
Luke is trying to figure out how and why he unsubscribed from the TBTL Newsletter, but it was probably to hurt Andrew’s feelings. They also discuss the mystery of who forced an airplane to turn around by clogging all the toilets. And they relive the...
Loading summary
Andrew Walsh
Uh, Alex is here buying some gifts for her baby. Oh, really?
Luke Burbank
What's the name of that cutie? Lucien. Lucien. You named your baby Lucien? I did, yes. That's my lizard's name. What a small world. He passed away recently. He was run over by an ice cream truck. Sad story.
Andrew Walsh
Tbtl.
Luke Burbank
I was just fixing to get me some grub. Beans. I love beans. Big, fat, hot, juicy beans.
Andrew Walsh
Now, don't get me going on beans.
Luke Burbank
Or I'll be jabbering away till the sun comes up.
Andrew Walsh
Could you crawl back out of my mind?
Luke Burbank
Please understand that nothing personal is intended here against anybody. I don't hate these artists. I'm not trying to say that God.
Andrew Walsh
Hates them, and I'm certainly not trying.
Luke Burbank
To get you to hate them. I'm proud to be brainwashed. I've got a clean brain. You could eat off it.
Andrew Walsh
I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who.
Luke Burbank
Said, you have reached the end of your free trial membership@BenjaminFranklinQuotes.com.
Andrew Walsh
What a wise man.
Luke Burbank
What's on the agenda, my friend? All right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Wednesday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. Welcome to the Internet. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. How about Prisca? Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the stormy. Stormy and yet still mighty. Columbia it is.
Andrew Walsh
Didn't know you like to get wet, though.
Luke Burbank
I had to swaddle my laptop computer, bringing it from my little house up here to the Matrona Hill studio, which is like 25 steps. But that was so rainy and sideways rainy this morning that there was a danger of me damaging it. It made it just fine, and we've made it just fine to episode 4421 in a collector series, Let the fun begin. We got a slight TBTL mystery on our hands in a case gone cold. Could a podcast bring the heat? Trying to figure out how and why something happened. Were there. Was there a disagreement? Was there a falling out? Anyway, we'll get into it. Also, we've got some sky jinx. Or maybe sky stinks more. The an airplane had to turn around somewhere over Greenland, which. Hold on. Checking. Yes, as of press time, is still a sovereign nation. Wait, is it part of Denmark? I don't know. We haven't expropriated it yet. Anyway, an airplane had to turn around and go back to Chicago because eight of the 12 toilets got plugged. Also, in the sky jinx department, Southwest Airlines is kind of un. Southwesting itself and People are very, very unhappy about having to pay for their checked bags. Anyway, we'll talk about all that and we'll talk to this guy. The longest running cobra of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. He brought the rock and roll edge to the Eagles. He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.
Andrew Walsh
I love the way that bell rings out just to infinity. It's just.
Luke Burbank
And be.
Andrew Walsh
It's so smooth. Do you want to talk about the mystery or do you want to talk about Big Fruit? Because I could go either way here at the beginning of the show, to be honest with you.
Luke Burbank
Let's just knock the mystery out quickly because I promoted it, and then let's shift to Big Fruit because I've got a lot of questions.
Andrew Walsh
Okay, good.
Luke Burbank
This actually involves our friend, TBTL employee numero uno John Sklarov, who kind of got to the. He got to the core of this issue recently. The other day I mentioned to you kind of offhandedly that, that I'm not. I'm not getting the TBTL newsletter, which is the height of irony, I believe. Don't make me queue up the Alanis Morissette. I will, because, of course, we work here. This is our job. If there are three people on planet Earth who should be getting the TBT newsletter, it's you and me and John Skloroff, and I wasn't. And you had looked me up in the system and you'd seen my name on there. So you're like, it's weird because you, you know, you were mentioning I am getting it or I should be getting it. I thought maybe it was in my junk folder or whatever. Anyway, John Sklaroff went, did a deeper dive, did some forensic, you know, research on this matter and found that I am in the system on some level. But the problem is I had unsubscribed at some point and therefore I could not be added back in. We take your privacy very seriously here at Too Beautiful to Biz. And if you unsubscribe from the newsletter, which would be madness, I don't know why anyone will do that, let alone me. We then cannot manually. We can't override that. We can't subscribe you back, you know, and. And that's actually, that's actually the spot that I'm in. I had somehow unsubscribed, and so I resubscribed this morning. But it raises the question, why in the world would I unsubscribe from our Own newsletter. Were you and I in a fight? Was I trying to punish you?
Andrew Walsh
I don't know, man. Here's my theory. Isn't that weird, though? It is weird. I. I would say it might have to do with the fact that I put in a lot of. Well, not a lot. I think a lot is exaggerating. I think, let's say from time to time I put a generous amount of pornography in the newsletter.
Luke Burbank
Yes. Really?
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. Like, just like.
Luke Burbank
And in conversation with my trusted spiritual advisors that, yeah, they've said it might be good for me personally to look at less of that sort of stuff.
Andrew Walsh
Because this is not like, it's not like classy stuff. It's like, really? It's like.
Luke Burbank
No, it's.
Andrew Walsh
It's honestly raunchy.
Luke Burbank
I think the word that the FCC uses is illegal.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, that's what they put in their emails. I don't know. I usually delete them, but I'm guessing that that might have. Maybe you just got to a point where you're like, I don't want to see this on Friday afternoons. That could. Yeah, that could. Part of it. I'm not sure. And to answer your question more, the.
Luke Burbank
Only logical sort of conclusion of that is that the people, the many people, the thousands of people subscribing do want that.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, well, that's why I put it.
Luke Burbank
They're acting in, as it were.
Andrew Walsh
We have 100% open rate for those.
Luke Burbank
Who, by the way, subscribe is an adult film. I still have somewhere on VHS in my house. Opting In.
Andrew Walsh
Oh, I have one called Opting out, which was a. Well, whatever floats less popular follow up. But anyway, no, I did. There's no, there's nothing naughty in the newsletters. It is a good question. I don't know. And you, you explained it properly. I guess I will just say that, like we have various email lists for various reasons. Right. And an example of that would have been last year we were producing a limited edition video series for people who donated at a certain level. It was like a digital thank you gift where you and I would record a little video with a listener every Friday or send it out on Saturdays, I think. And so it looks like you're still signed up for that. We're not doing that anymore. That was just, like I said, a one year. But like, you're on that list. It looks like you're good to go. So I did legitimately feel bad when John was like, luke is in the system. I felt like I was gaslighting you a little bit. I'M like, well, check your spam folder. So you were in the system but no longer on that TBT weekly newsletter list. And I guess when he tried to put you back in, they're like, no, no. This guy said he wants no part of this. Like he actively clicked a button that said, I want to hurt Andrew's feelings today.
Luke Burbank
And I don't know.
Andrew Walsh
You're back.
Luke Burbank
I cannot for the life of me figure out what the, what the reason for that would be.
Andrew Walsh
I don't know either.
Luke Burbank
That's a. That's a. That's a. The past is a mystery. The future's history. I believe that's what they say.
Andrew Walsh
You'd think you.
Luke Burbank
I can't believe it's a. You got to get up pretty early to say a Gary Busey ism. Less logically than he says.
Andrew Walsh
Like if you repeat it incorrectly, it makes sense.
Luke Burbank
I mean, that's high level. That is high level cogitation when. When, when I'm operating at a sub busy level here on this Wednesday morning.
Andrew Walsh
Sub busy levels. Yeah. I don't know. You're always monkeying around with your computers.
Luke Burbank
I mean, maybe I've got, actually got. I've got a kind of a couple of situations going on. This is the worst thing for me to discuss on air with you because it relates to a friend of ours and a person who sometimes dips in on the show and might hear this. But we have a friend who's international and we, we often chat on that WhatsApp app. But because I just let my phone update, I didn't actually let it update it. You know, I went to sleep with one kind of iPhone recently and woke up with a different kind of operating system. It got like. It's sort of like. It's sort of like, you know, getting a gremlin wet or feeding it after midnight. Like, it's got to be on the WI fi, it's got to be plugged in. It's like a variety of conditions have to be met for your phone to go. Like, we got them guys, we got him. He's slumbering away. But we have all the necessary conditions. Life finds a way. Let's move everything on this phone to somewhere where he doesn't know where it is because now we're on Sequoia or some shit. If they ever start naming their operating systems after, like Lighthouse Ranch or Eureka Cal.
Andrew Walsh
Other.
Luke Burbank
Other Northern Cal reference points from my childhood, that would be kind of dope. But anyway, my phone updated and weirdly what it did was it didn't bring WhatsApp along with it. And so I. What I realized was there was a. There was a news event, the. The passing of Bob Rivers, who's radio person in Seattle. Radio legend Rip and. And. And that. But anyway, the. The per. I wanted to reach out to our friend and. And sort of because he knew Bob really well, better than I did, and I wanted to say, like, oh, hey, I'm really, like, so sorry about this, et cetera. So I wanted to. I wanted to talk about a little bit, and I realized I don't. I can't. I don't. I got back into WhatsApp, but it's like I had to basically start a new account. So you have none of the chats that you and I and our friend had. You know what I mean?
Andrew Walsh
Well, here's the thing. I was able to reach out to our friend because he also has. I don't know how this works, but I'm able just to text him at a phone number that he has.
Luke Burbank
Well, that's what I need to do is. Yeah, I don't know why we were doing this. What's up?
Andrew Walsh
Because, well, the thing is, I. Now I just remembered I want to play something for you, and I'm curious why we're keeping this person anonymous.
Luke Burbank
Is there any reason it's our friend Bean? Well, it's because. It's because, as we know. Let me put it this way, I think it would. I think Bean. My concern is that Bean wanted to bond with me about Bob Rivers passing, because that's, you know, that I knew Bob Rivers and Bean at the same time in Seattle. We used to go to these events together. We were all friends. And. And I realized if Bean were to have sent me a WhatsApp about his really good friend Bob Rivers passing and I didn't respond to it, it would come off as very rude. Right. But it's something that Bean's not a particular fan of.
Andrew Walsh
But in the context of this conversation, I think the only person aside from you and I who knew we were talking about Bean would be Bean. We were just protecting his identity from the audience, it seemed to me. Doesn't it seem like he would have figured it out if he heard this conversation?
Luke Burbank
Yes, but I don't know if Bean wants the audience to know that Bean would be mad at me about me not texting him back about Bob Rivers.
Andrew Walsh
I see. It's the. I don't think. No, I think that's. That's all very human nature. The only reason I'm making this Even more awkward is because I want to play a piece of tape related to all of this and something that you were talking about at the end of the show yesterday. And I wasn't able to do this if we're going to keep being anonymous in this conversation. So thank you for letting me dredge all of this up. We got through the awkward, but I hope you understand that it really was for a reason, because I don't know exactly what Bean situation is as far as like, we used to use WhatsApp, but now I do know that he sometimes texts to me on a regular. Like, I guess we'll call it an SMS number. I don't know anything about technology.
Luke Burbank
Seattle or New Orleans.
Andrew Walsh
I don't think it's either. And I don't want to give out any more information.
Luke Burbank
No, I will give it. Just read it to me over here.
Andrew Walsh
Exactly.
Luke Burbank
But quietly.
Andrew Walsh
Here's what I think might blow your mind. Although it sounds like you and him also might have connected yesterday, so maybe he already shared this with you.
Luke Burbank
I did not connect with him.
Andrew Walsh
Oh, you didn't end up connecting in any.
Luke Burbank
WhatsApp doesn't work anymore. And that's why I'm feeling extra bad because I've yet to check in with our friend and I could see a world in which a couple of messages fell into the void I see. And now it looks like I'm being uncaring about this other thing. That's why I'm stressing well in the.
Andrew Walsh
Classic goofus and gallantness of our relationship.
Luke Burbank
Son of a Gallant.
Andrew Walsh
You did reach out first. I hacked your phone and deleted WhatsApp so that I would have headstone and.
Luke Burbank
Unsubscribe me from the TV show newsletter.
Andrew Walsh
Newsletter? Just so that we could have something to talk about. No, but after the show, I almost copied you on this too, and I should have. I think I just forgot at the last minute. This would have also given you.
Luke Burbank
Was this on WhatsApp or was this on.
Andrew Walsh
Just on. Just text. I just text him. I'm like, hey, heard about the news. Just, you know, sort of sent my condolences. He's like, yeah. He said, here's a clip and I hope it's okay to play this on our show. I don't think Bean would send this to me without the understanding that I might play it on the show. But I'm not going to tell you anything other than Bean sent me this and he says, here's a clip that I'm going to play on the podcast. So this is going to Be on Beans podcast. I hope this is okay that I'm sharing it.
Luke Burbank
Cup of tea in a chat.
Andrew Walsh
Cup of tea in a chat. I hope I'm not scooping him here with his kindness of sending me this, but I could not believe that this is the tape he sent me. He said, here's a good example of how. How good of a storyteller Bob Rivers was. This is just 90 seconds long. I think this is from a conversation. From cup of Tea in a Chat. You can hear Bean in here for a second. But this is Bob Rivers telling a story, and this happens to be the story that he's telling.
C
Colton Harris Moore was a kid who lived on Camano Island.
Luke Burbank
I didn't hallucinate this upbringing.
C
An absent father. You know, it was alcoholism involved. And he became a juvenile delinquent. He and a friend of his would basically break into any place, including vacation homes, which there are a lot of, in that Camino would be San Juan island area. And he had a lifelong dream of flying an airplane. He'd been taken up in a plane by, I think, his mom's boyfriend at some point, and he decided, I want to learn to fly. So Colton Harris Moore, the delinquent, started learning how to fly on Flight Simulator, and he lived in the woods on Orcas island, where he would routinely break into houses and make a pizza and have some popcorn. At some point, it appears he was camped out looking at my airplane hangar and figured out how to get into the hangar and started preparing to take my plane for a joyride. No, this is a guy with no flight lessons.
Luke Burbank
Yeah. Never took a lesson, taught himself how to fly.
C
He was 17 years old. Oh. And when he would go around the island, breaking into places, he was young and hip enough to know that he wanted to be a social media star. So he would do everything barefoot and leave barefoot tracks. And they nicknamed him the Barefoot Bandit.
Andrew Walsh
So I apologize to Bean profusely if I just played a piece of tape that he sent me that he was saving for his show. But I could not believe that you ended yesterday's show by saying, I think there was some connection between Bob Rivers and the Barefoot Bandit. And that was what we were talking about. And then literally, 45 minutes later, beans just sends me this. Out of thousands upon thousands of hours of tape of Bob Rivers talking, that that is the story that.
Luke Burbank
That he also thought, I'm subscribing to the TV channel News. That's how psyched I am this morning over this development. I. Yeah. By the way, everyone go subscribe And Patreon to cup of tea in a chat. That's a great show. And that. That way we can make up for stealing beans tape. But I'm very. I'm very heartened and you know, this feeling like when you're kind of. Because, you know, we. The news of Bob Rivers passing was sort of at the end of yesterday's show and. And I hadn't spent a lot of time kind of considering what I wanted to say about him. And, you know, I'd met him maybe five or ten times and I was just found him to be just an incredibly thoughtful for somebody who's, you know, who would have been described as a shock jock in some, you know, in a. Like a very lazy way. Like, you know, he had probably the biggest morning show in Seattle for, you know, a couple decades. And he was on different stations, but I guess very successful. Even when he moved, which for some reason that stuck out. I was reading the obit in the Seattle Times. Because sometimes what happens in radio is, you know, you'll have some success, but then you'll change stations or something. And then it's almost like every new station you go to, it's a little less good. Maybe there the budget's a little smaller or the station is, you know, it's just changed formats and so there's not quite the listenership, etc. But sounds like everywhere Bob went, he was a. He was a huge success. But anyway, yesterday, which. Which I find impressive as a person who's been mostly not a success everywhere I've gone other than this. But all that is to say I was, you know, kind of reaching around in the back of my brain for things I remember about Bob yesterday. And so then to just like throw this Hail Mary of this Colton Harrismore thing and then to have it validated, that's very like rest in power Bob Rivers. But also, thank you for giving me this great gift of being right about something.
Andrew Walsh
It sounds like his plane wasn't. I mean, I only know.
Luke Burbank
Yeah, maybe his plane wasn't stolen.
Andrew Walsh
Maybe he just prepared to steal it before. Maybe Colton Harris Moore got arrested.
Luke Burbank
But which would also explain why it hadn't made it. Because I think I said yesterday and this would have been where I was incorrect. Something about like, it wasn't reported in the news. Like if Bob Rivers airplane would have been. I think I said that Colton Harris more crashed it. If he would have legit flown it and crashed it and it was. See famous Seattle person Bob Rivers is playing. I think that would have been a Pretty big news.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
Probably didn't get to that point, but just the fact that there was at least a little bit of a connection. I am. I'm feeling very, very good this morning.
Andrew Walsh
Now, I want to go back to a conversation we were having a moment ago about the TBT newsletter because I do think there's still one big question remaining, which is what you going to do now, Burbank? Are you going to. Because we cannot resign you up for the.
Luke Burbank
Already signed back.
Andrew Walsh
You signed back up so you will get this week's newsletter. So I gotta make it.
Luke Burbank
I marked it as junk, though. I signed up, but marked it as junk.
Andrew Walsh
That's smart. That's good. You signed up, but muted me. No, that's good. So, okay. If you're gonna be putting eyes on that, maybe I'll try to. Try to make it good for a change.
Luke Burbank
I started muting people on Blue Sky. Now not even people I know, just like. I don't know. There's a. Why, why, why, why? Why am I going here? Let's talk about Big Fruit.
Andrew Walsh
You want to. Is that get out of jail? I mean, I can talk about Big Fruit if you want.
Luke Burbank
Let's actually keep that in our back pocket just for the next few months in a tight spot. Like, it's like our. It's like our Philly. Our Philly special or like, you know, which was that play that the Eagles ran in the previous super bowl. They won where Nick Foles caught the touchdown pass. It was like a. On a two point conversion. And they just been like saving this play forever. And they saw the right, the right circumstances going into the half.
Andrew Walsh
Like Ross Reynolds. Is bowling a sport even.
Luke Burbank
Even better, even better example because this is radio. I guess I just. There's a. It. There's a person on Blue sky who I've never met and you've never met. And they're not, they're. They're. They have good takes. This is the thing. They're just like a person who is a. I think a writer of some kind. But. And they're like, they're like there's nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with what they're doing. But for some reason it's just like. There's a certain kind of energy and tone to their posts. Like they're like the kind of person who they. It feels to me. I'll just say it. Who cares? It's this guy named John Scalzi. It's a writer named John Scalzi.
Andrew Walsh
We're so close to saying John Sklarov. I was like, holy shit.
Luke Burbank
That would be. That would be a real TBT mystery. No, there's a. This is a writer who I bet you like, half of our listeners follow because he has good takes. He's a good. Right. He's a good writer. But it's like, there's just something about his, like, online personality that, like, is 5% grading to me. It's the kind of thing where he's just like, I'm gonna be like, I'll be out of town next week, so it'll be limited posts. And it's like, I hate when people do that. It's like, oh, will we survive without your posts?
Andrew Walsh
I know you're talking.
Luke Burbank
And then it's just like. It's just like, you know, and then it's just like. There's just. It's. It's like, to me, it's like political takes that we all agree on, generally speaking, which is kind of like, you know, like, Trump is doing bad things to America. And then just like, here's. Look, look who greeted me at the door. My cat. Side note, if you look at my social media when I'm living with my cat, it's 90 cat content. So I'm not. I can't get down on that. It's just like. But also, like, I. I don't. I think I must have started accidentally following him as a pack or something, but then he's got, like, hundreds of thousands of followers. I can't. So if I unfollow him or whatever, I don't think he would even care. But I just muted him. And it was the weirdest thing because the guy has done nothing to me. He has good takes. He's a force for good in the world. There's just something about his energy on there that just, like, is 5%. Like, oh, okay, calm down, or whatever. I don't know. It just, like, gets on my nerves. And I was just, like, mute.
Andrew Walsh
I've seen this profile pic before with him and his cat, so I'm like, yeah, this is. This has entered my discourse as well. I will say this about Blue sky, and this is not a complaint, by the way. I mean, I think it's there to do. I think it's doing what it's there to do. But we're not living in a joyful time in America for most of us or the people that share my worldview. And because of that, people are going to Blue sky, which is a much better alternative to the old Twitter. And I'm glad there's a Place where people can vent their feelings and talk about the terrible headlines that we're seeing. It's doing what it's supposed to do. But it's really given me very little reason to go to Blue sky anymore, because it's only going to ruin my mood. I've been trying to. Like, yesterday, I think I retweeted a couple, like, literally, like a couple of pieces of art or something. Just re. I said retweeted, reposted. Not my stuff, but just a little bit, like, in the back of my head thinking, like, maybe a timeline cleanse. A little bit, like, just something that sparks a tiny bit of joy. And again, I'm not saying it's wrong. I think I used to, on Twitter feel more like, why? Why do we have this thing where people who share my beliefs and worldview, why are we obsessed with just finding the worst of the worst takes and then retweeting them and then getting mad about them? And I do think that that's a kind of a problem that people fall into, but right now, I don't think it's, like, looking for. It doesn't sound. It's not like, oh, we need to, like, scour the Earth and find the most outrageous things and then. And then, you know, create rage out of it. Like, it's all. Everything that's happening is just unbelievably upsetting and people are reacting to it. But it really has made Blue sky now a place that's like, I'm. I. I'm not saying that I'm avoiding it, but I'm finding myself, like, literally bracing while the page loads. I'm like. I kind of, like, I have this question of, like, whoa, what am I. What am I hoping to see here? Whereas, like, Instagram used to be a lot of that, I think much worse at, like, kind of people either talking down to me, you know, me, not me specifically, but that. That tone of somebody who's like, kind of. Let me tell you how it is. Or people having political opinions that I agree with, but I'm just like, you're not bringing anything new to the conversation, but at least it was mixed in with some. Some beauty of photos. And seeing. We're talking about the Teal House on the Hill account yesterday. Listen, Audrey and Rye.
Luke Burbank
And, you know, I've also muted them.
Andrew Walsh
No, you got to. You got. I unsubscribe. No, no, everybody check it out. But no, you know what I mean? Like, there were. There were also people living their lives and posting beautiful things or interesting things. And like now Blue sky is like nothing at least. And you know, what I follow is just all. Just anger making and I wait for it to load and I'm like, oh God, what am I doing? It's like I just feel it, my gut clenching.
Luke Burbank
Yeah. You know, I don't know what exactly the sweet spot is for me in terms of. Because here's the other thing. I'm. There's no. I'm not seeing anybody on Blue Sky. This is probably by design. I'm not seeing anybody. I'm not seeing like, let's just say Tucker Carlson joined Blue Sky. I'm not seeing Tucker Carlson, thankfully. Like, I. There's. There's almost. There's almost not enough dynamism on there for me, which is kind of like the whole thing with Stupid Ass Twitter was like. And you know, it was like, it was kind of. It was a combination of things. And because Blue sky is. Most of us who have, you know, left Twitter, it now it, generally speaking is people of a certain mindset wringing our hands about what the bad people are doing over on either Twitter or in Washington or whatever. And it's weird because it's like I don't want to be. I'm not trying to get on there and like mix it up with the, with, you know, Stephen Miller or some shit, but also a bunch of us just kind of pearl clutching again, reasonably so. And maybe that's why this poor John Scalzi guy caught like a. Caught astray from me in that moment.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
Just because it's like, I don't know, it's like. It's like I don't want it to be a place where I'm. What I'm also following like a bunch of like weird accounts on purpose, like old friend 99 and stuff.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
Because I think what I also.
Andrew Walsh
Slaps. Yeah. Yeah.
Luke Burbank
Because I kind of miss. I think. I mean, there was two things. Well, there's three things about Twitter that were. That were important to me. One was obviously my desire to be relevant on that platform. I. E. Put things out there that then other people liked, therefore I would have value. That was the number one thing. And when I had one of those kind of take off, it was like a real. It was a real high for me. A high that was often helped along by the high of a massive amount of alcohol I'd been drinking and therefore decided to tweet. That was thing number one. Thing number two was it was a good place to get information. It was often like the first place shit would show up.
Andrew Walsh
Yes, definitely. Or if you were wondering, like, sometimes you'd be seeking out like, is from micro of, like, is this website down? Or you hear, did something just happen in the university district? You could just like, use Twitter as a search or.
Luke Burbank
Are people as mad at Jorge Polanco as I am?
Andrew Walsh
Right, yes. Honestly.
Luke Burbank
I mean, honestly.
Andrew Walsh
Yes. Yes. That's a huge thing for me. When I'm screaming, yeah, like, are other people is mad at this? And just seeing other people venting about unimportant things like sports sometimes, it just is relieving.
Luke Burbank
Yes, I liked all of that. And then I also liked the takes, like, because it was. There was a. There was a lot of things on there, and one of the things was the takes. So that was maybe a 30 of it. In other words, seeing people who I generally agree with politically kind of like taking down some, like, basically disassembling someone else's bad tweet or saying, you know, Trump is saying this, but really, this is what's happening. Blue sky. For me, the challenge right now is it's just all that. It's not. There's not very much humor. It's not a place to get breaking news. I still go on there every single day, although I don't post that much. And by the way, we have a TBTL account. Long live Blue Sky. At least in its, you know, in its current form. Like, I would really want it to be around. I hope it just keeps evolving, I guess, because, like. Yeah, and I think that's probably why I had that weird reaction to this, like, totally. You know, this person who didn't do anything at all to me other than agree with me politically and be way more popular than me on Blue sky, that was this person's, too. And letting everyone know he was going to be out of office, I will say, yeah.
Andrew Walsh
And, you know, this is somebody who's a real person who. I mean, again, I. I doubt this person would ever hear this. I don't want to be cruel, but, man. Yeah, And I just looked. He's got almost 300,000 followers, right? Like, and some. Some very famous people that I follow follow him. But, like, posting an out of office for, like, Blue sky really does seem a little bit like, yeah, you have. You do think your impact on my life is maybe a little bit bigger than it is. That that makes me cringe a little bit.
Luke Burbank
But again, you know, if. If I were to. If everyone, if anyone wants to come at me, feel free to. It only makes me stronger. And two, if you were to Go and analyze any of my social media presence. You would say this is a worse version. This is a less compelling version of what the guy who I'm slightly negging is doing. You know what I mean? Whether it's cat content or pictures of the sunset. Another thing I've done a lot. It's like all I'm doing is a less successful version. And maybe that's why it's. That's why it got under my. Slightly under my craw for a minute the other day.
Andrew Walsh
I do want to reiterate what you said. The TBTL is on Blue sky now. And I will say this like, blue sky, even though I just said all of this about politics. Well, first of all, tbtl. We're. I'm not using the. We're not using the TBTL account to weigh in on the culture itself.
Luke Burbank
I've recently got the password and it's about to get spicy.
Andrew Walsh
We are going to rescind that. How do you change. Hold on, I'm looking at how do you change the password on Blue Sky? Too late.
Luke Burbank
I've locked you out.
Andrew Walsh
It is fun. I'm posting the show there daily. John is posting videos on Blue Sky.
Luke Burbank
It is.
Andrew Walsh
It is a fun platform. And I will just say this not to be like, oh, I was here first, but I was here first. No, I mean, the difference between blue sky on March 12, 2025 and March 12, 2024 is amazing, Luke, Because I remember watching baseball last season and just being like, the reason why, like, I follow some people that I probably wouldn't have followed on Twitter. And I have people who follow me who wouldn't know about me other only because we were there so early just begging anybody to create a conversation about the Mariners. Like, it was so nascent that you would just type in hashtag Mariners and there would literally only be in the entire Blue sky averse that I had access to three tweets maybe complaining about something throughout the game. Like, maybe three tweets per game. I keep calling them tweets. I'm sorry. Posts. But anyway, just knowing that, like, now with, you know, unfortunately, it's terrible things that have led the world to Blue Sky. But at least there are like, really, there's a mass of people there now. And this will be the first baseball season where I can just be mad at Jorge Polanco and type in his name and see a bunch of other people who are mad as well.
Luke Burbank
And that could really change your relationship. That could really change your relationship with the platform. Right.
Andrew Walsh
Certainly.
Luke Burbank
I forgot that I wrote this hilarious joke into the show sheet, and then I forgot to. I was going to blame my Audi on whoever unsubscribed me from the TBT newsletter. That was a pretty. Pretty solid spoof.
Andrew Walsh
Well, since you brought that up.
Luke Burbank
You either the topic of severance or me.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, right. No, I'm not doing it now. I'm going to do it later. Okay. Let me tell you, not big fruit. Here's what we're doing. Here's what we're gonna do.
Luke Burbank
We do have to thank some dazzlings.
Andrew Walsh
We're gonna thank some dazzling donors. So here's what we're gonna do. And I'm telling you what we're gonna do.
Luke Burbank
And I'm listening.
Andrew Walsh
But I'll give you a little bit of background here because you might have saw a little whiff of this on a text chain between you, me, and Sklarov. I received a voicemail yesterday that really set from a very kind, nice person, but it, like, set me off because I've been getting some voicemails like this, and I had a whole rant. Like, I was. It's not about this particular listener, but I had a whole rant ready to go for the top of the show. It was one of those things. This is very rare for me to do show prep, but I was walking around and I was like, ready? I'm like, I'm gonna tell Luke I'm coming in hot today. And I was going to give some opinions on some things and just, like, try to clarify some things once and for all about me and that TV show severance. I'm not going to do that right now. And I didn't start the show with it. Instead, I gave you an opportunity to talk about Big Fruit. That was my way of not talking about the thing I really want to talk about. Yeah. Yeah. What we're going to do is, since it's somewhat TBTL feedback related, the final segment of today's show, when everybody stops listening, I am going to give you a shorter, slightly softer, slightly more rounded around the edges version of the rant that I was prepping in my head yesterday. You ready for that?
Luke Burbank
I am so ready for it.
Andrew Walsh
Get ready.
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.
Andrew Walsh
Get set now.
Luke Burbank
Ready, Ready, Go, everybody. Razzle dazzle. All right, let's. Let's thank those dazzling donors. These folks are donating a dazzling amount of dough. I was grabbing some coffee yesterday with this Pal of mine, Marshall Hershkovitz, said movie producer and television producer. I met him, I guess, a couple years ago. I was actually doing a profile of his production partner, this guy named Ed Zwick. And these guys made like, the Last Samurai and, you know, Glory and like a bunch of movies that were pretty. The Legends of the Fall. But he lives up here and we get coffee. It's actually very fun. I don't have a lot and he's, you know, he's my dad's age. I have a lot of, like, you know, I don't have a lot of elders who I just like, get coffee with and chop it up. It's also funny because he's like a very normal, down to earth guy, but then he just casually is like, oh, what's the next couple weeks look like? And he's like, well, we have to go to London because we're pitching Tom Cruise on this new movie. It's like, wow. All right. Well, I'm. It's also going great for me. I'm doing this podcast. No, but he was like, how's the podcast? I was like, it's incredible that it's still happening. And he was like, that is like the coolest thing. Like, he was. This is a guy who has been involved in some of the highest echelons of entertainment and is impressed that TBTL has been around for 16 years. Like, kind of can't believe it. And it's because of folks like Jill Jarris in your old stomps. That's Rockwood, Ohio.
Andrew Walsh
That's right. I heard Lakewood being discussed on a podcast. Oh, you know why? Oh, hey, heads up, Jill. If you are a fan of Paul F. Tompkins, he's taking his. He's taking his tour to Lakewood. I remember him saying specifically that he's going to Lakewood, Ohio. Not Cleveland, Ohio, but Lakewood, Ohio, which is of course a butts Cleveland. And so, Jill, you can check it. It's called Tour Topia or something like that. It's a place.
Luke Burbank
Oh, is it Varietopia?
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, but he's calling it Tour Topia. Okay.
Luke Burbank
Is it his variety show?
Andrew Walsh
Yes, that's exactly right. Yeah.
Luke Burbank
Oh, yeah.
Andrew Walsh
Anyway, there you go. Also, I just want to mention to your friend who is in movies, Luke, I don't know if he's interested enough to actually listen to this podcast. If he is listening to this podcast, I will just say, if anybody is looking for somebody to play Tom Cruise in a movie, I would be willing to play Tom Cruise in a movie.
Luke Burbank
Let Me pass that. Let me pass this on too, by the way, because he. I was like, so what is the deal with Tom Cruise? Because they've done. They've. He and his Ed Zwick have done two movies with Tom Cruise. And I was like, what is that guy's deal? And he goes, he's the nicest person on the movie set that you will ever meet.
Andrew Walsh
That does not shock me.
Luke Burbank
That shocks. When he hit. When he said that, that shocked me. Because, you know, I be. I don't know if it's the Scientology or the like. Or the. Just kind of like being the most.
Andrew Walsh
Famous man in the world, as you.
Luke Burbank
Like to say, does his own stunts, does his own acting, does it. So, like, there's an energy about him that seems really intense. And, like, I could just. And also, I think when you get to that level of fame, what he's. Here's. Here's what Marshall said to me. He was like, we were filming in New Zealand. And he goes, we, like, land. This is. I think they were filming the Last Samurai in New Zealand. And he said, and there's a story in the paper about how there has been something distributed on the film set that said no one's allowed to make eye contact with Tom Cruise. And he goes, which was not the case. Had never been the case. He goes, and there's literally no one who's nicer, like the crew, like the gaffers, Like, Tom Cruise is walking around making eye contact, eye contact, shaking hands. He's like. He's the sweetest dude on the film set. And Marshall said, that's why I never believe those stories about no eye contact. Because I've been. I've been mad at Steve Harvey for years over that. Because I had read one of those stories.
Andrew Walsh
Luke. Have been.
Luke Burbank
I, Luke Burbank, do solemnly swear to have been mad at Steve Harvey over a similar story. And I started to wonder, is that just one of those weird things where when you get to a level of fame where it seems like you might have become, like, kind of a bad person, it's a very natural thing to assume that you don't want eye contact? Because what Marshall was saying was, like, I don't believe any of those stories about anyone. Because I was, like, with the person who. One of those stories was written about, and it was very clearly not the case. But I don't know why, like, that. The idea that Tom Cruise is, in this one guy's experience, a nice person, I don't know why that made me really happy yesterday. Maybe I Just need anything to hold on.
Andrew Walsh
Honestly, I think because of, of the things that I would make fun of Tom Cruise about, it's not him being a jerk, you know, it's about him being kind of cringe. Like whatever he did with the, in the whole stunts thing and like him at the Olympics, like, I just thought that was also corny cring.
Luke Burbank
Driving a motorcycle off of a jump into a gorge and then skydiving down is cringe. I mean, the tension around it is a little cringe. I can say that what's kept me from doing that is not because it's cringe, it's because I would shit my pants.
Andrew Walsh
It's just like so. I just think it's so cheesy and look at me, Louis, as they say on the old Levitard show. But you know, some people really enjoy it. So I'm not trying to steal joy if you do like Tom Cruise. But the things that I personally make fun of him about, I don't think it's ever been like, oh, but he's also a jerk. I think. I think he just takes his work really seriously. And that video that went around, you got to be careful with these things. But it seemed real of him like kind of dressing down some folks during the pandemic. During the pandemic, but saying people are relying on us to make this movie to come out. We're trying, I'm legit trying to save the theaters here. That was him being a little bit terse, but I think really heartfelt and it actually coming from a good place. And I just think that he takes his craft really. Whether or not it's all for me, that's not relevant. I just think he takes it really seriously. And I'm glad to hear, and I'm not super shocked to hear that also he's a guy who can walk around with confidence and not like if Steve, I believe Steve Harvey is a jerk way before Tom Cruise. Because there's, I think, you know, there's a level of fame where it's not extreme fame. And it's almost like you can be like, almost like the pettiness of mid level fame, if that makes sense.
Luke Burbank
I will say that I haven't met many people who are at the level of Tom Cruise, but I will, I will, I will confirm, I will endorse your theory, which is that the people that I've had the most trouble with have not been the most female, most famous people that I've been interviewing or booking for an interview or whatever. It's like the further down the line you get, the more sort of fame adjacent a person is, the higher the likelihood in my experience, that they might be kind of annoying or have some weird demands or whatever and insecurities.
Andrew Walsh
Okay.
Luke Burbank
All that is to say, Jill, thank you for helping me impress my movie producer friend with this podcast existing because of your donation, Jill says. I just want to say thank you to my co bros Luke and Andrew, who entertain me with life's little moments. The daily reminder of no mountain too tall has seeped into my brain and that mantra has helped me out in more ways than I realize. I appreciate all the hard work you put into the show to share your lives every day. It makes my world a little less lonely. Thanks, Jill. We're, you know, we're still trying to cure global loneliness. I don't know. I haven't looked at the downloads lately. I don't know what direction we're going in with that, but we're trying over here.
Andrew Walsh
Let me just say that our direction has been consistent since I joined you of the show and I'll let you. I'll let you interpret that however you'd like.
Luke Burbank
It's been described as flat people. The people at Libsyn have described it. For my plug, I wanted to remind everyone that it's a year or less until the end the next Olympics and para Olympics, The Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games, will be spread across northern Italy. And if the Italian organizing committee doesn't get its act together, also Lake Placid, New York. I don't think that's ever happened. Like, so it sounds like the Winter Olympics might happen in two different, not just countries, but two different continents.
Andrew Walsh
That seems like it would be difficult.
Luke Burbank
It would be. It would seem to be challenging. Well, Lake Placid, of course, has like all of the. I think that's one of the big Olympic winter sports training centers. At least I know they have like very involved like bobsled tracks and luge shoots and things like that. So I guess that kind of makes sense. They're going to be fantastic. So if you get a case of Olympic or Paralympic fever and binge on watching niche sports, join me at my podcast, Keep the Flame Alive. We have weekly episodes about all things related to the Games right now and we'll be on daily during the Games. It's so much fun. Keep the flame alive on your podcatcher. Or here's the website, flamelivepod.com so flame. We know how to spell that. And then livepod.com that is very cool. I remember this coming up in a previous message from Jill and thinking, I gotta go check that out. And I gotta go check that out. Like, I love the idea too that they're gonna be doing this every day during the Olympics. That's the. That's like, I have no personally, no particular. Like, I wouldn't say I don't have a huge desire to cover the Olympics as a broadcaster, nor is anyone asking me to. But what I actually love about watching the Olympics is because it's like two weeks, it's almost. It's like a two week plot line. And like, I do think it'd be fun to be one of those hosts at the Olympic Village. And that's like in. But in the studio. And you're just like, like the narrative of like these different. And then like, oh, this person's like winning a bunch of golds and no one expected it and then this person got hurt, but they're coming back. And like, it. It sort of becomes like the thing that I like about live broadcasting is. Is almost the plot lines that kind of develop within. I don't know if that makes any sense.
Andrew Walsh
Like, I just.
Luke Burbank
Yeah, I like the energy around. I like a very tired Mike Tirico just like being like he's an hour 12 of covering bobsledding or something. But he's at the. But he's back at the home. You know what it reminds me of in a way? A public radio pledge drive.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. Just like endurance broadcast endurance.
Luke Burbank
And like, and like you're going out to the sites and everyone's doing their thing and then it's like coming back. They're coming back to you. Tariko. And then it's like, okay. And now you're like, you're kind of. Or like, you know, for years also. I think it's because for years it was Bob Costas.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
And I'm a. I'm a Costas guy. Did he do something? I felt like there was not bad, but like, I felt like, I mean, there was something that popped up on the Internet, I don't know, some months ago where it was like, Bob Costa shouldn't be covering baseball. Not because he pulled the Tom Brennaman, but because he like, I don't know if he was like getting the calls wrong or something. And then he like announced he's not going to do baseball anymore. Do you remember this?
Andrew Walsh
That sort of rings bell. I remember him getting pink eye, but that was like 10 years ago. Right.
Luke Burbank
And that was also relatable as a person who's dealt with various embarrassing eye situations while on camera.
Andrew Walsh
Didn't that happen during the Olympics? I think too high profile. And then. And he is no longer broadcasting for the Olympics. That's been a while. Right. And now he's. And you're saying I'm getting all the stories confused. So I'm sorry, you asked me a question. I should have just.
Luke Burbank
I wanted to know maybe if maybe LeBatard had. If maybe it come up on the. The Levitard show or something. Because there was. I thought there was an announcement that Bob Costas made Costas retires as longtime MLB play by play voice. But what was weird about it was I. And again, this could have just been like people whose team lost in a baseball game and they were just mad because that's a big thing. And I've been part of that where like your team loses and you think the announcers had it out for your team. So that could have been what I was seeing. Yeah. I mean, somebody just saying like, Bob Costa shouldn't be calling baseball. But I didn't know if he had like, had some major gaffe or something.
Andrew Walsh
Nothing that I have caught. I remember hearing him on LeBatard. It was like, oh, God. It was right before the election. But I actually listened to it on election day. I remember as I was walking to mail my ballot. It's funny how, like, I just. That feels like such an iconic walk to me now because it's like the world was going to change very quickly after that.
Luke Burbank
Yep.
Andrew Walsh
And I was just, I'd never.
Luke Burbank
And this is when I was walking for my ballad. I was hearing Battle Without Honor or Dignity from the Kill Bill soundtrack.
Andrew Walsh
Is that the Wizard? But I just remember I had. I don't think I'd heard him talk politics before. And I didn't agree with everything that he said, but he was really. He really portrayed Harris as being a very. He was. He did not think she was a good candidate at all. Which I, at the time, I was like, really? I thought she was a fine candidate. But clearly I'm not in many ways with white, with. With severance and other things. I'm not in step with America on this, apparently.
Luke Burbank
But was it Bob Costas who emailed you and had you all riled up this point? It was.
Andrew Walsh
But Bob Costas, who. He was just like, like, you want to talk? We're talking about Bob Rivers just being the consummate broadcaster. I mean, just the ease with which this man can communicate, apparently on any topic, is just astounding. There was just I remember listening to it and being like, okay, I don't agree with that. Or, you know, I do agree with this, or whatever, but, like, he just. He was just so smooth. He. I mean, I. I'm embarrassed about how much I say or repeat myself. I just don't know how you get to that level of just flawless communication. And apparently he can do that in probably any topic.
Luke Burbank
Yes, that's my sense with him. And also, he was just the. Again, the soundtrack of my kind of sports life as a kid in a lot of ways. You know, any big national sporting event. It felt to me like Bob Costas was calling it, and he was just so. I feel like we're eulogizing him here, and we lost. We've already lost one Bob this week. Let's not.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, exactly.
Luke Burbank
Let's not lose a Bob Costas. But let's thank Jill. Jill, thank you for your support, everyone. Go check out flamelivepod.com for Jill's Olympics coverage. Maestro.
Andrew Walsh
Oh, sorry.
Luke Burbank
Now. Ready? Ready. You know what? That was like, You're Cal Raleigh and I'm Logan Gilbert, and you threw the ball back to me before I was ready, and I had to do that. Have you ever seen when a pitcher, the catcher throws the ball back, but the pitcher isn't ready for it, and they do that?
Andrew Walsh
I don't think I have. Did that come up recently?
Luke Burbank
No, it's just a thing.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. No, I don't think. I don't know if I've ever seen that. I'll keep an eye out for it.
Luke Burbank
It's funny because it's like, you could be the coolest person in the world, but if a baseball is being thrown at you and you're not ready for it, you just become very uncool very quickly.
Andrew Walsh
Well, I know that other people have said this as well, but, like, the thing about me in sports is I am scared of the ball. Like, growing up, people be like, oh, don't be scared of the ball. But at a certain point, you're like, no, I am a kind of person who is scared of balls being thrown at me, even if I'm supposed to catch them. So that is why I will never be good at sports, even though I still have many years ahead of me.
Luke Burbank
But you're good at darts.
Andrew Walsh
Nobody throws the darts at me. That's true.
Luke Burbank
That's true. It's not a sport where you throw the thing to another person.
Andrew Walsh
But the fact that you didn't know that makes me never want to play darts with you.
Luke Burbank
Because much, much to Learn.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
Hey, thanks, Amy Shepherd.
Andrew Walsh
Hey, Amy.
Luke Burbank
Who is our second dazzling donor today? Amy says in the pronunciation sort of part of the. Of the. The form, I actually want you to try to mispronounce Amy. Y'all have skills. You can do it.
Andrew Walsh
Do we think Ami?
Luke Burbank
Let's see. Ah, me.
Andrew Walsh
Sorry I stepped on your joke. I didn't know you had audio already.
Luke Burbank
I actually didn't. I was fumbling around. Yeah. Ami would be the. The most obvious path to mispronouncing Amy's in Memphis, Tennessee. Sometime in the next year. It will be 11 years since I heard my first TBTL, which was of Luke driving around while talking to Andrew.
Andrew Walsh
I wonder what show. We used to do that more often.
Luke Burbank
A lot.
Andrew Walsh
I know you know that we always talk about the Arby's one where you and I drove to Arby's, but that was a secret show for, like, donors way back in the day, so that wouldn't have been a listener's first experience listening to tbtl. So it might.
Luke Burbank
You know, it comes to mind.
Andrew Walsh
Huh.
Luke Burbank
When we. When I talk. When we think about that RB secret show, us just recording Cisco.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
Off of the car. Like, half of that show was actually Cisco being broadcast on Cairo.
Andrew Walsh
Me just aiming, literally, this microphone, this shotgun microphone. I think it was your car. Right. Just at the speaker.
Luke Burbank
We should. We should, like. We should release the tapes on those, since we probably did it.
Andrew Walsh
I think they're in the feed now. Let me actually see if I can find that while pretty funny. Thank Amy.
Luke Burbank
So, yeah, Amy, we're not sure what we did that more in the. In the olden days, but maybe we'll do it again. It made me very nervous, but I was stuck in the back of the furrier shop with too many TBTLs downloaded preemptively and a pile of linings to sew. A furrier is a person who makes, like, fur coats and things.
Andrew Walsh
That's what I thought.
Luke Burbank
Or is. Is furrier. Is that actually. I don't know, is that something. Is that. Is that like. What do they call that? Taxidermy? Furrier.
Andrew Walsh
A person who prepares or deals in furs.
Luke Burbank
Next thing you know, well, I became a 10. So in other words, Amy is sitting there staring at a huge pile of linings to sew, and she turns on this random podcast, tbtl, and hears these two guys in a car and think, I don't like this, but I've got to focus on these linings. And then she looks up, and it's 11 years later, and she's donating money to those two dudes.
Andrew Walsh
Yes, I'm looking. We have more. Let's see. Here it is. TBT Road trip concludes. Oh, TBT road trip concludes with a very special visit to a very special fast food restaurant. We must have ended up maybe repurposing the secret shows because this lives on as episode 1607. Who wants to go to Arby's? Just so you know, it is in the archives.
Luke Burbank
Me.
Andrew Walsh
Yes.
Luke Burbank
Who wants to go to Four Seasons Orlando? Me. Five people got that joke. It's not even a joke. It's just me doing a thing that happened on the Internet. There was a period of time there was. It's some family, you know, like a mom and dad and a few kids. And for some reason I think it's. The mom is maybe holding the camera and she just says to the like little the family again. Maybe it's. I don't know. I forget who's holding the baby, but a woman says, who wants to go to the Four Seasons Orlando? And this kid who's like two just goes me. And holds their finger up in this like extremely adult way. Like extremely grown up way.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, yeah. Gesture that they've seen.
Luke Burbank
Gesture that just totally like doesn't like. You do not associate it with like a two year old baby in a diaper.
Andrew Walsh
Me.
Luke Burbank
And they raise their arm and it became a whole thing on TikTok. That was of course memeified. But anyway, that's what that was about. I like to explain old memes here on the show. It's one of Amy's favorite things. Amy says, next thing you know, I became a 10 OBVs. Years later, most of my loneliness has been cured by this community. Wow, that's a kind of second global loneliness reference today, which is really cool. Hollywoo Mike and I got to enjoy one of the best World Series ever. Shush. That Freddie Freeman walk off grand slam has really gotten me through the horrors of what is going on in the US right now. I do love Freddie Freeman, by the way. You know, he. But he. Is he a doyer? He's a doyer.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. Yeah, that was the. That was. That was game one of the series, I believe.
Luke Burbank
Wasn't that like, wasn't there something historic about that too? Like a. I remember it being like, was it that a World Series had never ended on a walk off grand slam or something?
Andrew Walsh
Well, if the series didn't end again, that was game one. Maybe. I don't know. I'm not sure.
Luke Burbank
I feel like it was hist for some reason. But Amy liked it, so that's important.
Andrew Walsh
I think it was game one. Are you backing me up on that, or am I gonna be like, you know what?
Luke Burbank
I didn't even know Freddy Freeman was a dodger. Like, I'm very. I'm. I'm very fuzzy on the details of that. Let's see. An's yarn folk in Everett keeps my hands busy with her lovely knitting kits. A true highlight to my Wednesdays is texting. Tasteful screenshots of my favorite dive bar's favorite movie to play on mute to Andrew on the text line.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, Amy.
Luke Burbank
And the content that you're here for.
Andrew Walsh
That's right. We texted, and I was texting with Amy yesterday, sharing some photos of a recent road trip to Chattanooga, where I went to chat. Did you ever go to Chattanooga Choo Choo before Luke?
Luke Burbank
I know the song. Yeah, I don't think I've been to the place.
Andrew Walsh
I think I visited as a kid, and I got one of those because as a kid, I had one of those little train engineer caps. It was like my favorite hat. And looking back, looking back at that now, that set the stage for me to wear those green, like, kind of Castro hats that I wear all the time. I had one that looked like a train conductor cap when I was a kid, and I wore it everywhere, and I'm pretty sure I got that in Chattanooga.
Luke Burbank
Wow. Chattanooga Choo Choo. Is that like a. Is that a restaurant?
Andrew Walsh
I think you can stay there. I think I'm probably getting this wrong, but I think it's like, I think you can stay in old train cars.
Luke Burbank
Oh, that sounds really.
Andrew Walsh
I don't know that I stayed there, though. I think we just ate there.
Luke Burbank
Amy continues on saying, we got a long few years ahead, so I am glad y'all recorded on that weird day somewhere in 2014. It's gotten me out of a couple of emotional jams. Anywho, power out. That's from our friend Amy in Memphis. Amy, I hope you made it through that pile of linings in the Ferrier back room.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
And we really appreciate your support. We could not do this thing without you. Thanks. Hello, and welcome to Top Story. All right, our top story involves some sky jinx, including this flight that was going from Chicago, I believe, out to somewhere in India, I think was the eventual destination. And at some point, the crew started to realize that there were problems with the toilets. I was kind of surprised that, I guess it's a really large plane. 12 toilets total. That's how many toilets this plane has. Eight of them were plugged up. And like I said, I didn't know that they even made airplanes with 12 toilets on them. But they, they apparently it became like, I don't know if unsafe is the right word, but uncomfortable to a degree that somewhere over Greenland they've been in the air for 10 hours, they turned the plane around or maybe they were in the air for 10 hours. In other words, maybe they were five hours out and then they had to come back five hours. If they were 10 hours out.
Andrew Walsh
That's a good point.
Luke Burbank
Let's see. Ultimately decided to turn around near Greenland and fly back to Chicago after spending about 10 hours. No. Yeah, I don't think Chicago over Greenland is 10 hours. I don't know why this is.
Andrew Walsh
I think, yeah, I think you're, I think you've caught something here. That's because it says after spending 10 hours in the air would imply a 20 hour round trip. And you, I'll bet you, you're right.
Luke Burbank
Yeah, I'll bet you know. David Matthews, New York Daily News. But, but let forget five hours and then you turn around, you go back fight as you've gone across America and now you're going to go back like. And the, the crazy part of this story was that the airline, this was Air India said when they finally landed, they figured out that clothing and other items were found to have been flushed down a toilet. Quote from Air India. We would like to confirm that as part of our investigation into the incident. Our teams found plastic bags, rags and clothes that have been flushed down and stuck in the plumbing. This led to the lavatories becoming unserviceable. The decision to divert was taken entirely in the interest of passengers comfort and safety. Okay, one, if I'm five hour, if I'm already over Greenland, I will, if I have to go, I'll go in a bucket. If you bring a bucket to me and you give me a little privacy, like that's how much I don't want to turn around as a passenger. That's like, I would be like, I would get up on the phone and tell everyone we're holding it, everyone we're holding it for the next. Although by the way, even from Greenland I'm sure that that's another like 10 hours to India. That is a far, far, far flight.
Andrew Walsh
And also I have a theory that it's not just the comfort of being reduced to four bathrooms, which I think if I'm doing the math right, I can't remember the actual numbers. Yeah, 12 down to 8. I think I Think this is, this is not said in the story, but I'm wondering if also just the clogging issues and then people kind of late to realizing there's a clogging issue and people using the bathroom anyway before they got to the point where they had to turn around. I'm wondering if there was an odor issue on the plane is what I'm saying here. I'm thinking that it was also the comfort in your seat. This might have been like a poop cruise in the sky. You know what I mean?
Luke Burbank
Right, right. Yes, very possible. But again, if you had four working toilets, like, I mean that's. Again, presumably this is one of those gigantic planes. There's a lot of people. It would have been a really bad scene. But this is just how much I don't like being in a plane that turns around. I don't think I've ever been in a plane that's turned around. I've been in a plane that's made an emergency landing that was a little crazy, but I don't think I've ever been in a plane. No, that plane, the emergency landing plane did actually turn around, but didn't.
Andrew Walsh
But then eventually landed before you got all the way back from your original destination or whatever.
Luke Burbank
We left from Salt Lake City. We were going to Iowa or maybe the Twin C. We're going somewhere near Iowa because my first ex was from Iowa. And the about halfway there, I just remember feeling the plane like banking and I was like, this is. We're not going in the right direction anymore. And then they came on with an announcement which was that some of the flaps weren't working on the plane.
Andrew Walsh
And the airport, we need those working.
Luke Burbank
And so. And the airport that we were supposed to land at in Iowa did not have a long enough Runway for us to safely land without because these were the flaps that stop the plane when you land or slow it down. So we were going to turn around. It was still a sketchy landing. And saw back at Salt Lake because they apparently had a longer Runway. But it did not stop us from having to go through the whole emergency like crash protocol where the flight attendant literally is yelling crash into the, into the thing while we're landing. Crash, crash, crash. And you're like doing this whole weird thing where you're like have your arms on the seat in front of you and your head is down. And the way they, they were trying to. I. They definitely did not low key it enough for my liking.
Andrew Walsh
I don't know, I mean, obvious. Did you ever get. Did you ever get back on a plane, Luke? Just kidding. I. I literally don't. I. I think it would be really, really hard for me to get on a plane again after that. Like, I'm, you know, like, I'm not somebody who. If you were sitting next to me on a plane, I don't think you'd be like, oh, this guy's a nervous flyer. But it's never really lost on me that we're hurtling through the sky. You know what I mean? It's very front of mind for me. And I told you a story that was a little. You know, I know it came from a little bit of naivete of maybe not being in the air that much, but, like, during a time when there was a lot of stories about, you know, fake doors flying off of airplanes and an emergency landing that had happened just the night before, that was pretty high profile. And I'd been reading news coverage of. Of people. Nobody was hurt, but all these people talking about how they're. It was a landing gear issue or something. It was. And then I'm on a plane the next day, and they passed the airport, then made a, you know, a circle around to make another pass at it. And I kept hearing the landing gear going up and down and up and down. Which you hear from time to time. Yeah, it's always unsettling, normal. But then knowing that we were like, we're right in the heart of all of these Boeing issues and all of these things, and then hearing something just like a grinding sound that kept. Kept going up and down and up and down. I'm like, what are they doing? And I really was thinking, is this. I didn't think I was going to die, but I remember thinking, like, I might be one of the people literally who is, like, talking into a camera, saying, yes, it was the scariest moment of my life on some sort of local TV station. Like, my brain was already there. I don't know that I could go through what you just described and then easily get back on a plane, maybe even ever again.
Luke Burbank
There was something about. I'd love to. I'd love to confirm with the listeners that I am a very brave, that I'm. I'm unflappable and brave, but I think it was.
Andrew Walsh
That was unflappable.
Luke Burbank
That was the problem, unfortunately. They. I believe they said, you know, like I said, I wish that they. I wish they would have been a little more chill about it, but they didn't seem panicked, like. And maybe I'm just like a sheeple, but and of course, this is the training, Right. For the, for the flight crew. This is kind of their whole thing. They, they really didn't, I didn't hear anything in their voice that made me think this is a, a very dangerous situation. I felt like we were going to get to the ground safely. And the biggest issue was, like, we might just go off the Runway at the end into the grass, and it would be kind of like, like, to me, it's like, get me on the ground and then we'll, you know, I, I feel pretty good after that, but. So I don't want to overstate that. Like, I, I bet you you would have been a little bit less freaked out than you think. But I do know there are a lot of people with this latest round of, you know, very, very unfortunate incident in, in D.C. with that airplane and that, that military helicopter and then like, the Toronto plane that flipped over and there was a crash in Alaska. And like, I've, I've been seeing people who are like, at the airport again. This is like on Tick Tock being like, like, great. Could we have, could we not have this happening and have, you know, Trump defunding large sections of the FAA right as I'm about to start flying.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
And it's in their head.
Andrew Walsh
And I saw a headline the other day, I think I mentioned it to you, off Air Boeing suddenly cranking out more planes, like, ahead of schedule. You're like, oh, great, now there's that. That screams safety to me, too, from a company that has been plagued with just terrible news.
Luke Burbank
Yes. Let's cut as many corners as we. Let's rush this. Yeah, let's get this, let's, let's get this thing out the doors quickly as possible. Anyway, the other Sky Jinxi story.
Andrew Walsh
Can I just, well, can I just say my one thing on that story, which is I. And I told you this before the show, but I'm quite earnest about it. Like, I don't know that any mystery has caught my attention as much as me wanting to know who put this stuff down the toilet like you described. So basically, just to be very clear, and I think you were clear, but I'm going to reiterate it. This wasn't like somebody who went around putting, like, clothes and bags and plugged up like eight different toilets around the plane. Apparently this shit was. This stuff was shoved down one toilet, but there was so much stuff that it ended up blocking up all of the plumbing and affecting eight of these, these toilets. Who did it? Like, I'm so curious, like, I am not a true crime podcast listener, but I would listen to this. Like. Like, what are the varying kinds of theories? Like, somebody who was trying to hide something because they had an accident. Just a kid who was just like, goofing around and didn't realize the impact of their actions. Somebody who's actually trying to cause trouble on the plane. I mean, there must be a million other options. But like, like, what led a human being, possibly a passenger, possibly a crew member, although that's unlikely because they would have more of an understanding of the impact of it. But like, who? Why?
Luke Burbank
Yes. I mean, and it's a lot of stuff, right?
Andrew Walsh
Yes.
Luke Burbank
It's not like someone flushed a sock down there, which of course would also be a bad idea. But like, it's like bags and clothes and various things. Like, yeah, I wonder. I mean, the bag is what's throwing me off. Because I could see someone having an accident and then wanting to kind of like, let's say, flush their, like, underwear down there, try to get rid of the evidence. That would be a. That would be a scenario that I could imagine slash have also been in if I could have flushed my. Actually, you know what, Andrew? I did throw my boxers in the toilet at the Kingdom when I was a kid and had my now world famous accident because you couldn't.
Andrew Walsh
You couldn't leave the stall with them in your hands.
Luke Burbank
I mean, I could have. If I was a better person, I would have.
Andrew Walsh
I would have. In that moment, you thought, well, I can't be seen carrying me.
Luke Burbank
Right. Except I was in there so long that by the time I left the stall, there was literally no one in the bathroom except the custodian, who then went into the stall because he was waiting. He'd cleaned every part of the bathroom except the stall that I had cloistered myself in. And then finally I open the door, I emerge a different person permanently. And then this guy could finally go over and deal with what I had left, including. And now I really regret this, really. In light of this story, including my boxers, which I just thrown into the toilet, like, I didn't know what to do. A better move would have been to, like, wrap those up in some kind of toilet paper, take them to a garbage can and throw them away. I didn't have the presence of mind for all of that. I was 20, Andrew. I didn't know what to do.
Andrew Walsh
I was 34. I don't think I.
Luke Burbank
It was last week.
Andrew Walsh
I don't think think I realized. So was the game over? I know we've Heard this story, and we've talked about this so many times. Have we? I always pictured this, like, mid game, and you just. You saunter back, but no, no. So, like, the stadium's closing. Everybody's like, where is he? As the game is already wrapped up.
Luke Burbank
This is what. This is what happened. I started to feel unwell in probably the second inning.
Andrew Walsh
Oh, okay.
Luke Burbank
And I held it for seven innings. Yeah, I held it, like, throughout the game. I was in. I was, like, in a complete. Like, I was astrally projected out of my body for most of the game because I was in so much discomfort, but I was so embarrassed. I was not with my. I was not with my. My family. I was with my friend Mike's family. Somehow that added to my embarrassment because.
Andrew Walsh
Like, the embarrassment of having to poop in a public restroom, basically.
Luke Burbank
Well, that and also the way that the Kingdome bathrooms. I were just so. They're just so kind of, like, upsetting when you're already kind of a shy kid about that stuff. Like, it's, you know, like a. A big trough you pee in where it's just like, very exposed. And then the bathroom. And then the toilets were, like, kind of prison style. They were just like stainless steel. And, like, maybe they had toilet seats on them, maybe they didn't. Who can remember? But, like. So I didn't want to engage with that at all. So I kept holding it, holding it, holding it. But in the holding of it, of course, it was just getting worse and. And worse and worse to the point where it was like, you know, I. So I was probably the ninth inning when I went in there, and there was a line that was part of the problem is I was, like, five deep from getting into the stall. There's, like, two toilets. And. And, you know, the. The King Dogs were coming back on everybody at that point. So there's a line of people to try to get into the stall. And then. So when I have this, like, I, you know, titanically, my pants, and I'm still four people from getting in the stall.
Andrew Walsh
So there were people. I know that we've talked about this so much, but I. I always kind of forget the details. So there were people standing in line, maybe even behind you. Like, somebody maybe witnessed this explosion.
Luke Burbank
A guy watched me because what happened was I was doing a. I was. I was involuntarily doing, like, a little kind of a jig.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
Like a kid does. You know what I mean? I was like. I was. I was. Because I get there now again, if I'm an adult, and I get into the situation, I just cut to the front. I'm like, emergency.
Andrew Walsh
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'll buy you all the beers later.
Luke Burbank
Like, yeah, God even knows. I mean, it would be super embarrassing, but it's like I'm cutting the front of the line. I don't know, I'm using a urinal. I mean, something. I'm doing whatever I have to do to not have happen. What happened, Daddy?
Andrew Walsh
What's that man doing to the sink? What did the sink do to that man, Daddy, that he's so mad at it.
Luke Burbank
So people have different ways of expressing themselves sexually, Tommy. Anyway, I. So. But what I did, because I was a kid and I was embarrassed about the whole thing, was I stood in the line and I was shifting back and forth, and a guy looked over at me, and I don't think in a bad natured way, like, he was my memory. He was an adult. And I think he was kind of like, kind of laughing, like, yeah, when you gotta go, you gotta go, right? Like, not trying to be. Make me feel worse. But I got embarrassed even more. And then I stopped doing my dance and I focused on, like, I'm embarrassed. This guy's observing me. I'm embarrassed. And I took my eye off the prize. The prize being clenching my sphincter. And then it just went like a little bit more. All of it? Yeah.
Andrew Walsh
Once you broke this seal, there was.
Luke Burbank
Absolutely no way that anyone standing near me did not know what had occurred. I mean, there's probably. It was probably on the floor to some degree there. I mean, some of it was contained. I get into the stall, I close door, and everybody's heard the story a million times. But all of which is to say, oh, and by the way, thankfully, how.
Andrew Walsh
Do I get re. Traumatized by this every time?
Luke Burbank
Thankfully. There was a fireworks show, an indoor fireworks show after the game. So what happened was I leave in like, let's say the eighth or ninth inning. I go into the stall, I'm in there for a long time. I'm probably in there for 45 minutes or an hour. And I'm like, just like. Like, you know, trying to deal with this whole situation ineffectively. And then, no, the. Everybody's like, the. The bathroom is empty at this point. I open the door, there's a custodian who's been waiting to deal with whatever this kid's been doing in there. And I go past him and, you know, and then I. As I'm walking out of the Bathroom. My friend Mike and his family literally emerge from the tunnel. This was the one thing that broke my way and there, because they had been watching the fireworks show. So, like, it was kind of the perfect thing because had that fireworks show not happened, they would have been, like, ready to leave 40 minutes previously. And so they came out. They're like, what happened? And again, this is. This is the beginning of my life as a sketchy person. I said, oh, so crazy. Like, I sat down to use the toilet seat and some. There was, like, shit on the toilet seat, and it got on me, and I clean it off. It's a pretty. A pretty good cover story for a kid who's just shit their pants because.
Andrew Walsh
There'S gonna be a smell on the way home.
Luke Burbank
Exactly. I was trying to account for it. Like, I was creating a plausible scenario why I smelled the way.
Andrew Walsh
God. Thank. Couple of fireworks shows that night, you might say.
Luke Burbank
The combustion became an explosion. All right, Southwest Airlines has announced that they are basically getting rid of their free checked bags, which, you know, I'm not a big Southwest head, but people who do love Southwest are really mad about this because I guess this is just the latest in, like, you know, in Iraq, they had the de bathification project. And I think these are on the same level.
Andrew Walsh
This is exactly where I thought you were going to take it.
Luke Burbank
This is like the d. Southwestification of Southwest Airlines, which people used to love because it was super cheap. They'd let you check a bag for free, and it was lord of the flies when it came to boarding the plane and where you were going to sit. You just go sit anywhere that was available. And I guess that they were bought by a hedge fund or, you know, one of those private equity firm type.
Andrew Walsh
Oh, they changed ownership group. Yeah.
Luke Burbank
I think like a year or two ago, they were acquired by. This is what I'm seeing online. You know, I could be wrong about this. The person who I said. Who I saw saying this online could have been wrong about this. But the sense was that they were. They were acquired by some sort of private equity thing or something, something about their business structure has changed in the way that always makes things worse because, you know, it's like when you've got somebody who's been owning a company for a long time or an ownership group or whatever, and they got a certain way of doing things. You know, they've got a little bit of attachment to that. And then all of a sudden, it's like, actually, we. We are going to have assigned seats, which, oddly enough, people don't like, which is weird to me because I like assigned seats. But I guess it's like. Like, probably because the ticket price has increased now because you can get your assigned seat now. You're going to pay more. They've also. They used to have a thing where if you had your Southwest miles, they never expired or your credits never expired. Like, there was. They had all these, like, kind of like things that I actually think, like, if you're. I. I'm obviously a. I'm a. I'm a very, very fragile boy now when it comes to flying. And I've got to be on my airline, Alaska Airlines, and in the seat that I want to be in, etc. I'm very envious of people who are not. Like, I'm envious of my parents in this way that they just will fly on any airline that's cheap, and they will sit anywhere on the plane, and they will just do that until the plane lands, and then they will get off the airplane where they're going. Like, there are people like that. And I'm envious because that would be a better way to be in the world. But, like, apparently the people that were had banked a bunch of, like, miles or credits or whatever their frequent flyer thing is that they never expired and now they expire. So they've just done all these little changes to things that made people love the airline. And now the last thing was free checked bags for everyone. If you are in the highest tier of Southwest loyalty program, you still get a free checked bag, but for everybody else, they got to pay whatever it costs. Now. It's amazing to me. I feel like checked bags are the gas prices or maybe they're the egg prices of the sky. Like they are. I don't know how much money they are in real dollars, but in terms of just kind of like the. The way that they're perceived, how much that impacts people's thoughts. Like, people really go hard on not paying for checked bags, you know, or.
Andrew Walsh
Like an ATM fee maybe is. Yeah, Genevieve is like, she, you know, like, she really holds the line on ATM fees. Like, I'm not gonna pay $3 for an ATM fee, but it's like, oh, but. But she has no problem just throwing 20 bucks down on some pull tabs that we know are probably not going to bring us any generational wealth. But anyway, so I'm not putting her on the hot seat there. I just mean we all have different lines in our lives. I think you and I are both. Maybe you've calmed down on this. But I know I'm very scared of anything in a hotel room that seems like if I pick up this water, will it send off an alarm?
Luke Burbank
Totally.
Andrew Walsh
Room service, $35. I remember going to hotels when I was a very young adult, but, like, just starting to get out into the world and like, maybe going job interviews or something. My dad gave me some sort of code to use if I was gonna make any phone calls from the hotel room because, like, I just remember like, feeling like, oh, if you use the hotel room phone. Oh yeah. And you accidentally call long distance, we will be put in debtor's jail. Like, we will not be able to ever walk the streets as free people again. I'm so scared of stuff like that.
Luke Burbank
Totally. I've told this story a bunch of times on the show, but when I was. My first production job ever in radio was working for this guy named Weissbach at kvi.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
And we were at this hotel. We were in Olympia covering to whatever degree we covered things. Talking about the state legislature and they have a little, you know, we had like a little. In a very, very dilapidated, almost falling over little house that was offices on the, you know, on the whatever, the grounds of the state legislature in Olympia. And I was under constant pressure to like book all of these guests. And nobody wanted to come on the show because the guy was a lunatic. And, and we were on like AM radio. But I remember being at the hotel room. I think it was called the Carriage House or something. Somehow I was working from the hotel room and I was just hammering the phones, just trying to get whoever it was, you know, at the time, like, like, and, and, and running up like a. My memory of it is it was like a four to five hundred dollar bill on the hotel phone that I think Weissbach paid. He was like, never do that again.
Andrew Walsh
Oh my God.
Luke Burbank
But he was like, I'll pay for it this time. Like, I don't know. He didn't want to get in trouble with KVI either. But like, so it actually did. It actually happened. And I think I was calling to me. And I think the crazy part is I don't even think I was calling like D.C. i think I was calling the, the legislative offices, like six blocks away.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
But because it was like. Because the call was going out of the building. I mean, these have the. They did have the weirdest rules, right? Hotel phone calls. Like, if you were, if you, if your call was like exiting the building of the hotel or moat. This was, believe me, much more of a motel.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
Than a Hotel, but that's right, say what? But I, I do remember having one, one of those incidents where I was like, oh okay, that, that is true. These, these phone calls are insanely expensive for no good reason.
Andrew Walsh
And also just remembering that near. This is less to do with hotels, but just remembering that, oh yeah, we also had like, like special cards and numbers that we would call or dial this string of seven numbers. And I'm just thinking now, and I.
Luke Burbank
Know this come up on the show.
Andrew Walsh
Before but like we did not realize, we did not realize at the time that the death throes of the landline were going to be a bunch of like weird Bill Shatner commercials that said dial like these seven numbers, then the number, then dial these seven numbers again in order to save for your friends and family plan or whatever. Like there was such bonkers shit going in, going on with like trying to save money on long distance in the very last years of landline telephone.
Luke Burbank
I am now trying to find. What was that company, Andrew?
Andrew Walsh
The William Shatner one specifically.
Luke Burbank
Well, because I totally had. That was a deep buried memory for me. But yeah, like he, he was like whatever that. And I think it kind of worked too. I believe I used it sometimes like these weird long strings of code or phone numbers you would call that would somehow get you around most of the long distance charges or it'd be a membership but then you could unlimited long distance or whatever.
Andrew Walsh
Am I wrong that he did a phone one? Because I thought getting a lot of Priceline. I know that he was the Priceline guy, but I wore before Priceline. It was more like late 90s. He was connected to like one of those phone numbers that you could save. Maybe it was. Maybe I'm conflating those two things but you know those types of numbers I was talking about, it was such a weird era.
Luke Burbank
Yeah. And it seemed like such a hack. 101022 0, right?
Andrew Walsh
Wasn't that one of them was 101022 1? Let's try that because I can't find any commercials. Sorry. This is not. Wow. How about this? How about this?
Luke Burbank
Girlfriend back home wants to talk. How about this?
Andrew Walsh
Yes.
Luke Burbank
How about this? Andrew, this is shockingly recent. In my mind it's 1991. It stars one Christopher Lloyd. Oh, as a cab driver who's going to tell these people about 101022 0? My girlfriend back home wants to talk.
Andrew Walsh
Oh, hey, call her Saturday, man. It's cheaper.
Luke Burbank
Oh, actually you can get all your calls for under a buck any day. Really? How? Dial 1010-2-20.
Andrew Walsh
You can talk up to 20 minutes.
Luke Burbank
For only 99 cents.
Andrew Walsh
99 cents? Hey, that's cheaper than your clip on nose ring.
C
What if we talk over 20 minutes?
Luke Burbank
It's just 10 cents a minute after that.
Andrew Walsh
So 1010220 is cheap every day.
Luke Burbank
Oh yeah. If I had a phone I'd use it. That's actually a pretty Good job.
Andrew Walsh
Dial 101020.
Luke Burbank
Oh my God.
Andrew Walsh
There's one. There's one with Hulk Hogan and elf. I'm not even joking. I don't know.
Luke Burbank
Can we.
Andrew Walsh
Did you want to? Okay, let's give it a shot. I'm. I haven't previewed this. It just says 10102 20. Commercial with Hulk Hogan.
Luke Burbank
Tell Sclerap we're pushing the meeting.
Andrew Walsh
What? I. Oh, I forgot. We have a meeting. What I like about this is it seems timeless. Yes, my friends call me sensitive. I guess I am a bit. I really want to call them, but I simply can't commit. T u me thinketh that stinketh. Alf, it's about 10102 20.
Luke Burbank
Well, don't forget the best part.
Andrew Walsh
99 cents for all calls up to 20 minutes.
Luke Burbank
It's cheap. Write about that.
Andrew Walsh
I want to write about no monthly commitment.
Luke Burbank
Dude, what about no signing up?
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, this is gonna be great, brother.
Luke Burbank
Got that right, sister.
Andrew Walsh
Dial 1010-220. I do love elf.
Luke Burbank
I'll see your elf commercial and raise you a Dennis Miller. Wow, they scarf down enough to choke a moose. Yeah, they're in a diner. They're in a diner.
Andrew Walsh
Okay.
Luke Burbank
Wow, they scarf down enough to choke a moose. Yeah, and tip me a lousy dollar. Thanks for nothing. Keep your hair net on. You can get a 20 minute phone call for under a buck.
Andrew Walsh
You gotta stop drinking your breakfast.
C
He's talking about 1010, 220.
Andrew Walsh
Dial is.
Luke Burbank
You can yak up to 20 minutes.
Andrew Walsh
For only 99 cents.
Luke Burbank
All day, every day. You are a flapjack flipping genius, Slappy. Say I talk over 20 minutes, big shot, huh? It's only 10 cents each extra minute. I guess the dollar does go a long way. Not a bad tip. Is it gyro or gyro?
Andrew Walsh
Is it gyro?
Luke Burbank
Is it gyro or gyro? Here's my only here's. Well, I have a few problems. My one problem with this though the primary one is the waitress who's helping Dennis Miller is not wearing a hairnet. Keep your hair net on. She is very clearly not wearing a hairnet.
Andrew Walsh
I thought you were just concerned from a food service perspective.
Luke Burbank
Well, no, because the joke is like I Kind of. I don't know why they went with keep your hair net on when.
Andrew Walsh
When she's not wearing one.
Luke Burbank
She's clearly not wearing a hair net. Wow. They scarf down enough to choke a moose. Yeah, and tip me a lousy dollar. Thanks for nothing. Keep your hair net on.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, maybe that's just a meaning sort of thing to say.
Luke Burbank
I don't see that coming from Dennis Miller. Wow, they really. 10, 10, 2, 20.
Andrew Walsh
I got a George car. I'm not gonna play, but there's a George Carlin one. Like, they got big names.
Luke Burbank
Yeah, I mean, that's. God, what a. This is why you do the show, Andrew.
Andrew Walsh
That's right.
Luke Burbank
This is why you do the show. We talk for hours and hours and hours and nothing happens. And then we are reminded of 10, 10, 2, 20. Here I go once again with the email.
Andrew Walsh
Every week. I hope that it's from a female.
Luke Burbank
Oh, man.
Andrew Walsh
It's not from a female.
Luke Burbank
All right, Andrew, I need you to keep your hair net on for this next section of the show because if I understand right, what we're gonna hear is a hopefully family friendly clap back from you. Again, back towards clarification. A clarification about something you said about severance, which somebody, a listener, one listener one time chastised you about or tried to contextualize or did something that made you feel not particularly great.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, no, what this is is more of a general reaction to me from a whole bunch of people who have sent in various kinds of communications to me reacting to our conversations about severance that I think some are inadvertently insulting. And I'm getting to a point where it's difficult for me to talk about severance because here's what we're talking about. I think it's absolutely fair to have reasonable disagreements about what you like in various types of art. And that's fine. I've gotten some emails from some people who are like, well, you know, you didn't like that one episode. But, like, honestly, it worked for me because of these reasons on, like, like on a filmmaking level. Like I was saying the two episodes ago, I wasn't a huge fan of the filmmaking. I heard from a friend who actually is a filmmaker, and she's like, I really liked that episode. She didn't say, hey, I'm. You're wrong about that. She just said, I really like that. She was like, I'm surprised.
Luke Burbank
Hold on, let me just. Let me just clarify. So today I talk about my friend who's a filmmaker, and then 30 minutes go by and you're talking about your friend that's a filmmaker.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. Well, I don't have to, like. I don't have to like, rub.
Luke Burbank
You ever get tired of trying to one up me?
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. Right. I don't have to, like, kind of like, you know, rub in people's faces.
Luke Burbank
Drop a cruise reference.
Andrew Walsh
No. This is somebody who's an editor anyway. But my point is, like, it's like, oh, I really like that one. It was the directorial debut of this woman who works on the show. And like, that's interesting to me. It's like, okay, I might go back and rewatch it and maybe with that context have different feelings, but it's still kind of like I feel like when I talk about the show, I'm talking about what appeals to me from a, like, what I like to see.
Luke Burbank
Yeah.
Andrew Walsh
From a filmmaking perspective. And you don't have to agree with that. And that's absolutely fine. The thing that I'm starting to get a little chafed by, and it's not one person, it's like a whole bunch of things I'm getting. And I don't think it's a reflection of my idiocy. It might be. I think it's more of a reflection of the tone of our talking about the show has gotten a bit negative. And so therefore people who love it feel the need to defend it. But what I'm hearing a lot of is you don't understand. Like, you don't understand and you don't get it. And I'm getting like, suggestions of like, have you tried, like, you know, watching or listening to recaps and I got a note from somebody the other day.
Luke Burbank
Or whoops, I'm sorry, I meant to.
Andrew Walsh
Say you don't get the show yesterday. And again, I don't. I didn't even listen to the whole thing. And I think I'm just in a mood, right? I'm a thing. I'm just a big raw nerve lately. And so I'm not trying, trying to attack anybody in particular, but I do, I am chafing at people saying, oh, your opinions on the show aren't valid because you don't get it. And like, I heard from somebody yesterday who was like, you should go back and rewatch season one because you're clearly not getting it. And what I would like to say is I think I'm not being clear about things. First of all, I did rewatch season one recently, so I have now watched every episode of season one at least twice. Some of them I rewatched more Than that. That season one of the TV show Severance is quite possibly my favorite single season of a TV series ever. Like, there might. I mean, I can't think of them right now. There might be some other ones that would compete. Maybe we could do a top five list at some point. But my point is I love Severance. That when I'm talking about Severance somewhat critically and talking about certain things not working for me, it's because I am holding it up to a very high standard that the show itself says yes. And I talk about the show out of love. And when people are saying in the, you know, people are saying, hey, there's all kinds of, like, Easter eggs you're not getting. You should. Somebody said you should look it up on social media. I'm on the subreddit. Sometimes I comment on the subreddit. Like, I know about all of the fan. I don't know. Hold on, let me rephrase that. I don't know about all of the fan theories. And the show is so good at putting a million little details and, like, a breadcrumbs that I'm not getting at all. And I do enjoy the discovery you brought up in our conversation yesterday that I had missed in the latest episode about a connection between the intern program that. That clearly Winterborn fellow. Yeah. A couple of different characters had attended. And, like, I love that. And so I'm not. I'm not sitting here saying, hey, listen, I know everything about. I'm catching every little detail. No, I'm not. And I enjoy conversations about, hey, did you happen to catch this connection? Or that connection? And, hey, did you know about this fan theory? And I know those conversations are going on. I do not think any opinions I have, though, generally speaking about Severance, good or bad, are tied to me not following the broad strokes of the plot. I do think that I like something that is incredibly minimalist. And because the show started that way, I understood when you have episodes that by necessity sort of have to be more maximalist. It doesn't appeal to my sense of aesthetics as much. And that's fine. And I could be. We don't have to agree on that, but I'm just kind of getting sick of people telling me, oh, no, no, you need. Like, I listen to a recap podcast every week. I watch the show, I let it sink in. I listen to a recap podcast, and usually I go back and I rewatch it. I haven't rewatched the last two episodes yet, but it's like, I don't know there's something kind of dismissive. And I know that this is just brought up because we're probably maybe being too harsh on something that people really love. And so I need to recognize that. And maybe it's not fair for me to go on this rant, but. But I'll just be honest. As a human being. I'm really sick of people saying you don't get the show, because I think I get the show.
Luke Burbank
Yeah, that's fair. I think that's totally fair. Like, I also understand how if somebody really loves something and then they think that we're kind of dunking on it, which I don't mean to be. Here's what I'll say. First of all, I totally understand what you're saying, Andrew. I think that's a legitimate point. My problem with the show. Well, that's not true. I was gonna say my problem with the show is that I'm not good at. I'm not good at piecing together these threads of plot or whatever. That is mostly on me. Maybe it's a little bit on the filmmaking, but it's probably mostly on me. So I don't think either of us are. Are trying to neg this show. I'm gonna. I will watch the whole dang thing. I will watch it all the way through. We were very, very, very on board with this show from episode, you know, the first episode ever, and have really loved the show and love talking about it. So, yeah, I can see how it'd be triggering for someone. But. But I. I hear what you're saying, Andrew, which is you're the, The. The things you're saying about the show are not coming from a place of being confused. The things I'm saying about the show are coming from a place of being confused. But not you.
Andrew Walsh
I mean. Yeah. And again, I want to. I don't want to, like, make. I don't want to. As Greg Cody might say, I don't want to take a quiz. I'm not here to take a quiz. Like, I'm sure that I. I'm not. I'm not trying to over inflate my ability to track every single thread. And I'm still dazzled by details when. When they're brought to my attention. Like, everybody's kind of freaking out because the crib that they were building two episodes ago, it looks like on the package it says Cold Harbor. If you zoom in and enhance and enhance, and people are trying to figure out does that say Cold harbor or does it say something in French? That sounds Like Cold Harbor. Like, I don't know, like, I'm along for the ride and clearly, like, and I understand when you love, when you love something, you hear people complain about it, like us with the microphones, you're going to have a reaction. And that's why I kind of feel bad about this. But I guess it's like this, Let me put it this way. This is going to break down, but let me try it. I love the Seattle Mariners. I complain about them all the time. It doesn't mean that I don't understand, like, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, I mean, actually that's a bad example because I probably don't. I don't understand as much about baseball.
Luke Burbank
But you understand when the ball goes over the wall, that's a good thing if it's your team that hit it there. Like, you understand how baseball works when you're critical of them.
Andrew Walsh
When I first started watching baseball, I really thought any hit was just, you just make contact. I didn't kind of realize that you have to, actually.
Luke Burbank
But I think you should give yourself the credit, you know?
Andrew Walsh
But, you know, so let's just say. But like, so when I'm complaining about the Mariners, I don't usually get people saying, well, you're complaining about the Mariners because you don't get it. And it's kind of like, no, I mean, I get it. I'm following the ins and outs. I'm following the ownership stuff, I'm following the player stuff, I'm following the off season stuff. I'm just not always happy with what the result I'm seeing on the screen. And sports are very different from artistic endeavors and we can disagree about the aesthetics of these things. I'm not saying I'm right and I'm not trying to convince anybody not to like the show, but I could use a little less of people telling me that I don't understand what I'm seeing.
Luke Burbank
Right. Disagreeing is one thing. And the listeners can disagree with you and say, oh man, you're so wrong about this. I think it's great. But the idea that you're misunderstanding it or you're not grasping it is what leaves you feeling a bit myth, at.
Andrew Walsh
Least for the broad strokes of the show. Again, not claiming to be an expert here. So that was that. Let me end with something much more.
Luke Burbank
Positive, which is, again, I want to be clear. If people want to hit me with that feedback, go for it, because I don't know what the hell.
Andrew Walsh
And also, you don't read the email.
Luke Burbank
So Well, I don't know what's going on with the emails or severance.
Andrew Walsh
I'll put it in the newsletter. Anyway, I'm sorry that. That was a little sharp elbowed, but I just kind of. I was definitely like. I just realized I'm getting kind of triggered on these things. I was like, I'd like to clear the air there. It's not that I don't like severance. In fact, it's because I love severance and I especially love that first season. And maybe I'm holding it to too high of a standard, but it's only because the show sets such a high standard, and I mean that as a compliment. I would also like to shout listener Catherine, who sent us a package that I opened off air yesterday. And enclosed were some. I'm going to mispronounce this. Dodecah. Dodecahedron. Is that how you say it? Those little.
Luke Burbank
I've heard it. Dodecahedron. But also that was from square one. That was from, like, Math Net when I was nine years old.
Andrew Walsh
No, I think you're right. Dodecahedron calendars that Catherine had made for you and me and John and Genevieve. So we have a few of them here, and I'll get them to you. Guys. Guys. And also just a nice little note along with some newspaper clippings from your local newspaper. So where do you remember? I don't have it in front of me right now.
Luke Burbank
Somewhere. Were they. Were they clippings about severance?
Andrew Walsh
They were not. There were clippings about local politics that actually I don't want to get into.
Luke Burbank
Because it was buried and wasn't it ad making?
Andrew Walsh
No, it was from a different part of the country. I'm sorry that I can't remember where.
Luke Burbank
No, I was joking about Burian because that was where you hosted your local political thing that left you a little.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. Unconscious, unconfident.
Luke Burbank
Well, thank you very much. Thanks for. I'll grab that from you. When I'm up in Seattle, which I'm trying to think, when's the next time I'm gonna be up there? If not sooner. We'll be there. I'll be there. April 11 because we're doing livewire at Benaroya Hall. No pressure and venue. It's a real Seattle bonanza. Rick Steves will be there. It's crazy how much people love Rick Steves. I like Rick Steves, but people are, like, freaking out that. That we're gonna have Rick Steves on there.
Andrew Walsh
And Is that why it's been Arroyo? Because you have that how did this happen? That's such a. That's a. That is an intimidating venue.
Luke Burbank
It is. It is not. It's because it was. I think it's. We could. If we could sell enough tickets, we could make more money maybe for the show, I think was the theory. But yeah, it's like. It's. It's Rick Steves, It's Kenji Lopez. Alt.
Andrew Walsh
Oh, wow.
Luke Burbank
My bestie of all. Best. It's Ann Powers. And the music is from. Wait, Ann Powers, the writer?
Andrew Walsh
The music writer, yeah.
Luke Burbank
She wrote a book about Joni Mitchell. So, yeah. And Ann did live in Seattle for a period of time and I think she's back in LA now. But it's a real, like. It's a real kind of Mount Rushmore of Seattle, people. That's April 11th. Please come see us. And that's when I'll come get the dodecahedron from you.
Andrew Walsh
Okay, that sounds good. I will vacuum before you get here. One of my favorite Genevieve stories. I don't know why this makes me laugh so much, but the last time I was at Ben Arroyo hall was probably. Probably a couple of seasons ago. I just got a wild hair and got us some tickets to some orchestral performance. And I can't remember the details of it, but I was just sort of in the mood and we did that and it was a nice thing. But Genevieve is not.
Luke Burbank
Was that. Was that at Ben.
Andrew Walsh
At Benaroya, which is why I'm thinking of it. And during intermission. And it was. It was. There was a soloist who was. I believe. I can't remember where he was in from, but he was like some world famous soloist violinist. And at intermission he did break a string at one point. It became this whole thing. He had to replace a string. And at intermission, Genevieve, who's not somebody who's way into classical music. Me neither, by the way. I don't know anything about it. I just enjoy it sometimes. And enjoy the live performances. We're sitting out or we're standing out in the lobby just by ourselves watching all the fancy people talk about music. We don't know anything about music. And we're just like sipping our ginger ales. And then Genevieve just says, yeah, he was really just sawing away up there, wasn't he? Which was one of my favorite reviews of classical music ever. I think about that all the time. It just seemed like such a Ramona Quimby moment. It was very funny.
Luke Burbank
Didn't we go see. Didn't we go see, like Bell and Sebastian there? Some band of that ilk.
Andrew Walsh
I don't think I've ever been to Benaroyo with you. It might have been some other handsome man you were with.
Luke Burbank
Yeah, I feel like we went to some kind of a thing there. Maybe it was with Toon in them. Anyway.
Andrew Walsh
That'd be cool.
Luke Burbank
All right. April 11th. Please come. It's a big place. And the Tickets are@livewireradio.org okay, thanks for listening, everybody. We are going to be right back here tomorrow. God, it's Thursday tomorrow. The heck we're back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio. In the meantime, have a great Wednesday, and please remember, no mountain too tall.
Andrew Walsh
And good luck to all.
Luke Burbank
This car was parked here last night. It was not covered in leaves. Now it is, but I'm trying to wait for most of them to fall so I don't have to come out here and rake on five different. Oh, let's hear what Cisco has to say. This is better than our show anyway. And it's gone through many winds during the past winters, you know, so.
Andrew Walsh
Good. Yeah, no, as long source roots are healthy, they're going out. It'll. It'll hold that tree up. Okay, Super, I think.
Luke Burbank
And you cut. And you cut lupins all the way down to the ground, right, Lupin? Yeah, lupins.
Andrew Walsh
You cut right down to the ground now, this time of year. And then you keep your fingers crossed and talk really nice to them because nobody knows if a lupin's gonna come back or not, you know? You know, I say this completely unironically. If you or I even had a little of Cisco Morris in us, this show would be a hundred times better. I love that man.
Luke Burbank
Every word he says is an audio drop. Yes.
Andrew Walsh
Power out.
TBTL Podcast Episode #4421: "Like The Egg Prices Of The Sky"
Release Date: March 12, 2025
Hosts: Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh
Duration: Approximately 96 minutes
The episode opens with Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh engaging in their trademark playful banter. They discuss personal anecdotes, including Luke’s recent pet loss and his love for beans, setting a light-hearted tone for the show.
Notable Quotes:
Luke introduces a peculiar issue regarding the TBTL newsletter. He discovers that he is no longer receiving the newsletter despite being a primary subscriber. The discrepancy arises because Luke had inadvertently unsubscribed, preventing his reintegration into the mailing list.
Notable Quotes:
The hosts delve into a deeper investigation of the newsletter issue, discovering that Luke had unsubscribed due to potentially explicit content Andrew had included. This leads to a broader discussion about content moderation and audience preferences.
In a significant turn, Andrew shares a voicemail from a listener named Bean, who sent a tape featuring Bob Rivers narrating a story about Colton Harris Moore, aka the "Barefoot Bandit." This revelation ties back to a conversation they had previously, highlighting the intricate connections within their listener community.
Notable Quotes:
The segment titled "Sky Jinx" covers an Air India flight that had to divert back to Chicago after eight out of twelve toilets were clogged. The investigation revealed that passengers had flushed plastic bags, rags, and clothes, causing the plumbing to fail.
Additionally, Luke recounts a personal story about experiencing an emergency landing due to malfunctioning flaps while flying from Salt Lake City to Iowa. This traumatic event underscores the unpredictability of air travel and the importance of flight crew professionalism.
Notable Quotes:
Luke and Andrew discuss their experiences on Blue Sky, a social media platform. They express frustration with the platform’s increasingly negative and political content, leading them to mute or unfollow certain accounts to maintain their mental well-being. The conversation highlights the challenges of engaging with social media amidst a polarized environment.
Notable Quotes:
The hosts take time to thank their donors, highlighting contributions from listeners like Jill and Amy. They share personal stories related to these donors, fostering a sense of community and appreciation. Luke promotes upcoming live events, including a performance at Benaroya Hall on April 11th, featuring notable guests like Rick Steves and Ann Powers.
Notable Quotes:
Luke and Andrew share humorous and relatable personal stories, ranging from childhood experiences to embarrassing moments in public restrooms. These anecdotes serve to humanize the hosts and provide entertainment beyond the main discussion topics.
Notable Quotes:
As the episode wraps up, Luke and Andrew reflect on the day's discussions, reiterate their appreciation for listeners and donors, and remind the audience of upcoming events. They maintain their signature blend of humor and sincerity, leaving listeners with a positive note.
Notable Quotes:
Community Engagement: The episode emphasizes the importance of listener interaction, showcasing how donations and listener stories enrich the podcast experience.
Content Moderation: Through the newsletter mystery, the hosts explore the balance between maintaining content standards and respecting subscriber preferences.
Air Travel Realities: The "Sky Jinx" segment sheds light on unforeseen challenges in air travel, both from operational failures and passenger behavior.
Social Media Well-being: Discussions about Blue Sky highlight the mental toll of navigating polarized social media platforms and strategies to mitigate negative impacts.
Appreciation and Connection: By sharing personal stories and thanking donors, the hosts strengthen their connection with the audience, fostering a sense of belonging and community.
Episode #4421 of "Too Beautiful To Live" delivers a mix of investigative discussions, personal anecdotes, and community appreciation. Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh adeptly navigate through diverse topics, blending humor with insightful commentary. Whether unraveling newsletter issues, dissecting sky jinx incidents, or reflecting on social media's influence, the hosts provide a comprehensive and engaging listening experience.
Remember: No mountain is too tall, and together, Luke and Andrew continue their quest to explore and amuse, one episode at a time.