Luke Burbank (1:18)

By the way, did the comic come up with this?

Andrew Walsh (1:20)

Cause some of this stuff, like, I feel like I could see somebody doing their act.

Luke Burbank (1:25)

Well, all right. Hello, good morning and welcome everyone, to a Wednesday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. Now we're going to look at a place where hipster culture and world events collide. My name is Luke Burbank. I'm your host.

Andrew Walsh (1:39)

He's got Riz. Like he just does.

Luke Burbank (1:41)

Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio perched high above the mighty Columbia, where it actually rained last night. Didn't know you like to get wet, though. I did not expect that. This morning, woke up, looked outside, realized it had rained. I think we're gonna get sort of a decent day here. Doesn't. Doesn't look like the rain is coming back. So that's nice. Nice to get a little bit of. A little bit of water on the lawn and on the plants and things like that. Hey, guess What? It's episode 4541 in a collector series. Let the fun begin. We are. I guess we're still About a year away from having to start really thinking about the TBTL 5000th episode. I was doing this math the other day. I guess It's. We do 20 shows a month, so that'd be. What is that, like 240 shows a year? Okay. So, yeah, so basically we're about two years out from our 5,000th episode. So I'd say, you know, mark your calendars, make your plans. Now for TBTL 5000. It's coming up in just two short years. I had a slightly magical moment happen yesterday here at the Madrona Hill studio.

Andrew Walsh (2:54)

It's a kind of magic.

Luke Burbank (2:55)

It's one of those little moments that feels real good when it happens. I'll tell you about that coming up. Also, there've been some bad feelings happening down at the Burning Man Festival.

Andrew Walsh (3:07)

It tastes like burning.

Luke Burbank (3:10)

There's sandstorms, there's floods, there's all kinds of problems happening on Playa. And we will try to get into that today as well. And we're going to talk to this guy. Longest running cobra of the show. Maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. Also, he was king of the Tuk Tuk Sound. That is true. He's Andrew Walsh and he is joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

Andrew Walsh (3:31)

Sup, Playa?

Luke Burbank (3:35)

Playa hater.

Andrew Walsh (3:36)

See? See what I was saying? I. I need. I need more coffee. This is. I'm trying not to drink as much coffee. I don't know if I told you that. I think I mentioned that briefly last week or something. I went a couple of weeks without having coffee at all. But then I think last week I started having one cup in the morning. I love my coffee broadcast. Barry is providing me with coffee, which is supposed to get me through the show. That's why he does it. He wants his tbtl. He doesn't want me dragging ass through tbtl. So I appreciate it. So I gotta do it for him. But I'm trying to limit myself to one cup of coffee in the morning and I gotta say it's been fine. But I was up too late last night and I apologize, but I'm looking here at the empty cup. I've only had one and I want more, but I'm not going to do it. Luke. I'm going to allow. I'm going to rely on you to give me the energy I need today.

Luke Burbank (4:26)

Well, I'm on my third Dr. Pepper, zero sugar, so I've got energy to spare now. I don't want to HIPAA violate you, Andrew. Hungry, Hungry Hippa. Have we Used that as.

Andrew Walsh (4:40)

I almost guarantee it. Yes, I remember that. Yeah.

Luke Burbank (4:44)

But is this the. No. Because if I remember right, you had mentioned that you also now have a what? A home blood pressure monitor.

Andrew Walsh (4:54)

I do. Yeah.

Luke Burbank (4:55)

I got one of those as well and I frickin love it.

Andrew Walsh (4:58)

Oh, you got one.

Luke Burbank (4:59)

I was wondering if your coffee. If the reduction in your coffee intake was related to trying to like bring your blood pressure down a little bit. Are those related events?

Andrew Walsh (5:07)

Yeah, I mean, nobody told me to stop drinking coffee. My doctor didn't say that. But the thing is, there's a whole bunch of things that I do that. Episode 3051 from November Hungry Hungry Hippa 2019 Hungry Hungry Hippa Luke takes his eye problem to the doctor's office where he's in for a surprise. Was your sty way back in 2019? Oh, no, this is a different eye problem. Sorry. I was like, geez Louise, I wonder.

Luke Burbank (5:36)

What that eye problem was.

Andrew Walsh (5:38)

Meanwhile, Andrew takes his first rollerblading lesson. And someone is gluing hats onto pigeons in Vegas. I remember that. Oh, and here's the good part. Today's show is sponsored by quip. Visit getquip.comtbtl to get your first refill pack with a.

Luke Burbank (5:55)

Giving out that milk for free there.

Andrew Walsh (5:58)

I don't think that's go. You know what I heard a commercial for the other day, Luke, and I don't. I almost texted you, but I'm like, you're not even gonna remember this, but we had a sponsor. And I don't mind saying it right now, every now and then, very rarely we would have a sponsor on TBTL during the American public media years. That was a huge pain in our ass. And do you remember. I'm wondering if this is going to ring any bells to you or not. Do you remember a little company called Thrive Marketplace?

Luke Burbank (6:28)

Yes, but remind me of what?

Andrew Walsh (6:31)

Thrive Marketplace, they were some sort of online grocery store that I think maybe focused on healthier options. But it was also, oh yeah, subscription things. But for some reason they weren't just like, hey, read this copy. It was like one of those. Maybe they. Maybe APM sold it for more money by saying, oh, I think we had to have some. It was one of the rare sponsors where we had some sort of digital components to it. Maybe, maybe we were doing a little bit of extra for them, but whatever we did was never good enough. And they needed like you would get sent that. And I forgot maybe like copy got sent back. But it was a little bit more than that. All I remember is like, they. Yeah, they had very specific needs. I think maybe this was me. This is one of those things that I think fell a little bit more on me than you. So I'm kind of not surprised that you didn't.

Luke Burbank (7:19)

One of those things, you mean, like, every single thing.

Andrew Walsh (7:22)

But then I never thought about it again. And I was listening to some sort of baseball podcast or something this weekend, and I heard an ad for Thrive Marketplace. Wow. And I was like, I haven't heard that name in a long time. You sons of guns. You're still out there making people's lives miserable.

Luke Burbank (7:38)

Well, that's what I'm always kind of amazed by, is not even necessarily something that we did ads for, but when I just hear one of these companies that sort of like, whether it's a mattress company, you know, or just any company where they leave one vowel out of the name.

Andrew Walsh (7:56)

Yeah, sure.

Luke Burbank (7:57)

For reasons that I don't fully understand, when I will hear an ad for one of those companies, whether it's on a podcast or whether it's somewhere else years later, like, after I've stopped thinking about them, I'm always kind of shocked they're still in business.

Andrew Walsh (8:10)

Yeah. Right.

Luke Burbank (8:11)

Well, whoever the company might be. So this is a perfect example of that.

Andrew Walsh (8:13)

Yes. But, like, yeah, yeah, I'm looking. I've actually wanted to see, because now I sort of. The gloves are a little bit off when it comes to that stuff. I wanted to see if I could find any of the frustrating emails because I don't remember exactly what it was, but I wanted to see if I could spill some tea here. But I'm not finding much here.

Luke Burbank (8:31)

I'm finding a lot of percent off Rao's marinara sauce. That's all that I. That's. That's my marinara sauce of. Of choice.

Andrew Walsh (8:41)

I'm seeing when I'm looking up Thrive. You know, what I'm seeing, though, is a lot of, like, my Thrive reviews and, like, hey, when are we gonna have this meeting? Do you think we need to start instituting Thrive performance reviews on TBTL now that we're independent, but we've got our legs underneath us now. Should we be, like, doing.

Luke Burbank (8:57)

John and I have been doing them for years. You haven't been in on those.

Andrew Walsh (9:00)

No, I haven't.

Luke Burbank (9:01)

And I have you noticed that, John, Our. Our work output is obviously superior to yours is because we've been working the thigh. The Thrive system.

Andrew Walsh (9:09)

We gotta work the Thrive steps.

Luke Burbank (9:11)

It works.

Andrew Walsh (9:11)

If you. I thought it was the. I thought it was all the diet Dr. Pepper. You've been drinking, but no, it's actually been a constructive back and forth.

Luke Burbank (9:19)

Well, it's a little bit of both. A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B. Back to my Dr. Pepper intake and your lowering of your coffee intake.

Andrew Walsh (9:28)

Oh, yeah.

Luke Burbank (9:29)

So I have this blood pressure. It's. Is yours like a wrist cuff?

Andrew Walsh (9:33)

No, they wanted specifically me to have the AR cuff. Mine goes up. Should we go do it? Right. Should we do it on the show? And because here's the deal. This is the truth. Mine kept hitting so high that I stopped doing it. Like, this is the first time I've actually, like, put words to that. But, like, when I first got it, I'm like, I'm going to game this thing and I'm going to, like, you know, start eating healthier and going to the gym more, and I'm going to like. And this is. This is the thing, like, seeing my blood pressure every day is really going to. And I think that's why they want me to get it. And then I put it down for a while. I don't remember exactly why. Was it travel? It was. Maybe it was the thon. Maybe it was the thon. And then I put it down for a while and then I came back home and I just. I think I did it once after the thon and I. It like. I think it automatically called 91 1. My blood pressure started coming out of it. Well, it said it's a living. And anyway, so I. So I think I. 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.

Luke Burbank (10:32)

Well, here's. Okay, so here's the thing. When I was getting my last, like, physical or whatever, the nurse who was doing the kind of intake stuff, basically, they did, you know, the blood pressure thing with the cuff on my arm, on my, you know, bicep or whatever. And it was like she said, you know, this is not. This is in the high range. This is in the range where it's okay for now. We're not going to. We don't need to talk about, you know, fixing this with medication yet, but we need to see if this can go down on its own because it's in the range where it's on my radar now. This is basically what the nurse is saying to me, right? She's saying, like, this isn't like, I have to give you drugs or I have to, like, you know, start giving you dietary advice. But it's getting in the direction of that. And she said one of the things you might want to do is get a home blood pressure kit and then just check your blood pressure, you know, from time to time and make sure it doesn't get. It's not hovering in this kind of high range.

Andrew Walsh (11:31)

Right.

Luke Burbank (11:32)

So I just finally got one. But the thing is, it's giving me great results.

Andrew Walsh (11:38)

Oh, that's good for you.

Luke Burbank (11:39)

But that's. I think. 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.

Listener Joey (11:49)

Oh.

Luke Burbank (11:50)

And it self inflates. I don't. It's in the house, unfortunately.

Andrew Walsh (11:53)

If you want to take mine right now, if you don't know if you can see what I'm doing over here. I have a set. Mine goes up on my arm. And then I just said real that I just do that. It takes it three times in a row and then gives me the average. And I was like, oh. And it's like, this is going to. This is going to be more accurate. But that's also when I started getting the worst score. So I'm going to go ahead and see. Do I just does a beep or anything like that? Does it. I think it's going to start inflating here.

Luke Burbank (12:19)

And you gotta hold. Make sure you hold your arm at the. At the height of your heart.

Andrew Walsh (12:22)

I gotta stop this.

Luke Burbank (12:23)

I gotta remember that. See, I didn't even know that was a thing until I got this little. But see, here's the problem with mine, Andrew, as you're kind of getting your.

Andrew Walsh (12:29)

Thing reset for me, I just need to have my foot straight on my. Both of my feet.

Luke Burbank (12:33)

Yeah, you gotta have both feet flat on the ground. You gotta relax. One of the instructions is don't be doing a podcast.

Andrew Walsh (12:37)

They say don't be doing a podcast. I did. I don't know. Did somebody tell. I didn't know. I know I need to relax my arm, but it has to be up. Does it have to be like this where my heart is? I'm leaning up.

Luke Burbank (12:46)

The. Mine has. So again, mine goes on my wrist and it. There's a little drawing of a person and they have their wrist at about the elevation of their heart because I guess it's like they don't want your. They don't want your heart to be not doing a lot of work. Like if it was way below your heart or to be doing too much work if it was like way high up. You look. You look fine. Right now.

Andrew Walsh (13:07)

I'm resting it on the top of my kow water bottle.

Luke Burbank (13:10)

It's perfect.

Andrew Walsh (13:10)

I think once. Now I also don't know if I'm putting it on too tight because this hurts right now. Is it supposed to hurt a little bit when it fills up?

Luke Burbank (13:17)

I don't like that experience when they. I actually have a. Not a full phobic response to it, but I have a little bit of. I'm a little triggered when that cuff is getting very tight and I can feel whatever the vein is start to be really constricted.

Andrew Walsh (13:30)

Yeah, that's what I'm feeling under my arm.

Luke Burbank (13:32)

I don't enjoy that. I will say this wrist one that I have is phenomenal. Like, it. It just self inflates on my wrist and then it does that. It's just kind of like running through these series of numbers and then it's done. And again, it's giving me a good result. But I think that's because it's on my wrist. I think if it was on my bicep, I'd be back to getting my. Concerning results. Like, I don't. I can't really trust this thing. I would like to think that it's, you know, giving me an accurate result because again, it would mean that I guess I'm. Something has fixed itself inside my body and my soul, but I don't trust it.

Andrew Walsh (14:06)

I do think that your heart rate probably. Well, maybe you're not as nervous as I am, but I also. Because everything you said that your doctors tell you is what the doctors have been telling me for years. Like, it's not concerning yet, but it's just a little bit higher than it should be. I've been hearing this for years and years. And they're like. And also being in the doctor's office might just change the results a little bit. Right?

Luke Burbank (14:27)

Stress you out.

Andrew Walsh (14:28)

So that's why I was like, oh, I'll get this at home and I'll be good. I'll stop drinking so much coffee. That was my idea. Nobody told me to do that. The thing is, there are other things in my life I don't want to like. I was kind of like, yeah, no, I'll still have two rings of kielbasi every morning, but I'll just be past the kielbasier. But just one, one cup of coffee. So, yeah, I'm trying to like, I was like, 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. But I don't think that's working. I think it's about to take the third measure, and then I'll tell you, okay, I'm still alive or not.

Luke Burbank (14:59)

I will say that. Like, this one that I have, I'll send you a picture of it. This one that I have, it. It's just running this series of numbers, and it's counting up. So it's like 100 and then it's like 120, and it was getting up into, like, 170, and I was like, well, I'm dead. Yeah. Like, that is not okay. And then I don't know what it means, but then it gives you the official number. And of course, it. Thankfully, it wasn't that, but it was like I was looking at it. It was like a slot machine just spinning.

Andrew Walsh (15:26)

Yeah, spitting.

Luke Burbank (15:26)

Except it just went up all three hearts with, like, an arrow through.

Andrew Walsh (15:31)

Yeah, you look at that. You're like, wait a second. Am I Chester Cheetah? What is going on here? All right, here we go. I think we're about to get my final result, which is. I can't believe I'm doing this on the radio.

Luke Burbank (15:44)

The nice thing is you can retake your entire blood pressure if you don't like the results during the time this drum roll takes you. A lot of time.

Andrew Walsh (16:04)

I am 210 over 120. Is that a problem? No, just kidding. That's as high as it goes. And you can still be alive. This is not that bad of one. I am in the range of pre high blood pressure. Pre Hypertension, I am 130 over 87. I don't know if you can see on my phone, but I have this little chart here, Luke, so I can. So I can know what it means. And it's like, you see, it's color coded, and it gives you ranges, and I'm in a range. So you have, like. You have normal blood pressure. High normal blood pressure, then pre high blood pressure. And I guess I'm in the pre high blood pressure right now, which is not bad, considering I just had a cup of coffee and I'm doing a podcast.

Luke Burbank (16:42)

Exactly. Yeah. Then the thing is, mine is giving me my wrist one. I feel like I'm doing something wrong with it because it's giving me, like, results that are extremely low. And there would have been no reason for the nurse to say, this is. We're in the danger zone here. Unless maybe I was nervous that day, too, or I had slammed 13 whiskey shots in the parking lot or something? Yeah, like, because I got 101 over 75, which is, like, very low.

Andrew Walsh (17:11)

That's too low, right?

Luke Burbank (17:13)

I don't know if it's too low, but, like, what was it?

Andrew Walsh (17:17)

I don't want to. One over 75. Oh, my God. It is not too low. It's, like, perfectly in the green. That is a perfect blood pressure. My God. But what I'm saying is, how do you know this show so young. But this is the thing.

Luke Burbank (17:34)

There's no logical. There's no logical reason that I went from being in a place where the nurse was saying, hey, this is something you need to watch, and you need to actually purchase a home medical equipment for this to, like, now. It's just. I'm, like, in a really good range. Like, nothing has fundamentally changed about me, my lifestyle. I mean, I guess I've, like. I have actually kind of dropped a little weight in the last few months, so maybe that helps. I don't know. It's. Instead of just thinking, like, oh, good, this has fixed itself. I think I need to get a real, like, arm cuff. One like you have. Cause I kind of think. Basically, I think this thing that I'm using is not giving me an accurate reading, unfortunately.

Andrew Walsh (18:11)

You want to know my real, deep, dark secret? You ever do it when you're drunk? I've done that before. What does it do? I think it keeps the numbers a little bit lower for me, at least. It's, like, late at night. It's like 11:30. It's midnight already, whatever. And I'm just, like, watching, like, I don't know, Matlock or something. You've had a few. See, not tease. I think that'll spike it. But I don't know what my situation was, but I know there are a couple of times where I was, like, pretty drunk, and I was like, I'll just try it now. And it was, like, a much more calm number. I'm like, I'll just tell the doctor I'm good. I'll just drink all the time.

Luke Burbank (18:42)

That doesn't actually. That's kind of a surprising outcome because I think legitimately, one of the things that raises your blood pressure is alcohol for some reason.

Andrew Walsh (18:50)

Yeah.

Luke Burbank (18:50)

I don't know that.

Andrew Walsh (18:51)

I wonder if that's like. But, you know, I wondered about that. I wondered about that. I wondered if it's like, overall, it raises your blood pressure, but I wondered.

Luke Burbank (18:59)

If if in the moment, it chills you out so much.

Andrew Walsh (19:02)

Chilled me out. Or maybe I was just healthier. Like, that was months Ago. That was. I kind of. When I first got this thing, I was kind of doing it at different times a day. I was kind of doing it constantly because it was like a fun toy. So I was just sort of constantly doing it. So that's why I did that. And I was like, oh, I kind of like these numbers.

Luke Burbank (19:17)

Well, I mean, that was one of the things that the nurse said to me. She said two things when she saw my blood pressure. And again, I want to be careful with how I say this because, you know, we are careful about how we talk about bodies and whatever you want to say about that. But like, she goes, one thing she said was, well, you're not that fat. This is from the nurse to me. So she was trying to think, why would my blood pressure be high? And she's looking at me and now she didn't say, sir, you're in a very good weight range for your height. In fact, I'm impressed at your physical fitness. She didn't say that. She went, well, you're not that fat.

Andrew Walsh (19:52)

I'm kind of surprised that she would use that word.

Luke Burbank (19:54)

Maybe she said heavy. Maybe she said heavy. But she basically said, instead of saying.

Andrew Walsh (19:58)

Like, well, or overweight, I could see, yeah, you're weight. Maybe.

Luke Burbank (20:02)

Maybe she said, you're not that overweight.

Andrew Walsh (20:03)

I can't. I would be.

Luke Burbank (20:04)

So I bet she didn't say the fat word in the. In the doctor's office. I don't think they would say that, although she was. There was a bluntness to this particular. In fact, you know what? This wasn't the nurse. This was my doctor. I mean, I don't think she's my regular gp, but she's, you know, the doctor that I got at this particular, you know, whatever moment. And there was. She was originally from a different country. And there was a certain kind of bluntness that I might attribute somewhat to the culture to just kind of like she just had a plain spoken way about her towards me, which I sort of appreciated. But I. Maybe she said, she looks at it and she goes. She goes, yeah, I don't know why your blood pressure would be this way. You're not that overweight. Which I was like, all right, okay, thanks. And then she said, unless you just drink every single day. And I was like, no, that's not really my life. And she goes, yeah, well, I don't know why this would be this, but that's why you should get this home monitoring thing or whatever. And so, I mean, again, I guess maybe I have lost a little bit of weight since that conversation. But I can't think of anything that has changed profoundly to drop my blood pressure by 30. What is it? I don't know what that means. Beats per minute. I don't know what that. 130. Let's say it was 130 before and now it's 101. I don't know what it. What would account for that?

Andrew Walsh (21:18)

Well, you know, let's talk about this. This. I don't know exactly what the numbers mean either, but I have a chart now and it's easy. But let me. Let me tell you something. I had a little. I like my doctor a lot.

Luke Burbank (21:29)

Yeah.

Andrew Walsh (21:29)

For the first time in my life, I kind of like, like my doctor. He's been a great, great doctor for me. He's helped me a lot through some stuff recently. And I am embarrassed about a conversation I had with him because he's not like some cool guy. I'm not usually embarrassed talking to my doctor. But I said something that I thought was. Sounded pretty stupid, which was like he told me to get this at home thing, I think I forgot in between visits. And then the next time he was like, did you get that at home blood pressure monitor yet? And I was like, oh, no, I gotta get. Do they. Yeah, please do. And I said something. I'm like, I just don't understand because they're always. It's like always something over something, right? What did I just have? 131 over 88 or whatever. It just was. I already forgot. I'm probably already sweetening those numbers, but. And I said to him, like, I just don't. I just don't understand the numbers. That's the other thing. And he like pulls out some like some chart, right? And he's pointing it to me, but he's also kind of like, I don't know, there was just something about him doing it. It's kind of like it's not that difficult to understand this. You just get a chart basically. But in that moment, or maybe it was when I came home and actually got this thing and I looked at my own chart because I remember saying to him, I'm like, yeah, I mean, I guess I have access to the Internet. I can figure this out, doc. And I kind of laughed sheepishly. The whole something over something is needlessly confusing. The two numbers don't relate to each other. I always thought it was an equation because they always put it something over something. I thought that it wasn't just kind of like, well, this is a good number. And this is a good number. You know what I mean? A range of numbers. I always thought they had to. They had to play in some way. You know what I mean? Like maybe if you have a 33 down here, then the 190, you know, but no, it's not an equation. Just say it should be and not over. If they just said and and not over, I would have never been so confused about this.

Luke Burbank (23:14)

Yes, I'm with you. Blood pressure is given as two numbers. There's systolic, that's the top number, which is when your heart beats. And then diastolic is the bottom number, which is when your heart rests between the beats. A healthy reading is less than 120/80mmHg. Numbers that are higher, such as above 130, indicate a high blood pressure. But so systolic, the top number, when your heart beats. So it's how many times your heart is beating versus what the diastolic, when your heart rests between the beats. How does that get a number? How does the rest get a number? Is it how long it rests? Is it what it's do? That's what I don't understand. I understand the top number being like, oh, I guess it's the pressure. So it's like how much pressure when your heart is pumping and then how much pressure when your heart is in between pumping. Right. Is that what those numbers are?

Andrew Walsh (24:09)

I. I can't tell you. And I don't want to take a swing at that now.

Luke Burbank (24:12)

Are you sure? Should we give out some medical advice?

Andrew Walsh (24:14)

But let me ask you this.

Luke Burbank (24:15)

Yeah.

Andrew Walsh (24:16)

You ever do it when you're tripping? You ever take your readings when you're just joking? What if I just got more and more. You ever give yourself a little. Give yourself a little angel dust? Strap on the old.

Luke Burbank (24:29)

You're just absolutely snooted a fat rail.

Andrew Walsh (24:32)

Oh, my.

Luke Burbank (24:34)

And then reenacted the movie Hurly Burly, where you're just pacing around in your house.

Andrew Walsh (24:41)

I believe.

Luke Burbank (24:42)

I don't. I've never even seen that movie. I think it started off as a play. I don't think it's David. Is it David Mamet? What I know about. What I know about. I think it's called Hurly Burly. All I know about that, what was a play and then I think became a movie was that. I think it's. Maybe Sean Penn is in it. And I think it's two guys just doing mountains of cocaine, pacing around, having some kind of a conversation in a house in the Hollywood Hills. That's what I know about that. Or that's what I think I know about. I know. The only thing I know less about than your blood pressure numbers is what goes on in the play. Hurly Burly.

Andrew Walsh (25:15)

You know, it's by David Rabe. I don't know who that is or if I'm saying his last name properly. But speaking of David Mamet, I learned something I told you off air recently that I was listening to a movie recap podcast called Scott Hasn't Seen. I've mentioned on the show before, Scott Aukerman Sprague, the Whisperer, co host, obviously. But they were doing a review of the Untouchables, which I coincidentally had happened to put on TV like, I don't know, a few weeks earlier and watched maybe, I don't know, a half hour, an hour of it or something. I didn't like it that much. And I forgot, first of all, that the Untouchables was directed by Michael Mann. No. No. Say hello to my little friend.

Luke Burbank (25:59)

Oh. Oh, sorry. De Palma.

Andrew Walsh (26:03)

De Palma. And I never like Brian De Palma movies. For whatever reason. I just haven't seen the one I.

Luke Burbank (26:09)

Well, you're not a fan of subtlety.

Andrew Walsh (26:11)

Well, that is true. And I'm not a. I'm not exactly. There's always a cheesy montage in every one of his movies. Anyway, I did not realize that he had directed the Untouchables until I turned it on the other day. But also, I did not know or even notice in the credits that that's a mammoth film. That Mammoth wrote that. Did you know that? Really?

Luke Burbank (26:30)

Absolutely not.

Andrew Walsh (26:31)

Yes.

Luke Burbank (26:32)

I had absolutely no idea. That's wild. I will say that as a kid, the way that I came to the movie the Untouchables was hearing other kids talk about how was the best movie they'd ever seen.

Andrew Walsh (26:43)

Oh, that's gonna be. That's gonna be a problem.

Luke Burbank (26:46)

Well, not at that age. Because nowadays, if someone tells me something is the best movie they've ever seen, that is gonna mean I will like it less. In those days, I would just take that as gospel if somebody older than me and cooler than me was like, oh, have you seen the Untouchables? Cause there's this scene where I think it's Kevin Costner's character where he's, like, being. He's having a shootout. Somebody is having a shootout in this, like, I want to say, like, a hotel kind of lobby, and there's more guys shooting at this person. He's outnumbered. And again, I think it might be Kevin Costner's. Character. But what this guy does is there's a baby carriage, you know.

Andrew Walsh (27:21)

Yes, yes. That's iconic. Yes.

Luke Burbank (27:23)

And he likes slides down the stairs under the baby carriage somehow and is shooting at these people is that.

Andrew Walsh (27:31)

I did not make it that far into it. But they were talking about that scene and about how the baby carriage that, according to the people I was listening to that sort of set the trope that then in so many cartoons, you'll see the baby carriage like rolling. Although that doesn't seem right. There must have been loose baby carriages in Looney Tunes going back to the 1930s and 40s. Right. So I don't know. But they were sort of arguing that this whole baby carriage trope was sort of of birthed during the Untouchables.

Luke Burbank (27:59)

I just remember that. I remember kids at school talking about the scene with the baby carriage and like, and I remember thinking to myself, well, if I'm ever in a tight spot like that, I'm just gonna need to make sure there's a baby carriage somewhere. Like, I took it as actual instruction on how to live life in a shootout if you need to.

Andrew Walsh (28:18)

If you.

Luke Burbank (28:19)

If you're outnumbered and if. And if. I mean, there's also the question of what in the hell the baby carriage would even do for him. Like, it's not Kevlar.

Andrew Walsh (28:28)

See, I didn't know that he was using it as a shield. I'm watching this right now in the background, by the way.

Luke Burbank (28:32)

How close did I get? Is he going downstairs backwards under a.

Andrew Walsh (28:36)

Baby carriage, shooting, Trying to figure it out. So I know it starts off organically. There's some. He knows there's going to be trouble. If I understand it correctly, he knows there's going to be trouble. And he sees that this woman is struggling with her old fashioned baby carriage. It was new fashioned then, but it's old fashioned now. Is it struggling?

Luke Burbank (28:50)

Did I get that part right?

Andrew Walsh (28:51)

Yes, Costner. It's Elliot Ness. And he knows there's gonna be a shootout, so he want. And he's a real family man. That's like the whole point of the movie. And so he's like, this isn't happening fast enough. So he helps her. He like grabs the baby carriage, try to get it, get it out of there before the shooting happens. Now the shooting has happened and he has to let go. They're at the top of the stairs and he realizes, I need to let go of this baby carriage so I can pull out my shotgun. I'm watching this as we speak. He lets go of the baby carriage. And now the baby carriage is rolling down these marble steps. Are you watching?

Luke Burbank (29:22)

Is the baby in the carriage?

Andrew Walsh (29:25)

The baby has picked up a Tommy gun. The baby is shooting. Oh, no.

Luke Burbank (29:28)

The baby has been shaving. The baby is Bugsy Malone.

Andrew Walsh (29:33)

It's the baby from who Framed Roger Rabbit. Yes. So the carriage is getting closer and closer to the steps now. And now it's about to go down. It's rolling. Are you watching it too? It's rolling.

Luke Burbank (29:44)

I'm watching it now. You know what this is? This is like a kind of a modification of the trolley problem.

Andrew Walsh (29:49)

Oh, do you save the baby or do you.

Luke Burbank (29:51)

It's like the baby problem. It's like the baby is in the carriage, and they're gonna shoot the baby and can he.

Andrew Walsh (29:58)

They keep showing it. Like I told you before, it's going down the stairs. Oh, wait, now it's about to go down the stairs. They keep showing it at the same point in the stairs. De Palma is a bum, man. I do not know why he gets so much credit. This is so schlock.

Luke Burbank (30:12)

Like, how about that random sailor who just got shot?

Andrew Walsh (30:15)

Oh, wait, I can go ahead of me now. I keep pausing it. Okay, so the baby is going down the stairs. I'm seeing he's not using it as a shield. He's just behind the baby carriage, kind of protecting it. It does look like. Oh, there's the random sailor. Some bullets are going into the carriage.

Luke Burbank (30:29)

The sailor has just gotten done kissing a dame in Times Square.

Listener Joey (30:32)

Oh.

Andrew Walsh (30:33)

Oh, it looks like that sailor is no more. Baby carriage still going. Is this what podcasting Is baby carriage still going down the stairs? A lot of thugs shooting at Elliot Ness.

Luke Burbank (30:44)

Elliot Ness's gun jams.

Andrew Walsh (30:47)

It's always gonna jam on you. Where do you think of this stuff? De Palma or Mammoth then?

Luke Burbank (30:52)

But then somebody, his buddy throws him a replacement gun.

Andrew Walsh (30:56)

Oh, that's the accountant guy, too, I think. Maybe not.

Luke Burbank (30:59)

And then he uses his replacement gun to shoot the bad guys. And guess what? The baby. Oh, wait a second. So the baby survives. Good news, everybody. The baby survives. But what I don't understand is, at the very end, his buddy. Is that the guy who threw him the gun?

Andrew Walsh (31:17)

I think so, yeah. I think the guy throws him the gun and then maybe throws himself underneath the baby carriage to stop it. To help stop it, I think, is what's happening.

Luke Burbank (31:25)

So what I had done, but my brain had mandelaed. And that's Andy Garcia, by the way.

Andrew Walsh (31:29)

That's right.

Luke Burbank (31:30)

So Andy Garcia runs and throws him the gun, and Then slides under the baby carriage to stop it and protect the baby, give Kevin Costner enough time to shoot one of the bad guys. That momentary freeze frame of Andy Garcia under the baby carriage I had turned that entire thing into. The scene. Is Kevin Costner sliding down the entirety of that huge marble staircase under a baby carriage, shooting at people?

Andrew Walsh (31:57)

No.

Luke Burbank (31:58)

I would have bet you $1,000 if.

Andrew Walsh (32:00)

That'S how that seemed the bet I should have.

Luke Burbank (32:02)

God, you should have. You just cost yourself a thousand bucks, dude.

Andrew Walsh (32:04)

Do you think it's weird that I listen to these movie recap podcasts without having any care in the world whether or not I've seen the movie?

Luke Burbank (32:12)

I mean, you don't think that that was. Are you saying that wasn't an absolute thrill ride of discovery for our listeners who haven't seen the Untouchables?

Andrew Walsh (32:19)

No, I mean, my listening habits of listening to Scott hasn't seen. Let me explain a very extreme example. So I was. I was binging this show. Scott hasn't seen. This is again, you know, mostly just a movie recap podcast with Scott Aukerman and, you know, other comedians. But they're not like, doing the comedy bang bang thing where everybody's in character. They're mostly just reviewing the movie with some bits and built in here and there. But I have always thought someday I would sit down to watch the Before Sunrise trilogy. It seems very much up my alley. Thoughtful.

Luke Burbank (32:53)

Have you tried it on mushrooms?

Andrew Walsh (32:55)

Well, let me take my blood pressure on mushrooms.

Luke Burbank (32:57)

I would need to be on a lot of mushrooms, I think, to sit through that at this point in my life.

Andrew Walsh (33:01)

Just because this is the type of stuff I would have loved in college. Very. A lot of conversation, a lot of. Just a lot of kind of raw emotion and, you know, that kind of. But not overwrought and not scenery. Chewy. But I. For some. And there's three of them right before sunrise, before sunset, and then before midnight. And they're. They're produced like, what, 13 years in between, each with all the same actors. And so it's really.

Luke Burbank (33:27)

I saw the first one in a theater. It's Julie Delpy and Ethan Hoffman.

Andrew Walsh (33:31)

Julie Delpy, Yeah. Thank you. I was blanking on her name.

Luke Burbank (33:34)

I liked the first one, by the way. I'm just saying that for me, my guess was, would be with what, 30 years now of time. I wonder if the dialogue holds up. I wonder if I would find the dialogue as. As interesting or as realistic or whatever I liked about it the first time. I wonder if I would feel the same Way about it. Watching it now.

Andrew Walsh (33:50)

Yeah, I don't know. It's. For me, it's not. I have a feeling that I will still like it. It's Richard Linklater, you know, and he like. And of course, he does this with Boyhood. And he's now working on another project that takes years and years and years over the, the, you know, over the course of real years so that the actors can age. Like, this is kind of his. His thing. And usually, you know, I usually like his stuff.

Luke Burbank (34:10)

I thought Boyhood was really, really good.

Andrew Walsh (34:12)

Me too. I should rewatch it. Although again, for me right now it's more like, do I want to sit down and have my heart broken in various ways to sit down, I basically start.

Luke Burbank (34:19)

I start weeping openly.

Andrew Walsh (34:21)

When you see the poster, When I.

Luke Burbank (34:23)

See the lion roaring in the circle.

Andrew Walsh (34:26)

Yes, exactly like, oh, and that's kind.

Luke Burbank (34:28)

Of like when I see that mountain that comes out in the Paramount preload with the When.

Andrew Walsh (34:34)

Oh, star that circled the mountain really got me. No, that's where I am. I'm kind of like, I bet you it's good. I'm not avoiding it for any reason. I've always assumed that I would see it. I just haven't found the right time or maybe the right emotional place for me to sit down and finally watch this thing. But then I am trimming the hedges a couple of Saturdays ago and it's a big job. It took me about. I think I was out there for seven hours or something like that. And I just need something to binge. I don't want to think the baseball game wasn't on yet. In fact, I think I remembered I. I ended up binging so much Scott hasn't seen that I ended up missing the beginning of the baseball game because I lost track of time. But that's the kind of content I want, right? A glut of content that just gets me through this project. And so the next one up was a review not of before, not a review, but, you know, a recap of Not Before Sunrise, not even Before Sunset, but the third in the trilogy, Before Midnight. So keep in mind I only have a vague understanding of what these movies are about, but they're always about the same two characters as they age and as their relationship sort progresses. But the point is, I am now listening to a recap of the third movie of a trilogy that I haven't seen, but I always intend on seeing where. I mean, I guess spoiler alerts if you still haven't seen this. But like, now these Two characters are adults. They've actually married. He's left his. His other family behind that you. That you hear about in the first two movies. And now they're well into their relationship and they're hitting kind of rocky points and they have this kind of big fight. And it was so weird to. And I totally enjoyed it. Like, 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? And I was just like, I don't care. I'm enjoying it.

Luke Burbank (36:19)

First of all, you should enjoy things however you would like to enjoy them. And also, you know, maybe that. Do you think it will make you more or less likely to ever go and actually watch the film?

Andrew Walsh (36:30)

Sort of more actually, believe it or not, because it's kind of living. And it sounds like. I mean, they loved it. It was. Lauren Lapkis was their guest. And of course, oh, I love Lauren Scott. Are great friends to do the threedom show together. So it was a real good chill vibe to hear the three of them, these three friends, talking about it. But they loved it. I mean, it sounds like there's a 15 minute, not the opening scene, but essentially the first big scene is a 15 minute unedited conversation scene in a car. Wow.

Luke Burbank (37:04)

Maybe I should go back and check these out. Also, I'm looking at the Wikipedia entry for Before Midnight. So we've established that's the third in the trilogy.

Andrew Walsh (37:12)

Trilogy, right.

Luke Burbank (37:14)

And it was made for $3 million and it grossed 23 million at the box office. Like, can you imagine a universe in which, like, a movie like this, that's just kind of like very quiet film with just. It's essentially two people. The whole movie is just two people in conversation. And it did 23 million at the box office. Like, I love that. And I wish that we still lived in a world where that sort of happened. Like, I just feel. I mean, and I guess, whatever, it's just patterns change. People watch stuff at home now. It's not the end of the world. But like, there's just something about seeing that this thing. This thing was $20 million in the black.

Andrew Walsh (37:49)

Yeah, I am. I think I already said this on the show recently, maybe when we're talking about AMC or whatever, but this just feels like another good summer where people are talking about going to the movies. Like, you know, we've been talking about the nake. I told you I'm going to see that with some friends again tonight because they hadn't seen it. And I'm like, I'll watch it again. I could use a little pick me up. And also, I don't want to. In my review of Naked Gun, one thing I don't think I told you was it was also just nice to go into a movie that was the proper length movies. This is like the oldest man yells at the oldest cloud.

Luke Burbank (38:20)

But can you put your blood pressure cuff while you do this?

Andrew Walsh (38:24)

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, I sort of think. Or maybe it's that. It's. Maybe people feel like if you're gonna get me out to the theater, you better serve me up more than just 90 minutes. But you know what? A movie like Naked Gun does not need to be. I don't know what the actual runtime is, but it feel. It doesn't. So many movies these days, you feel like they're wrapping up, and then it turns out they're just wrapping up part one, you know, of the same movie you're sitting through and then suddenly there's like this whole, yes, I am thinking about the fairy scene in the Dark Knight Rises or whatever. Like, that's like two movies in one. But even comedies, I sort of feel like they just kind of don't. Instead of ending it where it should end, they just go on with a whole nother act. I just like the fact that the Naked Gun was like, oh, yeah, just went in for some popcorn and some candy and you got it and then you left. But anyway, also, that movie, Weapons, we haven't talked about that, I don't think. But, like, everybody's like, you got to go see it in the theater. Like, there's. There's buzz.

Luke Burbank (39:23)

I'm worried it might be too scary for me.

Andrew Walsh (39:25)

Yeah, I know. I'm scared of movies too. But, like, everybody's for real. I hate scary movies. But everybody's saying, like, this is one you gotta see.

Luke Burbank (39:33)

Yeah, I. I watched the trailer for Weapons, and that's where, like, that's. That's where like a whole. Oh. So I don't know if you know the plot, but it's like a whole class, A whole class of. It's an interesting jumping off point for a movie, which is an entire class of students has gone missing.

Andrew Walsh (39:49)

Like, in other words, literally all I know. And that's all I want to know. That's all I ever. No, no, for real. That's all I know. So don't say anything more than that. But I understand that. That.

Luke Burbank (39:57)

No, that's basically. That's my understanding. And then I will be vague. I will be vague. I don't know. That's all I know about the plot is that there's. That this crazy mystery has happened where, like, I don't know if they're the third graders or fourth graders or whatever, but, like an entire grade at a school goes miss or, sorry, a class. So I think it's. This class has gone missing and. Which is crazy because all the other classes are fine. And it's like, well, what happened? And this is the fallout from that. And of course, the parents, as you might imagine, are desperate to find out what happened to their children, et cetera. And then there's just one other image that has now been getting memeified and has been showing up that. I don't know how it fits into the movie, but it's so unsettling that it makes me. When I watched the trailer, I was like, oh, I could see myself seeing this. And then there's this one image that's been memified. Again, I won't be more specific than that. I don't want to give anything away. There's this one image that's been memeified on, like, TikTok that is like. It unsettles me so deeply that it makes me wonder if I could actually sit through the movie.

Andrew Walsh (40:59)

Okay. Yeah, I don't know about that. And I wonder the same thing. I really don't like being uncomfortable in movie theaters, like, when. When they're so scary like that. I think I used to go in for it a little bit more when Genevieve would drag me to those. But I don't know, every now it's like. It's like a get out is another example or, you know, almost anything by. Why am I keel? I've keel. I just.

Luke Burbank (41:26)

Did they ever think about doing that? Just kind of to save us all some time? I mean, honestly, over the course of a lifetime of saying key and peel versus seeing versus saying keel.

Andrew Walsh (41:35)

Yes. Anyway. Sorry, that's embarrassing.

Luke Burbank (41:37)

Well. Well, I. I'll tell you what. I think that there might be a strong argument to be made for watching a movie like Weapons at home.

Andrew Walsh (41:45)

Yeah. Except I'm never going to. I never sit. It's so rare that I sit down to watch a movie that I plan on finishing at home, you know?

Luke Burbank (41:53)

Well, I just mean because then you're at home, you're not as in. Immersed in the film. Like, if I'm Already too afraid to see the movie. Weapons. I don't need to be in a theater that's pitch black and in surround sound.

Andrew Walsh (42:07)

I need to be at my. See, I think I need to be.

Luke Burbank (42:09)

At my house so I can look over and remind myself it's only a movie. That's what I do sometimes. If something is really scary and I'm watching it on my tv, I don't do this a lot. Again, I also don't really go in for scary movies. But every once in a while, if something's really terrifying, I will intentionally look over at some books on the wall or something else to ground myself, to remind myself that this is a movie. It's made up. It's people pretending that this happened. It's not real. It's a jib jab.

Andrew Walsh (42:37)

I gotta tell myself that sometimes that makes sense. Sense. But it doesn't work for me in a way like I just. Because the thing is, if a move, the only way I'm going to see a movie like this is if I am. If I.

Luke Burbank (42:50)

Trapped in the theater.

Andrew Walsh (42:51)

The act sort of like trapped or like, you know, like, I've made the decision, I'm going in. You have my attention. I really do have an issue with. With like just sort of like sitting for a full movie at home. By the way, I just stumbled on this and we talked about a little bit in yesterday's after these messages. Have you seen this peacock commercial that just shows a bunch of d standing and watching tv? And I realized, like, this is both, this is me. But also they do such a good job of showing all these different, like recognizable stances that dads do when they're just like standing in the room annoyingly watching tv. They don't want to get too invested. But. And there's like kind of different kinds of dads, but all of them are very recognizable with their body language. One guy's kind of holding a mug and kind of. He's like, ah, I know what this guy's going to do here. As he sort of gestures to the TV with his mug in a very dad like way. And I was like, like that is a thing. 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.

Luke Burbank (43:54)

Why is that the most universal dad experience? Like my. Our dad. Sorry, I was gonna try to watch it on YouTube.

Andrew Walsh (44:04)

Go ahead and watch it and leave the vibe.

Luke Burbank (44:06)

Does the audio work okay? Yeah.

Andrew Walsh (44:07)

I mean, it's not terrible. It's okay.

Luke Burbank (44:10)

Am I the kind of dad who always watches TV standing up? I guess I am.

Andrew Walsh (44:16)

I like to watch from back here.

Luke Burbank (44:17)

And it's closer and closer to the TV over time.

Andrew Walsh (44:21)

Helps me see whoever's turning around in the driveway.

Luke Burbank (44:25)

Back here, I can watch reality TV without getting too sucked in the way.

Andrew Walsh (44:28)

They got eats nuts. Yeah, I gotta know exactly what this guy's up soon.

Luke Burbank (44:32)

Blood twist.

Andrew Walsh (44:37)

Dad.

Luke Burbank (44:38)

The final one is so perfect. It's just like this kid on the couch. And then the dad, arms crossed, standing behind, going, huh, huh.

Andrew Walsh (44:46)

She didn't know he was back there. And then she's like, did Bob do.

Luke Burbank (44:49)

That when you were a kid?

Andrew Walsh (44:51)

I don't know. I don't. I don't picture him doing that as much. Our TV space was the guy who looks out the window and says, this way I can see who's turning around the driveway. That one really hit home with me. No, I can picture my dad more like in his. He had this arm chair, this old leather patchy armchair that he would sit down and then kick his feet up and then just laugh and cry. Laugh his way through Cheers or like. Or watch something. I don't think he was a pacer as much as I am.

Luke Burbank (45:19)

See, we had. Because there were a lot of rules in our house when we finally did have a TV that was pretty controlled as to what content was considered appropriate and not. And so sometimes my dad would be somewhere else in the house and we would be watching tv and it'd be something that's kind of on the line. It was not something that had been, like, you know, officially cleared for viewing, like, things that we were officially allowed to watch. Rescue 911 with Bill Shatner, America's. America's Funniest Home Videos, probably anything on pbs. But, like, then there'd be something that would be, like, not, you know, officially cleared, kind of something that could have gone either way, and we'd just be getting away with it, be watching it. Then you just. Oh, no. You just see out of the corner of your eye, dad coming around the corner. He's coming in and he's gonna stand. He's never gonna sit, but he's gonna stand. And of course, this movie or TV show is going to, for some reason, sense that he's now watching the show and is going to kick into the most inappropriate part of the show or movie without fail.

Andrew Walsh (46:25)

Yep. Genevieve says that happened every time I walk in on Genevieve, she's watching something steamy, my boy, and she's like, it's not. I' just watching more of your softcore. What is going on? She's like, every time you walk in, I'm like, all right. I don't know, man. You do.

Luke Burbank (46:39)

I love this dynamic. This dynamic is a. For me, a version of that would be. It hasn't actually happened, but if, like, if Becca lived here, it would be. I'm watching a Tim Robinson sketch, and every time she enters the room, it's. It's most yelling.

Andrew Walsh (46:53)

It's most screamy. I knew you were gonna say that. Yeah, it's.

Luke Burbank (46:56)

It's not all this, I promise, but.

Andrew Walsh (46:59)

Yeah, that.

Luke Burbank (46:59)

Yeah, that is like powerful dead energy.

Andrew Walsh (47:01)

Energy. Thank you, baby.

Luke Burbank (47:13)

All right, let's thank some donors. These folks are making TBTL possible today with their donations, and we are beyond grateful. Grateful does not even begin to describe it. We have to go above that. We have to go beyond just being grateful. That's where we're at with this when we're talking about folks like Jesse Finarelli in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Andrew Walsh (47:35)

I took a left at Albuquerque.

Luke Burbank (47:37)

You should have. And you didn't.

Andrew Walsh (47:39)

Oh, that's how we got into this.

Luke Burbank (47:40)

Predicament, I think he says I should have taken a left at Albuquerque.

Andrew Walsh (47:44)

That makes sense.

Luke Burbank (47:45)

I could be. Listen, I'm the guy who thought that the scene in Untouchables was Kevin. Andrew. I could see him.

Andrew Walsh (47:51)

Kevin Costner was in the baby carriage.

Luke Burbank (47:53)

I thought Kevin Costner was in the baby carriage shaving while Andy Garcia was under it. No, Andrew, I could picture. I could picture. It's like, you know how that. That wonderful listener made that crazy AI painting of us being prayed over by luminary podcasters? Like, in the way that you can generate now with AI Just about anything like that. I. My brain's AI had generated this scene where somehow I've already said this, but I just. I need to repeat it. I could have just. I could tell you the exact scene. It's Kevin Costner, and he's sliding again. It makes no sense. First of all, his back would be broken after three stairs. That's. What. Is he a ninja turtle? Does he have a hard shell on his back? How was he doing this? In my mind. In my mind. And also by the way, the baby carriage would stop rolling. He's an adult man. The wheels of the baby carriage couldn't be in contact with the steps. If he's under the baby carriage carriage, none of this makes sense. And yet I pictured him also it means he's using the baby as a human shield.

Andrew Walsh (48:54)

Yeah.

Luke Burbank (48:56)

None of this passes the smell test, Andrew. And 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.

Andrew Walsh (49:10)

Sliding up the stairs. By the way, wait real quick. We got to talk about the Ninja Turtles for a second here, because they're. I've seen this trailer twice now. They're re releasing the original Ninja Turtles movie for just like, I think a short run. Like maybe a weekend run or something. But it's just like the 35th anniversary, and they're just, you know, no changes to it. And like, the thing is, I don't even know if I liked that movie at the time. I bet you I did. I think I kind of got into the Ninja Turtle movie and some of the early comic books. Once they became famous, I went back and read them. I think I was into the Turtles. But like, seeing the trailer for the original Ninja Turtle movie, I was like, well, I gotta go see that. There was just something about seeing those rubber suits or something. I was like, oh, man. And seeing. Who is it? Who's is it Raphael? Who's the hothead? He's like, I gotta go. I gotta go for a walk. And then he goes missing or something. And I'm just like, God, I kind of. 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.

Luke Burbank (50:15)

The drug called nostalgia that you like to take.

Andrew Walsh (50:17)

Yeah, Genevieve always says it's my favorite drug.

Luke Burbank (50:19)

Yeah, I'm on mental floss now because I wanted to try to get a little bit of this right. And I know this has come up on the show before. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live concert tour. You remember this whole way back in.

Andrew Walsh (50:31)

The day, they weren't really the Ninja Turtles. Right. They started their own. This was like a kind of a competing Ninja Turtle troupe. Right, Right.

Luke Burbank (50:38)

I can't remember. And I'm just. Would be reading this on the fly, but I feel like, why am I going to try to guess at this?

Andrew Walsh (50:46)

Yeah.

Luke Burbank (50:46)

You know, the Ninja Turtles were invented by these, you know, these two guys that basically kind of spent a bunch of their own money to kind of self produce this comic book. Guys named Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird in 1983, decided to parody the overwrought and afflicted heroes of the genre by concealing of four anthropomorphic turtles. So Those were the creators of it. But then there was this. I don't know why I'm going to try to do this with a guest, because it's going to be wrong. But my sense of it was that then somebody else maybe got the rights to the Turtles. And before they were Ninja Turtle movies, I think, like, I think they were just in the comic book, but not yet on the silver screen. But they were touring the malls of America, like, performing these, like, crazy, like, musical productions. But they were performing them for people who, like, the movies didn't exist yet. Does any of this.

Andrew Walsh (51:36)

I think the movies. The movie might have existed. I don't remember exactly the timeline on this, but I know that, like. And I. Because I'm looking for this now, I believe that the ones that Barbara Walters interviewed were not the same here. This is a Barbara Walters special. It says, by the way, we do have donors. I think this is on me. My opposite. Now, as promised, we take you to.

Luke Burbank (51:58)

An abandoned subway station under the streets of New York, to the home of those movie heroes on the half shell. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Andrew Walsh (52:07)

Now, she said movie heroes, but I thought they were not the actors, though.

Luke Burbank (52:11)

Many of you have met them before. On my right here is a Donatello. Hello, Barbara.

Andrew Walsh (52:17)

Hello.

Luke Burbank (52:18)

Charming.

Andrew Walsh (52:19)

Yeah, everything I heard, she's all dressed up. I, by the way.

Luke Burbank (52:22)

And Michelangelo.

Andrew Walsh (52:23)

Hey, Guzette. I love the dress. Thank you so much.

Luke Burbank (52:26)

And Leonardo.

Andrew Walsh (52:28)

Yeah. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Walters. See, I don't think those are the movie actors, Right? Are these the guys who toured malls?

Luke Burbank (52:35)

Well, just for the timeline, you were right. This is from Mental Floss. Once their animated series, action figures and live action 1990 feature film hit, they became a pop culture phenomenon. What adults found virtually indecipherable, wisecracking Ninja Turtles kids found irresistible. The Turtles also spawned. Were also spawned in the time when live stage shows aimed at children were doing big business. Ice Capade, Sesame Street, Live. So basically, I don't know why this matters to me, but yet they. They were already famous from the movies and so famous that then they could go out on this Ninja Turtles live tour that was apparently a whole thing for people.

Andrew Walsh (53:10)

But it was a different organization, though. That's the thing there. Because these guys who did the live got the rights somehow from Eastman and Laird, I think, to do this and turn it into a live thing. But it was different. It was different IP somehow or different rights than the movie thing. And it created confusion in the marketplace because they were kind of rogue. They were kind of Doing their own thing.

Luke Burbank (53:36)

Now, when you put in. I put in Ninja Turtles on tour into Gargle. And people also asked, is there a Ninja Turtle museum?

Andrew Walsh (53:46)

Oh. And what is the answer? And how can we get there?

Luke Burbank (53:50)

Let's see. It does not appear. Well, it just links to a YouTube piece about a museum that is running an exhibit to celebrate the Ninja Turtles, but not a particular museum. The other. Let's see here. Let me get back to. Wait, how do I get back to my. Do the Turtles still tour? Is a question. Is Donatello a boy or a girl? Who is the forgotten Ninja Turtle? And then the last one. Where are Ninja Turtles located?

Andrew Walsh (54:19)

The sewer.

Luke Burbank (54:20)

New York City sewers is what the AI overview response to that is. God. You know who can't get enough Ninja Turtle content? Tom Wade.

Andrew Walsh (54:31)

Oh, yeah.

Luke Burbank (54:32)

A Beerian, Washington. If there's one thing we know about Tom Wade, it's that he. He only eats pizza by slicing it up with a katana blade.

Andrew Walsh (54:42)

Yes. Boy, I must say, when you ask me what kind of. And you don't. But when you do ask me what kind of pizza I like, I like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle pizza. Like seeing them pull those slices and I guess it's New York style, is what I'm saying.

Luke Burbank (54:56)

You like it. You like it wide and floppy and.

Andrew Walsh (54:59)

Just floppy and cheesy like that, huh?

Luke Burbank (55:03)

By the way, my dad just walked by in front of my field of vision in the yard, and he is wearing the Gandalf hat you got him.

Andrew Walsh (55:10)

Oh, nice. Oh, that's great. I was delayed. It's funny, when you say Gandalf hat, I think of an actual Gandalf hat, but. That's right. It's a ball.

Luke Burbank (55:17)

No, thank God he's not there yet. If he does, we're gonna see about memory care.

Andrew Walsh (55:21)

That would be great. He starts wearing a wizard's hat. Love it.

Luke Burbank (55:25)

Also thanks to Travis Worthington of Linwood, Washington. I can't imagine this is Travis. He's not from the Worthington Ford family. Is. He's not from the. The. The Worthington Ford people. Cal Worthington.

Andrew Walsh (55:39)

Oh, Worthington.

Luke Burbank (55:40)

In Federal Way. The only way.

Andrew Walsh (55:42)

Yeah, right.

Luke Burbank (55:42)

Yeah, you've mentioned probably not. But. But honestly, if we are getting. If some of the donations to TBTL today are coming from the Worthington. The Worthington Ford empire. That would be. That'd be amazing. Thank you, Travis. Thanks also to Lauren back. Back in Seattle, Washington. We're bringing Lauren back.

Andrew Walsh (56:02)

The pause was me working on a.

Luke Burbank (56:04)

Joke related to that, Thinking it and then stopping yourself.

Andrew Walsh (56:07)

Yes.

Luke Burbank (56:08)

What you heard was Me thinking it and not stopping myself. Thank you, Lauren. Thanks to Max Lance of San Francisco, California. That's where they play that Freeway series, right?

Andrew Walsh (56:18)

It's not where they play the Freeway.

Luke Burbank (56:20)

I wasn't messing with you yesterday. I think that that could be. I think that that would be fine to call that the Freeway series because i5 famously links the two cities. And most of the time when I'd ever traveled between LA and San Francisco, I took the Interstate 5 freeway.

Andrew Walsh (56:35)

Well, here's where I think I was getting confused. And honestly, I will admit here, I'm not, I'm not trying to sound like a know it all. I think sometimes when we talk baseball these days, I end up sounding a know it all, which is bad because I know not all. I know very little. And then I say really dumb things. I'm embarrassed the rest of the day.

Luke Burbank (56:50)

But I know not all confused.

Andrew Walsh (56:53)

I think that. I think that the real rivalry or like a more meaningful rivalry, I think is more between the Dodgers and Giants, right?

Luke Burbank (57:02)

And again, they're in the same.

Andrew Walsh (57:03)

They're in the same league, right? And so, and I, so I thought. And I could be totally wrong, but I feel like in my days in la it was kind of like, oh, the Giant series is coming up. You know, like, I felt like that was more of a thing, whereas I. But the Freeway series, which is sort of set up to be this rivalry and we're on, you know, we're sorry. Still days later, we're still talking about the better cups. Sorry.

Luke Burbank (57:22)

Brian Wilcoxon of Tallahassee, we're back on this.

Andrew Walsh (57:25)

Hey, good to hear from you, man. Thank you. But anyway, I just sort of feel that, like, I don't know that the Angels and Dodgers have any kind of meaningful rivalry. Especially in recent years that Angels haven't been very good and the Dodgers are very good and they play in different leagues.

Luke Burbank (57:39)

They play in different leagues and they. Yeah, San Francisco and LA have a huge rivalry just as cities. What I know from living in LA and knowing a lot of people from the Bay Area is that maybe not everybody, and maybe not, you know, our friendly folks like Max Lands, who's in San Francisco, maybe not those folks, but what I know is that a lot of people in the Bay Area kind of look down their nose a little bit at la. Think of it as being a little bit less cultured a little bit. Just kind of this big, sprawling, smog choked city, which I don't think is a fair description, but there is, I think, an actual kind of rivalry. They're the two biggest cities in the state. State. They've got their own identities. They're very different kinds of places. You know, Anaheim. And again, peace and love to anybody in Anaheim. But Anaheim is in my mind still essentially it is its own city. But I think of it as being kind of an exurb of Los Angeles. It's like the Seattle Mariners playing a team from Everett and that being the rivalry, it's like it's all kind of the greater Los Angeles area. Now when I say that, Andrew, I'm also going directly against my long running criticism of Artie Moreno, the owner of the team, when he did try to literally call them the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. So I'm kind of arguing out of both sides of my mouth here. I'm saying Anaheim is effectively Los Angeles. But I also think that was patently ridiculous when Artie Moreno tried to do that.

Andrew Walsh (58:59)

Right, right, right. I forgot how old the Angels are, by the way. I always think of them as such.

Luke Burbank (59:03)

A new team because.

Andrew Walsh (59:04)

And actually not just the team, but the field because I've always been very. I think it was just cause of the. There was a time in my baseball watching that the Angels and the Mariners were more competitive against each other. And that felt like a real rivalry to me. Even was. It was two seasons ago. I think they had the huge bench clearing brawl after they like literally tried to hit. They put out a special pitcher just to. Just to be in our hitters. And so anyway, I have some bad feelings about that team, but one of the things I'd always make fun of them about and I'm sorry to our Angels fans out there and I really hope none them of them are the donors of the day today. I, of course, I'm guessing that maybe Max likes this if we're. If he's in San Francisco and we're dunking on. On. On the Angels. But I always thought it's like, ugh, your stadium is like you have that fake waterfall. To me it always felt like the McMansion of stadiums sort of. But that thing has been around. It's one of the older stadiums now. I think. I think I heard somebody saying that it's been around since the late 60s or something. Could I be right about that? Do you know anything about that?

Luke Burbank (60:04)

Well, what I know about that stadium. Is it still called Edison Field?

Andrew Walsh (60:08)

I doubt it, but I don't know.

Luke Burbank (60:10)

Let me look here was my. I think that maybe.

Andrew Walsh (60:15)

I think it got either Angel Stadium now that.

Luke Burbank (60:18)

Well, that's kind of cool actually.

Andrew Walsh (60:20)

It's very Rare. Yeah. I think. In fact, I think maybe we've discovered this on the show before, probably since its opening 59 years ago in 1966. So it's not. I mean, it's actually a very classic stadium. And I've always been really. I've always been real, like, kind of mean towards it. And I need to rethink that.

Luke Burbank (60:37)

I wonder, though, because this whole. Again, you're talking to the guy who thought that Kevin Costner is under the baby carriage, the Untouchables. But I always had this kind of thought about basically what RD Moreno had done to get a bunch of money from the City of Anaheim was to promise them that. So the story on that, which I'll try to be brief because I've told it a million times on the show, is there was something that the city. I think the City of Anaheim must have renovated that stadium extensively.

Andrew Walsh (61:06)

Yeah. Because I'm looking at old photos. That stupid waterfall. Now I'm back to it. That stupid waterfall is not part of the original design that was added at some point, I think, because.

Luke Burbank (61:15)

Because what I think happened was there was some point in time where the owner of the Angels wanted the City of Anaheim to spend a bunch of money on some sort of infrastructure for the team. Team. I think it was maybe, just maybe, massive Renault on the stadium. And the city said, okay, but we. This comes with some rules. And one of the rules is if we're going to basically give you a bunch of money in the form of renovating the stadium for you, or whatever it was that they were doing, that was a favor to Moreno, you need to make sure. We need you to promise that you're always going to call them the Anaheim Angels. Anaheim's going to be in the. And Artie Moreno said absolutely agreed to it. And then whenever this deal was done, whenever he got whatever it was he exactly wanted, he then said the name of this team is the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Because at no time had he promised Anaheim would be the first city named in the team name. He just promised it would be in there somewhere. And he. He sort of. His theory was, people will get tired of saying Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and we'll just start calling them the LA Angels, which is what he wanted all along, because he thought he could get more money for the media rights if people thought of this as being a Los Angeles team.

Andrew Walsh (62:28)

And that's why you now call it the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport of Bloomington. Yes, right.

Luke Burbank (62:35)

Of course. I've always called it that. You know that about me. For years. Anyway, thank you to our donors for making TBTL and that little digression possible.

Andrew Walsh (62:49)

Hello and welcome to to Top Story.

Luke Burbank (62:52)

Two quick things. One, I don't need to spend a lot of time on this. I just wanted to give you a report from the property. I came around a corner yesterday and all of a sudden smelled something incredible. I was like, wait, what is that? And I looked over Andrew, and it was my star jasmine.

Andrew Walsh (63:09)

Before you said it, I knew what it was.

Luke Burbank (63:11)

You knew where I was going with this.

Andrew Walsh (63:12)

That's great.

Luke Burbank (63:13)

It's in the words of Coolio, it's working. It's working. Like. Like I bought these Star jasmine starts from some website called fast growingtrees.com it's fast growing trees of Los Angeles anaheim.com and then I had to buy these big planters and then I had to get the right kind of soil, and then I had to replant them and then put up these big trellises that they're growing on. And then they just seemed like they had died. It seemed like they were not thriving. And I emailed Fast Growing Trees. And I said, you sent me some bum trees. They were like, we don't know what to do about that. You really. I really did because they were all brown and dead when I planted them. I was reaching out to our friend Karen, the plant whisperer. She was giving me some advice. And then sure enough, they just kind of like, they just kind of got it together and they started. Little green shoots turned into big green leaves. I'm looking at it right now. They're thriving, they're climbing, and there are some star. There were first a few little flowers, and I think it was when I was out of town, maybe more flowers sort of actually grew on there to the point where the exact thing that I was hoping would happen actually happened, which is I was just walking around a corner living my life up here and suddenly smelled the beautiful smell of star jazz. There was something about the fact of how many steps were involved to get to this moment. Like all I just laid them out. It was all of the acquiring of all of the things. And also, by the way, when the planters showed up, they were the wrong color. They were listed as black when I bought them online, but actually they were gray. So I had to paint them myself so they would be the same color as the house so they would look a little more consistent. There's just so many annoying steps in the process. And then all of those steps came together to create this moment where I smelled the beautiful Smell of star jasmine. That was very, very satisfying.

Andrew Walsh (65:07)

That's great. Yeah. I guess there's no reason why I can't. I can't plant it too. Like I say, I love that stuff. It's my absolute favorite smell in the world. I connect it to this vacation spot my family went to several years in a row. I've told that story before. I hadn't smelled it in years and years and years. I didn't know it grew around here until there was some neighbor that I would visit and they had it in their alleyway, and I freaked out. I was like, that smell. I know that smell. And then our friend Roden planted it. And so knowing that it's something that can thrive up here, there's no reason why I couldn't plant some of that in my yard. Except for this. And this is stupid. This is such stupid. Andrew, think. But it's almost like, will it lose its specialness if it's around all the time? For me, you know what I mean? Like, part of me is kind of like, I like the fact that when I. There's some that is growing by Camaro Kev's house, when I go over there to watch their cat or something, I will. I'll stop and smell that. And it's so special to me that I just wonder if I had it around all the time, if it would. It would. If it would lose some of its luster.

Luke Burbank (66:10)

Huh. That's a really. That's an interesting question. I guess I'll get to test that theory maybe next spring. It's still not, like, you know, there's still not a ton of flowers on the plants yet. That's the other thing now, Andrew. I've gone from having that magic moment of like, oh, this is exactly what I was going for, to now being like, will they survive the winter? Well, I have to bring my babies inside. Well, I have to. Like, I go from like. And this is stupid, Luke, think, okay? I go from, like, a moment of enjoyment to, like, going, is someone gonna take this away from me? And by that someone, I mean the frost winter.

Andrew Walsh (66:46)

Yes.

Luke Burbank (66:47)

Is Old Man Winter going to. I was just. I was just finally getting, you know, building my relationship with the star jasmine. And now is Old Man Winter gonna come in and freeze my jasmine plants, and they're all gonna be dead in the spring? Like, that's immediately where my mind goes, which is also really dumb. But I did have that thought. I. I've been seeing a lot of stuff on TikTok where people who are at the Burning Man Festival are having a hell of a time. It seems like every year they're having a hell of a time. Like, you wonder, you. You wonder how it is a surprise each year when going out onto a like a dust. A dusty, windy, giant flat patch of earth with like thousands and thousands of people. And it seems not enough infrastructure for all those people. It seems to go bad every year and yet people keep going out there. I need to be careful with how I talk about this because one, we probably have people in our audience who love going to Burning Man. Makes them very happy. And you know, we're not a show that's trying to be in the business of yucking yums. It's like if you love Burning Man, I don't. There's no reason for me to be. Be petty or shitty about it. But on the other hand, when I was watching these videos of like 80 mile an hour wind just absolutely, just ripping people's tents, not with them in it. Nobody that I saw was in huge physical danger. But more like people build these. They drive an RV in, but then they build this elaborate canopy of all these things or whatever. When I saw those tents just bending and flying away in the wind. Wind, I laughed my ass off. Like, and I don't know again, I just said, I don't want to yuck anyone's yum. I don't like. And then it was flooding the next day somehow it was like the next day, well, the tents had blown away and now there was so much water that you couldn't even step out of your van or your bus. And by the way, getting there, I'm seeing this footage of people that are just in line trying to get into the physically onto the playa, as it were, for like two days. It's just like it seems like such a Titanic cluster F with so many problems. And yet when I see it causing problems for people, I don't feel bad for the people. I feel I laugh. And I don't like that about myself.

Andrew Walsh (68:57)

Yeah. And I don't want to pile on you. I will say that like if you, if you took a Burning man adventure in its most ideal circumstances, like the best circumstances you can possibly have. Have, it's still my living nightmare. Like, it's just literally my living nightmare of just like camping and communal living and just, just everything with it. Yeah, I guess probably nudity too. I didn't even think of that. But. And just like general kind of dirtiness and. Yeah, I know that's your problem. You're jealous. But all of that is to say, and. And while, you know, I don't associate with that lifestyle at all, it doesn't bother me in that way. There might have been a time where it did. Like, let's compare it to what was the. What was the total failure of a festival that was supposed to be for influence Fyre fest like that one, it was supposed to appeal to. Like, there was such a shallowness connected to that that when it all.

Luke Burbank (69:52)

Influencers.

Andrew Walsh (69:53)

Yes. And so the schadenfreude was real. And I think most of the world was in on that schadenfreude, honestly. But, like, the more I hear about Burning man and the people who go there, first of all, they will gladly tell you a lot about it. But I never feel like it's. In a way, it's like, you gotta try it. You know what I mean? Like, bur people. What do you call them?

Luke Burbank (70:12)

Burners.

Andrew Walsh (70:13)

Yep, burners. Like, they seem to be really into it and they want to tell you about it, but they never seem to be. Like, they don't. They're. They aren't any. Under any illusion, the ones I've met, that it's for everybody. It seems like they're learning really handy skills. Like, they really do build things. And it's like, I'm just not in a position where I do nothing. I do nothing that provides anything.

Luke Burbank (70:35)

And you complain about that.

Andrew Walsh (70:37)

You know what I mean? And all I do is sit in my basement all the time, and it's kind of like. And I'm gonna make fun of these people, people who are going out and actually doing something that brings them joy that is very much like hands on something is drugs. Well, but I do think it's more than. I think they're literally like. I think there's a lot of skills involved to them building that stuff.

Luke Burbank (70:53)

Yeah.

Andrew Walsh (70:54)

And so because maybe it's because I just know a couple of people now who've told me stories, it sort of changed how I feel about it. I don't get schadenfreude in that way that I do when it's a bunch of like, you know, like I say, like, kind of what I believe to be like, shallow influencers going for their. For their selfies, and then everything kind of ends up being a sad bologna sandwich.

Luke Burbank (71:14)

Right. You know what? Here's what. Here's the thing with me. If you put me in Burning at Burning man. And it wasn't like one of these years where it's just like a crazy dust storm has destroyed everything Or a flooding destroys everything. If it was like a good year where the weather more or less cooperated and you put me on a bus or in a tent with fun people, people and by the way, probably gave me some of whatever those drugs they're on, I think I might have the best week of my entire life. Like, the difference between me watching people at Burning man suffer and when I say suffer, I mean, I don't want anyone to have, like, actually have their life be in danger or to, you know, be unsafe. But like some. Somebody who's wearing, you know, butterfly wings on the back and is. Wants me to call them by their fairy name and then they're dealing with like, you know, sewage that's running through the street streets. There seems to be an ironic tension there for me, but. But the difference between me kind of sitting back and in a very petty little snide way being like, oh, this is funny that this is happening, and the person who is there having the absolute time of their life, it's a very thin, thin membrane. I could absolutely see myself if I was at Burning man and I threw myself into it, I think I would flipping love it, love, love it. Because I am sort of a site specific extrovert and it does seem fun. And again, you know, it seems like there's a certain amount of recreational drugs that are taken that heighten the experience for people. I think if like, you know, 15, 20 years ago. I remember hearing about Burning man before. It was a whole thing, right? I mean, it was a thing that was happening, but it wasn't like mythologized in the pop culture the way it is now. I just remember knowing some people who knew some people who were building a car, they were building this art car to take to something called Burning Man. This would have been 25 years ago or something. And I remember it being described to me and it sounded cool. Like I was like, oh, that sounds really fun. You go down and everybody just kind of like hangs out and you know, sort of scantily clad and they burn this thing down at the end. And everyone's really generous with. You go around trading with people, you know, they like, you have some of this food and they've got some of that and you'll swap it. It seems like a chill environment. It sounded very cool to me. It wouldn't have been inconceivable if in those early years I ended up just tagging along with a group of people and going to it. And I could be a person who looks forward to this all year. It's like my favorite thing to do.

Andrew Walsh (73:37)

I'm not one of the.

Luke Burbank (73:40)

I missed that. I didn't go in those early years. And now it sounds like it's just a really, really. It is for me, a bunch of things that I also really hate now, too. Like, I just don't like being inconvenienced. I don't like being dusty. There's a lot of stuff I don't really want to do, do that associated with Burning Man. But, like, I could see a world in which I had gone in the early years. It had made an impression on me. And like, right now we're on tape, Andrew, because I'm at Burning Man. Is it even still happening? That's the other thing. I'm a little confused about the timeline. It might be over now, but.

Andrew Walsh (74:07)

Oh, I'm not sure. You know, this is a huge shift in the conversation, but I'm looking at your show sheet here, and I just had, for some reason a flash of a memory of something that was living on a show sheet early last week that you never got to. And I need closure on. I don't even know if you. I think you promoted it a couple of times. So maybe this will be closure for the listeners as well. And I know that we're going pretty long today, but what was the thing that you.

Luke Burbank (74:32)

It only feels like it because we did a one hour show.

Andrew Walsh (74:35)

We did talk off air. We did talk off air for about an hour and I accidentally recorded it because during a sound check where we started talking. Was it mostly baseball? It doesn't matter. Baseball, broadcast stuff. But we are an hour and 15 minutes. And I'm not trying to force you to do another top story. But what was going on last week where you kept saying that you almost fell for the Internet and you had some link to an old story. Do you remember this at all? It was on your show sheet for a couple of days, I believe.

Luke Burbank (75:02)

Then I deleted it.

Andrew Walsh (75:03)

Do you want me to see. Do you want me to scroll back and find.

Luke Burbank (75:06)

Oh, yeah. Can you.

Andrew Walsh (75:07)

Yeah.

Luke Burbank (75:08)

Click on the link. So basically what happened was. Oh, I know. I know exactly what it was.

Andrew Walsh (75:13)

Okay.

Luke Burbank (75:14)

I saw on TikTok somebody, Andrew, you want to talk about goldfish? You forgot. I mean, this is really sad, but, like, I saw somebody on TikTok reading from this Wall Street Journal article about Jack in the Box tacos.

Andrew Walsh (75:30)

Yes. Okay. Should I read the headline? I do have it in front of me now.

Luke Burbank (75:33)

Yeah, Read the graph.

Andrew Walsh (75:35)

The headline from the Wall Street Journal is, Americans eat 554 million jack in the Box tacos a year and no one knows what why the fast food chains gooey deep fried beef envelope so work on the phrasing. There has been on the menu since the 1950s inspiring legions of fans both vile and amazing. More than 1,000 times a minute someone bites into what has been described as a wet envelope of cat food and keeps eating. Jack in the Box is known to most of the country for its hamburgers and big headed mascot. But for many of its devotees, the magic of the fast food chain lies in its interpretation of a tacit do you want me to end there?

Luke Burbank (76:14)

Now there was I'll just read you one more little graph from this article. The first time Heather Johnson tasted a Jack in the Box taco, she was at a drive through in Cincinnati when she noticed you could get two for 99 cents. So she added them to her burger order. She took two bites, threw the rest on the passenger seat and kept driving. It was stale, greasy, spicy, crunchy, saucy and just plain strange, said Ms. Johnson, 43 year old director of operations and advertising agency. See, she says, who puts a slice of American cheese on a taco? Two minutes later she picked the taco up off the seat and finished it. Then she ate another one. I was like I must have more. This is vile and amazing, she said.

Andrew Walsh (76:54)

There's the quote.

Luke Burbank (76:56)

And so this I, I saw somebody on TikTok presenting this Wall Street Journal article about Jack in the Box tacos. I thought that was great writing by the way. This is by Russell Adams writing in the Wall Street Journal. And so I grabbed the article and I put it into the show sheet and I was all excited to read you this article and have a long conversation about the weird, the weird relationship that many of us have had with these tacos over the year where no one really thinks they're good but you kind of crave them. I used to eat them a lot with Camaro Kev. But Andrew, the reason I almost got interneted is because this article article is from 2017 and also I think we've read this article on the show before possibly.

Andrew Walsh (77:36)

Yeah, so the wet envelope sort of rings a bell to me now.

Luke Burbank (77:39)

Yeah, wet envelope of cat food or whatever they call it like. And so anyway the, the, to close the, the loop on how did I get interneted? It's just this way in which information and, and content really more than information content. It's the way that content now now gets served up and then reheated and reserved and then repackaged and it's so much of what is on TikTok now. So, like what I am now and I'm not on TikTok, thankfully, nearly as much as I used to be. But when I am on there, I tend to see this thing now, which is basically something like this. Somebody wrote a really good story for the Wall street journal in 2017, but guess what? 99.9% of the people who look at TikTok did not read that article. Article. Or maybe they're like me. They read it and they forgot they read it. And now there's a whole living to be made of being the person who goes and finds stuff like this. And in 2025, you are talking about this article with yours. Like it's superimposed behind you. I don't know if this happens on reels.

Andrew Walsh (78:43)

I'm not on Reddit either, but I'm on Tick Tock a little bit. I know you're talking about.

Luke Burbank (78:46)

Okay, okay. You can picture this.

Andrew Walsh (78:47)

Yeah. So like that green screen effect, it's.

Luke Burbank (78:51)

Like a green screen behind you where you're talking about something. Thing and, and you're in front of it and it's kind of like, yeah, like the, the green screen of this Wall Street Journal article and you're just like, basically summarizing it for people. And like that, that post or that Tick Tock or whatever you call it will have 400,000 likes. Like, somebody is. And I mean, I. Is that all that different than what we do on tbtl? I don't know. You know, like somebody writes an article and then we think the article is interesting and then we talk, we. We basically basically just talk about the article that we thought was interesting here. I mean, we're doing kind of the same thing. But what I've noticed is that it's now totally normal for someone to just go back and find an article from 10 years ago. Like the. When the thing was written has no bearing on if people are bringing it up now. They're just. And it's. Whether it's a Netflix documentary that I saw 10 years ago that now somebody is recapping, which again, sounds a lot like us recapping the Untouchables. But, you know, like, it's just so easy for me now to get tricked into thinking something is new and it's not new. It's just. Just a thing that people have forgotten about or didn't know about on its first upon first creation. And now someone else is monetizing the interest in it by bringing it back. And if I'M not careful. Like I just had this last minute. Like I should double check when that Wall Street Journal article was written. And in fact it was written eight years ago.

Andrew Walsh (80:09)

I mean, this is the dorkiest thing I could possibly say here, but it does remind me of the early 2000s when people were talking like, you know, how the Internet's changing everything and what's going to happen. And everybody talked about the long tail. I don't know if the long tail was already a marketing phrase or some sort of a phrase before the Internet, but you know, it was one of those, you know, probably Buzzfeed. Not buzzfeed. What's what I'm thinking of the early. Oh, gosh, what's the early. Early Internet blog that I think their logo is like somebody jackhammering or something. Oh, you know what I'm talking about. Like super. Yes, we book. You and I probably both booked so many people.

Luke Burbank (80:46)

Jenny Jardin.

Andrew Walsh (80:47)

Jenny Jardin thing. I was trying to think of her name. I was trying to think of her name.

Luke Burbank (80:51)

My God, Jenny.

Andrew Walsh (80:52)

We were always boing boing, boing, boing, boing, boing. Am I right about that logo, by the way?

Luke Burbank (80:57)

Yeah, I think you are right.

Andrew Walsh (80:58)

Is it a jackhammer?

Luke Burbank (80:59)

You really, you, you really, you really kind of track your world in a.

Andrew Walsh (81:02)

Logo based font and logo base. I can't. Maybe they've changed their logo since then, but. Because I'm not seeing it used to.

Luke Burbank (81:10)

Be a guy jackhammering.

Andrew Walsh (81:11)

Let's see here. But anyway, I just feel like it was probably one of those whiz kids at Boing Boing who invented the Cory doctor. Exactly. Who came up with the idea of the long tail or something. But like it's literally, it's literally borne out. I mean, that's what you're talking about? Yes, the story, the fact that it's. What was it, like 8 years old. This story almost is totally irrelevant. It doesn't even matter that. I mean, don't get me wrong. For our podcast, I like the fact that you and I know that we're talking about stories that are recently written or whatever, but to people on TikTok who are probably even like, who maybe are like 15 now and were literally children, like small children when this camera came out. Why, why not talk about it on your ticky talkies?

Luke Burbank (81:51)

And I also think, I mean, this is, this is a conversation that we have, I don't know, on a probably monthly basis. But the issue if. I don't know if there's an issue. But the, the thing is there's less and less money for original reporting. There's less and less money for somebody at the Wall Street Journal to go out and just write a funny piece about. An interesting and funny piece about Jack in the Box talking about tacos. So, because we're not making as many of these new pieces about this because we don't. The, the, the budgets do not prioritize this, whether it's a, you know, a newspaper or a television network or whatever. We're not making as much of this in 2025 as we were making in. In 2017. And so now we're having to go back to 2017 to get this stuff. That's the part that kind of concerns me.

Andrew Walsh (82:39)

Yeah, no, absolutely. And, and, yeah, and just sort of the. I don't have the right word for it. You summarize it perfectly. But just the sort of thinness of everything. This sort of, like, underscores the thinness of our content these days.

Luke Burbank (82:51)

Right, the. Exactly like. It used to be that there were just the. There were lots and lots of people that were being paid to do original reporting, and now there's very. There's just not nearly as much of that. And so mostly what the industry is. And again, I have to be careful because I guess to a degree, it's what we.

Andrew Walsh (83:09)

We do.

Luke Burbank (83:09)

We're not doing original reporting ourselves. We're just scanning the headlines and the Internet every day and then finding a couple of things that jumped out at us. So I guess we're, to some degree, part of the problem. But it's like. It just feels like there's. There's less and less of the creation of the original content because it costs money to do that, and more and more of the people whose job it is to sort of like, you know, there's more of us seagulls that are just flying behind the boat that's pulling the net. Net that's getting the shrimp.

Andrew Walsh (83:38)

Yeah, and there's less and less shrimp sort of, too. I'm almost thinking of, like, an ESPN model, because we talked about that recently, I think maybe when John was on the show with us, you know, because we all like sports. And you guys watched ESPN back in the heyday of espn, long before I gave any hoots about sports at all. But ESPN used to be not just about sports, but it was a journalistic powerhouse. It was breaking news stories. It was investigating news stories and exposing things in the world of sports.

Luke Burbank (84:08)

Outside the Lines with Bob Lee was a very important journalism show.

Andrew Walsh (84:12)

And there were others. There were a lot of Them. And then little by little, they realized, well, it's cheaper and easier just to let the.

Luke Burbank (84:20)

Shannon Sharpe.

Andrew Walsh (84:20)

Yeah. Let the newspapers tell the stories or do the reporting, and then we'll just have our hosts come on here and dissect them. Which, by the way, I'm not against. You mentioned that this is what we do. And as a public radio producer, I was always kind of fine with that, too. Like, saying, hey, listen, let the local newspapers break the stories. What we do is we bring on people and contextualize it and have conversations about it. Like, I never. I had worked on, like, talk shows. Like, literally just like the shows themselves that wanted to be breaking news. I'm like, I'm not running a newsroom here. I'm running a talk show here. Let's talk. You know, and anyway, I could see both arguments to that, and if you have the resources to be a newsroom, be a newsroom. But I was always interested. There's always been a place for talk radio, I feel like. But when it's more and more comes at the expense of the. The fact that we're getting less and less of this journalism because everybody just wants to chew on the articles. Then there are fewer articles, and then what you get is, like, one good investigative article from Pablo Torre. Yeah. Once every three months, and everybody just chews on that and then also slides into the easy world of scandal and, you know, which NBA players or waved a gun around or said something on social media that has people. Yeah, I'm. I don't know why I'm saying. I'm thinking specifically of who was the.

Luke Burbank (85:41)

John Moran.

Andrew Walsh (85:42)

John Moran. Yeah. I wasn't trying to. I realized that that maybe sounded a little bit like a stereotyping, but I think of John Morant or whatever. But, like, sort of like everybody can just sort of obsess over one player's bad behavior, whether it's in IRL or on Instagram or whatever it is. And it's just kind of like there's less and less meat. There's less and less shrimp out. Out there.

Luke Burbank (86:02)

I think that you're exactly right. There is less shrimp, but a big one just jumped in the boat, Andrew, because the final topic I'd like to discuss is the engagement of Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift.

Andrew Walsh (86:10)

Okay, fantastic. Let's break it down by the numbers.

Luke Burbank (86:13)

Okay. Put 60 seconds on the clock.

Andrew Walsh (86:15)

Good or bad?

Luke Burbank (86:17)

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey getting engaged. We flipped a coin. Andrew, you got bad.

Andrew Walsh (86:22)

Oh, yeah. Well, I just argue he's not going to be able to concentrate there's already, like, just so much. So much distraction. He even admitted that on his podcast in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. What's the podcast called?

Luke Burbank (86:34)

The Heights or something New Heights.

Andrew Walsh (86:36)

Okay. I knew it had to do with Cleveland Heights, so I'm the perfect person to speak on this. How much time do I have left? But he's already dipped in his performance. Travis Kelce has last season. And I think we're just going to see more of that going forward. Because if last year was a distraction, look out. 2026. Luke Andrew.

Luke Burbank (86:52)

You couldn't be more wrong, okay? Happy wife, happy life. Okay? This is a guy. When I see him out there, okay, And I see him running drills, this guy's being taken care of at home, okay?

Andrew Walsh (87:06)

You know what I mean?

Luke Burbank (87:07)

This guy. This guy is about to take his game to an entirely new level this season because he's got his home life in order, and that means he can concentrate on the field. And I think you're going to see. I think you'll see an invigorated Travis Kelsey. And I think I've got the. I've got the Chiefs again as my pick to. To win the Super Bowl.

Andrew Walsh (87:30)

Can I be earnest here for a second and actually share somebody's real take on this situation that I actually found kind of charming? I think it was local radio. I think it was. I think it was Michael Bumpus. I think it was local. But somebody. And I think it was a former ballplayer like Bumpus or something like that was saying, you know, all this distraction talk is, like, kind of silly. Like, if you want to talk about somebody who is clearly focused, who clearly puts all of the energy into their work, is somebody who is writing albums while on the biggest tour of all time. Like, that is Taylor Swift. If anything, he could sort of, like, learn from his. From his fiance, his future wife. Because, like, clearly, this is not a couple that is distracted. And clearly Taylor Swift is not somebody who is distracted. I don't say that as some sort of Taylor Swift apologist or fake fan. I don't really care too much about her work, but, you know, it's kind of an. I thought it was an interesting idea that, like, sports guy, right?

Luke Burbank (88:26)

Exactly. Like, basically, the question should not be, is this going to distract Travis Kelce? It might be, is it going to distract Taylor Swift? Because Taylor Swift has a bigger impact on the world potentially than Travis Kelce does.

Andrew Walsh (88:36)

Although that wasn't the point. Just more like, hey, this is actually a good partnership. And if anything, like a Taylor could share some notes about, like, focus and drive because. And it wasn't. It didn't seem. I'm kind of making it sound a little bit like it was either tongue in cheek or condescending. It wasn't. It was actually. And I just remember thinking it was from an old ballplayer who was kind of like, yeah, like, this woman has drive and focus. And so anyway, that.

Luke Burbank (88:58)

Andrew. It was tongue in cheek, like the Vetter cup.

Andrew Walsh (89:00)

Let's get out of here. Are we gonna go out with. Are we gonna go with Joe Joe's song or what are we doing?

Luke Burbank (89:06)

Yeah, let's do this. Okay. We asked. I put a shout out. In fact, I believe I. I didn't just put a shout out. I literally said to listener Joey, who wrote. What was the country song? The Right Kind of Night for the Wrong Kind of Decision or something.

Andrew Walsh (89:19)

Something like that. And also, isn't there another one? You read your books. I'll Drive My Truck or something like that.

Luke Burbank (89:23)

Oh, yeah. I. I had said something years ago that I thought would make a good country song. And then Joey wrote the country song, and it was really good. And so you said. I think you were the one behind this Wawa line. Right?

Andrew Walsh (89:37)

Yeah. Let me see here. We had two. And by the way, I have the audio here, so I should probably play it.

Luke Burbank (89:41)

Okay, sure.

Andrew Walsh (89:42)

I just want to say the. The two songs that have already been written by Jo. Right. Way to remember the Wrong Kind of night, which is great. Another one was, you read your books, I'll drive my truck. That was again, something that we said on the show that we're like, that.

Luke Burbank (89:54)

Sounds like a good move over Taylor Swift.

Andrew Walsh (89:56)

And then I think the other day on the show, we were talking about the quick E Mart called Wawa, and I think I said, don't call it.

Luke Burbank (90:04)

A quick E Mart or.

Andrew Walsh (90:05)

Sorry, what would.

Luke Burbank (90:05)

Wait, is there really.

Andrew Walsh (90:06)

Or a convenience store? I always say quick E Mart. And I meant convenience store. Right. It's a convenience store.

Luke Burbank (90:10)

But then I realized, you know what? That you can do that. Because Kwik E Mart is not one of the ones we've been discussing. Discussing. It's not even a real thing, probably.

Andrew Walsh (90:16)

Oh, you're thinking. Yeah, yeah.

Luke Burbank (90:18)

I was thinking you were like, calling it Quick Trip, but you weren't.

Andrew Walsh (90:20)

I. But that is a problem for me. I can never remember the term convenience store when I am in another city and I'm looking to get like a six pack or like a Hershey's bar. I don't even eat Hershey's Bar. I was just trying to sound like I do things other than drink six packs, But I'm always looking for a twisted tea. Yeah, I'm on the app and I'm on the app, the map app. And I'm always like, like, where is there a Quickie Mart? I can never think of the store. The term convenience store. Anyway, I believe the other day I said, I haven't been to a Wawa in a Wawa while. And you said, that sounds like a song Joey should write for us. And Joey did.

Luke Burbank (90:56)

And by the way, this was Joey's email. Hi, friendos. Like Bruce Wayne getting the call from Commissioner Gordon, I was listening to episode 4537 when I heard the new song idea. I haven't been to a while Wawa in a Wawa while. And even though I'm no vigilante, I accepted the challenge. The truth is, I've actually never been to a Wawa at all. I had to look it up to see what it was. And back in the music touring days, we used to love a Quick Trip. So I feel bad about dissing them in the chorus, but y' all are kind of right. Even though Quick Trip is an oasis in a desert of shell and Chevron, the best they might offer are some cheese sticks and those hard to reach pickup. Anyway, love the show as always. Thanks for what you do. And if you ever land near Kauai, hit me up.

Andrew Walsh (91:40)

Oh, nice.

Luke Burbank (91:41)

I hope you like the song. This is from our friend Joey.

Andrew Walsh (91:44)

Now we should mention, though, we've had clarification since then. Joey is. And sorry if you can hear those sirens, everybody, if you're driving right now, that is coming from my end. It's not a sound effect. It's just outside my window. This is Quick Trip. K W, I K Trip, not the Q U I K Trip, which is apparently a beloved, beloved company. Midwest. That is the good one. This is so. This is just. I don't want to. I don't want to anger anybody today, Luke. So we'll go out with.

Luke Burbank (92:11)

Let's go out with Joey thing, right? Yeah, let's do it. This is our friend Joey with another. Can we call the TBTL original when we did none of the songwriting.

Andrew Walsh (92:20)

Yes, absolutely. I think I get all the royalties, in fact.

Luke Burbank (92:23)

Okay, nice. You get publishing. Can I get a little bit. Can I get my beak wet?

Andrew Walsh (92:26)

Well, maybe. We'll see.

Luke Burbank (92:27)

All right, this is listener Joey. This is the. What's. I haven't. I already don't have the screen in front of me. I haven't been to A Wawa in.

Andrew Walsh (92:35)

A Wawa while that's what it's called.

Luke Burbank (92:37)

All right. And that'll wrap it up for today's show. Thanks for listening, everybody. We are going to be back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio. Please do join us for that. In the meantime, have a great Wednesday. Take care of yourselves and please remember, no mountain too tall.

Andrew Walsh (92:49)

And good luck to all traveling around.

Listener Joey (92:51)

From town to town. It's been so long since I've had any Anything that doesn't bring me down I need something to sustain me to lift me up.

Andrew Walsh (93:14)

Tonight.

Listener Joey (93:17)

Not a roadside attraction I need a friend by my side I haven't been to Wawa in a while I haven't felt the same since Walking through their aisles Ain't no quick trip I'm gonna cramp my style But I haven't been to Wawa in a while while, while In a wild wow While the morning comes around Sooner than you plan when you're on the road pulling an all night stand I need something to make me whole again More than a truck stop yeah, it's a long lost friend hadn't been to a Wawa in a while I hadn't felt the same since Walking through their aisles Ain't no quid trip I cramped my style I hadn't been to a Wawa in a while while while I hadn't been to a Wawa in a while while while I haven't been Felt the same as walking through their eyes Ain't no quit trip Going to CR my style I hadn't been wild in a while while while Move.

Luke Burbank (95:19)

What the heck was that? Looked like sort of a big title.

Andrew Walsh (95:22)

In a trench coat. You're going to look wilder. You're right. Power out.