
Luke and Andrew turn to each other for help understanding some local TV commercials. They also discuss vampires and immortality, Cory Booker’s record-breaking speech, and Taffy Brodesser Ackner’s profile of Val Kilmer, who passed away yesterday.
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A
So how did you two love rats meet? Oh, it's a fun story. I was working on this project, tearing down a condemned bar called the Desert Rash. I went in to meet with the contractors, and Diana is sitting at the bar drinking a 7 and 7 and 7. Seven shots of Seagram 7 in seven minutes.
B
It's Diana's morning drink.
A
Oh, that's right. It was very early in the morning. Well, this little spitfire finds out it's me who's closing down the bar. Next thing I know, she's got a knife to my face. I would have been scared if she hadn't been the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen in my life. So how do you and Eleanor become friends? Well, let's just say that we lived in the same neighborhood. Oh, what a fun way to say a normal thing, right?
B
Tbtl.
A
Thank you so much for letting us rap. Don't hesitate. Feel free to clap. What's your question?
B
How much milk do I have to drink to be big enough to be quarterback?
A
Drink as much milk as your little belly can hold.
B
Wait, what?
A
So what was the exact question? Don't worry about it. I'll move on. It's all fine.
B
Be cool. Get out there, and don't forget to be yourselves.
A
All right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Wednesday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. Excuse me, America, do you mind? My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. I'll do it until it stops. Will you please stop? Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia, where we got some blue sky peeking out. Oh, Ma.
B
Pa.
A
It's just beautiful. I believe we have made it through the worst of the week, weather wise. I think we're gonna be getting some sunshine, some blue skies, some high fives, and a lot of positivity the rest of the week. It starts here, my friends, with episode 4436 in a collector series, Let the fun begin. The American Turnaround. Remember where you were when you heard about it. Speaking of an American turnaround that we sure hope is happening, Cory Booker, senator from New Jersey, spent 25 plus hours filibustering in the Senate over the last couple of days, and it was, to me, truly inspirational. And I do think that there might be an argument that it could kick something off in the positive direction. I was admittedly pretty choked up watching him sign off, but I also had some important questions for the senator from the state of New Jersey. And we're gonna get into that also another Mariners collapse. Can it be a collapse if you never had a chance? Another Mariners game and another TV commercial during the Mariners game that I've got a problem with. You gotta be kidding me. So we'll get into that and we're gonna talk to this guy. Did you know he's the longest running cobra of the show? Maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ship. Meet the next generation of podcast stars. He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.
B
Good morning. That little intro drop for me makes me feel so young. The next generation. At some point, yeah, I probably was grouped in with something described as the next generation of public radio producers.
A
Yep. I was commiserating with a friend of mine who's turning 40 today, yesterday on the phone, and I was saying to her that I think Nate Bargetsy has some kind of a joke about how you're. You're like the young person in the room for a significant portion of your young adulthood and then you turn 40 and you are like overnight, you're older than everyone.
B
Yeah.
A
And it just is totally surprising. Like in most scenarios that I'm in now, I'm the oldest person, professionally speaking. I'm the oldest person that works on Livewire.
B
I'm the oldest person who works on tbt. Yeah, sure, grandpa.
A
Generally speaking, if I'm on a CBS shoot, I'm very likely to be the oldest person in the crew. The. The bosses of me back in New York are generally older than me.
B
But. Yeah, but if you were to watch your show, you wouldn't be the oldest person watching.
A
I would be a baby.
B
That's. And see, that's the hack right there. You put yourself in the room with people who are older and wiser than yourself. Now, would it be okay if I take the reins here and even try to make it.
A
Andrew, take the wheel.
B
Take a segue here. And talking about my aging and one of the things where you can most notice my aging is my hearing. It is not what it used to be, Luke. Especially in noisy, come to my life noisy situations. Right then. This is a very classic, I think sort of middle aged thing for a lot of people is like one of the ways you can notice your hearing is going is when you're in a kind of a crowded bar area or a restaurant area and there's a lot of sort of ambient sound going around people.
A
If there's a din, I've got problems.
B
Exactly, exactly. I think there's a show title screamed with din, which is Somewhere, I think din there done that. I don't know. We'll figure that out. I'll play around after the show. See we can cook up. But anyway, I wanted to kind of segue into something that you mentioned at the beginning. I don't know, something there. Talking about these commercials that we see on the new Root sports app while we're watching the Mariners game. And there is a commercial. I think it's a Shorty. It's like 15 seconds long. It's weird. Weird. It's not especially high budget or it doesn't even really have much going for it. But I think it's charming that Genevieve really likes it. She finds it very relatable. It's three dudes sitting in the bar of a casino. This is a commercial for one of our local kind of area casinos, right? And there are three dudes, and they're just. One of them is talking about doing something to his parlay. He's going to add a leg to his parlay. It opens Luke in media's res, by the way. Middle of the excuse, any excuse to. Now that that's in canon. But basically it's a very short commercial. It opens up. It's kind of a far away shot at first. Three guys sitting at a high top table. One of them is mumbling something about, you know, changing his bet, changing a leg on his parlay. And then the next guy is kind of like, ooh, that sounds like a bad bet, dude. And the other guy says, no, no, that sounds awesome, man. You should even. You should add another one. Just kind of ribbing a little bit. And Genevieve's like, you know, it's like, I. We hang out with enough people who like to have fun with betting. She finds it somewhat relatable. She's like, I don't know if these are our types of people. But like, that kind of banter just seemed kind of very realistic to her. And I'm like, yeah, that's interesting. Except I cannot tell. I cannot tell what the first several words of this commercial are. And we would turn off everything. We would turn off the heat. We would turn off the.
A
This is what you dinks do with your evenings.
B
Yeah, that's right. What is this?
A
Everybody be quiet. We're trying to get the first three words of this casino commercial.
B
Bingo. Shut your yapper. Shut your yapper. And so we've been having. I mean, Luke, I don't know, 20 times so far. We're like, what does he say? And I cannot tell what he's saying. And part of it is because of the way the commercial is mixed. I think they're going for some reality here.
A
See, guys making poor edits on. It's something Michael blaustein ads.
B
I know he brought something to the eagles. I just don't know what this guy brought to the eagles. No. Now, here's the problem with this setup is I've been thinking for the past week or so, like, I got to get Luke's ears on this, Because I bet you you've seen this commercial without giving too much away. You can picture this shot. I'm talking the commercial. Now, I finally grabbed the audio from this yesterday and rolled it into my computer here. And so now I've heard it with headphones on. And I think I know what he's saying. I'm quite sure I know what he's saying, which kind of takes the piss out of all of this. But I was dedicated to the bit. Before I play the tape for you, do you remember what he says and did you have any of the same issue understanding him?
A
Do I remember what the opening line is?
B
Yes. What does the guy do? He definitely says something about the last leg of his parlor parlay. But you. I listened to it a million times. I couldn't tell what he was saying about his parlay.
A
Yeah. That's all I could tell you is that it's as you've described. It's three guys, and one of them is kind of goading the other one to make his bet more complicated, Therefore less likely to come through. I couldn't have. I couldn't tell you specifically what the first few words.
B
Okay. But it wasn't something that stood out to you, like, what the hell? How did they mix it?
A
Well, I have other issues with the commercial, but let's start here.
B
Okay?
A
Let's start here. Let's start with the. With the sort of crowd murmur at the beginning.
B
Yeah. Now, the problem here is I do think that you and I are listening with studio headphones on. Now, our listeners are probably listening with some sort of headset or headphones or earbuds. Or earbuds or something like that. So maybe everybody will say, well, it's obvious what he said, but this is what was bedeviling us.
A
I don't know, guys. I think I'm gonna add Sam Fran to the last leg of my parlay.
B
Bro, could you tell what he said there?
A
Oh, no. And that's with these. Studio quality.
B
Okay, good.
A
You see, I don't know, guys. I'm thinking about dropping the last leg of my Parl parlay.
B
I think he says something else. I'll play it again.
A
I don't know, guys. I think I'm gonna add San Fran to the last link of my parlay.
B
Okay.
A
I. I don't know, guys. I think I'm gonna add San Fran to the last leg of my parlay.
B
It's San Fran.
A
That.
B
And I couldn't tell that he was saying, I don't know, guys. Like this commercial just always sound to me like parlay. And there's something about the. I'm not trying to go hard on this guy or the way he talks, but they did cast him and he does talk that way, which is kind of an interesting voice, kind of a nasally voice. They mix it, and again, this is just old man ears, but they mix it in this crowd noise.
A
Yeah.
B
And it just break again. It's like in the middle of the action. So there's no setup, which is fine. I like that as a conceit. But it has to be very clear what you're saying.
A
I don't know, guys. I think I'm gonna add San Fran to the last thing my parlay.
B
It's just like so many words are lost there, but I finally got it with headphones on.
A
Here, here's the. Here's my. My issue with the. With the commercial is that it's. And I am a person who enjoys a good, hopeless multi leg parlay. Bet it's premised on the idea that his friend is a jerk. His friend is egging him on. He's like, nah, man, you should.
B
Yeah. When I hear it, should I just play the whole thing? Yeah.
A
His friend is like, oh, no, you should actually make it like, you should throw another one on. Like, it's like, I don't like the. I don't like the energy from his friend.
B
It's funny, Genevieve sort of thought that kind of ribbing reminded her of our friend group.
A
I don't know, guys. That's why I'm not friends with a lot of people. Last, like my parlay, bro.
B
What?
A
That's a risky move. No, no, he should totally do it. You know, you should add another. No way. That's never gonna hit snow. Call me Casino Seattle.
B
Anyway, there you go.
A
Yeah, I don't see. You know me. And we've. We've established on the show. I don't. I don't like ribbing.
B
No, you're not a big ball.
A
I'm not a big ribber. I'm not a ball. I don't enjoy balls being busted.
B
Or chops being cracked.
A
None of that. I, I, I like, I'm a very. Unless I'm challenging you to a fight on Aurora Avenue, which I have literally done with our friend Camaro. Kevin.
B
One or the other.
A
It's one or the other. I'm either the most loving friend you've ever had, or I'm challenging you to a fight in front of Tic Tac. Those are the two. Those are the two options with me.
B
I'm either looking out for you, or you have blood dripping down your forehead like Danzig circa 1985.
A
Precisely. Precisely. And this is in that uncanny valley of, like, friends who bust balls but aren't trying to physically fight. Right. But aren't being super supportive. And I don't, I don't feel comfort. As I would talk about with my therapist, I know what either end of the pool looks like. I don't like being in the middle of the pool because I don't understand how deep it is.
B
Yes. And there's no walls to cling to. I don't know, guys. I don't know you guys. I think about sad the last, like, let me ask you this because we gotta now talk about your commercial, which I have not seen. You said you've been seeing one during the game. But I have one more question about parlays for you, because as Veeves and I were discussing this, and then this came up also on after these messages yesterday, although we didn't have the tape, so we didn't actually do this whole exercise, Genevieve asked me what a parlay was and I gave an explanation that I think is right. But there is one part that I think I need clarification on. When you have a parlay, that means you have a series of bets and all of them have to turn out in your favor. So I keep on using the example of maybe you say Julio Rodriguez is going to get one home run and Logan Gilbert's going to get eight strikeouts.
A
And Randy or Rosarina will get a.
B
Double and Dylan Moore will be caught trying to steal a base.
A
I don't know if they offer that, but, man, that would really, that would.
B
Slay a negative, negative bet. Right. Against your team.
A
No, the Mariners will overthrow the cutoff man two times in one inning.
B
Yes. The Mariners will treat the baseball as if it's covered in Vaseline.
A
The Benny Hill music yakety sacks will start playing at a certain point during the first inning.
B
I gotta say, you're referring to the game that was played a couple of nights ago. I think there. Oh, see I didn't see last night's game.
A
Brutal.
B
But two nights ago, there were so many weir fielding errors and just missteps by mostly the Mariners. But then the funniest one was actually the one. I don't think it was technically an error, but I can't remember who hit the ball. Maybe you remember, but one of our batters hit the ball out to right field, and the. And it was a really tough, like, kind of, you know, the fielder had to, like, cover a lot of distance to try to get to the ball. And he almost makes the catch, but it bounces out of his glove, and then it's. It rolls gently underneath the wall. And the Tiger player is just like, I'm sorry. Yeah. Detroit Tigers. Yes. Sorry. I always get them confused with the Pirates. Anyway, he's walking around in a circle. Like, when I make bingo dizzy. He's like, where's the ball? Where's the ball?
A
Under the padding.
B
Yeah. Do you remember this place?
A
No, I didn't see that, but I've seen that before.
B
Yeah.
A
Pretty Keystone Coppish stuff.
B
Yeah. And it wasn't a ground rule double because it didn't automatically go under there. He kind of shoved it under there accidentally, and it's on him to get it out. It was a triple, actually. That might have been Julio. So here's my question for you.
A
It wasn't rowdy to Lez with a triple?
B
I don't think so.
A
Oh, my God.
B
Did they.
A
I mean, did they just, like, go into a Buffalo Wild Wings and just pull the third guy at the bar out and put a jersey on him and say, go forth?
B
I want him to be so good, so bad. I love a rumble.
A
I hope you learned nothing from the Vogelbach era.
B
I did, and it's that I deeply love Vogelbach, and I would dive into.
A
It did create the greatest need in our friend and group. That Camaro Kev made of a vocal bop. Having a bathroom accident.
B
And I. The only Mariner shirt I think I ever had was a Vogel Vogel bomb shirt. Anyway, all of that is to say parlays. In order to get any payout, you need to have all three work out for you. Right. You don't get a lesser amount of money if you get two out of the three. The whole point is it's all or nothing. Or there's some parlays where it's like, well, it'll pay off real big if all three legs come in, but it'll still pay off a little bit if two legs come in.
A
In my Understanding of the parlay is that all of the legs have to complete in order to collect. But there is a thing that happens sometimes where, if you have, like, a parlay, you could parlay who's going to win the World Series, who's going to win the super bowl, who's going during the same, like, calendar year, or maybe not calendar year, but the next time that event comes up, who's going to.
B
Win the US Open would be the.
A
Yeah, you could string together a bunch of stuff and what happens to folks, because I see these guys, it's called a sweat. When basically you have a parlay that's. That's like. Well, any bet that you're just, like, really hoping comes through and you're watching it. But it's often associated with like, like, you've got most of this bet and now you just need the New York Rangers to win the Stanley cup and you're sweating it. And what will happen is the. The online betting institution will offer you a buyout of your bet. Let's say that you've got. Particularly when it's a large amount. Like, let's say you've got hundreds of thousands on the line. Like, you could win $300,000, but DraftKings is offering you $100,000 right now.
B
Yeah.
A
And the 15th leg on the parlay has not come through, but you could get money without them all coming through. And there's these whole TikTok accounts of just like a guy holding a phone up, videotaping a different guy who's decided to let it ride until. To see if the Lakers win the.
B
Whatever.
A
You know what I mean?
B
Yeah.
A
By the way, those, those betting apps are. This is probably not shocking information, but they have been pulling extremely shady moves on people lately who've won big bets. They have it somewhere in the fine print that if there is what they call a clear error, in other words, they put out a percentage on a bet that they say was mistaken, and you take the bet and you win, they're allowed to not honor your bet, which is such absolute BS as far as.
B
Because of their miscalculation of the odds.
A
Because of their miscalculation of the odds. In other words, if they put something out and it's an advantage to the better and you bet it and the thing comes out the way you bet, they reserve the right to not pay you because of what they call a clear error clause, which is, why is that legal?
B
Why is any of this legal?
A
I mean, great question. You know, if you want to understand where I fall in the discourse around this stuff. I don't know. A year ago or two years ago, me and our friend John Goodwin did a TV story about how like, like, basically sports betting is going to be legal in every state because of a Supreme Court decision. And, and we go to the, the. What's it called? Cirque Sportsbook. We talk to Brent Musburger. It ends up being, I mean, we did throw in some of the drawbacks. I mean, we've certainly mentioned that there are people who have issues with gambling, but it was just basically like a, wow, this is going to be a whole thing. You can bet on your phone. And then I think a week ago, on the same TV show I work on, Ted Koppel did a whole piece on the dangers of online betting where he just talks to online gambling addicts and people who ruin their life over it with these sports apps. So it's like Luke comes in and goes, get a load of this sports book.
B
Yeah.
A
And then two years later, Ted Koppel is like, it's the scourge of American life.
B
Well, people remember you as the more serious journalist here, though I still think you have the upper hand. Don't worry.
A
Is. Is oddly stylish in real life, which is not what I expected. Like, he's got some pretty good fashion and he's also quite robust. Like, I remember watching Nightline when I was a kid and thinking Ted Koppel was, you know, was not a young person at that time. And then I was like, I bumped into him in the head office there at cbs. I mean, I bumped into a number of times. I was like, this guy's kind of got. Dude's got some flair, man. He's like a pretty stylish guy and he's keeping it pretty tight.
B
I don't mean this as an insult to him or to you or to cbs. I honestly did not. Oh, wait, he's. He's a. He's a.
A
He's like a special correspondent.
B
Okay, gotcha.
A
For Sunday morning, he's not.
B
Okay. He's coming in every now and then and doing Sunday Morning. He's not a full time cbs.
A
Er, I think he gets to do what he wants when he wants. So he comes.
B
He generally does a sports book.
A
Yeah, exactly. We've decided that Luke made a clear reporting error and we are retracting the story that he put out there. All right. Speaking of the Mariners broadcast, I have not seen this commercial multiple times. I only saw it yesterday and then I texted myself about it. It. And this is the commercial I don't have it in front of me and I don't even remember the name of the company, but it is a guy who is. He's. He's. He's in his bed and he is looking. He looks like he's just having absolutely delightful sleep. He's on his side and then he rolls over and they say when you have sleep apnea. I'm paraphrasing here. When you have sleep apnea, getting a good night's sleep is a real treat. And this guy is just having. Just. He has a beautific smile on his face of the incredible rest that he's getting. And then you look over on his nightstand and he's got a CPAP machine and it's like the such and such CPAP machine gives you a great night's sleep. Now my issue with the commercial is the guy does not have the CPAP apparatus on his face. Like, would that a CPAP machine could sit on your nightstand and just magically give you a great night's sleep.
B
Sleep.
A
I mean, the drawback of the CPAP machine, and I know lots of people use them and lots of people have great results and I may at some point need to avail myself. This is no shade on CPAP machine or CPAP machine users, but this is. This commercial should be illegal. You should not be able to show someone who's enjoying the best night of their. The best sleep of their life because of the CPAP machine and choose to not represent the most onerous part of the CPAP machine.
B
This is bananas. I'm trying to figure. I want. You don't know the name of the company, do you? Because I'm looking it up here. How is this.
A
I mean, honestly, like, I'm trying to think. I should have. I knew I was going to talk about that. I should have thought of a kind of an analog to this or something. It's just like it's. It is. It literally should be illegal. It literally should be illegal because it might give a person the idea that they put this thing on their nightstand and then they just get great sleep. And that is just manifestly not the case.
B
And like your math book under your pillow and hoping you're going to be prepared for the test tomorrow.
A
Exactly. It'd be like a Kumon ad that promises great test results and it just shows the person in a casino drinking.
B
Kumon is always funny, by the way.
A
Well, I think the Kumon. I think the Kumon logo is one of the craziest things I've ever seen. It looks like a confused child. Yes.
B
Why?
A
I mean, I guess this is the before picture. Like, if this is what your kid looks like, bring them in. But it does not seem like a. Like a. You know, like a sort of a person who has now become more aware of what the information is. Anyway, I just. I was so mad about this CPAP commercial. I mean, you can hear it in my voice.
B
I want to see this. I need eyes on this commercial. I'm not. We'll see if they play it again, but I just need to figure out, like, is there any explanation for Paul? What? What? What? Did you find it?
A
I just know.
B
But what I do have is a CPAP machine.
A
What I do have is. This is going to take so long. This is. This is ridiculous. I can log into FuboTV, where I am recording.
B
Oh, yeah.
A
All of the Mariners games. And I should be able to. I'm sorry. I am trying to do this on the floor.
B
While you do that, let me say, I am jealous of that. That's the one thing the Root Sports app doesn't have. I don't. I mean, I think you can go back after a game and watch their archive of it. And I don't know if it contains the commercials or not, but, like, I can't, like, record or rewind if I want to rewatch a play. I can't rewind my.
A
Okay, I'm needle dropping here. I'm trying to get through.
B
You can't needle drop. You need to scrub, scrub, scrub, scrub.
A
I'm sorry. I'm scrubbing, I'm scrubbing. I'm seeing a Les Schwab commercial. I actually like the Les Schwab get more with less. I think that's a clever little bit.
B
Of the run around because we include America's best tire warranty in every tire we sell.
A
So you get more unbeatable warranty, less charging you extra.
B
That's why we're more than proud to say you get more from less.
A
Oh, you know what I need to do, Andrew? I'm sorry. This is. This is getting so close. I need to timestamp when I texted myself, we're leaving all of this in, by the way, I want to be very.
B
You know what I need to do? Start doing show prep.
A
You know what, Andrew?
B
You know what? No, I'm the one. I'm. I know.
A
Let's see.
B
Hold on.
A
No, no, no. Okay. 7:06pm okay, this is. This is helpful, Andrew. I texted myself at 7:06pm about this, so we know that it was a Half hour into the game, right?
B
Nice. Yeah.
A
Because the game starts at what, like 6:30, 6:40 now?
B
I believe so. That's pretty good, by the way. I'm just going to fill a little bit more time while you scrub for that. We won't play the commercial now. I'm very much looking forward to talking about this on after these messages, but there is a commercial and I want to say it's for a local institution. I'm not even exact. Oh, it's for a bank. It's for getting a loan or something. And it's about a guy who's building a time machine and is his garage and his neighbor comes over with a cup of coffee and he's like, you're building a time machine. Have you seen this commercial? It is maybe my favorite commercial right now. Certainly locally it is so good. Yes. Okay, well, more on that later. It looks like you might have found what you.
A
No, I'm trying to. I'm at the 37 minute mark. I'm seeing a jack in the box ad.
B
I also wonder what about those tiny little tacos the size of like, you can just eat them like in one bite. Tiny, tiny little tacos in the jack.
A
I mean, one of my big problems historically with tacos is they take two bites.
B
Yeah.
A
And we've been able to get that down. I'm also, you know what's making this also difficult? I think this might be a 15 seconder. So it's especially, by the way, just because I'm like killing time here and I'm watching a commercial break right now.
B
Just rewatched last night's abortion of a baseball game.
A
Oh my God in heaven. It's rough. Have you noticed that Amazon has decided. So I have a lot of thoughts about the Amazon pharmacy positioning commercial. Like the positioning of the Amazon pharmacy commercials.
B
Because.
A
Because I listen to a lot of shows on Pushkin right now, which is the Malcolm Gladwell network, and they're clearly heavily funded by Amazon and all the commercials are for the Amazon pharmacy. And it's all commercials. They're so leaning into the negative. It's like basically like it's somebody's interior monologue as they're in the waiting room of a pharmacy and somebody is like sneezing near them. And it's just basically like everyone sucks and is gross and why would I want to go be around them? I'm going to just have Amazon deliver my meds. Interesting.
B
I've noticed that, that.
A
But then they've got the TV version which is this woman who's on a flight and she is, I think she might have like a urinary tract infection or something. And like as narrated by the thing, and she's on a flight, but she's on the Amazon, like the Amazon pharmacy thing. And she's going to get to her meds delivered to her hotel room. The idea is you could be on a plane and realize you're having a medical situation and you could, you know, have the meds waiting for you when you get to where you're going. And then she looks over and the guy next to her has like his shoes off and his socks have a hole and his toe is sticking out and she's just like, ugh, gross. It's just like for some reason maybe I'm just so anti bezos right now. I'm just like, can we like not lean? Can you have an entire ad campaign across multiple, like media landscapes where you're just being like, everyone sucks in the world, so stay home and order your meds from Amazon.
B
Do you have 15 seconds on the headline I saw this morning about Amazon making a last minute bid to acquire TikTok?
A
Oh, I actually meant to. I didn't know that that was. I did not know that that was in the offing at all.
B
I just saw the headline. I think it's a pretty breaking story.
A
Yeah, let's talk about it. I mean, let me just give you my like 2 second take on the possible again, whatever ban of Tick Tock etc, I don't actually care now. It's really weird. It's like I was pretty, I was pretty bummed the first time around. I was watching it. I was literally on Tick Tock when it went away, when it closed up for all 12 hours. I am, I literally don't care if TikTok goes away, which is, which is surprising to me.
B
And if Amazon bought it, would that make you even more open it up? Yeah, me too. I mean, not that I never open it up, but I told you the other day, I was sort of thinking, oh, you know, I sort of miss some of my parasocial relationships on Instagram. Maybe I should see what those folks are doing over on TikTok. I never followed through with that because taking a phone out of your pocket, it talks. It takes a lot of work. Yeah. So I never did it. So obviously the temptation isn't that great for me anyway. But then I saw the headline today. Amazon said to make bid to buy TikTok. And I'm just like, oh, you know what, you can have that. Like that's good. I'll just go from not having it on my home screen to deleting my account altogether. I've got one video up there, which is, I believe, an overdub of my face over a TikTok of a riverbed that my friend made. I just wanted to see if I could figure out the technology of combining two tiktoks together. What do you call that? Is it a duet or something like that?
A
Yeah, or a stitch.
B
Maybe it was a stitch. I don't know what it was, but either way, Amazon can have that. I. I'm.
A
That would be. That. Would it? Honestly, it. It being bought by Amazon or it going away are the same event in my mind.
B
Yeah, right.
A
For me, yes. It's just like, no, thank you. Okay. I'm not going to be able to. To. To scrub to this commercial, Andrew, but I. What I can do is find it and play it for you on tomorrow's show.
B
Okay, that sounds.
A
I can at least identify who the, you know, who the offending parties are with this CPAP machine. I can at least get the brand name and. And then we can.
B
Yeah, because I need eyes on it. I'll be honest with you. And again, it's not a. This isn't a Doubting Thomas situation. It's just like, I just want to see, is there any other context? Are there any clues? Is it. Is there. Is there a chance. And this is a stretch, Is there a chance that the CPAP system is a system where you wear it every other night? That doesn't really make sense.
A
Oh, my God. That would be. I mean, first of all, alert the press because that might actually help me. I might get that. I don't know, like, if you could wear it every other night, I. You know what commercial I have located Andrew, though, and I'm happy to tell you I think I'm gonna add San Fran to the last league of my parlay.
B
See, even hearing it there again with you playing and I'm like, wait, what did you say?
A
Anyway, I'll find that for tomorrow and we will properly. Shame. Oh, the other thing that was wild last night was they brought Gary Payton on the TV broadcast. And I want to apologize to the listeners that don't care about, like, Major League Baseball or the Mariners. I know it's very Mariner heavy right now.
B
I promise, season it well.
A
I promise you this will. This will ebb because they will, I think, continue to just absolutely stink on ice. And then I'll watch fewer games and I'll have fewer thoughts but here's what I'll say. There is a thing in, you know, in the, the preseason of baseball, the minor leagues, where there's a lot of time to fill and a lot of it is pretty uninteresting and they regularly bring people in. They're also kind of doldrums during a game. There are parts of, you know, maybe, I don't know, parts of the season. Let's say your team is already kind of out of it. I don't have a problem with them bringing someone into the play by play baseball booth for an inning. I had a problem with them doing it in the third inning of the sixth game of the season and therefore totally abandoning calling the game.
B
Yeah, I really have issues with that too. Especially if, when they bring him in too early or if there's too much going on in the game.
A
Like it was like still the critical juncture of the game. And it didn't help that. I think Detroit was like putting more runs on the board, but they got Gary Payton in there. Now listen, I'm a lifelong Seattle Sonics fan. The Gary Payton, AKA the glove provided some of the greatest sports moments of my life as a kid. So I like, I'm pro Gary Payton. But they brought him in to talk about absolutely nothing that I could tell. And he just also, no offense, peace and love. Ryan Roland Smith is one of our TV guys. Or as Aaron Goldsmith calls him, Hyphen, which I think is a pretty good nickname. But the guy's Australian. Great, good for him. There's nobody who has a less relevant take on the legacy of Gary Payton than Ryan Roland Smith. He was chasing kookaburras somewhere when Gary.
B
Payton was locking down Jordan, eating those stinky melons.
A
Thank you, Durian. I believe that's another country, but okay.
B
Oh, that's right. That's. Where is that Thailand? Maybe? Yeah, yeah.
A
But like, I'm sure they have them in Australia. I'll go with it. Like, like, like it just was. It was a weird thing. Like somebody said, well, Gary Payton is willing to come into the broadcast booth. And also Gary Payton was like, I forget the. I mean, I literally could go to this because I do. I think I had. Do I. Am I still there? No. Did I X out of this? I could actually go to the tape if I wanted to. Gary Payton, he's got a son, Gary Payton Jr. Who. Who is a basketball player. I think he plays for the Golden State Warriors. He played. He also played at Oregon State. State. They're just trying to come up with things to talk to Gary Payton about. And Gary Payton, they asked him about his son. I'll actually give Gary Payton senior credit on this. They asked him something about his son, and he said like. Well, first thing he said was something like the effect of. I just told him there's only one Gary Payton, and it's me.
B
Wow. Tough.
A
And he goes. And, you know, they go. They go like something like, do you help him out with his career? He goes, I tried at the beginning, and we were estranged.
B
Oh, wow.
A
Wow. GP Was getting kind of raw.
B
Yeah.
A
And then he was just like. He was describing some kind of a film that's in the offing that I think might be about a. A high school basketball player in the state of Washington. I think she might be Native American. Gary Payton referred to as. In her as Indian. It's like. It was like, you've got. You're working on a film. You're the executive producer of a film about a basketball player. He goes, yeah, she's this Indian girl I adopted. I'm like, what part of the world are we even. Is the person from the nation like the country of India? Are they Native American? What do we. It was a very unhinged conversation for the third inning, for a meaningful section of a game in still a meaningful part of the season for the Seattle Mares. You could hear Aaron Goldsmith trying to be like. And to lez. To le. Unable to field that as, you know, so and so rounds the bases. It's like, get Carrie Payton out of here.
B
Yeah. Yeah. I didn't. I again, didn't see much of the game last night, so I didn't hear that particularly. But that will drive. Sometimes they do that, Luke, on the radio, where you don't even have the visual. The visual. The visuals to go along with it. Like, how are you doing? Like, call the game now. I did see something yesterday, and it is funny how my stance for the longest time has been anti prank, anti April Fool's Day. Yet two days in a row, I'm the guy who brings up April Fool's Day pranks. But I did see something that they showed near the end of the game yesterday when I finally had a chance to turn it on. And it was harkening back to an April Fool's Day past, an event that took place apparently in the Kingdome, but it was actually a prank pulled off by the visiting team, the Blue Jays. Did you see this? And do you have any context for it?
A
No. I had switched over to watching Adolescence again, or whatever that's called. Is that what the show's called adolescence.
B
So this is before I was paying any attention to baseball. So I don't know.
A
These days I was busy muting Ders and switching my content to adolescent adolescents.
B
So I should know these names, but I don't really have a lot of context for them. But here, see I. Frank Tanana, I was hoping that you would know about this because I'm looking for explanation here. And now I'm going to be explaining to you what I know. And it doesn't help, but they showed a flash of this during the game yesterday. Like a flashback back to 19. I want to say 92 maybe. Maybe it was 1990 and the blue Jays were. They must have been playing the Mariners because they're in the Kingdome and they're in the visiting dugout.
A
And then prime Kelly Gruber years. Okay.
B
At some point, Joe Carter drives out onto the field in Derrick Bell's SUV. Now this is a 1990s era SUV. It's a big green SUV and the big.
A
On the Kingdom, like on the field.
B
On the field. I don't know exactly when this happened during the game or like, you know, which innings happened in between, but apparently it was an April Fool's Day joke where they made it seem like they were auctioning off Derrick Bell's SUV to somebody in the crowd and the whole thing was orchestrated. I'm trying to read this and talk to you about it at the same time. And apparently it was Joe Carter who's actually driving. And they kept showing Bell in the dugout just like, what is going on? Why is my car being driven out onto the field? And we apparently certainly have some audio of this from the actual day. This is from you, this is from Facebook. So it's really hard to play Facebook audio. But let me see if I can do this here. They're driving it on the.
A
Is the casino commercial. This again?
B
Oh, God. Yeah.
A
So anyway, dude, you should tell me.
B
I just. I'm confused about this whole thing. I'm reading about it here on the MLB website. It says I'm going to read this, but unfortunately it's not. It's not just the facts. And that's what I like. It says you can't mention Joe Carter without bringing up his Game 6 World Series ending home run in Toronto's win over the Phillies in 1993. But if you were really paying attention, those early 90s Blue Jay that off.
A
Of Mitch Wild Thing, what's his name? That the reliever for the Phillies. I think he got rocked.
B
That Series can't help you. You know that Carter has another claim to fame. It was this prank that sent rookie outfielder Derrick Bell into an emotional tailspin.
A
Who was a rookie. That's why this happened. It's a big like messing with the rookies culture.
B
He looks so confused. It is really adorable to see him. He's like his mouth is hanging open. He doesn't know what's going on. Bell watched as his money green Jeep was driven around the Toronto turf. It says Toronto turf, but they kept saying Kingdome. I'm very confused about this.
A
That would make more sense because why would Derrick Bell's car be in Seattle?
B
That's what I. But they, they played it last night and I swear they said the Kingdome. And I don't. Maybe they were just playing it because they were doing a roundup of. Of pranks or something. But it was during a Mariners game. I swear it was the Kingdome. So I don't know. I don't understand. Was there ever a time I would be really.
A
Was there any time where the Blue.
B
Jays ever had to use the Kingdome as their home base? Like, were they out of there?
A
Maybe when the Skydome was being built? I don't remember that. I would be. I also would be really surprised if the Mariners that. This seems like a thing that would have had to happen in Toronto because Joe Carter would have had to go to someone who handles the wall and say, hey, could you do me a favor? And like I'm going to drive a car on the field. I feel like the Mariners ground crew would be less receptive to that.
B
That's exactly why I was. So is there any chance. The thing is, I heard them say Kingdom yesterday. Maybe.
A
Was it Ryan Roland Smith, because.
B
Yeah, maybe he was chasing a kookaburra. Yeah, because it. Nothing. But just so you know, even as they were saying it, I was like, this doesn't make sense. Why would this happen on our home turf? And they didn't show any Mariners. They only showed Blue Jays. So you're right, like I'm there with you that it doesn't make any sense. It'll be Kingdom. And so I don't know. Maybe I just misheard it. But I don't know why they were also playing this during a Mariners game. But whatever, right?
A
I guess because it's April. Well, here's what I do think is starting to happen, Andrew. They're already realizing there's going to be a lot of dry innings with these Mariners. They're like, what do we have That's Alternative content.
B
Yeah.
A
What. What. Can we start to sort of supplement the broadcast? I feel like I can hear it again. I don't. I'm not trying to talk about sports. I'm trying to talk about how I feel about sports. I feel like I can already hear it in Aaron Goldsmith's voice that he's kind of like, there's a sort of a grim realization, even whatever, six, seven games in for him that, like, this could be a long season. Yeah, this could be a lot of, like, you know, eight down for the. I can't do an Aaron Goldsmith impression. But it's just like a person, I think, regretting the fact that they didn't take the job in St. Louis or wherever that was Cincinnati or something, because, I mean, not really.
B
Yeah, it was St. Louis. Lewis, I think. Yeah.
A
But, like, just the. I could I hear in his voice this. Like, this. This. This creeping suspicion that this might be a rough season.
B
Well, you know what I think probably happened now? I don't think I realized that, and I don't have any evidence of this, but as you're talking and you referred to the Sky Dome, I'm like, oh, I don't know that I knew the Blue Jays played in a place called the Sky Dome, and maybe they said Sky Dome, and I heard Kingdome, and that's why I'm so confused, because none of this makes sense. You're absolutely right. But I do think I found maybe better audio of it. I don' Know. Nobody should trust me. By the way, I understand. I understand why you and the listeners are like, don't do it, Walsh. Don't do it. But this is apparently from the mlb, and it must. It must be Sky Dome. I'll bet you a million bucks I heard Dome. And that's how I got confused. Okay, so it's the same footage.
A
Number is w. They got the announcer in on it.
B
That's why, you know, it wasn't the Mariner 23. I love.
A
That is an incredible prank.
B
Confused.
A
That is an. I didn't realize that I. I didn't realize that they got the PA Announcer on it to actually award it to somebody.
B
They announced the winner. Yeah, that's.
A
Yeah, that's next level. And even though it's kind of. It's kind of mean, I'm kind of. I'm impressed. That's a. That took some organization.
B
Yeah, exactly. And again, just seeing the guy's face, and I just sort of feel like I. 1992 April Fool's Day jokes do not bother me. It was really the 2000s that killed April Fool's Day for me.
A
That's so much better than a hot foot. Do you know about a hot foot?
B
I don't know if I want to know.
A
It's. It's. It's. Baseball is a very pranky sport. It's the prankiest of the sports, honestly, as far as I'm aware. Like, because there's a lot of downtime. There's a lot of. There's just a lot of sitting around. So a hot foot would be. Be. You would use bubblegum. You would somehow use bubblegum to attach a book of matches to the foot of an unsuspecting teammate, and then you would light it on fire, and. And then they would just be sitting there, and they're just, like, watching the game, and then they start to smell something burning, and then they look down, and then they've got, you know, something on fire on their foot, and then they dance around to put it out. That's called a hot foot.
B
Did you see my wildly popular blue sky post last night? I mean, we're up to over 50 likes here, Luke.
A
Dude, that's probably more than I've ever gotten on a blue sky post. Let me. Hold on. Let me. Let me. Let me link up.
B
I said, get out the rye bread and mustard, grandma, because I'm an emotional eater, and this team is killing me.
A
Okay. On the subject. This is not a story about baseball announcing. It's a story about the Howard Stern show, finding out who Dave Sims is.
B
Good. I'm closing all tabs. I'm locked in.
A
Yesterday, I was driving into town, and I was listening to the Howard Stern show, and they. They. On that show, they love to say hey, now, which is inspired by the Jeffrey Tambor character, Hank, on the Larry Sanders show, who's his kind of his. He's the announcer on, like, a Tonight show type type of show. And his. His saying is. His phrase is hey, now.
B
Hey, now.
A
So they say hey, now on the Howard Stern show constantly. It's how they greet the callers. It's. It's. It's part of their lexicon. Well, Dave Sims's home run call is hey, now.
B
Oh, yeah, right.
A
And it was so crazy for me to listen. Dave Sims, if you don't know, was the Mariners announcer, one of the Mariners announcers for the last. I'm going to say, like, maybe seven to ten seasons or something. He just went to the Yankees and is now the new Yankees announcer. And, like, Howard Stern on air musing about if Dave Sims is saying hey now. Because he's impersonating the Howard Stern show. It was. It was the agony and the ecstasy of me listening to that intro, because I was just like, he's been saying it for years.
B
It's all he's ever known.
A
I went full D'Onofrio. I was just like. I was like, ah. I was also. The show had been over for hours, but had I been listening in real time, I would have been calling him like, everybody's live with Mulaney. Because I was just like, dude has been saying hey now forever. I promise you he's not ripping you off. And Howard Stern, I guess to his credit, I'm gonna put in quotes, he wasn't like, upset about it or like, this guy is stealing from us. He was like, if he got this from us, we're stoked about. About it. But I was just like to hear a bunch of people who have no idea what a Dave Sims is. Yeah, kind of. And they were playing tape of him, you know, calling, because turns out he's had a lot of opportunities to break out his hay now with the Yankees this season.
B
Oh, yeah, yeah, the Torpedo. One or two or twenty opportunities, one or a hundred over the weekend.
A
And so they're just playing Dave Sims. And again, I felt very. I felt very possessive of the Dave Sims experience.
B
Now. Okay, a couple of things on this. First of all, the. The Howard Stern thing, I. That you've mentioned that hey now thing before. And of course, I know that from my occasional dip ins to listen to that show. I mean, it's usually how he begins the show. I think over that music that. I know that I've said this to you before. I know you hate that American Nightmare music is how it is. American Nightmare, the Rob Zombie song.
A
Rob Zombie, for some reason, brutal.
B
Like, it really puts me in the mood for that show. It's weird. Like, I would never listen to that song, but for some reason, like, I. I hear that and I love that. It's. It's sort of pumping up Howard. Sort of. So anyway, I don't have that issue with it. And they come, hey now. But anyway, one of the things that I like about that is you and I, I have like, a lot of deep insecurities generally in my life. And a small insecurity about the show is so many of the. When you and I are talking like, well, what could we put on a T shirt? You know, when we have the business boys together with Sklaroff and we're like, what could we put on a T shirt. What are some things? And it's like, wait, was that our joke, or is that just somebody else's joke that we just keep saying over and over again? Yeah, or some other cultural reference. And can we really, like, I don't know, is that really ours? You know, like, to put on a shirt or something? And so, you know, I mentioned at the lie last live show we did in Seattle, and the crowd all started singing along to you. You take a taco, put it in, messing it up, whatever. The 30 rock you got.
A
Cheesy blaster.
B
Cheesy blasters thing is.
A
Thank you, meat cat.
B
And our entire audience is singing along with it. And I'm like, oh, my God, we're all vibing together. I'm like, that's not even our joke. That's just us playing 30 rock tape. But what I like about that is there's a long tradition of that. And Howard Stern, basically, his whole hey now thing. People think of that as a Howard Stern thing. He thinks of it as a Howard Stern thing, but really, that's not even their thing. It was him just imitating a joke from another show in the 90s.
A
Well, and the thing that was also killing me, we've shifted away from the Mariners portion of the show into me relitigating the Howard Stern show for our listeners. The thing that was making me crazy was they kept talking about it being the greatest contribution that Gary Shandling had made to their show. And I kept saying, well, it's Jeffrey Tambor, really. Like, it was the Larry Sanders show, but it's like. It's like they were this tambour erasure.
B
They expect him to give anything to their show at all.
A
Well, I don't. I mean, look, I. Here's what I do want to say. I don't want to get into criticizing when they're making small talk and they say something. I feel like I'm wide open to that same criticism him on this show. But it was just a funny thing. Like, at no time now, listen, Jeffrey Tambor's been kind of, you know, he's had a lot of questionable behavior in the past 10 years that he's been called out on, etc. So, like, it's not like, I don't know. I'm not. I don't feel that bad for Jeffrey Tambor, but it was just weird that it's like the character Hank who says, hey, now, was totally not ever mentioned. It was as if Gary Shandling's character was the one who said the catchphrase that was Kind of weird.
B
You will not stand for this tambour erasure. Now, one last thing on this topic and then we can thank the dazzling donors, which I'm sure you want to do, but. But you've probably caught some wind. I think there was even somebody. Have you. I hope you haven't caught my wind, by the way.
A
I was going to say, like the wind.
B
You probably caught some wind. About this little interaction on a recent Yankees broadcast with Dave Sims and his new broadcast partner, Susan Waldman. Now, Susan's.
A
I heard about this from Goodwin, I think.
B
Yes, he mentioned it on the. By the way, congratulations to John on his recent marriage. I think what's been two, three years now.
A
I would say maybe four.
B
Maybe four. I just like to. Every time he mentions his wife, I like to congratulate him.
A
I saw that. I like that.
B
I like that bit. We gotta, we gotta really lay into that. But anyway. Or lean into that. But anyway. So Susan Waldman has been calling Yankees games for a while now. I don't know much about the Yankees broadcast. I do know that some Yankees fans I know who will remain nameless I don't think are big fans of her. And we're not big fans of the duo of her and.
A
Who's John Sterling, probably.
B
Yeah. That Dave Sims replaced. Anyway, Susan is still there. Dave Sims, our former Mariners broadcaster, is now a Yankees broadcaster. And after. Let's see here. Scoring 13 run. I'm sorry, 13 runs during a Yankees matchup. This is what she said to Dave and Dominguez, but both have been on. Oh, look at this.
A
By Jazz.
B
That's out of here. Another pay now for the Yankees.
A
They're killing Milwaukee. It's 13:3.
B
You're not going to know what to do with this. Your old team didn't score 13 runs.
A
Don't rub it in. Be nice.
B
Welcome to the New York Yankees. Dave Sims, he talked over time. She said your team didn't score 13 runs in a. Wow.
A
Okay, a couple of things. Did she just get done hosting book talk on wnyc? I didn't. I've never heard this person, but I guess I assumed that she was more in the, the let's say, Angie Mentink kind of variety, which would be like a relatively young a person who's kind of up on their. Like Angie. The, the Angie Mentink has forgotten more about baseball than I'll ever know. Like, I, I'm, I'm a big fan and, and I don't mean to gender this, but I just, it's, it's an interesting thing still in this day and age to have a woman in, in the, you know, in the play by play booth. I think it's great. I think there should be more of it, but I. That's not what I was expecting. That person, that woman sounds like someone who would be complaining to her doorman that the Amazon deliveries are being left down the hall from her unit. Like, she does not sound like a sports person to me.
B
I think just from having the.
A
I'm also very triggered by her shitting on the Mariners for.
B
Absolutely. I mean, I knew her voice because I think even though I usually. Even if I am listening to a Yankees game, I don't usually choose that broadcast. Maybe because I was. I don't know why, but I don't know. During the summer, I mow in the lawn. There's no Mariners game on. It's not unlike me to put on just some other random game. And so I'd heard her before, so that didn't come as a shock to me. But your, your assessment, though, I would agree with you. Probably the first time I heard her, I was like, oh, yeah, I didn't.
A
You.
B
She does have almost a public. Like, she should be sharing, like maybe her, her recipe. Who is it on NPR who always shares her recipes on Thanksgiving?
A
Oh, Lynn. Not Lynn. Rosetta. Cast.
B
No, no.
A
Susan Stanberg. Mama Stanberg's relish.
B
She's got a Mama Stamber's relish vibe.
A
Yeah, I mean, I get. I guess I'll say that that's good because it takes all kinds and it's probably, you know, credit to the Yankees. It sounds like they were sort of in front of what, again, I hope is a growing trend of including everyone in the, in the, in the broadcast booth. I mean, again, it shouldn't just be old white men and young. It could be white men of any age.
B
She's 78. It says too. I mean, wow.
A
Okay, I get. But. But that being said, must you, must you go out of your way to, to make a joke at the Mariner's expense? Like, it's. This is very triggering for me. I was triggered when I saw it in the text chain, but I'm more triggered now having heard the audio because it's just totally unnecessary and it confirms everything about, you know, about the sort of small market versus big market thing and just the fact that the rich seem to get rich in, in Major League Baseball and the teams, Los Angeles and New York that have the most money, they get the best players and then they win the most games and it's just like it's, it's, it's, it's, it's very predictable and it's very frustrating to be on one of the teams that is not on the, on the winning side of that equation and to have basically 78 year old Joffrey a Baratheon just go out of their way to step on our neck for no reason, you know, no thanks.
B
Now I don't know if there's a glitch in the.
A
That's a really odd. I love that I compared her to a boy king.
B
I was trying to think know I'm.
A
Trying to think of the worst person I could think of and Joffrey Baratheon came to mind. I apologize.
B
Did you say, did you say must you or did you say mustard?
A
Andrew, Just so you know, I've also got that, that sound effect on standby in case like each morning. Mustard off. You just brought ketchup to a mustard fight, Andrew. No. Every day I go through my little audio drop board here on my computer and I kind of X out. I get rid of the drops from the previous day and I put in the new ones. But today I did not throw away mustard. I just dragged it down to a lower section so that I could access it if needed. Because I felt like that may, that may loom large in the show for the next few weeks.
B
Do me a favor. Can you play your. I think you have the ability to kind of like fade on the fly, right? Can you start that at full volume and then duck it under my audio?
A
Yes. So I'm just going to start signal me.
B
You just duck it pretty early on. Okay. I don't know, guys.
A
I think I'm gonna add San Fran to the last leg of my parlay. Perfect. That's audio gold, my friend. We was hoping for some razzle dazzle. Razzle dazzle. That's right, man. Razzle dazzle. On your mark.
B
On your mark.
A
Get set, get set now.
B
Ready? Ready.
A
Go everybody. Razzle dazzle. You know, Andrew, sometimes we come into these dazzling donor messes messages and I feel a little bad because of whatever the content is that has preceded it. Like this is where we thank people who are donating a truly dazzling amount of dough each month to the show. This is voluntary. I know times are tough out there and these people are saying, yeah, but I'm going to prioritize some money for tbtl. Sometimes I feel a little like maybe we've under delivered. I think that that mustard slash casino commercial thing you just orchestrated. I feel really, really proud to be citing the donation of Angela Barrera of Corpus Christi, Texas, because of what we just did. I think that was high quality content and I think Angela. I think Angela got her money's worth today.
B
And that donation allowed me to buy this computer where I captured that audio last night off the Root Sports app. So thank you for making that possible.
A
Thanks, Angela. Angela says thanks again for another year of audio. Friend, friendship, continued success in your second year of independence. Seventeen years in and I still never know what to expect with tbtl. Cobros in space.
B
Maybe.
A
Great question, Andrew. Would you. If I don't think it'll be offered to us, particularly with our recent comments around Bezos, but if we had the opportunity to go into low Earth orbit, if we could somehow go to space, would you do it?
B
I wouldn't go on a SpaceX rock.
A
It sure.
B
Tell you that. Right. Right there.
A
On principle or because you don't trust it?
B
Both. Yeah.
A
It turns out all the private space stuff is run by absolute tools. Yeah.
B
I mean, honestly, I certainly wouldn't go on a Boeing spacecraft because they leave the folks up there. What about Blue Origin?
A
Wait, that's. That's Bezos.
B
Oh, yeah.
A
So SpaceX is stupid head. Yeah. And then the other one.
B
Stupid Head. As you said. Stupid Head.
A
And the other one.
B
You know, it does.
A
That's our new morning show.
B
I was gonna say. Are you talking. But us. Actually, I want that to be the.
A
That's a decent show title. Stupid Head. And the other one.
B
It really is. But it raises the question for me. I'm deeply scared of heights. Right. But what? I feel a fear of heights in space. I feel like it would be a different fear or a different sensation.
A
Yeah, right. I mean, could you. Do you have a fear of heights when you're flying?
B
I have a fear of flying when I'm flying. No, I have. No, I don't have a deep fear of flying. I do get nervous and part of it is me understanding that I'm very, very high up in the sky and if something could go wrong, but I feel like it's not. I can't. Let me. Here's where it's different because I'm all over the place here. But I swear there's a difference. When I'm in an airplane and I look out the window, I don't get the butterflies in my stomach that you would get on my roof.
A
Of my.
B
That I would get on your roof or even in a place that is like, completely contained. Like the top of the space need needle. Where you go up there and you literally couldn't fall. Yeah, I got freaked out up there when I took my folks up there when they're visiting. Like 15 years ago, I was fine. I was fine. And then all of a sudden I was like, I'm not fine. I'm gonna be in the. In the gift shop, which was like, right in the center. It's like, I need to be in the center of this Space Needle. And not like that was a. That was a triggered fear of heights. When I'm on a plane, I have some anxiety about airplanes. And Also, like, in 2025, maybe not the worst thing to have some caution around getting on.
A
Well founded.
B
Yeah. A Boeing Max. But anyway, it's a different kind of concern. It's a different phobia. If it is a phobia.
A
Yeah. There. There must be a term for the fact that when you're 20ft off the ground, like, if I were to be up on the roof of my house, which is what I'm looking at, which is, let's say, the peak, and of it as 30ft off the ground, if I was working up there, I would be very aware of the fact that I'm 30ft off the ground. Or maybe if I was 80ft or when I climbed that tree for that story and I was like 200ft up, I got the fear because I realized my entire life was being supported by this climbing rope. And if something were unexpectedly to happen to it, I would just. My life would be over. And that just got inside my head.
B
But you don't.
A
At least if you're me, I don't feel that feeling at 30,000ft Feet. I have no fear of being 30,000ft off the ground. I have a lot of fear. Well, not a lot. I have a decent amount of fear about being 200ft off the ground. And I wonder what the sort of psychological explanation of that is.
B
But the thing that makes me especially sexy is I'm also afraid of enclosed spaces. So that I think, honestly.
A
So, like, the Space Needle elevator is kind of like your nightmare.
B
The Space Needle elevator was fun.
A
Oh, because that's an enclosed space that's high off the ground.
B
Yeah, but it's more like we're really getting close to that far side where they hang a guy in a tiny box over Manhattan with a bunch of snakes in there to help him get over all of his fears.
A
That is the actual. By the way, that's the actual therapeutic approach. It's called exposure therapy.
B
That's right. But no I mean like I can get claustrophobic if I was in a very enclosed space. Like for example, I've never had like an MRI or something like that. But with the way people describe that, I'm like, ooh, that sounds a little tricky triggering for me.
A
Yeah, definitely. I, I don't, I am not claustrophobic, but I think I could see. I'm looking into it, I'm considering it as an option if that makes sense. Like I, for some reason I started to get. When I was looking at more Tick tock. I started to get a bunch of these videos that were basically like animations of caving disasters, if that makes sense. So like basically like a weird, almost like maybe AI generated voice some. Somebody had figured out how to write. I think an AI program that went and basically like scoured the written material for stories about people who become trapped in a cave, but not in like a big cave. Talking about a crawl space. I'm talking about like you're like you, you have to almost like exhale so that your, your lung capacity or your lungs. You know what I mean?
B
That kind of. I read Jack Reacher. I know you're talking the first look at that Jack Reacher people get stuck.
A
You know, like in these very, very awful positions where they're like upside down and, and they can't, you know, the blood is pool. It's, it's, it's horrific stuff. But a bunch of this content was getting generated that I'm pretty sure might be AI where like someone wrote a program that said go find a story about a horrible caving incident, animate it and then narrate it and then release it in chunks on TikTok because it's very non naturalistic the read of the people. Like the voiceover of it. Maybe somebody wrote it all and then they just added like a robot voice to it. But all that is to say I was seeing a lot of that for a while and I really had to start nexting it because it was getting inside my head like as a sort of, like as a sort of phobic worst case scenario. Like you could not pay me enough to mess with that stuff. Like I do not understand the appeal.
B
There is very little that I remember from the movie. Movie Interview with a Vampire.
A
Oh, okay.
B
But the only thing I remember, and I'm trying to think, I did not read the book, right? I don't think I read the book. So I must have rice. I believe so. And I don't think I read the book. So this must have been from the Movie, which I must have seen once, a long, long time ago. I'm guessing even when I was in college. But I believe that Tom Cruise, maybe he's a vamp in that.
A
Yes, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, I believe. I think there's a.
B
There. I don't know how much you know about vampires, but they're immortal. And I believe that Tom Cruise's. I don't know if he's Lestat or not, but at some point, because he does something bad as a vampire, other vampires, I believe, sentence him to being buried alive, essentially, in his little. In his little coffin thing. But it's, like, for a long time. I want to say, like, 100 years or something. Like, they put him in his coffin and then put him in a wall. People who know this world probably are.
A
Just pulling their hair out right now.
B
Absolutely smashing that little doll of me that they got from a fundraiser years ago.
A
That's.
B
That's why we made them plushie. You can't break them. But anyway, I just remember, like, that really getting in my head. Like, I think I saw that movie in college, and I could not stop thinking about the idea of being in such a tightly enclosed space and forever, and just basically forever because you're immortal. And I believe. Spoiler alert. I'm gonna give everybody a second here. Spoiler alert. I believe he eventually does get out.
A
There's a Twilight Zone that's a sort of a version of that from the 50s. This guy signs a deal with, like, the devil where he basically can't die. And he's very smug about it. And he, like. It's. He. His whole move. This is such a weird, like, Rod Serling kind of thing. This guy becomes immortal, and his whole move is, like, falling down on the subway tracks and getting run over and not dying and suing the subway. He just has a stream of people coming into his, like, office to give him settlement checks because he just goes around doing things that would kill a normal person and then not dying and then suing the company that, like, runs the bus or the. Whatever.
B
I don't. That's so funny because. And I know I've told this story on the show before, so I will not go into all of the deep details, but I remember telling you this story to the point where we looked it up and I found the actual comic book online, the full story. But my neighbor when I was a kid gave us. She was, like, older than us. And so when she went on to, I don't know, college, wherever she went, she gave us a whole Huge box of Archie comic books. And most of them were Archie or the World of Archie, Josie and the Pussycats, that kind of stuff. But then there were a couple of randos in there. And one of them was the only Twilight Zone comic book that I had ever had at that point. Then it told the story of this bad guy who was a poacher. He was somewhere, I believe maybe in Africa, he was an elephant poacher. And while he's. I believe it begins with him being chased. I wonder if there's a term for that. It literally begins with the action of him being chased by like anti poacher patrols or something. And as he's running away, he runs into some, you know, some sort of wizened old man in the woods somewhere in the jungle somewhere. And the old man gives him this talisman and puts it around his neck and he says, it's time for me to take this off. You will not die if you have this around your neck. So the old man gives it to this guy. The old man dies. This guy keeps on running. But then he eventually, and again, spoiler, give you three, two, one on this. And then he accidentally, like, falls off of a giant cliff. And the law enforcement that were chasing this poacher look down and they see his broken body on the rocks down there. And they say, should we send in, you know, should we call in some sort of, you know, doctor situation? And the other one's like, no, nobody survives that. Let the birds take him. And then we get a close up of the guy still Al at the bottom of this ravine. And he knows he will be there in his broken body forever. Nobody will ever be down there to take this talisman.
A
I see.
B
Oh.
A
Cause his body's broken, so he can't even take it off.
B
He can't do anything. He's just destroyed, but will live forever in this state.
A
Well, okay, so what happens to the guy in this twilight Zone is he eventually gets sentenced. He kills someone or does something. I think he kills someone. And he's just like, whatever, judge, go ahead, give me the electric chair chair. And then the judge gives him life in prison.
B
It's always that. It's always that, right? It's like, no, no, you, you don't get the sweet relief of.
A
The only problem with that, the pro. The only problem with that, theoretically, is let's say they do give him the electric chair and he doesn't die. What do they release him after that? Like, what was his.
B
Right, Right.
A
That is a good. All right, well played. You're the new president.
B
Yes.
A
You survive the electricity. Electric chair. Back to Angela's message. Angela says cobros in space. Maybe I'm in. Either way, good luck to all. Kwapla, which is Klingon for success. I looked it up.
B
Oh. I was wondering, how did you know that?
A
I was tempted to try to act like I knew that. I was really considering playing it off and going, which I believe is Klingon for success. Would you have bought that? Would you have in any way bought that I knew what the Klingon word for success was?
B
No, I. I don't think so. Although you did shock me there a little bit. My question, though, is. So what we've learned about Klingon is you don't need a U to follow the Q. So that's different. So could it be potentially copla?
A
It probably is copla. You know, it's likely that it's copla.
B
Figure this out here.
A
Thank you, Angela. However you say thank you in Klingon, we say that to you, our friend. Appreciate you. Maestro, on your mark. On your mark. Get set, get set. Now. Ready?
B
Ready, Ready.
A
Go. Look who it is. It's Shyra Fedeli.
B
Hey, Shyra.
A
Eugene, Oregon. Thanks for the pronouncer. Shyra. I would have definitely gone Shira.
B
Yep. And I'll bet you a lot of people do, which is why Shira is so good.
A
Shira. Thank you.
B
Spelling out her name Shyra is probably.
A
Yeah, probably said Shyra. And then fatally, like wounded Fadelli is in Eugene or Oregon, where my girlfriend's gonna be running a marathon, I believe, in. In a few weeks or in April at some point, which is very.
B
What's happening with your. You're doing half marathons.
A
I am not. Andrew, here's what happened. I. You know, I switched. I mean, you can tell how buff I've gotten lifting bicycles over my head.
B
Can you put a shirt on, please?
A
No, I can't, Andrew.
B
I have.
A
Now that I. Now that I'm ripped. I'm allergic to shirts, which happens to.
B
A lot of guys, but what's with the bonk ghosts?
A
All right, all right, all right. I. I did foolishly commit to trying to run a half marathon every month, and I think I did it for one month of the year, maybe two months, and then I shifted over to doing this weight thing, which I. I'll have. I'll say I've stuck with it, but it's drastically cut down on my running, and so I'm now, like, a long run for me would be in the neighborhood of like 7 miles I did in Central park recently. But that is not enough for me to be up for running 13 and a half miles once a month. So I have basically bailed on that plan. And I'm just trying to be okay with that. I'm trying to just forgive myself for my foolishness. And you know who forgives me is Shyra in Eugene, Oregon, who says, thanks, Luke. Thanks Luke and Andrew for getting it right and for getting it wrong. Both can lead to a lot of banter filled fun. Oh, that's an interesting idea. So another words. When we get things right, that's kind of a payoff. And then when we get things wrong, there's also kind of a payoff there because it sends us on some kind of a weird as. I think it was Mr. Bame, my science teacher, Bill Boehm, who did believe legitimately the Earth.
B
He was born in the dark, Right. You merely adopted it.
A
He merely adopted the notion that the earth was 7,000 years old. Can you imagine a science class where the teacher believes the earth is 7,000 years old? Years old. I feel they just. Everything after that is just. Is just a. It's just a crapshoot. We've misread one of the more fundamental things about life on this planet, which is the age of this planet. But he used to call them bird walks. I remember at the beginning of the year, he said, don't get me on any. Don't try to get me on bird walks because when I go on them, I'll never come back to the topic. So what do you think we did all year? Get Bill Boehm on a birdwalk. So anyway, when we go on birdwalks, Shira enjoys it. I guess. I'd love an update on Gus in the band experience. Okay. This is our friend P. Fletch's son Gus, who is like a, like serious, serious band kid and participant in a serious band jazz band.
B
He's a jazz man. Yeah. And plays with the school. So I reached out to Phyllis yesterday.
A
Nice.
B
Because Shira wanted to know. Let's see here. It says, what's going on with Gus and the band experiences. Phyllis still driving the equipment truck Now, I didn't even know that. That.
A
I didn't.
B
I didn't know that was a thing. I texted Phyll. I didn't tell her it was for air, but I did tell her it was a question from a listener. So I think this is all above board. She says, what a fun question this is. Gus's high school band hasn't needed me in that capacity, but I did that for his middle school band. And I loved every parade. I still volunteer as a band mom, quote, unquote, band mom. But most of it is ever further. I'm sorry. Farther behind the scenes, like making sure parents get emails and the right stuff goes in the newsletter. And also she got to serve pizza one time and championed or chaperoned to football games and organize a silent auction. So. So Phyllis is out there still being very, very supportive to the entire band experience.
A
If I remember right, Gus's band, maybe he's moved on from this one, but for a while, he was. I think it might have been the Robert Eagle staff band. The school Robert Eagle staff. And they were like their coordinator was putting them in some. Like the person leading the band had them doing some sweet ass moves. Yeah, we're getting videos of that stuff. Anyway, Shyra says, thanks, imaginary friendos. Life is better because of you. Well, life is better because of you, Shyra. And the show is better because of you. Because without your support, there would be no show. And then how would you find out which commercials are annoying during the Seattle Mariners?
B
That's right. You don't even live in Seattle. Like, how would you know about what's going on?
A
Exactly. You'd be, like, totally in the dark on that. But instead, you're in the light. The light that is tbtl. Thank you so much to both of our dazzling donors today for keeping TBTL Chill going.
B
Hello and welcome to Top Story.
A
Our top story today, Andrew, is the Cory Booker. I don't. I didn't hear it called a filibuster, but I have just. I thought that, I mean, maybe because he wasn't actually preventing. I mean, he was. He was low key, delaying a piece of legislation, but he wasn't. I mean, I've always thought that when somebody gets up and they just talk for as long as they can, it's referred to as a filibuster.
B
I did.
A
Did not. I didn't hear that term being thrown around yesterday. So maybe for some reason, technically it wasn't, but it was, in fact, the longest speech in the history of the Senate. It was over 25 hours. What I thought was really cool about it was, you know who had the previous record?
B
Strom Thurman.
A
Yes. In defense of the Civil Rights Act. Oh, wait, no. It was opposing the Civil Rights Act. Like, just one of the most unredeemed piece of shit history political characters in the US History. Strom Thurmond had the previous record, and it was replaced by a black man. It was just. There was something very sweet about that. There was also I, I saw when I was seeing some stuff when Cory Booker went up and, and he said, look, I'm going to try to talk for as long as I can. And I thought, well, this will be nice. We'll see what he can do. And then I forgot about it and then I went to bed and then I lived like an entire day, Andrew. And then I was coming home, home. And actually Becca texted me. She was like, we love Cory Booker. And I was like, he's still doing that. And then I popped on my television. When I got home, I watched my msnbc. By the way, this is why I'm paying for the one, the one Click experience. I just walked into my house, I turned on the tv, there it was, and he was in the last, let's say 20 minutes of it. And I have to say it must just be because like, I just, I need something to feel, feel somewhat good about. I need, I need to feel like somebody out there is trying to do something at a high level or trying to spark some sort of a moment. Because again, this was purely ceremonial. This did not change the outcome of anything. It was just a person saying, I am going to do what I can in this moment to draw some attention to this. I also thought he was quite eloquent. I couldn't believe how eloquent he was at 25 hours. And Andrew, a big theme of his, of his remarks revolved around the late John Lewis and the, the term good trouble, which people might be familiar with. And, and he, he wrapped this thing up very eloquently and in a pretty strong voice. Like I'm just thinking 25 hours. I mean we did a 24 hour episode of TBTL and I was a mess by the end. I mean I was literally like astrally projected out of my body by the time we got to the rebar. Like, so I don't know how he was doing this, but another thing. So anyway, I think it was really incredible and I, along with the Wisconsin Supreme Court outcome yesterday, which was, you know, Elon Musk throwing, literally throwing million dollar checks at people and the, the, the, I don't know if they are Democrat or Republican. I don't know if judges have party affiliation there or they're just considered conservative or liberal or whatever. But the, the person who we were hoping would win one in the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is a pretty big deal despite Elon Musk's attempt, attempts anyway, all of that. I Feel like this Cory Booker thing again. Maybe it's just like when Luke Rayleigh gets a home run. And I think this is where the Mariner turnaround begins. It was something about Cory Booker making this very impassioned speech and doing this very impassioned thing. And then in Florida, there were a couple of congressional races that the Republicans won, but the Democrats made up a lot of ground from the last general election. And then the thing in Wisconsin. Wisconsin. And then looking at the New York Times today, and I forget the exact headline, but it was something to the effect of, you know, Democrats have a lot to be excited about from the outcome of yesterday.
B
Yeah. Did you say something about give Democrats hope or something? I saw that.
A
Something to that effect. Of course, because of the New York Times, they also had to then sub headline it with, things are still dire for the Democrats, but heaven forbid we have five seconds of joy. But it just was. What I was surprised by was that I started crying at the. At the end of Cory Booker's speech, which, again, I think speaks to how desperate I am for anything that feels positive.
B
Yeah.
A
I was not expecting to be as emotional as I was at the end of that speech.
B
Yeah. And just somebody. And by the way, I was not following this very closely. I know I told you that off air. I don't know if I said that on air. I kind of. I'll be honest, I'm pretty, you know, not that plugged in. So I kind of didn't realize it was happening until it was nearing the end and I started to see some. Some buzz about it. But I will say, yeah, I mean, I think that you are feeling what a lot of people are feeling because there's just been like an, you know, again, as somebody who just admitted he doesn't follow this stuff all too closely. There's a lot of anger at, like, Chuck Schumer for just saying, you know, saying, well, there's nothing we can do and. And, you know, and letting that. That budget go through and before he launches a book tour. And, like, optics are a big part of this. And when people are just feeling like everything is burning and just thousands upon thousands of people are just being laid off or just going into work to do their good job that they're probably not even getting paid enough to do because they're working. They're working to make the world a better place through science or education, and.
A
They'Re working in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. There's not going to be enough bathrooms now.
B
Key cards literally don't work. Like, I was talking. I don't want to give up too much information, but I was talking to a close friend of mine yesterday who's also a listener of this show, and she works for the federal government. And a bunch of layoffs hit people she knew yesterday. And, like, every day, she has to wake up and go to a very specific news service. Apparently, Yahoo News, the aggregator, is good at, like, kind of casting a very wide net. So she and her colleagues are going to Yahoo News early every morning to see, like, what do we need to know? Can we log into work today? And I mean, just like, that's just hanging over just a one person. I know. You know what I mean? And it's just like. And thousands upon thousands of people are dealing with this across America. The rest of us who don't have the direct connection to it. Genevieve works for Research Institute now. She works in the comms department. But still, this stuff all trickles down.
A
Absolutely.
B
It affects everybody to a certain degree, and even those who it doesn't affect directly in any way. You still have values, and you care, and you look what's happening to the country. And so whether or not you want to make an argument that Schumer had to do what Schumer had to do or whatever, like, the optics of all of that was really bad. And so just having somebody say, like, listen, there is not a lot we can do legislatively. And it really does sort of seem that, like, it's like the Democrats are like, well, there's nothing we can do when, you know, when the GOP is not in power, they still raised all kinds of hell and made life very, very difficult for the Democrats. And the Democrats don't either have the stomach for it or don't have the ingenuity for it. And so just seeing somebody do something to stand up and say, and maybe when this chapter of history is written, Cory Booker's name will be in that chapter because he took this. Because he took the podium to do this. And, like, it just. You need people to stand up in some way. I'm not saying that I'm standing up in any way, but we need somebody else to stand up.
A
I did think it was weird when he brought Gary Payton up that part, but it's in. That was a distraction. That was a distraction.
B
It is allowed, though, the glove.
A
Yeah, that's right. Here's the thing, though, that I did not realize. I believe our friend television's Chris Hayes last night said, I have some biological questions. Questions. When they. When Cory Booker wrapped up, I Didn't realize you're. You are not allowed to take a bathroom break. And so I guess what Cory Booker did was he fasted. I heard this on NPR this morning. He apparently fasted starting on Friday, which also seems like, in a certain way, a kind of a horrible idea. Don't you want to go into this with as much calories?
B
Yeah, yeah.
A
More blood sugar, more glucose. Like, I can't imagine having. Having no food or water in my system. And then that being the starting point for my 25 hours in the spotlight and trying to be coherent and cogent. But I guess it worked for him. Like, I don't. I don't know if I knew it was possible for a human body to not have to, you know, relieve itself. I mean, definitely, number two, you know, you can go a while on that one. But the number one stuff, like, if it feels like if you have enough water in your body for your body to operate, then it also, like, would need to, you know, get rid of some of it, too. Like, that was. That's the most stunning part of this whole thing to me.
B
And you just need water if you're talking for that long.
A
Yes. His voice. I mean, Hillary Clinton, I think maybe it was Hillary Clinton tweeted or wrote somewhere like, I think this might have been her. Something to the effect of, your voice is breaking, but your will isn't, or something. It was actually a very nice sentiment, but I was like, I was. As a person who talks for a living, I was surprised at how good he sounded at the end of his 25 hours.
B
Yeah. I'm trying to think, like, what would be the ideal sort of way of getting some sort of protein while you're up there. But you can't stop talking. Right. So whatever you're going to eat, you have to, like, sort of just, like, kind of pop it quickly, I would guess. Like, I was thinking, oh, well, peanut butter would sort of be good because it's protein. Yeah. You get yourself a bunch of churros, but peanut butter would be the worst because you would need water to drink it down or whatever. That'd be absolutely terrible. When you're speaking, I'm trying to think, like, what would be a good. Like, did he. He must have had water up there, but was just, like, drinking it very, very, very sparingly, I assume.
A
I also got. I think I got spoofed on Blue Sky Andrew on the ascendant social media platform Blue Sky. My. My. My Skeet, or whatever this is called. My reskit did not get the engagement that your Mariners one did. The dangerous somebody named Sarah Bunting wrote, with less than an hour left, Cory Booker is set to explore that. Begs the question is almost never the phrase you actually want. Finish strong, boss. And I in my delirium thought maybe he really did that. But then I was Googling it this morning, and I could find no evidence.
B
Yeah, that would be pretty sweet, though.
A
That would have been the sickest thing of all time.
B
That's so funny. That really stands out to both of us because of all the conversations about begging the question not really meaning raising. Everybody uses it like it means raising the question. It doesn't mean that. It's more of a tautology. But that's as far as I'll go in trying to explain it because we really know it very well.
A
We've spent much more than 25 hours trying to explain it, and I'm truthfully understanding it less at the end. But here's all you need to know when. If you're saying begs the question, you really mean raises the question. So anytime you want to say begs the question, just. Just say raises the question instead. And you'll be. You'll be correct and other pedants like us. I wish that that word pedant wasn't so close to a different word that starts with P E, D. You gotta.
B
Be careful with it. I get day and age. Epitaph and epithet. Epithet. Epithet and epitaph. Those are the two that I have to, like, really think about. You know how I. You say. You have to think before you say left or right. You have to envision your hands like.
A
I envision my childhood home circa 1982.
B
Like. And so I have to think about it. What were you gonna say, speaking of.
A
Of. Of epitaphs? RIP Val Kilmer.
B
Yeah.
A
And, you know, I didn't have a hugely strong opinion on Val Kilmer one way or the other in. During his life. Other. Other than. I loved the movie Willow, and I also thought Val Kilmer was a very cool dude. Seemed like a very cool dude in movies. But this morning on my little jog, I listened to Taffy Brodesser Acker's profile of val Kilmer from 2020.
B
I was just looking that up. I read that back in 20. You say 2020. I remember reading that in my old apartment. Yeah, that's what I think.
A
Spectacular.
B
Just amazing. Right. Because he was not trying to besmirch his memory here, but wasn't a big part of it that he had alternative views on medicine.
A
Yeah. He's a lifelong Christian Scientist he is a Christian Scientist. He's the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy. And he was obsessed with two people, Mark Twain and Mary Baker Eddy. These were the two big influences in his life. And he created some sort of like, initially it was supposed to be like a half live action, half movie thing about the life of Mark Twain that also involved a lot of Mary Baker Eddie content. But then when he went through, he had a, like a throat cancer, which he didn't ever really fully acknowledge was cancer because of his sort of religious belief. But because of that, he had a difficult time speaking for the last 10 years of his life. And so it just became a full movie. But Taffy Brodess or Actner, trying to explain this Mark Twain movie that Val Kilmer made and was touring around that tries to reconcile the. The thoughts of Mark Twain and Mary Baker Eddy, who were in real opposition to each other in that Mark Twain was a rationalist and, and Mary Baker Eddie was not. And it seemed that Val Kilmer's lifelong work was to try to figure out a way that these two people that were his two favorites were actually in alliance on something.
B
Let's find, let's find the overlap of the Venn diagram.
A
Let's find the Venn diagram overlap with these two people. It's really, I mean, you know, just anything Taffy Broadess or Achner writes is apparently appointment reading, but it just gave me a whole different perspective on Val Kilmer. So if you're, if you're curious more about his life, particularly his life in the last 15 or 20 years, I would highly recommend either reading that article or if you're like me and you're not a big reader, I would listen to it.
B
I don't have the audio. I don't have that app. Yeah, I'm an Android user.
A
You know, that thing has changed my life, dude.
B
This thing. I'm waiting for it to come to Android. You've talked so much about that, that audio app. I really want that. But this is such a dumb anecdote to throw in here as we're trying to wrap up and honor, I guess, Val Kilmer. But the one thing I remember, again, I read that when it came out in the Times. That would have been, you said, five years ago. So my brain is kind of mush. But I remember reading it and also he had a studio or something in la, and I remember being like, wait, this is a part of la. I know. And so I remember reading that piece, but also going onto Google Maps and just doing the Street View thing and Being like, yeah, I think I know. Know that corner. Isn't he driving? Oh, no. She's driving around with a big piece of his art in her car and she doesn't know what to do with it. Right.
A
Yeah, well, she admired, like, an abstract painting that he made. And then he gives it to her and she says, no, the New York Times policy prohibits me from taking this. And then he tells his, like, business partner, put this in her car and do not allow her to give this back.
B
And isn't she driving? Because it reminded me like, her description of. It reminded me of Arrested Development when they're driving around and Buster's big rock is in the back. See that I'm picturing.
A
I think there's a point. She has the painting seat belted in and then she's just driving around with it.
B
Right, right, right.
A
Yeah, it's a very.
B
Yeah, definitely super duper good piece.
A
Yeah, absolutely. All right. RIP Val Kilmer and a big put up, as always, to Taffy Brodess Rachner. Okay, that is gonna do it for today's episode of the show, but I have amazing news. We're coming right back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio, including Andrew. A TBTL Junior Sluggers Season 4 preview.
B
So it begins.
A
Put me in, coach. I'm ready to play the new outfits. I've seen the new jerseys, Andrew, and they are. They're lovely. So we're going to talk to coach Ben on tomorrow's show about the upcoming TBTL Little League team from the Park Rose Little League of Portland, Oregon. So do tune in for that. In the meantime, have a great Wednesday. Take care of yourselves. I'm not going to say go Mariners, because that hasn't been turning out great.
B
We have a swive. Yeah. Oh, it's sc. We have a scubal situation that's going to be starting pretty soon. They're ace. They're. We're going up against our ace today.
A
And so look at a Seattle U. Grad.
B
Yes, exactly. Yes.
A
Have a little. Have a little. Give a little kindness to your old city, bro. Anyway, we'll see you tomorrow. Until then, please remember, no mountain too tall.
B
And good luck to all. Go Mariners. Power out.
TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live
Episode #4436: Stupid Head And The Other One
Release Date: April 2, 2025
Hosts: Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh
The episode kicks off with Luke and Andrew reminiscing about how they met, sharing a humorous and vivid story involving a confrontation at a condemned bar named the Desert Rash. Andrew humorously recounts how Diana, present at the bar, confronted him with a knife, only to be distracted by her stunning appearance. This lighthearted exchange sets the tone for their playful dynamic.
Notable Quote:
Andrew (00:00): "Diana is sitting at the bar drinking a 7 and 7 and 7. Seven shots of Seagram 7 in seven minutes."
The hosts transition into a brief Q&A segment where a listener asks, "How much milk do I have to drink to be big enough to be quarterback?" Andrew humorously responds, "Drink as much milk as your little belly can hold," highlighting their whimsical approach to audience interactions.
Luke then welcomes listeners to the Wednesday edition from the Madrona Hill studio, expressing optimism about the week's weather and introducing the main topics for the episode: Cory Booker’s Senate filibuster, the Seattle Mariners’ performance, and perplexing commercials aired during Mariners games.
Notable Quote:
Luke (01:25): "It starts here, my friends, with episode 4436 in a collector series, Let the fun begin."
Luke delves into Cory Booker’s recent historic Senate filibuster lasting over 25 hours—a record-breaking effort aimed at halting legislation. He reflects on Booker’s dedication and the potential positive momentum it could generate. Their discussion acknowledges the inspirational nature of Booker’s perseverance, drawing parallels to historical filibusters like Strom Thurmond’s obstruction of the Civil Rights Act.
Notable Quote:
Luke (18:21): "I was admiittly pretty choked up watching him sign off."
Andrew expresses admiration for Booker’s eloquence and determination, noting how such actions provide hope amidst political and social challenges.
A significant portion of the episode focuses on the Seattle Mariners' recent struggles and the incongruous commercials interrupting their games on the Root Sports app. Luke and Andrew discuss a specific CPAP machine commercial that misleadingly portrays effortless sleep without the device visibly in use, critiquing its deceptive messaging.
Notable Quotes:
Andrew (10:00): "This is bananas. I'm trying to figure. I want."
Luke (20:28): "it literally should be illegal because it might give a person the idea that they put this thing on their nightstand and then they just get great sleep."
They further explore a casino commercial where the dialogue is muddled by background noise, leading to frustration as the hosts struggle to decipher the opening lines. This segment underscores their frustration with poorly executed advertising that detracts from the viewing experience.
Notable Quote:
Andrew (07:07): "Everybody be quiet. We're trying to get the first three words of this casino commercial."
Additionally, the hosts touch on Mariners’ fielding errors and broadcast oddities, including Gary Payton’s unexpected appearance and tangential conversations that disrupt the game’s flow.
Notable Quote:
Luke (31:14): "He was describing some kind of a film that's in the offing that I think might be about a high school basketball player in the state of Washington."
Luke and Andrew delve into the complexities of sports betting, particularly focusing on parlay bets. They explain that a parlay requires all individual bets to win for a payout, discussing the risks involved and the manipulative practices of online betting platforms like DraftKings, which may offer partial payouts or void bets under "clear error" clauses.
Notable Quotes:
Luke (15:20): "In my Understanding of the parlay is that all of the legs have to complete in order to collect."
Andrew (16:33): "They have been pulling extremely shady moves on people lately who've won big bets."
The conversation extends to personal anecdotes about dealing with betting-related frustrations and the emotional rollercoaster associated with high-stakes wagers.
The hosts engage with listener messages, expressing gratitude towards donors who support the show. They highlight specific contributions, such as Angela Barrera from Corpus Christi, Texas, who enabled Luke to acquire equipment critical for capturing and analyzing audio from sports broadcasts.
Notable Quote:
Andrew (53:57): "And that donation allowed me to buy this computer where I captured that audio last night off the Root Sports app."
Shyra Fedeli from Eugene, Oregon, also sends messages of support, reinforcing the community-driven aspect of the podcast.
Luke and Andrew shift to a personal discussion about phobias, particularly fear of heights and enclosed spaces. Andrew shares his anxiety related to high elevations and claustrophobic environments, while Luke reflects on his own discomfort with being elevated or in confined areas. This segment provides a more intimate glimpse into the hosts' vulnerabilities and coping mechanisms.
Notable Quotes:
Andrew (55:09): "I am deeply scared of heights. Right. But what?"
Luke (57:18): "I have a decent amount of fear about being 200ft off the ground."
They also touch on how media content, such as AI-generated stories about caving disasters, can exacerbate these fears, emphasizing the impact of media consumption on mental health.
The hosts discuss the portrayal of media figures and pop culture references. Luke critiques the Howard Stern Show’s use of the catchphrase "hey now," comparing it to Dave Sims's broadcasting style for the Yankees, and explores the erasure of original sources of certain cultural elements.
Notable Quote:
Luke (86:20): "Thank you so much to both of our dazzling donors today for keeping TBTL Chill going."
Andrew reflects on linguistic nuances, advising listeners on the correct usage of phrases like "begs the question" versus "raises the question," illustrating their commitment to linguistic precision.
Returning to current events, Luke revisits Cory Booker’s marathon Senate speech, praising its eloquence and emotional impact. He connects it to broader political sentiments, highlighting the frustration among Democrats facing legislative challenges and the need for inspiring leadership.
Notable Quotes:
Luke (71:04): "I started crying at the end of Cory Booker's speech, which, again, I think speaks to how desperate I am for anything that feels positive."
Andrew (74:07): "People remember you as the more serious journalist here, though I still think you have the upper hand."
They discuss the societal implications of Booker’s actions in the context of ongoing political struggles, emphasizing the importance of hopeful gestures in turbulent times.
In a heartfelt tribute, Luke and Andrew honor the late actor Val Kilmer, reflecting on his career and personal struggles. They share insights from a Taffy Brodesser-Akner article that explores Kilmer’s life, his passion for film, and his battle with throat cancer within the framework of his Christian Scientist beliefs.
Notable Quote:
Andrew (85:59): "I just remember telling you this story to the point where we looked it up and I found the actual comic book online."
The episode concludes with light-hearted banter, including playful exchanges about upcoming shows and personal anecdotes, maintaining the hosts’ signature blend of humor and sincerity.
Notable Quote:
Luke (86:20): "Have a great Wednesday. Take care of yourselves. I'm not going to say go Mariners, because that hasn't been turning out great."
Final Note: The hosts extend gratitude to their donors, acknowledging Angela Barrera's support and emphasizing the community aspect of their podcast. They tease upcoming content, including a preview of "TBTL Junior Sluggers Season 4," ensuring listeners remain engaged and looking forward to future episodes.
Key Takeaways:
Inspiring Political Actions: Cory Booker’s unprecedented filibuster symbolizes dedication and could influence positive changes in the political landscape.
Frustration with Sports Broadcasting Ads: The hosts express significant annoyance with misleading and poorly executed commercials aired during Mariners games, highlighting the negative impact on viewer experience.
Complexities of Sports Betting: An in-depth discussion on the risks and unethical practices associated with parlay bets and online betting platforms underscores the need for consumer awareness.
Personal Connections and Vulnerabilities: Sharing personal fears and listener messages fosters a deeper connection between the hosts and their audience.
Media Influence on Perceptions: The analysis of media catchphrases and cultural references illustrates the pervasive influence of media on everyday language and interactions.
Tribute to Val Kilmer: A moving homage to the late actor underscores the podcast’s commitment to honoring influential figures and discussing their legacies.
Notable Quotes with Timestamps:
Andrew (00:00): "Diana is sitting at the bar drinking a 7 and 7 and 7. Seven shots of Seagram 7 in seven minutes."
Luke (01:25): "It starts here, my friends, with episode 4436 in a collector series, Let the fun begin."
Andrew (07:07): "Everybody be quiet. We're trying to get the first three words of this casino commercial."
Luke (15:20): "In my Understanding of the parlay is that all of the legs have to complete in order to collect."
Luke (18:21): "I was admittedly pretty choked up watching him sign off."
Andrew (10:00): "This is bananas. I'm trying to figure. I want."
This comprehensive summary encapsulates the multifaceted discussions in Episode #4436, providing both a detailed overview and engaging insights for listeners, whether seasoned fans or newcomers to "TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live."