when you take the. You swap the first letters of two words. So it would be like Piper Tor or don't know, Gipper Tour or something. I think that's what a spoonerism would be.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's pretty physical here too. He's kind of rolling around on the floor. He's basically like, like performing. The idea of like somebody of a neoliberal having like laughing so hard at. Wait, wait, don't tell me that they're almost losing their shit. Basically.

[Chris Fleming]

You can hear one of the t. You. One of the women is thrashing so hard back and forth and Mo Rocca doing a word play on Margo Dancer.

[Andrew Walsh]

That one actually is pretty on point. I could definitely hear Mo doing a wordplay on Embargo Dancer.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that is the Poundstone word. Those slayed me the first time I heard.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, okay, but more, more. In a moment she actually throws her.

[Chris Fleming]

Back checks with somersaults behind her, landing on an identical husband behind her. Reverse cowgal style. And then she and the guy just go home and spend the rest of their days together. You're like, Chris, why are you. You say reverse cowgal style. The Pokemon evolution of woman goes girl woman, 70 of gal.

[Andrew Walsh]

That joke is too young for me or too online or too Pokemon for me. I don't.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I don't.

[Andrew Walsh]

But it obviously this crowd, which by the way is great and young and not 70 and not neoliberal. Can you hear the, can you hear the hurt in my voice right now? This crowd, this crowd is loving Chris Fleming's jokes.

[Chris Fleming]

Gal is the charizard to a woman's charmer.

[Andrew Walsh]

By the way. Pokemon jokes are just the spoonerisms of a different generation. Bitch. What are they doing to these Crowds.

[Chris Fleming]

In the lobby to juice them up like that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Are they hooking up each of these.

[Chris Fleming]

People to their own personal Hitachi that.

[Luke Burbank]

Terry Gross is offering for copy ghosts?

[Andrew Walsh]

This is a pretty funny ring.

[Luke Burbank]

I forgot to go.

[Chris Fleming]

Sensory deprivation tank.

[Andrew Walsh]

And really. Okay, so I'm going to put full.

[Luke Burbank]

Tilt on control of her.

[Chris Fleming]

Things are about to get pretty loud. Are you out of your goddamn mind? These people are in their 70s. They need a refractory period. Jesus Christ, Terry.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't give a. For that. If that was a little muddled. It's. Terry Gross is controlling sex toys that the crowd is amping themselves up on, but she has the power to turn it to 11.

[Luke Burbank]

And she's in a sensory deprivation, which.

[Andrew Walsh]

In Philly.

[Luke Burbank]

In Philly, which is so great like that. I, you know, of course, I love fresh air. I haven't heard it in a long time. But, like, describing her as being in a sensory deprivation tank is exactly the vibe of that show.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Though there's some. There is some very, very good comedy in there. Here's what I would say, though. It is hard for me to listen to that and not feel slightly personally dissed by the entire thing. Whereas when I go work on Wait, wait and stuff, I'm keenly aware of the fact that a lot of times what's happening on stage is, as my friend Robert Smith used to say, funny for public radio, which is to say, not in the. In the marketplace of funniness. It's not going to be. It's. It's. It's not going to be succeeding. But in the world of public radio, in the kind of protected, you know, land of, like, things not ever being super duper funny, it'll sort of. It'll pass. It'll. It'll. It'll do. So even though I am, like, keenly aware of all the sort of, like, things about weight. Weight that are a little mockable, it is, I will be honest, hard for me to hear someone basically describing the entire audience as old and out of touch and the jokes that are made on the show as being dumb and not funny. It is legitimately hard for me to listen to that without feeling a little bit protective. And I find it interesting that so many people watched it and thought, Luke would love this. You know, like, I. Two things. One, Chris Fleming is very funny, and by the way, I spent a good portion of a show the other day just roasting the guy who played, plays, or roasting the Capitol Steps Lord of the Fries, and the guy who plays the piano and does comedy you know, political comedy.

[Luke Burbank]

The captain on the poop ship of political comedy.

[Andrew Walsh]

That one. So all it is is the. And lord knows I'm 48. I'm not exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, poop deck. Sorry, did I say poop ship?

[Andrew Walsh]

Ship funny.

[Luke Burbank]

Do I say poop ship funny? Sorry.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like all it is is me at again, the tender age of 48 thinking the, the kind of the, the capital steps and the stuff that was like considered funny when I was 20 or whatever. It's me roasting that as kind of like way too tame and not funny, but then feeling a little defensive when the next generation comes along and says, hey, what you're doing is kind of tame and not too funny. You know, like, it's weird. It's like I'm a. I am totally aware of all of those thing. Well, first of all, here's, here's where my brain went watching it one, I was like, the people are not 70. There are some 70 year olds. The others, again, I know this is, this is not the point. I'm just, I'm taking you on my mental journey and I understand that this is defensive and to the side of the point and just being a no fun, but the first thing I started doing was picking apart the fact, the factualness of this riff, which by the way, way least fun way to go after or to start interpreting a stand up comedy rift.

[Luke Burbank]

That arrow wasn't actually through Steve Martin's head. It was like a fake. It was a fake arrow. It was like a headband that made it seem like an arrow was going through his head. Look it up.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let me Google it.

[Luke Burbank]

Of course, I've been wrong before. Let's get the stew bot out of the line.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I know this, like, this is, this is what I'm saying to you, but this is what I'm saying.

[Luke Burbank]

I should be careful. Why am I poking a bear with a short stick here?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, no, no, but, but you're absolutely right. It's like the point of comedy is not to be literal. It doesn't matter that. But this is where my brain went immediately was like, well, there's a lot of. Not 70 year olds in the audience. Okay? Like I'm, my brain is looking for ways upon hearing this, looking for. And I'm also like, Impala doesn't really do spoonerisms. That's not like, if you want, like if you want to break down what Paula Poundstone's general kind of comedic vibe is, I can definitely break it down for you having been on the show with her a Million times times. It's not really spoonerisms. I do think the mo thing is actually pretty on point, the thing he might say. But again, the very fact that where.

[Luke Burbank]

My brain is spoonerism was.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I kind of did, actually. I wanted. Well, I did. I just wanted clarification. Like, you know, I knew that it was basically like doing a play on words. Doing a. And that's just not. That's just not what Paul Poundstone does. She doesn't do puns. Like, she does this other thing, which is. She's basically super suspicious of the premise of the question. And also. And then she'll come back to it over and over and over again throughout the show. But here's the thing. The very fact that what I wanted to do was figure out the logical flaws in the standup comedy so as to negate it just proves how defensive it made me feel, you know, and it's just. It's an interesting experience for me, who I spend so much time on this show deploying what I think of as some kind of comedy and also making fun of so many other things that when suddenly it's like a thing that I am kind of part of and by the way, less and less. Like, I'm probably on that show like, twice a year now. It's not even like it's. It's not even like a hugely big part of my life and my job anymore. But it's. I'm just calling myself in on the fact that it did make me feel defensive.

[Luke Burbank]

Mm. Yeah. Would you feel better or worse if you were name checked in it? That's an interesting question.

[Andrew Walsh]

Better. And that's what makes no sense.

[Luke Burbank]

I wondered about that.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think it was not only.

[Luke Burbank]

I disagree, though. I think that, like, you would then really be like, well, that's not what my humor is like if you're defensive about a Paula Poundstone spoonerism. And again, probably not unlike neoliberalism. Like, I think, you know, one of the things of. One of the reasons Chris Fleming is funny is because of his. Not just poetic, but, like, you know, colorful. His choice of words are so. Yeah, absolutely. Somehow I want to say, like, perfumey and poetic or something like. But because of that, he will sometimes just use words like, I say neoliberal. Not the right word there, but somehow it sounds funnier than liberal, you know, and that's probably where you end up with the spoonerism, which literally did make me laugh, whether or not it's accurate. But I. I feel like I believe you when you say you think you'd be less offended if you were name checked, Although if you were name checked in a way that you did not agree with, I think that would really be under your.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, yeah, it's hard to know because it's. H. It. It didn't happen. I. Part of me feels like if he said me by name, I'd be like. I'd be like, you know, well, at least I've made that much of an impression on the culture. But also, it could be really hurtful if he, like, if. If he very accurately describes some kind of go to. For me or some kind of, you know, unfunny thing that I tend to say or. You know what I mean? I. I can't. I couldn't tell you unless I was really experiencing it if that would be a good or a bad thing. But it's also funny because it's like so many people have sent me this. I guess what I. I guess if I can. If I can make this a positive about me for a moment on your birthday, Andrew. I guess the good news is everyone assumes I have a pretty thick skin about stuff because. No, nobody ever listened to this and thought, oh, this is. It's sort of like when I was telling Ethan Hawke about a puppet show that I once saw dedicated to him being performed by Matt Walsh in New York, and where they were reading the open like the forward of a book he had written. And as I described it to him, he goes, boy, it really sounds like they were kind of roasting me, right? And I was like, well, you. You know me, if you. And I was like, I kind of. I guess I have to take it as a positive that nobody who watched this and sent it to me thought, oh, this is kind of them roasting something that you're part of. Like, everybody assumes that I would just be having fun with it like they were, which I guess means I don't come off as overly uptight about these.

[Luke Burbank]

Things or they're not paying attention.

[Andrew Walsh]

But, yeah, so I get. That's the. That's the full. That's the. I can wreck. I definitely recognize the humor and I definitely understand why this is a great. Trying to think when I used to do. I don't think I ever. I don't think when I was doing my very brief foray into stand up, I don't know if I ever did anything about. About public radio, but I do think it's a very rich topic for someone like Chris Fleming because you heard the laughter there from his audience. Everyone who's Going to a Chris Fleming show is also deeply aware of public radio. You know, that's a big Venn diagram overlap. So it's a. It's a rich topic because he's basically like, roasting this thing that everyone has a shared experience with and, and, and, and, you know, kind of, you know, pointing out again the. All the things about. Wait, wait. That are a little, like, a little less than, like the cutting edge of comedy. But I will, again, I've already said it like nine times. I will admit it stings a little bit.

[Luke Burbank]

I will say that what stings is when you always quote Robert Smith talking about public radio humor, because I feel like Veeves. And I remember when I was first dating Veeves, and this was like, when I was as deeply in love with public radio as possibly could be. I had just graduated college where I'd gotten my first taste of working for public radio. Now I was working in for my first all talk station as a producer. I mean, I just, I was totally. I was as. As deep into the public radio culture as possible. I just remember always saying to Viv, there's a reason why they call it public radio humor. Like, there's just, like, there's humor and there's public radio humor. It's always been thus.

[Andrew Walsh]

So you're mad that I should be attributing that to you.

[Luke Burbank]

I just sort of feel like I could get an associate producer credit on that.

[Andrew Walsh]

As my friend Andrew Walsh has always.

[Luke Burbank]

Said, as always said, Robert Smith once said, it's called public radio humor for a reason.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right, so on that. On that note, Andrew. And again, I want to be. I want to be. I want to be clear here and say that I'm an American hero, because I'm admitting to the least fun interpretation of that tape. Like, it does not make me look good. It makes me look like a brittle, sad, old, know, increasingly irrelevant broadcaster. But it's how I feel, and I hope that will be relatable.

[Luke Burbank]

I think it's relatable. I think anybody.

[Andrew Walsh]

I get the whole relatability thing, you.

[Luke Burbank]

Know, I mean, no matter what, no matter what it is, if you. If you sell. If you sell candles at a farmer's market and you show up every day and you look around, you're like, you know, our farmers market is not as good as the Ballard one. We really. We really need to spiff this thing up a little bit and get more foot traffic and like, whatever. But then you hear somebody else say, oh, man, I really don't like the North Seattle farmers market.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're like, what the hell, right?

[Luke Burbank]

My farmers market. I saw you can there, you can.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sit, you can talk shit about your mom, but nobody else can talk about your mom.

[Luke Burbank]

Perfect comparison by me, by the way. From a Chris Fleming take on public radio to selling candles at a farmers market. How does he do it so seamlessly?

[Andrew Walsh]

What I will say to Chris Fleming is you just wait, my friend. You're flying high now. You just wait 20 years when an AI program is roasting your crowds.

[Luke Burbank]

I thought you're.

[Andrew Walsh]

See how it feels when they're begging.

[Luke Burbank]

You to come out. Wait, wait, don't tell. When you're begging to.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, that's. I mean, low key. Low key. Like, seriously, dude, that would be. That's like 8 million people hear that? Be probably good for the brand. Okay, that's it. That's all. No being salty. Tomorrow. Actually, tomorrow might be salty because it's Thanksgiving day show and I like to over salt everything.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

So please join us for that. In the meantime, have a great Wednesday, take care of yourselves and please remember, no mountain too tall and good luck to all.

[Luke Burbank]

Power out.