#4355 Somebody (Barry) Somewhere (Manhattan, Kansas)

Summary

TBTL Podcast Episode #4355: "Somebody (Barry) Somewhere (Manhattan, Kansas)"

Release Date: December 9, 2024
Hosts: Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh
Guest: Broadcast Barry

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1. Opening Banter and Setting the Scene (00:00 – 02:10)

The episode kicks off with Luke and Andrew engaging in their characteristic humorous exchange about coffee sizes, setting a lighthearted tone. Luke mentions recording from the Madrona Hill studio, describing the serene environment by the Columbia River with "cool looking clouds" and "the river is so still. It looks like a mirror out there" ([01:29] Luke).

2. Luke’s Frustrating Experience with Kaiser Permanente (02:11 – 05:00)

Luke shares his recent challenges with Kaiser Permanente regarding a persistent sty in his eye. He expresses frustration over multiple unnecessary doctor's appointments and the ineffective treatment he received. Luke states, "the American health care system is bullshit" ([30:26] Luke), highlighting his dissatisfaction with the lack of specialized care and the general practitioner's broad approach using antibiotics that didn't resolve his issue.

3. Introducing Broadcast Barry and the "Somebody Somewhere" Watch Party (05:00 – 21:00)

Broadcast Barry, a longtime listener and supporter, joins the conversation. Luke discusses Barry's recent trip to Manhattan, Kansas, for a watch party of the HBO show "Somebody Somewhere." Barry explains how he organized a Facebook group for the season finale but coincidentally coincided with the cast's presence at a local diner. Luke is intrigued and excited, saying, "I just found out today in the last five minutes that it's not being renewed" ([73:40] Luke).

Notable Quote:

• Luke: "This is our final episode, Andrew." ([83:25] Luke)

4. Detailed Discussion on "Somebody Somewhere" Finale (21:00 – 46:00)

Barry recounts his experience at the watch party, detailing interactions with the cast members like Bridget Everett and Jeff Hiller. He emphasizes the genuine chemistry and the emotional closure felt during the event. Both hosts express their admiration for the show, with Luke mentioning plans to binge-watch the latest season during his holiday break.

Notable Quotes:

• Barry: "Their friendship is just super solid and during the show you'll see things ebb and flow and grow and all that stuff." ([69:46] Barry)
• Luke: "I have this whole plan, honestly, which involves making a fire while really turning on the pellet stove in my house and getting, like, really cozy." ([73:40] Luke)

5. Acknowledging and Thanking Donors (55:00 – 56:55)

Luke and Andrew take time to thank their generous donors who support the show, mentioning individuals from various locations such as Christine Zula of Johnston, Rhode Island, and Connie Pearson in Westminster, Colorado. They highlight the importance of these contributions in keeping the show running five days a week.

Notable Quotes:

• Andrew: "He wasn't, he wasn't feeling the connection." ([65:35] Andrew)
• Luke: "We are here doing this thing five days a week because of folks like Christine Zula of Johnston, Rhode Island." ([55:00] Luke)

6. Technical Issues and Final Remarks (46:00 – End)

As the episode progresses, Luke attempts to play a voicemail from Kaiser Permanente rescheduling his appointment, leading to humorous interactions between the hosts. They joke about the complexities of managing appointments and the looming procedure to address Luke's sty. The conversation wraps up with final acknowledgments and a playful nod to the possibility of this being their final episode.

Notable Quotes:

• Luke: "Please remember, no mountain too tall." ([86:07] Luke)
• Andrew: "And good luck to all. Power out." ([86:07] Andrew)

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Key Takeaways and Insights

• Healthcare Frustrations: Luke's experience underscores common frustrations with the American healthcare system, particularly the challenges of navigating appointments and receiving specialized care.

• Community and Support: The episode highlights the strong sense of community among listeners and the importance of donor support in sustaining long-running podcasts.

• Impact of Television: The discussion around "Somebody Somewhere" emphasizes the profound impact television shows can have on their audience, fostering connections and inspiring dedicated fan engagement.

• Humor and Friendship: Throughout the episode, Luke and Andrew maintain a humorous and friendly rapport, making complex and personal topics approachable and engaging for listeners.

Conclusion:

Episode #4355 of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live offers a blend of personal anecdotes, community engagement, and heartfelt discussions. From Luke's candid recounting of his healthcare struggles to Barry's enthusiastic participation and the hosts' gratitude toward their donors, the episode encapsulates the essence of the show—two friends navigating life's complexities with humor and camaraderie.

Transcript

[Luke Burbank]

Thanks for the coffee.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Tomorrow I'm gonna get you a venti, which is two sizes bigger than this one. Twice as generous.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, next day I'll get you a cuaranta.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, will you?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it's a 40 ounce.

[Luke Burbank]

Then the next day I'll get you a siento.

[Andrew Walsh]

You can get here on Friday I'll have picked you up a Google plexia.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, good, because on next Monday, I'm gonna buy you an infantitia.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bam. TBTL Rolling out of bed with one thing on my mind. How does it feel like?

[Luke Burbank]

I'm serious.

[Andrew Walsh]

How does it feel like? I've only seen one person ever have it as much as you currently do.

[Luke Burbank]

First, I want you two to turn and look at each other.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, now that's nice.

[Luke Burbank]

Just stare deeply into each other's. Ey.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Good. Now say the first thing that pops into your brain.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't want to touch sandpaper. I like the whiz. It is evolutional. It is anthropological. It is biological.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I'll tell you one thing.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm not eating at Taco John's. That's spicy stuff. Tacos, hot tacos here.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's get one thing straight.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm the funny guy around here.

[Luke Burbank]

All right? Hello, good morning and welcome everyone to a Monday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live.

[Andrew Walsh]

Scatman's World.

[Luke Burbank]

My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. Things are going to start happening to me now. Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia, where it is calm out there, my friends. It's not raining. There are some clouds, but kind of cool looking clouds. And the water, the river is so still. It looks like a mirror out there. It's a. Oh, ma pa.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's just beautiful.

[Luke Burbank]

Looks like some kind of a fall painting. You might see. We've got an audio painting for you called episode 4355 in a collector series coming your way today.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let the fun begin.

[Luke Burbank]

And on Friday's show, I was very, very, I guess you could say excited, relieved. Mildly apprehensive, but mostly excited to go to the doctor to get this situation with my eye remedied. Finally, after I think it was two unnecessary doctor's appointments, I was finally having a necessary doctor's appointment to get this all sorted. And I got there and right away when I looked around, I knew something was wrong. Look, it, it's plain and simple.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's bull.

[Luke Burbank]

As I said on the show sheet today, my annoyance with Kaiser Feels permanente on this Monday edition of the show. I'm very mad at them. We will talk about it. We will also talk to a good friend of ours, Broadcast Barry of the broadcast Coffee Concern, who is, like many of us, a huge fan of the show Somebody Somewhere set in Manhattan, Kansas. A beautiful program about friendship and connections and life. We're here to make friends. Making Friends is the name of this show. And Barry made some friends in Manhattan, Kansas this weekend. The cast of Somebody Somewhere. He sent me a photo that I immediately started sending to other friends of mine who love the show as a way of trying to sort of catch some sort of reflective, I don't know what credit from Barry's life. Anyway, we'll get into that and we're going to talk to this dude. Longest running cobro of the show, maybe best known for his departure depictions of the tall ships. I've been trying to learn some piano chords and he has been working on his singing and it is going really well.

[Broadcast Barry]

I gotta tell you.

[Luke Burbank]

It's an actual recording of him from this weekend. He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good morning. You ever see that cartoon? Oh, I can't think of the name of the fella who wrote it or drew it or composed any of the characters. Any of the characters. Any of the names or really the point. No, it was like a New Yorker cartoonist who has a cartoon that I went. I think went pretty viral. You see somebody sitting in a plane seat and the caption is clearly the captain's voice in quotes and it says, this is your captain speaking and this is your captain singing.

[Luke Burbank]

That's a good spoof.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's such a good spoof. It's well done. To be able to capture, to be captured in like kind of non audio form in one square in a sentence. You know what I mean?

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely. That is high level comedy and very efficient. Andrew, can you do me a favor? Can you screech over so that I can see your name tag right now? The microphone is obscuring it. I want to take a photo of us.

[Andrew Walsh]

No. Yeah. It says say cheese.

[Luke Burbank]

Perfect. I realized that today. Oh, I love it. Thank you for holding up.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, that's right. You're dressed in a coat.

[Luke Burbank]

You look like someone I hired to come work at my mansion.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're dressed in a sport coat with a. What do you call the little hanky coming out?

[Luke Burbank]

Ascot. Not an ascot. Pocket square.

[Andrew Walsh]

Designer pocket square coming out. And I happen to be wearing the shirt that I, I wore Doing some chores and stuff yesterday, which is called Cintas work shirt. This is an actual. This is an actual work shirt from either high school or college. This is what.

[Luke Burbank]

I dig it, dude.

[Andrew Walsh]

This was my uniform in when I worked for my dad out in the shop. It's like one of those kind of, what would you say, slate blue sort of Cintas work shirts. And my dad called me Andy, so all of the name tags on it said Andy instead of Andrew.

[Luke Burbank]

I absolutely love that shirt. When I worked at the plumbing company, I was obsessed with getting one of those shirts with my name on it because they were very in style at the time. This would have been the, you know, early 1990s, 1992, maybe 93. And it was, at least in Seattle, it was a whole look.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And actually, yeah, I worked at a place where you, like, they weren't gonna really give them to us because we're just kind of summer, you know, employees. It wasn't worth Whatever, the $10 to have a patch, you know, sort of ironed on to a shirt, but I think I bugged him, or maybe I even paid for it out of my own money. Who knows? But I was so into that shirt. The funny thing is today, after we're done, I have to record a couple of videos, including a little acknowledgment of the career of our friend Dave Ross, who is going to be retiring from.

[Andrew Walsh]

Radio, and do that together. I got to do that. I mean, I have the opportunity to do that as well.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's. Oh, let's do it. That actually sounds fun.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you want to. I don't need to crash yours. I was. I was brainstorming what I was. We should do it dressed like this.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, so this is the thing. I. This morning was like, I need Dave Ross and whoever watches a Cairo to know it's going okay for Luke Burbank, despite having some medical issues with my eye. And so I thought, well, I'll just throw a little, like, sport coat on. And I didn't realize that this is a sport coat that just this thing was in the pocket. Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, I was in there.

[Luke Burbank]

No, it's just. Oh, no, no. It's just sitting in there. But I did not select this for, like, the pocket square seems over the top. Like, I just thought, I'll try to wear something that looks a little nice that's a little flattering on me, and just, again, try to project the image that everything's going very well for lb. And I didn't realize until I was looking at myself in the, you know, screen here with Riverside, the program we use that it does have a pocket square and that it is actually looks pretty formal. It's got some real thirst and Howl the Third vibes. And it just happens to be the day that. That you're wearing your Working Man Andy shirt. We look like we have really come from different sides of the track today, but we've.

[Andrew Walsh]

But we've been brought together to do.

[Luke Burbank]

A podcast through a crazy set of circumstances.

[Andrew Walsh]

First of all, as far as your pocket square is concerned, do you think that Paul F. Tompkins would give it even a second thought about being. You look good. Don't worry about it. No, but I'm fine.

[Luke Burbank]

There was a time in my life where I was a dandy. And that time has. That time has passed.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, I just, oh, that jacket's from your dandy days.

[Luke Burbank]

This is one click north. You know where I got this jacket actually was Italy this summer. Now, if you say like, oh, I got this jacket in Italy, that sounds real, real highfalutin, as my friend Brianne would say. Really sounds like you're farting through silk. But actually, stuff was way cheap over there. Like, much cheaper than you could get the same thing in the US for, like, this jacket I'm wearing, I think it might have been 30 bucks, 40 bucks. It's nice. Italian wool. It's. It. You can just throw it in the old suitcase. It doesn't get wrinkled. That was my whole thing. Becca was like, hard eye rolling because I just kept acquiring these, like, $40 generally blue or navy blue wool blazers everywhere. And I was like, this is the last one. I'm getting this one. But then I kept seeing another one, and I thought, but what if I need a fifth one? Because my thought, my whole look this winter, it's actually kind of become the case. If I have to go do something formal, it's grab a collared shirt, throw one of these little blazers that don't get wrinkled very easily into the suitcase, and then we're kind of good to go.

[Andrew Walsh]

I have a question for you. It's not related to any of this at all, but it is an important question.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. The toilet was like that. That's why I called you.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what just does not.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know. I came home and it was like that. And that's. That's why you're here, sir.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is bathroom related.

[Luke Burbank]

More direct eye contact, please.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is bathroom related. It is not. I think you should leave related. And it's not toilet related.

[Luke Burbank]

It is not a joke toilet with a little fart hole in it.

[Andrew Walsh]

It is a shower question. Do you ever find yourself. I was almost late for work today because I found myself cleaning my bottle cap in the shower. And I even had the conscious decision. Cause I'm in the shower, I don't.

[Luke Burbank]

Know exactly on the shampoo.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know exactly what time it is in the shower. And I'm like, I'll bet you I'm a little bit late here. But once I started on this project, I was just like, then I'm gonna be late. And by the way, I wasn't. But I was late.

[Luke Burbank]

I were here when I got here.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think we both dialed up around the right time. But I have. I have a thing of shampoo in there. I use shampoo maybe every two or three days. I have a bottle of conditioner in there. I use the conditioner maybe once a week. But honestly, I'm not super great with it. I should use it more. I don't even know why I like the way it smells. I have very little hair, but I.

[Luke Burbank]

Use it on a hair on the side, back and parts of the top you're not.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, my ears are doing great for themselves.

[Luke Burbank]

As far as a situation. Your head has as much hair as mine does. It's just distributed a lot of it. On the lower part of.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sure. Yeah. No, your face. The. The comb over I'm doing with my nose hair is really something to behold.

[Luke Burbank]

Honestly, from certain angles, you would not know. Now from other angles, you really know.

[Andrew Walsh]

From other angles, it's like my eye turned to stone.

[Luke Burbank]

It's like my sty. It's like. From some angles, it's like, oh, everything's okay. And then from another angle, it's like, oh, God.

[Andrew Walsh]

From another angle, it looks like you've been lying.

[Luke Burbank]

And it looks like I was a joke there. Looks like I caught lying. Well, if his eye grew, I guess.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, exactly. So anyway. But yeah, I don't use the conditioner all that often. And so I. I went to squeeze some into the palm of my hand as you're supposed to do, and it just, like, I had to. It, like, it just like squeezed out, like it was like the whole opening was clogged with old, you know, kind of dried conditioner. And so as conditioner. So I did. So I. Fine. I. You know, it was already in my hand. I conditioned. I am conditioned right now. But then as I was sitting, the conditions were perf. The conditions were, well, I would say imperfect in this case, because it didn't come out properly. So as it's in my hair, you're supposed to let it sit for a moment. And I'm like, you know what? This will not stand. And so then I take the lid off and I kind of put the shower on a harder stream. I'm kind of like shooting water through it. This is all. I've done this many times.

[Luke Burbank]

You can blow into it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, did it. That's how it all went. That's the sequence.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, this is a. I think you should leave reference. Like, who's one of the guys that would have blown played that with the kink, the horn?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, something shorterly, I think. Certainly. Donk.

[Luke Burbank]

I've got it right here.

[Andrew Walsh]

You could Roy Donk.

[Luke Burbank]

Like a Roy Donk Paul Bufano, A Marcus the Hick. Marcus the Worm. Oh, yeah. He could hit that would have also accepted. And of course, Mookie Kramer and the eight balls.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. But yeah, so the. So the sequence is always, well, I'm just going to shoot some water into this thing, see if I can clear it up a little bit. At this point, you don't realize you're obsessed. Then you're like, I gotta do some mouth to mouth on this thing. Then you're. And you're like, okay, I know that I'm gonna end up with, like, shampoo mouth, shampoo lips. But you're, like, blowing through it both coming and going. And you're like, well, this isn't quite working. Then there was the dangerous part of the shower, where I reach far out of the shower, all the way into the far side of the drawer underneath my sink. And I grab. I have, like, a tiny little kit that has, like, two different sets of fingernail clippers, some facial, like, scissors, you know, for, like, ears and nose and stuff. So it's got several things in there, and one of them is, like, kind of a metal, pointy nail file that I don't really use for much. And so I reach all the way out of the shower, I grab that thing. Now I've got my surgical tools. Now I'm going to town. This is where the adventure should have begun. Like, now I'm scraping this clump out. It's not. It's not hard and crusty, but it's not liquid. It's somewhere in between. It's gelato.

[Luke Burbank]

The inside of my eyes. More on that coming up.

[Andrew Walsh]

And actually, yeah, maybe this is good foreshadowing it. This was very satisfying. I hope your assist. It sounds like it wasn't, but I hope it was as satisfying as this because it did. We got clean corners on this thing. The lid is very. It's sparkling clean right now. I might take a shower after the show just to enjoy.

[Luke Burbank]

Just to enjoy the free and easy access to your conditioner now unimpeded.

[Andrew Walsh]

Real story. You ever find yourself in that situation? You ever find your cleaning something in the shower?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, yeah, I don't know if I've gone to the point of using a tool from outside of the shower while the shower is still going, but I have very, very often in my life done the thing you described where you take. First you're trying to squeeze it and you're hoping that the pressure of the shampoo or the conditioner. And you're right, it is always a conditioner problem because shampoo, most of us use it on the daily. Or at least I use shampoo every time that I take a shower, but the conditioner I don't use as frequently so that one has more time to get kind of gunked up. And you start by going, I'm going to squeeze this so hard and it's going to like, pop, pop. And that's very satisfying. But you then also get like way more conditioner than you need. It's kind of wastewater. If it works, best case scenario, you're wasting conditioner. Now you have a giant palm full of conditioner, much more than you need.

[Andrew Walsh]

With one little hard clump in it. If you were successful.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that's. And that's best case scenario.

[Andrew Walsh]

A booger of condition.

[Luke Burbank]

I used to say to such a terrible place to take this. But I, I have some. I have friends who were quite. They were. They were big fans of going to the adult dance club at a certain point in the night, at a certain point in the drinking. This was in our much younger days. I was always a fan of going to the casino myself because one of the things I said was this whole enterprise, this thing of going to this adult dance club. If I read it correctly, the best case scenario is you've got a situation that you're now dealing with. Like if you were to. If, if this were to. If this were to be. This were to work out as good as well as you hoped it would in terms of your level of excitement here in this, in this particular environment, I think then you've got a new problem that you're dealing with. And anything short of that feels like, what do we even do in here? So anyway, back to shampoo and conditioner. I use a very kind of expensive. Maybe it's not expensive by some people's standards, but it seems expensive to me. This shampoo that I'm using that has nioxin in it. It was one of my many, like, anxiety buys. It's supposed to be better for stimulating hair growth. I guess this chemical, nioxin is, you know, helps maybe. I think it maybe either keeps your hair from falling out at as fast of a rate, or maybe it supposedly helps regrow it. But here's what I like about it. You're supposed to leave it in for five minutes. So the first thing that I do when I get in the shower once I'm kind of rinsed off, is I put the shampoo and I leave it there, and I then spend five minutes, you know, doing my thing with the soap. And I feel like, oh, I'm really doing my scalp a real service with this. But I also have conditioner that is made by the same company and is supposed to be doing the same thing. But by the time I'm rinsing my hair off, I'm done doing everything. And I don't want to sit in the shower for five more minutes just waiting for the conditioner to do its thing. So then I just never use the conditioner. I have had one bottle of this conditioner for the last five years, and I've gone through, like, five bottles of the shampoo.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, you're supposed to leave the conditioner in there. Now, I don't have a problem taking a long shower. I often get lost in my thoughts in the shower. So, if anything, my problem is the other side. I stay in there for much too long. But, you know, much like a carbon credit, I'm glad to know that you're on the other side of the state. The southern side of the state, though, you know, like, kind of preserving that water so that I can take my longer showers.

[Luke Burbank]

But between the two of us, we are taking an average shower every day.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. And, yeah, I just remember being told growing up, well, you're supposed to put the. Put the shampoo in, rinse it out. But then conditioner, you got to leave that in there for a while. I don't even know what a while is, but I've. I don't know if I've ever even read that or confirmed that that's what you're supposed to do. Can you confirm you leave the conditioner in for a while while you do some other shower business?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know. We'll see. The stuff I'm using is. Is kind of a unique scenario because it's allegedly dousing my scalp in some sort of chemicals that make my scalp more likely to grow hair. I don't, I don't know. With a regular conditioner that's not promising to do that. I don't know what the rules are. And leaving it in. I do know that they're is an actual leave in conditioner that they make where you put it in your hair. And I believe you just leave it in just stays in your hair forever. Maybe, maybe it hydrates your hair. There's also now dry shampoo. That's a big thing, particularly for women, I think. I know Becca has used it before and that one I don't understand at all. But I don't think that even involves getting into the shower.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think it does. She goes in the bathroom, she's going to washer hair. I hear the sound of a bunch of snakes hissing for a while.

[Luke Burbank]

Sandpaper.

[Andrew Walsh]

What? Yeah, it's just, it's. I don't understand the science of spraying an aerosol into your hair and saying that has made it cleaner. But I guess that, you know, it probably has to do with cells, protein.

[Luke Burbank]

Keratin.

[Andrew Walsh]

Keratin, Andrew.

[Luke Burbank]

It's all about keratin.

[Andrew Walsh]

Things attaching to other things. Probably.

[Luke Burbank]

I look like a guy, Andrew, who would corner you at a party and say it's all about keratin.

[Andrew Walsh]

I look like a guy that you wouldn't approach at a party.

[Luke Burbank]

So I would. And I would say, sir, that toilet downstairs is still clogged and why are you here?

[Andrew Walsh]

It's 8pm Ice machine is still not working.

[Luke Burbank]

It's really messed up. How easily I lead into this rich D bag Persona. Like it kind of. I feel. It feels right. Feels right that I'm. That I'm being unnecessarily dismissive of you, Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

Meanwhile, I'm over here managing expectations. Everybody's expectations towards me. Hey, I went back into that grocery store with my backpack late at night on a Friday.

[Luke Burbank]

Wow, that would be a gun. You'd really be asking for trouble late at night.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know. And I was ready to go in and say so. Actually though, it was the dream of the neighborhood grocery store. I shouldn't admit this. I admitted this to somebody else this weekend. I'm only telling you and her this. You're the only people to know. But Friday I was working on the newsletter kind of late. Ish into the afternoon, early evening. Then there's always like I send that thing off and there's always a bit of a relief. I always think I Don't know if I'm gonna be able to do a newsletter this week. And then there's always this sort of mental relief. I laid down on the couch around. Oh, you know what? It wasn't that late. It was like 5:30. Lay down on the couch around 5:30 or 6 or something. Slept until 8:00 at night. Is that even a nap? Can you wake up from a nap at 8pm?

[Luke Burbank]

It's called a small sleep.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's called I took a small. It's called a little sleep.

[Luke Burbank]

You definitely have gone past the bounds of napping.

[Andrew Walsh]

And that messed me up. And I think I've been on a bad scheduling. I stayed up late every. Like, actually all of last week too. I was staying up well past one in the morning.

[Luke Burbank]

That was it. Your body was. Your body is. It's starving for hot dogs.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. It's eating.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, Your body was neat. I mean, because you're not generally a napper. If I have this right now. So if that happened to you, your body was telling you something.

[Andrew Walsh]

Fridays are weird for me, though, because I kind of lull about. I kick around the house. I'm such a weird person on Fridays. I'm kicking around the house. Usually a Friday. Genevieve works from home on Friday, so it usually begins with me asking her kind of jokingly, I guess. Mostly jokingly, but mostly annoyingly, like 17 times. So what are you going to write about in the newsletter this week, Genevieve? Don't you want to write? I'm like, I'll write your little speeches for the president. I think I can handle that. Why don't you write the newsletter? That was funny probably once in 2022, but that's how the Fridays begin. Then I do the show with you. Then I'm like, okay, I'm not going to get a big lunch because I should just keep on rolling on the newsletter stuff. But then I get hungry and I say, veeves, I'm going out to get a big lunch. What should we get? We combine our resources. I come back with too much food. Then it's the afternoon I'm ready to write the newsletter. No, ready to nap because I've eaten too much food and I probably stayed up too late on a Thursday.

[Luke Burbank]

So this nap was. The newsletter hadn't gone out yet.

[Andrew Walsh]

No. Luckily, I had some discipline this Friday. So then with a big belly full of teriyaki, I'm like writing the newsletter. But then I was bouncing jokes off of Genevieve. I'm just like. I kick around the house. Just like a sullen Cat knocking things off of the shelf, trying to figure out what I'm going to write about the newsletter until finally I squeeze one out. Sorry, sorry. To everybody who read the newsletter that I squeezed out. And then I'm just like, oh, did it, did it, did. Another week. And then I laid down on the couch around like I said maybe 6:00. And then I'm like, I'll just rest my eyes for a second. And then next thing I know, I'm waking up. 8:00 at night on a Friday, not my favorite move. And I was like, I had this overwhelming urge for cranberry juice. I was like, I want cranberry juice. And I don't know, I was like. And then I was like, you got UTI going. Yeah, not great. And so I. So then I'm like, well, I guess I'll go to the grocery store. But then I'm picturing myself getting in the car and I'm like, son of a gun, I can walk to the SARS Super Saver. And I'm like, should I take the backpack or not? Will they. Will they chastise me again at the door? If so, you know, can I handle my shit and just say, okay, fine, you hang on to this for me? Whatever. They apparently have a bag check policy without anybody actually checking the bags. But I showed up, it was so dead, around 8:30 on a Friday night. The security guard barely looked at me. Different person didn't care. Nobody cared about anything. I wandered around the store, got myself some, then I'm in there, I'm like, hey, maybe they have a frozen food section that has like pizzas and stuff. My God, do they ever. Like, I came home with some Stouffer's French bread pizzas and some cranberry juice. It was great.

[Luke Burbank]

So it sounds like my theory that, that, that was sort of a day one, maybe even like an hour one kind of a situation where the security guards were on their absolute best behavior and most kind of careful behavior. My guess is that going forward, and I think you had actually sort of theorized this, that once they know you and see you a lot, and you're in there all the time, I have a feeling that no one will ever talk about your backpack again. Which is amazing because it means you're back to your fantasy life of like toodling around the neighborhood, doing this and that and the other, and then just grabbing something from your neighborhood grocer and then heading on home, like, without a care in the world.

[Andrew Walsh]

It really was great. And my guess is It. I will. It probably depends on the time. It probably depends on who's working security if, you know, if I'm going there as frequently as I expect. I am guessing that there will be times where I will be asked to not wear my backpack. And if so, I'm just going to really kind of measure myself. If the kind of customer service area is open, I will take it over there. This time of night, I learned because I was ready for them to tell me I couldn't take my bag in there. So I looked over to customer service. All closed up at that time of night. You know, they're on skeleton crew or what have you.

[Luke Burbank]

Here's the move. Ask the security guard to wear it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Could you wear this for me and could you come around with me?

[Luke Burbank]

Wear this for me while I'm so we know it's safe. How about you wear it and I'll come find you when I've got my groceries.

[Andrew Walsh]

Or you wear it and come around the store with me and I keep loading it up with things. Make them my accomplice while I just.

[Luke Burbank]

Clean the place out, will you, Bonnie my Clyde?

[Andrew Walsh]

So I do want to know about your eye, though. I've now gone on some various lines of frivolity. But do we have time before we get Barry on the show to.

[Luke Burbank]

We do. We do. I knew this exact thing would happen, Andrew. Why do you think I'm the corporate titan that I am and you'll never get that dirt out from under your fingernails? It's because I'm thinking ahead, Andrew. It's because I told Broadcast Barry we would not be calling him till 11am.

[Andrew Walsh]

I saw the note. I've been looking at the clock. I'm surrounded by. I can't tell you that I'm conscientious of the clock because I get chastised.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, it's just that I have so many clocks here. Sure, I know it's insulting to my very character if you think I don't know what time it is. Although actually I'm a little worried that I guess it is. I have this wall clock that it's the weirdest thing. I'm looking at it and it is indicating that as you and I are speaking to each other, it is the 1042, basically. And I don't know how to explain this other than to say the clock says 10:42, but if you look at it quickly, it somehow doesn't read as 1042.

[Andrew Walsh]

It feels more like a 1046.

[Luke Burbank]

It feels culturally more like 1038. I know, that makes no sense. But like looking over it, I was like, we got all the time in the world for this I story. And then I looked down, I was like, well, actually we have about 15 minutes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, a little bit more realistic minutes. Is that enough time?

[Luke Burbank]

That's plenty.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's when I started on it.

[Luke Burbank]

I think I have some gas in my tank on this because we've been hearing, I've heard from a few people saying, I'm really sorry about your eye, but I found it to be a pretty decent TV tell storyline. And usually if I hear that like three times, which is like three out of, I don't know, many. Actually kind of a surprisingly large number of people, thousands of people. And maybe the thousands and thousands of people who heard it and were bored by it or grossed out are, you know, that's the majority. But if I hear, if I get three texts from actual friends going, I'm pretty riveted by this. Like, I've had a couple people go, can you send me a picture of the eye?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, calm down, Thurston Powell. Wait till they hear the conditioner story. You know, hey, honestly, hyper, hyper relatable.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, so last week I was talking a lot about this. For some reason I'm really resistant to calling it a sty, even though that's exactly what it is. I think because when I was growing up I had never seen a sty. But my imagination of it was that it was a weird infection almost of the eyeball itself and something that was almost conjunctive in its itis and kind of pink eye. Like it just. If I heard, oh, a sty, it made it felt. It gave me a kind of a yucky feeling. And what I've learned from having a sty in my eye is what it actually is is just the inside of your eyelid gets infected for some reason, or in this case a duct gets blocked up and then you get this swelling. And so, you know, the. I have this red bump on my eyelid, which this is the weird part, Andrew, that I've learned is actually that's sort of the base of the volcano, if you will. The actual. The cauldron, the caldera, rather the place where we throw the virgins in to please the gods. I'm just really leaning into this volcano thing is inside my. It's apparently in the interior of my eyelid. I can't see it or get to it. I keep thinking about this as being a problem with a red dot, kind of like a cranberry sized dot on my Eyelid, like a bump, but that's actually the bottom of the situation.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is really interesting. So, in other words, not that you would want to do this or not that you'd even want a picture doing this. And so I apologize to you and everybody who's going to hear this, but, like, if you were to think, oh, this is something I could pop, like a pimple, you're looking at the bottom of the pimple. You'd need to be popping this from inside the eye cavity. Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. And so last week, to go back a couple of weeks, I. This thing was not getting better and was kind of unsightly, and I decided, okay, this is not going to remedy itself. I'd been doing a hot compress constantly and it wasn't making any difference. So I got on the website for my healthcare Kaiser Permanente, and they said, well, like, what do you need? And they listed a few different possibilities. Of course, there's dental, there's optometry, there's general practitioner. I was like, well, I know it's not optometry, because what I know about optometry is that is the science of how our vision works. It is not the science of cutting into your eyelid or putting a needle in there to drain something. I just knew that instinctively, with almost no training in the field. I just was like, this is not an optometry call. I thought it's, if anything, it's ophthalmology, which they don't let you make an appointment for. But if it's not, if I can't get to ophthalmology, then it's probably a general practitioner thing. It's a doctor thing. They have scalpels. They could do something. So I make an appointment with the general practitioner. I go in, he is taking pictures of my eye and sending it to the eye specialist, who is telling him, put him on an antibiotic. I now, by the way, Andrew, having had three appointments for this and a fourth scheduled for tomorrow morning, I now have figured out that the American health care system is bullshit. This has not been discussed in the news lately at all. Very few people have this take, Andrew, but I am here to tell you it's in the words of Jenny McCarthy, and this is the only words of Jenny McCarthy that I'll agree with when it comes to medicine. Look, it. It's plain and simple.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's bull.

[Luke Burbank]

So I go to the first GP, you, McCarthy.

[Andrew Walsh]

So just let me get this right. You guys are on the same page when it comes to medically, medical issues.

[Luke Burbank]

Medically, very, very Very aligned.

[Andrew Walsh]

Just want to get that right for the pull quote I'm going to put on Instagram later. Okay, gotcha.

[Luke Burbank]

Thanks. So the first GP says, we'll put you on this antibiotic. And I remember thinking, I feel like you're kind of like, we'll see if this works. But this seems like a real broad approach to a pretty specific problem. I got this sty in my eye. We're going to try to anti the biotics of my whole body and hope that that just catches this eye situation. Like, you know, like, it just catches that as kind of like a, you know, a sort of a ancillary issue. Like, it just feels like a kind of take two aspirin and see me in the morning kind of approach, which is, I'm sure, what they're trained to do, because they don't want me to. This is what I'm learning, Andrew. They don't want me to see the ophthalmologist because there are not that many ophthalmologists. It's a specialty. And they would really like to just delay, deny, and depose me with antibiotics. So I take the antibiotics for a week. Guess what? But no improvement in my situation at this point. Are they sending me to the ophthalmologist? No, they're sending me to another general practitioner who was very nice and was advocating for me. She sure was. But guess what she told me to do based on what the eye specialist, a different eye specialist told her. Different course of antibiotics. Do you see the continued application of a cure that will probably not work, that will be less expensive for Kaiser Permanente to deal with if it's less Luke getting to see the person who can actually potentially fix this. So I'm on the phone with the 800 number with the doctor the other day, and she's like, okay. And they make me an appointment for the eye doctor, and the only time I can get is Friday in the afternoon. Now, I was supposed to be in LA Friday afternoon or at least flying back, but I rearranged my schedule. I come back really early. We do tbtl. I am driving. Oh, other side note on this. If I were. If I were Kaiser Permanente, I would simply not have two buildings that are, I don't know, eight blocks apart. One that's called the Kaiser Medical Office, and the other one that's called the Kaiser Medical center or something like. They've got these two buildings that are. The names are almost indistinguishable from each other. Oh, it's called the Salmon Creek. Sorry. The one's called the Salmon Creek Medical Office, and one's called the Salmon Creek Medical Center. And I feel like you're asking for confusion.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, I feel like I had to guess. The office is where they are filing the paperwork. And by the way, people are filing paperwork in 2024. I picture.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm sure they are.

[Andrew Walsh]

I picture metal desks and tall filing cabinets in the office. And the medical center, that's where people with stethoscopes are checking people's pulses.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, you're. You're mostly right. Although here's what added to the confusion. I, of course, went first to the office because that's where Waze was trying to take me. And I went inside, and guess what they do have there, Andrew? An eye center, which was confusing to me. Not the eye center I was trying.

[Andrew Walsh]

To go to, but it's a lowercase eye center. They just make it as complicated. No, no. You need the eye facility in the medical center, not the eye center in the medical office. Come on.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I mean, sir, is this your first. Is this, in fact, your first rodeo?

[Andrew Walsh]

Excuse me, why are you dressed like that? And secondly, for you, so.

[Luke Burbank]

God, I would have killed for whatever those needles they use to shoot burns up with. Just put that. Literally put it in my eye. No one's ever said that except me, because that's how much I want this thing gone. So I'm at the wrong place, and I then am running to. By which I mean jumping in my car and speeding over to the other place. And now I'm in danger of actually missing my appointment, which I am someone who's not had a lot of medical appointments, which I'm grateful for. I wasn't sure if it's like the airplane, do they close the door 10 minutes early? And they are not, like. Because I could see a world in which. If you're running something that's on tightest schedule, as one of these, you know, medical offices and people are always showing up 5, 10 minutes late. It's like, that could just throw everything off constantly. Like, you might need to have, like, a really hard and fast policy. It's like, I'm sorry, if you're not here at the time of your appointment, we're rescheduling you. Right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Can I actually jump in here really quickly with a quick anecdote of my own related to this? Because as you know, like, I'm somebody who, for anything, I like to be a bit early. What is the old expression? If you're. If you're on time you're late or what have you. Like, I like to be somewhere.

[Luke Burbank]

Lynn hall, my choir teacher, would say. It would say, early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable.

[Andrew Walsh]

There you go. And that's how I live my life. I feel like there was also. Wasn't it, like a coach that said that? I think there's a famous. Like, maybe who. Football, basketball, one of the Rockies, somebody.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, John Wooden, probably.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what I was thinking of.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, probably part of the Pyramid of Success.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was going to say the Wood guy. I can't think of his name. I always think of our friend.

[Luke Burbank]

I followed the Pyramid of Success. That's how I ended up here on Monday wearing a pocket square, looking down to you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now, my anecdote is fitting into other anecdotes, but do you remember when I discovered the Pyramid of Success? And I'd never heard of it before, but it was hanging in a studio at kcrw. And then you had explained to me. What's his name again? What's his name?

[Luke Burbank]

John.

[Andrew Walsh]

John Wooden. I'd never heard of him before. And I remember our friend Mike Frisell just being like. Every time. I can't believe what this guy doesn't know. He just. I mean, like, how does he not know?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't.

[Andrew Walsh]

John Wood fair, by the way.

[Luke Burbank]

Rest in power. But I don't. I'm not with. I'm not with him on that. I think it'd be very easy to not know about the Pyramid of Success.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think it was the John Wooden thing and he wasn't being cruel or anything. I want to make that very clear. I just remember it stood out in my mind. I'm like, I guess I should really know who this guy is. Okay. Having said all of that, I am very nervous about being late anywhere, but especially the doctor's office. Not unlike this belief that you're supposed to leave conditioner in your hair for like five minutes. I've always.

[Luke Burbank]

Sorry I'm late. I was conditioning.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. And I've been conditioned to believe that if you show up late for a doctor's appointment, you're in trouble. You have to rebook it or what have you.

[Luke Burbank]

Even. I felt that. And you know me, I'm a noted time optimist.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's why I thought it'd be worth throwing this in there. And I'll tell you what. The other day I had a doctor's appointment, and I don't have an excuse for being late. I was going to leave at a time where I was Going to get there like 15 minutes early and they want you there 15 minutes before your appointment. I was going to be there probably a half hour before my appointment but I said I'm going to start this one task. I had to write this thing and I was like well let me start. But then once I started that task I was behind my desk and I'm looking at the clock and I started having Luke mind when it came to the clock I started looking at it and seeing one thing but kind of interpreting it as something else until I realized I'm running out the door 10 minutes before my appointment starts and it's a 15 minute drive and this is before my appointment starts, not like before they want me to get there. And so like I'm like I'm just screwed. I'm just rolling in five minutes late which is exactly what I.

[Luke Burbank]

From the Calgary.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. I'm like, you know, I'm tapping in like you pay for parking via your phone so I'm like tapping it in while I'm running in and then I get up there and I'm breathlessly, I'm like okay, I'm a little bit late. I'm here for the 3:00 with Dr. So and so. And then they're like okay, have a seat right over there. They don't say anything. Then the physician's assistant comes out to kind of, you know, take my weight and get me prepped or whatever. Then he says hey, sorry we're running a little bit behind today. I'm like perfect crime. And this is what I think I shouldn't say this to you. I, I apologize to any doctor who ever has to deal with you in the future. But this person said to me hey, sorry we're running late today. And I said actually I was running late. I got here a few minutes late. He's like ah. And he gestures towards the front desk people but out of earshot of them says they care about that way more than we do. So the doctors are evil inside me, yes, but it's the people at the front desk who, and I understand that that actually must be a pretty thankless job probably when you're sort of stuck between the two. But anyway, I thought that was interesting.

[Luke Burbank]

Well so I, and if I can belabor this even more, I find somebody in the first office who says, you know, this is not the building. Well, first again I have the Kaiser app open on my phone and I'm clicking on the appointment because all it says is medic Salmon Creek Medic that's it. Like, it doesn't finish the word. Like, it's not displaying on my phone. This is part of why there was confusion. Now it is a link. So I'm mashing the link, and guess what the Kaiser app is doing in this very moment, Andrew. It's just spinning. It's just not. I just need, like, four more letters to know if it's like, the office or the built. And so I go inside and I talk to a person at the front desk. She's very nice. And I go, I don't. I don't know where I'm supposed. Where I'm supposed to be. She goes, what's your Kaiser number? Like, she might as well have just said, like, right. Can you recite PI to the 1 trillionth digit?

[Andrew Walsh]

She might have asked, what's your blood type? I assume you don't know your blood type either.

[Luke Burbank]

I also don't know my blood type. So I was like, I have root beer. So I was like, I don't know what. I go, can we look it up on my birth date? You know, that's a big thing. And she goes, yeah, hold on. Just. The system just crashed. It's rebooting. So now the system on her computer is, like, slowly coming back to life. The phone is still not giving me the critical five extra letters that I need to solve this riddle. Finally, it's like she sees my thing. She's like, oh, yeah, you're in the other one. I'm like, okay. I run out now. It's like my appointment is starting now at the other place, and I'm five minutes away, which, again, not a lot of time. But in this case, if it's enough, enough that they're going to be like, I'm sorry you lost your spot. I'm going to be so bummed because I changed my whole trap. My plane ticket for this. And I get out into traffic and I'm behind a minivan and we're at a red light. The main big road that connects the one office to the other like that. We need to. I need to drive like a half a mile on if that. And this woman will not take a red on a right. A right on a red.

[Andrew Walsh]

And definitely, definitely is just taking a right. Has the blinker on.

[Luke Burbank]

Has the blinker on. It's sitting there. There's no one around. And she's. And I'm like. And I'm. I'm proud of this. Generally speaking, I am not a road ragey person. I really. I just. It's not for some reason a thing that generally gets me all angry. But in this case I was feeling so much anxiety and I was seeing my whole. I was like it's amazing how quickly you can spiral on these things because here's what was going through my much I'm going to get there. They're going to say, sorry sir, you missed your appointment. The next one isn't for three weeks. I'm going to go to these. I was going to a holiday party that night with Becca's family. I'm going to have to go to this with a big, giant, weird, unsightly thing on my eye. Next week I'm going to we're doing Livewire on Thursday night at the Rev Hall. By the way, come see us. I'll be doing that with a. I just started thinking everything in my life is going to be me embarrassed about this giant growth on my eye in public and it's all going to happen because this woman won't take a right on a red like and then sure enough so I give her. I didn't, I didn't lay on the horn. I just gave it kind of a little like. Kind of like a. A nice like hey, just so you know, we can take a right on a red in the state of Washington. And I also was very careful. I looked to make sure because occasionally there will be a sign that says no turn on red.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

So I was double checking. I was craning and I wasn't seeing that sign. So I gave a little. Did not move. Totally did not make any difference in this person's life. They just stayed there. And then this is why this is what turned me into a little road ragey was so now finally the light, the turn arrow turns on. We now turn and for the next four lights and I'm on a road that's about equivalent to like Aurora Avenue, Andrew in terms of its arterial nature.

[Broadcast Barry]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

So it's like multi lane. Multi lane lanes going in the same direction. Probably a turn lane in the middle. A lot of businesses, a pretty large.

[Luke Burbank]

A pretty. It's not even an arterial. It might even be 10 technically a highway, I don't know. But anyway and there's like four pretty substantial lights between where we were and where I need to get and we get caught at every light.

[Andrew Walsh]

But you can't go around. Despite the multi lane situation.

[Luke Burbank]

I can go around her but the problem is now the timing is off. In other words, unless I want to run these red lights or like really heavily speed the rate at which we're traveling. Has now set us up. Up. And now I keep. I'm in the, like, left lane. There's two lanes. I'm in the left lane. She's in the right lane. And every time we pull up to another stoplight and we're waiting, I want to look at her and go, are you happy? None of this would have. I wouldn't be going to a Christmas party with an embarrassing eye situation tonight if you would have taken a right on that red. I didn't do any of it. I literally didn't even look at this woman because I was worried that I would mouth something rude to her. But it just. It was funny because it happened, like, three times. She and I arrived at a new red light that I felt like was totally her fault that we were at this red light. Okay? So I get there. I run in. The people are very nice. I'm apologetic. They say, it's no problem. They send me over to there. Let's go wait over in, like, waiting room, whatever. And, Andrew, that is when. When I sauntered into that waiting area, when I knew something had gone horribly wrong, because what I saw were tons and tons of eyeglasses. What I saw was very obviously the optometry department, the thing I swerved on three appointments ago because I knew optometry was not where I needed to be. And a very nice optometry assistant. I don't know what you call the PA of optometry, but that person, she brought me in, and I said. I started to instinctively take my jacket off, like, you're gonna do my blood pressure. She goes, no, we don't need that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Taking your pants off, like, sir, yes, sir.

[Luke Burbank]

But, like. Because I've been going to these general practitioners, and every time it's like, okay, we're gonna do your blood pressure. You go through this little thing, even though you did it six days ago. So I was like, like, do I? She's like, no, no, no. You don't have to do that here. This is optometry. I was like, oh, okay, great. Well, and then she asked me some optometry questions. She does a quick little test of the pressure on my eyes, and I'm looking at the letter E in various orientations. You know, the. The thing we all know about with optometry. And I start to get this very bad feeling. She goes, well, the doctor will be. And I go, is this a doctor who's allowed to deal with my eyeball? And she goes, no, that's ophthalmology. Yeah. And I Was like, you don't say.

[Andrew Walsh]

So you got here through insurance. Your insurance. Not. Not through a recommendation of your other doctor.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, well, through my doctor. But the problem is no one gets to see the wizard that is ophthalmology without going to optometry. What should have happened was day one, when I went in and saw the first doctor, doctor, he should have said, you're going to need to go to ophthalmology. And unfortunately, this sucks, but you got to go to optometry first. Let's make you an appointment for optometry. Let's go check that off the list and then you can go actually have someone help you with this. But instead.

[Andrew Walsh]

So this isn't a total.

[Luke Burbank]

This is what was explained to me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No.

[Luke Burbank]

And the poor. The poor optometry assistant and also the optometrist. Both of them were incredibly nice. Nice. They. I was so mad at them. Like, it was totally not their fault, but I had one expectation and hope going into this appointment, which was that I would leave it in a much better situation, in a much better state of affairs. And instead it was, no, you're going to leave it in exactly the same state of affairs until we can get you on a calendar to go somewhere and have someone actually try to do a procedure on you. Which was my whole thing that I was worried about. In fact. In fact, I should have been able to zoom with the optometrist. Like, the first thing they should have said was when they saw me the first time was, okay, listen, this is not something we handle. This is not something optometry handles. But that. You got to talk to them. It's annoying, but you got to talk to them. And then they'll. Then they'll let you go see ophthalmology. Let me just. Let's get you on zoom with an eye person. And then they'll just rubber stamp this through to ophthalmology. This never happened. I kept going and seeing people. They kept giving me antibiotics and other unhelpful stuff so that I can finally now get to the final boss of my eye embarrassment. Tomorrow in Clackamas, Oregon, where I will, at 8am actually be seeing allegedly an ophthalmologist who will. I hope Andrew. And I've never. I never thought these were words that I would say. My truest hope is that tomorrow this ophthalmologist will pry my eyelid away from my eye. I'm sorry, everyone. This is going to get graphic. I now know the procedure. The optometrist did brief me on the procedure that she's not doing, pull my eyelid away from my eyeball, can contort my eyelid in such a way that she can get access to the actual clog, the blockage.

[Andrew Walsh]

The top of the mountain. The top of the top of the.

[Luke Burbank]

Mountain, likely with some kind of a sterile scalpel, cut it open, and then scoop out the contents of this sty, which I have learned, Andrew, is pus, but has now hardened likely into the consistency of a chickpea.

[Andrew Walsh]

Specifically, you need to call Nikki Glaser and let her know that it is indeed pus.

[Luke Burbank]

It's on my list of things to discuss with her next time I see her because. Because I was very proud that it was not pus. It turns out it is likely pus that is no longer in a liquid form. The optometrist explained to me that it's the consistency of a chickpea. And she knows this because in eye doctor school, they had them do this on chickpeas.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I was wondering.

[Luke Burbank]

That's the teaching model for this. And I wanted to say. Well, you've done it before. Could you just. Yeah, you know your way around a hardened pus chickpea. Could you do me a fave and just get this while we're here tomorrow.

[Andrew Walsh]

I see you taking, like, an X acto blade and a lemon baller with you and just like. Because, like, if they say. If they say no, we're going to put this off again, like, you're just gonna say, listen, I'm just gonna say Attica.

[Luke Burbank]

It's gonna be dog day afternoon, man. I'm gonna just freaking. I'm gonna be pacing like a maniac in the waiting room of this hospital, screaming, attica if they will not. And again, this is the underlying. All this, Andrew, is that this sounds more and more like a gruesome procedure. Like it is. I. I think the actual experience is going to be miserable for me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, you're going to be awake for that.

[Luke Burbank]

She said they. Sometimes they use. She goes, sometimes they'll actually shoot you up with, like, an anesthetic. I said, sometimes, yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Not all the time. Sometimes you're a bad boy. Sometimes you're just a naughty, naughty child. And we don't use the sometimes.

[Luke Burbank]

I was like, I assume that's. That's like, step one of this. And by the way, that shot is gonna hurt.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, if you've ever gotten. Like, if you've ever gotten a numbing agent shot into a part of your body that they need to have numb for a procedure, that's also uncomfortable. Like, there's no getting ahead of this. There is no point. There's no doing this without at some point something sharp being jabbed into the inside of my eyelid. That was the other thing I asked her. I go, is this something. This was on Friday when I was desperate to go, is this something I can just do myself? She goes, you know, there's a lot of really delicate stuff in your eye. This is when I thought I could. This is when I thought I could just lance it on the outside.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And she was like, well, there's. But here's the crazy thing in her. She wasn't a hard. No, yeah, right.

[Andrew Walsh]

She had to think about that back.

[Luke Burbank]

I expect her to be like. I expect her to be like, if you continue you down this line of reasoning. I'm a mandatory reporter, sir. I am legally required to 5150 you if you're going to do this eye surgery. She was like, I kind of. I probably wouldn't. That was basically her take on it. And that was before I understood this is inside my eyelid. Like, I just meant, can I sterilize a needle and try to just drain this from the outside? But she was like, what. What she was saying, I probably wouldn't, was I probably wouldn't pry my own eyelid away from my eyeball and then somehow, using some series of mirrors, probably laid out in the movie Brazil, like, do a surgery inside my own eyelid. Like, no, thank you, I will not be trying that. But.

[Andrew Walsh]

But if you try that, we will sell you some glasses to help cover it up.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, if you. We have all kinds of glasses, eye patches, other things you might need. Other things a person might need. Need for the visuals of this whole situation as opposed to the, you know, surgical intervention. Because, yes, I was in optometry and I was not happy about it. So tomorrow morning I am going to be heading on down to this place where I am under the impression and I am praying that they will actually. And then also, who knows what this will look like afterwards. Like, I have this dream scenario where it's like, problem solved. But I mean, there could be some bruising, there could be some, you know, like, after effects, I might look a lot worse for a while. I will feel a lot better. Even if I'm looking worse. The idea that this thing is out of my eyelid, no longer in my eyelid, that is, That's. That that represents such relief for me that I think I am. I'm. I'm actually looking Forward to this again. Otherwise, very gruesome procedure.

[Andrew Walsh]

I can imagine. And we really should probably get. Get moving on here.

[Luke Burbank]

But listen, there's nothing happening in Manhattan, Kansas. Barry can chill.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm texting with him over here. He's like. I'm like, we're still hearing about Luke's eye. He's like, it's always about Luke. It's the Barry.

[Luke Burbank]

I told him yesterday. I said, I'll text Andrew, but sometimes he doesn't text me back on Sundays. He goes, his work life boundaries are spectacular. And then he texted me back immediately.

[Andrew Walsh]

The. I was going to say, though, like, you're. Because I've done this with much lesser things. But like, you're picture, you're picturing. You've probably given a personality to this thing in your eye now, but you're picturing it in a way too, right?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I called it Krang from.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're picturing like an upside down. Like, you're picturing the relief so much in the same way that sometimes I'll get one of those subterranean pimples where you can't really see it. It's just a little bit of a little red bump, but it's so painful for some reason. It's way under there and you're just kind of messing with it, but you're picturing it, right? And you're like, I can see you. You're like a pimple under the surface. And you're ready to be express. Yes. You want.

[Luke Burbank]

Now I know it's a chickpea.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Now you really want that out of there.

[Luke Burbank]

I have an incredibly vivid idea of what this thing is like in there. And I do. I would like to take it home with me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

If it's not completely destroyed by the procedure. I would like to. I'd like to keep it as a keepsake.

[Andrew Walsh]

I want it to clink when they put it into a glass jar. Like buckshot. Like buckshot, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, exactly. I feel like if I leave it in long enough, it might get to that level of calcification. But yeah. So that's the latest on that. I have been, again, suffering through this. I don't think anyone else is as bothered by it as I am, which is how a lot of these things go. Right. Like my dad. I've been here with my dad for the last couple of days, and I'm not even putting on my makeup when I see him. I'm just out there and he.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're not putting on your makeup when you see your dad on the works.

[Luke Burbank]

Andrew, have you met me? It's conceivable I would. That is. That's the kind of. That's the kind of vanity and insecurity that we are dealing with on this rig. I am, by the way, getting a call from Kaiser Permanente as we speak. It's going to voicemail. So here's what we should do. Let's thank some donors. Let's get in touch with our dear friend Barry and find out how Manhattan Kansas is. And maybe I'll. I'll listen to this voicemail, too, to see if they're canceling my appointment or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thank you for being a t. All right.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's thank some donors who are making TBTL happen with their generosity. We are here doing this thing five days a week because of folks like Christine Zula of Johnston, Rhode Island.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thank you, Christine. I appreciate it.

[Luke Burbank]

Rhode Island, a co. Hog.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. Beautiful there.

[Luke Burbank]

Beautiful Rhode Island. You know what happens here?

[Andrew Walsh]

The waves crash upon rocks there.

[Luke Burbank]

No, wait.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I was just picturing Rhode Island. You just picture waves crashing upon bluffs and rocks. Right.

[Luke Burbank]

It's their main export.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's their main export.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. Salty, briny waves crashing against the craggy rocks.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right.

[Luke Burbank]

And Christine Zozula. Those are the two main things. Those are two big things that Rhode island is known for. Yep. Connie Pearson is in Westminster, Colorado.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nice. I love your dog shows.

[Luke Burbank]

Dog show. That's how you know that. That was a very, very low level of humor. We both made the same obvious joke. We also want to thank Sumathi Raghavan of Seattle, Washington.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, thank you.

[Luke Burbank]

Run into Sumathi.

[Andrew Walsh]

I did Streets of Seattle years ago. Yes. I believe she and Genevieve have maybe possibly had some lunch dates or something. They might be like, oh, colleagues from another ballague or something. I'm not exactly. That didn't. Bolague isn't really a word, but I came close.

[Luke Burbank]

No, colleagues from another. Yeah, nothing rhymes with colleagues.

[Andrew Walsh]

No.

[Luke Burbank]

Mothers from another mother.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I learned it.

[Luke Burbank]

Or sisters from another. Mr.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Colleagues from another. Fantasy football leagues don't.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that's.

[Luke Burbank]

You know. That was bad.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Very slick.

[Luke Burbank]

Try to be quiet, Barry. I know you're laughing. Mute the line. Line. Mute the line. Laura Evans is in Dallas, Texas. Laura is checking in from beautiful Dallas, Texas. Thank you so much. Sabrina Richter is in Spokane, Washington. Hey, the Inland Empire. And then Colin Richard. We've got a Sabrina Richter. And then a Colin Richard. Colin is in University City, Missouri.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. Now, you and I have talked about Missouri. We've talked about University City, Washington before, But have we ever talked about University Place? Oh, you're right. You're right.

[Luke Burbank]

And you know what I learned recently, Andrew? I'm supposed to be doing this story about the band Metallica, and I, of course, because I'm a serious journalist who does his research, I had no idea what the exact angle was. They just said, will you go to LA and talk to Metallica? They are ripping off tbtl. This, I think, of University Place when I think of this. They have a contest that is bands, marching bands, learning Metallica songs and performing them. And that's what I'm going to, because it's all a big, giant fundraiser for Metallica's incredibly generous charitable arm. Turns out Metallica is, you know, first of all, they're basically a corporation at this point. You know, they are a very, very profitable business, but they also are very, very charitable. And they donate tons and tons of money every year to great causes. And one of the ways they raise a bunch of money is this marching band competition, which, like the University Place High School Marching band, I believe, either one or was one of the finalists of the TBTL theme marching band contest.

[Andrew Walsh]

When you're interviewing Metallica, will you mention to them that I heard Unforgiven on satellite radio this weekend?

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, I'm leading with that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Tell them that your friend entering Sandman on I believe, I believe it was on Ozzy's boneyard radio station on satellite. So just let them know that. Just let them know that their work is still out there.

[Luke Burbank]

Got another free trial and being appreciated.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I'm still paying the $5 a month level.

[Luke Burbank]

I believe I gotta, like, honestly, I gotta study your ways and emulate them. I am paying a lot more.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, after this, I have a thing on my calendar that's that literally, like some date six months from now, I'm gonna get a calendar notification telling me that my serious, my sweet, sweet, serious subscription low level is about to expire and I'm gonna have to either just cancel it or get on the line and be like, I'm sorry. My wife, she's saying we need to, like, make cuts somewhere. I have no choice. I either have to say goodbye to you or you have to continue this 599 deal and then see if I can see if I can get it extended that way.

[Luke Burbank]

I will. Andrew, I'm going to be honest with you, and this is a terrible negotiating tactic. I will pay whatever amount of money I need to pay every year to hear Mehmet trying to usurp Gary Delibicio.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And basically criticizing all of the staff when they did the meet and greet, including like, you know, Ronnie the limo driver not being hyped enough on the FaceTime call and JD Harmeyer having his feet up on the wall. I need to hear that sweet, sweet content, whatever it costs.

[Andrew Walsh]

I didn't think that the complaint of Ronnie was going to be not hyped enough, honestly. I thought at a meet and greet with the public. This is a meet.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, he was on, he was, he was on Zoom. He was on FaceTime. So he was in Vegas.

[Andrew Walsh]

So he wasn't, he wasn't feeling the connection.

[Luke Burbank]

He wasn't, he. And then, I mean this is the genius of that show. Then they have a Ron, they have a guy on the staff who does a dead on Ronnie impression now. So they have the Ronnie puppet coming on to do an impression of the real Ronnie, saying Ronnie's whole thing is he just yells very crass things. It's kind of what he's known for. And he's basically saying, you didn't give me enough heads up for coming on the, the FaceTime and yelling crass things. I need a half hour, I need a half hour to get myself ready to 69.

[Andrew Walsh]

Picture him in the, in the mirror screaming profile.

[Luke Burbank]

And they literally have the, the guy doing an impression of Ronnie, a dead on impression of Ronnie where he's hyping himself up to yell. And I won't say the words on this show, but just to yell. Really, really dirty stuff. It's like the layers to that thing are really quite something. But anyway, anyway, you don't have to do any of that to listen to tbtl. You can just turn it on five days a week. But boy, do we ever appreciate folks like Christine, Connie Sumathi, Laura, Sabrina and Colin because they are voluntarily supporting this. I'm only doing it with Sirius because they won't let me listen otherwise. That's not the method here. The method is wonderful. People like I've just named are supporting the show and that's how we're able to do that. So thank you, you very, very much. Hello and welcome to Top Story. Speaking of wonderful people who support the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Show, the song goes out to all the coffee lovers of the world.

[Luke Burbank]

We of course are dear friends with our berry of broadcast coffee, known here as Broadcast Barry, who today, this weekend rather sent me a photograph that, that absolutely took over my day. I was so taken with this photograph in Manhattan, Kansas of the entire cast of the HBO show. Somebody somewhere just sitting in a diner getting Breakfast. I wanted to call Barry up in Kansas to find out how this all came together and what is going on with this. And he's joining us right now. Hello, Barry.

[Broadcast Barry]

Hey, guys. How's it going today?

[Andrew Walsh]

Pretty good. How do you think we did with the donors today? How was that segment? I mean, because you're a daily.

[Luke Burbank]

Were you inspired to up your donation beyond money and a lot of coffee?

[Broadcast Barry]

I mean, listen, like, Christine and Connie and Sumita and Laura and Sabina and Colin are all so lucky that you guys did them. Well, you guys told me to, like, not mute my, or you guys couldn't put me on mute, so.

[Luke Burbank]

No, we didn't have the technical ability to do it.

[Broadcast Barry]

Yeah, but I, I, I had to mute my phone because, I mean, you.

[Luke Burbank]

Were laughing so hard.

[Broadcast Barry]

But you guys are pretty funny.

[Luke Burbank]

When we said, like, you know, Westminster, Colorado, where they do the dog show, were you just like, were the people in Manhattan, Kansas looking at you like, is this guy okay?

[Broadcast Barry]

I, I know, right? I'm on the streets here and yeah, they, they are wondering about me right now. Who is this guy? What is he doing here? And who is he talking?

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, so you, I, you sent me this photo this weekend of the cast of this great show just having like a regular look like breakfast. And you said, I'm in Manhattan, Kansas. And I was like, I was excited for you, but also worried. I was like, is Barry okay? Why is he in Manhattan, Kansas? And also how crazy is it that he just like, do they just hang out there all the time? And then you explained, no, actually this weekend was the season finale of this season of some. Somebody somewhere. Someone somewhere. Right. Rather. And that there was a watch party in Manhattan, Kansas that you went to. First of all, where do you fly into to get to Manhattan, Kansas?

[Broadcast Barry]

Okay, so, yeah, there's so, well, not only is this the season finale, like, this is it like, oh, HBO did not pick up a season four. So, like, the only reason why I came out all this way was because, like, you know, I usually don't do things like this. I don't like to put myself out there. I just, like, am a fan from afar and. But I'm like, you know, I saw that Bridgette Everett posted this, this event, and I'm just like, I, you know, I turned to Sam and I'm like, do you want to go with me? And he's like, have fun. You know, he hasn't watched the show and it was a long flight. It was, it was, was, it was, it took a while to get here. It was a. It was a nine hours in total because I flew because I'm. I'm in Boise right now. I mean, I'm living in Boise for this month. And then I flew from Boise to Dallas, had a four hour layover in Dallas, and then I actually flew into the Manhattan airport, which is a lovely airport, I kid you not. I was off the plane in my Uber in 90 seconds.

[Luke Burbank]

It was so great.

[Broadcast Barry]

Really nice. Yeah, so I flew into Manhattan.

[Luke Burbank]

So this watch party was at like a. You sent me a photo of like a movie theater in town or a theater theater in town. So was it like, was. It was the whole town full of people who had come to watch this episode who loved the show?

[Broadcast Barry]

Actually, it wasn't because, like, when I got to my hotel, they were like, oh, what brings you in? And I'm like, oh, I'm here to watch the Somebody somewhere finale. And they were like, huh, okay, have you heard of it? And the front desk gal was like, no, I haven't. I'm like, well, what? It's a show on HBO that takes place here. Yeah, I know. I was like, okay, well, maybe there's less people there than. Or fans than I had fought.

[Andrew Walsh]

Whoa. I would have thought they would have named the airport after this show.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, seriously.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know.

[Luke Burbank]

That's wild to me.

[Broadcast Barry]

Yeah. I mean, not a lot of people here know about the show, it seems.

[Andrew Walsh]

Wow, that's.

[Luke Burbank]

That is. I am totally shocked by that. Now you're so. So you're just walking down, I assume, Main street in Manhattan, Kansas, and you look into the. Into the window of a diner and there's like the cast of the show having breakfast.

[Broadcast Barry]

So because I came out here alone, I kind of put together this Facebook group. Like somebody somewhere run, walk, 5k or something like that. And like, one of the details was like, you know, we're gonna meet at this place called the Chef, which is a restaurant that is featured a lot in the show. And I'm like, okay, we'll meet here at 9 and we'll do a little fun walk, run, jog or whatever. And then we'll come back to the Chef and we'll eat. But right at 9:00, you know, as we're there to meet, the cast shows up and everybody.

[Luke Burbank]

They know about. Did they know about what you had been organizing?

[Andrew Walsh]

They.

[Broadcast Barry]

They didn't. But everybody who was there turned to me and like, did you set this up? And I'm like, I wish that I could, but no, it was just happened. Like, they just. Just Came to the chef to eat breakfast that. That day. So it just this coincide. It was, it was just luck.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can I. And I hate to retread something here, but something. We're all kind of amazed a moment ago that this town kind of didn't realize that it is the namesake for this. For, you know, a version of itself in. In the pictures right on the small.

[Luke Burbank]

I believe the. The real location where a ton of this is.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what I'm now realizing. If they're visiting this diner that means so much to them in the show they were filming on location. This town is about 50,000 people. Like I lived in a town with about 45,000 people. I feel like I would have known if a show was filming on location in like the city center. This is kind of a mate. It's even more amazing now though.

[Broadcast Barry]

They did a lot of, you know, what they call the biz B roll here, but it was actually filmed south of Chicago. I forgot to tell that it was filmed in. And I asked, I asked the show creators like, why they filmed there and not here. And it's because it's a very low budget film and they had more resources outside of Chicago than they did here.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm sure you need a lot of production folks and a lot of stuff that isn't in Manhattan Kansas. And if you're near Chicago, you just. It just probably makes sense. But the scales have fallen from my eyes, Barry. Sadly, the citizen has not fallen from my eyes yet.

[Andrew Walsh]

That could have been good news.

[Luke Burbank]

Scales have been handled like, because of course I don't know what Manhattan Kansas really looks like anyway. So when I see them like, you know, going to various places that are doubling for Manhattan Kansas, it totally checks out for me. But you're saying that's actually somewhere else?

[Broadcast Barry]

It is somewhere else. But like, you know, like inside the chef, like the colors are the same, the tables are the same. They use like the same cups and the same ramekins that they do on the show. So they do a pretty good job.

[Luke Burbank]

So what was the actual viewing event like at the theater?

[Broadcast Barry]

Oh, gosh, it was, it was so cool. So I, I bought a. I. I bought a VIP pass. So I was able to get there a little early. And then, and then they, the cast comes and like we. Everybody who was there, there was like 16 VIP guests. So it was actually quite small and nice. Nice. But the cast comes and we all have drinks together like teeny martinis or whatever they. They name their drinks on the show and just have like a, like A little chit chat, like for about an hour.

[Luke Burbank]

And was there anyone you were as extra special was like Jeff Hiller, the person you're most excited to meet, or Bridget or the. Whoever it is who plays Fred.

[Broadcast Barry]

So, yeah, I mean, Bridget. I mean, I was excited to meet them all. Like, I think that the, the, the whole chemistry between Bridget and Jeff are amazing. That's Sam and Joel on the show. I think that's what kind of like is the foundation of, for me, the foundation of the show. Like, their friendship is just super solid and during the show you'll see things ebb and flow and grow and all that stuff. And then like the rest of the cast, like Murray Hill, who plays Fred and Trisha is played by Mary Kath. I'm like. And Joel's love interest and boyfriend Brad is played by a guy named Tim. Like, I was really excited to meet all of them. But like, yeah, like, Bridget and Jeff are like the foundation and like everybody else is like just the home that is built on top. I think it's like something that like really sits great with within me and I think within the fans of the show, much like tbtl. Like, I think it's like a. It's like, you know, you gotta say it's like boutique, but. It's boutique. But it has like, it has like a tremendous impact.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can I ask you a question? Now, I have to admit I haven't seen the show myself, but, you know, Luke speaks so fondly of it and I've read things about it and I was reading that, you know, it was a revelation to you, Luke, that the show hasn't been renewed, that the third season is its final season. And one thing I read was the cast. And the creators didn't know that either. So when they were filming their final episode, they didn't realize it was their final episode. And it sort of sounds like they're in a little bit of denial about it now. So I'm wondering if this event, which would have been very special anyway, had a certain even, I don't know, more amplified sense of importance to it because was this sort of the closure that maybe these folks didn't get to have on the set. Did you feel any of that?

[Broadcast Barry]

I really felt that after the show, after they showed it, like, so one of the luckiest things that I felt like while I was there was I was sitting watching the show, like watching the big screen, and then the cast, including Bridget Everett, was just 20ft to the left of me. Like, I can see Bridget Everett on the Big screen. And then I can look at her watching herself on the screen and just like, watching them watch themselves and like, taking it all in, I think was like, super special. And then once the show was done, you know, Bridget got up and gave a really heartfelt emotional speech. And I think that it was. It was maybe a closure that, like, maybe she was looking for, I don't know, but also like, maybe a hopeful that it gets picked up again by someone else or.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, yeah, because, like, I. I feel it. Maybe I'm extra tuned into it because I really have liked the show. Although I haven't watched this season yet. I've been saving it, like, I've been waiting for to get a little time off. And I have this whole plan, honestly, which involves. Involves getting, like, making a fire while really turning on the pellet stove in my house and getting, like, really cozy. And then just like watching the whole season probably on one Saturday, like, I'm. This is one of the things I'm most excited about, about my holiday break, but so I don't. I'm not up to speed on it. That being said, I am pretty obsessed with the show. And maybe I'm just noticing when, like, Bridget Everett is doing press for it or Jeff Hiller or people are talking about it feels to me like this show has gotten so much buzz. Like, it went from being kind of obscure to being like, maybe one of the buzziest shows on hbo. So the idea that that wasn't enough to get them another season is really surprising to me.

[Broadcast Barry]

Yeah, I just think that it's kind of late to the game, like, because, like, I. I've been watching it since it came out. Like, I was. I was. I don't remember where I was flying to, but I was. I was flying out of somewhere and I had a pretty long flight and I didn't have any movies downloaded to my iPad. So I'm just like, well, I'll just see what's on the. What the airplane has to show. And I'm like, oh, I saw this show and like, maybe I'll give it a try and see if I liked it. And then I ended up loving it, of course. And I think that that's true, like, for. For a lot of folks who haven't watched the show yet but. Or haven't even heard of it. But I've recommended it to a lot of friends and family and, you know, they're just now getting around to watching it and, like, their feedback to me is like, this is just an awesome show. It's like a voyeurism into, like, these people's lives. And, like, everything feels so real. And I think that it's because the whole chemistry between the cast, like, they have a history themselves. Like, they've been working together for a very long time in, like, New York on various projects and whatnot. And I think that you can feel the whole. The whole connection with the cast. And I think that's why it works so great. And that's why I think that people who watch it, love it.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Because these were all mostly friends in the kind of New York kind of cabaret scene, and they were all like. My sense is most of them were, like, waiting tables and just, like, doing it for the love of the game for years and years and years. And then all of a sudden, this show gets greenlit, and then Bridget Everett kind of brings them all along to do this TV show that, as we've already established, like, so beloved. But there is a connection for all of the people that seems to go back to way before this show. So I literally just found out today in the last five minutes that it's not being renewed. So I'm like, extra jealous, Barry, that you were actually there with them all kind of experiencing what is very possibly the end of it. I was. I was sending that picture that you took to everyone I know who loves that show, including our friend Katie Beck. And she was like, I want Barry's life. And I was like, you and me both.

[Broadcast Barry]

You know, it's. You know, I have. I have. I'm very lucky, but also, like, you know, it's. It's a lot of work of what I do. I think that you guys know that, like, you know, you guys seem like your jobs are pretty easy, but.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's actually is true, but that doesn't always apply, but I think. But no, you. You definitely. You definitely are the maybe the most prolific person I know when it comes to, like, business ideas and starting things and maintaining stuff. And even when you're going to Manhattan, Kansas, you're still producing something. It's like a fun walk. Leaving out from the chef restaurant, how many people showed up for your. Your walk run?

[Broadcast Barry]

It was boutique. Let me just say that it was very small.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was me and an ipod mini.

[Broadcast Barry]

We're so lucky. What was that?

[Andrew Walsh]

I said it was you and an ipod mini.

[Broadcast Barry]

And we were both so lucky, everyone. But because we got to meet the cast, so jokes on everybody else who didn't show up.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, dude, seriously.

[Broadcast Barry]

But, yeah. So one thing that I learned, like, when talking to the cast. Like, I don't, like, you know, I don't know how to talk to people that well. And it's like, I get really shy, so. And I just like to talk about, like, various things. So when. When. When Bridget came and started talking to me, I just asked her, like, you know, what her travel plans were, like, where she's going next. And she's like, oh, you know, we gotta fly to LA after this. And I'm like, oh, are you flying out of Manhattan Airport? And she goes, no, no, no, we're gonna go fly out of the Kansas City airport to la, because I'm trying to get my diamond status. I'm like, oh, we're all chasing the status.

[Andrew Walsh]

And just like that, you found common ground.

[Luke Burbank]

That's right.

[Broadcast Barry]

So, you know. Yeah, you know, these guys, you know, they have to chase status too, Luke.

[Luke Burbank]

So, yeah, you know, if you want to start a group chat with you and me and Bridget on just, like, how we can get to. You're already at 100k. I mean, that's. I can't believe that, like, I'm. I got to find 8,000 miles in December or I'm going to be languished with the gold 70 fivers of the world.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, Barry, can I jump in here? I wanted to ask you before we. Before we let you go, I obviously want to promote all of your wonderful businesses. Broadcast Coffee here in Seattle, Black Moon Pizza there in. Not technically Boise. Right. In the city inside of Boise. What is. Is it called again?

[Broadcast Barry]

Yeah, Garden City. Garden City, which is kind of a city surrounded by Boise.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I have a question for you as well, because I'm not just the president of Broadcast Coffee. I'm also a customer. And, you know, I love the cafe that's up north here in my old neighborhood of the Roosevelt neighborhood. And I saw recently, in fact, I was just there on Thursday doing some work, and I was surprised. I think I texted you about this. I was surprised to see that it had a different name. Now it's not Broadcast Coffee. I wasn't even sure if it was still your shop. It's now called Fred. You said it is still your shop. And so I want to encourage people, if they see Fred, you're still supporting our friend Broadcast Barry, by going in there. Can you explain why Broadcast Coffee is now called Fred, at least in that location?

[Broadcast Barry]

Yeah, so that one, we kind of want to change the concept to do something that Broadcast doesn't do. Like, we wanted to do coffee and then wine pours and then, like, small plates and then so I thought that, you know, with the exit of Atlanta Crossing and some other businesses around there, like, a place for the nighttime just wasn't around. There was maybe a need for something in the area, so.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nice.

[Broadcast Barry]

Since that stuff is outside the broadcast brand, I just. I flipped the name to Fred, which has been confusing for folks. We get a lot of emails, like, is this still broadcast? And yeah, yeah, we.

[Luke Burbank]

We.

[Broadcast Barry]

We need to put up a sign that says Fred by broadcast so people know. Because, like, yeah, I got a comment. Like, somebody said, I thought this was like a veterinarian place or. Because our logo is a dog.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that little wiener dog is a logo. Well, it's still a. It's a great space. People should continue to support it for sure in a. Called Fred. And broadcast is still around town as well, so just wanted to make sure we got that in there.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Well, Barry, safe travels back from Kansas. And thank you, as always, for all of your help with the show and just on a personal level, for making sure that I am absolutely maximizing my airline experience at all times. Like, it means a lot to me. So thank you for that.

[Broadcast Barry]

Of course. Thank you guys for all that you do.

[Luke Burbank]

I see you later.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bye. Barry.

[Luke Burbank]

That is our friend Broadcast Barry from.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I love that sound, too. It's a good sound. And now that we know that Barry's not on the line, let's talk about. This is some sort of tax shelter thing, right? The whole Fred thing. Like, like something. Something's going on with this guy and his business. Changing names middle of the year. I don't know what's going on.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, he's honestly, like, he was one of the people who coached us up on how to run tbtb.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And we're running. It's beautiful to biz, like, with.

[Luke Burbank]

So I'm hoping that he's. I think he's flying. Think he's flying. Right. Because otherwise all of our business practices are just ripped off from Barry.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that's why I've been skimming off the top since day one.

[Luke Burbank]

That's why you've been overly generous sending free TBTL to people. Like the way that Barry is nice enough to send us coffee.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Which literally every morning, Walt and I, we. We enjoy a robust pot of broadcast coffee. So thanks to Barry, it's the best.

[Broadcast Barry]

Here I go once again with the email. Every week, I hope that it's from a female. Oh, man. It's not from a female.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, quick email or V mail before we wrap it up on this Monday.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's exactly what I got for you right here. This is from listener April talking. We were talking about how in the 1980s when you and I were children, we had a weird sort of knowledge of adult news stories of the day and would even like, like share like jokes about national and international news stories that were sometimes inappropriate. And we're talking about the Exxon Valdez and how we learned what a fifth of whiskey was because of the joke how many, how many drivers does it take to pilot an Exxon tanker? And the answer was one in a fifth. And that brought up some memories for listener April here.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, look.

[Broadcast Barry]

And Andrew, this is April in Maine. I'm kind of bandaging a bit. So I am back to the one where you guys were talking about the Exxon Valdez disaster. And it reminded me that in my school Christmas recital in Christmas 1989 When I was 10 years old, I recited a poem that I had written about the Exxon Belle Bees disaster. And sadly it has been lost to time. But I do remember that one of the lines was something like oil spills, green tears, but the cause is really too many beers.

[Andrew Walsh]

Power out. Merry Christmas.

[Luke Burbank]

I just found out that this is our final episode. Much like somebody somewhere there's going to be a listening party later.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right? Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

So this is our final episode.

[Andrew Walsh]

10 Years Old April is like officially reading a holiday poem that is like not unlike some of our favorite late night shows incorporating the headlines of the year and rhymes tears with beers.

[Luke Burbank]

Beers.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

In regards from the Valdez, we never really. We didn't answer the question.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was saying Valdez, wasn't I? And I forgot everybody says Valdez. Why is it Valdez, not Valdez?

[Luke Burbank]

Deez nuts.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. Glad I asked.

[Luke Burbank]

I said it's our final show, Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're just getting them all out while you can.

[Luke Burbank]

You're like, yeah, I'm trying to make the most of these last few moments we have together, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, good luck. I am not going to talk to you on this show until after. I guess you have your appointment tomorrow.

[Luke Burbank]

Which is now bump back a little bit hopefully. Yeah. By the way, that voicemail was them pushing the appointment back in a very cavalier way. I want to say I could play the voicemail for people. It's not, I don't think it's violating any HIPAA stuff. It's just them saying hi, it's so and so from the office. I'll just play it here over the music.

[Andrew Walsh]

Are you doing this?

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, just take a listen. Just. Let's see here If I can make this work. We'll try. Okay. Hey, Luke, this is Megan from Kaiser Ophthalmology. I'm calling regarding your appointment tomorrow morning. I have to reschedule it. It's the same day tomorrow, Tuesday, December 10th, but it's at 9:30, which I was saying to you during our little.

[Andrew Walsh]

Not a question, is it? It's just a ton. Like, what if you're not available at 9:30?

[Luke Burbank]

And it also necessitates me. I mean, I'm gonna just go at 9:30, I guess. What. Have to record a little late. But I do feel like it's hard for me to explain sometimes to people, whether it's a doctor's office or even a delivery or something where it's like, no, no, 10am Is really bad for me. Like, I don't know, move your meeting. It's like, no, it's. My whole job is talking to this dude at 10am every day.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, I'm this dude.

[Luke Burbank]

You are this dude, Andrew. Nice. Known in some quarters as this dude.

[Andrew Walsh]

Known as this dude. It'd be funny.

[Luke Burbank]

So by the next time you see.

[Andrew Walsh]

Me, unless you have a podcast tomorrow, we're moving your appointment to 9:30. Yeah. So I won't probably talk to you, but the next time we hear from you on this show will be after that appointment. We're hope you're hoping to be bandaged up and possibly still leaking all of.

[Luke Burbank]

Those things and maybe on some manner of drug. I don't know what they.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, good point.

[Luke Burbank]

Probably not. It's a. It's a topical, I think, or I should say a, you know, whatever, an injection. But anyway, yeah, that'll be tomorrow. We'll have a lot to catch up on.

[Andrew Walsh]

Finally have show. You know what I mean?

[Luke Burbank]

Where's the rim shot? All right, see you tomorrow, everyone. Thanks for listening. Please remember, no mountain too tall.

[Andrew Walsh]

And good luck to all. Power out.