#4427 The Lamb Of Gosh

Summary

TBTL Episode #4427: "The Lamb Of Gosh" Summary

Released on March 20, 2025

Hosts: Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh

Podcast Overview: "TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live" is a daily show where longtime friends Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh explore a myriad of topics with humor and candid conversation. In episode #4427, titled "The Lamb Of Gosh," they delve into technology debates, personal anecdotes, and offer a comprehensive review of the Netflix live program "Everybody's Live with John Mulaney."

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1. Opening Banter and Personal Updates (00:00 - 03:08)

The episode kicks off with Andrew questioning Luke about his abandoned guitar hobby, setting a playful tone:

• Andrew Walsh (00:00): "Hey, how come you never play your guitar anymore?"
• Luke Burbank (00:02): "I'll tell you the truth, Dad. I wasn't good at it right away, so I quit."

They humorously discuss Luke’s various hobbies stored in his closet, leading into a lighthearted conversation about comedy and personal interests.

2. Technology Talk: iPhones vs. Androids (11:00 - 30:04)

Luke and Andrew transition into a deep dive on technology, particularly focusing on smartphone preferences:

• Andrew Walsh (12:15): "I think they're more of a scrappy operation, but yeah, the New York Times... you'd think that by the time they have that, they could make sure it's developed for all platforms."

They debate the dominance of Android versus iPhone, both in America and worldwide, discussing user experiences and the frustrations of platform incompatibilities:

• Luke Burbank (13:22): "If you take... how many cell phones are there in America and how many of them are iPhones? I believe ones that are non iPhones are more of those than there are iPhones."

Andrew shares his struggles with the New York Times Audio app's lack of Android support, echoing Luke's sentiments about platform exclusivity.

3. Texting Features and Communication (30:04 - 44:31)

The conversation shifts to the evolution of texting, focusing on the introduction of the text edit feature on iPhones:

• Luke Burbank (15:03): "I'm now addicted to it because I dash off texts too quickly... I can't do that with you."

They reflect on the communal texting practices, highlighting the limitations faced by Android users:

• Andrew Walsh (16:04): "But you know, it's not too long before that's just probably common everywhere, right?"

Andrew expresses nostalgia for the "asterisk and corrected word" text style, a relic of early texting that is slowly fading away.

4. Review of "Everybody's Live with John Mulaney" (33:01 - 77:23)

Introduction to the Show (32:17 - 33:15)

Luke introduces the Netflix live program "Everybody's Live with John Mulaney," sharing his decision to watch it after Andrew convinced him:

• Luke Burbank (02:21): "But I can't remember what day of the week is supposedly talked like a pirate day."

Episode Breakdown and Critique (33:15 - 77:23)

Luke and Andrew provide an in-depth critique of the show, dissecting its live format and improvisational elements:

• Andrew Walsh (57:47): "It's rougher and more awkward than I thought a lot."
• Luke Burbank (65:28): "They're trying to be the Chris Gethard show... It's trying to be a free for all."

They discuss specific segments, such as awkward phone calls, technical glitches, and the dynamic between John Mulaney and guest Ben Stiller:

• Andrew Walsh (73:17): "Mulaney will become more like second nature as he takes a phone call."

The hosts appreciate the show's rawness but critique its execution, noting moments where improvisation falls flat:

• Luke Burbank (62:05): "I think what's happening... it's clear they are not over preparing for this or they're not over obsessing on the details."

They highlight standout moments, such as the pre-recorded rabbi segment and the unexpected musical performances by Kim Gordon and Kim Deal:

• Andrew Walsh (83:09): "Quinta's like, yeah, this is live, right? She pulls out her phone... We're all in this boat together."

5. Donor Messages and Birthday Shoutouts (77:03 - 106:08)

The latter part of the episode focuses on listener donations and birthday messages, affectionately termed "Blurs Days":

• Luke Burbank: "Happy birthday, folks."
• Andrew Walsh: "Happy Blurs day to Alex. Sweet."

Messages range from heartfelt to humorous, celebrating listeners’ milestones and personal achievements:

• Julian (00:00): "Happy blurs day to my girlfriend, Miranda... turning 30 today."
• Andrew Walsh: "Happy Blurs day to Hayden... Congrats on college enrollment."

The hosts respond warmly, acknowledging each message with personalized comments:

• Luke Burbank (98:27): "Happy Blurs day to Grace in Newfield, New York from your mom."

6. Final Thoughts and Farewell (106:08 - End)

As the episode wraps up, Luke and Andrew reflect on the live show experience and tease upcoming segments:

• Luke Burbank: "We're going super long, but we got some special recordings to do later too."
• Andrew Walsh (110:22): "We've got to get out of here."

They conclude with a humorous nod to the ongoing discussions and encourage listeners to tune in next time.

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Notable Quotes:

• Andrew Walsh (00:02): "If something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing."
• Luke Burbank (11:22): "Everyone's on iPhone. But I believe the data actually would sort of disagree with that."
• Andrew Walsh (57:47): "It was rougher and more awkward than I thought a lot."
• Luke Burbank (73:17): "Mulaney will become more like second nature as he takes a phone call."
• Andrew Walsh (98:27): "Happy Blurs day to Grace in Newfield, New York from your mom who loves you so very much."

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Key Takeaways:

1. Technology Frustrations: Luke and Andrew express common frustrations with smartphone platform exclusivity and evolving texting features, highlighting the broader user experience challenges.

2. Live Shows Are Tricky: Their review of "Everybody's Live with John Mulaney" underscores the complexities of live programming, where improvisation can lead to both authentic moments and unintentional awkwardness.

3. Community Engagement: The episode emphasizes the importance of listener participation through "Blurs Days," fostering a sense of community and personal connection.

4. Humor in the Everyday: Consistently, the hosts weave humor into their discussions, whether debating tech standards or critiquing live TV shows, making the content relatable and entertaining.

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Conclusion: Episode #4427 of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live offers a blend of humorous banter, insightful critiques, and heartfelt listener interactions. Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh navigate through technological debates and an extensive review of "Everybody's Live with John Mulaney," all while maintaining their signature friendly and candid rapport. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a live show aficionado, or a dedicated listener celebrating a birthday, this episode delivers engaging content with plenty of laughs and thoughtful commentary.

Transcript

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, how come you never play your guitar anymore?

[Luke Burbank]

I'll tell you the truth, Dad. I wasn't good at it right away, so I quit.

[Andrew Walsh]

I hope you're not mad, so come here. Of course I'm not mad. If something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing. You just stick that guitar in the closet next to your shortwave radio, your karate outfit, and your unicycle, and we'll go inside and watch tv.

[Luke Burbank]

What's on?

[Andrew Walsh]

It doesn't matter. TBTL.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, TV child, look into my eyes here. By intervention, I want your attention. Jokes. Do some.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, what makes you laugh?

[Luke Burbank]

Comedy, obviously. And sometimes tragedy. Light tragedy. Erectile dysfunction, non fatal hunting accidents, waving at someone you think you know, but it turns out to be a stranger, that sort of thing. Sure, it's done in the name of comedy, but is debasing ourselves really that hilarious? I don't know, man. Don't you kind of feel like a sellout? Can you really call it a sellout.

[Andrew Walsh]

When they give you a free Tesla for doing the show? And boom goes the dynamite?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, all right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Thursday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. Accoutrement.

[Andrew Walsh]

What is that?

[Luke Burbank]

My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host.

[Andrew Walsh]

In short, things are going extremely well. Framed.

[Luke Burbank]

Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia on a wet and wild day.

[Andrew Walsh]

Didn't know you like to get wet, though.

[Luke Burbank]

It's the first day of spring, allegedly. And I don't know. What is it? April showers. We're not even in April yet. Which one is the showers? And then when are the flowers? I know that we're at episode 4427 in a collector series.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let the fun begin.

[Luke Burbank]

I may have had that number wrong yesterday. I apologize. I'm just. I'm but a man. I'm but a humble podcaster standing before you. Trying to remember how counting works. Today, I believe, is 4427. Speaking of things that are perfectly imperfect. You know, I've been talking about the Netflix live program, Everybody's Live with John Mulaney. I can.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'll write it and we'll do it live.

[Luke Burbank]

Turns out I finally tricked my friend Andrew into watching it, and we both watched some of that show last night, and we have thoughts, and we're gonna share those thoughts with all of you coming up. Also, it's a Thursday known around here as a blursday.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's my birthday today.

[Luke Burbank]

Andrew had a lot of time to get the Blurs day messages together because I forgot the time that we had established we would be making our Internet connection. So we had a lot of time waiting for me to get my bleep together. And so it should be a corker of a segment today. Speaking of my good friend Andrew Walsh, the longest running cobra of the show. Your voice is like a combination of Fergie and Jesus. He may be best known for his depictions of the tall ships. And he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, Luke. I saw you make a face during the intro today. Like, not even the part where you're talking, but they'll. If people could see what my face.

[Luke Burbank]

Looks like when I'm doing that opening bit. Just imagine John Mayer, but less cool. Like, you've heard about guitar face. I do.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, yeah, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Who are you facing?

[Andrew Walsh]

I was about to make a disparaging comment about air guitar because I don't like air guitar. And I was about to say it's the lowest form of like, I don't.

[Luke Burbank]

Know even air instruments.

[Andrew Walsh]

If it's comedy, like, I don't even know what that is. And I feel like we live through an era of like, heavy air guitar. And the reason I'm hesitating is I was listening to one of my favorite sports podcasts yesterday that I'm obsessed with. And the. I think TBTL listeners can associate with this feeling of even when your favorite podcast annoys the hell out of you, you just stick with it because, like, well, you gotta. Yes, you gotta. You gotta complain about. And I don't remember what day of the week is supposedly talked like a pirate day. I don't know why they were doing it, but on that podcast, one of the characters, one of the producers just did the whole show, like, constantly trying to come up with these piratey puns, you know, finding words with Rs in them. And I was just like, is there a lower. I'm coming in hot on Thursday. Is there a lower form of humor than talking like a pirate? Like a so called pirate or so called talking like a so called pirate? Can you think of anything that is more grating and less funny?

[Luke Burbank]

Yar, I can. Okay, here's what I would say about that. And this is gonna sound like I'm kind of. Like, I'm kind of throwing you under the bus here. I'm sorry, I'm being.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, it's fine. Be honest. Be honest. I mean, if you. I didn't realize you loved zombie and. And pirate Humor. I had. Had you pegged her arm.

[Luke Burbank]

Listen, I can't even today. Don't talk to me till I've had my bacon. Okay?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

That's what I always say. No, it's a little bit like, you know. You know, what's really gone away from my life is people saying, either use the Force or, Luke, I am your father. It's actually an interesting kind of, I guess you could say, like, lagging indicator on where Star wars exists in the pop culture and in people's minds. Because there was a solid decade of my life where that was probably two times a week that came up in conversation. And where I landed with it was, I liked that. Did I find it humorous? No. Did I like that it gave someone the feeling that they were being funny or innovative or creative? Yes. And then I eventually just decided to, like, that's gonna be. That's gonna be how I feel about it. So that instead of it being a little annoying or tired or whatever, it's like, you know what, that I. I'm happy that you got to have that moment of feeling like you were doing something. And now would I listen to a podcast where one of the. One of the people was doing Talk Like a Pirate the whole show? Absolutely not.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And that's on me.

[Luke Burbank]

Not get me to listen to it. But if somebody, like, if I were to see somebody on, like, Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day on their Instagram feed, I would think, well, that's not for me, but I guess I would try to think fun for them, that they're getting to do something that's. That's sparking joy for them. And I don't mean that that sounds so unhelpful, because it's like, I'm silent. Sounds like I'm saying that you're being no fun. I'm just saying that, like, yeah, I agree, it is the lowest form of humor, but also, in an endeavor to, I don't know, just. Just stop being such a miserable man like I am, I think I'm going to try to just. I'll. I'll. I'll. I'll allow it. And it is up to me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, I guess so. I do wonder if. If I had stated that differently, I could be wrong. I feel like if this is a conversation where I came in saying, this is so funny, you wouldn't believe this thing I saw on Instagram and somebody talking like a pirate, I think you would be like, I think that. I don't know. I do think I came. I want to be clear I'm not.

[Luke Burbank]

A fan of people talking like a pirate. I don't think that is funny. And again, I think you've. You've just been through something, and I think you're still processing.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, it's on me. Like, listen, I will be the first one to say that. Like, I don't love it when people write into the show just to say, I'm not listening to the show anymore or whatever. Like, I'm not great at taking feedback about TBTL things. And so I try. And so in my life, like, for example, I don't write into the LeBatard show and say, hey, tell that person to stop. Talking like a pirate is the lowest form of humor. And because I'm like, who would do that? Like, who would write into a show to say that? You can just skip it, right? But then here I am, and this is where my hypocrisy comes in. It's like, oh, yeah. Because then I can get on my own microphone and subtweet that. I don't have a word for subtweeting.

[Luke Burbank]

That's the circle of life, though.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, it's all. We're all honestly reading content.

[Luke Burbank]

You know, it's like a leaf fell from the Dan LeBatard show, and then it landed in the grass, and then it decomposed into TBTL today.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was like. It's like a big turd dropped from the. Well.

[Luke Burbank]

I was going with a little more like kind of Walt Whitman.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, wow. I got a. I got a Bingo. The cat.

[Luke Burbank]

This I just saw. I just. You know what it was like? It was part, like, shark from Jaws, but meets Sasquatch. Because all. It was like a furry fin went through the lower. The sort of southwest corner of the little screen that I'm looking at that represents you. That was really funny.

[Andrew Walsh]

He likes to be on the shelf. By the way, I really do need to talk to you about something that happened in the intro. But he likes to sit on the shelf, which is kind of above me, just above my head level as I'm sitting here. There's a window behind me and a shelf. And so he likes to be up there, but the only way that he can get up there himself is by walking on my audio board and launching himself off of it, which usually is fine when I'm not recording, and I just have to check the settings later because he usually punches a bunch of buttons and stuff, but he can't do it during the show. And lately he's been coming in here during the show and he can literally just. He can take this whole thing down. I'm not even joking. Just like take this whole God damn thing down. So I need to be a little bit careful with him. In the. When you're listening to that intro package of montage of drops, I want to give a shout out to listener Bobby, who actually supplied a great deal of the drops that you heard today, including the Simpsons.

[Luke Burbank]

Nice. Our friend Bobby Page.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. The Simpsons. The only quote that I mangled yesterday. And the King of the Hill drop. I think that might have been random, but it was really funny. But also the first thing you heard. And this is where I saw you make a face. Like, I think your face might have said what? I don't know if it's video games. What. But it was one Chris Hayes from, I believe, his audio book.

[Luke Burbank]

I was. Yeah, it was. I recognized it as our friend, television's Chris Hayes, but I wasn't familiar with him saying those words. And what's funny is I'm such a. In fact, I just listened because, you know, I've been traveling. I just today caught up with. With pod, which is amazing. This week it's talking about congestion pricing in New York and also just kind of. I mean, mostly that, but also the subway in New York. Great, great episode. Would recommend. But it was like one of those, how did these buff dudes escape my radar? Which in this case is literal because he is also a buff dude. But like, I just. It's rare. I'm such a. I'm such a sort of like amateur chronicler of the. The words that are said by our friend Chris Hayes that if I hear something like that, I don't recognize it. I'm like, oh, how did I not hear that on. On round one. And I think it's because I mostly read his book as opposed to the audiobook, although. So you didn't. That was the ones. I feel like my mind will explode sometimes I feel like I've got no control.

[Andrew Walsh]

You. You don't remember that?

[Luke Burbank]

Or sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner here by intervention. I feel like I'm all alone.

[Andrew Walsh]

Those are apparently Chris quoting lyrics in his book and then in the audiobook. So one of those is a Living Color song and one of them is a Duran Duran song, apparently.

[Luke Burbank]

Did, did, did, did. Bobby.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bobby sent those in.

[Luke Burbank]

O see, that was also where I got lost because I was like, I was trying to imagine you listening to the Sirens Call audiobook and then snatching the audio. And I didn't. I didn't see that as a way for you to be experiencing that book.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I really. Because I. That's. That's how I.

[Luke Burbank]

Literally how you did it.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, no, I haven't yet, but actually I do plan on it. I was. I was a little confused because I looked you and I had this conversation a while back, right before Chris came to town. I looked for the book, the audiobook online and I couldn't find it. And I thought, oh, that's strange. I thought it would come out as the same time as the. As the actual physical book.

[Luke Burbank]

I think it.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think it did. You told me it did. And I guess.

[Luke Burbank]

Did it not make it for Android?

[Andrew Walsh]

I guess, yeah. I'm getting more and more of that, by the way, the New York Audio app.

[Luke Burbank]

New York Times Audio.

[Andrew Walsh]

Times audio app. You talk about that all the time. And I wanted to try it and I couldn't find. And it turns out they don't make that for Android. That new Blue sky photo app, which I don't really care that much. I'm not really championing at the bit to get that, but I couldn't find that anywhere. And it's like, oh, they don't make that for Android yet either. I really do feel like I'm being marginalized here.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. That is. I don't understand why the New York Times audio app would not. I mean, again, this shows how little I know about coding or back end, you know, sort of the. All of the. The infrastructure of how apps work. But it seems like you'd be able to make it available on all platforms. I mean, like, as much as I.

[Andrew Walsh]

Their resources. Yeah, like the Blue sky thing. I understand. I think they're running a. Like a fundraiser to try to get money so that they can develop it. Like, I think they're more of a scrappy operation, but yeah, the New York Times, you'd think that by the time they have like that, like, developed, they could just make sure it's developed for all platforms.

[Luke Burbank]

And also this is where. Now I will say this because I live in the iPhone bubble where most of the people. You are on a very, very, very short list, Andrew, of people that I regularly correspond with who are not on an iPhone. And so in my mind it's like, well, everyone's on iPhone. But I believe the data actually would. Would sort of disagree with that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, iPhones seem like the dominant thing and maybe of any one single kind of phone, they're the most interesting.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

If you take. I'm guessing at that, by the way. But if you take, like, if you were to go, how many cell phones are there in America and how many of them are iPhones? I believe ones that are non iPhones are. There are more of those than there are iPhones. Right? Is that your sense?

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, the only thing I'm not sure about is you said in America.

[Luke Burbank]

Because I know maybe the world is skewing it.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know worldwide, I think Android technology, I. I could be wrong about this, but I think they kind of dominate. Like, it's not. I thought, like, by a considerable amount, the world has more Androids than iPhones. I could be wrong about that. But I do think worldwide, they definitely have the edge. I don't know about America, to be honest with you.

[Luke Burbank]

I guess you're right. Maybe I'm using the global number. I just remember reading that and being kind of shocked because it seems to me like, well, who doesn't have an iPhone? But in fact, it's. It's. It's not even nearly the dominant. I keep saying platform. I don't know if it's technically a platform, but it's. It's not the default setting for like 90 of people in the world. It's mostly other stuff. Now, the way that. That this makes our relationship difficult, as if it couldn't. As if it could get more difficult, which is hard to imagine.

[Andrew Walsh]

Are you talking about the sex thing or. Wait, what are you.

[Luke Burbank]

Where are you talking about? A lot of things. That's one of them. It's me forgetting what time we're dialing up. There's a lot of. There's a lot of issues. But the, like, the fact that when I send you a text I can't edit didn't bother me nearly as much. And by the way, somebody said that there's. This is a setting. What I should really do is go back and see if I can fix this within my own phone, if I can clean my side of the street. Andrew. But since that edit function was instituted so that I can. When I'm sending a text to Becca or Addie or anybody else, I can go back in and clean it up.

[Andrew Walsh]

And about how long have you. How long have you had that functionality?

[Luke Burbank]

I'm gonna say about a year.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's a guess.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm bad with dates. But since. Since that became an option, I am now addicted to it because I. I dash off texts too quickly. My. My. My brain and my excitement gets in front of my dexterity, and there's almost always an error. And then I can just go back in and Clean that error up. And I'm now that is, I just, I use it all the time. I, I would say I'm one of probably the most prolific editors of texts going and I can't do that with you. And then so it's like you can just see, all of you can just see my work and I don't like it. All my mistakes are hanging out there.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sometimes you use, you write the word fact to me and like why is he writing. You tried to. You meant fart. And I'm like, oh, fart. That makes sense. I wanted to a couple of things here. First of all, in a moment I'm going to tell you just how smart we are, which is everybody should look.

[Luke Burbank]

Forward to that as far as equals MC squared.

[Andrew Walsh]

But you know, you talking about that, that ability to edit a text, I don't have that on Android. I don't know if like you can download something that enhances your texting experience, but I don't care that much. But it reminds me of something that like, because the iPhone already has that technology built in, my guess is, you know, it won't be too long before that's just probably common everywhere, right? The ability to edit a text across all platforms. I'm assuming that in my lifetime that will just be standard, which would mean in our lifetime the somehow like just universally agreed upon format of correcting a typo and a text by following up with another text. And then the asterisk and then, which is a tough word for me to say. And then the word corrected. Like I don't know who the first person was who did that came up with that. But we all do it, right? And it just.

[Luke Burbank]

Was it the guy from Invent Help right after he did the wheel?

[Andrew Walsh]

What is that?

[Luke Burbank]

Have you, you know those ads for like patenting your invention, which is by the way, a complete scam. It's called Invent Help and it's got like a real bc. Like the cartoon. Remember the comic?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh yeah, very much.

[Luke Burbank]

The guy with the wheel.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Like right after he did the wheel, he thought fag hit asterisk and corrected word.

[Andrew Walsh]

We were a big BC house, by the way. My dad had these special BC mugs that he loved. I don't know why that spoke to him so much, but yet I, I, this is a weird feeling I'm trying to describe. But I almost had pre nostalgia, Luke, which is kind of on brand for me, as you were describing that I had this pre nostalgia for a day when somebody will like do that in a text as A joke. Like, remember in the 2020s when we all did this thing where we followed up with a correction with an asterisk that like may actually go away and just be something that we sort of reminisce about.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

In the retirement community, like 10, 10, 220, like 10 10.

[Luke Burbank]

It'll be just some sort of like old relic of life. Because the other thing that happens. This is the problem. I mean that system was the dominant system for many years. You're right. Is that then what happens is when you open up the text program, the first thing you see is the correction.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

You know what I mean?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And so it'll be. It's the case that you see a sort of out of context word that has an asterisk in front of it and is kind of like. It almost gives you a preview sometimes. It almost gives me a bad feeling about what the text is about because I'm just seeing that something went wrong in the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

But I know, Houston, we have a boner. There's been a problem with this text that needs to be corrected and now I'm just seeing an out of context word.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

That's just sitting there. It's a strange. Because. Because we don't read text, you're like.

[Andrew Walsh]

Why is the word alimony? Like I'm trying to say what is the scariest word to just see the.

[Luke Burbank]

One word process server written. Nobody knows how to spell subpoena correctly the first time. That's what the heck. Like, you know, it's because these days we don't often get to a text message from top to bottom because so many preview functions and things like that. If somebody has corrected a text, the first thing I'm going to see is the correction. Unless I'm reading it in real time. We're going back, then it works. But if it's. If I've gone away from the text thing and I come back to it.

[Andrew Walsh]

And you have a notification that just says subpoena.

[Luke Burbank]

Somebody said. But somebody again did message me when I was complaining about this a while ago and said it is a setting in the iPhone that I apparently can do that will allow me to fix messages that I send you that you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Send to, that you send to Androids. What a strange.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. I don't know how, how that would work because you'd think that there'd need to be mutual consent from the, from the operating systems. But that was, that was allegedly the case. I haven't put in the time on it, but.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, do you remember like is something and this is. I hesitate to bring this up. I want to get to the part about how right we were but I hesitate to bring this up because I don't understand the technology and I know that a lot of our listeners do but there was that some sort of platform change about. It was sometime in the past year, it was not that long ago that sort of created some havoc amongst a bunch of text chains that I am on like the wordle chain and the sports group chain because like they're the technologies are trying to match a little bit more. It's like I think end to end encryption is on now with this not I don't know if it's not sms, it's the other one now talking about it and I think that might play into all of this like these things like RCS chat versus SMS chat I think maybe is what I'm talking about. So maybe it has something to do with that in your phone to make sure that we are, you know, communicating on the same platform. But I've reached the end of my boring understanding or misunderstanding of that.

[Luke Burbank]

Just to say the end of your free benjaminfranklin.com SMS explainer but we were.

[Andrew Walsh]

Very right at least at very first glance about about iPhone and Android sort of share if that's the right word. In the US iPhones have the lead. It's about 57% to 43. I'm also seeing more like a almost a 59 to 40 breakdown worldwide and it is significant. Android 72 almost 72% versus like 27, 28%. So yeah, worldwide that is an Android.

[Luke Burbank]

Let me ask you a question that's going to prolong this unduly. I know that there are a lot of photography heads who swear by the non iPhone type of phones particularly is it the Galaxy, Is that the one that has a really good camera on it or I'll be honest with you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Luke, I don't know go in for all that stuff. Those camera wars of a couple of years ago.

[Luke Burbank]

I thought it was a conscientious objector. I went to Canada, I did.

[Andrew Walsh]

I said you know what? Why can't we all get along? And then somebody talk like a pirate and I punch him in the throat. He's like oh I guess I'm not a pacifist anymore. Yeah, I know I and people, I think I've said this on the show before and I got in trouble because listeners said no, there is a big difference. But I think I think that some of that camera stuff was a little pomp and circumstance for a while. Okay, I want you to complete your thought, but I'll try to make this.

[Luke Burbank]

More of a question than a thought. But I A refreshing thing.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was just. Obviously cell phone camera technology is really amazing these days. I am not denying that and that it's gotten better and better and better. My theory though was once everybody kind of got their phones and locked into their phones, whichever kind it was, it's more like the marketers are trying to figure out like well what can we do to entice people to upgrade or buy this one? And so they had to like. And while the camera technology is something legit legitimately to focus on because it is really good, my theory is they also made the like the actual camera on the outside of the phone more and more ostentatious.

[Luke Burbank]

Like I don't know, I think the lenses or whatever.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think if the trend had been let's keep the lenses like a little bit more low key.

[Luke Burbank]

They have the technology, camera signaling.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's how I feel. And I think some people have written and be like no, no, it's necessary to have them. I honestly think though that it became a trendy thing to make sure that your camera had the big Gaudius looking three lens system on the outside of it.

[Luke Burbank]

It also could have been the case. I think you're probably not wrong. Well two things can be true. It can be both.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Which is probably they are way better as cameras or at least they were in the early days. And also, and that was the differentiator or at least that was the thing that the Galaxy and the other phones primarily, I think the Galaxy could kind of hang their hat on. They're like, well we don't have this full integration of like all the Apple shit and everything and but we do, we, we've noted that we made the camera better and that's our thing. We're going to really emphasize that. And then also it could be the case that once they decided that they started to get real kind of blingy with their, with their lens sort of display and, and all that stuff. Here's my question. And this is a little Uzi verted. Somebody stole my. I wasn't rolling loud and crowd surfing and someone stole one of the lenses off of my Samsung. I was wondering because this is just what's. This is Small decisions in life can of course lead to sort of long term, sort of like, I don't know, outcomes. I guess I am wondering because that's something and I feel semi comfortable saying this because you have stated this on the show, and I actually really admire this, and I mean this genuinely. I think you and Genevieve, and maybe in particular Genevieve, are much more aware of financial priorities than I am. And that is to say, like, just, you know, you. When it comes to technology, you think long and hard about what you're going to buy because you really want to get the right thing. You don't want it to become obsolete. You want it to. And you also don't want to overpay. Like, I admire that. I know Genevieve applies that to a lot of areas of life. Do you think you all didn't get on the iPhone trend because the. Whatever the Android version of Life was at that time was cheaper?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I'm quite sure that wasn't it. In fact, I am. I'm trying to remember.

[Luke Burbank]

Everybody was jumping into that iPhone pool in our social group.

[Andrew Walsh]

Jump in. I. So I. I guess the only way I can do this is by kind of retracing my steps. First of all, you won't be surprised to hear that I was late to getting a cell phone. Like, I love technology, but I'm always late to get the technology.

[Luke Burbank]

Did Veeves have one? Were you, like, living together and, like, Genevieve has a cell phone and you don't have a cell phone?

[Andrew Walsh]

Was that ever a. I believe we both got our cell phones at the same time, and they were flip phones. And it was. I can't remember exactly the year, but we were living in New Hampshire and we already owned a home together because I remember the day the phone showed up. And I believe we got the same kind, but they were the flip phone kind. And I.

[Luke Burbank]

Was it like a razor?

[Andrew Walsh]

It wasn't a razor. I wish I could remember.

[Luke Burbank]

God.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think mine was maroon, and I really liked it. And I remember putting the Wu Tang Clan's cream as my ringtone.

[Luke Burbank]

John Heilman.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know, right? I always joke around with Phyllis. Every time I see a white guy with a Wu Tang shirt on tv, I take a screen cap and I send it to Phyllis. Because I just have this theory that there are more white guys of a certain age going around with Wu Tang paraphernalia.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, boy. By the way, this Wu Tang reunion. Oh, yeah, they're going on tour, you know, exclusively. The race of people who have told me about it hasn't been one black person. Every white friend of mine of a certain age is just fucking geeking out about it.

[Andrew Walsh]

So, yeah. So anyway, I remember we had flip phones first, and then I did make it. Here's what I think happened. So I made a transition to a BlackBerry. That one, maybe my first phone wasn't. Wasn't like this red color, but I remember my BlackBerry was like a maroon color. And I did have the tile. Yes, yes, it did.

[Luke Burbank]

I would. And I would go back to that if it were. If it were possible, because that, that I wouldn't be sending you so many, so many junk sleep messages if I could have it. If I could have a tactile keypad again.

[Andrew Walsh]

I remember loving the feel of that. And I. I'm pretty sure I. I had that even when I moved to New Hampshire. So if we're really interested in this, which I don't think we are, we now have a timestamp on it would have been. I came here in about 2009, right. And I still had my BlackBerry. So I'm using a BlackBerry at that point, whatever the newest BlackBerry is. And I love that baby. Oh, it was so beautiful, Luke. It seriously was. But then by this point, we're talking 2,000, maybe 10, 11. I don't know. When I got rid of it, almost everybody was switching over to some sort of a touchscreen smartphone. Right. With the screen. And I was really nervous. I know I've told you this before, but I just. I could not. I couldn't fully go over to giving up my tactile keyboard. So I bought one of those things which I think was a G2. And I think this is what got me on the Android thing. Okay. I bought one of those G2s that. That looked like you would hold it, and it looked like it just was a smartphone with a touchscreen. But then it would robot open. You would open it up on these hinges. It's going to slide it upward, up and over, sort of. And then it revealed a tactile keyboard. It was the best of both worlds, and I loved that thing. And that was like. And I think that was it. That was the G2, which was an Android technology. And I think.

[Luke Burbank]

Gotcha.

[Andrew Walsh]

Gotcha. I think that's what got me on it. I can't speak for Genevieve, but I'll be honest with you, when I buy phones, I don't. That's one of the things where I don't try to save money at all because I'm like, I'm going to have this thing for a long time. And so I always get like the galaxies, whatever the latest Galaxy is. And it's. It's not a cheap alternative. Certainly.

[Luke Burbank]

Gotcha.

[Andrew Walsh]

Although I am thinking about going to the Google Pixel. I'm Getting very close to getting a new phone or this one breaking or something. It's starting to slow down a little bit and I am thinking about for the first time moving away from the galaxy and going into the pixel realm.

[Luke Burbank]

The funny thing is I, of the profligate spending have since the listeners hipped me to the fact that this phone, my iPhone, whatever era it is, all it needed was for me to clean out the pocket lint that was in the like charging port, lightning port, whatever it's called. I'll use this phone for the next 20 years if it'll keep up with everything. Like I don't need, I don't need more phone or a fancier phone, or I don't need something that does more than this phone does. I'm really hoping, and again, this is very unusual, unusual for me. I am really hoping that this thing just kind of chugs along and, and they don't like brick it on me because I. That's the one. And it's funny because it's the most oft used and relevant to my life piece of technology that I own. It is my constant companion. It is the, it is the portal through which, or I should say it is the what's on a submarine? What's the thing they look through?

[Andrew Walsh]

Periscope.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, it is the periscope through which I view the world from under the waters of my depression. And yet I just don't feel like I need a fancy phone. You know, like that's weird considering you know, how I generally operate and that's.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I know it's cliche to say this and I again, I think this is probably well worn territory but like that's the problem with the phones, the technologies, right? Because you can, you can take care of your, like if you have an old car, you take care of that thing. Conceivably you can keep it forever, right? But a phone, they have us over a barrel. You can take, you can do everything as the consumer to take care of your phone and keep it safe and keep it clean and put the protections on it. But eventually you can run, but you can't hide. The apps are just going to keep updating and requiring more and more and more, I guess, processing power and whatever. And so you're like, hey, I'm fine with the camera on this phone. It doesn't matter. I like the retro look of potato quality photos or whatever, but it doesn't mean anything if you can't open up your Instagram because it's just going to make everything Crash. They just stop working after a while because everything else advances.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, well, if. If, you know, if this lint removal system bought me an extra year with this phone, I mean, I'll take that because I was ready to go out and shell out, you know, an E bike's worth of money on a new phone.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you know what generation yours is? Just out of curiosity. I don't know. IPhone.

[Luke Burbank]

I think I can look this up. It is. It is. Hold on, let's go.

[Andrew Walsh]

General. This is good in the.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm Check some audio settings.

[Luke Burbank]

This phone. It is. I have a. I have an iPhone 12.

[Andrew Walsh]

How many? Oh, wow. I think they're on 16 now, man.

[Luke Burbank]

Model name. IPhone 12. The iOS version I'm on is 4-1-18. I think it just updated that. But so am I four generations behind.

[Andrew Walsh]

I might. I'm the wrong person to ask. I thought they were on iPhone 16. I could be wrong about that. But I did just look it up. My phone came out in March of 2019. Yours came out in October of 2020. So yours is slightly.

[Luke Burbank]

And again, you know, clear. You can kind of hear in my voice a little bit of, you know, what is it? Less shame, because, again, I'm just so given to chasing the new shiny. And this is the one area where I have some just, like, an inherent lack of desire to upgrade this past what it does right now. Like, I can't. Also, I'm not a big. Like, I don't watch movies on my phone. I don't use. You're not my phone.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're not making movies. You know what I mean? You're not like, making complete tiki talkies.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I'm not. Yeah, exactly. Like, shot on iPhone or whatever, you know, I'm not. I. I'm. I just. It pretty much is something I text from and then something that I mindlessly scroll on. That's about the ambition I have for my phone. And. And that's, you know, it's capable of all of that stuff. So. All right, can we thank some donors and then can we please get into this? Everybody's live with John Mulaney. Because I. I know you as well. I've got thoughts and. And I want to share them with you or I want. I want to hear your thoughts as well. We was hoping for some razzle dazzle. Razzle dazzle. That's right, man. Razzle dazzle. On your mark. On your mark. Get set, get set now. Ready?

[Andrew Walsh]

Ready?

[Luke Burbank]

Go. Everybody rattle dazzle. All right, let's get into it. Let's thank these dazzling donors. I don't know if you want to turn that music down a little bit.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, is it? You're not hearing it go down?

[Luke Burbank]

No, no. I don't know if the listeners are here. I mean.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I think that was just what I was sending you. My apologies. Okay, well, then it ducked under there a little bit.

[Luke Burbank]

No. Maybe make it louder. I think maybe we'll get me in the zone.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, you know what it was, Luke? It was bingo walking on my board. At least I have proof of concept, because I was like, why would this not have affected you during the intro music? Just because bingo took a little walk.

[Luke Burbank]

And we've been dealing with some ghosts in the machine. And by we, I mean you and our Riverside program. And so I could. I'm happy for you. When there's a very brick and mortar explanation for something like that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, no, that was a button, and I don't think the listeners experienced it. I was just blessed with music.

[Luke Burbank]

I enjoyed it. I love that song.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good song.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's start out. Of course, we're thanking the dazzling donors. These folks are donating a dazzling amount of dough. It's. Well, let's just say we had a business boys meeting yesterday, as we do most Wednesdays, and we were talking about the upcoming Thawne, and we're just talking about. About the state of the world and various things, and my dreams that I've been having where I get a. Like a report generated of all the people who've had to stop donating.

[Andrew Walsh]

An actual, literal dream that you had, literally dream.

[Luke Burbank]

I believe that would fall in the category of stress dream if there ever was one. But, you know, for now, this is working, and it's because of folks. Now, Andrew, I'm going to ask for your help on this because it's. It's somebody named Jamie and somebody named Eric Hamilton, and you have B for history.

[Andrew Walsh]

Jamie's last name is B, U, G.

[Luke Burbank]

E, L. And then there's a pronouncer, and it's. It says it's with a hard G. And last week, I really. I really had a very, very hard time with a Gillian pronunciation.

[Andrew Walsh]

You did it, though. You just did it now. That was great.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, so when they say hard G. So. So this last name is. Is Bugle.

[Andrew Walsh]

When they say hard G, they go low. Me. When I put. Put cream as my ringtone on my cell phone, they're like, that guy's a hard G. No, I think you mean.

[Luke Burbank]

The Wu Tang song, not the Prince song. That's right.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Although technically not sure that that was Prince. I think it might have been the artist formerly known as Prince at that point. Right. Wasn't he simple?

[Luke Burbank]

Was he in his. Honoring that. What is the rule on that? Do we have to, like, are we. Well, well, I was going to make a joke that. I don't. I don't want to make a joke about something that's very real to people, but I was like. I was just like, are we. Do we owe Prince the. I don't know. What do we honor Prince by referring to him as the artist formerly known as during. For things created during the era when he was the artist Period. Right. Because really, he was just trying to get out of his record deal.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right, right. Oh, was that it? Actually, I said right, because my brain was moving on to the next thing. I don't know that I remembered that. That.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that was a fight with his record label.

[Andrew Walsh]

That makes so much more sense.

[Luke Burbank]

And that was why he did that, I think. And also because he was insane, and.

[Andrew Walsh]

The fact that he went with a.

[Luke Burbank]

And also he was insane.

[Andrew Walsh]

He didn't go with Robert. He went with an unpronounceable smuggle. What if they had just.

[Luke Burbank]

If he would have just gone with Robert, that would have been. He's sitting there on Oprah in his, like, mustard suit going, yeah, please call me Robert.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now. I only answered to Robert, by the way. This is an aside, and I want to be very careful here because sort of, like, pirate talk. I cringe a little bit when people our age are fascinated by how few bands they recognize at the Capitol Hill Block Party. I feel like that's a very cliche conversation to sort of have at our age. But it is fascinating to watch. Year after year after year, the lineups come out. Capitol Hill Block Party is like a music festival that started very relatively small here in Seattle, literally as a block party in the hip neighborhood, and then has grown as the festival experience has sort of grown in the culture. It's gotten bigger and bigger and bigger. They just released the lineup yesterday, and without being cliche about it and being like, I don't recognize anybody, Luke. I don't recognize anybody. Like, I feel like every year you can mark your age by the number of.

[Luke Burbank]

It's a ring in the tree of your life.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly what I was thinking. And there's one specifically this year, because there are only. Not even two, but one and a half artists that I recognize on the lineup. One of them is. I think it's Thundercat. Right. The famous kind of bass player. I Know, that's the only one that.

[Luke Burbank]

I recognize so far.

[Andrew Walsh]

You recognize the second one, only he's not going as Anderson Paak anymore. He's got an alter ego, and so he's DJing as. What is it? A DJ Peewee. DJ Peewee, yes. So that's why I'm saying one and a half. Like, I'm trying to mix the songs. That's the show title. And.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, Porter Robinson. I know about Porter Robinson.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, really? Okay, so you're up to 3, but.

[Luke Burbank]

You'Re up to 2.5.

[Andrew Walsh]

But going back to the Princess. Oh, and I know 100 gecks changing his name thing, I was kind of like, yesterday. I'm kind of like, couldn't you just give me Anderson Paak so I can say I recognize two? Like, you're even the one. One of the only people I recognize on here, and you're going under an alter ego just so that you confuse me even further. Right.

[Luke Burbank]

Bruce Springsteen is playing the Block Party, but he's going as. As Asbury Park. It's like. Which is weird because it's kind of close to Anderson Paak, but it was the only Bruce Springsteen thing I could think of under pressure. I actually kind of. I think I might have suggested 100 gecks as a music for your weekend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Back in the day.

[Luke Burbank]

It is really, really. I think. I. I don't know what even. I forget even what the genre is called. It's like maybe hyper pop, or. It's not even hyper pop. It's some. It's cuckoo bananas. But I kind of like it. But it kind of also makes me feel like the end of the world is nigh.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, you did. I think you recognize. I'm looking up an old email here, an old newsletter where we put these things, and you suggested a song called Hollywood Baby. And I'm remembering this name.

[Luke Burbank]

Really out there stuff. I was kind of digging it. All right, so we've established that it's Jamie Bugle and Eric Hamilton and that they are in Madison, Wisconsin.

[Andrew Walsh]

I need to actually, in all seriousness, correct you. I don't think it's Bugle. I think it's Bugel. Based on this pronunciation, it looks like the emphasis is on gal.

[Luke Burbank]

You go. So once again, Andrew, I have failed you.

[Andrew Walsh]

If I'm right, failed jb, but it does believe.

[Luke Burbank]

I believe you're right. I. This is. We have established a synapse in my brain that refuses to light up. Like, we have found a. We have found a dead link in my brain, which is saying hard GS in names.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Although this time you got the G right. It was just the emphasis. You said bugle and I'm saying it's just Bugel.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, okay. Well.

[Andrew Walsh]

But either way, I think building, I'm.

[Luke Burbank]

Building towards it, but I do think I have some problems with, for some reason conceiving of how to say a G in that way when it's in someone's name. They're in Madison, Wisconsin, and here's what they say. Thanks for existing. Thank you. We couldn't imagine cooking dinner without you all in the background. Now that is a high compliment. Compliment.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Because to me, the dinner cooking time is a sacred space. It is particularly as I have, like, started cooking a lot more at home. Nothing particularly interesting last night. It was some steamed rice and some organic black beans and a little chopped up avocado and such, which is pretty yummy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sounds good.

[Luke Burbank]

But, but, but like, to me, I have oftentimes I. All day I look forward to the moment when I'm going to be cooking dinner. The day's kind of winding down. I'll have like Chris's show on, or if I've already watched that or if I'm waiting for later, maybe I'll have on my, you know, playing some Bon Iver or whatever. It's just, it's a special time. And the idea that TBTL for Jamie and Eric is it can be the soundtrack to that is a big honor.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And for me, like, you know, some.

[Luke Burbank]

Level of guy when you're cooking. What do you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let's see. Actually, yeah, probably Le Batard or Comedy Bang Bang, kind of depending on where I am in my week. And like the, the content load. It is funny how I feel like I'm like, I'm like a week and a half behind on Levitard and it's like. And, and I didn't fast forward through the two episodes where the guy was talking like a pirate. Like, why didn't I just. Why didn't I just skip ahead? Like, there's so much in front of me, like the news, the sports news is so old by the time I'm getting to it yet I'm having trouble skipping ahead. I'm getting too obsessive. I might need to declare bankrupt. Just start with a clean slate there.

[Luke Burbank]

But I'm so behind on the Howard Stern show. And like I said, they put out three episodes a week. On a good week, when they're doing it, it's three a week. And I'm like, I'm like, I'm so, so so far behind right now. So I can understand for tv. Now, here's the other question for you, Andrew. When you're listening to whatever it might be, Comedy Bang Bang or Lebiton, as you're like making dinner, do you have the headphones on?

[Andrew Walsh]

Really depends. Usually not. And because first of all, it is. First of all, it is a little bit hard. You like to hear what you're cooking sometimes.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. That's why I was curious then. Genevieve is being subjected to a certain amount of these programs depending on.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, that's kind of the thing and that's what the. All these circumstances come into play. Like, if I'm already somewhere else in the house and I'm listening to my podcast with my headphones on, I come upstairs, I could see myself getting well into some dinner prep because I just never took the headphones off, sort of. But if I'm kind of like, oh, I've got home from the grocery store, I know I'm going to make it something like I have. I'll probably put a podcast on the speaker. But then if Genevieve comes in and kind of wants to chat casually, I will just shush her. I will say, you get out of my kitchen and you show this to Got some respect. Now I'll. I'll probably switch to music. You know what I mean? I don't like chatting over top of a podcast. My brain can't handle that. And so if we're going to have more of a, like, hey, we're in the kitchen, we're cooking together, I'm probably switching over to some music.

[Luke Burbank]

Music, right. That's. I mean, that's. I'm glad to hear that. I'm glad to hear that you're not trying to low key play the podcast in the background while you and Genevieve are having a conversation.

[Andrew Walsh]

Because not while we're talking, but sometimes if we're not talking, we can sit. Sit. And not talking or not talking. These has probably. Let me put it this way, Vives has heard and I think to a degree enjoyed more Lebitard in the past couple of years, certainly than. Than you have. You know what I mean? Like, she's pretty damn familiar with the show at this point.

[Luke Burbank]

Uhhuh. Okay, so back to Jamie and Eric's message. Here is our plug. This year, Eric launched a new tech support business with the goal of making technology more fun and less frustrating.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm just laughing because I just think that we just made technology very frustrating.

[Luke Burbank]

For listeners and less fun and less fun.

[Andrew Walsh]

As I tried to describe.

[Luke Burbank]

We're Running the opposite business than Eric is.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, I'm just saying. Saying wildly incorrect things about sms.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm sorry if you or a friend or family are recovering from Andrew's recent speculation on sms.

[Andrew Walsh]

If your conversation about SMS lasts for more than four podcasts.

[Luke Burbank]

If you or a friend or family member need help with online accounts, apps or general computer troubleshooting, he can provide remote services across the country. And if you live in the Madison, Wisconsin area, he makes house calls.

[Andrew Walsh]

How cool is that?

[Luke Burbank]

This is amazing. Honestly, like. Like for me, if I have a problem with one of my Mac computers, I generally have to go down to Portland. I have to make a genius appointment. I have to go in there.

[Andrew Walsh]

I.

[Luke Burbank]

The last few times I've been there, I would say ultimately I've gotten somewhat effective resolution, but it's not been without a certain amount of having to, I don't know, kind of like gently nudge the be quote, unquote genius into really helping me. What I feel like I'm starting to hear more and more and I wonder if this is a corporate thing, like, is, well, this isn't. We don't, we don't handle this. Or this isn't really our thing. Or this. You know what I mean? And it's like a computer I bought from Apple and it has Apple Care.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's like. And then they'll do it. That's the thing. Like, the last time I went down there, it was like I had. All of a sudden there was no, like, operating. Eric would know the term, but like, there was no, like, like, I don't know if it's RAM or SMS or whatever, but like, basically the. All the memory on the computer was full, it wouldn't function. And I brought it. And the guy, again, he eventually got to the problem and he was like, I'm not allowed to delete this. You can delete it. Which I also get because he doesn't want to be responsible for it. But the. It just felt like I didn't walk in and he didn't go, oh yeah, let me, let's. Let's figure out what's going on. He was kind of telling sleeves. Yeah, he was kind of telling me. He puts down his, like, like he's got some kind of a, you know, jeweler's eye. He's like, puts it down and it's gonna like really get in on this. It was more like, well, here's what I, here's what I will and won't do. And here's what is and is not Our responsibility just. It didn't feel warm and welcome. It didn't feel like when Eric comes over potentially to your house and. And. And takes a holistic approach. It's like All Creatures Great and Small. Okay?

[Andrew Walsh]

He's.

[Luke Burbank]

He's James Harriet, okay? He is doing house calls. He is bringing these computers back to life. He is breach birthing iPhones. He is reaching into the computer, turning the iPhone around. This is something that happens a lot in All Creatures Great and Small. Mostly not to spoil it. It's mostly that the calf is backwards inside the calf.

[Andrew Walsh]

I. Again, apologies, but you clearly did not read ahead. It says specifically here. Eric does not do reach births of iPhones.

[Luke Burbank]

I apologize for. Apologize, Eric, for overstating the case. All right. Anyway, general computer troubleshooting. He can provide remote service across country. And if you live in the Madison, Wisconsin area, he makes house calls. Check out. Here's the important part. The website. Trusted tech hub. That's traditional spelling. Trusted tech hub. To learn more and mention you're a 10 for a discount. Thank you, Jamie and Eric. Yes.com.com. maestro.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm not ready for the maestro. Sorry. I'm gonna ask you to. Could you say maestro again, Luke? I love the way you say it.

[Luke Burbank]

Maestro. The silent G. Hard G. I heard.

[Andrew Walsh]

I started to say it. I didn't have the confidence to complete the thought.

[Luke Burbank]

Here is the second dazzling donor today that we would like to thank. It's Joe Lamb. It's pronounced. Pronounced bees. Beads. Now that I can get behind Joe. First of all, Joe, I want to thank you for having a name that does not involve a hard or soft G. If you were listening to the previous 10 minutes of the show, you know that it's a problem for me. How crazy would it be if Joe wasn't listening to the previous 10 minutes of the show?

[Andrew Walsh]

I was wondering how that would be.

[Luke Burbank]

Into me reading his name. That would be something.

[Andrew Walsh]

That would be something. Now, Joe, is this sort of feel. It sort of feels a little bit like an assignment for us here.

[Luke Burbank]

Are you ready to tackle an assignment for us? By the way, Joe's in Mesa, Arizona, which I believe means table Arizona, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah. Nice.

[Luke Burbank]

And I don't know. I just wanted to point that out for some reason. Well, it does feel like homework for us because Joe says I don't have a message to read, so feel free to improvise something. But I also have to point out that Joe is giving us money.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. No. So. No, that's fine.

[Luke Burbank]

So it's like, in a way, it's like, we're giving the. We're giving the donors homework when they fill out the form.

[Andrew Walsh]

True. Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

And Joe is just. Joe is just, I think, rightfully saying, wait, wait, I'm already giving you money, and so maybe you can do the lift on. On my dazzling donor message.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And so to improvise something. So you're. You're at a.

[Luke Burbank]

Hold on. I need a name of. I need a. You're a profession.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're at a diner. You're at a diner, and I'm the rest. I'm the. I'm the server at a diner. But. Okay, but I come from a really. I already hate this. I know. It's terrible. I don't.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't believe this is how these improv scenes even work. Have you been. This is a real question. And I.

[Andrew Walsh]

This sounds. This is improv. You shut up and I'll tell you what your role is.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. Two things. Two things. This sounds really loaded, but I. I genuinely want to know this. Have you. Because it seems like the kind of thing that you might sort of avoid at all costs. Have you been to an improv show? Like, have you been trapped or roped into being at an improv show, like, in your life, like, let's say, from college until now?

[Andrew Walsh]

You might be shocked to hear this, and I'm going to try to not get bogged down in the details, but yes, in high school, me and my friend group were really obsessed with this kind of underground local improv thing. So this is like the 90s, and it was a small little troupe called Guerrilla Theater. And I remember driving somewhere, I think it was like, I think we're driving from the suburbs into the city. I feel like in some sort of very small. It was a very small, intimate little space where people did guerrilla theater. I don't know how we heard about it, and we were kind of obsessed for a while. We'd go on weekends, a small group of friends and stuff. And years later, after I'd already, like, kind of gone through college and met a whole bunch of people at wksu, which was. I was a student, and there were a bunch of. It was a. You know, it was a professionally run radio station. I was part of the student program there, and I became friends with a lot of the professionals who ran the place, one of whom was named Betsy. She became a friend of mine in adulthood. Years and years later, I'm going to say, like, maybe just a few years ago, I found an old guerrilla theater button from my youth that I went to When I was like, you know, again, in high school, and I took a photo of it and I posted on social media somewhere, I'm like, I forgot about guerrilla theater, like, and I tagged some of my friends in it, who we used to go with all the time. And then my friend from adulthood, Betsy, was like, that was my true troupe. Like, you. You were. This is a woman that I knew in adulthood, but we never, ever made the connection that when I was in high school and she was probably in college or maybe freshly out of college, she was actually one of these improv artists that I used to, like, sneak into some underground theater to see.

[Luke Burbank]

And that's the kind of thing.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's not what you asked, but that's.

[Luke Burbank]

No, you did. I asked if. Well, not. Well, wait a second, though. Hold on.

[Andrew Walsh]

There's a lot. I gave you too much information. But I just find it amazing that that is.

[Luke Burbank]

That is an odd coincidence. I'm not saying that sarcastically, but. So it was. It was. It was an improv in the sense of, like, give us a prompt and we're gonna do this because, you know.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, I really liked. Whose Line Was It Anyway? This is the 90s, man. We were all doing, like. We were doing lines of improv, man. We were fast, like, fat rails. So, yeah, I think it was very much. And again, this felt like a very alternative sort of thing that we were doing. To use a kind of a cringy word there.

[Luke Burbank]

Now I was in the alternative to the alternative. I was not in it myself, but the world that I was in of improv was. It was really big in the Christian kid community, because as long as the prompts weren't, like, Sex Toy, which they would probably be at Guerrilla Theater, like, it could be pretty clean, right? Like, it was this. It was really. That and a cappella, regrettably, were really huge in my high school experience. Again, not for me. Like, I don't remember. I don't think I've ever been in an improv of class or troop. I don't think I've ever tried it. But I do remember it being a thing that we would go do socially. There was something called theater sports, and they would come. You. They had a. I think they had a location in Pike Place Market, but also there was some sort of offshoots that would come to your, like, high school event and stuff, and it was like. It blew our minds. Like, we just thought it was the. The coolest thing ever that you could just, like, these people, you know, again, who were like, yeah, probably they were probably all of 20 and 21, but they seem very old to us. Very worldly. Worldly. They like. You just give them a couple of ideas and then they do a whole scene from it. We just thought it was the friggin best.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, so how about this for a scenario? The lamb of God is a server in a roadside diner. And the. The land.

[Luke Burbank]

Here's the thing. You know what the special is? Lamb.

[Andrew Walsh]

See, now we're cooking. Betsy, get at me.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, exactly.

[Andrew Walsh]

Anyway, just. We did it.

[Luke Burbank]

By the way, do you realize that Joe's last name is Lamb?

[Andrew Walsh]

Is that why that popped in my head?

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, that's all I can think of.

[Andrew Walsh]

I just thought the lamb of God was funnier than like Jesus of Nazareth because, like, how do you. It is funnier, but portray the lamb.

[Luke Burbank]

Joe's last name being Lamb.

[Andrew Walsh]

It must have been living in my head a little bit.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I'm just.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's perfect, though.

[Luke Burbank]

That's like that, that. That really ties it all together. Andrew, nice job. You're welcome, Joe.

[Andrew Walsh]

See what good improvisers we are.

[Luke Burbank]

Hello and welcome to Top Story. I was. I was so pleased last night, Andrew, when I got a text from you saying, are you watching Everybody's Live with John Mulaney? I wasn't. I was. I was deep diving on various books related to the Livewire episode that we're doing tonight at the Alberta Rose Theater. But it inspired me because what I realized was if I get done with all my prep, get all my questions figured out, then I can reward myself with two things. One, a delicious but relatively low carb bar of white chocolate from a place that I learned about in the Colombian newspaper called Download Chocolates Down Low Chocolates. It's a husband and wife who make really tasty, simple chocolates that don't have a lot of, like, bad stuff in them. Them. And I ordered them online and they are prohibitively expensive, but I love them so much. I knew I was like, I'm gonna get all my work done. Then I get this white chocolate bar that I like and I'm gonna sit and I'm gonna watch Everybody's Live with John Mulaney. And that is exactly what I did until it was 11pm and then I went to sleep. So this was your first time. Did you watch it, like in the Live Experience at seven?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. So for me, like, I put a. After you were telling me about it on the show, I guess it was.

[Luke Burbank]

Probably around the last chance.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that's right. Yeah. CH emailed us about it, but you were talking about it on the show, and you were telling me all about it, and I. I think maybe in the moment or later that day, I put it on my calendar. Like, I'm never going to remember this.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I also knew from what you described of the show, like, for me, the beauty or any enjoyment I get out of it is going to start with the fact that I'm watching it live. I just knew that that was going to be it. Like, I'm not. I did not have any desire to go back and rewatch the episode that you told me about that had been live. Instead, I was like, I will put this on my calendar. And then it kind of. Of course, I kind of forgot about it. And then yesterday, I got the calendar reminder, like, literally, like, 10 minutes or something before it was supposed to start. And so I was like, okay, yeah, so I'll turn it on. I think I might have been. I turned it on in the middle of that introduction that you were telling me about. So I just caught the very, very end, which was interesting. So I missed who the. Who the guests were going to be. So I. It was kind of interesting. So I kind of came in not knowing, and that was kind of fun for me. And you told me, like, it's weird and it's live, and they lean into the liveness of it and the awkwardness of it. I will also say I had this little input in my head. Genevieve, I don't think had heard our conversation about it, but she randomly had checked it out, and she just kind of said, apropos of literally nothing to me. A couple of days ago, I checked out that Mulaney show, and I don't get it. It's not for me. So I was like, okay, yeah. I said, luke really likes it. And he and I kind of share a. A love of, like, live, weird things. And even if it doesn't work, I'd rather it be. I'd rather something be a little rocky and awkward but authentic than really smoothed out. You know what I mean? Like, I would never watch Fallon. Right. Like, I have no desire in that at all. But if Mulaney comes out and not every joke works, but it just sort of feels literally.

[Luke Burbank]

Or if he forgets the name of the show.

[Andrew Walsh]

What's that? Yes, the name of the show. So.

[Luke Burbank]

Which I feel like is a thing I would. I'm not trying to.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

You know, center myself with the story. But, like, just quickly, last night, he said, is it called. Like, he literally just. I think he forgot if it Was everybody's live or everyone's live?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. And he said, everyone's live. And he had to turn to his sidekick, Richard Kind. Yeah. And say, what is it? And Kind's like, everybody's alive.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm constantly shocked at how many times I forget critical things about this show, like what we call something. And it's like, how could I forget that we've been doing it for whatever, you know, I find moments like that very relatable.

[Andrew Walsh]

I guess I really liked that. I will say so. I guess my. I wanted to start this by asking you a question about your overall thoughts on it, but I guess I can't remember what that was anymore. So I guess I'll just give you my overall thoughts and we can break it down, which is even saying that I like things to be rough and awkward. It was rougher and more awkward than I thought. Lot.

[Luke Burbank]

I've probably watched five of them. That was off the rails rough, that shoot.

[Andrew Walsh]

That was the question I wanted to start with, with you. Because what I wanted to start by asking you before I gave you my impression was, Luke, are you having that phenomenon where you've suggested something to somebody. Me, in this case. And you turn it on and you're like, this better be a good one. And then you're watching it not live up. Like, if you suggest a podcast to somebody and they're like, oh, I tried that podcast that you recommended, and it wasn't very good. You're like, oh, did you listen to this week? You should have listened to two weeks ago. That's like, this week was particularly not good. I was wondering if you might be having those thoughts that I picked this one of all shows to begin with.

[Luke Burbank]

No. Because what I had promoted to you, at least if I remember right, was that this shit's weird.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's live, and it's. If anything, it might err on the side of trying things that might not work. And I feel like it delivered on that promise.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was weird.

[Luke Burbank]

It's not like I told you to watch. I think you should leave. And I'm like, these sketches are so funny, the. The way that the, you know, the writing is, et cetera. I think what. What I liked about it is taking phone calls on, like, local live television without really enough. Without really knowing how it's going to go. And whereas in the previous episodes I've watched, I think I said to you something like, I feel like the calls are somewhat curated because they usually have a pretty good story. Like, if it was a talk radio show, and you were throwing the lines open and going, we're talking about cruise ships. Somebody who's like, I worked on a cruise ship and there was a dead body and the refrigerator was full, so we had to leave him in his room. That's a good story. Like, I don't think that that story comes in accidentally.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, somebody's clearly screening these. He's got an iPad there next to the phone and he's, he's reading. He kind of knows what the caller wants to say.

[Luke Burbank]

I just have a feeling that even though they flash a phone number, number, which, by the way, I love, and they're like, you know, what is it like, you know, messaging, rate, supplier, they put something under. This is like, so funny. As if calling the 323 is going to cost you extra on your cell phone. Then they have a person calling in who's on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean. Again, I don't think that person randomly calls in like I have. I tend to think that they set these calls up somewhat in advance. But then there is still a huge element of unpredictability because in this case, case the calls were pretty bad. Like, the people were confused. The people couldn't hear. I also think there was a technical issue.

[Andrew Walsh]

There was some technical issue that first.

[Luke Burbank]

Callers couldn't hear the guests.

[Andrew Walsh]

The guests were trying to break in. Sorry, like I'm doing over you. Well, it was so awkward, though. Like they, the. The phone guest wouldn't stop talking because they couldn't hear that the. Everybody on the stage was trying to talk to them. And that was rough.

[Luke Burbank]

The people on the stage were like, so the first two guests are Ben Stiller. I do, I do love this. It's so funny because I don't know if it's ever worked yet on any of the shows I've watched, but the premise is they pick a topic. Yesterday was cruise ships. The week before it was loaning friends money. And then they invite out a famous person and a person who's an expert on the subject. So last week it was Michael Keaton and a financial advice columnist because the topic was loaning friends money. This week it was Ben Stiller and a woman who is a cruise industry sort of expert.

[Andrew Walsh]

I guess she was an editor for a cruise ship, like industry magazine of some sort. Yeah, I think.

[Luke Burbank]

And, and, and so it's such an, it's such a random pairing. Now, the pro. I would say we don't have to get. We have to break this down moment by moment. I would say A part of the problem with this particular pairing was Ben Stiller, other than his parents being on Love Boat, has never been on a cruise. Here's what I realized in a certain way. Cruising, I wouldn't say it's. It's coded along class lines, but it's coded along taste lines. Because what I noticed is Ben Stiller has never been on a cruise and Nick Kroll has never been on a cruise. One of the other guests, why they don't not the kind of people to go on cruises.

[Andrew Walsh]

And Quinta Brunson was like, I will never go on a cruise. She I, by the way, I, I've always kind of liked her to the degree that I've watched a little bit of Abbott Elementary. What I've seen, I really liked and I made maybe have seen a little bit of her. But that was probably the most exposure I had to her. Just like chilling. I might be slightly in love. Like, she is awesome. She is so great.

[Luke Burbank]

She's really great. I thought she kind of. To the degree that that segment could be saved. I thought she kind of saved it.

[Andrew Walsh]

She brought it, man. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And how about when Samo comes out? Did just. Things kept happening. I mean it really felt like.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did you see a court sketch artist that just an over the shoulder shot of a court sketch artist never commented on. They put on the screen for five seconds and it's just somebody who is sitting in the front row of audience doing a court courtroom style sketch of everybody who's on stage. They never come back to it.

[Luke Burbank]

Or how about the guy who was reading Joan Didion in the audience? Like, I mean it really is. I, I think what's happening. And I'm sorry if you haven't watched this. And it's just Andrew and I just going, and what about that? And what about that? Like, this might be kind of boring, but like what it really feels to me is like a bunch of people. And I'm sure the writers are so much younger than me, so this premise kind of falls apart. But my sense, it feels to me like a bunch of people, people who geeked out on. They probably watched a bunch of old Conan on YouTube. They're probably 33 and they were like comedy nerds who, who grew up watching or maybe Tim and Eric, you know, and like their comedy inspirations are, are, are like just a lot of just kind of unexplained like bits and stuff. And this thing is just full of these moments that are just like they, they don't try to connect them to anything. Like they, they're commercial are so interesting to me. Or their breaks, I guess you'd call it. So the show is. John Mulaney comes out, he does a. He does like a two joke monologue. He and Richard Kine go into this totally made up thing because I googled it about how during their, the week in between last show and this show, they had started a TikTok trend called psychoing where they put two zins in their mouth and drink a Celsius.

[Andrew Walsh]

Which. What is a Celsius by the way? Is that an energy drink?

[Luke Burbank]

It's an energy drink that's supposed to be. It's supposed to energize you so much that you literally lose weight from it because your body, your body's metabolizing at such a rapid pace. It sounds healthy. Yeah. So they do this like totally ridiculous bit and, and, and then John Mulaney like does another couple of things and then by the way, flashes of tbtl they go into another bit where Richard kind thing is he's getting the news the day before everyone else. We just had a Early Edition reference on our show.

[Andrew Walsh]

Are they listening? I know that, but I was just like, how are they going on an Early Edition riff? We just went on an Early Edition riff.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. It's like. And you know what? Theirs worked about as well as ours did.

[Andrew Walsh]

Honestly, ours might have been a little bit better. And I believe our riff was. Do you remember that show? I gotta say, like that was. I love them going for it, but that was tough.

[Luke Burbank]

That was the idea was Richard Kyne gets the news the day before and he's got to save people. But the news he's getting is like, it's like. It's like 24 summer pasta meals to really make your picnic or something. Like, you know, one of those just like New York Times cooking, whatever. But, but they don't really explain how he has to stop it or why the pasta is going to like. It's sort of, it's, it's, it's a funny joke to me that like what if the guy in Early Edition was getting the totally non important part of the newspaper? Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

And that's a good premise. That was the premise. But then that really.

[Luke Burbank]

And again, there's no.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't want to tell them to polish it up too much because I do believe that the thing that we love about the show or will love about the show is that it's rough and it is sort of not overthought. But that one could have used a little bit more Cooking a little bit.

[Luke Burbank]

So then they, you know, they bring Ben Stiller and this cruise expert out. And again, it's like, Ben Stiller has never been on a cruise, and he's trying to help. I mean, I can see the gears turning in Ben Stiller's head. He is trying to be a good talk show guest. So he's never been on a cruise ship, which you'd think again, you know, like, I think that probably something like Fallon. It's pre interviewed to death. Yes, but like, a one question. Have you been on a cruise? So then, like, how. How would it be that John Mulaney is asking Ben Stiller, have you been on a cruise? And the answer is no. Like, right, is there no pre interview? And then he's trying to talk about the fact that his. His mom and dad were on the Love Boat, which is, by the way, a pretty fun, interesting thing. You could have expanded on that. It didn't really get expanded.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then he's like, oh, do you ever visit your parents when they're on the set? And Ben Stiller was like, no, some.

[Luke Burbank]

Sets, but not that one.

[Andrew Walsh]

Then he waits, and he's like, well, some. Some sets, but not that one. And then it's like, okay, can we roll with that? Can we say, well, what sets did you. Any memories? But, like, it was just like, he's. Mulaney is asking yes or no questions, and then it's just accepting no.

[Luke Burbank]

And Melanie's also doing this thing where he's like, fabulous. I can tell. I could see, because I am also a host of shows at a. A much lower level of. Of prestige. I've never tried to host a live. I've never been, apparently, so I can't even imagine what the pressure would be. But I could tell that Mulaney was in a bit of a free fall. There was a period at which he was only answering, it's fabulous. Oh, we love it. It's fabulous. Like, he's on total autopilot. What's happening is the. The backside of his brain is furiously thinking, thinking, how do we save this? Where are we going with this? What's happening next? What am I doing here? And the front side of his brain, which has to do the talking part, is just going into, like. Like, Ben still will say, like, yeah, the Poseidon Adventure, you know? And then I really love that movie. And, yeah, it's fabulous. It's fine. Like, he's on total autopilot because he's just. He's. He's just trying to fix things. And it's not really working. But again, this is kind of the. Also, the cruise ship expert was clearly a shell for the cruise industry, which is kind of funny because, like, somebody's trying to ask, like, about, you know, if the captain has to go down with the ship and the asking about cruise disasters. And it's very clear that this woman doesn't want to talk cruise disasters because she wants to promote the industry. She's like, well, cruise disasters almost never happened. And it's like, okay. But, you know, it was very much.

[Andrew Walsh]

The front fell off. Like, it was. So, you know that sketch that we play from that old 1970s British, like, fake news show. I'm blanking other names now, but we've played the intro tape quite a bit. People probably hopefully know what I'm talking about. But, like, well, the front fell off the tanker. Well, the front doesn't fall off most tankers, does it? And it's like they were almost doing that. She's like, well, she, like, gets back to the corner of saying, well, like, I guess all ships could potentially sink at some point, but we haven't had a cruise ship sink. And it was. She was. She had a smile on her face, and she was definitely game. I don't think she was put out, but, like, nobody on the stage was.

[Luke Burbank]

Setting experience with cruising or.

[Andrew Walsh]

Or setting each other up for success in a talk show setting, in a conversational setting. Like, every. From Mulaney asking yes and no questions, in which he's getting a lot of no's, which is very unhelpful to, like, just, I. Not until Quinta comes out there. Does anybody sort of feel like I need to sort of grab the reins of this thing a little bit and sort of like. Like, get everybody talking around the same page. It was. It was. It was amazing at how bad it kind of was. But I kind of liked seeing it. I would not have enjoyed watching it if it wasn't live. Like, and one of them. I would only do it if it was live because I felt like anything could happen here when.

[Luke Burbank]

When things couldn't seem to get more kind of, I don't know, stilted or disjointed. This, like, delivery robot called say, Mo comes out and which, by the way, those things are all over LA right now. Like, I see them all the time when I'm there. And it's not like. Like a, you know, like a bit. It's not a novelty. That's exactly the word I'm looking for. Like, I was. We were filming something. I Don't know. A few months ago at the. At the. The. Not the Comedy Store, but anyway, one of the standup comedy clubs in la. We were filming something with Nikki Glazer, and I look out the window and I just see, like, a flag, like. Like an orange, like, triangle flag kind of going by. And I thought. Thought maybe it was somebody on a recumbent bicycle. And so I kind of look out the window and it's just a. A cooler on wheels that's just going down the street on its way somewhere to deliver some food. So one of those things comes onto the stage and, like, John Mulaney opens it. And this was, again, just a moment of, like, it's really clear that they are not over preparing for this or they're not over obsessing on the details. But it's like, it. It's unclear to him, I think, what exactly is going to be in the same o. He opens it and he finds a thing of Dramamine. And you can tell that this is the first time that he's learning that this is. He goes, oh, yeah, somebody put some Dramamine in here. Really funny. Holds it up, like, to one of the producers, like, okay. And then it's got a bunch of just, like, beverages in it. But they've. The term is Greeked, which just means, like, you can't show a Coca Cola on this show unless you get Coca Cola to agree. So you. You. You put a pretend label that just says cola and all of the drinks have been Greeked, which also seems like it's news to John Mulaney. And then he's just saying what they really are. He's like, this is obviously orange Gatorade or whatever.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

He's, like, handing them out to people. No one takes a drink.

[Andrew Walsh]

I love the way that he's, like, thumbing his nose at the. Whatever producers did that. He's like, these have all been Greeked. Well, you can Greek it all you want. This is clearly orange Gatorade again.

[Luke Burbank]

Again. And that's, like, a little moment that, like, I kind of love in the midst of this total chaos. And then this is about the time, Andrew, when I realized I needed to get some shut eye. So that's where my awareness of what happened on the show kind of ends. What did I miss?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, first of all, did you see, like, right in that moment, too, like, Ben Stiller, like, takes the label off and secretly shows it to Quinta. He's like, yeah, look, this is just Coke. And I don't know if I heard him say coke or not. But he literally. He peel. And he just sort of peels it back quickly. By the way, at times, the camera was going out of focus. I saw that quickly, like, shoot to switch over to Richard Kind, even though Richard Kind wasn't doing anything, only because it was a camera that was seeing.

[Luke Burbank]

That, a focus pole. I was like, what's going on?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, they were, like, having all kinds of issues. And again. So, okay, some more like, kind of broad thoughts on this was the calls you tapped out. There were more calls, and I was kind of bummed to hear before the show, and you and I were chatting that you didn't hear this one because it's. It's sort of like, again, so relevant to some of the work that you and I do and have done. Like, they're taking these calls from people, but they want the calls to be authentic. Right. And so they're talking. Sometimes there's technical issues, but, you know, they're joking around with people. But one guy calls in. He's like, okay, I got a story for you. And, like, you can just tell that he's a guy who loves his stories, you know? And it starts off okay, but he's saying this, and he's explaining how there are emergency codes for all the ships. And, like, for example, code Alpha would mean we have this going on, and so somebody has to come clean this up or encode. And it's unclear where he's going, but he just keeps on adding more and more detail. And I understand this is coming from me, but he just keeps adding more and more detail to this story. And it really does sound like he's told the story a whole bunch. At one point, Mulaney just starts doing the, like, let's move faster. Like, he starts spinning his finger in the air for everybody to see. Like, let's get this guy going here. At one point, he says, listen, you're given all the color and not enough story. And Ben Stiller starts laughing. And now they're all, like, sort of outwardly, like, making faces as this guy is telling a story on a phone. And then eventually, like, John Mulaney's like, you know, get to the point. Get to the point. He's still adding little details. John Mulaney says, you know what?

[Luke Burbank]

You know what?

[Andrew Walsh]

And he just takes his finger and he slams it down, and he hangs up on the collar, which. I've talked to you about that before, too. Like, the idea of.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, you love that.

[Andrew Walsh]

I kind of like the. I have a fantasy that. That we Host a show where we could be a little bit more sharp, elbowed about it, because I kind of love it.

[Luke Burbank]

Don't look at the Tradio show.

[Andrew Walsh]

When a talk show host is just kind of like, you know what? This isn't working. Goodbye. Be a better caller next time. You know? And like that. And then he's like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. He was telling a yarn. He's told it too many times. He's added. He's like, talking to the guy after he's hung up. You've told that story too many times. You've added too many details to it. I can tell it's a yarn. And we don't have time for your yarn right now.

[Luke Burbank]

And then decent.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then crawl who. You know, those guys are like, just go way back. Really close friends and collaborators, Collaborators for a long time. Says, did. Did that really make you nervous? Like, during that call? Are you really nervous? And I think. I think Kroll was saying, like, just during that whole thing, are you nervous while this guy is rattling on? But Mulaney is more like, was I nervous to hang up on him? And Mulaney's like, yeah, yeah. I'm like, I might have just deprived the world of a wonderful story with a wonderful end, but I had to make a decision. And, yes, that makes me incredibly nervous. And again, that sort of speaks to. I love the raw, live nature of this, but they're also just, like, sort of. But there were just so many awkward pauses, though, where people didn't know if they should speak or.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

In a way that I feel like what this show needs to do is keep doing exactly what it's doing, but just get a little bit more comfortable. Don't. I don't want to see the show get over. Overthought.

[Luke Burbank]

Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

But just get a little bit more comfortable with silence here. Mulaney will become more like second nature as he takes a phone call. Like you said, all. You can see his brain working. Like you said, like, you can see him. And I love the fact that, like, he'll just look down at the phone, like he just stopped. He doesn't think like a host. He's not always looking at the camera and grinning. He just looks like he's. I got work to do. And he's, like, looking down as he's screening his phone calls or whatever. Dude needs a haircut, by the way. Him and Mark S from Severance. I want to give them both a haircut. I don't know if I feel like.

[Luke Burbank]

Mark S'S is a weird. It's an aesthetic choice within the world of. Of Severance and I hate it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Going through something.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I. I hate his hair so.

[Andrew Walsh]

Much, so I want to give him a shower so bad.

[Luke Burbank]

By the way, also a Ben Stiller production.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I know.

[Luke Burbank]

What's the through line in all this? Is Mulaney getting his hair tips from Ben Stiller.

[Andrew Walsh]

One of. One of the callers made some cure joke. Actually kind of jammed it in. Could tell. And Stiller kind of gave him up. By the way, quick aside, a dazzling detail that I learned and I'm going to mess up some of the details. I don't know if you can be my man behind the computer and clean this up a little bit for me, but you've seen. And by the way, I think this is. I'm pretty sure this is spoiler free. You've seen the episode of Severance that takes place in Goose in Salt's Neck, right?

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

And you remember the diner scene?

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

And there's only like, I believe, two customers of the diner, an older woman and an older man. And the older man is sitting at the table. Table and has an interaction with the. It's like our improv thing. It has an interaction with the guy who runs the diner. That guy who's sitting at the table is apparently the guy who wrote Permanent Midnight, the book.

[Luke Burbank]

Whoa. Jerry Stahl.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think that might be Jerry Stahl.

[Luke Burbank]

Which is the movie that Ben Stiller played Jerry Stall in.

[Andrew Walsh]

And Ben Stiller played Jerry Stahl. So I'm pretty sure maybe you can double check me on this. And I would have never known that name off the top of my head. I didn't know you knew it that well. And he's the creator of Elf, right? Isn't that what Permanent Midnight was about? Like how he was dealing with drug addiction while he was making this new puppet based TV show for the network.

[Luke Burbank]

That part I didn't know. But Andrew, I can confirm Jerry Stahl, the author of the memoir Permanent Midnight, appeared in a scene in Severance season two, episode eight at the Drippy Pot Cafe.

[Andrew Walsh]

Drippy Pot. That's kind of interesting, right? Like Ben Stiller played me. He's like, I played you in a movie kind of about your life. And now I'm gonna. I'm gonna put you in. In my TV show.

[Luke Burbank]

It's clear they've stayed in touch, right? I guess.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. I thought that was cool. Can I come back to Mulaney and just say one other thing? Because I'm worried about the show getting too polished, but it could use a little bit of, like I say, a little bit more comfort. But the thing that. Honestly, the thing that I think was the funniest was the pre recorded thing, which bums me out because I love the liveness of it. But when he says, we're gonna go to a break, and I'm like, what? They have breaks? What are they going to a break for? And at first you think it's a commercial, or then you're like, wait, is this a psa? Because it's a rabbi? And he's just.

[Luke Burbank]

How great was that rabbi, dude?

[Andrew Walsh]

He was great. Did you see both of the breaks with the rabbi? Because they come back later.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I only saw the first one.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's so great. So it's just like kind of a rabbi and kind of just like documentary style, but like kind of like TV commercial, you know, kind of faux documentary style, I guess I would say. He's kind of talking about what it's like to be a rabbi. And he's sitting there in what is, I assume, to be his temple. And there's some, like, kind of shots of the temple, some establishing shots, and he's just kind of talking about the nature of man.

[Luke Burbank]

A rabbi isn't what I am, it's what I do.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Where is this going? He's like, I'm Dave. He's like, when I go to sleep at night, I dream as Dave. Not a rabbi. A rabbi is what I do. And he's kind of being very thoughtful, but you're like, where is this going? And then he says, you know, I like regular things, like movies. And then whoever is like, kind of behind the camera, off Micah, what kind of movies do you like? And he's like, well, I like, you know, a lot of. I like Crimson Tide.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, Crimson Tide, Sorry.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then he starts describing Crimson Tide. And then you're like, you're just like in this temple listening to this rabbi who's a very relatable, down to earth, like, very likable guy, just describing the plot of Crimson Tide. Then they start throwing in clips of Crimson Tide to punctuate what he's saying. Eventually to the point. And I don't know if this was in the first section or when they come back, back to it. Eventually. It's almost like Drunk History where he's saying the lines and they're showing the characters showing, saying the lines, you know, but it's his voiceover. And then it's just like, why are we listening to this guy going to Great detail about this movie. And then he eventually ends with him saying, you know, he's discussing the plot and how both characters were. Who were at odds were both right and both wrong. I guess it's a line in the movie like somebody says, you were both right. Right, and you were both wrong or something. And so that kind of brings it back to sort of like a religious or philosophical outlook. And then somebody off camera says, yeah, but Gene Hackman was wrong. And he's like, I'm not here to defend Gene Hackman's character. I don't know, maybe it has a slightly softer ending than that. And I'm like, I still don't know what I'm watching, but it's so good. And I could.

[Luke Burbank]

I was transfixed the first one. So I didn't see where he's talking about Gene Hackman to that degree. But the first one, which I did see, I thought was the highlight of the entire show.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was so good.

[Luke Burbank]

Because one of the things he mentions is that he remember. He remembers Denzel Washington's character's name in the movie. And he just goes, like, kind of. Yes, like off time. He goes, why is it that I remember that name and not people in my congregation. In my congregation. And then he says something like, well, Terry will tell you. And he's like pointing to somebody who's off camera who's clearly like, works at the temple with him. And that's it cut. Like, it's. It was so genius like that. And I'm gonna literally go back and watch the second one now. But that first little interstitial with this Rabbi Apollo, apropos of. Not cruise ships. Like, apropos of nothing. Nothing, I thought was perfect television.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was so amazing. And that's why I hesitated to say that that was my favorite part, because that was something that was pre recorded and not live. And it was, you know, integrated into the live show. But I would be bummed if, like, the show took a lesson and said, well, all of our best stuff is actually the stuff we record. So let's just do an SNL thing where all of our viral stuff was, like, kind of pre tape stuff. I. I liked the mix of things. They gotta keep it live. But I gotta say, I'm with you. That was the jewel of the show.

[Luke Burbank]

It's. I agree with you as well, Andrew. Which is, you know, the natural inclination after watching that is to say, like, you need to. Okay, here's what we need to do. We need to pre interview the guests more. We need to make sure. That the topic we pick is the guests have something to say about it. Let's just make sure they have like a five minute anecdote. Da, da, da. And then you just, you have Fallon pretty, pretty soon. I think. Why it's uncanny. The whole thing is because John Mulaney is very famous. It is a. There's a high level of production to the show in a certain way in that, you know, it feels like one of those shows, the Tonight Show, Fallon, one of these things. But it, it's trying to be the Chris Gethard show and it's that the idea of squaring and the reason why when you watch the Chris Gethard show or clips from the Chris Gethard show, where it is completely lunacy, it's like Chris Gethard is playing a game where he has to. Where somebody does two truths and a lie about someone who's his actual friend. And if he picks the wrong thing, a marsh, a mixed martial artist punches him in the stomach. You know, that's like next. That's a borderline Gigi Allen shit going on. But because as the viewer, when you're watching the Chris Gethard show, which if you don't know this public access show that this guy Chris Gethard has done for years, I don't think it's. It might actually be on some. Something more legit these days, but it's a total free for all. But you go in with that mentality. What's, what's, what's uncanny about the Mulaney thing is it's trying to be more or less a free for all. But it's. It exists within this set that we identify with the Dick Cavett show or things that are a little bit more formalized. And I, But I agree with you, it would be a mistake, in my opinion, for them to try to get, for them to try to get rid of the rough edges because then they'll just end up with a regular talk show. Like they have to. It can only have its great moments if it also has its terrible moments.

[Andrew Walsh]

And do you remember when we were talking about like tbtl, Right. Well, eventually we'll have a terrible moment. Do you remember when we were talking about the super bowl and the Kendrick Lamar halftime show? I had mentioned to you that the.

[Luke Burbank]

Thing that I famously liked and you were like, not for me.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I said, I don't know, not for me. No, I told you that I had this experience.

[Luke Burbank]

It was a little black for you, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

I had this experience while watching it as a fan of Kendrick. But Also just knowing there was just so much going on in the world. And I know that Kendrick has a lot to say about what's going on in the world. I was just like, my heart was beating out of my chest the moment that halftime show began. Like, I was just like, I don't know what's going to happen here. It's going to be live. And I just was like, literally on the edge of my seat leaning forward. When that performance began, I didn't have that much of a, like, physiological reaction to this, but because it was live, I found myself standing up a lot. I was sort of, like, pacing at times, and I had this energy. And now I want to talk about the musical guests a little bit too, because that was part of it. I didn't know who was going to be on because I missed the opening credits. And so when they introduced Kim Gordon, I'm assuming. And I want to talk about that.

[Luke Burbank]

With you as well.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I kind of assume. I kind of. I was like, oh, if Luke's watching this, I'm guessing that he probably is not super into this music. I could be wrong.

[Luke Burbank]

I actually really like that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did you like that Kim Gordon song? That one where she lists everything in her bag? Yeah, I'm a big fan of that song song too. I'm glad you liked it. I love the, like the whatever. The whatever is the electronic created sound. Like whether that's a keyboard or whatever. They just absolute guttural entire.

[Luke Burbank]

I thought that the drummer might be the lead singer of Big Thief, Adrian Lenker. It's not, but it's a person who looks a lot like Adrian Linker. Is Adrian Linker friggin drumming for Kim Gordon?

[Andrew Walsh]

That would be amazing.

[Luke Burbank]

It's somebody named Maddie Vogue, by the way. But anyway, I thought the drums were freaking.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I mean, that was amazing. And I don't know if you. I. I had known that song, you know, I knew the studio version of that song. I know the studio version of that song. I was like, oh, man, this is Kim Gordon. I was a huge, huge Sonic Youth fan in like high school and college. And so I'm like, kim Gordon's here. That's awesome. So she plays this song off her latest solo record. And I also thought it was really interesting that they tossed to the musical guest so early. And I'm like, that's so great. And that I've produced talk shows before where I really fought to shake up, like, the. The preconceived notions of what a format needs to be. Like the shows talk Shows have been going on forever. And you know that the musical guest comes in in like kind of the back half of the show, right. To break things up. And they went to Kim Gordon very early on, then came back and did more bit.

[Luke Burbank]

Right, that was what I forgot. So they did the monologue and then the first bit about the Zins and then they do a musical performance and then they come back and do the early edition bit.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. And then they tossed to another musical guest, Kim Deal, who I'm also a huge fan of. And I mean I used to geek out on both of these like kind of artists and their bands back in the day. And I know that like there was a. I think it's a pretty obscure reference. But Kim Deal and Kim Gordon did do one record together once. I don't know if that wasn't Ladies who Lunch, I get it confused with that. It might have been Free Kitten or something. But I know that they did one record together together way back in the day. And I felt like a kid again. I was like, I don't know if Luke is gonna like these songs. They both played songs off of their most recent solo records. But then at the very end of the show, both Kim's got together to perform together a song From I think 1995 or 1994's washing machine, a song that I hadn't heard since probably 1996 or something like that. And you know, I always, I'm always a little protective of it because like I like Sonic Youth. But also I do sometimes think that.

[Luke Burbank]

Like the lyrics be surprised to hear it was a little over my head.

[Andrew Walsh]

The lyrics can be a little other.

[Luke Burbank]

Than like Bull in the Heather or whatever their most like accessible thing was.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I hadn't heard that song in so, so long. And just to be like, I can't explain it, but I was like, I'm. I'm this middle aged guy standing in my basement, like literally standing and sort of feeling a rush watching the two Kims have a reunion on this weird ass show. And I know I just keep saying this like that seemed like a really special moment to me that would not have seemed special if this was a pre recorded show that Netflix said, hey, you guys should watch this show that we pre recorded and both Kim's are going to be playing, you know what I mean? Like, or if it was an element of surprise in the fact that it was happening in front of my eyes as it happened and I would say.

[Luke Burbank]

Or if it was happening on Jimmy Kimmel, you know, I'm A big Kimmel fan. Although he did snub me on the black carpet, which has. Has damaged our relationship, I think in a kind of. In only one direction, in that he has no idea we have a relationship.

[Andrew Walsh]

Weirdly, One direction didn't snub you on the black.

[Luke Burbank]

No. Great guys, Harry the Boys, Zayn Malik, absolute just champs. But. But like, had it been, you know, it's the end of Kimmel, so we've had the whole guess it is like. And now from the whatever. Because I think now on Kimmel they might even have some other stage and they'll do it outside the music. But like you were saying, the music being, being kind of sort of like. I think. Here's what I think the truth is. I think a lot of. And I know this because if I'm being, if I'm being honest, we do it with Livewire a little bit. Music is very polarizing and music has a high tune out factor. Sometimes people really like it, but a lot of times people tune out. And so what a lot of shows do is they put the music at the end because if you're going to turn it off, they'd like you to have watched as much of their show as possible. So if you're going to bail, they'd like that to be the problem of the show that comes after them. Which is why this happens at the end of the show usually. Unless it's, you know, Ariana Grande or something. Ariana Grande. But I. So, so, like, had it been in the normal context of a talk show, been like. And now they're touring together and it's just, you know, Jimmy Kimmel's introducing Kim Gordon and Kim Deal. It would have been sort of cool, but it would have felt different than like, for some reason, even though programmatically it probably doesn't make any sense. I absolutely love the fact that it was like the first thing they went to out of the bit. Like, that makes no sense, but it just, it signals to me. And again, it's clear that I have like way more thoughts about this than a normal person because again, I do like a. Do a kind of a poor person's version of this or whatever. But it's like it's such a format breaker. It makes it. And what it tells me as a viewer, and again, a viewer who obsesses over this stuff is like these guys, DeGaff, they kind of don't give a fuck about what the convention is. And that just, even if I don't get it, I'm loving that they're doing it that way. Again, this is something specific to me and what I do for job stuff.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it's almost like they're challenging you a little bit. Like, no, we are gonna do this. And I was thinking later. Cause I kind of had a little buzz from watching the show. I was also huffing a lot of ether.

[Luke Burbank]

Was that and the place.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm trying to think what was the. But no, I did have been buzzing salt. Exactly. But I had a little buzz after the show, and I was like, well, I mean, am I being totally silly about this? Like, aren't all the late night talk shows live? I was like, no, they're not. Like, I knew from a pretty early age that even the east coast viewing that was pre taped, usually in the kind of late afternoon, and then turned over pretty quickly. Like, I don't know the history of all of these things. So maybe I'm wrong about this, but, like, maybe early Letterman was like, legit live live. But I know that, like, by the.

[Luke Burbank]

Eras of the coasts, it's an impossibility for it to be live live.

[Andrew Walsh]

For me on the west coast these days, it's definitely not live. You know, it hit the east coast three hours earlier. And even for the East Coast, I'm pretty sure those things aren't live live. I think they were recorded earlier in the day.

[Luke Burbank]

I was recording there a while ago, and it was definitely not happening at 11:30 at night.

[Andrew Walsh]

So that's why I still sort of feel like there was something about the Mulaney experience that and one thing. Thing that Quinta did that also, like, sort of underscored this feeling was at one point, I actually thought this was kind of a highlight. I don't know if you saw this. It was a highlight of the chat part where they're like, wait a second. I think it was Ben Stiller. This is one of the only funny things he said. He said, so if somebody goes to Netflix right now, is this the only thing they can watch? And Mulaney's like, no, sadly, no.

[Luke Burbank]

They can watch.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then they can watch Suit. I don't know. They start talking about other. But we should ask them if they can make that happen. And then. And then Quinta's like, yeah, this is live, right? She pulls out her phone. She's like, look, guys, I have it light. We're live on the show. And she holds her camera up to the. She holds her phone up to the camera, and you can sort of see them live on the couch. It was like, so good. And I was like, yes. It just made you feel like this is a little messy, but we're kind of all in this boat together. Together.

[Luke Burbank]

I am so happy that you again. I don't know if enjoyed is too strong of a. Yeah, definitely of a thing for it, but I love that. I love that you. You know, you vibed with this. And here's the thing. And then we. We got to get the Blurs days.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, my God.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, we're going super long, but we got some. Some special recordings to do later too, so we got to keep this thing on track. But unlike the Mulaney show, we don't have endless amount of time. Andrew here to pull drinks out of Samo. But my question is, do you think if we watched it live and we called that phone number, there would be any chance of getting through?

[Andrew Walsh]

I was tempted at one point to call just to see what the experience would be like.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

But it. I just. First of all, I wanted to see the show, and I didn't want to be kind of distracted by my phone thing. And also, I. In the moment, I could have even tried to come up with something improv. I could have improvised something about cruise ships. You know what I mean? If it was lending money or if it was something that I could have at least even thought I have the tiniest bit of something to say to even, like, test the waters on calling in, I might have tried it, but I was like, I got nothing on cruise ships. Absolutely nothing.

[Luke Burbank]

I was just curious. First of all, is it a busy signal? Like, because, I mean, it's Netflix. Netflix. Millions. Maybe not millions, but a lot of people are watching this. They're seeing the phone number. If.2% of them. No, if.02% of them pick up that phone. Is it like the old days of trying to call a radio station or trying to call talk radio on a busy day and getting a busy signal? Do you get. I'm gonna dial it. And probably not next week because I'm gonna be in New York, but maybe the following when I'm back home, I want to just call it to hear what the phone does. When you call that number. Number.

[Andrew Walsh]

And do you have any desire to hear what it. What it sounds like when you call it off? Like, off hours, like, right now?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, why not? Can we. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let me just see what happens.

[Luke Burbank]

Do you have. You have. You happen to have the number?

[Andrew Walsh]

I just looked it up while you were talking. Let me see. I think this.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm just gonna play the Wang Chung song to live and die in LA.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm not 100 sure I have this set up right, but hopefully I do.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's see. Calling the number that flashes on the screen during everybody's live dec. See, I don't know why I'm resetting.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know you're trying to buy me some time because we can't. This is live too.

[Luke Burbank]

Hold on. Samos here.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's funny, it says it's calling and I'm not hearing anything, which means something might have gone haywire, which is weird because we're able to place phone calls like we have.

[Luke Burbank]

Read me the number.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's. Oh, that's right, you can just use your cell phone. I was trying to run it through the system, which would have been better. Try 323-918-1441.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, let's see here.

[Andrew Walsh]

It bums me out. I don't know if the number's not working.

[Luke Burbank]

Customer you called is not available at this time. Please try your call again later. Announcement.

[Andrew Walsh]

Huh?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, first of all, the wireless customer. Let me just double check. I want to make sure I might.

[Andrew Walsh]

Have the wrong number. I got that off of Reddit. So somebody was like, no, because I.

[Luke Burbank]

Because if that is the number and it's a wireless customer, that's. That's crazy to me. Like, that makes we think that, like, they're not even trying to actually take calls. But. But maybe, like I said, in the coming weeks, we can try to dial it in real time just to see what happens. I would be. I would be beyond shocked if there was a mechanism for calling in. Although maybe, I mean, maybe the best way to get calls on this topic is to just start doing the show and then just draw from the largest possible. You know, that's the most people that are ever going to be seeing this announcement is when the show's happening. So maybe that's the way to do it. By the way, if I had to give a cruise ship story, it would have just been the fact that. And I've been on three cruises, which is kind of a lot, it would be the fact that on the most recent one, the one that you and Genevieve helped get me on because I had forgotten my passport. The one thing I was supposed to bring with me, and you guys kindly broke into our friend's house and took a photo of it, was that on that cruise ship, there was. Was a daycare. And the daycare by day turned into the dance club at night, which was called Dr. Frankenstein's, which was the funniest thing, because Dr. Frankenstein's was the Drunkest, most debauched. It was where you would end up on this cruise ship when they had cut you off from your unlimited drinks for the day. It was all you could drink up to a point. And we spent most nights at once. We'd hit the wall on our all you could drink. We would go see if they'd give us more at Dr. Frankenstein's, which you'd look around and you'd. If you squinted, if you looked through the strobe lights, you could see like a gym boree and shit. It was also where the babies were in the daytime.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm sorry, it's Dr. Frankenstein's monsters that is sorry. There's a right way to rock in a wrong way to roll. You can't just listen to your song. Just remember that life is number one. You can be having so much fun. Just remember that life is much fun. You can be nothing but. All right, we got a heck ton of blurs days today. We're going to start here with Anya, who says, oh, this is Anya by the way, who wrote in to answer my question about radios and whether or not they burn more batteries when you play them more live.

[Luke Burbank]

Uh huh.

[Andrew Walsh]

Anya says it's your physics professor listening again. I'm listening to you guys discuss that. March 14th seems like it should be a holiday. Well, March 14th is a day to celebrate. It's PI day. It also happens to be my 11 Maddie's birthday, who turned 11 this year. She was born at 4:13, which is PI backwards. And her birth mass was 3.14 kg.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, come on.

[Andrew Walsh]

She is my PI baby. Needless to say, you don't believe. And a dog says Maddie gets pie for her birthday instead of cake. And I got pie tattooed on my arm. That is really cool. Happy birthday.

[Luke Burbank]

Becca reminded me of this, which is like there's this whole kind of. I don't know, this is like, I'm such a geek. Is a little. Can be a little overplayed. It can be the talk like a pirate. But like if I needed confirmation that my girlfriend is on some level deeply pretty geeky, she was like, are you doing anything for PI Day? I was like, are you? Have you met me? First of all, I don't know what pie does. 1.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you eat pie?

[Luke Burbank]

It must be 3. I think that that's the deal. I go, oh, is it, is it 31.4? She goes, It's 3.14 into infinity or whatever. I was like, oh, okay. Yeah, like so one person in my, in my relationship is keeping the Home fires burning on pie day.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nice. Well, happy blurs day to Maddie.

[Luke Burbank]

Yay, Maddie.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right. ARIEL says, Happy 34th birthday to Jake. You've avoided all I've thrown at you for yet another year. We'll see if you make it to 35.

[Luke Burbank]

Whoa.

[Andrew Walsh]

Wow. With love and a watchful eye, your wife and partner in life, Ariel. Happy Flours day, Jake. Donna in Fullerton, California says, I feel sick silly wishing a happy birthday to myself, but I'm turning 80 on March 20th. Hey, that's today. That's Donna. That's a. That's a golden blurs day, as we say.

[Luke Burbank]

That's incredible.

[Andrew Walsh]

In the woods, I'm. Donna says, woohoo. I'm alive. I've listened faithfully since hearing Luke do awesome, not awesome on Madeline Graham's kbc.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh my God, that worked.

[Andrew Walsh]

So many changes, so many shows, so much fun.

[Luke Burbank]

Donna, thanks for sticking with us.

[Andrew Walsh]

No kidding.

[Luke Burbank]

Happy blurs on 80. That is really, really cool.

[Andrew Walsh]

We heard from Anya. Now let's hear from Anna who says, happy blurs day. Hauser. That's our bell.

[Luke Burbank]

Jdar.

[Andrew Walsh]

Jdar. I haven't seen Hauser. Hauser. Let's get a play date on the calendar. Okay. Anna says, happy birthday to Hauser. Now that I'm no longer the beneficiary of your life insurance plan, I'm grateful for every year that you grow older. Cheers to 47. Oh, to be young and 47 again. Ben says, I forgot to get a blurs day in. This time last week I had one job. To wish you a happy blurs day before it was your birthday. I totally forgot and I'm sorry. I hope 39 is a victory lap of your 30s. Happy birthday day. Now, I don't want to be cruel and I don't want to be sharp elbowed, as I said before, but Ben, I would maybe say you had two jobs. One, to send in the blurs day and also to include the name of the person that you were blursing. I'm hoping that the person who is turning 39 years old or turned 39 years old hears this and know that you are speaking to them. Happy blurs day to that person. Christina says happy birthday to my partner in life. Life and adventure and coffee. Okay, I've messed this up. We're starting over. We're starting over.

[Luke Burbank]

We're going on a journey, Andrew. Going on a. Oh, a journey. A life journey with this relationship.

[Andrew Walsh]

Why don't you take me on a sea cruise? You like that song Growing up? You know, that old.

[Luke Burbank]

This. What A boat sounds like to you? I'm curious because we.

[Andrew Walsh]

What is it? Oh, yeah, that's a train.

[Luke Burbank]

Actually, you know what? That could be a steamer.

[Andrew Walsh]

I thought it was supposed to be.

[Luke Burbank]

A train with me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, no, it's. It's a train. Okay. Christina says I'm gonna slow down a little bit. Happy birthday to my partner in life and adventure and coffee drinking time. Alex can't believe what a rocky time it has been in the world, but there's nobody better to be going through it with than you. I'm very excited for our family's first five and for you to become a TBTL daddy in both meanings. Let the fun begin. Love, Christina. Congrats to both of you. And happy Blurs day to Alex. Sweet.

[Luke Burbank]

Very sweet.

[Andrew Walsh]

Julian says happy blurs day to my girlfriend, Miranda. Such a Miranda, who's been listening to Yalls podcasts for years and years now and is turning 30 today. I've been meaning to ask y'all if you could add her to your happy birthday list for the past five years. Okay. Done and done. But it's not a subscription program. You have to write in again next year, Julian. And happy blurs day to you, Miranda.

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely. You get the show, she gets the show.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, this arpel rolled. Wishing my oldest five, Hayden rolled as the goat.

[Luke Burbank]

You know what? At some point. Not today. Not today, Andrew, because we've got a lot going on, but we need to. You see the goat yoga commercial that the Mariners put out? No.

[Andrew Walsh]

Are you in it?

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I have nothing to do with it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

But it's. It's. That's not sound effect.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know.

[Luke Burbank]

It's like, since they took those things in house, they're just. They're. They're like all, like, kind of. They're humor adjacent.

[Andrew Walsh]

I would say the one that I've seen so far. Just hold on, Roald. Like we're talking here. We'll get to your blurs in a second. Hayden, you're gonna get your blurs. I wish. Don't worry.

[Luke Burbank]

Hayden, have you seen. Calm down, everybody. Just don't make me call the police.

[Andrew Walsh]

Luke, have you seen. Is that the only Mariners commercial you've seen?

[Luke Burbank]

It's the only one I've seen because the Seattle Times wrote it up where they're running out of plot lines down there at spring training.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did they say this local baseball team has an amazing commercial?

[Luke Burbank]

Believe the kind of yoga this local baseball team is? No, it's the. I know that there's a series of them. This is the Only one I've seen.

[Andrew Walsh]

The one I saw is probably better than that, but it did make me, like, kind of long for the days when they were actually funny. But it was. It was sort of a thinker. You saw a bunch of Mariners players kind of like, not finishing things. Like, one takes a bite of a sandwich or like, leaves the last bite of a sandwich on a plate.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then another one is, like, putting together a table and leaving the fourth leg. Is it about closers and. Well, it's about starting pitchers. And then you realize, oh, these are all starting pitchers because they don't ever finish what they started. It's kind of a. It's an interesting joke. It kind of. It was a bit of a thinker. I was on board with it.

[Luke Burbank]

The goat yoga one is like, everyone's going out to do yoga. Bryce Miller, Tex, as they call. Call him, is. Is. Is. He looks like a wild Thornberry, by the way. I know that's a little after your time, but people who know know everyone's walking with yoga mats out of the locker room, and he's. Where you going? And they're goat yoga. And then he goes out and sits down. And then the goat is Ichiro, who's coming out to lead yoga. It's not about goats. It's about. Which is. Okay, fine. It's like the goat yoga instead of goat yoga, which, by the way, if you're making the joke about how goat yoga is also not a personality, I'm down for that. Like, I'm with that. Like, we get it about goat yoga. I say this as a person who has contributed to the problem, but the issue for me is then. So it's. It's like Ichiro's like, you know, or someone's like, not goat yoga. The goat yoga. And then he's, like, doing his thing, but then as he's going back through the locker room, he has two goats with him, which doesn't. It's like, conceptually, it falls apart. Like, why does he have.

[Andrew Walsh]

They didn't know how to end it.

[Luke Burbank]

They didn't. And they just were like, goats are funny. People like goats. I literally really think the initial idea was like, they wanted to have goats crawling around on the Mariners, and the Mariners were like, hell, no. And so then they were like, okay, but we'll do. We'll do this goat yoga bit. And I use that term loosely. But we still where there's no goats, but we want to have goats in the thing because goats are funny. So then there's just, like, Goats that are walking through the locker room. But again, it's not goat yoga. It's the goat yoga. So it's like the joke doesn't work.

[Andrew Walsh]

Put it on the pole, Guillermo. Are goats, and apparently. All right, we're done with Hayden's message. Let's move on. No, just joking. Everybody calm down. This is Roald wishing my oldest, five, Hayden, a Happy Blurs day on her actual birthday. I can't believe you're graduating high school. I'm so proud of you. Can't wait for a fun summer. But I'm excited for you to start college in the fall, even though the University of Vermont is a very long way away from Pew. You all up.

[Luke Burbank]

You know what that is, Andrew? That's a long journey.

[Andrew Walsh]

You got to get on that.

[Luke Burbank]

Got take, like, a train, get on that airplane, steamer, ship.

[Andrew Walsh]

You got to get in that steam airplane.

[Luke Burbank]

You got to head across the country.

[Andrew Walsh]

I can't wait to see where this journey takes you. Love, dad. Well, Happy blurs. Oh, there's your train. Happy Blurs Day is.

[Luke Burbank]

Is actually done by bike, too, which is crazy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, that's the last mile problem. Congratulations, Hayden, on getting into college as well.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, that's great. University of Vermont.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

That. That. That message gives me feels, because I know that when I moved away to, you know, I went from Ohio to New Hampshire, which isn't even as long of a distance, and I know that that was really emotional for my dad, as I think at the time, I was just so excited. It didn't occur to me until I saw my dad getting emotional that I'm like, oh, yeah, this is, like, an emotional thing for. I was just excited because I was in a new place. I was gonna be living on my own. You know, I was so excited, and I was like, oh, yeah, this is tough on parents. This can be really real tough.

[Luke Burbank]

So, yeah, my parents were like, oh, are you going to college?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Are you like, we haven't seen you for a few weeks? I'm like, I know. I live in the dorms now, four miles away.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, north of the Cut. Well, send us a postcard.

[Luke Burbank]

Sosk. As my friend Caitlin used to always say, Sosk, that's south of Ship Canal.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh.

[Luke Burbank]

She would always be like, I don't know.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's Sosk. Yeah, I know. My joke didn't work because you're. I think you grew up north of the Cut as well. But I was trying. Oh, my gosh. Speaking of trying, how about that journey? What a journey, Diane. And Beaux Arts says, happy Blurs Village Bozarts Village. Happy Blurs day. To Grace in Newfield, New York from your mom who loves you so very much. You are kind and honest, a hard working advancer of the public health, a green thumb and clearly grandma's favorite because you call her every week. Good for you. By the way, Grace, keep those phone calls coming into grandma. 2024 was a banner year. We met up in Philly for the TBTL event. You became a first time Seattle marathon finisher and our family survived the Thanksgiving that the plumbing went out. Here's to another amazing year for you indeed. Holly in Alexandria says happy belated Blurs Day. To first time mama. Long time 10 Virginia in Fort Worth. So grateful for the joy and hope you put in this world despite the chaos. Cheers to you and your five. This turn around the sun. We're about a quarter of the way through. No, I'm just joking. This is our last one from Sarah who says hoping it's not too late to wish myself a happy blurs day. Absolutely not. I don't know any tens in real life, but my wife has gotten pretty good at referring to my TBTL guys. Especially when all of the Christmas cards get to delivered and she started saying wife in everyday conversation. So lucky to be a part.

[Luke Burbank]

A breakthrough.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey look, the music ended perfectly. So lucky to be a part of this community as a relatively new listener of 12ish years.

[Luke Burbank]

Is that all?

[Andrew Walsh]

That's all. Happy Blurs day everybody.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Happy birthday, folks. All right, we. We got, we gotta get out of here. We got. We've. I might. My comarch count up and down timer has just gone all zeros. That's the sign that we. It's.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that was one thing I liked on Mulaney. Did you notice when on the set when the Breeders were playing, there was a clock in the background? It was just spinning really fast. It was like big wall clock, but it wasn't really telling. The time was just like spinning at like maybe four times the speed o'clock would be spinning. It was just. That was a weird little thing.

[Luke Burbank]

I love it. I'm so glad you're. I'm so glad you're into this to the degree that, you know, I'm not saying we have to watch every week, but I do like that you're. You may be watching this so we can compare notes because I'm going to try to make. And also by the way, there's six episodes. I think I kept saying between eight and 12. Last for show. I believe it's six episodes total. So we're already.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, no, he signed off yesterday. Unless he was making a joke or was wrong, which could be. He didn't know the name of his own show. I swear he signed off by saying, we got 10 more. See you next week.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, well, that's. So. Maybe Netflix. This is so bad. Boring. Because when I went to the. I watched it on tape, right? And it said six episodes. You know what I mean? Like the Netflix description. I bet you they have it wrong. Because it would make sense if they did two. If they're doing 12, which is what I thought they were doing.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And they've got two, then it would mean they have 10 more. I bet you that's. That's the correct number. And somebody at Netflix needs to check their hypotenuse.

[Andrew Walsh]

How many did he do when it was named? Something else, do you think?

[Luke Burbank]

I want to say that was like, 4.

[Andrew Walsh]

So is there any chance that that 6 refers to the number that are already out that probably make the most sense? Because right now you can go to Netflix.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

You can watch the six that have already been made, but the rest haven't been made yet.

[Luke Burbank]

You're right.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right, let's.

[Luke Burbank]

Good deductive reasoning there, Columbo.

[Andrew Walsh]

There we go.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, Colombo.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, I. You said something earlier, and I'm like, that's the show title. And that was five hours ago, and I have no idea what it was.

[Luke Burbank]

I think I was, like, singing something weird.

[Andrew Walsh]

Things did have to do with improv. I love the Lamb of Gosh.

[Luke Burbank]

The Lamb of Gosh. That's it. There you go. It's in there now. It's in the. It's in the. It's in. It's canon. Okay, thanks for listening, everybody. We're gonna be back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio for all of you. In the meantime, have a great Thursday. Stay dry. Maybe I'll see somebody at Livewire tonight. Alberta Rose Theater, 7pm for the rest of you, have a great rest of your day. We'll see you Friday. Please remember, no mountain too tall, and.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good luck to all. Power out.