#4419 Capitol Thrills

Summary

Podcast Summary: TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live - Episode #4419 "Capitol Thrills"

Introduction and Setting

In episode #4419 titled "Capitol Thrills," released on March 10, 2025, hosts Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh dive into their recent experiences and musings with their signature blend of humor and camaraderie. The episode opens with a light-hearted discussion initiated by a guest named Chris, who humorously points out the absence of any videos of Abraham Lincoln, sparking a playful debate about historical footage and media control.

Weekend Adventures and Birthday Celebrations

Luke shares his bustling weekend activities, highlighting his attendance at Casey Rockett's comedy show at Helium and G Love and Special Sauce's performance at Rev Hall. He also mentions immersing himself in the acclaimed TV series "The White Lotus" and the intense film "Zone of Interest." Luke humorously recounts his homemade pizza triumph, emphasizing the simple joys amidst a hectic schedule.

Notable Quote:

“Sometimes you gotta stop and smell the pizza.” — Luke Burbank [01:22]

Andrew reciprocates by detailing his involvement in organizing a birthday celebration for Genevieve at Rhinehouse in Capitol Hill. Despite initial anxieties about reserving bocce courts and navigating the venue's transition from a beer hall to a dance club, Andrew recounts overcoming these hurdles with humor and teamwork.

Attempting Bocce at Rhinehouse

The hosts delve into their experience attempting to reserve bocce courts at Rhinehouse, encountering confusion among staff but ultimately securing a lane. They humorously discuss the unconventional bocce setup with turf instead of traditional dirt or sand surfaces, showcasing their playful banter and collaborative problem-solving.

Notable Quote:

“It's just like, you know, we're paying for this content. I just hope people continue to feel very bad for TBTL.” — Andrew Walsh [68:35]

Restaurant Misadventures: Spills and Over-Salting

Luke and Andrew share amusing anecdotes from their dining experiences. Luke describes a moment where a busser spills water on him, leading to a generous gesture from the owner to cover their drinks as an apology. Andrew narrates his struggle with over-salting at an Italian restaurant, highlighting the awkwardness of requesting modifications and the universal discomfort of sending dishes back.

Notable Quote:

“I just really struggled with, like, should I just say something? Because something clearly went wrong back there.” — Andrew Walsh [31:22]

TV Show Discussions: The White Lotus and Severance

The conversation shifts to popular TV series, with both hosts expressing their thoughts on "The White Lotus" and "Severance." Luke praises "Zone of Interest," a film about Auschwitz, commending its subtle yet profound storytelling. Andrew admits to being behind on episodes but expresses interest in catching up, reflecting on the emotional and intellectual impact of such narratives.

Notable Quote:

“It is a phenomenal piece of filmmaking, in my opinion.” — Luke Burbank [62:00]

Donor Acknowledgments and Community Appreciation

Luke takes a moment to acknowledge and thank listeners who support TBTL through donations. He highlights supporter Lisa Blum from Bellingham, Washington, emphasizing her invaluable assistance and the communal spirit that keeps the show thriving.

Listener Emails: Personal Injury Lawyer Scott Hoy

Andrew reads an email from a listener named James (also referred to as Danny) in Colorado, critiquing a viral commercial by personal injury attorney Scott Hoy. The commercial, confusing in its messaging about one-car accidents and insurance claims, becomes a topic of humor and misunderstanding between the hosts. They dissect the legal jargon and the attorney's earnest but perplexing plea to "stop confessing to crimes on the airwaves."

Notable Quote:

“I have done it to help people out. If you're a passenger hurt in a one car accident, and Scott's does say a one car accident, you have to sue the driver.” — Andrew Walsh [73:46]

Conclusion and Outro

As the episode wraps up, Luke and Andrew reflect on the chaotic yet fulfilling nature of their weekends, the importance of community support, and the ongoing challenges of navigating entertainment and legal advice. They tease upcoming segments like "Negative Town" and encourage listeners to stay connected through various platforms.

Final Quote:

“Have a great Monday. Take care of yourselves and please remember, no mountain too tall, and good luck to all.” — Luke Burbank [79:18]

Key Takeaways:

• Community and Support: The episode underscores the value of listener support and community, with heartfelt thanks to donors like Lisa Blum.

• Humor in Everyday Situations: Luke and Andrew excel at finding humor in mundane mishaps, such as restaurant spills and over-salted dishes, making relatable content for listeners.

• Engagement with Pop Culture: Discussions about popular TV shows and films like "The White Lotus," "Severance," and "Zone of Interest" highlight the hosts' engagement with current media trends.

• Listener Interaction: The critique of Scott Hoy's commercial showcases the podcast's interactive nature, allowing listeners to contribute and shape conversations.

Notable Quotes Overview:

1. “Sometimes you gotta stop and smell the pizza.” — Luke Burbank [01:22]
2. “I just really struggled with, like, should I just say something? Because something clearly went wrong back there.” — Andrew Walsh [31:22]
3. “It is a phenomenal piece of filmmaking, in my opinion.” — Luke Burbank [62:00]
4. “Have a great Monday. Take care of yourselves and please remember, no mountain too tall, and good luck to all.” — Luke Burbank [79:18]
5. “I have done it to help people out. If you're a passenger hurt in a one car accident, and Scott's does say a one car accident, you have to sue the driver.” — Andrew Walsh [73:46]

This episode of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live encapsulates the essence of the show—two friends navigating life's ups and downs with humor, insight, and genuine connection with their audience.

Transcript

[Chris]

Can I blow your mind right now? Chris is laughing because he knows where I'm going with this, okay? There's not a single video of Abraham Lincoln. I'm serious. Look it up. Go on YouTube, okay? Think about that. He's one of the most famous Americans in history. He's the first president. He made slavery illegal. And there's no video. You can look it up. There's no videos of Abraham Lincoln. And every time I say that, someone goes, no, no, no, no. There's got to.

[Andrew Walsh]

There's got to be.

[Chris]

He's Abraham Lincoln. None. So then you start to ask yourself, and if you really want to go down this rabbit hole with me here, just bear with me. Who's controlling what we get to see a video of and what there is no video of, right? Because there's no videos of Abraham Lincoln. But I can go on YouTube right now. I can go on YouTube right now. And you can do it. And you can watch behind the scenes footage of Paul Giamatti recording his lines for the Ant Bully, Right? But there's no videos of Joan of arc.tbtl.

[Luke Burbank]

Beware of things that cost $1.99. Those are the membership dues for this club that I joined, the Columbia House Music Club. Turns out that wasn't really even a club. It was just a business for making money. Although it is how I found my favorite band, various artists of the 80s.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's embarrassing and it's gross, but at least it's kind of funny. Be careful, though, it's spicy. Have a good is what you do is so important.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, all right. Hello, good morning and welcome, everyone, to a Monday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. Just a desperate urge to produce content that not a soul is begging for. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host, coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Perched high above the mighty Columbia, where, I can't tell. I keep saying it's going to be terrible out, but as of right now, it's. Oh, ma pa. It's just beautiful. Got blue skies. The clouds are holding off. It's helping me because it was extra dark this morning. That's, of course, the effect of springing ahead, which, of course, we did this weekend. And I will say that the whole effect of losing an hour of sleep, I usually like to brag about how that doesn't do anything to me. But this, for whatever reason, this time around, I'm feeling the effect. We're just blowing through nap time, aren't we that loss of sleep. So I'm gonna try to get it together. I'm on my third or fourth cup of coffee here and feel ready to bring you episode 4419 in a collector series.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let the fun begin.

[Luke Burbank]

I might also just be feeling a little tired because I had a busy, busy weekend. I like to party. Do you like to party? I'm at that age where doing two events in the same weekend, two different nights is a real. It's a real lift. Went and saw Casey Rocket perform comedy on Friday night at Helium and then G Love and Special Sauce play at Rev hall on Saturday night. And then Sunday I started off watching the White Lotus, my new favorite television show. I don't know if you've heard much about it. And then shifted over after that because of one of the characters in White Lotus to watching a very intense and serious movie that was phenomenally made zone of interest. So who needs a movie? A weird, weird Sunday night that also involved me eating maybe the best homemade pizza recipe ever, which I. Sometimes you gotta stop and smell the pizza. I'd also like to share with all of you if you care to listen. But not before we say hello to this young man, longest running co bro of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. He told me that starting this Monday morning, he's going to try out this new catchphrase. He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good morning, Luke. I have a cryptic note that I left myself on Friday.

[Luke Burbank]

I know about those notes.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, I think it applied to something I was doing with the newsletter because it says newsletter, but the note says 178 blue sky before newsletter. And I don't know what. I know what blue sky is.

[Luke Burbank]

It's not 187. Right? Because I think that's a. Isn't that the like murder call for LAPD?

[Andrew Walsh]

I believe I learned that in the 90s from the radio. No, it's 178. Blue sky before newsletter. I don't know what that means, but I assume that was something.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, they say blue sky before newsletter. Never better.

[Andrew Walsh]

They certainly do.

[Luke Burbank]

They say letter before blue sky.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, my blues before whose is what I grew. That's what I grew up saying. So anyway, you're talking to a guy who's a little. A little bit drowsy here on a Monday. But you know, are you feeling the.

[Luke Burbank]

Effect of that loss of an hour of sleep as well?

[Andrew Walsh]

A little bit. I also, you're. You're talking to a man, Luke, you're talking to a 48 year old man.

[Luke Burbank]

Learning something every day.

[Andrew Walsh]

Went to Capitol Hill on a Saturday night.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I see. Okay, got you Weird flex, but okay. We're still my story of partying down this weekend. But you're saying you also were partying.

[Andrew Walsh]

It is like. So it was Genevieve's birthday over the weekend.

[Luke Burbank]

Shoot. I meant to text her.

[Andrew Walsh]

We got a group of. We got a little group of friends together. Genevieve's like, I wanna do. She's like, I don't wanna make a big deal of it. I don't wanna like have a whole party or something. But like I don't wanna put on.

[Luke Burbank]

A horse mask and lift people.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, no, she always wants to do that. We saved that for waffle parties. But anyway, she's like, I don't wanna make a big deal of it. I don't have a big birthday bash. But she's like, I would like to get together with some folks and do something a little bit different. And I think it was her idea. She's like, what about that place that I believe you would know or at least know of Reinhaus down on Capitol Hill. It's like a big German kind of beer hall kind of place that turns into a dance club at 10 o'clock. But the killer app of it, and I think the reason Genevieve wanted to meet there is it's got a lot of space, but also it's got like four bocce courts built right in the middle of it. Do you remember the sex? I know what sex means and is. I know about the clubs and drugs. Do you know this place? Have you been there?

[Luke Burbank]

No. I think that must have come around after my time in Seattle or. I didn't know about it, but I did see a photo. I liked a photo. I smashed that like button on a photo of someone playing bocce. And now I understand what that was all about.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, no Rhinehouse has been around since I've been here because I know that it was one of the first places. Cause I had some friends who were way. No joke, who were way into bocce when I first moved here. So anyway, it's been around forever. It's right next to the chieftain there on 12th in. In sort of on the slightly southern side of Cap Hill, which it wasn't like, not like the main drag that you maybe think of when you think of like the Pike Pine Corridor. So.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, except it's. It's very near the old Capitol Hill Taco time. I think maybe or near ish to the old Capitol Hill Taco time on Madison, which rip rest in power. And also is it kind of near. This is. We're playing this game.

[Andrew Walsh]

We're doing it in the week. And this is an area I don't remember that well anymore.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, this will be great for everyone. I'll stop now. I'm. I'm street hopping around. I do. I do recognize the area. I've never been to that Ryan house. I've never darkened that door. Also not. I'm not a brew. I'm not a. I'm not a German brewhas guy. Like it doesn't. It's mostly over indexed on things that I don't really mess with, which is lots of beers. I'm sure they have everything. But I just mean when I think about it, it's like beers, lederhosen and pretzels. There's three things that like I will tolerate but like I don't. I'm not drawn towards them.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And sausage. You're not like a meat person. You're not a carbs person. They don't have any. Yeah. What? Yeah, they don't have any kale there. I guess. What do you enjoy?

[Luke Burbank]

I'll take it. I love. I love that this is now the. This is the. The image that I'm cultivating.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're like, they have fun. They have. No, but anyway, the. No, I. I know that you're not into that kind of thing either.

[Luke Burbank]

People in places. Andrew. Okay. You're not supporting me on my journey.

[Andrew Walsh]

It does sort of like. I. I know that that's not your. Technically, it's not my kind of thing.

[Luke Burbank]

I would have gone if I was invited.

[Andrew Walsh]

By the way.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm a little hurt that I wasn't invited.

[Andrew Walsh]

On. It's like a place where we could have a decent amount of people gather. Like, I don't know, there are eight of us or something. Seven of us even. But the funny thing was it's just like. It's just a bunch of us old. I'm really just speaking about my perception of it. I'm not trying to be rude to my younger, sexier friends, but for me I was just sort of like, let's just take this crew of a bunch of people in their mid to late 40s who mostly hang out at dive bars north of the cut, and let's all get up. Let's all get our walkers and arcanes. Let's.

[Luke Burbank]

Immobility. Let's go.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let's go see what's going down In Capitol Hill, you know, where I used to live and where. You know, my first landing spot in Seattle that I loved so much. But I really did feel like there. I felt like I was inside of, like. And this is more like before we even went. Not my experience there, but I felt like I was in a Far side cartoon of, like, we were going to be, like, these explorers heading back into this place where, like, we don't belong.

[Luke Burbank]

You're in the, like. You're in that, like, archaic diving suit.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that's funny. I was picturing more like the pith helmet and the. Oh, I see.

[Luke Burbank]

You're like Dr. Stanley, I presume.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, exactly. That's what I was.

[Luke Burbank]

The darkest jungle.

[Andrew Walsh]

But. But no, hold on, Andrew.

[Luke Burbank]

If I can pause your story for a minute, because I'm a young guy. Let me just open this Fresca.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, a morning Fresca.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, I. That's how young I am. I can have a morning Fresca. It doesn't even affect me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, look how young I am. I'm having a morning vodka. So we're both doing great.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. Well, good for you. For go. I mean, I guess this was one. You weren't gonna. There was no not being part of this one, being that it was Viva's birthday. But did you have fun?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Yeah. Well. And also, it was one of those things where I saw Genevieve. Genevieve didn't. It was kind of up to me to sort of plan it. And also, like, I'm somebody. I'm like, well, can we reserve a table? And it was like, there was no reserving a table at 8pm and I was like, oh, no. Is this place going to be a zoo by the time we already get there? And I was just. And Genevieve had some anxiety about it, too. And. And I are just really tightly wound these days. Right? Like, I'm always pretty tightly wound. All the world events is just like. It's just like a. Kind of a constant. We're passing each other, reading newspaper articles, and just, like, between a heavy sigh and a quiet weeping, and we have a bunch of stuff going on with our cat. She's okay. I don't want to worry the listeners, but it's been tough. And, like, we're just, like, balls of anxiety. And I knew that Genevieve, like, she wanted to do something, but she didn't want to plan it. You know what I mean? I could just tell she didn't feel like getting involved.

[Luke Burbank]

Planning your own birthday get together is kind of a little bit.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, she, like, threw herself, like, a 40th birthday party. And that's kind of like, you know, like. Anyway, it was just somewhere in between there. She didn't want to make a big deal of it. We're like, okay. She's like, she just sort of made it known that she wanted to try this place. And I'm like, okay, I can reserve a table on Friday, but not on Saturday. So what is that. What does that mean about Saturday? Like, are we going to go down there and it's just going to be Pink Pony Club and, you know, like, keep on dancing. Not Old Baldy Club for me. And I was just like, I had so much anxiety about, like, we're going to go down there, we're not going to have a table. And it's going to be a crush of young people, people who are.

[Luke Burbank]

So you could not reserve a table.

[Andrew Walsh]

Could not. I got you.

[Luke Burbank]

Gotcha.

[Andrew Walsh]

Gotcha. So that was like, kind of this whole thing. I was just like, what are we going into? Like, I like to know, what are we going into? Like, I don't want to just, like, roll the dice on a Saturday night at a. At a. At a place in Capitol Hill. But I was also like, but it's a German place in Capitol Hill. Like, I don't think it'll be efficient. It'll be. It'll be efficient. I don't think it's like the number one hot spot for the young people.

[Luke Burbank]

That's the number one hoss.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, exactly. It was going to be the hot.

[Luke Burbank]

The number one dance hall.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was going to be really the hot of blues if I couldn't get a table. So anyway, we did end up getting a table. It was really nice. And also, first of all, I got to remember, like, 8:00 is not like, when things are popping off on Capitol Hill. Like, so Beast and I got there like, 7:15. We're like, we'll reserve a table. And we go. And it's like, okay, this is not going to be a problem. It was a bit of a problem reserving a bocce court because apparently the people who work there don't know how to reserve bocce courts. Like, they literally. And they were all very nice, by the way. I liked the bartender, but they. You would ask them about, how can we reserve one of these bocce lanes? And they were. They would be looking like, well, what? What? What is bocce? And be like, well, it's like the main thing that you have going on in your establishment.

[Luke Burbank]

See those giant ghosts of sand?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, they're Clearly. Clearly you're not a golfer, but.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, but either way, like, they're indoor dirt based installations. Like, I feel like you would have thought about.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's not dirt based, but what's in there?

[Luke Burbank]

What's in.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's just like, there's like long green, turfed.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, well, that's not the tradition of botchy ever. I mean, bocce is. I'm. I'm. I'm just saying, generally speaking, bocce is played on like a. A sort of a clay, like, surface or like a sand or like a dirt.

[Andrew Walsh]

If you go to. If you go to Italy, if you.

[Luke Burbank]

Go to Union hall in Brooklyn, you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Don'T roll the balls.

[Luke Burbank]

That's. You don't roll. You throw the ball and then you hope to stop near a smaller ball. Blake, I'm presuming you're playing bocce. They just had turf there, but like the turt. That's. I'm. That's the only bocce course, the only bocce thing I've ever heard of having turf. They're almost always dirt.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, if you type in. If you type in bocce, the first four picks that come up, one is on a brown surface, the other four are green. That I'm looking at here. Well, I don't. I mean, I'm not saying that you're wrong that it's not sometimes played that way, but I'm saying that I don't think that it has to go to.

[Luke Burbank]

A bocce Wikipedia page and tell me what they're standing in.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, but are you also looking at other foot? Like, are you seeing the hundreds of photos of people playing on greens? Like, I'm seeing that as well. I'm not saying that you're wrong that that is not a way and maybe the original way, but I also don't think it's like, super outside the box. When I've played bocce, I've played at parks on green.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, interesting.

[Andrew Walsh]

Grass.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. I think that. I think that the way that I found out about it was a place. Union hall in Brooklyn had it. And it was kind of weird because it was like indoors also, but it's all dirt. Or it was all dirt. And so I associated with that. And then if you are in Italy or like Becca and I were at this winery recently called Ponzi and the Oregon Hills, and they had the really cool bocce, and it's all like kind of compacted dirt and sand. So that's the only version I've seen But this is not the. This is not the bocce court I want to die on anyway.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, so I see that. Yeah, I'm seeing your style as well. But again, like, I just. This. This idea that it's not played on the green would be, I think, also a falsehood, at least in some versions of it or the majority that I'm seeing online now. Although I can see that maybe not the original. Probably not the original, but either way.

[Luke Burbank]

The cool one, the good one.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right, of course. So anyway, we were just. It was kind of.

[Luke Burbank]

They didn't know how to resolve.

[Andrew Walsh]

There wasn't a system. It's kind of like this place has been here for like, forever and like, they don't have a city. We would go up and again, I really liked the bartender. He was a very nice fellow. The one I mostly dealt with and who was like, serving us drinks and food. But, like, then I was like, well, how do you. I asked our friend Reddin. I'm like, can you go deal with the bocce thing? He's like, no, it's your girlfriend's birthday. I'm like, okay, fine. Like, I'm just like, I don't. Wow.

[Luke Burbank]

You know, honestly, we go together. That's a fair response.

[Andrew Walsh]

We just called ourselves the Beta boys. We're just like, let's just go together and just figure this out. And so we go. But like, there's no.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, Roden has the power to shut down a multi million dollar construction project. You think he'd be used to telling people that they need to do something differently?

[Andrew Walsh]

He definitely broke that out. He said, do you know who I am? But anyway, it was really funny. We're both kind of like these shy. Shy. I don't think of Rod is a shy guy, but he definitely did not feel like. Just like dealing with this. Right?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

And so we go up to the bartender and he's like, yeah, well, let's see. And he and Oz a lot. And then he looks. He looks at the computer screen, making me think that, you know, there's some sort of system because you do have. You do have to pay to play. In fact, we paid for two hours. Although I don't even think they played it for a full hour. So I don't know what's up with that. I don't even care about that. But it was just like this indecision on the part of the bartenders. He's like, well, I guess I got one party that is maybe supposed to wrap up pretty soon. You're gonna want to hover. Like, just gonna want to hover around the courts. Yeah, like, the four lanes.

[Luke Burbank]

You're trying to put your quarter down, as it were.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, but the four in the four lanes were being used, and that was fine. But then. And again, I don't even. Even if he had said, like, he's like, whoa, brother. I like being called brother. If you just said, whoa, brother, like, it's just gonna be tough tonight. It's really busy. Probably not gonna happen. Like, okay, that's definitive. But it was more like, oh, y. Gee, I got this.

[Luke Burbank]

You didn't want to be in the position of having to just kind of, like, sit there until the second that the one group was done, and then, like, elbow in. In front of another group. You don't want to be negotiating that you wanted.

[Andrew Walsh]

It wasn't even. It wasn't even that clear is what I'm saying. He just said, well, yeah, I. Well, you. You kind of want to hover, I guess. It's supposed to wrap up. Maybe you're in 15, 10, 15 minutes. I'm like, okay, so, like, hover here or, like, hover over by the bocce courts. And he's like, well, you're gonna want to kind of, like, you know, I guess be kind of by us. I guess. I'm like, so, like, by the bar. And he's like, yeah, yeah, that's good. Yeah, yeah. And so then it's like, okay, so then me and the Beta boys go back to hang out with our friends, and then, like, 10, 15 minutes later, I look at Rodin. I'm like, should we go back? And then we kind of, like. We kind of, like, slink back there, and we're like, back by the bar area now, and he's like, oh, yeah, the bocce. Like, he just. Everything just seemed, like, very confusing to him. And then it turns out he's like, yeah, like, somebody swooped in. We're like, what does that mean? Somebody swooped in? And we ended up getting a bocce lane. It was fine, but it was just. It was just astounding. And I wasn't even. Promise you, this is not a story about me being mad or anything. Again, like, everybody was nice, and I sort of found it charming in a certain way, but just astounding that you can have the central piece of your establishment. Then when we finally got one, you do have to pay. You get, like, the main target. You pay to get the white target ball that people. And so that, you know, it's like, maybe getting the Cue ball if you're renting a pool table or something. And. And then Genevieve got that from another guy because I'm like, look, there's an open lane. And Genevieve's like, I'll get the ball, you guys get the lane, or whatever. So we do that. And then Genevieve, I see her talking to this guy for, like, 10 minutes. Apparently she's explaining bocce to him and.

[Luke Burbank]

Why the ball, like, why that white ball is like the critical piece.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was a very, it was a very astounding example of people not quite kind of what their, what their services were there for, but it ended up being a really, really good night. So. But that and the time change, all of that is to say, yeah, I'm coming in a little bit groggy today.

[Luke Burbank]

Becca was saying something to me over the weekend about how she had heard, like, on, on probably on npr, something about how like, oh, here's what you're supposed to do for the, you know, spring ahead daylight saving weekend, which is on Saturday or maybe on Friday, you're supposed to get up 15 minutes earlier than normal, and then on Saturday, 45 minutes earlier. So you've now adjusted your clock to, like, one hour. You know what I mean? So that when Sunday happens, you're like. And I kind of, like, scoffed at that idea.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was like, yeah, it's one hour.

[Luke Burbank]

I was like, it's an hour. What could it cost, Michael? It's one hour. Like. And literally. And then she goes, well, you know, they keep saying that, like, people actually are affected by this. Like, there's more car accidents. I go, where did you read that? She goes, I heard it on NPR's rooms. I go, all right, I'll have to. I'll have to. I'll have to allow it. And then, of course, this morning, A, I was exhausted, and B, Windsor Johnson is reading a piece about how car accidents are. This is like the day for everyone to crash their car. So maybe I should start doing whatever that policy is.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm also, also, is Becca, like, in, in that TV show Early Edition, is she hearing Morning Edition stories or is she hearing NPR stories before they're actually.

[Luke Burbank]

They deliver the NPR newscast one day earlier, and then she has to. Then she has to solve a murder just to stop a murder before a murder of my sleep.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, she has to get somebody to make sure they have enough sleep so that they don't crash.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

That's actually a really good premise for a show. Have you, as you like, to delve into. I get the feeling you like shows, old shows that have maybe a little more humor in them, like a Monk, or maybe more unintentional humor like a Murder She Wrote. Like, would you ever go watch, like, Early Edition? Because that show was a pretty big.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hit, you know, I wouldn't because I have no connection to it. Like, last night we were watching a Columbo, which I don't know where that fits because it's not really funny and it's not. It's not really laughable. I just like Columbo. Yeah, but I do think I like Columbo. Well, I mean, because it is. It is a. I wouldn't say it's a sui generous show. It follows, you know, like, it's a procedural, I guess. But, you know, a lot of people like Columbo. That's. That's not a mystery. But my point is, like. But it also is a connection to.

[Luke Burbank]

My real mystery, but it does.

[Andrew Walsh]

Has a connection to my youth. So, like, the idea of Early Edition, like, it's. I don't get into new procedurals or things that I wasn't already into, to answer your question.

[Luke Burbank]

So I think also maybe I'm dragging a little bit because we did do a lot of socializing and hanging out, which was really fun. But again, probably like two nights in a row for me is. Is now starting to push it a bit. I will say this is going to sound. So on Friday night, we went out and we saw this guy, Casey Rockett, perform at Helium. And it was really. It was really interesting because he is a. You want to talk about sui generis? This guy is a. Like, I made a joke that I thought was pretty funny at the end of the night, but I don't know if our friends got it. I said, this is like a funny Robin Williams. Like, because he's. It's totally a hyper active one. Like, he spent his entire hour picking up and moving the stool from one part of the stage to the other while talking and moving the mic stand. He never stopped moving around on stage as he was just like, delivering these like. Like basically kind of like one liners. Like, so little of the material was connected to anything else except this one very long story about how it was the story of him marrying the guy from Six Flags who does the. Like, I don't know if you were ever living in a part of the country where they were carpet bombing you with six Flag ads where that bald guy is doing the running man.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I never liked him. Oh, really? Too much energy. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, really?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, uncanny undead guy. Doing the running man. That never really clicked for you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Didn't speak to me for some reason.

[Luke Burbank]

His whole story was like, about marrying. Like he had a wedding photo of him marrying that guy and, and like their life together. But then eventually the guy was called up for to go on a mission to kill bin Laden. SEAL Team Six Flags. It was the payoff. Like it was. I mean, it's so. And then he was like, I know we don't have six flags here, but it's 20 minutes of the material. So I just figured I would do it. Got like no reaction last night. By the way, five sold out shows for this.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, wow.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, it's, it's a, it's a very, like, very hard to describe brand of comedy. And like so little of it worked. But then the parts that would work were really, really funny to me. So anyway, and you know, it's just fun, just nice to be outdoors again. And by that I mean going outside before going inside to a place.

[Andrew Walsh]

But you definitely have piqued my interest. It sounds, I mean, it sounds up my alley.

[Luke Burbank]

I think you would find it, I think you would find it interesting. Again, it's. It's not. It is. And what was in, what was interesting was that there was three opening acts or three opening comedians and they got progressively better. Now, first of all, to be the first comic out is an absolute suicide mission. Like you, you are never, ever going to be particularly well received when you're the first comic. It is like a very thankless job. And it's like something you do when you're getting, you know, kind of getting your start. You just have to do your time. It's just part of the, you know, part of the ritual. So the first comic was very much like, you know, got any weed smokers? Where my weed smokers at? Make some noise. You know, and just kept doing these things to try to kind of get the audience engaged. Second comedian, a little more funny. Third comedian, probably the most funny. But all three of them were following typical stand up comedy. Yeah, you know, sort of like the typical standard comedy thing. Format. Thank you. That's the word. And this was a total format buster. Like, it was just like, like, what the hell is going on up here? But then you were just kind of, you were kind of drawn along with it and stuff. And, and again, just, just that it wasn't the format that I'm used to. Made it interesting.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. So, yeah, I'm definitely intrigued by the way. This is such an aside. I'm not trying to interrupt your story too much of your flow. But I just want to say there is something about parents on podcasts that is so good. You're talking about seeing life comedy. And I was thinking, yeah, I haven't seen a show in a while, and I think the last one I saw was maybe Fortune Feimster. And that was probably six months ago at the very least. But I was just thinking of it because I was in the car the other day, and I still have satellite radio because I'm kind of like what they call the 1%. And. And mostly these days I'm just listening to, like, fantasy sports talk or whatever baseball talk I can get my hands on, but I somehow accidentally landed on.

[Luke Burbank]

You want baseball? The doggies got you covered.

[Andrew Walsh]

The Netflix channel for a second.

[Luke Burbank]

Netflix is a joke.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. And I think Fortune Feimster really dominates that space because whenever I land on it, I'm hearing her, but it's not her stand up necessarily. She has some sort of a show that is, you know, I don't know if it's. It's probably made for Netflix as a joke or satellite. It might be four. I don't know.

[Luke Burbank]

Sirius is creating a lot of original content, none of which I'm listening to outside of Stern, but, like, they're doing it. Yeah, I think. I think she does a show with Tom Papa. Yeah, it's like a morning show or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

I didn't know it was a morning show because I think I stumble on it when, you know, they'll just kind of of replay it whenever and so. But I think I have stumbled on that before, and I like it and it's very, you know, kind of podcasty. And the whole point of this is just. I landed on it the other day as she was wrapping up a conversation. They were on site somewhere. They were on a cruise ship or some sort of. They're on some sort of vacation. And it was her mom. And, you know, Fortune's got like a very, like, kind of deadpan delivery. And her mom is just so full of energy and so proud of her little girl. And that's right, now that I think about it, she talks about her mom a lot of the standup I've seen, and it was just radio gold for, like, the two minutes that I heard. And like, okay, we got to get going. There's a dance tonight. So mom is already taking a nap because she wants to make sure that the dance party starts at 11 on the cruise ship or wherever it was. And, like, it was just like, there was such good energy there Anyway, I just want to share that with you as a. As a fellow broadcaster or microcaster who enjoys putting parents on the radio.

[Luke Burbank]

I will say that. Like, so when I. We did that kind of a limited series for Livewire and PRX called Damp January.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And, like, the first episode was just me talking to my mom. And it's something that if you're like a TBTL listener, you're probably pretty familiar with, which is, like, my mom's energy. But it was pretty funny to, like, have a bunch of people that aren't TBTL listeners just be, like, reaching out to me, you know, because this was promoted through, like, PRX's network and stuff like that. Just being like, like, oh, my God, that episode was, like, so great. And I thought, what you don't realize is just like, putting a microphone in front of my mom is kind of. Kind of shooting fish in a barrel.

[Andrew Walsh]

Made you ask the question, what am I doing here? I know.

[Luke Burbank]

Honestly, your mom. Well, no, no, no. But like. But like, it's like, I wish they're like, this is my oldest party trick, is just insert my mom into the conversation or bring her into the conversation and something probably funny is going to happen or interesting. But. So that was Friday night. That was really fun. And then Saturday night we went and we saw G11 special sauce, a kind of a throwback thing. But before that. And this is the. This is going to sound like I am trying to pat myself on the back or whatever, but we started out, we got some dinner at a place in Portland called Noble Rot. And it was. Was me and Becca's two brothers and their wives. And I love this place. Oh, you and I, we've been to Noble Rot.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I went there once. I really enjoyed that meal.

[Luke Burbank]

Really good, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's. It was pretty close to the venue and stuff, so we went. Lovely dinner, but this was like, almost out of, like, a cheesy movie or something. So we're like, you know, we're having our dinner or whatever, and there's a legion of servers. You know, there's someone who's our primary server. There are people that are busing the tables, like a really, really good service. Like, everyone's super professional. And this one busser comes over and is trying to clear some of the stuff and knocks a water glass over that then, like, spills onto my lap and. Which I couldn't possibly care less about. It's just water. You know what I mean? It's fine. And. But also, I think I probably. I have a Like, a. A very strong feeling of, like, empathy in those moments. I don't want the person to feel bad at all. You know what I mean? Like, because they. They shouldn't. And I would rather die than add to their. So I made some joke. I was like, you know, I was. I. I forget what I said. Something like, oh, you know what? I actually had spilled mustard on there, and that got it off. This is actually like, thank you so much, and I'm making some little jokes and whatever. You know, I think, you know, hopefully being pretty chill about the whole thing and making it not a weird situation. And we finally are settling up and doing the bill. The. Our other server comes over and says, oh, by the way, we took a round of drinks off of your bill because that person who spilled the water on you is the owner. And really appreciated that you were chill about that. I was like, oh, Henry, yay. This is. Of this. Some, like, you know, this is like a movie plot where it's like, oh, the busser was the owner. Yeah. You were nice to the. You were nice to the humblest of the Luther. God says, maybe. Yeah, it says somewhere. I don't know. I felt like I was. Like, I was a. I'm being honest when I say I walked out of there feeling pretty good. Pretty good that I was. I was nice to somebody that I didn't realize had the sort of standing with. And then I was growing out. We end up talking to the owner, the person who spilled the water on me, thanking her for the round and everything, and just, like, having a nice chat. But that was a kind of a. That was a funny moment where I was saying to everyone, I was like, that's. That's the best case scenario with that. Right?

[Andrew Walsh]

And also, that's a freebie because for the next, like, 40 minutes, you can pee your pants and nobody's gonna know it.

[Luke Burbank]

And I was.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, see, right there. Like, it's so. Actually that.

[Luke Burbank]

That's.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm spilling water on my pants all the time. Do you know that again? Now I feel like I'm just like, everything that you're saying. I'm just so. Viv's. And I also had a birthday dinner at an Italian joint.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sunday. That was last night. And let me guess. They spilled the spilled water all over myself. And I was so magnanimous about it. And they said, we're giving you both a round of drinks and a dessert. No, no. But the. The idea of apologizing when it's not something that you did. So there were two different, like, kind of pasta related dishes I was interested in. And. And one of them, I can't remember, I knew they were going to sprinkle Parmesan on one of them. I just had a feeling. And then this other one had some other.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, and that's a no for you, dog?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I don't like Parmesan, and I generally just sort of avoid cheese, which is, you know, kind of like, you know. What's the word?

[Luke Burbank]

Declasse.

[Andrew Walsh]

Declassee is the word I'm looking for. Thank you. But my point was, I had had a couple of conversations with our server. I was like, okay, if they take the cheese out of this one, is that, like, sort of fundamental to what this dish is? Because I'm bouncing between these two. And if it think. If you think that without the cheese, it sort of ruins this one. But it sounds like it was both. For both cases, it was going to be a sprinkled on last kind of deal, so whatever. And so we had a couple of conversations about this because I order it and then I say, yeah, of course. No cheese. She's like. And she remembers it, and she's the one who's like, kind of engaging with me on the whole no cheese thing. And then we order, and then my pasta comes out, and it's just nailed with parmesan on top, right?

[Luke Burbank]

Just totally sprinkled.

[Andrew Walsh]

And like, I can't explain it to you. I don't. I don't want to send it back. I already feel like a child. You know what I mean? I already feel like a child asking for this, for the special dispensation or whatever.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, I just feel Parmesan cheese, a universally recognized benefit.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't want it. Can you cut the crust off my Parmesan cheese? I just feel like a fool. And so then it comes out, and Genevieve looks at me, and she. And I know that Genevieve can see on my face again. She's the birthday girl, right? But she's. Everybody's always babysitting me. She sees my face, and I'm honestly trying to think, well, can I just sort of push it around or just ball up or whatever? I don't know. Like, can I just make this happen? Because I don't want. Somehow I really don't want to send it back. Exactly. Put it like my sister hiding the peas in her napkin. I'd never had. I never thought my sister was a magician more than the time that my mom caught her hiding peas. And I was like, I'm sitting next to her mom. She is not hiding peas. What are you talking about? Then she pulls up a napkin full of peas. I'm like, how did you do that? I mean, you got caught, but still. Anyway, so Genevieve sees my face, and the server comes up almost immediately. Be like, how is everything? And Genevieve jumps, and she's like, I don't mean to.

[Luke Burbank]

How's everything tasting right?

[Andrew Walsh]

And actually, I'm glad she did check in early because Genevieve, I could see there must have been something on my face that was like, will I say something or not? It was like both. A combination of major disappointment because the food that I was really looking forward to was not as appealing to me, but also not wanting to speak up for myself. So Viv's is like, you know. And then the server didn't even. She looked down at my plate, and she immediately realized she was like, oh, I'm so sorry. I'm like, no, it's okay. And then, like, I'm yelling I'm sorry to her as she's carrying my plate. She's like, no, I'm gonna have the chef redo it right now. I'm like, I'm so sorry. And I like. I realized she's like, why are you apologizing? You know what I mean? Like, I ordered something very specifically. We had conversations about it. But Luke, I couldn't stop apologizing for being the guy at the restaurant who had to send his plate back because the crusts weren't cut off.

[Luke Burbank]

I can't remember. There was something like that a while ago where I asked for something without something. Oh, no, it wasn't actually that. It was. We ordered a salad. Becca and I went to the. This place in Portland and ordered the salad, and it came out. The first bite that I took, it was so salty. And I like everything over salted. Like, that'll probably be what. What gets me. And. And. And. Or they round up the podcasters and put us somewhere, like, Red Dawn. That might be what gets me. I don't know. But, like, I love everything overly salted. But, like, I took one bite of this salad and I was like. Like, it was like they had been. It had been so drowned in the dressing, which was, like, so salty.

[Andrew Walsh]

Was it like a sardine? I don't know why I'm asking this. Was it like a sardini thing or any reason why it was so salty?

[Luke Burbank]

I. It was. It might have been something that was billed as Slightly Caesar Y.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

By the way, they're opening on the Vans Warped Tour. Slightly Caesar. I think they're playing with Jack Johnson. And so, like, for whatever reason, I was also really looking forward to the salad because it had a bunch of, you know, ingredients in it that I was looking forward to having. But it was, like, the first bite, I was like, I can't even actually get this down. And I am also very, very loathe to send things back. I just don't like that move. Generally speaking, I can count on one hand the number of times over the course of, like, the last five years that I'll send something back. And the person came out, and I was like, I am, like, so sorry, but this is really, really salty. And what I wanted to say was, like, you don't understand how much salt I put on. Yeah. I'm a person who's been observed salting pizza.

[Andrew Walsh]

I have a salt lick next to my bed.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. Like. Like, this is. This is not me. This is you. Is what I wanted to say to the restaurant. Like, you actually need to talk to somebody in the kitchen about this being the amount of dressing that they're putting on this. That's another thing, by the way. I like a lot of dressing on stuff. Like, if you go to a kind of a more upscale restaurant, usually it's always a lighter touch. It's a lighter touch and a smaller portion. That's the guiding principle of most kind of nicer places.

[Andrew Walsh]

And often won't even put salt on the table necessarily. Oh, no, no, no.

[Luke Burbank]

That's a whole ask, you know, and then, like, depending on how they bring it out that you. How mad they are, like, if it comes out in, like, a little. Two cute little dishes, it's like, they knew this was going to happen if it comes out. And it's just like the. Like a sort of a unattractive salt shaker.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like.

[Luke Burbank]

Like a McCormick.

[Andrew Walsh]

Totally.

[Luke Burbank]

Like a Cisco. Like, I've had that happen before where it's clearly just salt they have in the kitchen.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. There's like, here you go. Like, they pull it out in a wheelbarrow. Like, here you go.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right.

[Luke Burbank]

I will try to find something. Like, you know, that's when the chef is like, let's not encourage this behavior. But anyway, so this was the thing, though, and this is how I'm just so. I'm so sensitive. The guy was like. The guy was a little much, this server. Anyway, he did that thing where he was like, tonight, I have.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was.

[Luke Burbank]

Everything was.

[Andrew Walsh]

I have that. I have thing I hate.

[Luke Burbank]

It's like, we have. Just say we. There's a lot of People in on this?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Why do they do the. I really. It sets my teeth on edge.

[Luke Burbank]

It just feels. My vegetables are whatever. It's like, okay, so. So then this is what he said, though, that kind of killed me. He said, oh, I mean, he wasn't like rude about it, but he just said something like. I did not explain to him that I generally like things too salty. Which means if this is too salty for me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

A, I don't like sending things back. B, I like things too salty. So if I'm sending this back because it's too salty, like, do the math. This is like, this is not being prepared well.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like.

[Luke Burbank]

And other people probably have the same reaction. And he said something like, oh, yeah, well, I can have them. He goes, oh, yeah, sure, I'll have one. Bring out a little underdressed or something. He used a term. I don't know if it was underdressed. Yeah, but it was like, oh, if you would like light dressing or something, like, as if it was me. As if it was like, oh, if you have like a allergy to good food.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, right.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, like, oh, I can have them do the not proper amount of this dressing of this salad. If that's. If, sir, if you'd like a. Under. If you'd like an underdressed salad, that's something we can do. Yeah, I don't want an underdressed salad. I want a salad that is not going to send me into a cardiac event.

[Andrew Walsh]

I. That's what I was trying to, like, kind of joke about when I said, like, if you ask for salt and they bring it out and like some sort of a wheelbarrow or something, just like this idea of just like, oh, we didn't realize we were dealing with you. Oh, sorry. Here, would you like some Crocs and sweatpants to be more comfortable as you just. Now I'm being like, classist also.

[Luke Burbank]

Those are very in style and they're.

[Andrew Walsh]

In style, but still, like, you know what I mean? Like, in a certain way, it's kind of like, oh, oh, sorry, I didn't realize we were dealing with somebody so boorish.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, if you'd like your salad underdressed. That's a service we provide. It's like, no, no, that's. This is. I promise you, I am not the problem here.

[Andrew Walsh]

There is a meal that I still think about. Not. Not in any kind of a fancy place at all. More in like, kind of a. And I'm. Oh, no, I can think of the name of the place. I'm not going to name it though, because I actually like it a lot. And it's one of the rare places in Seattle that still has the vibe that I like, which is rarer and rarer in places that I feel like I can go to, which is like this sort of like Seattle diner slash bar kind of culture thing. And there's only a few of them around town that sort of fit my standards. But the ones as we've talked about in the show that I used to like to go to are owned by fellow who I won't support. And so anyway, there's one place in South Seattle that I'll still go to sometimes that sort of fits the bill. And I remember it was right at. You know what, this was the very first meal I had in a restaurant after the height of the pandemic. It was the very. I remember how strange it was, Veeves and I. It was outdoor seating only at this time. And it wasn't like the height of summertime either. I think it was like kind of spring. But we were so excited that this place finally reopened. They'd been closed obviously during the pandemic. They had a few seats outside, we sat outside. We're masked the whole thing and I'm ordering one of my favorite like just general kind of breakfast brunchy vein cloggers, which is chicken fried steak. And I'm like you, Luke. Like, I like salt too much. In fact, I'm actively trying to back off of salt now. Like I really like salt.

[Luke Burbank]

Like for me, literally the hardest thing to give up because I can eat stuff that's not actually calorically that dense or that interesting. Give me a piece of, of celery with a shitload of salt on it and I'll, I'll, I'll lift anything if you give me a piece of celery and a place to stand. I'm like saltimedes. That's narcomedia's joke. But like I could eat like, like, or like a chopped up cucumber with a bunch of salt on it. I'm so stoked. Yeah, but you got, you have to give me the salt.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. So hard too. I love a chocolate.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh yeah. I mean, although, although no one's telling me less pepper.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, no, good point.

[Luke Burbank]

I do, I love pepper on everything.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, me too. Like, anyway, so, so I ordered the chicken fried steak and maybe this had to do with the fact that it was the pandemic, but it was like it came out so salty and I don't know if it was just like the grave. If it was just like this over salted ingredient was just the gravy or if it was actually, I feel like it was also maybe cooked into maybe the breading or the chicken itself. I don't know what went on, but it was salty to the point where something was wrong. You know what I mean? And like, I, Yeah, I ate most of it.

[Luke Burbank]

Like somebody had knocked something into the mix.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. And I didn't say anything, but. And I wouldn't have sent it back anyway, but I just really struggled with, like, should I just say something? Because something clearly went wrong back there. They didn't taste it like something, something spilled or they, they mistook the sugar for flour or the salt for flour or something like that. Like there was something going on and I didn't say anything. But I do sometimes wonder like, did somebody else ever say anything? Because this was not normal.

[Luke Burbank]

Huh. So you didn't.

[Andrew Walsh]

Ultimately I didn't because I wasn't gonna send. And again, this was. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I wonder.

[Andrew Walsh]

When I started the story, I forgot how close that was to the pandemic. So I certainly didn't want to make a fuss at that time.

[Luke Burbank]

And I wonder also if like, it could have even been the case that somebody in the kitchen was like relatively new, as in like, you know, the place may have shut down over the pandemic or super, super modified. And then it's like, how do you, how do you get this sort of, you know, this, this operation up and running again and you're grabbing folks in who maybe don't have a lot of experience. Like, Becca and I, like, started dating kind of during a lot of the, like, most shutdown of the pandemic. And we always think about the early days of dating and just kind of like, we'll go buy a place and we'll go, oh, remember when we waited for an hour to sit outside that place and be at the one table and it was 30 degrees, you know, or like it's, you know, I'm not saying a whole lot, but you just kind of forget. I saw something. Oh, I just saw something on TikTok the other day that was just these photos, these like eerie photos from the pandemic, you know, and set with this kind of weird. It was like a little slideshow you could kind of go through, set to this very eerie music, actually. But it was like Times Square literally empty with a sign on one of the marquees saying, like, stay home and be safe.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And just like, you know, imagine you're flipping through that with just. It was somebody visiting their elderly loved one, but, like, through a window, you know, because, like, it was just. It's. It's. It was a people. It was like an orchestra or something playing music outside of a healthc care facility in Georgia. All of that stuff that went on.

[Andrew Walsh]

It happened so much, changed so absolutely quickly. And then. And, you know, while it seemed like it was gonna last forever, while we were in the heart of it, you look back and it was like a couple of years of our lives, which, again. Well, we don't have to, like, relive all. If you're a younger person, that's a huge chunk of your life, you know?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

But, like. And we don't have to go over all the ins and outs of why the pandemic and the shutdown was just.

[Luke Burbank]

Such a mind f. But pandemic.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I mean, I still think about it because something reminded me of it the other day, too. I mean, I might even come up in the car yesterday talking to Genevieve, something about, like, the pandemic. You just think about, like, my God, we just lived through something that was almost a flash in a certain way in history, but it upended everything so quickly. I literally. I mean, obviously I don't live in Times Square, but I lived on a very busy two lane road that was always busy. And I remember just standing in the middle of that road talking to my mom on the phone. Just because you did not have to worry about traffic. There was just nobody out. And it's like, wow, that wasn't that long ago.

[Luke Burbank]

We was hoping for some razzle dazzle. Razzle dazzle. That's right, man. Razzle dazzle. On your mark. On your mark. Get set. Get set now. Ready? Ready. Go. Everybody rattle settle O Kerr. Let's thank some dazzling donors. These folks are supporting TBTL with. With a dazzling donation of dough. A And it is not lost on us, you know, that this is how the show can even happen. If these folks, if folks like this, these names I'm about to read just chose to vote with their feet or their dollars and go elsewhere, we would be. We'd be out of business. But here we are, thanks to folks like Lisa Blum in Bellingham, Washington.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, it's our pal Lisa. It's our pal Lisa from the Pittsburgh district.

[Luke Burbank]

That's right. Right. That's right. Ahead of its curve. That district, ahead of its time. Like, I. I noted this. I noted it was the pickleball district because there was two different homes, I think, that had pickleball courts. And that was so unusual at the time. It's why it was notable. And now it's like, you know, you can't. You can't. I don't know. You can't turn around without. I didn't want to say swing a dead cat because why would you do that?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I've never liked that expression.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Even before I became some kind of a simp for the animals, I never really understood that one. Anyway, Lisa says I don't really have a whole lot to say other than I so appreciate the guys keeping me company during good times and sane during rough ones. I started listening on prom night when the Mariners were rained out and I needed something to fill my ear holes while making BlackBerry jam. Wow.

[Andrew Walsh]

So, like, did you do a radio version of the prom? You had a special prom.

[Luke Burbank]

He must have done the show from the venue of the prom. I'm thinking probably that sounds possible. Or maybe we did the show and then we went to the prom. We had a. Like a prom. Like a. I guess you call it an adult prom on Capitol Hill in the early days of the show. Man, we're ambitious. Back in the olden days, like, that was a. That was a hoot nanny that we threw that night.

[Andrew Walsh]

If you want to do a tbt, meet up at Rhinehouse, man, I can.

[Luke Burbank]

Hook us up, but just don't ask you to be in charge of the bocce of anything.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Needless to say, I was hooked. I've enjoyed being a small part of the show. And Luke read my email blasting him for getting the plot of To Kill a Mockingbird messed up and later referring to me as Lisa from the pickleball district when he. When he first moved to Bellingham. My 11 is used to me talking in drops and occasionally asked me to put the show on during long car rides.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, we'll take occasionally, right?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that's not nothing when there's nothing good on sports radio anyway. It's just a privilege to help support something that brings. Brings a bunch of people from around the world together. Power out. And I'll say one. I'll say something else about Lisa. I hope this is okay, but there was something that I. I had somebody reach out to me looking for some help for something going on in Bellingham, actually kind of between the U.S. canada border and this is a real thing. Somebody basically said, I have a friend who needs help with something that's real important, like a medical situation. Do you know anybody in belling him? And I reached out to Lisa and Lisa totally took care of this person.

[Andrew Walsh]

Really?

[Luke Burbank]

And, like, yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I heard back from give an organ.

[Luke Burbank]

Not yet, but I'm asking her to save that for me. Yeah, we need that in case I shift back into hard living mode. But no, just, like, I guess I just say that not to blow up Lisa's spot, but just to say that Lisa is an incredible, incredible person. And, like, just like when I. When. When somebody asked me, do you know anybody in Bellingham who would be reliable to do something really selfless, I was like, talk to my friend in the pickleball district. So thanks, Lisa.

[Andrew Walsh]

Such an amazing way to learn that Lisa's a drug mule. I'll be honest with you.

[Luke Burbank]

I was intentionally trying to move away from that so you wouldn't say something exactly like that and make something nice.

[Andrew Walsh]

Lisa. Lisa knows that I'm a kidder, and I kid because I love.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, well, thank you, Lisa. I thought you were going to go on long with that so I could slake down some fresca there, and you caught me in a Fresca break. Thank you, Lisa. We appreciate you. Maestro, on your mark. On your mark. Get set. Get set. Now. Ready? Ready. Go. Everybody rattle. Settle. Man, I'm getting strafed by a Cessna here.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, man. That's a low flying Cessna. I used slake and strafe.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

One minute of each other. Those are two weird s words. I also misused a slake. I said I was trying to take a slave of Fresca. You don't do that. You slake your thirst.

[Andrew Walsh]

You don't.

[Luke Burbank]

A slug of fresca would slake your thirst.

[Andrew Walsh]

I use strafe a lot in relation to my cat, Bingo, because Bingo has this thing, and this is. So Bingo has a really good ability to communicate in various ways. I know that that sounds. It's like everybody's proud of their cats. My cat is an aunt, but it is really amazing. Like, he will come up to me sometimes and just tap me on the shoulder, and then I will bend down a little bit, and he's like, okay, thank you. And you'll use me as a stepping stone to get to something. He just has ways of communicating, and I noticed that when he gets so jealous, when he gets. I'll tap you on the shoulder someday.

[Luke Burbank]

I wish you had half of Bingo's communication ability. No, I meant for bubbles.

[Andrew Walsh]

But anyway, I was gonna say one way that he lets me know he's hungry is he knows to suck up to me. Like, I don't know how Genevieve got the. The short end of the stick. But, like, to get Genevieve's attention, he'll just like go up to her and start knocking shit off of her table or whatever and like stare at her until she gets mad and feeds him. For me, he gets real lovey dovey, or as I say, squirmy wormy. And he'll come up to me and he's just. I keep on saying, I don't know if I'm using it right, but I feel like he strafes me. I'm like, oh, you're straight. The squirmy wormy is strafing me. Like, does that mean sort of come in and sort of like rub up against. Against me like the killer whales in that movie?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I think of strafing as more like a bombing run. So when you were to strafe, you'd be, you'd be like a, you know, a, a bomber in World War II. And you would go down and you would just strafe a military position. You would just drop a bunch of bombs on it. Like a strafing run is how I think of it. But I don't think it's far off. He's just strafing you with more cuddles.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, here's what I'm wondering, because what does the Internet say about strafe? I don't know if. Yeah, could you look this up while I ask you my question? Because here's my question. And this is such a dark place to take this. And I wish now that I hadn't even brought this up at all. I think the reason I say strafe, and I may be confusing with a different word, but do you remember the documentary that was really sad about the way the orcas were being treated in captivity in SeaWorld? And this is around 2014, 2015, black fish. And the documentary was very, you know, it was very much washed, watched and talked about in our culture is very popular, I guess, for lack of a better word. And I feel like part of the things that was like affecting these, these orcas, I think, were they were. They had some sort of injury on the side of them because they kept strafing. I thought they said they kept strafing each other and like rubbing up against each other, but maybe they weren't using the word strafe. Maybe they were using something else. I don't know.

[Luke Burbank]

Did they scritch or did they sketch?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, Rolf, I think.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, I said, Ralph, I'm Stan. Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low flying aircraft. Using aircraft mounted automatic weapons.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

So maybe not a bomber, but like a, you know, an airplane with some guns on it or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, and that makes sense. As soon as you said that, I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, that's what strafe means. I can picture that from, like, an old World War II movie, but I'm wondering what the word was in Blackfish. Anyway, that's not. We're already out of the music. The dazzling donor music, which is.

[Luke Burbank]

Maestro, get set now. Ready, Ready, Go. Everybody rattle.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hold on.

[Luke Burbank]

I was trying to slake down some fresco. I'm trying to strafe down some. Look who it is. It's Danielle Goodreau.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey. One of our dannies.

[Luke Burbank]

That's right. In Nashua, New Hampshire, question mark. Hi, dummies. And John. And hi, Tens. I want to use this to once again remind everyone to make sure their estate. Estate plans are in order. As soon as I get an estate Danny, I'm gonna plan it. That's what I'm talking about. I say this as an elder law attorney who has not done her own. Danny, I love this about you. Who has not done her own, but hopes to do so in 2025. Now, this, I think, is very relatable, and I like that Danny is. Is calling herself in on this.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right?

[Luke Burbank]

Like this. That's one of those things that everybody should do. But it's not a particularly fun topic to sort of contemplate. And it's just like nobody gets up on a particular morning and goes, this is the day that I'm putting my estate plan together, you know? But it's, of course, something that could make the life a lot better for a lot of people around you If. If you do kind of, you know, do this unpleasant thing. I want to make sure my furry dependence will be taken care of if something happens to me. You can see pictures of bears and Rider over on the Pod Pets channel on Slack.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, nice.

[Luke Burbank]

And see so many other adorable critters being raised by tens. Let's be friends. I'm at Danny underscore, Corrine or Corinne. C O R R I N E on Slack. At Danny H. Esquire on Blue sky and at Danny N.H. oh, I'm sorry. Danny N.H. esquire. So, Danny N.H. esquire on Blue Sky Guy and Danny N.H. on Discord. Do you know, Andrew, that I have never successfully logged on to Discord?

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm on Discord now, but I don't. There is a TBTL Discord page, and I think that's the One that Danny is talking about here. Danny. Dan. I, by the way, and I don't spend enough time there. It is. It is a intimidating world to me for some reason as far as, like.

[Luke Burbank]

Feel like it's like Discord is just mostly people talking about. About Fugazi, but maybe that's discog. I don't know. I feel like Discord seems like it's a kind of a. I don't know, like. Like more intense than Reddit. This is Andrew. This is my theory based on having never logged into Discord.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think the background of Discord is it came out of the gaming community.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, okay. Okay. Another reason why I wouldn't have very good intel on it. Danny says, once again, thanks to the business boys for keeping TBTL going. And I respectfully request requests longer shows. Oh, Danny, that would put you in the minority. I think for sanity's sake. I am no longer binging all of the political and news content I can find and I need the distraction. Okay. That's all I have. Can't wait to cringe when I hear this message. Read on the show.

[Andrew Walsh]

Cringe is a nice message.

[Luke Burbank]

Nothing cringe worthy at all. Danny. The above message was sent for informational entertainment purposes. Pretty good.

[Andrew Walsh]

Pretty good. Earning that Esquire.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. Thank you, Danny. Appreciate you. Thanks for making TBTL happy happen.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hello and welcome to Top Story.

[Luke Burbank]

I. I forget. And we have talked about this, and yet I still forget. Andrew, are you up on the White Lotus or are you just considering being. I know you're up on severance.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And by the way, you, I assume, have you given up on severance?

[Luke Burbank]

I haven't given up, but I want to tell you about what happened to me last night.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

Because it may indicate something.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, sounds good. I. I will say I watched the latest Severance last night and I whole. I really liked it, which is weird. Everybody's complaining about it and it's like.

[Luke Burbank]

I saw somebody say it's like 48 minutes on my least favorite character or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Which. I don't even know what that means. Like which character. It could be my most favorite character. I don't know.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know if you. It's one of my. It's literally one of my favorite characters. I loved it. So I. I might just be out of step with what people like about that show. It was also a shorter episode. But that's not what we're here to talk about. The White Lotus. White Lotus. I've watched the first episode and I liked it. In fact, I think I went back and watched it a second time because the first time I was playing cards and I was like, I want to go back and actually watch it, watch it. But that's where I am. So I'm at least three episodes behind. But I plan on watching it.

[Luke Burbank]

I have definitely. And this is like the character that Parker Posey is playing in the show, but she's pretending she's acting. But I'm not pretending. I'm just kind of a basic bee Andrew. And I just think, think right now the white lotus is what my intellect can handle versus severance. So last night I am already. I'm excited. By the way, I made this. And by made, I mean Becca made me this pizza dough. You know how I've been on this journey of trying to eat whatever it is I want, but try to make sure that if possible, it's not overly processed. That's been my thing for 2025. Like if I want to have a pizza, have a pizza, but maybe make it at home. Like make, make the dough fresh or buy, as I did buy pre made dough, you know, at like Safeway or whatever. But like I went for whole wheat at that point and try to just like use, use ingredients that I could recognize. Cheese. I know what that is. Tomato sauce, you know, stuff like that. So I, I had this, I bought this whole wheat dough at the Safeway that I was really pretty happy with. But I said to Becca, like, do you have something that's like even simpler than this? And she was like, hold my, hold my baking powder. She made me this ball o dough that is. I want to give out the recipe. It's 2 to 1, all purpose flour to plain Greek yogurt. So Greek yogurt mixed with all purpose flour, 2 to 1. And then a teaspoon of baking powder, a little bit of salt. And then she threw in some Italian herbs and some garlic powder. Very simple. Sent me home with this ball of this dough and I made a pizza with it last night. It's one of the best homemade pizzas I've ever had. It might have been the best homemade pizza I've ever had. Off of this dough that's just Greek yogurt and flour and some salt. I mean, I may, I may start eating pizza seven nights a week. I've still got half of the dough ball left. I might have to go ham on that tonight. I don't know. Anyway, so I'm making my little pizza. I'm watching my white lotus and I had seen somewhere that I don't I would imagine you don't remember this character, but there is a character on this season of the White Lotus who is kind of like maybe the number two in charge of the hotel. He's a white guy with brown hair, and he seems very kind of sycophantic to the woman who's the co owner. Like, she does a performance. You know, she's some kind of singer, and she's singing, and he's very, like, obsessed with her. You would kind of think, I haven't.

[Andrew Walsh]

Seen her performance yet, but I think he's the same guy. So there's also the woman from last season who is visiting this location of. Of the White Lotus Hotel, and she's like, they're on a business trip. And he was in. Because I've only seen episode one, but I think he's the one who's sort of showing her around and showing her, like, the altar. No, not.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, maybe. No, I think that's a local guy who's also a masseur. By the way, I learned the word masseur today instead of masseuse. I always thought it was. Yeah, masseuse.

[Andrew Walsh]

And what's a masseuse? Nothing.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, it's not Rolling Stone approved. I was listening to. I was listening to a story about the unfortunate demise of Liam Payne from One Direction, and it was a, you know, article on tape, and they said something about a masseur, and I was like, oh, I've never.

[Andrew Walsh]

I always have used masseuse madams and masseuses.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't want to do. I don't want to derail us again, but. Yeah. Then is there a difference between a masseur and a masseuse?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know. Well, this. This person that I'm thinking of is kind of more like. How do I describe him? He's. He's. He's just like. Again, I think he's like the general manager.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. I don't think I. Maybe I haven't met him or I don't remember him.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, he is. He doesn't do a lot in the first episode that's. That's particularly noteworthy. In the second episode, he gets a little more interesting because he's just kind of. But he's very, like. I would say he's the definition of, like, sort of obsequious. Like, he's just a little bit, like, being very kind of like, sort of, you know, like, attending to everyone, but in a way. Like, you feel like there's something going on behind the scenes for this guy. If that makes Sense, huh? Well, I just was, like, looking at TikTok and some kind of film person that I follow or that come came up on my for you page, said like, oh, man, I can't believe, like, who this. I knew I recognized this guy from White Lotus, this kind of, like, odd kind of side character. It's like he's the guy from Zone of Interest. And I had heard that this movie, Zone of Interest is really pretty phenomenal. So when I finished White Lotus, I was like, well, I should probably watch Severance now. And I was like, I just don't know if I have it in me. So I was like, well, why don't I look up some lightfair like Zone of Interest. A movie about Auschwitz, Andrew. And what I will say is it is a phenomenal piece of filmmaking, in my opinion. It is like, remember how we've talked about the scene in A Real Pain where they actually visit that particular, you know, concentration camp and how sort of quiet it is and how now, for me, anyway, it was like. It was a way of considering that experience of those people that were taken there, that I hadn't ever experienced it that way because my way into most of this is like Schindler's List. It's like Spielbergian. It's like people are giving impassioned speeches or are saying things. It's like it's very much explained to you as a viewer that this is.

[Andrew Walsh]

Horrific and it's in the moment, whereas the real pain thing, I mean, that was just the way they did that was just phenomenal. But it was also through the lens of history. You're seeing modern people sort of trying to absorb it while you're trying to absorb it like, you know, 60 years later.

[Luke Burbank]

I would say what I realized watching Zone of Interest is Jesse Eisenberg very much watched Zone of Interest. Yeah. And I don't say that as any kind of a critique or whatever, but like, that, that. That moment from A Real Pain, it's like it's sort of the entirety of this film in a way. Like, I could not look away. Even though it's. It's obviously such a absolutely horrific subject matter. It's basically following this guy who's kind of the. The person in charge of Auschwitz. And that guy who plays the person in charge of Auschwitz is the weird, creepy general manager from White Lotus. And like, character wise, you couldn't get much different. You know, the. The. The manager, general manager seems like kind of like a beta cuck. Just kind of like very. And then for him to go from that to being like the guy running this unbelievable. The scene of unbelievable horror. But the way the story is told is it's all his life with his family in this kind of beautiful home with a garden that shares a wall with Auschwitz. And the way that you experience the horror of Auschwitz is the sound of Auschwitz as he's having, like a birthday lunch for his kid. It is. It's so, so. It's so ominous and yet so subtle. Like, it's just. I mean, it is. Again, it's such a hard topic. And I'm like, I don't. It's weird recommending a film that will just put you in, like, a pretty dark place. It is the. It's. It's. It's the. It's the most. Again, I'll just say, along with a real pain. But even more, it is just. It's somehow connected me to the horror of this in a way that I had previously not even with a real pain.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now I remember because you've been saying zone of interest. And when I even saw it in the show sheet today, I'm like, why. Why do I feel like somebody was telling me about this? Or I remember it sort of like I. I also associated this with a real pain, but I didn't know why, whether somebody was recommending it. And now I recall what it was. And it wasn't long after seeing A Real pain, my smart TV just recommended this to me. I didn't know anything about it, but it was like a very beautiful tile on my screen, but I knew nothing about it. So I hit play on it, I think. And I can't even remember what the.

[Luke Burbank]

Opening was, but I was like family down at the river.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I was. But it be. I remember, like, I could tell this was a movie that I wanted to give all of my attention to and that it was going to be both beautiful but incredibly painful. And I remember thinking, like, not, not, not right now. We're not for right now. And then I think maybe after our conversation about the Eisenberg movie, I think I saw some people recommending this on the TBT Slack movie or something like kind of talking about. But again, recommending it. I don't know if that's too strong of a word, but, like, definitely saying, like, it was Nick's. They felt like they experienced something by watching this. So thank you for reminding. This was on my radar. I could not quite remember it, but your description of it got me there. And now I'm like, yes, I do need to. Well, it took me how Many. It took me 25 years to finally watch Schindler's List. So I guess I don't know how long it's gonna take me to like.

[Luke Burbank]

Gear up to the TV, chill, 50th anniversary. We'll get you a review. I mean, yeah, it's. It's made by. It's written and directed by the guy that made Sexy Beast.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, my God. I didn't know that. Oh, God. I love the visual.

[Luke Burbank]

And I mean, it couldn't be more different as a film goes. But it's like from, like. I mean, I don't know, me just like, me just describing moments from a movie about Auschwitz that has been out for five years that I just watched is not probably particularly useful. But it's like there are these little touches, like. Oh, the other thing is, you know, I'm had to watch it with the subtitles on because it's in. It's in German. But the problem was it also had. That meant that the. Like, some of the subtitles, because of how it's designed, obviously for somebody who's hearing impaired, it's also telling you what's going on in the background, if you know what I mean. I just wanted the closed cap. I just wanted the words. Maybe there was another setting I couldn't figure out on my smart tv. How smart is that?

[Andrew Walsh]

What if you turned off all the settings? Usually a foreign film is going to have its own subtitles, so it doesn't need like the EAS version that you're.

[Luke Burbank]

Maybe that was my problem.

[Andrew Walsh]

Maybe you should have turned them off in the film. Maybe I should have baked in.

[Luke Burbank]

I'll bet that's a good point. Yeah. Because I was probably using the. I was using the TV version, which had like, a little bit more information than I wanted all the time was like. INDISTINCT chatter INDISTINCT CHATTER you know, like. But I didn't know how to turn it off. But like, there are these little bits like, you know, again, it's just this movie where the. The. It's so. On one level, it's just so spare and so kind of like subtle. And then there are these little things baked in. Like, they have this very nice home and this very nice garden that his wife, you know, they have all these kids and his wife has spent all this time really beautifying this. This piece of land they're on. And like. But then there's just like, the baby never stops crying. They have this new baby. They have, like, you know, I don't know, five kids. Or something. And it just, just like. It's just this thing that's never particularly addressed, but it's just always like the. I forget the baby's name. It's, you know, something German. It's like so and so crying, so and so crying. And then they have this dog that's kind of unruly. And everyone's always just shooing the dog. And the dog is always just kind of like in the background doing something. It's never a big part of the plot, but it's, it's, it's always there. Like, there are just these subtle touches that are just incredible writing and filmmaking. Like, I just, again, for a movie that is horrific in what it sort of considers or talk, you know, talks about, I can't recommend it highly enough. It is a brilliant piece of filmmaking.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I think it's on hbo, right? It's on something that I have access. Yes, it is.

[Luke Burbank]

It is. And just a little side note, Andrew, so you feel a little bit more. You feel like you have an ally in your content stealing ways. I learned that Becca can borrow my HBO thing and we can both be watching oh yo.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And like, low key. How have they not figured that out? I signed it in at her house this weekend because she wanted to watch White Lots Lotus. And then I was like, okay, I'm gonna start watching White Lotus here. Tell me if it kicks you off. And she's like, doing just fine with White Lotus down there. So I'm not saying that we should share our password, but it turns out it might work for that one.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, we have. I don't know if I have no problem saying this, but, like, you know, like, we share our HBO with a couple of people and I know that one of those people then kicks us back a Paramount. Plus, I think those are good relationships.

[Luke Burbank]

I do too. And I don't. I don't feel bad for those companies. I mean, that's a slippery slope. Is it, like, how bad do I feel? That's when I decide if I'm going to pay for something or not. I just hope people continue to feel very bad for tbt.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, the thing about TBTL is you don't have to pay anything at all. You can listen to it for free. You don't have to. You don't have to.

[Luke Burbank]

You and your friend can both listen to it at the same time in different places.

[Andrew Walsh]

You don't need a vpn. You don't need to mask your IP address. Like, we are putting it out there and just hoping that People realize if you do like this, to keep it going. But so it's a different. It's a different standard. And I kind of don't. I don't mind that there's. To me, I don't. I don't know if this just sounds like, absolutely batshit, but, like, I don't know, I think there's something wholesome about, like, having a relationship with a friend or something where you're like, okay, I'll share hbo, you share Paramount Plus.

[Luke Burbank]

And then maybe it's like communal living.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. Because I don't have Apple, and I don't want to do this with the listeners. I want to be very clear about that. But I just mean, like, you know, people like that, that I know irl that, like, I don't have Disney or Apple, but I would absolutely happy. I'd be happy to toss like, you know, a close friend of mine a little. A little HBO if they wanted to. A little. Hey, want a little Netflix? Give me a little Disney. Sure, why not? Fun.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, it's like I said, like a little free library, but of streaming passwords.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And you. And you know, somebody is paying. You're not totally going around.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's it. That's why I think it's kind. Kind of. Again, I. I just have so. I have so little sympathy for these, like, mega corporations that are constantly being absorbed by even larger entities to where, like, if they're getting a little bit less subscriber money, but a group of friends are kind of sharing and it's working. Like, I was just surprised it worked because I would think that would be an incredibly knowable thing for hbo. Like, how many people are using this Luke Burbank bank account right now in different places? Like, you just think it would be like, you can use it here or there, but not here and there.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, remember that was a story we talked about on the show a while back, that Netflix was tamping down on that. And I don't use Netflix a lot outside of the house, but, I mean, I do have it on various devices sometimes. Oh, you know what? I think these. And I did maybe butt up against that at one point because I think I was watching something on Netflix downstairs on the tv, and then I came upstairs to probably eat some ramen noodles or something. I'm like, well, I'll just continued on my phone up here for a second. But then I couldn't because Genevieve was watching it on a different TV or something. I was like, oh, okay. So there's your. Your two devices system working, which also, I don't blame them necessarily for. I don't. I don't feel like that's a low blow. Like, in a certain way, okay, we're paying, you know, we're paying for this content. Like, I don't know. I will say this, and not to be rude, but like, we talk a lot about me, like, kind of getting skirting around some of the rules about, like maybe watching a Mariners game. Streaming service, NFL, which is. Or of evil organization.

[Luke Burbank]

Anyway.

[Andrew Walsh]

And every now and then I get emails or messages from people who want advice on that. I will say that while I don't mind talking about this on the show, like, I draw a very strong line between giving people advice in the listening audience about how to, let's just say pirate things like that is.

[Luke Burbank]

That is for some reason with the intent to distribute.

[Andrew Walsh]

You can figure it out, everybody. I'm not. I'm not here to help you steal stuff.

[Luke Burbank]

And I don't mean to. I joke about that with you. I don't mean to. I thought you were going to say that there are listeners giving you grief about it, which I don't mean.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, no. People usually wonder and I'm like, I don't want to. I don't want to. I just. I don't. There's something about that where it's kind of like, oh, yeah, you hear about this podcaster who gives out advice on how to steal content.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's not have that be our niche, if possible.

[Andrew Walsh]

Here I go once again with the email. Every week I hope that it's from a female.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, man, it's not from a female. I'll write emails or V mail.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, last week we got pretty obsessed with a commercial that actually, it turns out, the world was obsessed with maybe about a decade ago, but it was new to us, which is this lawyer in one of the Dakotas named Scott Hoy. And this commercial went viral years ago because it was so confusing. Do you actually have one?

[Luke Burbank]

Car accidents recently involving rollovers and serious injuries to passengers. I don't know if it's video games games or what, but it's so unfair to, after something like this to blame people in the backseat or say they deserved it. I don't like consoling these parents about what's happened, but I'll do it until it stops. Will you please stop?

[Andrew Walsh]

Please stop. There's so much about that that is funny and confusing and his speech pattern is funny. I've now I've read interviews because he was made fun of by. By Fallon I think. And so then he had to do, like, local interviews, being like, well, I guess he sent a note to his. No, no, no. The advertising agency that he hired sent him an apology note when this went viral. I always kind of wonder about that when you do something earnestly and then it becomes viral for being bad. Like, how does that play out for everybody but you and I? Aside from just laughing at it, we're also just sort of confused. Like, why are we talking about the people in the back seat? Why are they talking about video games?

[Luke Burbank]

Who's his potential client here? Usually when one of these personal injury attorneys will say, like, have you been injured in an accident? I'll fight for you. I couldn't figure out who he was trying to fight for here.

[Andrew Walsh]

So we got a note from a listener. Let's see, are my allowed to use his name? I think so. This is from somebody named James, but identifying as a Danny in this case because of course, all of our lawyers are named Danny. Like we heard during the dazzling donor message. James says, I'm a Danny in Colorado. I don't like personal injury law, but I've done it to help people out. If you're a passenger hurt in a one car accident, and Scott's does say a one car accident, you have to sue the driver. This actually means suing their insurance company. A common defense is that the passenger contributed to their injury by causing the accident or making the injury worse by, for instance, distracting the driver or not wearing a seatbelt or something like that. It gets more confusing because the insurance company sucks, as they all do do. And you might then enlist the driver as another plaintiff in pursuing the insurance company for bad facial feelings, meaning not protecting the driver. Anyway, as a lawyer, I'm begging you once again to stop confessing to crimes on the airwaves.

[Luke Burbank]

That's what jumped out at me from that email. Have we been. Other than creative content, creative content, collaborating. Have we committed to or admitted to any. Any illegal activities? I hope not. I don't think so.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't do a lot of illegal.

[Luke Burbank]

Illegal things and I do a lot of them, but I don't talk about it on the show, no matter how big.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, so that makes some sense. So in other words, it would. It would appear that what Scott Hoy, who Scott Hoy is appealing to, is the person in the back seat, the person who's been injured in a one car accident and who is facing an insurance company that is working on behalf of the driver that is trying to say that the person in the backseat contributed to the crash. Therefore the insurance company doesn't have to pay out the other injured party. And that's what he doesn't like. And then it gets a little bit more confusing when he's talking about the families and the parents because maybe he just means he doesn't like to have to explain to parents that the people in the backseat did to some degree create the conditions for the crash. I don't. I mean that's where it kind of loses me again. But it sounds like the issue as explained well by James, AKA Daniel Danny is that if like if you and I were riding in a car together, Andrew and I crashed it and you were seriously injured or even not seriously injured but you were owed some money for the event, you'd have to sue me because I was doing something kind of, you know, that was unsafe or whatever. And then my insurance company would be trying to prove that you were doing something to distract me that this was actually somehow your fault. Fault. And where James relationships I mean it can't be great for it. And where James Hoy comes in I guess is defending you against the scurrilous rumors of the insurance company. My insurance company that says that you are distracting me. It could be that I'm playing a video game. He doesn't know or what what I.

[Andrew Walsh]

Also like and I know that this is just kind of bad writing or I don't know if it's how much it's writing or off the cuff but he really implies at the end that like like his efforts to console actually have an impact on stopping this kind of behavior which is not a causal relationship at all. But that's another funny thing. I'll keep consoling it in these people until this stops. And it sort of sounds like he's saying my consolations will stop this but that's not obviously what he means.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. And also I don't really know how Scott Hoy protecting or defending the rights of somebody in injured as a passenger in a one car accident. I don't know how that is going to bring it to a halt.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly Right.

[Luke Burbank]

There's nothing about his defense of those people that would in any way change the conditions of these one car crashes. It might be video games. We don't know.

[Andrew Walsh]

We don't know. It might be video games. And that part I think is just kind of like this idea of a one car to thinking about a young No, I don't think distracted by video games.

[Luke Burbank]

My thought playing video games that he's.

[Andrew Walsh]

Probably thinking about young People behind the.

[Luke Burbank]

Walls deal thinking it's a video game.

[Andrew Walsh]

They're driving too quickly down, thinking they're playing Spy Hunter. Yeah. And then they hit a flower. I don't know. They hit the big brick flower.

[Luke Burbank]

I went outside current with a Spy Hunter reference. I don't know if you ever. You. Did you play Spy Hunter as a kid?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, but I often drop tax out the back of my car when somebody familiar with. Yeah, no, no, I played Spy Hunter. I loved Spy Hunter. I didn't have it. I think Tim had it. Some friend of mine had. I loved playing Spy Hunter.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think anyone I knew had it, but we. It was like at the 711 or whatever. Yeah, at the pizza place. Ye was like. It was just like. Oh, man, that game was so fun. We dropped some oil on.

[Andrew Walsh]

Drop some oil, drop some nails or tax. And I think. Could you blow smoke, too, to distract the people behind you, the drivers behind you?

[Luke Burbank]

I think you could. I think you could. We would see that unfortunately now come to life when people are rolling coal on people. Art imitating life imitating art imitating bad politics.

[Andrew Walsh]

I believe it's free speech. I believe rolling coal is now protecting. Protected by.

[Luke Burbank]

It's the only. It's the only protected free speech. Yes, it's the. Anyway, okay, that's a good place for us to end this before we go to Negative Town. So that's where we're gonna end it. But we're gonna start up with Negative Town first thing tomorrow when we come back with more imaginary radio. So we will see you then. In the meantime, everyone, have a great Monday. Take care of yourselves and please remember, no mountain too tall, and good luck to all.

[Andrew Walsh]

Power out.