#4432 Mr. Fubo Meets Dr. Roku

Summary

Summary of TBTL Episode #4432: "Mr. Fubo Meets Dr. Roku"

Introduction

In episode #4432 of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live, hosts Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh delve into the complexities of modern streaming services, particularly focusing on their experiences with FuboTV and Roku devices to watch Seattle Mariners games. The episode, released on March 27, 2025, intertwines humorous banter with insightful discussions on technology, sports broadcasting, and the challenges faced by avid sports fans in the streaming era.

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1. Navigating Streaming Services for Mariners Games

The core of the episode revolves around Luke and Andrew's attempts to stream Seattle Mariners games without traditional cable. Luke shares his recent transition to FuboTV and the acquisition of a Roku device to access the Mariners' regional sports network.

• Luke’s FuboTV Experience:

  • [03:19] Luke explains his shift from bootlegging games to subscribing to FuboTV for a more legitimate viewing experience.
  • “I bought myself a Roku yesterday. You are a long standing member of the Fubo community. I think that explains everything.” – Luke Burbank

• Challenges with the Mariners' App:

  • [04:13] Luke details the frustrations with the Mariners' newly released app, highlighting issues like incorrect zip code recognition and limited channel offerings.
  • “It feels on the edge of jankiness.” – Luke Burbank

• Andrew’s FuboTV Hurdles:

  • [11:40] Andrew discusses receiving an unexpected price hike from FuboTV, increasing his monthly bill from $80 to $131.
  • “I think $80 a month is misleading. I have the elite with sports plus package, and that's $104.99 a month.” – Andrew Walsh

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2. The Battle Against Rising Streaming Costs

Both hosts express their frustrations over the escalating costs of streaming services necessary to watch local sports.

• Luke’s Decision to Subscribe:

  • [04:25] Despite reservations about the cost, Luke decides to subscribe to the Mariners' standalone app for $20/month, hoping for a seamless experience.
  • “I'm really looking forward to tonight. I got my peanuts ready.” – Luke Burbank

• Andrew’s Alternative Plan:

  • [15:21] Andrew considers switching to YouTube TV in combination with the Root Sports app to manage costs and avoid additional cables.
  • “The combination of YouTube TV plus this Root Sports app will bring me to the $80 a month.” – Andrew Walsh

Notable Quote:

• [12:35] Luke reflects on the misleading pricing advertisement by FuboTV.
  • “But everybody's been tossing that number around. Like, it's always been sort of the understood notion that you can sign up for Fubo for $80.” – Luke Burbank

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3. The Physical and Aesthetic Challenges of Streaming Devices

The hosts discuss the practical aspects of integrating streaming devices like Roku into their home entertainment setups, touching on cable management and device aesthetics.

• Luke's Roku Purchase:

  • [23:13] Luke narrates his trip to Best Buy in search of the right Roku device, encountering issues with stock discrepancies and form factor frustrations.
  • “I ended up buying the more expensive one strictly because of the form factor. I didn't care about the Dolby thing.” – Luke Burbank

• Andrew’s Cable Concerns:

  • [29:15] Andrew expresses reluctance to add more cables to his neatly organized entertainment setup.
  • “I have this cabinet that my dad and I built into the wall that's below the TV. It has basically one thing on it... I don't need to add another cable.” – Andrew Walsh

Notable Quote:

• [30:00] Andrew humorously laments his cable situation.
  • “Damn high sense TV that's always trying to steal your record player's joy.” – Andrew Walsh

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4. Listener Interactions and Shout-Outs

The episode features heartfelt and humorous messages from listeners, dubbed "dazzling donors," who support the show.

• Messages from Vicki Hentz and Kathleen Halren:

  • [43:30] Vicki from Helena, Montana, shares her appreciation for the show as a postal worker.

    • “Hey there. I've been a dazzler before, but this is my first time sending a message.” – Vicki Hentz

  • [48:23] Kathleen from Norman, Oklahoma, recounts discovering TBTL after a Seahawks game.

    • “I found TBTL in December of 2019, the morning after the Seahawks played on Sunday Night Football.” – Kathleen Halren

Notable Quote:

• [43:42] Luke humorously emphasizes the importance of donations.
  • “This is Vicki's dime. So we will, we will allow it.” – Andrew Walsh

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5. Exploring Kyle Mooney’s Music Project

Shifting gears, Luke and Andrew examine Kyle Mooney's controversial music project, debating whether it is a serious endeavor or a comedic satire.

• Assessing the Album:

  • [53:08] Andrew expresses confusion over Kyle Mooney's album "Real Me," questioning its authenticity.
    • “Is this real life? I will play a couple tracks and discuss it today.” – Andrew Walsh

• Analysis of Musical Content:

  • [56:41] Luke critiques the lo-fi production quality, suggesting it's an intentional comedic choice.
    • “I didn’t realize it was going to be all P. Poppy and distorted and just like, really quite crappy from a production standpoint.” – Luke Burbank

• Debate on Intent:

  • [61:34] Andrew and Luke debate whether Kyle is genuinely revealing himself or maintaining a comedic façade.
    • “I think you’re right. I think your read is absolutely correct.” – Andrew Walsh

Notable Quote:

• [64:17] Tina recites lyrics from "The Real Me," highlighting the album's comedic undertones.
  • “Is the real me. As naked as can be. This is the real myth.” – Tina

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6. Technology and Social Interactions

The hosts reflect on how modern technology, particularly smartphones and headphones, affects social interactions and personal annoyances.

• Disruptions in Daily Life:

  • [85:07] Andrew discusses the peculiar dynamics of walking in New York City, where loud conversations via headphones create auditory annoyances.
    • “There was probably three times where I thought someone was trying to get my attention... they’re just in a conversation with someone by way of their headphones.” – Andrew Walsh

• Force of Technology on Social Norms:

  • [84:39] Luke shares his irritation with loud speakerphone conversations in public spaces like grocery stores.
    • “Can you just...” – Luke Burbank

Notable Quote:

• [86:43] Luke humorously warns about talking to rabbits.
  • “I just can’t help but bristle... can’t help but bristle and I see this a lot.” – Luke Burbank

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7. Concluding Thoughts and Future Episodes

As the episode winds down, Luke and Andrew offer personal anecdotes, continue with listener shout-outs, and tease future content.

• Final Reflections:

  • [88:18] Andrew wraps up with good wishes for Thursday and a nod to the Mariners.
    • “Have a great Thursday. Go Mariners.” – Andrew Walsh

• Upcoming Content:

  • Mention of future episodes ensures listeners remain engaged and anticipate more discussions on similar topics.

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Key Takeaways

• Streaming Sports Without Cable:

  • The transition from traditional cable to streaming services like FuboTV and Roku is fraught with technical and financial challenges, especially for dedicated sports fans.

• Cost Management:

  • The rising costs of streaming subscriptions pose a significant barrier, leading hosts to explore alternative services like YouTube TV.

• Device Integration:

  • Integrating streaming devices into home entertainment systems remains a practical hurdle, with concerns over aesthetics and cable management.

• Listener Engagement:

  • TBTL maintains a strong connection with its audience through personalized shout-outs and acknowledgment of listener support.

• Media and Comedy Intersection:

  • The exploration of Kyle Mooney’s music project highlights the blurred lines between comedy and serious artistic endeavors in modern entertainment.

• Technological Impact on Social Behavior:

  • The episode underscores how technology influences daily interactions, often leading to social friction and personal irritations.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• “I bought myself a Roku yesterday. You are a long standing member of the Fubo community. I think that explains everything.” – Luke Burbank ([03:19])

• “It feels on the edge of jankiness.” – Luke Burbank ([04:25])

• “I think $80 a month is misleading. I have the elite with sports plus package, and that's $104.99 a month.” – Andrew Walsh ([11:40])

• “Have a great Thursday. Go Mariners.” – Andrew Walsh ([88:18])

• “Is the real me. As naked as can be. This is the real myth.” – Tina ([64:17])

• “Can you just...” – Luke Burbank ([84:39])

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Conclusion

Episode #4432 of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live offers a blend of humor and genuine frustration as Luke and Andrew navigate the labyrinth of streaming services to stay connected with their favorite baseball team. Through personal anecdotes, listener interactions, and insightful commentary on contemporary issues, the hosts provide an engaging and relatable experience for both long-time listeners and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Luke Burbank]

Welcome to our newest debater, Tina.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thanks, Mr. DeSanto.

[Luke Burbank]

You know most of these jokers. Larry's our policy ace, Zach's a research machine, and Todd's a ninja with sarcasm. Sarcasm, huh?

[Andrew Walsh]

Any good?

[Luke Burbank]

No, I'm terrible.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that's too bad.

[Luke Burbank]

Ugh. I was doing it.

[Tina]

TBTL.

[Luke Burbank]

What will your first sequence of the day be? Do we have any new sequences? I have a beta sequence I've been working on. Would you like to see it? They had been posting their stuff out on the Internet, and apparently they'd been met with virtually nothing but ridicule. Hey, Paul. I'm Tane, your latest dancer. I can't wait to entertain you. Now, Tane, I can get into.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm sorry, who are you?

[Luke Burbank]

I was asking myself that same question, and I did not like the answer.

[Andrew Walsh]

Anybody know what this is?

[Luke Burbank]

Huh?

[Tina]

All of this is the digestive system.

[Andrew Walsh]

And now we're gonna have a couple of guys who's gonna give us a presentation about what happens when the digestive.

[Tina]

System isn't working properly.

[Andrew Walsh]

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. Podcasts are the future of show business. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. As Jay would say, he's got flow. Coming to you once again from 8th Avenue and 44th here in New York.

[Luke Burbank]

City, New York's hottest club is Crease.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's a beautiful day here. Actually a little cold. Oh, Ma Pa. It's just beautiful. Got out there in Central park and was. Was doing a lap. There's nothing cuter than, like, a very, very old person who's out running in Central Park. And I waved at a couple of guys, and then I realized I am actually becoming one of the old people that's out shuffling along in Central Park. But a fun way to start the day and get ready for episode 4432 in a collector series, Let the fun begin. I have now spent the morning when I wasn't jogging in Central park, studying carefully the work of Kyle Mooney. The musical work of Kyle Mooney, who has a new album out under the name of Kyle M. And I. I feel like I understand it less than before. I listen to the entire album.

[Tina]

Is this real life?

[Andrew Walsh]

I will play a couple tracks and discuss it today. Also, I tried to call the live Netflix program, Everybody's Live with John Mulaney last night, and I'm trying to use the sound. I did not get through, but I did note something, and I want to tell you about it. And my friend Andrew also I want to tell you all that it's a Thursday AKA blursday, so it's my birthday today. We'll do the birthday messages. And speaking of my good friend, the longest running cobro of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships, he is ready for his moment in the spotlight. My friend, things are going to start.

[Luke Burbank]

Happening to me now.

[Andrew Walsh]

He is Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning my friend.

[Luke Burbank]

Glorious Roku's to you. Mr. Fubo. I realized yesterday as I became a Roku man that you're a Fub Fub Fubo man. And I don't know, can imagine this.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is someone's first episode listening and they don't have any context for that statement from you.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I am a Roku man now. I bought myself a Roku yesterday. You are a long standing member of the Fubo community. I think that explains everything. And here we are, just a Roku and a Fubu. I'm messing it up.

[Andrew Walsh]

We're proving that even a Roku and a Fubu can find a Fubo can find some common ground, Andrew. We can reach across the aisle. Actually, that's not true. I know you want to tell me about your preparation for opening day? Of course. Tonight, first real baseball game for our Seattle Mariners. But yeah, I'm feeling very badly about being a Fubo man myself today. Honestly.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I'm really confused. So really quickly, here's where I am now. You got me thinking about new listeners to the show, which is. That's a can of worms. I'm not sure you wanted to open.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I'll be honest with you, Andrew, there's a limited chance that that's happening.

[Luke Burbank]

Right. I've seen the numbers, mostly listen to. I listen to ball games on the radio mostly, but when I want to watch them, we cut the cable a long time ago or several years ago. So I just bootleg them on some sort of, you know, website. I find that'll stream all of the. All of the MLB games kind of under the radar. Those things kind of move around a little bit. You have to hunt them down. But usually they're. They're pretty solid once you find them. But this year the Mariners. I think we talked about this. What just last Friday, right? They announced, hey, you don't have to sign up for like the whole Fubo Internet, you know, cable package. I don't even know what you call Fubo Internet streaming. It's basically like cable, but It's a streamer with tons of different channels, and so, you know, you could buy that. Everybody was saying, for $80 a month, I'm like, that's a lot. $80 a month just so I can watch the Mariners. But now they're like, oh, we have a standalone app now. You can just watch root sports. It is amazing. I tested it out last night. I got myself a Roku because it's the only device it'll work on other than, like, tablets and phones and computers. And the whole thing is I want to watch on my tv. So I go get myself one of these Roku sticks. I stick it in the back of my tv. It's kind of. It's a little bit galling. I'm like, I don't need this thing. Except for this one janky app that the Mariners kind of rushed to release right before opening day. And it is weird. You log in. Relatively smooth process. I will say it wasn't as janky as I thought it was going to be. But the app, first of all, it insists that my zip code is something different than it already is. It's like, it's so scared that somebody's gonna try to use this app to watch it outside of the Washington, Oregon, Idaho, like, dome of allowability or whatever. And so it's like, oh, where are you? We're tracking you this. I'm like, I'm not 98117 or whatever it said I was. But I'm like, well, I guess you're not giving me any choices. So fine, put me in whatever zip code you want. And I'm already geared up for this thing tonight to either crash when everybody turns it on for the first time to watch the game, or be to, like, just find reasons to gatekeep me out of it. You know what I mean? It just feels. It feels on the edge of jankiness. And the funniest thing about it is, man, it's just one app that serves you one live channel, and it's root sports. And, boy, there ain't shit on root sports, man.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was. Yesterday, when you were testing yesterday, I literally was gonna ask you what. What absolute abomination were they showing? So when they're not showing the Mariners, it's gotta be candle pin bowling or something.

[Luke Burbank]

It wasn't. That would be so much more interesting. So one thing that I thought was interesting is when you turn it on, like, if you were turning on something like Pluto TV or FuboTV or even your. Even your, like, kind of guide, if you have still, like traditional cable, you would very classic looking, sort of, again, kind of channel guide and program guide, where it's kind of like grid, and you can move to the right and left to see, like, what time slot, what's coming up, or whatever. And then all of the channels will be listed down the left. Well, this is an app for one channel. It's called Root Sports. And so. But somehow there's Root Sports and there's Root Sports Plus. So those are the two channels. And I don't understand if I'm subscribed to Root Sports plus or not. It seems like I get both. But the thing is, it doesn't matter because the exact same shitty programming is. Programming is on both. So it was like a joke. There's two channels listed. One says plus next to it, and one of them is just like golf tips and tricks, the golf glove or so. I can't remember what it was called then the next one was like PGA highlights or something, but I think it was in the 70s. And then the next thing was more like golf coverage. It was all. And it wasn't even actual golf. It was some guy on his phone, like, talking to. Talking to us about golf equipment or something. I did not have it on for very long, but it was just amazing to see that they're showing us two channels. It's the exact same programming on both, and it looks terrible.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, they should just. They should just turn that thing off when the Mariners aren't playing.

[Luke Burbank]

Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

I guess they've got the Kraken as well. Is that. Is that right? And have their own thing, I think. Oh, they've got their own stuff.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Basically, these teams, all these teams, they just. They know that the television rights are extremely valuable, and they want to just basically be their own TV station, so.

[Luke Burbank]

Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, they should really. Yeah, it should just. They should just have that. That signal test or whatever, that pattern test thing like that. They used to show. I'm old enough, Andrew, that. I remember when I was a kid that there was a point where they would show the American flag. Did you ever stay up late enough to see this? Do you know what I'm talking about?

[Luke Burbank]

I do. You know, I'm pretty sure I stayed up late enough to see it. I at least knew of it. I know what you're talking about.

[Andrew Walsh]

They would play. There would be an American flag, and they would play the Star Spangled Banner and they would basically say, we're turning the TV station off for the home. That used to happen.

[Luke Burbank]

That's right. Time to go Home.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Now, like, that's what Root should be doing.

[Luke Burbank]

I want to transition here. So that was my experience. I was like, do I just bootleg for another season, or do I sign up for this new $20 a month streaming service that'll just show me Root Sports and give me access to the Mariners? And so I decided, okay, I'll take the leap. You'd be proud of me. I didn't even buy the cheapest Roku. I wanted one that was a little bit better. Says, plop down 50 bucks on a Roku I don't need. And then, like, you know, it'll be 20 bucks a month. I'm like, that's okay. I want to say one other thing that's in my head as I'm trying to transition into some questions I have for you about your situation. But I do want to say that, like, this is a little bit unusual for me. People who are listening to this must think that I am just trying to steal all the content I can steal and that I'm the cheapest guy in the world. The truth of the matter is, I get reminded every now and then of things that I support, saying, hey, we're renewing this thing. Of things I don't even watch. Like the HEI Network, the Tim Heidecker thing that he's doing. I don't even watch that. But I signed up for a yearly subscription because I believe I want to support that. And I don't believe that Greg Turkington is, like, just, like, raking it in.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, Movie Houses turned out to be a complete flop.

[Luke Burbank]

Right? So you know what I mean?

[Andrew Walsh]

That really.

[Luke Burbank]

Same with some help comedy. Bang, bang. I'm trying to think. I don't. I don't need to. I don't need to prove it to you, Luke. No, but, I mean, there are plenty of things that I am actually happy to pay for or pay more for, because I just support it, and I want to support things with my dollars. I just have a real, you know, chip on my shoulder about these. Just. Just the richest guys in the world running this league and running these teams, running our team especially cheaply, but then just finding more and more ways to sort of gouge the fan base. And that transitions here into what you're doing. You signed up for this thing. You got rid of cable altogether. We were just talking about this the other day. You signed up for Fubo. And Fubo, as you described it the other day, is basically kind of like cable without the cable. It provides you a whole bunch of cable stations. Like MSNBC and all these other things. But the reason you got that specifically was you wanted to have Mariners games on your tv, not on a tablet, but on your tv. And you wanted to be integrated along with, like, things like msnbc, because those are your kind of two things that you just want a seamless experience on your TV at home. And we were talking about whether or not this change with this new app from the Mariners was going to affect your viewing or whatever. It looked like you were going to be in pretty good shape until you send me a screen cap today. Everybody was saying you sign up for Fubo for $80 a month, and now they're jacking it up to 130. I'm very confused.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I woke up this morning to a very somber email from Mr. Fubo.

[Luke Burbank]

That'S like Dr. Fubo.

[Andrew Walsh]

Mr. Fubo was my father. Call me Fubo. Important account update. Dear Subscriber, our goal at FUBO is to continue offering high quality sports programming, ensuring you never miss a moment of the action. In order to do that, we sometimes need. Sometimes need to adjust pricing in order to cover rising content costs. We wanted to inform you that your RSN Regional Sports Network fee has increased to 1699amonth. That just, I think, basically means root sports. I mean, and by the way, the ma. I went into my account and with the addition of that $16 a month, that $70 a month, you're right, it brings my monthly Fubo total to $131, which is pretty much what I was paying Xfinity before when I just had regular cable.

[Luke Burbank]

But that doesn't even add up, though, if it's $80 a month. And then it was 80 plus. And it doesn't say that they're raising it by $17. They're saying they're raising that sort of feature up to $17, 1699. Right. How did we go from $80 a month to 130? That doesn't.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think that it was never. I think $80 a month is misleading. I have the elite with sports plus package, Andrew, and that's 104 99amonth. And then my regional sports is going to run me another 17. And then there's some taxes thrown in bringing me to 131. So I think that that $80 might be the, like, trial thing or maybe like the lower tier or something. I guess I've always been paying more than that.

[Luke Burbank]

But everybody's been tossing that. It's not just you. I just want to say everybody's been tossing that number around. Like, as you know, I've been very plugged into this debate in the Mariners community, and everybody's like, well, do I spend the 80? Do I spend the 80? Do spend the 80? And so it's always been sort of the. It's been the understood notion that you can sign up for Fubo for. I mean, I. I think everybody assumes there's gonna be taxes. Maybe I'll end up being 85 or whatever. But, like, that was always a canard. In order to get the Fubo with the Mariners, you were not paying $80 a month. That's.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know. But I have one request. Do not tell Genevieve about this. Keep this under your hat, my friend, please, because I don't need her being validated in squashing your FUBO dreams. Turns out she was. She was loud, right?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. And I'm glad.

[Andrew Walsh]

Very right. To be suspicious about this company.

[Luke Burbank]

And like you, it would have been nice for me to have access again to msnbc. But, like, I. Aside from that, like, I just don't need all of those channels. Like, I was really going to be paying for it just for the Mariners. So me now paying $20 a month for the Mariners seems. Seems better. And if I don't like it, I'll just stop paying. Because that's the thing. It occurred to me, like, I'm kind of. I'm very excited for tonight. I now have it, like, a legitimate way as long as this new app doesn't crash. And if it does, then I'll be in the same boat with the rest of Mariners Nation, and we can all lament together on Blue Sky. But the. Assuming that this. This app works well for me, and I am signed up for it now, everything's, like, ready to go. I'm really looking forward to tonight. I got my peanuts ready. I might go get some pizza or hot dogs or something. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was wondering what your food plan is.

[Luke Burbank]

I always do peanuts. I always buy. It's always like, I buy the bag of in shell peanuts, and I'm always like, I sit down with that and a beer, and then I don't know if I'll eat anything else. This. Aside from that. But the thing is, I'm just wondering where I'm going to be in May. Like, I just. When I think about how I experience most baseball games, it is literally in my ear holes as I'm vacuuming or while I'm playing darts or whatever. There's a chance that I'll be like, you know what? I'm More of a radio guy anyway. So we'll just. We'll just see what happens. I guess I can cancel at any time, but I.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I think what I'm going to do is switch over to YouTube TV, which everybody was telling me back when I did this initial thing. They were. Everybody was telling me that it's like, it's the way to go. And they've got all the same stuff. They have live channels, they have msnbc. They have basically all the local channels that I would have, you know, if I had cable at my house. And I think it's like 60 bucks a month or something. So the combination of YouTube TV, at least that's the initial fee or whatever, the YouTube TV, plus this root sports app will bring me to the aforementioned $80 a month. So I think that's what I'm going to do. I guess this is the nice thing about these streaming services is it's pretty easy to hop from one to the other. Like, I, you know, I don't. It's not like having them come out and run cable to your house or like getting a new box or whatever. It's like I just basically, you know, when I get home, I'm going to switch over to YouTube TV. I just don't know if I'm going to be able to see the Mariners game tonight unless I go on one of your dark web channels. Because I think that even if I were to buy the Root sports thing or even if I. If I log into my Fubo, I'm. I wonder if they're going to like Geo Gatekeep it from me because I'm out here in New York City.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that's true. Well, I can give you my. Now we don't have to have this conversation on the air, but I have MLB tv, which means I can watch any out of market games, which.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, so I'd be set with that.

[Luke Burbank]

Travel. Yeah. So you're in New York. You see the Luke.

[Andrew Walsh]

I had to fly across the country and borrow your MLB login.

[Luke Burbank]

It's simple. If you want to watch a Mariners game on MLB tv, you have to leave Seattle or any of the states that root for the Mariners on board. How does. Does that not make sense to you? It makes tons of.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did I stutter?

[Luke Burbank]

And people keep on sending me, like, just get an antenna. And I just want everybody to know. No. Do you think the Mariners are giving this shit away for free on some sort of local. Do you think they're suckers? Do you think that they would actually give this Away for free to the people who pay their taxes on their stadium to support their stadium. No, of course not. It is so. The fact that we have to do this is just so, so galling. Like, this is not.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

God, why do I love them and hate them so much?

[Andrew Walsh]

I know. The life of a sports fan. The life of a sports fan. If you have two brain cells to rub together, if you're talking about professional sports, at least as it relates to the NFL and particularly the Seattle Mariners, you have to arrive at the conclusion that they're manifestly bad people.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

And yet I'm so psyched. And by the way, the game doesn't even start till 10:05 tonight out here.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that's the other thing that's pretty lame. You said you're still dealing with lag and stuff?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I'm bouncing back a little bit, but, yeah, I'll figure out some way to follow the game. And I am very excited.

[Luke Burbank]

I just can't believe Fubo was $130.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know. I'm actually kind of glad they sent me that email because I, you know, me, I didn't. I wasn't really monitoring how much it was. And I also. I was recommending it to everyone. I was a FUBO evangelist and I can no longer evangelize for them. I have. I'm backsliding. I'm stepping away from the church of Fubo because that's a lot of money. I mean, I could have had. Yeah, again, I could have probably had my cable package for something close to that. So if the guy hadn't dug up the line.

[Luke Burbank]

Do you have. I was going to say it was a little bit of a deus ex machina in that somebody actually literally cut your cable. But even before that, I think I was saying, well, why don't you try this FUBO thing? You have a smart tv. It's. I was wondering if you have any resentment towards me for encouraging you to go the Fubo way. I had a busting out.

[Andrew Walsh]

No. The football season was great. I watched my Chris Hayes. I watch my football men's. I watch a lot of, like, lock up. Of all my shows, that is the one thing that sucks my FUBO is my DVR right now.

[Luke Burbank]

You know what I mean?

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, all of my programs are in there that I'm telling it to record, including the Mariners. So I'll have to set that up with this YouTube TV.

[Luke Burbank]

But you do that with YouTube. Do they have.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm. I would be shocked if they. If they, you know, I'M sure that the systems are very similar.

[Luke Burbank]

I hope so. Now, I realize that the listeners might have been done with this conversation like yesterday, but I don't care. I have another question for you, though. How prepared are you to go through the machinations. Machinations. Machinations. Machinations. Right. Machinations. Machinations.

[Andrew Walsh]

Machina Island.

[Luke Burbank]

Isn't there a peach? No, but for real, how ready are you to go through whatever it's going to take to get the baseball games on your tv? Because you don't have an Apple tv, do you? You're also going to have to get a Roku stick if you're going to do what I'm doing.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm prepared to get my hands on a Roku stick when I get home, probably.

[Luke Burbank]

It's just so calling.

[Andrew Walsh]

Does it fit. Does it fit behind the television? Is it an aesthetic drawback to the whole version?

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you for asking. Because that gets into why. In fact, sit back for a second. I have a little story.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. All right.

[Luke Burbank]

In fact. Yeah. How did I not start with this? As a matter of fact, because we love talking about how you ended up.

[Andrew Walsh]

With the $50 Roku.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. But it wasn't here. Okay. So we have a Best Buy near my house at Northgate. Right. And I. I'm going to go way back here and just say that Best Buy used to be a true place of joy for me back in the 90s and the early 2000s. Like, it was Genevieve and I coined the term, I believe, consumer tainment back when we were first dating in like 2001 or 2002. If we were like, waiting to go see a movie and we had some extra time, we'd be like, literally. Do you just want to go to Best Buy and walk around and maybe buy some CDs? Like, we're old, but like, we just love. Like, it was just a place of like, endless technology opportunities for me, whether I wanted to buy media or the thing to watch media on. Right. And so it's been sad to sort of see. I think the Amazonification and the online ification of shopping combined probably with the pandemic messing things up or whatever. But the Best Buy near our house, the few times I've been in there in the past few years, it is a depressing scene. It's just like it's a big footprint with less and less stuff in it because they took out all of the media a long time ago. They don't sell CDs and stuff like that anymore, which makes sense. But they're everybody who works There.

[Andrew Walsh]

And like, God, blessed Geek squad people hanging out over at that desk, they're.

[Luke Burbank]

Very young and very effectless. Like most of them, it is like. It is like kind of like talking to a zombie when you're talking to somebody who works there in person. It's like, pretty amazing. And listen, they probably don't get, you know, I don't want to get into it. They probably don't love their jobs, and they probably don't get paid that much. Whatever. And they're young usually, and so whatever. They're not being paid to be my best friend. But you also just kind of get this blank stare sort of look from the people who work there. Generally speaking, I've been avoiding Best Buy for a while now.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I call your video only man, right?

[Luke Burbank]

I want a refrigerator. Can I get that? Video only. So anyway, I was like. But I want to go. I realized yesterday. Oh, I've been thinking I was going to order this Roku device online, but I've run out of time for that. If tomorrow's opening day, I better go buy one now. So I call the local store and I say, hey, do you have this in stock? Because I don't want to go there. There's just like a weird parking situation. There's something soul crushing about going to this particular Best Buy. Getting there kind of sucks. It's just like in a traffic area, all this stuff. You know where it is, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

It's across from the mall, right?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, yeah, where the mall used to be. It's not even a mall anymore, but yeah, it's like where the Target is. It's like this little center with this kind of this confusing garage. I sound like an old man.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that building is. That building is brand new in my mind. Even though it's probably 15 years old.

[Luke Burbank]

It looks very. Oh, is it that new? It looks 90s ish.

[Andrew Walsh]

That building was not. Well, that was not there when I was a kid going to that mall. I forget what was over there. Maybe some apartments or something. But that. That building is a whole. That's a Bermuda Triangle for me. I don't. I don't mess with that building.

[Luke Burbank]

So I call, and I've done this before. I was actually looking for whatever, something for Genevieve for her birthday recently, and I called the local store to see if they had something in stock. They did.

[Andrew Walsh]

What if you got her a Fubo subscription?

[Luke Burbank]

I got her a Fubo furry, which is a plush style. Anyway, I will say that I've called a few times in the past. I don't know, few months or something for various reasons. And the customer service has actually been good. And it was like local people and telling me whether or not they had certain things in stock for me. And when I called yesterday, it rang and it rang and it rang and nobody picked up. And then eventually a customer service person picked up, but he said, I'm your virtual. He was a real person, but he was a real person, but described himself as something like a virtual helper. I can't remember how he referred to himself, but I said something. I'm like, wait, I am calling specifically about whether or not something is on the shelf at my local store. Can you help me? He's like, oh, yeah, absolutely. You talk about the one in Northgate. He's like, nobody picked up at the store, so it routed to me. I'm not local, but I'm looking at their local stock and I'm like, okay, great. Yeah. I'm like, do you have this very specific Roku? And I was going to buy not the cheapest, but like kind of a mid range. It's called the 4X Express and it's listed at $29, right? 2999 was 30 bucks straight. And so I'm like, I know what I want to do. They have that one. He's like, yep, it looks like they have that and some other things as well. So I'm like, great. So I hang up and I go directly to the store. I'm there probably within 15 minutes of this conversation. And I go back and I say, where are the Roku stuff? And they point me to the back of the store and I find the little area and there's like a cheaper Roku that doesn't do me any good and then a more expensive Roku that I don't really need. It's like $50. And I'm like, where's the express version of this that I literally just got off the phone. And so I pull it up on their. On their. On my phone, like their website or whatever. And I'm already in grumpus mode, right? I'm like, I can't believe that I came to this bombed out Best Buy. I just got off the phone, like I didn't want to be here today, like, whatever. And so I go up to some. It's impossible to find like a customer service rep or a salesperson. I find this person and I realize I've already got a tone. I'm like, I just got off the phone and like, this is the only version you have. They said that they have the other version, the $30 version. And he's like, where'd you look at the little Fubu? Like, do you look at Fubo? No. Did you look at the little Roku section over there? And I'm like, yeah. And we're both sort of gesturing to the same place. But then he walks me over to a special, like, end cap that is all Roku stuff. I was like, they're apparently selling Roku's in two different parts of the store. And the store part I was looking at didn't have the one that I wanted and immediately kind of got pissy about. I was like, they don't have. Now I'm here. I'm gonna have to buy the $51 instead of the $30 one. But he's like, no, this is what you want, like, right here, dude. And I'm like, oh, great. Thank you. And again, I wasn't rude to him. I think I just had a little bit of Karen in my voice. No offense to Karen's, but I think as bit like, I just got off the phone.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. If I can just quickly throw in that since the pandemic, you can never trust that something will be at a place even if they think they have it. And in fact, I've talked to many people, like, this is a big thing at Home Depot. Place like that. I'll call and I'll go, do you have this? And they'll say, well, the system says we have them, but that system is often wrong. And they'll walk to the aisle and they'll just get eyes on it or whatever. Like, I feel like that's one of the things. Restaurants staying open late and stores having the things that they think they have are two things that have never bounced back since the pandemic.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. And again, I do think online shopping has a lot to do with that. I think people are like, well, I'll just buy it on Best Buy dot com, if not Amazon or what have you. But this is all leading back to a question you had about, like, sort of the physicality of the technology. So the funny thing is, is first of all, I think the guy profusely. And again, I don't think I had tons of tone in my voice, but I think it was enough to be like, I was told you had this thing and it's not there. And I go, it's right over here, sir. And I'm like, okay, great. I'm sorry about that. And I thank him. And then I'm holding the one in my Hand that I went there to buy the $30 one. And I'm realizing it's not like the stick that you just stick in the back.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm looking at it right now. It's a little bit burlier than I would want.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, the $31, which is like, okay, so there's a bunch of different versions, but there's like the 4K Express, which I was going to get versus the 4K, and there's. What's the difference? $20. And so. And I was there for the 4K Express. And so then he shows me where they are, and you'd think I would have just bought it. But then I'm holding the box. I'm like, wait, this isn't like a little. It's not like an elongated USB drive I can just stick in the background. It's like the size of a large computer mouse. It's like the size of a large computer mouse that sits down at a table. And then you plug it into the TV with. With a cable. And then it also. Hdmi. And then it needs power.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thank you.

[Luke Burbank]

And I'm like, no, no. The one Genevieve has upstairs because our friend Camaro Kev gave us one a while back is just like a stick that sticks in the back of the tv. So then I'm sitting there with both of them in my hands, and out of nowhere, another salesperson comes up and, like, got any questions about that? I was just like, oh, well, thanks. I'm just trying to figure out, like, why what's. There's no difference between these except for the form factor. And then it got into some, like, some small difference about Dolby TV and whether or not my TV can handle Dolby Picture. And I'm like, I don't even want to get into that. It's probably going to make everything look like a soap opera anyway. I should just buy the cheaper one.

[Andrew Walsh]

To get Camaro Kev to come over and fix it.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I did text him yesterday because I plugged it in and then it was like, do you want to turn on Dolby on your tv? I'm like, I don't even know, dude. Ask Tom Cruise. I must ask Tom Hanks. But anyway, I ended up buying the more expensive one strictly because of the form factor. I didn't care about the Dolby thing, which seemed to be the only real difference, But I'm like, I don't want something setting on the bookshelf. So I.

[Andrew Walsh]

But you still have an HDMI cable running to your tv. It's like another Cable to manage in your life. No, thank you.

[Luke Burbank]

So the nice thing is this doesn't have a cable running the tv. It plugs directly into the back of the tv. So. And I assume you have a wall mount, which is good, but you do need to know it does need power, which is something I didn't realize. The TV does not supply the power. So you are going to have another cable that is going to come down from this device and need to be plugged in. You know, it's like a USB power thing. They give you the little adapter so you can plug it into the wall or whatever. But yeah, this thing needs to be powered, so that's going to mess up your sort of clean looking TV set.

[Andrew Walsh]

I just was bragging the other day that I feel like I've reached a point where my cable management game is as strong as it's been.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, and my adult, by the way, I was thinking about that yesterday. I'm just, I'm ashamed of my cables behind this TV in the basement. It's disgusting. Don't even look at me right now. Don't just look away. Don't look at me. I'm a disgusting cable.

[Andrew Walsh]

Damn high sense TV that's always trying to steal your record player's joy.

[Luke Burbank]

That's gotten a lot better, by the way. I think it might have open. Heard me. It magically fixed itself. But anyway, yeah, so I'm kind of. Again, I'm doing all of this stuff, but I am keeping like half a mind on your situation because I'm willing to deal with the cables and just sort of grumble about it. But you have a kind of a whole situation going on there. You don't want another. It's a tiny, it's a small power cord, but it's still something that needs another power source from your tv. And you do. You don't want that like snake and down your wall in your living room.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, here's the thing. I. I'm not sure. I guess I have to check, but I need to find out if they, if they are linked up with YouTube TV, because if they are, then I'll just, I'll just watch it through that.

[Luke Burbank]

I just was googling that when you said that. I'm like, can you watch the Mariners on root sports or I'm sorry, can you watch root Sports on YouTube TV? And it looks like the answer is no.

[Andrew Walsh]

I may just keep Fubo. Who knows?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, you might end up just keeping Fubo.

[Andrew Walsh]

I might just, I might just pay through the nose and it Just comes down to what is the least hassle for me. But I'm. Yeah, I. When you mention Roku, I assume it's like a thumb drive. It's your lucky day. You just found a Roku in the parking lot. I assume it's a tiny thumb drive that you just pop into one of those USB ports on your smart tv and you know, Bob's your uncle. But it sounds like a whole situation with the powering of it.

[Luke Burbank]

And again, it's just the powering at this point. Again, if you get the stick kind, it's not a small usb, it's kind of a bigger usb, but it'll disappear behind your. Your tv. Yeah, but then how am I supposed to run.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And my TV is wall mounted. It's a whole situation there. I have this cabinet that my dad and I built into the wall that's below the TV that it. It has basically one thing on it right now. Because again, I don't have a cable box anymore. Yeah, it has a DVD player so that I can watch the occasional Criterion Collection content. And that is it. And I really like that. I like that it's very clean. There's not a lot of stuff going on down there. Like, the cables are all contained in one of those brai. So the. I don't know, I may end up spending $131 a month to avoid adding one more cable to my situation.

[Luke Burbank]

I hate cables. I really, like. I just. I don't have dreams of living to a super ripe old age, like, whatever, but I would love to live to an age where I don't need cables anymore, where everything is wirelessly charged and everything is wirelessly connected. That's the dream.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. I hope we make it. I hope we make it to that day together, my friend. Last night I. Speaking of portable content, of course I was watching Netflix. Oh, by the way, this is so uninteresting. But, like, I cannot get the TV in this room. Like, you're supposed to be able to cast to the TV in this room. And I don't want to watch Severance. So I'm caught up on the White Lotus now. I watched that the other night and I was going to catch up on Severance, but I don't want to watch Severance on my laptop. I want to watch it on the full television experience. And. And I cannot get this, allegedly. Like, I can scan a QR code and then it says, we're ready for streaming, but then for casting, but it doesn't really work. So anyway, last night I'm watching Netflix. I'm watching Everybody's Live with John Mulaney. And I actually tried to call the number and I got a busy signal and then I called back and it rang.

[Luke Burbank]

So can you. I actually am really interested in this. Back up for a second. So you're watching live, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm watching live. I'm watching live at 10 o'clock in New York, 7 o'clock in Los Angeles.

[Luke Burbank]

I really was pretty elbows deep in a cleaning project yesterday, so I couldn't put everything down to watch it, but my phone buzzed. It's like, hey, Mulaney. Starting in 10 minutes. Like, ah. I really wanted to watch it. So, like, who was the guest? Was it good?

[Andrew Walsh]

The guest? It was. No, it was not great. They were talking about funerals.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

The guest was Pete Davidson and a comedian named. I think her name is like, like Lynae or something. And I guess she had been on the, like the first version of this show when it was everybody's in LA or Lume. Anyway, I forget her name. She was very funny, actually. And I actually didn't watch the entire show. And it's pretty rough. Like it's. It seems like it's kind of getting worse, which is strange.

[Luke Burbank]

Interesting.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, but. But anyway, I did watch long enough for the number to flash on the screen and I called it and like I said, I got a busy signal. So remember we tried to call it on air the other day and it kind of said like, the cellular customer is not something. And I was like, well, that's weird.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, while we were on air, not while that show was on air. And also you should be warned or reminded that that number, I was trying to do it on the fly and I found that number not on its official website, I found it on Reddit or something. So it might have been the wrong number.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I called and I got a busy signal. Not like the old school busy signal that we used to get as kids calling a landline, but whatever the cell phone version of that is now. But it was a busy signal because it said connection busy or something on my phone, which is like, when's the last time you got a busy signal ever, anywhere? That's a totally.

[Luke Burbank]

It usually just means that like it's a dead line or something. Right? Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I get a busy signal and I was like, okay. And then I just kind of started like war dialing it because I was bored. And then it started ringing and then I was filled with terror because I was like, I don't have anything to say. I started trying to think of something to say about funerals.

[Luke Burbank]

That was my question. Like, did you think, okay, in case they pick up, I need to have some sort of anecdote? I feel like you, you're pretty good at anecdotes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I mean, funnily enough, I mean I sort of become the unofficial funeral correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning. Like I've done stories about cemetery plots in LA and direct sales of caskets and the. The sort of funeral. Funeral industrial complex with Caitlin Doughty. So I sort of. But none of that's really my personal story or experience. So I don't, I think I landed on. And I don't think this would have even got me on air, but I was going to tell them that like I want a sky burial if it can be arranged. I basically just want my body left on a hill somewhere and just let the animals take me away. That would be great for. I think that would be kind of fun. But that was the best I could come up with. But nobody ever picked up the phone. It just rang and rang and rang and rang and then it just like just hung up on me. And then I tried to call again and I got a busy signal. But what I take from this is that I think I've been saying that I'm. I've assumed that they pre screened the calls and in fact they've already decided on the calls.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

And maybe they're reaching out to the people to kind of cue them up. I think they may take the calls live. That might explain why they're so bad.

[Luke Burbank]

They are doing shit raw, man.

[Andrew Walsh]

That they're raw dog.

[Luke Burbank]

Give them. By the way, it says Henry Winkler was on last night too. I don't know if you got that far. And Lunel, if I'm saying Lunel.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, Henry Winkler was great actually.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's see here. So. And I'm not familiar with the musical guest. You. You saw most of it or did you say you kind of bailed?

[Andrew Walsh]

I, I think after my phone call experiment I started to kind of fade a little bit. So I think I got through maybe the first like 30 minutes. Who was the band again?

[Luke Burbank]

It was, I think it was. It's. You will beep it in post Mannequin pussy. Am I seeing that right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh yeah. You know what? That's when I turned it off. Like I was not interested in that. I wasn't super interested in that band. And, and so I, that, that was when I, that was when I said good night to them.

[Luke Burbank]

But, but wait, wait, get me to say that on the air, though. I appreciate, Love that for everybody involved.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that was the, that was the last punch on my bingo card.

[Luke Burbank]

So you. Yeah. And it's also 10 o'clock. That started live at 10 for you, not 7, obviously, out here on the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. So I was a little. I was, I was pretty tuckered there because. Because I'm a young, vibrant man who's exhausted by 10:30 at night. But anyway, all that is to say, I am now of the opinion that they take the calls live. And I mean, it's not like the calls have been so great. That. That's an unbelievable concept.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

But it actually makes it make a lot more sense. And again, I just have a real begrudging respect for what they're doing. I'm gonna keep watching it. Like, you and I and another person who, let's just say works in the industry have been sort of comparing notes on this. And I think we've all agreed it's really rough and kind of hard to watch. But. But I'm here for it. I mean, I was like hustling home from getting kind of a late dinner last night, literally looking at my watch like, I gotta get to my hotel room by 10pm on the dot. It was appointment television. When's the last time, other than a sporting event, that I've had appointment television?

[Luke Burbank]

That's the deal. And that's why I was really bummed to miss it live yesterday, because I'm quite sure I'm not, especially now that baseball season is starting and that's gonna take up a big chunk of my kind of viewing and listening attention. I just don't think I'm gonna go back and watch that show after it's aired. Like, I know ob. It's all on Netflix. And I'll bet you the majority of people do watch it after the fact. But for me, the whole thing is, God damn, this is live. Like, what is going to happen here? Not what happened. And they had, you know, they had. If something disastrous happened, they would have had time to clean it up. I don't think they do that. But, you know, if something really went off the rails. But it's interesting because it is like, for me, it feels like it just needs more time to sort of bake. Like, the show is like they're, they're, they're purposely making it as difficult as possible for themselves. Like they're not taking any shortcuts. They're not pre taping it by an hour. It's rough. They know, like I feel like Mulaney is trying to make it more awkward at times than it even needs to be, but he's just, like, out there working it, like, trying to take these phone calls and. But the thing is, while your experience does sort of, I guess, lean us towards believing that they really are just taking these calls on the fly, when I think back to the one episode I saw, like, you did get a call from somebody who was literally on a cruise. The theme last week was cruises. And the last person to call in, I don't even think you heard this, was somebody who's a writer for SNL who had a cruise ship story. And I'm kind of like, that's not a coincidence. Somebody from the show, from snl, wasn't just dialing and hoping that Mulaney was going to pick up. You know what I mean?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that's a good point. Maybe it's somewhere in between. Maybe they're. Maybe they've got, like, their. Their five calls or their 10 calls that they're planning on. They've got kind of queued up, but they're taking calls in case something amazing comes in.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, maybe. Maybe they're just going, well, maybe the chances of calling in and getting a phone screener and. And rising to the level of someone they're going to use in that show is pretty low. But I just was. I just was excited that I got a busy signal and then I got a ring. It felt like I was, you know, trying to win tickets on a radio station in the 1980s.

[Luke Burbank]

And again, how many opportunities do we have to have that feeling anymore, you know?

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

That's why I'm still. I'm still pro that show, having only seen one episode. But I really want it to. I mean, I would love it if, like, 10 years from now, we're like, God, remember how rough that show was when it first started? And, like, it's still going. I don't think that's in the cards. It sounds like there's a lot of friction between Mulaney and the Netflix brass. Have you been really. I can't tell how much of it is Kayfabe, which is another service that you need if you want to watch Mariners games.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

In Southern Idaho, you have to have.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. You have to get the. But that very large dongle, very unsightly in the home studio entertainment environment.

[Luke Burbank]

But, I mean, I don't know, the articles that have been written was just like, Netflix was just like, well, can we tighten this up a little? Bit. And I guess the answer from Mulaney's team is always, no.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, I love it so much. I love that for him. It reminds me of my early days when I had the confidence of a much younger woman when, like, I wanted everything to be as weird as possible, generally to the displeasure of the potential listeners and certainly my bosses. Yeah, it was such a marker. It was such a badge of pride for me. And all of that has just been beaten right out of me. Yeah, all that has leaked right on out of one of my ears. And now I'm just like, where should I be for the mustard contest? Be there with bells on. Not that I'm actually looking forward to eating a lot of mustard in. In Wisconsin this weekend. Oh, by the way, our good friend Michelle has been to that mustard museum with her mother and was sending me some tips and tricks on what to do at the mustard museum. So, like, I've already got some advance. Some advance work going on with the mustard museum in Middleton, Wisconsin.

[Luke Burbank]

Nice.

[Andrew Walsh]

We was hoping for some razzle dazzle. Razzle dazzle. That's right, man. Razzle dazzle. On your mark. On your mark. Get set.

[Luke Burbank]

Get set now.

[Andrew Walsh]

Ready, Ready, Go, everybody.

[Tina]

Razzle dazzle, everybody.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right. Speaking of the dazzling donors, we've got a couple of folks here who are donating a dazzling amount of dough, keeping TBTL in business, giving Andrew Roku money.

[Luke Burbank]

Deep in Roku now.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, exactly. You're making. You're getting paid Roku bucks on this show.

[Luke Burbank]

It's just so annoying.

[Andrew Walsh]

Buko. But less.

[Luke Burbank]

It's like, I have all of the apps on my tv, but now I have this one device that can also have all of my apps on that tv, and I'm just going to it just to watch the Mariners anyway.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it's all thanks to Vicki Hentz, who's in Helena, Montana. Beautiful Helena, Montana.

[Luke Burbank]

Nice. Thanks, Vicki.

[Andrew Walsh]

Vicki says. Hey there. I've been a dazzler before, but this is my first time sending a message.

[Luke Burbank]

And why now?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, welcome. I mean, thank you for the support and welcome to the party, Vicki, of. Of getting shouted out properly on the program. This is my first time sending a message. And why now? To tell you how vital TBTL is to my day as I deliver mail. Oh, so Vicky is a postal worker, it sounds like. That is awesome.

[Luke Burbank]

That is awesome.

[Andrew Walsh]

To thank you for teaching me sports ball so I fit in with the cool kids to applaud your insights into the mundane. Wait a minute. Did you consider that Roku conversation mundane, Vicki?

[Luke Burbank]

I haven't even Gotten to the mundane part of the show yet, Vicki, you don't want to sit down for that.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's all true. But like any angry Redditor, I'm here with a sharp shoot that's been eating at me for years. See, this is how we get the dazzling donors to take the time to fill out the form.

[Luke Burbank]

Yep.

[Andrew Walsh]

Finally some, a little, a little piece of grit that their brain has been worrying on into a pearl of donation comes in and then they finally, they've got to get it off their chest. And it is, of course, this is Vicki's dime. So we will, we will allow it. Maybe listeners emailed to remedy the issue, but it was never discussed on TBTL. And I need closure on episode 2,836. So, Andrew, this is going back to 2019.

[Luke Burbank]

2019. I remember this episode very, very clearly.

[Andrew Walsh]

I remember every moment in it discussing Kimmy Schmidt. Andrew dislikes how Dong's name is used as a tired joke. So I'm just going to take a moment here. I don't even remember this plot from Kimmy Schmidt. It sounds like there's a character whose name is Dong. I am, I'm right to assume that maybe they're. This person is Asian American or Asian in some way.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, he's an Asian American guy, a young guy. I don't. By the way, I was joking when I said I remember everything about this episode. I don't remember talking about this, but I do feel like, yeah, it's a very Tina Fey, like, kind of edgy, kind of like, oh yeah, we're. We name this character Dong. And then there's a bunch of Dong jokes kind of around his name.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, here is what Vicky would like to clarify. Andrew forgot that after Dong meets Kimmy, he giggles and says that in his language Kimmy means penis. They're in on it. Don't hate them. So, Andrew, I need you to print an official retraction that you love the Dong character and all of the associated jokes, by the way, on the subject of that whole kind of, I don't know, Tina Fey verse or whatever. I saw a couple of guys online talking about Alec Baldwin's he's got a reality show now, you know, I know.

[Luke Burbank]

In which he complains about getting too much attention.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean it's, I mean he, he I 100 did it because he needed the money. I think that's a. Not a particularly well kept secret because with the unfortunate thing that happened with that movie Rust, which he was also one of the producers of and you know, that Was along with a horrific loss of life. It also involved a lot of loss of money for Alec Baldwin. Like, there's no universe in which he signs up to do a, like, very kind of. From what I can tell, very middling reality show. Like, it's not even like some kind of interesting high concept thing. It's just kind of like the premise is Alec Baldwin's. Alec Baldwin's really tired from so many kids or whatever. But this is what this guy said that I thought was hilarious. He's like, like, it's basically like a thing Jack Donaghy would say to lemon in 30 rock. In other words, there it would be a joke if Donaghy was like Lemon. For the next two weeks, I'm filming my reality show with my seven children I had with a yogi because I killed someone in Arizona. It would be a 30 Rock joke.

[Luke Burbank]

It really does seem like it, you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Know, like, it's insane. It is like art imitating life imitating art.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, yeah. No, I. I will just say, like, I, I do re. I remember that. I, I didn't. I didn't forget that. It still doesn't work for me. But, but as we have, we have a song sung by a little listener, a young listener of ours.

[Andrew Walsh]

We can like, like different things. Yeah, that's exactly right. I don't have anything to promote. Now we're back to Vicki here. I don't have anything to promote, but my 11 does. He spends a lot of time exploring the outdoors and posts on most of the social. So if you like scenic and relaxing clips, check out and follow the adventures of Ranger Sarah. It's pretty great. Now I have. Have checked out the Adventures of Ranger Sarah on Instagram. Andrew. By the way, it's Adventures of Ranger Sarah. That's the IG handle. And these are a bunch of really beautiful photographs that seem to feature also a little like doll that I guess is Ranger Sarah just enjoying, like unbelievable scenery. And these are really, really great photographs. And it is like, I feel. I feel relaxed just looking at it.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, this is very cute. The doll Sarah is also very cute. It says, Ranger travels to show and teach kids and adults about the cool things that our world has to see. So Ranger Sarah goes on adventures.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. For the last six weeks that we have these parks. Let's enjoy them by way of Ranger Sarah and getting out to them if we can. Anyway, Vicky, thank you so much for the support. Thanks for. Hopefully we'll anger you again in the coming year so you'll have something to write about next Year. We really appreciate you.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Vicki Maestro. On your mark. On your mark.

[Luke Burbank]

Get set, get set now.

[Andrew Walsh]

Ready, Ready, Everybody Rattle dazzle. It's Kathleen Halren of Norman, Oklahoma. Boomer Sooner. Norman, Oklahoma is a very cool town. Actually. Kathleen says I found TBTL In December of 2019, the morning after the Seahawks played on Sunday Night Football. That would have been back when we were probably pretty good, right? 2019.

[Luke Burbank]

2019, this couple of years after the super bowl loss. Right? That was.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, okay. So maybe we weren't that good anymore. I needed a break and the football talk was it. This is so interesting. So if I understand right from Kathleen's message. And again, this is, as you can tell, the first time I'm seeing this. So Kathleen tuned into TBTL sort of randomly on a Monday, and it was a Monday that came after a Seahawk game and I guess we. I needed a break and the football talk was it. I've listened to every episode since, but I missed the no Point Conversion, I think. Does that mean Kathleen would like us to bring that back?

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, I missed the no Point conversion because it was apparently it was a little bit of sports talk that brought Kathleen to the table, which I think.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm so self conscious about our sports talk because A, I enjoy it so, but B, I feel like it's so alienating. Like if my favorite podcast just decided to talk about NHL hockey, like fairly in depthly, I think it would lose me pretty fast. And yet somehow some of our listeners have stuck around and so anyway, to hear that the sports talk actually was an enticement for Kathleen in Norman, Oklahoma. I've listened to every episode since, but miss no Point Conversion, TBTL continues to keep me distracted. So boomer sooner and support your local businesses and charities. A boomer sooner to you, Kathleen, and thank you. This is, of course, when Norman Oklahoma comes up, I have to tell my one Norman, Oklahoma story, which is I've told it many times, but I attended a University of Oklahoma football game. The Huskies were playing U of O in Norman and the Huskies were terrible at the time and the Sooners were like probably top five in the country, as they often are. And I had had a few before the game. And the very first play of the game, I think it was Louis Rankin, our tailback, ran like a 75 yard touchdown, like just like we. We snapped it, handed it to him, and he was gone. And I antagonized the entire stadium. I also feel like I might have been the only Husky fan there. And I was just. I was just being A little turd out there. I was not handling it graciously. I had this massive adrenaline dump because I thought, we're going to beat, like, the number whatever, three team in the country, and I'm going to be here to see it. And then the Huskies proceeded to lose, like, 65 to 7. And I will give huge credit to the Sooner fans that nobody threatened my life. Nobody threw a beer at me. Nobody. Nobody. Nobody reacted poorly to my poor sportsmanship. So shout out to those Oklahoma fans.

[Luke Burbank]

Did they at all? I mean, even in a good natured, sportsmanlike way, did they rub it in your face a little bit when the tide turns?

[Andrew Walsh]

No. I also think it helped that the. The defenestration of the Huskies was so thorough that it was almost like people just felt bad for me by the end. Like, it wasn't like it came down to the last play or something, and, like, emotions were running high. It was like, bless your heart. We'll see at the Cattleman Steakhouse later. You poor bastard. You poor guy. From this poor football program that has absolutely no chance of prospering. So, anyway, thank you so much to our dazzling donors for making TBTL possible today. Could not do it without you.

[Luke Burbank]

Hello, and welcome to Top Story.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right, I mentioned this Kyle Mooney music project. Excuse me, Kyle M. Music project, the other day, and I was reading New York magazine recently and the website, and I saw an article where the writer of the article. I don't know if they're trying to ingratiate themselves with Kyle Mooney or what, but they write. So the question is, is this music project that Kyle Mooney has announced and this album that he's put out called. I think it's called Kyle M. So it's eponymous? No, it's called the Real Me.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

The album is called the Real Me, and it's by Kyle M. And the writer of this New York magazine article, my question has been, is this a joke or not? I assumed it was a joke. And then I was talking to somebody. I was texting with someone recently who was, like, totally under the impression that it's not a joke. And this New York magazine article writes about the whole thing as if it's very much not a joke either. Like, treats it very much like this is Kyle Mooney's music project. And, you know, at no point does the writer say, like, this is obviously for comedic humor. The writer is Herschel Pandya writing in Vulture, I guess. But he just basically kind of is treating it like it's a serious album of music. And so I was like, am I the only one who thinks this is a joke? Am I like out of step with this? So I thought, well, first thing I need to do is actually listen to the album. And so I did this morning. It goes by pretty quick. Some of the songs are like 38 seconds long.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I heard something else, like a 20 minute record or something like that. Am I.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's exactly short. And what I think is interesting about it, Andrew, is the first track is called Kid on the range. It's got 61,000 listens. And then as you go down, every song has fewer listens than every song. As you get to the number 10. The real me has the fewest listens of 23,000. I can just see people going on like, what is happening here? And then they start listening and then they like, they're running out of steam kind of by the end of the record, I. I went on a whole journey with this. Like, I was like, this is a total joke. And then I was playing the songs because it's musically very, let's just say diy, very low fi. But I actually found it sort of transfixing. Have you listened to any of these songs yet?

[Luke Burbank]

No. I want to say that it's almost exactly 20 minutes long. It's 19 minutes. This in 58 seconds. And even though I haven't listened. So this is gonna be hard for me because I'm gonna play you some.

[Andrew Walsh]

Of the songs and if we get pulled down in Romania, that's just what happens.

[Luke Burbank]

I want to weigh in, but I haven't heard it. So I need to like, kind of like, well, this is good. But I. But I want to say that I spent a long. Well, I don't know if it was a long time, but I spent a decent amount of time on some subreddit the other day and I don't know why this was suggested to me, but on Reddit there was a huge conversation about this album and people are all over the place. I mean, people are adamant that it is just a really, really dry, very subtle joke because it's just not that good. Other people are like, no, he's really exposing himself. But the general exposing himself was the really the wrong thing to say there. I'm trying to talk too quickly, but that he's like being vulnerable is what I meant, that he's. He's really trying something and being vulnerable. But the thing is, Kyle Mooney is a very smart person and he's very self aware and people were sharing some lyrics and stuff. And just saying, like the man who makes fun of. Who like subtly makes fun of dumb people knows that this is dumb. Was kind of the consensus.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think that's where I've kind of landed. But I will say this. I. I sort of enjoyed this album more than I was expecting considering how bad it is. Let me just play a little of the first track. Kid on the Range. This is.

[Tina]

Glass full of whiskey out on my porch Staring towards the train tracks Got all my spurs of course Thinking about Paul and the man he wanted me to be and all I can think is that's not me.

[Luke Burbank]

See.

[Tina]

I may look like a man but truth is I'm still a boy haven't learned much learning still play with my toys Lord, oh Lord, I wanna change But I feel like a kid on.

[Andrew Walsh]

The range so that's. That's track one. It's. I'm. I would have loved to see where he recorded this. Like because there's the thing you or I like there's so many like P Pops and just like it's like he recorded it it on like the built in microphone on a. Not that new computer.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean it sounds like the album begins with the thumping of the microphone sound. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now another song that's getting a lot of attention is Digital Society, where he's talking about how we should all get off of our phones. Play a little bit of this. Welcome to digital society welcome to digital society welcome to digital society.

[Tina]

Put down your phone, yeah, turn off the TV everyone's lost in technology Computer screens are all I see I guess we're just a digital society I remember when it was simpler times Hanging with friends, going outside, reading a book or playing a game. It's what we used to call just using your brain. But then it changed and we went online, plugged ourselves in, got electronified. Power was on but at what cost? Cause Digital Society actually turned us. Put down your phone, yeah turn off the TV everyone's lost in technology Computer screens are all I see I guess we're just a digital society but there's good news. I got a cool gadget for sale it's all charged up Processor never fails it was made by a cool creator the brand is called God and the gadget is nature Put down your phone, yeah turn off the TV everyone's lost.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I mean, honestly, this is like the fourth time I've heard this song. It's kind of catchy.

[Luke Burbank]

To me the music is more what I thought the album was gonna be like. Like that's what I was expecting. Sort of, well, maybe a little bit more uptempo, but I expected it to be a little bit more like kind of garage bandy in that way that wasn't just a guitar and him popping his peas, but that, you know, I can't take that seriously, though. I don't sound of it, but it's like, yeah, well, that's obviously just cringy. I don't think that he's earnestly saying, hey, listen, I have this idea for a song, and it's kind of like an exploration of kind of, you know, modern technology and culture. And this is what I'm. I mean, we know Kyle Mooney well enough to know that, like.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

That he, what we're hearing. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

He's not blowing your mind with this. Yeah, no, I think I, I, I think you're, I think you're right. I think your read is absolutely correct. I will tell you, I think the sleeper track on this album and my favorite, it's called Gwendolyn Bartley, and it's clearly like an Eleanor Rigby ripoff.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's so. Well, I don't want to, I don't want to influence you, but I. This is my favorite song from the record.

[Tina]

Gwendolyn Bartley put on a grand party but no one attended but min. A poor sight to see she worked at the factory no friends or no family as lonely as lonely can be all. Cause she's 83 why do we treat old people like this? They're so wise and yet we dismiss Being in their company is pure bliss here's Gwendolyn Bartley to reminisce. Gwendolyn Bartley. When I was a kid I smiled at everything around me and now that I'm old and gray I can't get anyone to surround me why do you treat me like this? I've got so many stories to tell.

[Andrew Walsh]

He has decided to do this thing on the whole record where he never finishes saying me or B. He says everything is meh and be. It's the weirdest decision, but he's very consistent with it. I have to give him that.

[Luke Burbank]

And it definitely feels like a character because, like, you know, before Kyle Mooney, I was it before he was on snl. Or maybe we just went back once he was on snl. And we're like, watching those early. You know, we use his intro.

[Andrew Walsh]

Man on the street interview. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And he had, he called it. There was. He had a little brand when he was doing stuff just for YouTube was like, him and his roommate hanging out and, and he was in, like, kind of being a kind of annoying character.

[Andrew Walsh]

I feel like we knew about him before snl. We. Because he and Beck Bennett would do a lot of stuff who also got on snl. But I feel like they were on our radar. He was on our radar before, and then maybe.

[Luke Burbank]

I think you're right.

[Andrew Walsh]

We were pretty psyched when he got on snl. Maybe.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. And for the record, I think he was on your radar. And then you put him on my radar. That's my memory. Probably on my daughter's radar.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then my. And then your Roku and my Quibi.

[Luke Burbank]

I should definitely start tomorrow's show with some Kyle tape of him, like, interviewing baseball players or something. But the thing is, apropos, when he, like, part of his awkward character is. And I'm going to pick up my microphone here, but I guess we're all used to mic sound now after that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

He's going on hit a Grand Slammer. And then he does that. He, like, breathes into the microphone in this really awkward way. And he's doing that here on the. On the album. And the thing is, like. And I don't. You will be unsurprised to hear this. I don't know Kyle Mooney personally. We have not hung out. But I find it hard to believe that he honestly has that nervous energy around people. Like, maybe part of him feels that way and he's exaggerating it into a character, but, like, he knows he's doing this character who is so weirdly insecure and breathing into the microphone. And you hear that same affectation in these songs, which makes it just all the more obvious to me that he is doing a character.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, I think you're right. I think I got thrown for a minute because, again, I was seeing so many people treating this like it's not being presented for comedic effect. And I feel like they're going off of the fact that everything Kyle Mooney has done to lead up to this has been, like, basically saying, this is not a joke. I'm being vulnerable. This is my music. This is my. And in fact, he has a song at the end of the album which is cited in that New York magazine piece that's called the Real Me. And I'll just play you a little bit of it. You can probably guess the sort of sense of it, but it's like, this.

[Tina]

Is the real meh. As naked as can be. This is the real myth.

[Luke Burbank]

Told you. He's exposing himself.

[Tina]

No more makeup.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Tina]

You were right in me. Yes. The real Myth. I know I come off as a clown, but I'm telling you now there's a real me. Deep down. Everybody loves to laugh Everybody loves to point and see the puppet as he ridicules himself for nothing but a chuckle and then they pay no mind as he slowly drinks his wine and hides the demons that live inside he's stuck.

[Andrew Walsh]

In his bubble.

[Tina]

With no way to escape surroundings by the hate that he has lived with day by day that is his struggle.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, by the way, there's another one, another song that I thought was really funny. I guess I can't remember what the name of it is, but it's him singing about gym class and basically not wanting to shower after gym class in front of the other people. It's pretty funny. I can't. I can't remember. It's. There's not, like, a track on here that's called, like, Showering After Gym Class, so. But I was going to say that that final track, I think. I'm surprised at how many people are taking Kyle Mooney at his word when he's saying this is serious because it's just like, it doesn't scan with. I mean, like you said, he has an incredibly dry sense of humor, and he has a history of doing things where he's pretending to be earnest, but he's not. And that's kind of the joke. It's surprising to me how many people are. Are not seeing this for what it is, which is a comedy record.

[Luke Burbank]

And my question is, I didn't. Did you say it was New York magazine that wrote this up?

[Andrew Walsh]

Vulture.

[Luke Burbank]

Vulture.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is that part of New York Magazine or is that something se.

[Luke Burbank]

I always think it's hard. Wasn't it, like, I lump it in.

[Andrew Walsh]

With New York Magazine? Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

It's strange. I feel like there was a time when. Well, actually, that might have been one thing, where it stood on its own and then was. What's the word I'm looking for? Bought, I guess maybe by acquired. But I don't know if that's true, though. I wonder if Vulture. Because I feel like it's from the era when, like, what we used to call old media news organizations were getting into new media and had to kind of rebrand for their blogs. You know what I mean? Anyway, it doesn't really matter. I think that sidelines us almost every time we bring up Vulture. My point is, I also wonder if, like, this writer is also just sort of think. I think you said it's a guy I don't know is, like, in on the Joke himself. You know, I feel like he's trying.

[Andrew Walsh]

To get Kyle Mooney's attention.

[Luke Burbank]

I feel like he.

[Andrew Walsh]

Which, God bless him, I would love Kyle Mooney's attention as well. I feel like he's almost writing it in a way that is hoping that Kyle Mooney sees it and then is appreciative of him keeping the kind of kayfabe. Going to bring that term back.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. You know, because if I just had a little fantasy. Do you want to hear about it?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, I do.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. So I am on Expose Yourself. I'm on a white horse. No, I. If we had Kyle Mooney. Let's just say that, like, somehow, you know, like, we were able to get Kyle Mooney on the show, Right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Stranger things have happened. And if we just were like, oh, guys, we got. We got Kyle Mooney. We're going to ask him. We're going to ask him. Is he being serious? Like, obviously he's going to just be like, what are you talking about? Of course it's serious. Like, did you hear? You know what I mean? Like, he would be.

[Andrew Walsh]

He's committed to the bit.

[Luke Burbank]

He's so committed to the bit. So you and I, if we were having Kyle Mooney on, I don't even think we'd ask that because it would be annoying, it would be frustrating, and it would feel like we're being the foils, sort of, if that's the right word. Whereas we would probably try to be more in on the joke. Like, this is a really moving record. Like, what was your inspiration? You know, that's what we would do. And so I just wonder if some of the people covering this in the press are kind of like, oh, we can of have an Andy Kaufman situation here. It's pretty lame. Just to keep on asking Andy Kaufman if he's really into wrestling. You know what I mean? That's right. I don't know.

[Andrew Walsh]

Again, I think you're right.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm hearing this album for the first time. The thing that shocks me the most is I knew it was going to be like, kind of lo fi. I didn't realize it was going to be, like, purposely bad, like, blowing out the microphone and like you said, almost sounds like it's recorded on a. On a. On a cell phone or a smartphone or something. But I don't know if it's quite that. But I am. I didn't realize it was gonna be all P. Poppy and distorted and just like, really quite crappy from a production standpoint. But again, I have a feeling that that is intentional crappiness.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Because you and I in this hotel room, Andrew, I could make a record that sounds better than that from a recording standpoint with this microphone that I have here.

[Luke Burbank]

And my laptop is with your. With your guitar, right? Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like. Like there's. It's, it's. It's not the case that that was something that could not be avoided for Kyle Mooney. It was obviously an artistic choice. Now this is like a. Kind of a. Sort of a big leap, but not such a big leap. It's in the world of comedy and things where it's kind of like trying to understand what the joke is. But I have decided something, Andrew, which is that I don't think I like the show Office Hours anymore. The Tim Heidecker kind of talk show he does. I like the people on the show. I really like Vic Berger, I like DJ Doug Pound, and I like the guests who come on. I don't like the Tim Heidecker character on Office Hours because again, that's a whole other, like, super, super subtle, like, thing where he is. I think the joke is that he's just kind of a. He's a slightly more vapid version of himself. So he's being Tim Heidecker, but he's like. Like he's just kind of a little bit more like show busy, but not like over the top like he is on. On cinema.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, he's not playing like, Decker or one of his.

[Andrew Walsh]

He's not playing Decker or anything. He's just being Tim Heide, but he's being like Tim Heidecker, but a little bit, A little bit kind of more sort of like, get a load of this kind of a thing. Like, he's just. He's always like. He's interviewing people and be like. Like, it's weird. I. It's. It's this. It's this uncanny kind of thing where he's doing the character really well. But because it's not, because it's so subtle, it's just like watching a person who's not very likable do like a talk show, an interview, style show. It's very weird. Weird.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. You know, I have not watched a full episode of it. I've only seen clips back when I was on Instagram. And now that I'm not on Instagram, I haven't seen anything in a while. And so I always am hesitant to weigh in because, like, I'm seeing here. I was like, oh, yeah, I should sign up for again. I thought. I think you have to pay to Watch it live in its entirety. I could be wrong about that. I think it's part of a subscription plan.

[Andrew Walsh]

Try to call them.

[Luke Burbank]

But it is a call in show. I kind of don't think I realize that it's a live call in show that streams. Maybe you don't have to pay, but here's like yesterday's full episode. It's like an hour and four minutes on YouTube. It's automatically archived. I like the fact that it is live, you know, kind of like the Mulaney thing. But I haven't sat down. Even though I like all of these flavors, I haven't sat down to watch them all together. And I. So I guess I just can't weigh in. But I know what you're talking about. Like, Heidecker is again, that uncanny valley is the perfect way of putting it. Like, he's done stuff. We think of him as a comedian. He's done stuff that is so over the top. The other day you mentioned a recumbent bike, and it got me thinking about, do you remember that sketch, Recumbent Bike Cops or something? It was. It was like a fake cops show on Tim and Eric, but it was called, like, Roarks or something. Recumbent Officers. It's those two.

[Andrew Walsh]

Party Snoozer came up the other day. I just watched the entire sketch for the, like, hundredth time. It's. I. You know, I mean, they have created, and he has created some of the greatest comedy moments of my life here.

[Luke Burbank]

Let me just see if this is Cops on Recumbent Bikes. It's Corb. This is probably going to be terrible. Oh, oh. You know what's happening? I use an ad blocker. That's why I'm always able to play YouTube videos immediately. But my ad blocker is in a fight with YouTube. Like, YouTube keeps changing it. Do you know that there's these battles that go on with ad blockers? Well, they'll change the code a little bit so that YouTube will recognize your ad blocker and won't play stuff for you. I'm sorry, I'm looking for an episode. Here's the first episode of Corbs here. So just imagine two very divisive cops riding around on a. Eric. Yes, Tim and Eric. Eric is trying to put a ticket up on a car, but he's down in a recumbent bike and he can't reach the windshield. This is the opening credits. Ted Didleo is the guy who plays Tim's character, apparently. This is gonna be so bad.

[Andrew Walsh]

Donegan Corps. This is a colonel.

[Luke Burbank]

We have a 1017 at the Sugar factory.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, we're just finishing up our lesson.

[Luke Burbank]

We need you now. Right now.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now. Okay, we'll be there in 15 minutes. Roger. What's the form of the lunchy? Well, it looks like we got another 10:17. What's the beef? Who's the per? Typical Colombian terrorists are taking over the sugar factory.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's roll. They roll out on their recumbent bikes. All that is say obvious. Obvious, like over the top comedy. But then releases a real album that is not a joke at all. Some with some really good songs on. On it. But then has been touring as like both acts. He's been touring as both a serious musician who also has a comedy aspect to his act. I don't know if you know that or if we've talked about it and that makes things confusing. And during the pandemic he comes out to do like he releases a standup special during the pandemic. Oh yes. And I remember Veeves and I were geeked for it and I think we watched it live on YouTube in fact. But I think I had, I started it a little bit before Genevieve and I rewounded. I'm like, you're not going to like this. This is way over the the top. He comes out, Luke. Speaking of microphone work, he starts his standup by knocking over the mic stand and then spending the next. I'm going to say two to three minutes and you understand how long? Two to three minutes. Just, just constantly trying to pick up the mic stand and dropping it and just like to the point where you're just like, please stop. And I'm like, Genevieve, you're gonna hate this. It turns out it was the funniest thing in the world to Genevieve. She will watch the beginning of that over and over again and just cry, laughing at the physical comedy. But he' like he's building up toxic energy as he's fighting with this mic stand thing. And then he just comes out and slays for the rest of the thing. Like being this character that is not Tim Heidecker doing stand up, but like Tim Heidecker's version of a standup comic that he wouldn't respect. Basically. It's really hard to find the lines around these guys.

[Andrew Walsh]

And again, I'm so much more interested in what he's doing. And Kyle Mooney is doing thank like, you know, God bless him. But like Kevin Hart or somebody who's a more sort of down the middle comedian. I would rather that my comedians were kind of weird. And hard to understand sometimes. And not everything hits.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Because then when it does hit, it's just so much better. So I, you know, of course, I'm. I'm Ride or Die with Tim Heidecker, but it's a. It's probably like some people deciding they don't like this show after some amount of time. It's weird to be a fan of someone's. And then just to finally hit the point where you're like, well, this thing, this is not for. Because, like, I love Tim Heidecker so much. And then I'm just like. But the, you know, office hours live. This is one that's just not gonna work for me. Just because his. The character that he's chosen to be on that one is just kind of unlikable to me and not particularly funny.

[Luke Burbank]

And not over the top enough, but not real enough. And it's just in this. Yeah, yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

So. But I mean, I respect the guy greatly, so I. You know, you can't make an omelette without having a few eggs that don't work, essentially. That's what they say, right?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I think so. Speaking of just leaning into things that really shouldn't do during broadcast, I'm gonna play a little bit of this. Him fumbling with his microphone for you because I just wanna hear how long it goes on. And it's obviously so physical. But just imagine he's coming out, he's wearing a leather jacket, he's got a tuck.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think I watched some of this, like, on tape later. I don't remember the mic bit, but I have a vague. Is he wearing a hat?

[Luke Burbank]

No, I don't think so.

[Andrew Walsh]

Maybe I have a vague memory of this standup when it happened. But anyway, yeah, play it for me.

[Luke Burbank]

At some point, I think he might be doing some terrible impressions. And he puts on a hat, maybe, if that. But no, he comes out, he's just kinda dressed like. Like as. As he would see. Sort of. Kind of a. Kind of a D. Baggy standup guy, you know. And he comes out and it's. By the way, it opens like one of those specials. They're like putting the letters of his act on the marquee. We see him backstage, he's sort of like warming up a little bit. And now here he is finally taking the stage. Let's hear how long this goes on.

[Tina]

What's going on?

[Luke Burbank]

Don't touch it. He's yelling at the audience not to touch the mic stand as it's rolling near the edge of the stage. That's right. This music just loops.

[Andrew Walsh]

I love this vaguely Rolling Stones music.

[Luke Burbank]

And the longer this goes on, you'll notice it's a very small snippet of music that just keeps looping.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is there a live audience there?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, there is a live audience. It looks like it's small. I think this is pandemic era. So it looks like maybe the first few rows are packed and then the rest is sort of like cheated out by not lighting the rest of it. It's still going on. He's now got the mic stand up, but it won't stay. It keeps sliding back down.

[Andrew Walsh]

This song keeps trying to be Satisfaction.

[Luke Burbank]

Just the joke of the short loop of music alone is so good. I don't know what I'm doing. So we're over a minute of this now.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm timing it great.

[Luke Burbank]

Now the mic stand is like 7ft tall.

[Andrew Walsh]

I wonder if he rehearsed this. This.

[Luke Burbank]

I'll bet Judy did a lot. And he's just getting angrier and angrier. Talking about doesn't go in. One, two. Thank you. Thank you. Let's start it again from the start. All right, thank you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can you cut the music?

[Luke Burbank]

We'll just start from the top. Thank you for. Hey, John, can you cut the music, please?

[Andrew Walsh]

I think about 158. Whenever we've crossed the two minute mark.

[Luke Burbank]

It was about two minutes and now, of course, the music never stops. He just keeps on yelling and so it just starts. The most toxic relationship between him, the audience, and, like, all of the stage managers. Oh, speaking of Tim Heidegger, there's a.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right way to rock and a wrong way to roll.

[Luke Burbank]

You can just listen to your song. Just remember that life is number one now. Is this supposed to be good?

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, I completely forgot after that entire Heidecker digression that he also is the birthday musical.

[Luke Burbank]

That's right. Which, by the way, we always get a little flag like, oh, you can't use this music on YouTube. But nobody ever cares. Nobody takes them down. All right, we got a few blurs days here. If you want to wish somebody a happy birthday or a happy blurs day, you can email me andrewbtl.net, put Blursday in the subject line. Nick says I. Oh, this is nick the Perfect 10 says, I totally forgot to wish Jake the perfect daddy a blurs day last week. So I'm making up for it a week late. Hope you had a great day, my dude. Love from your perfect son. And boy, it's a complicated world we've created.

[Andrew Walsh]

Got it.

[Luke Burbank]

Chris says a happy blursday shout out to my incredible wife, Liz. For 20 years, you've made me happier than I've ever thought possible. And on top of that, you're an amazing mom to our wonderful daughters. Your sense of humor has made the best days even better and the tough times a little easier. And I wouldn't want to go through any of it with anyone else. I love you so much. Happy blurs day, dummy. What you do is so important.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's really sweet.

[Luke Burbank]

Happy Thursday, Liz. So I just want to let this breathe.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Cut the music. No, no, cut it. Kelly says.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can we cut that?

[Luke Burbank]

Happy blurs day to my incredible sister and Boston Annie B. Annie is the reason I am also a 10. Look at that. Between Nick and the perfect daddy and Kelly and the perfect Annie, we have two people wishing their TBTL progenitors a happy, bolerous sweet. Yeah. So anyway, get back to the message. Annie is the reason I am also a 10 and can take much of the credit for making me a better human. Love you. To Pluto and back, Annie B. I see Pluto. Is the planet there or not the planet?

[Andrew Walsh]

The almost, actually, I have to say, like, wow, that's a really good point. I hadn't thought of this. You know, there was a great children's book called Guess How Much I Love youe that I used to read to my daughter. It's a very sweet story. It's like a kind of a mommy rabbit, I think, if I'm remembering right. And the little baby rabbit. And the baby rabbit is, you know, trying to sort of understand their world and the expansiveness of things. And, you know, and the mom is basically saying, you know, how much that she loves the baby rabbit. And then the kind of. The end of the book is to the moon and Back. The mom loves the rabbit to the moon and back. And people say that to each other, I love you to the moon and back. But, like, talk to me when you love meet up Pluto. And, yeah, that's a much further distance.

[Luke Burbank]

And it is a competition. And people should remember love is a competition. And so you should.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what says that in Proverbs.

[Luke Burbank]

I've taken to talking to the rabbits that I see. There are a lot of rabbits in Seattle, except kind of kind of goes boom and bust here, I think, depending on, like, I think there will be a big rabbit population for a few years and then a big coyote population, and they kind of go off and on. And I think we're still in a rabbit boom, especially in where I live, I see a lot. Often if I open a window to let some air in or just like go out my basement door, I'm often face to face with a rabbit. And I think there are times where I would like sort of mumble to them a little bit. And now I'm just like, no, I'm talking to the rabbit. I don't care who knows. Like, I was walking down my street the other day and I was like.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh hey, entering your Jimmy Stewart in the movie Harvey phase.

[Luke Burbank]

I. I'm just like, hey little buddy, I'm not going to hurt you. Because you know, they always kind of get startled a little bit and they hop away but then they're a little bit lazy and they're like, well maybe I don't have to run away from this guy. He doesn't look that fast. So I'm always like trying to encourage him. And it occurred to me like, oh yeah, I'm just walking past my neighbor's yard like out loud talking to the rabbits and I have, I'm not going to change, I am.

[Andrew Walsh]

No you shouldn't.

[Luke Burbank]

You know what, there's plenty to make fun of me about. And if talking to the rabbits is one of them.

[Andrew Walsh]

Dude, I'll tell you what I've been thinking this. I mean this has been the case for some years, but New York is the weirdest city to be walking around in because everyone has headphones on and in and everyone is talking to someone else by way of their headphones. And that someone else is often very far away because everyone's yelling all the time. Oh yeah, but no one has their phone out. And so what'll happen is you're just like at a stop, you're standing waiting to cross the street and then the person who's next to you just starts yelling. It's because they've been waiting in the conversation for their turn to yell.

[Luke Burbank]

Uh huh.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I also have AirPods in the whole time I'm listening to my music as I'm walking around. So I'm a little bit disoriented anyway. But like even this morning on my jog, there was probably three times where I thought someone was trying to get my attention or yell at me before I realized no, they're just in a conversation with someone by way of their headphones.

[Luke Burbank]

And I know that I'm just getting deep into Andy Rooney territory as the world moves on and technology changes and then social mores change along with the technology. But like, I just can't help but bristle and I See this a lot. You know, the grocery store is my, is my little sanctuary. I love going to the grocery store, but like, nothing really takes me out of my grocery store mood than like somebody just walking down the aisle having a loud ass conversation on speakerphone.

[Andrew Walsh]

Not even, not even FaceTime.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. And there's like. And they're just like looking around. I mean, I understand maybe if you have to call somebody back home and say, hey, should did you want cream of wheat or oatmeal or something? You have that quick conversation. But that's not what I'm seeing. I'm just seeing people sort of wander down the, the aisles, like talking while they're like checking out the, you know, whatever the cake mixes. And I'm just kind of like, what? Like, can you just. But on the other hand, they're probably getting more stuff done than me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, here's what's so weird about that. If that other person was physically there, it wouldn't bother you at all.

[Luke Burbank]

There is a tonal difference though. I do think that you do, like you said, you sort of yell louder, I think on the phone or a lot of people do.

[Andrew Walsh]

I 100% agree that the sound of someone coming through a speakerphone or someone who's like FaceTiming. Because I feel like this is also often a FaceTime situation. Yeah. Like, it's not even a phone call, it's a video chat. That.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

And there's something about that that deeply annoys me. But I do try to remind myself that if that person who's on FaceTime was just standing next to the person and they were having a conversation, it wouldn't bother me at all. They'd just be two people in the world doing something. And you're right, there is a tonal difference. But it's strange how much them being on the phone annoys me, whereas if they were there in real life bother me.

[Luke Burbank]

That's where it does break down for me a little bit though. I do think that when you're talking on the phone, you talk louder. Because like I was on the bus the other day and I was in those seats that like, instead of everybody facing forward, there's a part of the bus where they have like kind of seats along the side of the bus and you know, it's just a small little section, but let's say there's four or five seats there and you're looking across the aisle, you're face to face with another person across the aisle. Right. And there's some guy just sitting like directly across from of me just having a loud FaceTime conversation. And like, there's plenty of other people on the bus having conversations. And maybe it's because this guy's facing me, but I swear I can hear him louder than anybody else on the phone. There are plenty of people who are on the buses with friends and family or whatever. They're just not yelling like that. Well, some of them are, but they're off their meds. All right, I got to get back to this message from Kelly. I've really.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's on me.

[Luke Burbank]

No, it's on me. Kelly says happy blurs day to my incredible sister and boss, 10, Annie B. Annie is the reason I'm also a 10 and can take much of the credit for making me a better human. Love you to Pluto and back. Annie B. Wishing you a year. See, that's smart. Cuz it's further than the moon. Wishing you a year ahead. Filled with laughter, adventure and baby cakes. Cupcakes. If you know, you know. Happy Mother's Day, Neb, Emily and James finally say, by the way, they're in Vermont. They. They say, Happy 12th birthday to our amazing five. Stella. Stella, every day you make us laugh, make us think, and make us proud that we are parents to the most gibbity Rizzler around. We wouldn't want you any other way. Love you, Monk. And that's it. Happy blursday, Stella and Annie B. Jake and Liz. Hope you all have.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was trying to see if. If I. You're. You're in luck, Andrew. I don't have my Rizzler sound effects here because I'm on the road. I was looking around for that. To honor Stella. The Skibidi. The Skibidi Rizzler.

[Luke Burbank]

It's been a while.

[Andrew Walsh]

Got that wrist.

[Luke Burbank]

We've been getting into that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, well, happy blurs day to everybody. And I guess that'll bring us to the end of today's episode. But I have great news. We've got another brand new piping hot edition of TBTL coming your way tomorrow. Tomorrow. So please do join us for that. In the meantime, have a great Thursday. Go Mariners.

[Luke Burbank]

That's right.

[Andrew Walsh]

And. And we'll see you tomorrow. Please remember, no mountain too tall.

[Luke Burbank]

And good luck to all. Power out.