Podcast Summary: TBTL #4541 – "There Will Be Blood Pressure"

Date: August 27, 2025
Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh

Episode Overview

Luke and Andrew return for a classic TBTL midweek hang, serving up an episode brimming with playful banter, middle-aged health anxiety, nostalgic movie Recaps, and the always-present specter of lawn care and neighbor drama. The show’s main theme explores the anxious self-experimentation around home blood pressure monitors, and segues into uniquely TBTL tangents, including an iconic 'Untouchables' misremembering, convenience store rankings, and misadventures in nostalgia.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Blood Pressure Olympics

• Andrew’s Health-Kick: Andrew reveals he’s trying to limit himself to one cup of coffee a day after acquiring a home blood pressure cuff (03:36).

  • He confesses he stopped monitoring when the numbers consistently came back high:

    "Mine kept hitting so high that I stopped doing it… I think I set it down and, like, I didn't do it consciously, but I think I was like, well, I don't want to just keep getting bad news from this thing." (09:29 – 10:32)

• Luke’s Cuff Conundrum: Luke has a wrist-based monitor that's giving surprisingly good readings, which he suspects might be inaccurate:

  "It's giving me great results… I don't think that's because any part of my life is more healthy than it used to be. I think it's because it's a wrist. It just goes on my wrist." (11:31 – 11:49)

• Live Readings & Results: Andrew takes his blood pressure live:

  • 130/87 – “pre high blood pressure”
  • Luke’s wrist monitor gives him 101/75, which seems suspiciously low.
  • Discussion on how little either host understands about systolic/diastolic numbers and a brief attempt at crowd-sourcing the science. (15:44 – 24:14)

• Notable Quotes:

  • Andrew on coping:

    "Maybe I can still live my reckless lifestyle if I can just get this under control by knocking myself down to one cup of coffee." (14:27)

  • Luke, on performing blood pressure tests while in altered states:

    "You ever do it when you’re drunk?... I think it keeps the numbers a little bit lower for me, at least." (18:11)

Coffee, HIPAA, and Memories of Podcast Sponsors

• Show references a past sponsor, Thrive Marketplace, sparking stories of difficult ad reads and nostalgia for the awkward days of publisher-driven podcasting (05:58 – 08:31).

Movie Recaps: "The Untouchables" & Misremembered Cinema

• Luke misremembers a scene from The Untouchables, believing Kevin Costner slides down stairs under a baby carriage shooting bad guys. Andrew live fact-checks by watching the scene:

  • Reality: Andy Garcia slides under the carriage to stop it, but Luke’s "Mandela effect" misremembering brings much laughter.
  • Notable moment:

    "In my mind, I would have told you, oh, yeah, the iconic scene where he's under the baby carriage, sliding upside down backwards down the stairs, shooting everyone using the baby as a human shield." – Luke (48:54)

• Discussion expands to Brian De Palma’s directorial style, David Mamet’s screenplay, and listeners’ relationships to movie recap podcasts (25:15 – 36:19).

Nostalgia, "Before Sunrise" Trilogy, and the Podcast Listening Experience

• Andrew admits to loving movie recap shows, even for movies (like the "Before Sunrise" trilogy) he hasn’t seen but still plans to watch.

  “Am I crazy that this is how I’m experiencing this trilogy? By listening to a recap of the third one in this epic trilogy?” (36:19)

• Luke marvels at the commercial success of “Before Midnight” ($3M budget, $23M gross) and laments the declining viability of “quiet” films in theaters (37:14).

Summer Box Office & Moviegoing Habits

• A tangent on the joys of seeing “Naked Gun” and the frustration with modern movie runtimes (38:20).
• Andrew and Luke discuss whether they could handle seeing a new horror film (“Weapons”) in theaters or if at-home, lights-on horror is more their style:

  "If something is really scary and I'm watching it on my TV…I will intentionally look over at some books on the wall…to remind myself that this is a movie. It's made up. It's people pretending…" – Luke (42:09)

The Archetypal "Dad Watching TV"

• Discussion of a Peacock commercial showing dads standing while watching TV (43:54).

  "The dad just sort of walks into the room while somebody’s watching TV and just sort of lurks for a while, but doesn’t get too involved, but just stays in the room long enough to irritate everybody who’s actually invested in the content." – Andrew (43:54)

• Differs from their own fathers’ habits, and morphs into the experience of a parent's sudden presence making any show instantly become inappropriate (45:25 – 46:25).

Ninja Turtles Rabbit Hole

• The hosts spiral into a discussion of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles nostalgia, the upcoming theatrical re-release, and the Ninja Turtles’ live tour. (49:10 – 53:46)
  • Notable Quote:

  "…seeing those rubber suits or something. I was like, oh, man. And seeing—who is it? Is it Raphael who’s the hothead?… I think I need to see this in theaters. But I don't even think I like the movie. It's just pure nostalgia. It's like that drug." – Andrew (50:15)

Memorable Moments & Quotes

• Luke on the TBTL 5000th Episode Math:

  "We do 20 shows a month…what is that, like 240 shows a year? ...Two years out from our 5,000th episode…mark your calendars." [01:25]

• Andrew, During His Blood Pressure Test:

  "I can't believe I'm doing this on the radio." [15:31]

• Luke, On Getting Interneted:

  "It’s now totally normal for someone to just go back and find an article from 10 years ago…It’s so easy for me now to get tricked into thinking something is new and it’s not new, it’s just…a thing that people have forgotten about or didn’t know about on its first creation." [78:43 – 80:09]

• Andrew on Movie Runtime Creep:

  "Movies are just generally too long these days. And I'm not even talking about, like, I have to go to the bathroom at some point, which I do…but, like, it's just like a lack of discipline…Instead of ending where it should end, they just go on with a whole nother act." [38:24]

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Opening Goof/TBTL Introduction: 00:00 – 01:39
• Coffee & Health Monitoring: 03:36 – 24:16
• Sponsor Nostalgia: 05:58 – 08:31
• Live Blood Pressure Anxiety: 09:29 – 24:16
• Untouchables Misremembered (Movie Recap): 25:15 – 36:19
• Recap Podcasts & Before Sunrise Trilogy: 36:19 – 37:49
• Moviegoing Habits & Horror Movies: 38:20 – 42:37
• Dads Watching TV & Parental Intrusion: 43:54 – 46:25
• Ninja Turtles & 90s Nostalgia: 49:10 – 53:46
• Donor Acknowledgement (“Thanking the Tens”): 47:13 – 62:49
• Top Stories: Star Jasmine Triumph / Burning Man Fails: 62:49 – 74:07
• Content Recycling/Getting "Interneted": 75:02 – 83:09
• Media Economy & The Decline of Reporting: 83:09 – 85:41
• Travis Kelce & Taylor Swift Engagement Debate: 86:02 – 88:58
• Closing & Song Debut (Joey’s "I Haven’t Been to a Wawa in a Wawa While"): 89:06 – end

Other Notable Segments

• Star Jasmine Victory: Luke celebrates the successful flowering of his hard-won star jasmine, expressed as a rare “little magical moment.” (02:54, 62:49 – 66:10)

• Burning Man Schadenfreude: Both hosts wrestle with their complicated feelings about disasters at Burning Man – torn between schadenfreude and wanting people to enjoy themselves. (66:47 – 73:37)

  • “If you put me in...it wasn't one of these years where it's just like a crazy dust storm...if it was a good year…I think I might have the best week of my entire life.” – Luke [71:14]

• Getting Tricked by Old Content: Luke confesses to nearly presenting an eight-year-old Wall Street Journal article about Jack in the Box tacos as new, reflecting broader media challenges. [75:02 – 83:09]

Episode’s Signature Tone and Style

Playful, self-deprecating, and conversational, this episode is pure TBTL: a deeply silly but honestly comforting exploration of aging, anxiety, pop culture misremembrances, and the niche joy of low-stakes home data collection. The warmth and candor between Andrew and Luke are apparent, and almost every segment, regardless of topic, spins off into tangential hilarity or heartfelt confession. Quirks like real-time blood pressure checks and willingness to admit confusion, alongside nerdy deep-dives (Ninja Turtles, the long tail of internet content), make for an engaging listen.

Notable End-of-Show Content

• Listener Joey’s Song:
  The episode closes with a new TBTL-inspired song from listener Joey, “I Haven’t Been to a Wawa in a Wawa While,” born from a throwaway line on a previous show. [92:11]

For TBTL fans both new and old, this episode offers a perfect blend of health anxiety, pop culture misadventure, and loving ridicule, all wrapped in the hosts’ trademark rambling style.