#4505 Restoring The Raisin Sun Glitch

Summary

Podcast Summary: TBTL Episode #4505 – "Restoring The Raisin Sun Glitch"

Release Date: July 8, 2025

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Introduction and Technical Hiccups

In the latest episode of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live, hosts Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh navigate through a mix of personal anecdotes, technical challenges, and engaging discussions. The episode kicks off with a humorous skit promoting the “Cinco FaceTime Party Snoozer,” a gag product designed to help users sleep through social gatherings seamlessly.

Highlight Quote:

Luke Burbank (00:00): "Honey, come on, honey, wake up. No. So tired."

Shortly after, Luke introduces the episode from his location in New York City, sharing his fatigue from a recent red-eye flight and mentioning his interview with Bridget Everett at Joe's Pub. Technical issues emerge as Luke grapples with poor internet connectivity, which affects the audio quality of the show.

Highlight Quote:

Luke Burbank (02:53): "We're just blowing through nap time, aren't we?"

Andrew acknowledges the sound problems and humorously suggests turning the issues into a comedic bit, assuring listeners that he will handle the audio inconsistencies.

Highlight Quote:

Andrew Walsh (04:05): "Your voice is breaking up a tiny, tiny bit. Everybody can hear what you're saying, but Luke, you sound a little bit like the Cinco Snooze time Party mask." (04:35)

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Exploring the "Raisin Sun Glitch" and the Mandela Effect

The core of the episode revolves around the intriguing topic of the “Raisin Sun Glitch,” a reference to the Mandela Effect phenomenon where listeners recall the sun on the Raisin Bran cereal box wearing sunglasses, despite evidence suggesting otherwise.

Highlight Quote:

Luke Burbank (09:04): "The fact that he has already given up on trying and they're just beginning this journey of life together is probably kind of a bad sign. I think I might need a Cinco party." (07:17)

The hosts delve into discussions about whether this glitch is a memorable alteration or simply a misinterpretation. They compare it to similar instances in popular culture, such as the Nathan Fielder’s "Rehearsal" show and Schitt’s Creek, exploring how these narratives intertwine with real-life perceptions and memory quirks.

Highlight Quote:

Andrew Walsh (11:12): "The Mandela effect around the Raisin Bran cereal box was that the sun had sunglasses on and the sun didn't apparently have sunglasses on." (11:20)

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Analyzing TV Shows: "How to with John Wilson" and "Nathan for Your Wife"

Luke and Andrew transition into a critical analysis of contemporary TV shows that blend reality with fictional premises. "How to with John Wilson" is examined for its storytelling approach, where real-life situations are crafted around quirky, fictionalized narratives, leading to profound societal observations.

Highlight Quote:

Luke Burbank (14:58): "And so many New York City buildings, particularly in Manhattan, these beautiful buildings are now just hidden behind essentially, Permanent scaffolding." (14:58)

They draw parallels to Nathan Fielder’s work, discussing how both creators use a mix of reality and fiction to explore deeper human and societal themes, highlighting the fine line these shows tread between authenticity and narrative invention.

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Interview with Bridget Everett: A Touch Too Cutie

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to Luke’s interview with Bridget Everett, where they discuss her show "Somebody Somewhere." The conversation highlights the emotional depth and subtle humor embedded within the series, emphasizing its ability to evoke genuine emotions without veering into melodrama.

Highlight Quote:

Andrew Walsh (43:25): "It's not sad. It's just gonna make you cry."
Luke Burbank (43:25): "I'm like, okay, yeah, I'll give you an example."

Luke shares his experience interviewing Bridget, revealing his initial fear of appearing too emotional during the conversation. However, the interview turns out to be heartwarming and engaging, with Bridget expressing sincere reflections on her career and personal milestones.

Highlight Quote:

Luke Burbank (36:47): "So she said to be sitting there being interviewed by CBS Sunday Morning 30 years later about her career, she said was like a real high point of her life and her career." (36:47)

They further discuss how "Somebody Somewhere" handles relationships and personal growth, contrasting it with other shows that often simplify emotional narratives.

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Listener Voicemail: The "Code Brown" Chronicles

Adding a personal touch, the episode features a voicemail from a listener named Annie, who shares her rather amusing and uncomfortable experience of dealing with an emergency bathroom situation during a run.

Highlight Quote:

Genevieve (59:28): "Moral of the story is, listen to your body, but the body keeps the score."

Annie’s story, filled with relatable humor and a touch of embarrassment, resonates with many listeners, showcasing the show's ability to connect through shared human experiences.

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Conclusion: Reflections and Future Teasers

As the episode wraps up, Luke and Andrew address the ongoing technical issues, humorously admitting the podcast’s sporadic audio quality might remain a challenge. They tease future topics, including an article about the Little Red Hen dive bar in Seattle facing eviction over a lease dispute, promising to delve deeper in upcoming episodes.

Highlight Quote:

Luke Burbank (62:07): "But we will see you from there tomorrow."

They conclude on a light note, mentioning a Mariners game in the Bronx and the possibility of attending, leaving listeners anticipating the next episode's adventures and discussions.

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Overall, Episode #4505 of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live offers a blend of humor, insightful discussions on pop culture phenomena like the Mandela Effect, heartfelt interviews, and relatable listener stories. Despite technical glitches, Luke and Andrew maintain an engaging and authentic rapport, making it a compelling listen for both regular fans and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Luke Burbank]

Honey, come on, honey, wake up. No. So tired.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's our engagement party.

[Luke Burbank]

All of our friends are gonna be here.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't want to talk to anybody.

[Luke Burbank]

I want to sleep.

[Andrew Walsh]

Fine.

[Luke Burbank]

Put on your Cinco FaceTime party snoozer.

[Bridget Everett]

Then it's the Cinco FaceTime party snooozer. Sleep right through parties and social gatherings without anyone noticing. The Cinco FaceTime Party Snoozer features five distinct audio responses using my profess professional voice. And the Cinco FaceTime party snoozer comes with this amazing body brace and earphones that pipe in soothing music so you won't need to hear a single word anyone is saying.

[Luke Burbank]

My accountant tells me that I might be eligible for a 436 rebate now.

[Bridget Everett]

Sure, why not?

[Andrew Walsh]

As a small business owner, that's exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

What you want to hear.

[Bridget Everett]

I understand.

[Luke Burbank]

Rebate.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sign me up.

[Luke Burbank]

Of course I want.

[Bridget Everett]

Thanks for coming. Take part in interesting conversations while you get much needed rest.

[Andrew Walsh]

We'd be on this river and it would wind around like this.

[Bridget Everett]

Sure, why not?

[Andrew Walsh]

We hire fish.

[Bridget Everett]

I understand.

[Andrew Walsh]

Pulling the fish.

[Bridget Everett]

I understand. Sounds good. Nobody fitness at all. Okay. But, you know, thanks for coming.

[Andrew Walsh]

Caught maybe, I don't know, a dozen or so.

[Bridget Everett]

I understand.

[Luke Burbank]

Blue River.

[Bridget Everett]

Okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

Really gorgeous, though.

[Bridget Everett]

Sure, why not? It's the Cinco FaceTime party snoozer. I understand.

[Andrew Walsh]

TBTL. What's up, Internet?

[Luke Burbank]

What's up?

[Genevieve]

It's people who identify as nerdy, rapping.

[Luke Burbank]

About the things they love. Video games, science fiction, having a hard time meeting romantic partners. Losers, in other words.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I'll tell you another thing. Once you step inside this circle, the weather never changes.

[Bridget Everett]

It is always 67 degrees with a.

[Andrew Walsh]

40% chance of rain.

[Luke Burbank]

Always. What if my heart stops? What if I'm looking for a bathroom, I can't find it and my bladder explodes? Holy forking shirt balls. We're in the Good place. Well, all right. Hello, good morning and welcome, everyone to a Tuesday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. I can't believe you're still on the air. My name is Luke Burbank. I AM your host, Mr. Unlimited, coming to you from the Very Large Apple live from New York. That's right from the corner of 7th Avenue and actually can't see what the cross street is. Mirror steps from Central park, where it is going to be, I think, in the. In the mid-90s today and also in the mid-90s of humidity. So it's going to be very hot.

[Andrew Walsh]

Gonna be very uncomfortable for everybody.

[Luke Burbank]

Gonna Hide out here in the air conditioned hotel room with my iced coffee, which I need in order to bring you episode 4505 in a collector series. Let the fun begin. Because if I were not having this iced coffee, there's a decent chance that I would just fall asleep right here behind this microphone. We're just blowing through nap time, aren't we? I. Since we last spoke on the program, I took a red eye flight out here to New York City. I interviewed Bridget Everett at Joe's Pub, and I had a run in with the hotel yesterday. That is this increasingly annoying thing that seems to be happening more and more.

[Bridget Everett]

Hey, want to hear the most annoying sound in the world?

[Luke Burbank]

Which I want to tell you about. But yes, I'm a little groggy today. I'm going to try to. Gonna try to push through for the next hour or so and bring my best, most awake, most vibrant self. But if I can't, we're gonna lean heavily on this guy. The longest running cobra of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. He is Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good morning. I'm trying to figure out if we can turn this into a bit to save me some extra work after the show. Your voice is breaking up a tiny, tiny bit. Everybody can hear what you're saying, but Luke, you. You sound a little bit like the Cinco Snooze time Party mask, or I understand Party time Snooze mask or whatever it's called. So I'm thinking if we can just lean into it like that, I don't have to go and try to edit the show together in a way that makes you sound less robotic. So it's a bit. Everybody, it's a bit in which I.

[Luke Burbank]

Get out of work, not a bug.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

But now the problem is now that's baked into the show. So if you decide you want to go in and fix it, then this whole part will. I guess you're gonna end up having to. Well, I guess you don't have to cut out something. That would only be if you decided to do extra work.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. Which I. I might end up piecing this together. And the listeners just need to know that if you've heard everything sounding pristine and clean, just know that I've made the edits and I did it for you, dear listener, because there's nothing, nothing I wouldn't do for you.

[Luke Burbank]

Actually, you know what, Andrew? I want to. I want to be. I want to be serious for a Moment here you. Whenever you have the option of, like, kind of, I don't know, spending less time with the audio of the show. In my experience, you always spend more time with the audio of the show. You'll be like, I just want to clean that up a little bit, or I want to fix this or that. You usually sweat the details.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I sometimes, Sometimes I'll leave in a little. Little click or a pop. I'll leave in one click and one pop per episode. But probably with this one, I'll say, oh, it's fine. The listeners are used to janky podcasts. A lot of podcasts are jankier than. But then I'll be like, yeah, I'll just. Well, maybe if I just clean up this one part. And then once you start cleaning, it's like anything. I start pulling on a thread. Start pulling on a thread. And I do not want to totally derail the show just by talking about the Cinco FaceTime party snoozer. Because I feel like every time we play that, we just dissect it, but every time I hear it, there's something new that strikes me as funny. And one thing that I don't think I ever fully realized is the party that he's trying to get out of is not his, like, friend's anniversary party or even his, like, you know, 20 year marriage. It's their engagement party. This guy who wants to sleep is already so checked out, and he's already just got this. I want to talk to anybody. I just want to get out of bed. They're not even married yet, dude. They're just. This is their engagement party. And when I heard that today, I was like, oh, my God, that's another layer of funny on this.

[Luke Burbank]

That is, that. That just ups the ante on, on the humor of the piece. Because of the piece. Can you tell I've been thinking about doing television stories too much today. The piece. But no, you're absolutely right. That's. For some reason, that's the funniest party that he could be not wanting to attend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. It's like he should have more energy at this point, or he should. He should be pretending to have more energy, at least at this point. But maybe that's. Maybe that stands out to me because I see. I see a lot of myself in the hero of the Cinco FaceTime party snoozer match.

[Luke Burbank]

But see, you've been with Genevieve for 20 years, so the fact that you've given up now makes sense.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I used to try. I mean, it was right. Exactly. It was a glorious moment.

[Luke Burbank]

The fact that he has already given up on trying and they're just beginning this journey of life together is probably kind of a bad sign. I think I might need a Cinco party. Did you pick that intro tape because you knew that I was going to be tired today?

[Andrew Walsh]

I did not. I think I picked it because I was tired today and it was the first thing I saw.

[Luke Burbank]

I see. Wait a second. What are you tired from?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I'm just. I was just making a joke. I'm. It was. I was feeling a little bit lazy. I. If you. If you want the honest answer to that, Yes, I feel like I. I have a. I have a worksheet. I have a spreadsheet in which I write down every intro that we play and the date. I started this about three years ago. And it's a good guide for me to make sure that I'm not replaying the same ones over and over again. But the thing is, today I didn't even check it because I grabbed this and I was like, I don'. No, I need something quickly. And I have this weird feeling like I played it too recently, but I purposely didn't check the document that I meticulously. To check it because I was like, sometimes you just don't want to know.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. I also. First of all, you're being a good, you know, colleague, and you're sort of the master of the audio on TBTL that tends to fall to you, particularly the intro tape. You always build that and stuff. So you're doing. By keeping that spreadsheet, you are being highly professional. But I also detest the spreadshee because here's what it creates for me. A sense that I'm losing my mind because I have like a. Just. I don't have a spreadsheet. I just have a sense memory of when the last time some of these intros have played. And I'll be like, thinking, oh, we just played that, like, three days ago. Andrew's gone crazy. And then you'll go to the spreadsheet and it'll have been three years ago.

[Andrew Walsh]

That did happen once. I think that only happened once. That happened about a month ago. You're like, we just played that. I'm like, no, we didn't. I mean, the one thing that could happen is sometimes I'll have an intro ready to go for soundcheck, and then we pull it out and replace with something else at the last minute. That rarely happens. But I'm trying to make you. I'm trying to ungaslight you here. I'm trying to. Well, no, you're not gaslighting me, because it's. I'm trying to make it sound like.

[Luke Burbank]

Maybe turn on your heart light.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, Neil, I. I just thought that maybe you. Maybe you had heard it recently, but maybe not on the show, you know, that. That you were mistaken about.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I mean, this is one of those, you know, to take it back to relationships. You know how when you're in a relationship and there is a disagreement, one of the things that can be quite frustrating is there's no sort of solid evidence or data to support one side or the other. It's just a couple of people making assertions about, like, if we liked dinner that one time when we went over to, you know, so and so and so and so. These things that are, like, kind of highly subjective and, you know, everyone has their experience with things, and so it'll just feel like you're like, I know I'm right about this, but I cannot prove it. This is one of those weird things where it's absolutely provable. You are sitting there with a spreadsheet that is just the unalloyed facts of the case of when things have played. And I am. All I have to rely on is my. Is my memory of the time that the Raisin brand son was wearing those sunglasses and activated that one intro tape.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, my God. So I swear I saw something on Reddit recently that was a photo of a package from the 90s where it was wearing sunglasses. I mean, is there a chance. But I scrolled through it very quickly. Is there a chance that there was a small time? I mean, I guess this has been fully explored by other content creators, but I feel like there might have been a small period of time when the sun wore sunglasses. Right. Because this is one of those special promotion, maybe. I mean. Well, that is like one of those Berenstain Bear things, right? Like, we all.

[Luke Burbank]

The Mandela.

[Andrew Walsh]

The Mandela effect. We all think that the sun was Mandela, and it wasn't portrayed by Mandela. It was just portrayed by a cartoon son.

[Luke Burbank]

Huh? Exactly. The. Yeah, the Mandela effect around the Raisin Bran cereal box was that the sun had sunglasses on and the sun didn't apparently have sunglasses on. Or is it possible. Do you remember that? How to. How to do. What was it called? How to with John Wilson or whatever.

[Andrew Walsh]

Everybody talked about that. I never got into it. And when I didn't watch it, people were. See, I always get that reaction. I get it from you. I get it from Hannah Brooks Olson And I can't remember who else it.

[Luke Burbank]

I just don't think I can think of a show that would be more up your alley, which I know is the number one way to disincentivize you to want to watch it. But like it really is just. I don't think I just thought about that show today.

[Andrew Walsh]

You always say that. Why do you always think. And can you give me an example of a time that I purposely didn't watch a show because somebody said I'm going to like it? Like I don't watch that show because I don't watch a lot of tv. And usually if I'm going to watch tv, it's always going to be fictionalized in some way. And I think. And I always got the impression that that was like sort of a mini doc style. And even though people said I like it, I'm not watching it to despite people. But it just doesn't. Yeah, I've never been in the mood to sit down and watch that kind of programming.

[Luke Burbank]

Totally. First of all, I want to be clear. I'm not saying that you. That if I recommend something to you, you would not watch it to spite me. I just mean generally speaking, when in my own life, like if people are like if people are berating me about watching something or saying you gotta watch it, it does not make me more inspired to watch it personally. It also makes me nervous that it won't live up to the hype that's being hyped around it. So that's all I meant. I don't think you're sitting over there like being withholding about the TV that you watch because of whatever me recommending it to you. But I just think, I mean that show is so. It's fascinating because I mean yes, it is documentary style, but really it is, it's sort of fictionalized documentary in a way because it starts off with him just filming all kinds of really just left field stuff in New York City, just you know, a pile of like half disassembled office furniture that someone's put out, you know, in front of a store that repairs cell phones. And I'm just as a totally made up example but like just first of all, the kind of stuff that I think your photographic eye is interested in. Not piles of junk per se, but just like the stuff that is not the stuff that we usually focus on. So from a cinematography standpoint, I think you might find it interesting. And then he basically just takes it from this. He decides to construct some kind of a story each episode about, like, for instance, why I was thinking about him today is because he does a whole episode about scaffolding in New York. Because the deal in New York City is that there are all these building laws and there are all these rules around your building. And if it's been so many years since you've had the brick facade reinforced or tuck pointed or whatever, then you are obligated to do that. But it's millions and millions of dollars, so you can get away with not doing it if you put up scaffolding, okay? And so many New York City buildings, particularly in Manhattan, these beautiful buildings are now just hidden behind essentially, Perman scaffolding. The big business in New York is not repairing buildings, it's putting up scaffolding. Because that's just like you could do that and leave it there indefinitely and now you don't have to pay all the money. And I thought about this because I went by the Flatiron building this morning, fully surrounded by scaffolding, like just totally and completely ensconced in scaffolding, which is such a shame because it's such a.

[Andrew Walsh]

Cool building and it's just going to remain like that.

[Luke Burbank]

That. I don't know. It is such that. Well, that is such an iconic building that I'm guessing that they wouldn't, like, there would be a community outcry. I mean, that's like in the top 10 buildings in Manhattan that people kind of know about and think about. So I don't think they'd get away with it on that. But there's just a. There's hundreds of other, just like less distinguished apartment buildings and other buildings that just seem to be permanently scaffolded because the alternative would be to actually do all the repairs you're supposed to do. And that's prohibitively expensive. So this guy, John Wilson, he starts off talking about the scaffolding, but then of course it goes all over the place and it ends up being almost fictionalized in a way, because again, he'll come up with a premise. It almost reminds me a little bit of the Nathan for your season that I haven't actually watched yet. This most recent one where his premise is air airline travel is dangerous or crashes happen because pilots are afraid to speak up when they see their fellow pilot, their co pilot, doing something wrong. Are you familiar with that part of the whole season?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, but it's not. But it's. This is called the Rehearsal, right? Or am I confusing things? This is Nathan Fielder's newest project, is it not? Is it not the Rehearsal it's the Rehearsal.

[Luke Burbank]

I forgot the name, but yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

So, yeah, the Rehearsal has this premise which I actually find kind of silly, personally. Like, I don't. I didn't watch the Rehearsal because I get a little uncomfortable around who the joke is on. When Nathan Fielder is doing his thing, I think it tends to be on everybody else more than I like. And I also don't think that Nathan Fielder is himself concerned about air travel safety, which, by the way, has almost historically never been safer. Like, I think he comes up with this premise of pilots need to talk to each other more, which then allows him to do this whole crazy, elaborate season of, you know, all of these reenactments and a fake singing show. I mean, just the world building he does is impressive, to be sure, but I consider that to almost be fictionalized reality because it is real people in it. But I think that the whole thing is on a fictionalized premise, which is pilots need to learn how to talk to each other. So for some reason, Nathan Fielder is dressed up like Sully Sullenberger, and he's jogging, wearing a Discman. Like, you know, I don't think that that's actually an attempt to make air travel safer on the part of Nathan Fielder. In the same way, this John Wilson guy, this how to. It's sort of based in reality, but it's also based on some silly premise that he decides is gonna be the driving kind of narrative force in each episode. And I don't even know if I buy the premises, but what. We always end up somewhere interesting, including the whole conversation about the Mandela effect. And this was where I was going with this. Is it is possible. You said, is it possible that the Raisinbrand son was wearing sunglasses? It's also possible that, like, what comes up in that episode of his show, he ends up going to a convention in Montana of people that are very, very pretty obsessed with the Mandela effect, because their theory is that when we saw the Raisinbrand sun with the sunglasses, that was a glitch. That was a jump in the Matrix and the multiverse. We weren't supposed to see that. And now we're back on the regular plan. The regular plan, in this version of our life, in this simulation or whatever is Raisin Bran's son does not have sunglasses, but it glitches sometimes. And those of us that remember the version with the sunglasses, we were just. We were keyed in on the glitch.

[Andrew Walsh]

And the glitch resonates stronger with some than others.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, if you're awake, bro.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was trying to Google this while.

[Luke Burbank]

You were talking, bro.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I just typed raisin. I don't. I was. What I was looking for was raisin brand sunglasses.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, the old blues man. Raisin sun glitch.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm sitting here talking to you. I'm not trying to make excuses, but because of the technology, I'm having a little bit of trouble following the conversation as smoothly as usual, which is, if it seems a little bit awkward today, it's not just because I'm doing poorly here. But I. But yeah, as I'm talking to you and listening to you, I just googled, does this ever happen to you? You're trying to Google something else, but you're trying to do too things at once. So I just typed in a raisin sun glitch. And the thing is, I didn't get the end of the Internet icon. I got a lot of results, and that's almost more troubling. Says Restoring the Sunshine Glitch. Do you think this has something to do with restoring the reality? No, it looks like this has real.

[Luke Burbank]

Restoring the Sunshine Glitch does sound deeply paranoid. Whatever it is, I believe it's coming from a paranoid worldview.

[Andrew Walsh]

Unfortunately, it looks like this is from a subreddit related to a video game called Dreamlight Valley. So I guess restoring this. Oh, and also, it's Sunstone Glitch. It's restoring the Sun Stone glitch, which is also. I don't know, there's something poetic about that. Restoring the Sunstone glitch.

[Luke Burbank]

That is kind of beautiful. That sounds. I wonder if that's their version of going into Minus World on Mario Bros. Like when we were kids.

[Andrew Walsh]

That'S where you and I stopped having our video game references updated. Hey, I'm going to take the reins here because I want to ask you about something. Please. Because here's the deal. I meant to tell you before the show today that there's an interesting piece in the Seattle Times that at some point I'd like to tell you about this week, and I'm wondering if you've already seen it, but I'm also wondering if maybe we hang on to this for tomorrow because I really want to hear about your adventures in New York City. But I just. Did you see the article in the Times about the Little Red Hen?

[Luke Burbank]

No?

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, so this is a. This is a very famous dive bar in Seattle in the Greenwood neighborhood. It's a holdout. I'm sorry. Green Lake. I. I always do that. It's like a country Bar. It's a rare, like kind of country music bar in Seattle that also has karaoke. And it's been like around for like decades and decades. I want to say like 80 or 90 years or something like that. And, and now they may get booted because of a lease dispute with the landlord or the property owner. And it revolves around a dumpster. And I thought maybe you would find that somewhat interesting. But I could also leave that as a tease if we want people to tune in.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. Can we do this? Could I read in on the story and can we revisit it tomorrow? Because that has everything, you know, I mean that's mere steps from where I almost had a bathroom accident at that Starbucks the other day when I was in town. I love the Little Red Hen. I mean I haven't been there in a long time, but that was one of my favorite bars in Seattle. And the idea that it would go away and that it's somehow dumpster related. No, that's, that checks a lot of boxes for me. So how about this? I will read that article. Well, first, what I will do when we're done recording this is I will lie down on that bed over there, Andrew and I will go to sleep for a long, long time. I hope it's not too long. I hope I don't like end up accidentally sleeping for six hours and then waking up and then it's like 8pm that would be a bad outcome. That's just like, that's like a whole, I did a whole extra sleep and then what am I going to do starting at 8pm when I've, now I'm waking up. That's. I'm trying to not get my sleep cycle completely off. But man, nothing like, you know, taking the red eye and landing at Newark at, I don't know, 7am and then just racing here. I got to the hotel and I got into the hotel room, I got my, my little suit ready to go, my little outfit to wear for this interview with Bridget Everett from the show Somebody Somewhere. And I, so I ironed my little shirt and suit and everything. I hung it up and I looked at my watch and I realized I could take a 12 minute nap if I wanted to. I had 12 minutes to kill between, like if I got in the lift right then I would have been 12 minutes earlier than I needed to be at the shoot. So I took a 12 minute nap this morning, which is really the first actual real sleep I got. And let me tell you, I couldn't decide for a while if it was the worst or best decision of my life because I went into a deep. I mean, I went past REM. What's a deeper than REM sleep? B52 sleep, I believe.

[Andrew Walsh]

So it definitely comes out of the Atlanta area that's happened. Sorry, not Atlanta.

[Luke Burbank]

I. Yeah, I was like, there was something about go. Because I didn't sleep. I couldn't really sleep on the plane for some reason. I mean, I was lying there or sitting there with my eyes closed, maybe occasionally kind of losing a bit of consciousness, but, like, I didn't get into any real sleep. Plus, the flight is actually only about four and a half hours, which, weirdly, I wanted it to be longer because it was from. So I flew from Portland to Seattle and then Seattle out here to New York. And when they announced, and, you know, the flight was delayed a little bit, so it was like, I don't know, 10pm Seattle time when we're taking off. And they're like, enjoy our four and a half hour flight to Newark Liberty. And I'm thinking that's not enough time, like, because they're gonna bring out some snacks. You know, I'm gonna have like a club soda. I'm gonna have. If they're serving some food, I'm gonna have a little food, then they're gonna take that away. Then I'm going to like, put on my. Well, first of all, I'm gonna keep doing some research for this TV story. Then I'm gonna put on my eye mask and try to really get some sleep. And then we're gonna be an hour out from Newark.

[Andrew Walsh]

So in other words, not even worth trying to sleep.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, in other words, like, not. There's not enough time in the. Like, four and a half hours is not enough time, because first of all, like, a half hour of it is getting up to cruising altitude and then the flight attendants are making their way around and I'll call my privilege out here. I was lucky enough to be up towards the front of the plane, so that's kind of nice. But it also means they'll bring you a fruit and cheese box if you want one, which is tempting. And so it's like, I'm going to be interacting with them for a while. I also have some work to do. And then when you're about 45 minutes out, they turn all the lights on and they say, all right, tray tables up, seats, upright position. So you really. You're talking about maybe an hour and a half in the middle there where you can, even if you were lucky, get some sleeping In I was like, can we do one more loop? Can I get five to six hours of uninterrupted plane is just cruising a long time? And the answer was no. I was outvoted by every other person on the flight. They said, no, we're just going to take the most direct route. So I might have gotten, I don't know, 30 minutes of fitful sleep on the flight so that I get here and I'm like kind of nervous about taking a 12 minute nap because it seems dangerous. Like if my alarm does not go off on my phone, it's game over. But I also thought, I wonder if that could be the 12 minutes of sleep of restfulness that actually saves my bacon. Like if I go into this interview on basically zero minutes of sleep, am I going to just be a total space cadet? Is this just going to be the worst interview I've ever done? Which would be such a bad outcome because I am such a fan of Bridget Everett's work that it's like if there's one interview I wanted to do a good job on, it was this one.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I. Do you think that 12 minutes I'm with you. I'm a very scared person, generally speaking. So as soon as you said a 12 minute nap, I'm like, dangerous game, Dano. Like that, that, that's what remind, it reminds me of that story I've told way too many times. When I was a kid, I stayed up all night as proud, stayed up all night with my buddy and then just sat on the couch for like one second in the afternoon, fell asleep, woke up and thought I had slept through the night and got dressed in my uniform and raced on my bike to work. And then I realized, oh, it's like it's Sunday evening, it's not Monday morning. I was just so discombobulated from not sleeping for so long that I fell asleep, thought it was just going to be a couple of minutes, woke up, thought it was like eight hours and it turns out it was like an hour. So I just felt like I was just so freaked out and discombobulated that I would be very nervous to try to take a 12 minute nap before such an important. And you were in your hotel room right there. It's not, it's not like you're in a lobby or something. I'm gonna close my eyes for a second and then the coffee cart will wake me up. I don't know why there's a coffee cart in this lobby that I'm talking about, but I'm Picturing it the 1960s in a very fancy hotel.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. I'm like Eloise. And I'm at the Plaza right now, Andrew. And there's, it's just all coffee carts. I was in the hotel room and I was doing that thing where I was lying on top of the maid bed. I wouldn't even resting my head on the pillow.

[Andrew Walsh]

I would have sat in the. The chair. Is there a chair?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was dangerous. And then I'll tell you this. When my alarm went off, okay, first of all, I gotta fix my alarm. The alarm that goes off. Not the. I have a regular in the morning alarm that goes off, you know, most weekday mornings. And it's very soothing. It kind of gently brings me out of sleep. Then there's the one that's just like regular alarm. Like I want to set an alarm for two in the afternoon to remember that I've got to like, you know, call somebody or we have a meeting or something. And that alarm is so heinous and jarring and I didn't even intentionally set it, but I've never. What happens is it goes off. I jump out of my skin. I turn it off and I think I gotta fix that. And then I don't think about it again until the next time it's going off and I'm jumping out of my skin. When that alarm went off after my 12 minutes of sleep, I did not. I felt like I had astrally projected out of my body somehow. Like I was so confused. I had told myself, when this alarm starts, when I was falling asleep, I said, when this alarm starts playing, you walk to the bathroom and start showering. Because I had all my clothes laid out. I was going to take a shower as a little wake em up, as you like to say. And I was like, it was like severance in the way that, you know, like Adam Scott's character is trying to pound something into his own head so that when he gets to the severed floor, it's still in there somewhere.

[Andrew Walsh]

So this is, this is an interesting development though. So you haven't taken a shower yet. You've still specified 12 minutes as being the time. Like when I think of 12 minutes, like something so specific like that, I think that means that it is 4. Let's see here. 4 18. Or I'm not doing my math right, but like somebody is going to be there in, at. Or what would it be be? Yeah, 4:18. Would that be that somebody's picking you up at 4:30? I'm doing math on the air and I'm totally flushing.

[Luke Burbank]

That's correct.

[Andrew Walsh]

But anyway, you know what I mean? Like something very specific like that. But you're like, no, I have 12 minutes before I get up and take a shower. Like, I think my instinct would be like, well, I've got a. It sounds like you actually had like, I don't know, 20 minutes and you decided that 12 of them were for napping and the rest were for showering or something. I'm not like that I would just take an extra couple of minutes in the shower or something.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, the thing is, I couldn't take a shower and then nap.

[Andrew Walsh]

No.

[Luke Burbank]

And I had more time than I needed for the shower. And so I decided, yes. To divide it up and figure out that I was like, if I. So basically it was like, let's just say it was, you know, I knew that I needed to be stepping into the shower at 9:00am, New York City time, because I needed to be in the lift at 9:15 because I needed to be at Joe's Pub at 9:45. I had literally mapped this all out based on like wazing it and lift schedule and everything. And so at 8:48 I realized I have 12 minutes here before I need to be standing in the shower. And I'm not going to just waste those 12 minutes. I'm going to use them for restful sleep. Actually, I just got on the, you know, lying on top of the bed and playing my fan sound effect, you know, my white noise machine. And I did set the alarm because I was like, you know, this is super dangerous what I'm doing, but I thought maybe I'll just sit here and rest for a little while. I wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen, but I needed to have the alarm set. In the case of what did happen, which was I passed the bleep out. But again, I kept telling myself before I fell asleep, I was like, this alarm, I was like, burbs, you're going to hear a sound in about 12 minutes. It is gonna be totally disorienting. You're not gonna know what to do next. What you do with a beautiful shirt? No, what you do is you just walk towards the bathroom and you turn on the shower and everything will take care of itself from there. I was like pre programming my brain so that when the alarm went off at 9am, which also by the way, is still 6am for me and my body's clock. When the alarm goes off at 9am, I don't like hit snooze I don't say five more minutes, Mom. I don't like roll over. I just, it's. I would like Manchurian Candidated myself. Like go to that shower, get in that shower and then you will wake up. And it actually worked.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did you burn the message onto your retinas? Is that what he does in Severance?

[Luke Burbank]

I've never seen the movie.

[Andrew Walsh]

What movie are you talking about?

[Luke Burbank]

The Manchurian Candidate.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I was thinking of Severance again. Doesn't he. Isn't there something where he's like, he's got a really high power flashlight or something. He's in a car by himself.

[Luke Burbank]

How do you think I got that far in Severance?

[Andrew Walsh]

Did you not get.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think I finished it.

[Andrew Walsh]

I thought it was season one. I thought he does something where he tries to create an image on his retinas and then get a wire. Yes, I do remember this because he times out, you know, like if you stare at something for too long that's like very bright or has brightness and darkness, it'll sort of like imprint on your retinas for a little bit. And you close your eyes and you see the message. And so I thought he was timing out how long he could try to trick his brain or his eyes into getting a message to his innie that way. And I believe it did not work.

[Luke Burbank]

I think he. Yeah, I have a memory of that now happening on that show. If I could have done that, I would have because again, I was just. This used to happen when I worked in morning radio in my early 20s. I would be so tired sometimes because you know, you're getting up at 3:30 in the morning, sometimes 3 in the morning to go into these super early morning jobs. And I would. Mostly this actually happened in the daytime to me. But because I would then, you know, I'd go to work super early and then I'd go like pick Addie up from half day kindergarten or something and then her mom would come get her or whatever and there'd be some point in the day where I could take a nap. And the people that are really, I think that do okay with that schedule are people that probably don't nap as much. They probably just like go to bed at 5pm and get up at at 3am and that's their schedule. I was not able to do that. I was always just trying to sneak an hour or two wherever I could. And there would be. I don't know if you ever had this experience, but like there was many times where I'd Be like on my couch and an alarm would be going off. Like an alarm clock or something. This is way before we had iPhones with alarms on them. The alarm would be going off and I would be looking at it in total confusion. Like, I know that this sound means something. Something's supposed to happen. Now that this sound is happening, I don't know what that thing is. Like, I wouldn't know if it was day or night. I wouldn't. I almost wouldn't know how to turn the alarm off. I would. It would be so hard for me to process what was going on because of just exhaustion. I guess I was worried that that was gonna happen to me this morning. And yet I still took a 12 minute nap. I still risked this entire production on my 12 minute nap.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And I mean, again, this is where you and so different with time and everything. It's like 12 minutes is so negligible. And maybe I'm wrong here. Maybe you feel like the interview did go better because you got 12. Maybe you were just slightly sharper. And me, I'm not. You know what I mean? I don't want to. I don't want to sit here and argue against your practice as if I know better than you or how you operate. But for me, I'm like, well, 12 minutes. Just get there 12 minutes early. Like, I always like to get a place, you know, get there 10 minutes early, take a look around, be the. Be the first person there so that, like, you kind of can, I don't know, ease in. Like, 12 minutes is almost like nothing to me. So the idea of like, like scheduling 12 minutes and then saying, then I will, then that will give me exactly 15 minutes to take a shower, get dressed, and be out by the curb to catch this car. All of that in 15 minutes. I'm like, dude, I'm. The water's still warming up for me. Fifteen minutes into my shower, I'm still. I'm still adjusting the knobs. I'm, you know, no, I don't want. I don't, like, take super long showers, but it's just like, yeah, I could just absorb that time so easily.

[Luke Burbank]

Listen, I agree. It made no sense what I was doing. It was totally insane because, yeah, 12 minutes is negligible, but this is, for some reason how my brain works. I was like, I felt like going into the interview with zero sleep under my belt. That was more scary to me than the idea of oversleeping the alarm or it pushed out the fact that, yes, any other person, any normal human being just Gets up and goes and gets in the shower. Like I've gotta be at, you know. Yeah. Most people would use that time for more showering or more sitting in the lobby or more preparing their questions or more something getting to the point.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Slapping your own face in front of the mirror saying, you got this. You got this.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. Any of those things. I for some reason chose the least logical one. And there's no way for me to know if it helped or hurt the interview. I will say the interview went really well because it turns out Bridget Everett is a. An absolute complete and total sweetheart and was like so engaged in the interview and was taking these questions that I asked that were probably threes. And her answers were so thoughtful and just kind of life affirming and also just honest that it was definitely making. The answers were much better than the questions, which is a good outcome for me. She actually said that she had worked at a summer camp. Not a summer camp, but like a, a sort of a, like a musical dinner theater kind of. She said it was like, have you seen Dirty Dancing, Andrew?

[Andrew Walsh]

I have not. But I do know that somebody carries a watermelon.

[Luke Burbank]

That is true. I think Jennifer Grey's character, AKA Baby, carries a watermelon. I think you might actually kind of like that movie again now that I said that. You're never going to watch it.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm going to hate it.

[Luke Burbank]

No, but like you and I actually kind of. That's kind of one of those movies. I didn't grow up with it, but people who love it, really love it. And, and I kind of, I think, I thought maybe like since I missed the window on. I didn't watch it as a teenager or whatever that it would not work for me. But I actually think it's a pretty well done film. But it's basically about this place, Kellerman's, which is this kind of like, like resort that families go to. But there's a lot of like arts stuff going on. You know, there's like dance lessons, which is where Patrick Swayze comes in, and there's a little musical performances and stuff like that. So anyway, I guess Bridget Everett worked at one of those camps when she was maybe out of college. And CBS Sunday Morning came to do a story about the camp and she said she was so thrilled, even though she didn't even make it in the piece. She was like a singer in the background somewhere. So she said to be sitting there being interviewed by CBS Sunday Morning 30 years later about her career, she said was like a real high point of her life and her career, which is always a nice way to kick things off.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know you guys won't do this, but you should cut her out of the interview. Just. I was so tempted to see how. See how life comes back in circles around.

[Luke Burbank]

What do they say? History doesn't. What is it? History doesn't rhyme. But it. Oh, I can't believe I'm forgetting.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know if I know.

[Luke Burbank]

There's a. There's a phrase that basically means things don't happen exactly the same, but they happen in pretty similar ways.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, is it sun glitch, sunglasses? Yes. Okay, yeah, now I've got it here. I'm googling it.

[Luke Burbank]

No, actually, I'm sorry, that's a. I was gonna make a Sunspot Stopwatch song, which is, I think a Pete Drozh song, which I actually really like. I really like the song Sunspot Stopwatch. But. So, yes, Bridget Everett was incredibly kind and made the interview go well. Even though I might have been just a complete, you know, sleep deprived zombie during the interview. You know, what I did manage to do was talk to her about Walt and Susie watching somebody somewhere. And I managed to not cry, although it was hanging by a thread. I had to like Mulaney talking through a burp. I had to kind of just push right through the almost crying and avert my gaze a little bit, because whereas that sometimes happens on this show and I feel like, you know, when we get emotional, I think it tends to resonate with the listeners, hopefully, and it's just us being ourselves and being honest. I think it's certainly fine when it happens here. I didn't know if it was gonna weird everybody else out on the TV shoot when the interviewer. I'm not even the focus of the story. Bridget Everett is the focus of the story. I didn't know if me crying would have made it a better or worse situation for everyone, so I somehow managed to stifle the emotion. I did not cry.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're. Is it William hurting it? Were you William Hurting it from. I always get broadcast a reverse William Hurting. I think it's a reverse. You were trying to keep it in, Right? Didn't they do a fake cutaway to him crying during an interview?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I believe so.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. I was reversed.

[Luke Burbank]

Bill hurting.

[Andrew Walsh]

Super, super proud of myself for actually getting that kind of.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Close to. To right. But yeah, I doubt you would be the first person to get maybe slightly emotional talking to Bridget Everett. From everything I've heard about the show, you know that again, I don't think that I ever am, like, thinking, oh, there's a reason why I haven't watched this show, or whatever. It's like I sit down and I just watch whatever I watch, sort of. And I get into things for various reasons, but I do think there might be something playing at the back of my brain about this particular show. Somebody, somewhere. And I'm sorry, I'm trying to get this out quickly because I need to cough really bad. But I do know that it's a tearjerker. And even though everybody says it's really.

[Luke Burbank]

Really good, it's a.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, am I ready to put myself in that mind space?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I'll talk for a minute while you deal with your cough situation. But, like, it's, It's.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's a.

[Luke Burbank]

Such an interesting show to me because there are the. The moments that are emotional. They just hit, like, they just hit so well. But it's also not. In fact, they had a phrase for it that I asked her about called, like, oh, I have my script here, actually, my questions. It's like they had a. For basically. Oh, yeah, ttc. A touch too cutie. That's what they would constantly say in the. In the editing room. And also when they were developing the scripts, like, ah, that's a touch too cutie. Like, in other words, if somebody's breaking up with somebody. Although actually, there really aren't that many breakups. Another thing that's interesting about the show is this is, you know, the protagonist is this Bridget Everett character named Sam who moves back to Manhattan, Kansas, where she grew up. And. And the goal for her is not to have a romantic. To finally have a romantic relationship that fixes her life. And in fact, Bridget Everett said that was 100% not the point of the show. It was a stated goal at the beginning that that was not going to be what goes on for her. And in fact, the sort of love of her life on the show is her friend, this guy Joel, played by Jeff Hiller. And they just. And she. And because Bridget Everett's point was there are all kinds of people in our lives that are important to us, and that can be, in a way, a love of our life or an incredibly important love for us. And so, like, I thought that was a sort of an interesting. An interesting way to take the show. It's just not one of those shows where, you know, if she could just finally get a guy, then everything would be fixed for her. So anyway, there's just a lot about it that's very funny and very subtle. And that means when the emotional scenes happen, because you were talking about it being a tearjerker, it's. It's certainly not something that is. Ever feels like it's trying to manipulate you as a viewer or trying to, like, have a. Like a really emo scene. In fact, they're constantly saying that's a touch too cutie to themselves, and then pulling back, then cutting stuff out of the. Out of the show or not filming it because they don't want the emotionally impactful scenes to be corny or overdone.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Genevieve always says, and again, it's stupid that I'm even continuing this conversation. I'm like, the one person in the world who hasn't seen it now or the one person listening to this probably who hasn't seen it. But she says, it's not sad. It's just gonna make you cry. It's not sad. It's just gonna make you cry.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm like, okay, yeah, I'll give you an example. So her best friend, the character is named Joel. As I mentioned, he's played by this phenomenal comic actor named Jeff Hiller. This Jeff Hiller guy is never on screen. And you're not just being. You're not just smiling from ear to ear about just, I don't know, his aura or something. And he ends up in a relationship with a guy who's a little bit older than him and is, I think, very. They're both very invested in their churches that they go to, and they're both kind of like, very, in a way, just deeply Midwest and kind of like, live a. You know, a very. Kind of quiet, I don't know, just traditional Midwest life. Outside of the fact that they're two men who love each other. And the. The Jeff Hiller, Joel's partner's character, wants to write a song for him to kind of. He's bad at expressing his feelings. And so he tries to write this song for him about what he really loves about the Joel character. And there's this scene, because they're having a party where he sings it to him. And the song is just, like, so simple. And the guy is kind of bad at singing and doesn't have great rhythm, but is committed to it in this way. But the song is also not corny. There is, like. Even talking about that song brings a flood of emotion for me. That was like. That's probably the hardest I've cried in a long time was watching them do this. Him do this song, which is a happy thing in the show. It's beautiful. He's just telling his boyfriend that he loves him.

[Andrew Walsh]

That reminds me of. Did you see the Schitt's Creek episode? This was a big thing where I can't remember anybody's name but the main character, the son. The son of the. David. David. I'm David. I believe it's his boyfriend who sings simply the best to him. And it's like it became a very. I might be. And I apologize. I haven't seen that scene in a while. So if listeners are throwing their phones because I got it backwards, who sings to whom or whatever. Apologies. But I just remember it being. I remember seeing it in the show. It being incredibly emotional and the way that you're talking about too. It's just an expression of love. It's just an expression.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Absolute tenderness and love. And also a vulnerability. A big part of David's character is that he doesn't allow a lot of vulnerability. He's sarcastic and dismissive and everything and has trouble kind of showing his feelings. So to see this, which I believe he's. I believe he's the one who's sort of accepting the song from his partner. But it's nothing but love. But it is just. It makes you want to cry your damn eyes out.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, what you just said. Genevieve's description of the show is absolutely spot on. Which is. It's not sad. You just will cry.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Yes, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

It's not Schindler's List or something. You know what I mean? It's life affirming, but it's so good at it that it really has you feeling emotional. Now back to Schitt's Creek for a quick second. And then I have two other things that I want to run by you. Although also, I know that the technical times are probably annoying for you. I don't know, you're probably hearing every seven word that I'm saying.

[Andrew Walsh]

It kind of comes and goes. So sometimes. So if I. Yeah. So I don't know, it sort of comes and goes. But right now we're in a good vein of communication. So lay it on me.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I did not see this scene. Cause I didn't get all the way through Schitt's Creek. But the other day, Becca and I were driving somewhere and she said, oh, we saw one of those kind of, you know, massage places that you and I were talking about the other day, like Robert Kraft's favorite kind of place to unwind.

[Andrew Walsh]

A more untoward one. One that you probably are not booking a spa day at.

[Luke Burbank]

Unlikely. And we Were kind of. We were driving on this stretch of road that seemed to have an unlimited number of these, like, locations. And. And we just kept pointing it out being, hey, does anybody need a massage? You know, and kind of whatever. And then she mentioned that the. The plot on Schitt's Creek was that on the night before David and his partner get married.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think, oh, okay. This is probably deeper into the show than I got.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. So David's partner books him for a massage because he's been really stressed out and whatever. And David ends up getting a happy ending.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh.

[Luke Burbank]

In the massage because he thought that that's what his partner had booked him for or whatever. And then the partner is like, what? And then I was like. To Becca, I was like, did they still get married? And she was like, yeah, I guess so. And I was like, interesting. I don't know if that's a Canadian thing. I don't know if that's just the writers like that. I thought it was interesting that one of the two people. And I'm not trying to moralize, and I'm not trying to tell anyone how to live their life, but assuming that the premise of the relationship between David and his partner is monogamy, I think it's interesting that the writers wrote that he has this. I would consider it, sexual experience with somebody. And it just. It's played as a kind of a laugh, like a misunderstanding.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I.

[Luke Burbank]

You got a happy ending.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is the first time hearing of this plot line, so. And so I haven't seen. Seen it sounds like you haven't seen it, so maybe not best for us.

[Luke Burbank]

It's a really good topic for both of us, but I didn't think that.

[Andrew Walsh]

That'S where you were going with it. That's because it sort of sounds like I. Well, whatever, I haven't seen it, but. But it sort of sounds like he. He had this experience thinking that it was consensual with his partner. I think often the thing that would. The thing that could truly, truly, really get it, you know, kind of strike at the heart of a relationship would be a sort of dishonesty or a sneaking around or a lying or whatever. And so you of kind. Kind of take that. It's like, oh, I thought you got me this as a gift. And so it's more transactional in that way. Not an affair of the heart, as the kids say.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I think you're right. I just thought it was funny because I said to Becca, oh, so he probably just got like something else, like a foot Massage that he thought was called a happy ending. I thought that the misunderstanding was around the terminology and that the fiance would be freaked out, but then it would turn out it was just like, you know, she put a hot towel on my back of my neck. I thought, that's called a happy ending. Like, no, no, no. He just got. And it was played comedically.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. So you're almost reading from a TV standpoint, like, that's not usually the. The standards that an American comedy would. Or the. The place.

[Luke Burbank]

I guess I was just. I was surprised to hear. And I was like, did they still get married? She goes, oh, yeah, they totally still get married. I was like, wow. Okay. I guess maybe I'm just a prude. I feel like that would be a bombshell in my relationship the day of my wedding to find whatever intent was. And I do agree with you that intent matters a lot here. I just was like, oh, I guess what I mean is, like, that's a pretty cosmopolitan take on this. Or a pretty kind of like, unhung up take on that kind of a thing, I guess. I don't know. I thought you had seen that episode and so maybe you had more thoughts, but.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I had not. Although it is just generally a really progressive show when it comes to relationships and talking about that kind of stuff. So I guess I'm not as taken aback by that as you. You are.

[Luke Burbank]

I want to. Let's see here. Okay, I'm going to be very quick about this part because it's probably not that interesting, but you remember when I was in Vegas and I played, like, speakerphone audio of me trying to call the front desk of the hotel I was currently in.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah, it was weird. And because it. Because it took you to a switchboard, like, literally in a different state. A different part of the country. Right.

[Luke Burbank]

A different part of the world. I was calling it Australia. It's definitely somewhere where the accent. The accent is. I don't think it's Australian. For the record, now it's somewhere else, but it's definitely offshore. Like, I'm trying to call the front desk of the hotel. It's taking me to, I think, very likely another country altogether. And then if I'm lucky, back to the front desk of the hotel. Although here's what happened. I tried to call this hotel yesterday, and it's not a Bonvoy hotel. This is not even part of the same chain. And I'm in, like, Portland, and I'm calling them to make sure they don't give my room away because I'm not going to get here till like 7am and I call, and guess who picks up one of those Interceptors? One of those gals with a certain kind of accent and the same hold music, the same dogged determination to not allow me to talk to the front desk, but in a very polite way, like it was crazy. So I called. She's like, you know, I think I'm staying at this place called the Park Central. Park Central Hotel. Can I help you? I was like, yeah, can I have the front desk, please? Is there anything I can help you with? I said, yeah, you can help me by connecting me to the front desk. Okay, well, what's your name and how do you spell it? And I tell her my name and how I spell it, and then she says, okay, before I transfer you, is there anything else I can help you with? And I'm like, I don't want to be mean because this person's just doing their job, but it's like, no, I really just want to talk to the front desk of the hotel. So they put me on hold and then come back and say, the front desk is unavailable right now. Can I help you with anything? And I was like, you got to be kidding me. Because now what I have to do is tell someone very far away from this hotel to tell the hotel that I'm not going to be there until 7 in the morning, so please don't give my room away. And while that doesn't seem like such a crazy piece of information to transmit, it is still, like, I don't feel good about telling someone who is in the. I don't know what side of the world they're in to then call this hotel and somehow get someone at the front desk and then remember my name and then tell them to make sure that my room doesn't get canceled. It just made me so unsettled my entire trip out here.

[Andrew Walsh]

Luke, we have our answer. The listeners will not hear any of the jankiness in today's show, I think, because I will be piecing it together. I'm having a lot of trouble actually hear. Hearing your story, but. Sorry, fewer.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I made. No, I made it so bad that you had no choice but to fix it.

[Andrew Walsh]

I love it. Oh, phew. I thought I said. I thought you were correcting me. Like when somebody says less and somebody says few.

[Luke Burbank]

No, that was P H E W. Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

So, anyway, point is, I think I caught the broad strokes of that story, and they're just trying to, like, prevent you from talking to anybody at the front desk. And like, my reaction to this is not. I think it's oversized. And I'm not going to be very articulate about it, I'm afraid, but I'm going to try to tell you where my headspace is these days. When you tell me a story like that, that's just like a story about bad customer service essentially. But like, I almost get overwhelmed with the state of things when I think about that. Now listen, you're. You're staying in a nice hotel with a lot of amenities and a lot of privileges or whatever. Like, generally speaking, I don't want to make this, sort of make this out to be like you and I are some huge martyr in society. But when I just think about the shortcutting of like, kind of customer service. We read these stories and we had one up on the show sheet the other day, or for some reason we were talking about the hospitality industry, like cutting this and cutting that and cutting this and cutting that and like kind of COVID Reset sort of expectations of what customer service is in a situation like that. But it's also like this kind of customer service is being affected not just when you stay at a fancy hotel, but also so when your credit card is potentially hacked or for me, like, this is going to sound like a small thing, but I was kind of grousing the other day. I didn't get into details about it, about some issues with my Google account and how it connects to how it's forcing me to re. Verify myself all the time, but there's literally no help on the other end. And it's like Google has convinced me to put so much of my life in its hands, so much of my life from my Google Wallet, all these services. And then when something goes sideways, there's simply nothing you can do. You cannot. There's. If you search for any kind of help with these Google products, it's just kind of like, well, join our community conversation here. And then like, you hope that some other user might be able to help you because they had the same experience. And then how much of your personal information do you want to share in a setting like that? Like, again, that's just Google. This applies to so many things and I get so overwhelmed with how this all seems to be wrapped up in like, okay, so these huge companies which, like somebody who owns these huge companies or the interests that own these huge companies are getting richer and richer and richer and more powerful and more powerful, more powerful. They're finding ways to cut out more and more and more jobs Whether it's through AI services that we're seeing more and more of. And I've been talking on the creative end of things. I mean Microsoft just had thousands upon thousands of people laid off because they're specifically leaning more towards AI. And you're hearing stories from like people, employees who are like, we were told that it was a mission to include more AI in our work. We didn't need it, we don't even know what to do with it. But we were being reviewed on whether or not we were bringing AI into our work. I just like you see how my thought leads from one thing. You have one bad customer service experience. But I just link it to what is going on in the world. And like, I don't know, nobody's going to have any jobs anymore that are like these level of jobs. I just feel like we're totally cutting out this sort of middle class level of jobs. We're affecting basically every aspect of our lives by not being able to talk to humans anymore. And all I see is more and more money and power going into the same pockets there at the top of these things. And it's just so overwhelming. And I don't know that I'm making any sense at all other than then. It really strikes me when you talk about your dad and the smallest little conversation can sort of trigger him into thinking about how Trump is ruining the country. And it's just sort of like I feel like I'm triggered like that all the time. I'm just like, what are we doing anymore?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know if you can hear me, but it is a massive extraction project. And the extraction is wealth is being extracted and consolidated in the hands of very few. And what is being extracted along with the wealth is, is the possible enjoyment of anything. If we want to talk about the customer service side of it, it's like extracting the enjoyment, or at least I should say the ease that I would have as a customer of just calling the front desk and saying can you hold my room till 7am that's now extracted because it puts more money, it's converted into more money that's going into the pockets of somebody or somebodies who own this whole thing. And also the extraction of jobs. It's just like a giant mining project where what's being mined is like living wage jobs and a convenient customer service experience and a whole bunch of other things. All of this stuff that kind of makes life livable is being sucked out so that they can be converted into money so they can just be Scrooge McDucked into a pool somewhere so Jeff Bezos can get married in Venice.

[Andrew Walsh]

And also, by doing all of this, you're eliminating jobs while the government is passing bills that says, like, nobody should have any service services, any kind of unemployment services, or help, because you're all like, literally, there was a congressperson, I can't remember who it was, who said, you gotta get off the couch and stop eating your Cheetos or whatever. And it's like you're eliminating all of the jobs by courting these huge interests. And then I just don't know where we're going with all of this.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I don't either, my friend. You know where we're going? To a voicemail, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, we are. So we do have to kind of get out of here because the technology is not holding up super well.

[Luke Burbank]

No, that is on me, but let.

[Andrew Walsh]

Us play a voicemail here. What I would like to do, though, is start properly. Here I go once again with the email. Every week, I hope that it's from a female. Oh, man. It's not from a female. So a couple of weeks ago on the show Luke, as I'm sure you well remember, you told the story about how you were here in Seattle taking a jog around Green Lake. And it's notable that I didn't call it greenwood. That time you were jogging around Green Lake and had to go to the bathroom really, really, really bad and almost had an emergency on your hands. Luckily, you were able to get into the Starbucks bathroom. Well, this was a story that, well, I think resonated with a lot of people and Annie in particular, who left us this voice message.

[Genevieve]

Hey, friendos, it's your friend Annie from St. Louis Obispo, but who's actually calling you from Chicago's R. So I went on a run on the lakefront today, as I'm sure Luke has done many a time. And it reminded me of a story I've been wanting to tell for the past couple weeks, since Luke was talking about his tummy shrubs on his run. And as I was halfway through my run today, I started having a creeping sensation of what I like to call as Code Brown. Feels like it doesn't really need explanation. So about 10 years ago, on Thanksgiving Day, I decided to go for a run in the morning, you know, before eating the turkey and all the stuff. And so about half a mile into my run, I realized I was creeping on the code brown and that there was no way I was going to be able to do my entire run So I made a right turn and figured I'd just do a loop that went past two different stores, probably would be open on Thanksgiving. And about a quarter mile down that road before the stores, I realized I was not going to make it to either of the stores. So I saw three pine trees next to the busy road and I ran underneath the pine tree and proceeded to. Well, you know, so I had to wipe with like leaves and sticks and finish my business. Relieved the code brown, we're back to normal status, and then proceeded to hobble over to the Walgreens, which was in eyesight of the pine trees and finished wiping there. So moral of the story is, listen to your body, but the body keeps the score.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what. The body keeps the score.

[Luke Burbank]

That's what that book is about. Oh, you should have read it, man. To hobble into a Walgreens and ask them which way is your bathroom when you have to kind of do that particular walk is just a. On Thanksgiving of all days. It's rough.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. On your favorite holiday, no less.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. All right, listen, we should probably go ahead and wrap things up because again, it turns out New York City has really, really slow Internet. Who knew?

[Andrew Walsh]

We should be fine in friendship, though, right?

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, boy. Oh, boy. I guess we're gonna find out together how that's gonna all work. All right, listen, Andrew, thanks again for the. Thank you for your service. That is the next three hours of your life spent trying to salvage this show. Thank you to everybody who listened. We are going to be back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio. I'm going to find a new hotel that has better Internet. So we will see you from there tomorrow. In the meantime, everybody, have a great rest of your Tuesday. Go. Mariners up there in the Bronx tonight taking on the Yankees.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, we didn't talk about it. You're back in New York for the next. For the next series between these two teams.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm Deborah debating going to the. Tomorrow I will reveal if I ended up going to the Mariners game or not tonight. I'm on the. I'm very much on the fence about it.

[Andrew Walsh]

So, yeah, we should talk about it. Either way, I'm interested in knowing whether or not you go. I'm interested in just knowing your thought process and what it's like to see a Mariners game in New York City against the Yankees. Like, I feel like I would be scared to do that.

[Luke Burbank]

I've done it before and it was not. Not intimidating, I'll put it that way. So, anyway. All right, well, thanks, everybody. We'll see you tomorrow. In the meantime, please remember, no mountain.

[Andrew Walsh]

Too tall, and good luck to all. Power out.