#4552 Hughes On First

Summary

TBTL Episode #4552 "Hughes On First" – September 11, 2025

Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh

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Episode Overview

On this Thursday episode, Luke and Andrew wade through the best and weirdest aspects of daily life, veering from neighborhood garbage and local apples to the existential threat of AI-generated podcasts. The show carries an especially personal and playful tone, reflecting on the aging of podcasting, weather patterns, and the subtle politicization of Sasquatch mythology.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Intro Banter & Life Updates

• Humorous cold open about plans, family, and making God laugh.
• Luke notes the rise of AI podcasts and jokes about podcasting's impending doom:

  "There's a new company that is trying to create 5,000 AI podcasts... obliterate the human hosted podcasting scene." (01:24)

2. The Ongoing Weather Saga

• Discussion about fog in the Pacific Northwest migrating from Luke's area toward Andrew's.
• Lighthearted teasing about the reliability of weather reports and whether weather-based musical cues should be legally cleared.
• Reflection on past segments with music and copyright flags affecting their archive.

  "Music used to be a much larger part of the show... we've kind of tightened it up as of late because we don't want our new shows getting pulled down." (04:18)

3. Dog-Sitting & Neighborhood Apple Trees

• Luke details dog-sitting a standard poodle named Gigi—her chill bathroom habits and midnight outdoor excursions (07:03).
• The pleasures and perils of eating apples off a neighbor's tree, including a story about his dad warning against too many apples "in the field" (09:00).
• Confessions about mutual ignorance regarding apple varieties and ripening cycles.

4. Garbage Night Rituals & Collective Anxieties

• Andrew shares his garbage-night ritual, which includes posting bin photos to an account called “Garbage Anxiety” for accountability.
• Luke admits, even with reminders and "white glove service," he still forgot to take the garbage out until a mild morning panic (13:35).
• Community support: TBTL listeners are part of the gentle reminder chain.

  "It takes a village to not get me to... actually take out the garbage." (29:01)

5. Neighborhood Exploration & Political Workshop Aesthetics

• Luke describes walks through new residential areas, debating the etiquette of walking down private roads (“If it's a driveway, I wouldn’t. But a neighborhood? Maybe.”)
• Observation: Workshop-to-home ratios may be correlated with political leanings, signaled by abundant outbuildings, classic pin-up posters, flags, and “go away” signage.

6. The Weird Politicization of Sasquatch

• Luke details an odd local phenomenon: Imagery of Sasquatch with overt patriotic or conservative iconography—Sasquatch with an American flag, POW flag, etc. (19:47–22:43).

  "There's a weird politicization... there is a political coding now to Sasquatch out here."

• Andrew humorously laments:

  "We need to make more Sasquatch merch that indicates if not progressive ideals, at least apolitical ideals." (24:04)

7. Chicken Wings and The War on Credit Card Fees

• Andrew revisits his annoyance at credit card surcharges in restaurants—a mini-saga at his favorite wings spot complete with a fake email from “Carl Winter” inquiring about cash acceptance (34:38).
• Frustration escalates when no response is received; Andrew considers defecting to Wingdome.

8. Fred Armisen’s Four Waves

• Conversation about Fred Armisen’s career transitions: punk drummer, SNL, Portlandia, and now charming "musical comedian."
• Audio example: Fred's confused-drummer bit on Fallon for Diana Ross’s “I'm Coming Up” (54:03).

  "I'm finding Fred Armisen’s fourth act to be so charming." – Luke (49:59)

9. AI Podcast Factory – Existential Dread

• Main story: A company called Inception Point AI pushes 5,000+ AI-generated podcasts (Quiet Please network), aiming for SEO-driven, personality-based shows voiced by synthesized hosts like "Claire Delish" and "Nigel Thistledown" (57:53–65:45).
• The show plays a sample of an AI-generated "Football Brothers" podcast. The hosts resemble Travis and Jason Kelce but are AI fakes. At 70:00, the AI voice fumbles "exclamation point" as "exclamatic I ocean point," illustrating the current state of AI-voice weirdness.
  • Quote:

    "How are we 20 seconds into this and he's made two terrible analogies that are completely unnecessary?" – Andrew (65:28)

  • Quote regarding the bad AI output:

    "Human exclamation I... ocean point." (70:00)

• Discussion about how this kind of content attempts to undercut human creativity and basic labor, and frustration at the unapologetic attitude of the AI company's leadership.

  "Can you imagine wanting to make a living so badly that you’re willing to be team AI Slop... and critical of real... content?" – Luke (71:52)

10. Philosophy of Progress and Loss

• Andrew draws parallels between the inevitable march of technology and the decline of print journalism, arguing that sometimes, progress actually results in a net loss for society—especially with creative work (76:02–80:46).

  "Sometimes things do get shittier. And I think that’s maybe what we’re looking at now." – Andrew (78:32)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Regarding AI Podcasts:
  "I think that people who are still referring to all AI generated content as 'AI slop' are probably lazy Luddites." (Company exec Janine Wright, paraphrased and scoffed at by hosts) (71:26)

• On the AI Travis Kelce podcast:
  "Jason and Travis Kelsey. Football Brothers... How is this not a lawsuit?" – Andrew (67:31)

• Lamenting the conservative Sasquatch:
  "To me, I associate it so much with the Pacific Northwest, right? Harry and the Hendersons. To me, a John Lithgow–coded being!" – Andrew (24:36)

• Self-deprecating about the value of their own podcast:
  "What we're doing is important to the people who listen to the show, and I really appreciate that." – Andrew (76:11)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• AI Podcast Factory Segment:
  • 57:53 – 74:26 (includes sample and discussion)
• Neighborhood Sasquatch & Rural Politics:
  • 18:06 – 24:36
• Chicken Wing/Credit Card Fee Saga:
  • 31:03 – 41:52
• Fred Armisen Discussion (inc. audio bits):
  • 49:59 – 55:09
• Listener Blursday Messages:
  • 85:59 – end

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Tone & Style

The episode is relaxed, observational, and silly, with signature meandering tangents sprinkled with personal anecdotes, in-jokes, and meta-commentary. It moves smoothly between banality (garbage night rituals), personal warmth (“I felt seen, I felt cared for”), and wider cultural commentary, always maintaining a welcoming, wry tone.

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Listener Engagement

• Community Reminders: Blursday messages and reminders about garbage night showcase how the show’s listeners actively participate in each other’s daily routines.
• Inside Jokes & Recurring Segments: Mentions of “Badlands” to describe off-topic rambles, and references to decades-old bits.

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Conclusion

Episode #4552 encapsulates TBTL’s signature blend: neighborly minutiae, media criticism, and a quirky approach to what matters in life, all handled with warmth and humor. The threat of AI-generated podcasts looms large, but Luke and Andrew’s rambling, meme-obsessed humanity shines through. For dedicated listeners, it’s a reassuring slice of friendship; for newcomers, an earnest example of podcasting’s weird, irreplaceable soul.

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Useful for New Listeners?

Absolutely. The episode’s themes—how community forms around the mundane, the weird effects of tech on culture, and the fading of analog life—are accessible, funny, and resonant, even without prior TBTL experience.

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Blursday segment and individual donors appear after [85:59], with reminders on how to submit future listener birthdays and shoutouts.

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Power Out.

Transcript

[A]

Hey. Hey, son.

[B]

Oh, my goodness.

[A]

Look who it is.

[B]

I was just gonna call you.

[A]

This is back in town.

[B]

Are you. Yeah, briefly. You going to the family thing that we're giving to ourselves?

[A]

No, no, I can't make it.

[B]

Yeah, no.

[A]

Should I tell them?

[C]

Well, you know, listen, I wasn't gonna.

[B]

Go, so don't not go because I'm, you know. Well, no, you're the reason I would go.

[A]

I just have some plans, so I can't.

[B]

Yeah, you got plans, huh?

[A]

Well, we make plans and God laughs. That's right. Right.

[B]

No, I always want to make plans. But you don't want to be laughed at.

[A]

TBTL it is always 67 degrees with a 40% chance of rain. Always. Oh, that naughty old elf must be.

[B]

One mean bastard to give us this so early.

[A]

I'm so funny. I can't believe my dad didn't think I could make it as a stand up comedian. Was my underwear showing when I was climbing down the tree?

[B]

I wore my Thursdays because my Saturday had a case of the Mondays, if you know what I mean.

[A]

I like it.

[B]

Each sentence so rife with information. Go on, please. All right. Hello, good morning and welcome, everyone, to a Thursday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. If you want to talk, I've got two ears and they're tuned to the listening station coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio perched high above the mighty Columbia, where we are at episode 4552 in a collector series. Let the fun begin. And I don't think it's our last episode, but there is news out there on the horizon about podcasting and about AI coming for podcasts. There's a new company that is trying to create 5,000 AI podcasts, putting out 3,000 episodes per week and obliterate the human hosted podcasting scene. How dare you people even say that? I'm reading the editorial process for putting these AI podcasts together and it sounds pretty bad. And then you read what they actually do and it sounds somehow a million times worse. When was the last time you your pants been a while? We'll talk about that. Also, it's a Thursday, AKA a blursday. It's my birthday today. We'll do some blurs day messages and we, we will say hello to this guy, longest running cobra of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ship. To tell you something else about him, the guy can talk.

[A]

He is a very talented communicator.

[B]

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

[A]

Good morning, Luke. I saw some of your fog in my neighborhood today. Yesterday you opened the show, and I was surprised. We did not address it. We didn't talk about it. I needed to kind of digest the information, think about it, process the information. But you said at the beginning of yesterday's show that it was a foggy day. Is that the.

[B]

It was a foggy morning.

[A]

Is that the drop you play, or is it a cloudy day? A foggy.

[B]

I play sometimes. Hey, that's. That's good. I like that.

[A]

It is foggier.

[B]

It is a little bit of. It's a little Ella Fitzgerald. It's a.

[A]

A foggy day. Yeah, that really sticks in my head a little bit.

[B]

From the song A Foggy Day in London Town. You know, that's for the courts to decide.

[A]

It is for the I am unt. State of Ella Fitzgerald sues us for.

[B]

Your unlicensed rendition of A Foggy Day.

[A]

In London Town in conjunction with Spotify. Oh, wait, I'm on too many tangents here. But I got to. I was going through old emails yesterday, and I saw one that I ignored from May that said something like your. A couple of your shows were flagged again for, you know, music rights infringement or whatever, because we have a back catalog going all the way back to when you were on the radio and you're playing all kinds of music. And I said, oh, what are the. What are the offenses here? And it was just page after page after page. A lot of it was like the same Christmas song over and over again. I couldn't understand if we were dinged each time for it. But anyway, what I was.

[B]

We had a whole period of time where I think we, like, were playing Christmas music on the show, like every day, counting it down, ranking it.

[A]

I mean, music used to be a much larger part of the show, generally speaking. We've kind of tightened it up as of late because we don't want our new shows getting pulled down. But I do wonder if Spotify will, little by little, pull our old archives down. But let's not panic about that. There's still plenty.

[B]

There's so much other stuff to panic about. Andrew, let's prioritize what we're panicking about.

[A]

I have not read the news. What I was going to say. Would you recommend it the fog before? Let's just get off that grasp to this fog conversation.

[B]

The fog came north. It came from.

[A]

I was very shocked because when you.

[B]

When the fog came from for Southern Washington, you said nothing.

[A]

But I should have said something because I was shocked because it was so sunny here yesterday morning. I do this thing sometimes when you mention the weather and I know you don't have your camera on or you're not looking at me when you're doing the intro, but I do this thing in reflexively where you say what the weather is where you are. And then I look to my. Up into the left where my window is, and I always kind of, without thinking about it, sort of compare. And you said fog yesterday. And I looked up and I saw the sunniest skies. It was so beautiful.

[B]

You were like this guy smoking.

[A]

Exactly. I thought maybe he's seeing smoke from his own bong and he thinks it's fog. You know how you're in Fiji? Yes, but no. Then I woke up this morning around, I don't know, I woke up pretty early, used the bathroom, went back to bed, don't worry about it. I didn't stay up, but I saw three. Oh, you didn't wake up at 2:30.

[B]

To take Gigi out like I did?

[A]

Oh, no. Is that a normal thing or did she wake you up? She.

[B]

I'll tell you what happened. No, I'll finish with the fog and then I'll tell you about the middle of the night.

[A]

I think the fog that went on too long. My apologies. My point was just that there was no fog here yesterday. I thought you were off your nut. And then I woke up this morning and I saw the fog in my backyard or in my front yard. And I said, you know, I'm glad I clarified that, by the way. And I said, that's Luke's fog. It's coming.

[B]

It's coming north.

[A]

Yep, it is.

[B]

I sent it your way. What happened last night was, to be honest with you, after another thrilling Mariner game. And really it was actually a pretty thrilling Mariner game that went into extra innings and then kept going. I was gassed at the end of the game and I did not feel like taking the dog out to pee. I had taken her out to pee at like maybe seven or eight or something. And she is, I'm dog sitting this standard poodle named Gigi. She is so unbelievably chill about her bathroom needs. Like, I don't want to test it, but I feel like she could potentially just hang out for, I don't know, 24 hours and never express a need to use to go outside and go to the bathroom. But then what happens is when I Take her outside.

[A]

She always pees.

[B]

And she is very regular also with her numero doses, which is this is something you'll learn when you're dog sitting, Andrew. It's a big relief when the dog does its, as we call it, business outside. Because then you as the person taking care of them can stop worrying. Do they need to do their business? And they're uncomfortable right now.

[A]

So I was, you know, bring them because I. We had a dog for a very brief time when I was a kid. It was more my sister's dog, but sometimes I had to take it outside as a little dachshund.

[B]

It wasn't Terry, that was a different dog.

[A]

No, I think this dog's name was Daisy. It was a kind of failed experiment in the Walsh household. There was. It was definitely something that my sister was supposed to take responsibility for. It was her dog. And then she took no responsibility for it. It was kind of a, honestly, kind of a sad story. But I think we rehomed her at some point. But while we did have her, I just remember being outside and not wanting to be outside. This wasn't my dog. Right. It was just a new chore for me and just like waiting. Just like, go, go, go. Because she wasn't that well housebroken. So she didn't go outside. Well, then it was going to come back to bite you because she was going to go inside. Yeah.

[B]

That is so not Gigi's move. She's very elegant lady. And yet I still worry about if she has to go. And maybe she's just too polite to say anything about it. So I didn't take her out before I went to bed. But then I woke up to use the bathroom myself at about 2:30 or 3 in the morning.

[A]

She just was jealous.

[B]

Well, I just thought, come on now, you know, I can't. Here I am using the bathroom. I can't deprive her of this. And so I put her on the leash and I took her outside and she peed immediately. And then I brought her back inside. I did videotape it and send it to Becca, like to prove that I was being a conscientious dog watcher. And anyway, so that was. Yeah, that was our middle of the night potty break. And then we went on a nice walk this morning.

[A]

Andrew.

[B]

And here's what I've got to show you. Top of the show.

[A]

Are they still on the trees?

[B]

They sure are. And I've been eating them. I gotta watch out, actually. No. My dad Walt used to be an apple Picker back in the day. And he used to tell me, yeah, you learn pretty quick. You can't eat too many of those apples in the field or you get a real stomach situation going. But I've already had two. I've had one of these.

[A]

They're really good looking apples. They're red and green. I don't know if those are. They're probably not Fuji, but they're probably.

[B]

I don't know what they are. Nor does my neighbor Tanya, who. They were growing in her yard. And I asked her, I was like, hey, can I grab one of these apples? And she said, yeah, of course. And I go, what kind of. She goes, I don't actually know, but it was one of those trees where it's a hybrid. So like half of the tree is like green apples and then the other half is. And I ate one of the green apples. They were fine. I've had one of these already this morning. I'm gonna have another one. You were talking about this, I don't know, a month ago, how in your neighborhood there was a lot of apple trees that were in bloom or producing fruit. It's amazing. I was walking the dog. I was eating an apple this morning. It was like free breakfast. It was a great. It was a nice morning.

[A]

You know this. I love eating apples off of neighborhood trees. I'm just really shocked at the timing of this. And it just. Well, it just once again underscores my lack of understanding of apples and how they grow, because the tree in my neighborhood basically was either like kind of picked over or done producing, like at least two weeks ago. And I don't think it was just that they harvested all the apples because there were tons of them that had fallen down from the tree and were just like littered on the ground and street. You know how, like, some apple trees get that. And I know that probably people who have those trees try to avoid that, but. So I thought that we were kind of past the season, but maybe, I don't know, maybe just like that, you're living in a foggy world. When I have a sunny day, we just live in different climates. I don't know.

[B]

Yeah, I don't. There's a lot that I don't know about apples as well, Andrew. So we could maybe start a whole podcast about that. Yeah, Our lack of knowledge about apples again. Nor did my neighbor. So I didn't feel super stupid because she was like, she somehow knew, like, first of all, she had never eaten any of the apples from this tree. I was the first I go, are these green ones edible? She goes, I don't know. I've never tried them. So I just pulled one off and ate it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I had more information about the apple.

[A]

If I had an apple tree, you would just see me outside eating apples all day long. It would be me.

[B]

I'd be sitting under it, inventing gravity.

[A]

I would grab that. I would grab that.

[B]

That's how I roll.

[A]

I would grab that toilet that somebody left on my tree lawn a few weeks ago. I would set it right underneath the apple tree. I would just sit on that toilet and eat the apples and just let nature take.

[B]

That's called vertical integration.

[A]

It really is.

[B]

Hey, thank you for your kindly text last night, by the way. A thing that I wasn't doing at 3 in the morning or yesterday evening, when it would have made sense, was taking the garbage out.

[A]

So you didn't take out the garbage even after I texted you and told you to take out the garbage?

[B]

You sent me such a nice text. And by the way, great composition in the photograph.

[A]

Oh, you don't follow me on blue sky. Oh, every.

[B]

Wait, I don't follow you on blue sky. That's not intentional.

[A]

Well, no, you've. Well, I have a couple of accounts.

[B]

Obviously, I don't follow your garbage account.

[A]

My garbage account, which I should, before I bring this up, actually figure out what it's called. I think it's called Andrew's Garbage Anxiety. Or maybe it's just garbage anxiety. It's garbage anxiety. That's a garbage dash anxiety. And it's a little picture of Oscar the Grouch. That's how, you know, you found me. And you know what's weird is. Well, every day. I'm sorry. Every Wednesday night when I take out the garbage, I take photos of the bins and post it just in case there's any issues. In case the garbage truck folks say that the bins weren't out on time. I always want a record of it.

[B]

I'm following you.

[A]

I didn't post last night because I sent you the photos instead. And then I forgot to post them to Blueski.

[B]

Well, it's a very nice. It's a nice photo. I like the composition of that. You sent it to me. The light is really great. It's kind of the magic hour. And you sent it to me and sent me a nice reminder saying, hey, in fact, I've got it right here. There's a lot of marinerism that happened after that. But, yeah, you said, don't forget garbage night. And then I Actually sent it to Becca and she went that's really thoughtful. And I said it is, isn't it? And then I immediately went back to watching the baseball game and completely spaced it out. And then also that would have been a good thing to do in the middle of the night when I'm out in the yard with the dog. Anyway, forgot to do it. Then woke up in a panic at 6am today and then ran out and wheeled it up the hill. So I appreciate the reminder. I hope you'll keep doing it. It had absolutely zero positive effect other than making me feel good, making me feel cared for, Andrew. And that's something in these crazy turbulent times.

[A]

But what I didn't realize was I was sacrificing my own well being or my mental wellbeing because I didn't by caring for you, Luke. I didn't care for my own blue sky.

[B]

Again, you've got to start with self care if you are taking care of yourself and you can't take care of anyone else.

[A]

Now if there's any issues with my garbage this week, I don't have. Like I could post the photos that I took last night to Blue sky now, but the whole point is you're timestamping it the night before to say, look, I posted this proof of life. It's proof of life. It's proof of a full life, Luke.

[B]

I am speaking of garbage. I got a wave from when I was walking Gigi. By the way, the garbage man did not come at 6:10am or whatever. It wasn't until later, maybe 7:30 when I was walking Gigi and the garbage man came down. I've never actually gotten eyes on this character. If he is the one who's drawn on my garbage can, I don't know, he seemed nice. He waved at me. So maybe he wasn't the guy who wrote on the garbage can. Maybe that was a different dude. But man, let me tell you, that garbage truck reeked.

[A]

Oh yeah, it was.

[B]

I don't know what people are throwing out in this neighborhood, but it was shrimp pungent and it was like the kind of thing where the air like it went past us. We keep walking and as I'm walking up the hill, I'm continuing to experience the smell of this garbage truck. And then we go, we go to the end of my street, we take a right, we go off on. What are your thoughts on walking on what is listed as a private road, but it is paved and it has like eight houses on it, eight to ten houses on it. So it's kind of like a little cul de sac. So I wouldn't walk down a private road that was someone. If it's one house leading a long.

[A]

Driveway, basically, if it's a driveway.

[B]

Private road. Yeah, I wouldn't for a bunch of reasons, but also just out of respect, like that feels like you're going down someone's driveway. Now what I can see from my house, again, this is this whole exploration of my neighborhood that I've never done before. I could see that there are a whole bunch of homes down there. It's not like one person's house. It's a full on neighborhood. But they've got a sign that says private road. Mostly what I wanted to do was continue to figure out places I can walk that don't involve me going down to the highway, down to the. It's not quite a strode, but the busier road that's down at the bottom of the hill. And if I could integrate this into my walking pattern, it adds a good half a mile or so that I could just do in the neighborhood.

[A]

When you say the larger road, you said it's not a stroad. Are you talking about the road that is sort of. Is it almost like on a bluff of some sort? Does it like over, am I thinking? Yeah, good memory. Yeah. Because it overlooks that.

[B]

You're using that river to the place during the thought.

[A]

Yeah. And then I. Then you take a left and then. Okay. Yeah, I think I know the road you're talking about. Yeah. So it's less of a strobe, but it's more. It's a two lane road, but it's like kind of curvy. And the speed limit's probably 45 or something. Right, Right. And no sidewalks.

[B]

Yeah, the cars go real fast on it. And also it's just that this hill is incredibly steep. So to go down to where that road is, that old highway is when I come back on my E bike, I've got the thing on like I've got the thrusters on full power and I'm still having to sometimes stand up to pump the pedals on the bike. So anyway, I'm interested in trying to expand where I can walk. Not with just with Gigi, but maybe if I want to take a walk up here. And so by the way, they also have a sign at the kind of where this road goes that says your GPS is wrong, turn around.

[A]

Which I really. So it's sort of like they consider this all to be kind of private property. I bristle at that a little bit.

[B]

I do, too. Oh, my God. I saw this other house. The whole show this week is gonna be me describing things people put on their houses, Things that I saw while walking the dog. There is this house that's up the hill from me. So I was. So yesterday morning, I was trying to find. Again, I'm trying to figure out the network of residential streets that I can walk on. Residential roads, if you will. So we went out kind of of my immediate area yesterday. We went up the hill, even further up the hill to see if there was another little neighborhood that we could walk around. It turns out there isn't. But I saw this house that I. How do I say this without seeming offensive to people that love their workshops? If there. I have a notice. Living in rural America, Andrew. That there is the workshop to home proportion indicates what your politics will likely be.

[A]

Workshop meaning like a garage door building.

[B]

Or an outbuilding that's maybe aluminum, but that's very big, that you could park vehicles in that you could work on any manner of any number of different projects. But, like, there's a lot of people around here.

[A]

Is that a project?

[B]

Oh, you could definitely. And I believe there is some hard work being put in on six packs in these workshops. One of my neighbors, this guy's down at the end of my road. His literally has, like, a poster in there that's like the Swedish bikini team or something. It's like a bathing suit lady. It is such a throwback. It is so cute. I don't think he knows about pornhub. And I love it. Like, this guy is just out there. They're staring at a poster of the Swedish bikini team killing some hams. The beer refreshing or crushing some hams. So out here in this part of red America, there are a lot of homes that are on the relatively modest size that are then just, you know, on the same property as a workshop, that is. You could house multiple families in the workshop. And usually when you see that proportion, you then see some flags. You then see some signs.

[A]

You see flags and signs, literal and figuratively.

[B]

Yes, that's right. Flags that are red to me, and signs that you don't want to go over there.

[A]

They're figuratively red and literally blue. Right.

[B]

There's also, Andrew, something else that you wouldn't know this because you're a coastal elite. You live up there. You get the fog a day later. Okay, I'm at the cutting edge of what's going on in real America. I get the fog a day before you. This Is gonna blow your mind. Are you ready? Are you sitting down? Chris is leaving.

[A]

Chris is leaving.

[B]

Can I blow your mind? There is a weird politicization. Is that a word? There is a weird. There is a political coding now to Sasquatch out here. There is this weird version of Sasquatch that's like pow Sasquatch that people are into.

[A]

I don't like this.

[B]

It's like there is a version of Sasquatch that has been embraced out here where he's got, like. Sometimes he's walking and he's got an American flag in his pocket. Sometimes he's flashing a peace sign, which I'm down for. Sometimes he's praying on a POW flag. Praying Sasquatch on pow flag.

[A]

It's like, AI slop. What is going on is.

[B]

But I promise you, these guys don't know what AI is.

[A]

There's like a. There's a.

[B]

The guys that are putting this on their giant aluminum workshop outbuilding that dwarves their very diminutive house.

[A]

I like the idea of an image of a Sasquatch sitting there and then like, you have the Loch Ness monster with one hand preying on him. All right, somebody cracking with one.

[B]

Somebody make it, please.

[A]

Resting on him. Oh, by the way, quick apology. I think it was listener Paul in England who pointed out. I knew when we were talking about the Loch Ness Monster the other day, I referred to.

[B]

What did we do wrong?

[A]

Well, no, I knew in the moment I was saying something wrong, but that's a feeling I have all the time. But I said Nelly, of course.

[B]

You were talking about former Mariner. Mariner reliever Jeff Nelson, AKA Nelly.

[A]

Right, of course. Who I'm learning about right now. No, of course it's Nessie. And then I think you said, I. Then I think you gave it a nickname, too.

[B]

Locky.

[A]

Locky.

[B]

Which I think no one calls him.

[A]

Locky with that as well.

[B]

We just call him Nessie.

[A]

Right. Did I say he took tissue with that? I should stop talking about this.

[B]

This is the mic. This is the evolution of the conservative coded Sasquatch. Andrew. It feels like the journey that the Sasquatch is on is that he fought in Nam and he saw some shit, and then he kind of became like a sort of like a Lieutenant Dan from. From Forrest Gump. It's kind of like one of those, like, Vietnam vets who then kind of like grew their hair out and came home and, like, threw their medals, and we're sort of like, burned out on it.

[A]

Born on the Fourth of July vibes.

[B]

That's a better reference, Dan.

[A]

I think, I think same deal.

[B]

It's a kind of a Born on the fourth of July vibe. But then unfortunately, because now they're getting older and we have lots of listeners who are older and I'm not trying to assume that because someone's age they have to think a certain way politically, but it would seem that like, and I'm really reading a lot into like just what I see on these guys, like trucks and on their workshops, but it's sort of, I feel like it also might mirror their journey. It's sort of like Sasquatch gets goes to NAMM, gets born on the 4th of July, then gets older, then weirdly just becomes is watching too much Fox News.

[A]

This is very strange. Yeah.

[B]

And now is like, kind of like if I see a bunch of Sasquatches on something, I know that guy voted for Trump. It's the weirdest thing. It's, it's, you know, I mean, I don't like that.

[A]

I don't like the co opting. First of all, I always thought Sasquatch. I never associated it with any kind of politics, nor did I. So I don't know if co opting is the right word that makes it sound like the left had claimed him. But I definitely. What does this mean for Pasquatino and the Pasquatch in Kansas City?

[B]

AI Overview Conservative Sasquatch refers to the concept of a patriotic Republican aligned Bigfoot figure often used in political merchandise and online content to promote conservative values and support figures like Donald Trump. It represents a blend of American conservative symbolism and the mythology Sasquatch creature uniting the idea of common sense, patriotism and the we the people movement with the mystique of Bigfoot. No, I'm telling you, this is really happening.

[A]

I'm not accepting this. I'm not for just so you know, like, I'm not accepting this. Like, it's just not, I don't, I don't like this. I haven't seen this. I resent that you're putting in front of my eyes, to be honest with you. Well, I resent you a little bit. Like I literally, my life was better three minutes ago.

[B]

Andrew, let me mirror one of my favorite Sasquatch memes by holding up a peace sign to you with an American flag do rag hanging out of my back.

[A]

I truly feel like we, I don't know why I suddenly care about this, but I'm like, no, we need to make more Sasquatch merch that indicates if not progressive ideals, at least apolitical Ideals, at least.

[B]

Common sense conservative.

[A]

All I want is common sense. Sasquatch control. That's what I've been saying.

[B]

Is common sense Sasquatch a show title?

[A]

Probably. I just. Yeah, that really kind of bums me out because to me, I associate it so much with the Pacific Northwest. Right. Which I don't.

[B]

Harry and the Hendersons. It's to me, a John Lithgow coded. Eventually.

[A]

That's right. I used to. Literally. Even though I've never seen that movie completely. Actually, maybe I did finally watch it because we lived on the same street here in Seattle that the exteriors of that house were shot on, on Burke.

[B]

Avenue when you were in Wallingford.

[A]

Burke Avenue in Wallingford? Yeah.

[B]

Nice.

[A]

Yeah, it was like a couple of blocks from us heading towards QFC up there on 45th. So anyway, I'm obviously busting your chops a little bit, but I really dislike that. I'm also sort of not joking.

[B]

Yeah, I really dislike that.

[A]

I like Sasquatch.

[B]

I apologize. Having to be the canary in this.

[A]

Coal mine, they don't get that. They don't get to take Sasquatch from us.

[B]

Well, the guy who I'm talking about, who I walked by his home and workshop, he, of course, had all the Sasquatch going. And then he just had, like. I can't actually remember the specifics of these signs, but, like, one of them was a. He was flying a huge black flag that had a middle finger just being held up. That was one. And then he just had, you know, a bunch of different signs on his shop that were just like, go away. You know, no solicitors. But in every. Every imaginable bit of colorful language you could think of with. With just like. It was just so much aggressive. Don't you dare come on this property.

[A]

Don't you. You're stupid.

[B]

Whatever you think is the wrong thing. And I just. I was just like, walking this dog at 6, 7 in the morning, drinking a coffee, thinking, man, who hurt you?

[A]

Yeah, right.

[B]

Like, golly, buddy, like, what a tough. What a tough way to go through life. Like, honestly, like, to just think that the world is that out to get you and that you need to just. And, like, also, I assume this is a guy who did this. Okay, I'm making that assumption. And then I assume that guy has a wife. These are two big assumptions that I can't prove at this moment. But also, what if you're the wife? Like, and you gotta have a middle flag thing. I mean, she. Who knows? Maybe she could be right there with him on the, on the politics and on the whatever. But it's like, it just, it just seemed to me like, man, I just wanted to give the guy a hug and go, man, who hurt you? Like, who made you feel like you need to put so many signs being so aggressively mean to people that are just trying to walk a dog right now. Now that's not the street that I'm talking about. I'm talking about a different road where they had a different sign that said, your GPS is wrong, Turn around, which is also a little in your face. But it's. It was better than I was seeing on the other house. And it was not so threatening that I. It did not stop me from walking down that road again. It was. The road was paved, which somehow mattered. Like, if it was gravel, I would have felt like it's. It's somehow a little bit more of a private road. But it was, it was, it was paved. I, I was not there to mess with anyone's scene, anyone's house. I was just walking the dog. And I'll be honest with you, this is where white privilege plays a huge factor. I just thought, I doubt anyone's gonna mess with me because I'm a white guy and I probably am not seen as non threatening and I'm walking the dog. A poor. A poodle. Exactly. Now, had I been a non white person, probably would not have been the greatest idea to walk down that road, honestly, very sadly. But anyway, I did walk down the road and it was fine. I mean, I don't have a great power out for the story other than I was a little bit. I was a little bit not on edge. Oh, and here's where the story was going. The garbage truck was following us. The garbage. The stanky legged garbage truck followed us for easily four different roads that we went on. I could not lose this garbage truck to save my life.

[A]

And it was behind you, but the wind was blowing the smell towards us.

[B]

Well, it would pass us.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

And then it would leave this trail of stink. And then I'd go down a different road and then it would somehow be time for it to go down that road. It was like crisscrossing the neighborhood in this very haphazard seeming way that seemed to constantly bring it into contact with.

[A]

Us while we came back around to talk garbage for a second. I do want to give a quick shout out to listener Mayor Nigel who also texted me on the TBTL voicemail line yesterday and said, don't forget to remind Luke to take. To take out his Garbage listener. Bobby also sent me some photos of him taking out his garbage.

[B]

Daisy chain of ineffectiveness.

[A]

So it was. I just want to point out to you that it does take a village.

[B]

And that it takes a village to not get me to.

[A]

Actually, I was going to say it takes. Apparently it takes more than a village, but last night we started with a village. So I wanted to give a shout out to those folks.

[B]

Thanks, guys.

[A]

Who also had your garbage interests. And I ain't that.

[B]

So, anyway, I hope you'll stay. The point of that whole story, Andrew, is to say I felt very. I felt seen, I felt cared for. And hopefully you'll continue reminding me about the garbage. And hopefully Nigel will continue reminding Bobby to remind you to remind me about the garbage. I can't see any way that this system could fail.

[A]

Well, it's failing me because if I'm texting you, then I'm not clearly posting my photos to Blueski, which is gonna be a problem. But I see you're following the account on Blueski now.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So maybe that can just be your reminder. Maybe you just look down at bluesky and you're like, oh, look, new notification. Okay.

[B]

I mean, I was enjoying the white glove service that lasted for all of one.

[A]

I understand. It's like, what's happening to the hotel industry only is happening much faster. You had, like, this beautiful service. You check in, human beings talk to you. Now I'm just putting an iPad in front of you that barely works.

[B]

Too small of print like they do at the Roosevelt Hollywood Hotel now in la. It's just like. It's. It's not. Not only. I mean, I told that story months ago when I stayed there, but it was. They were clearly trying to program us, trying to, you know, sort of get us in the mode of just using this ipod to check in, which was so laborious, so time consuming, and the font was so small. And this poor guy had to stand at the counter right next to the iPad. And I said, are you able to help me with this? He goes, yeah, I can help you, but I'm not allowed to check you in on my computer because they're trying to get you guys to use the.

[A]

Ipad so that one day he won't be there. Engineering. Yeah.

[B]

What is it and how can you avoid it? Well, don't stay at the Roosevelt Hollywood.

[A]

Hotel, I guess, man, I'll give you a quick update on something and then we can thank some donors. But at the end of yesterday's show, like in the Badlands, or maybe even past the Badlands.

[B]

Oh yeah, the Badlands. That was a, I feel like that was a big step forward for the show yesterday identifying some of our worst content and making it a segment.

[A]

And I like to think that I really, I really emphasize the bad in Badlands. I bring the bad to the Badlands when at the very last minute I brought bad, bad, bad.

[B]

Andrew Walsh.

[A]

I'm Badlands to the Bone, the show title yesterday. Anyway, today it can be I, I mentioned and this is such a convoluted story because that's all I'm half of it happened in my head. But there's this chicken wing place. I told you that I like the chicken wings there and but they do have this sort of like kind of aggressive.

[B]

How many Sasquatches do they have up at the chicken wing place?

[A]

It's this chicken wing place I've been to a few times. I'm a, a big fan of the food. I feel like, oh, I finally found my chicken wing place that makes good chicken wings. But they have this sort of sassy menu that's kind of like we do things our way here. Now luckily I like what their way is because it ends up leading to a very tasty like they don't give you ranch dressing but they don't give you a ranch which I don't care. I don't want ranch or whatever. But it's kind of like when you're here like this is how we do things. Get used to it sort of. And I overlooked all of that. That's not usually my vibe in a restaurant or anything really. But I overlooked it because I like the food. But then I did notice after the last time I was there that there was a small charge for using a credit card when I paid my bill and it was like 2 point something percent it ended up being. I remember exactly adding $1.02 to my bill. Right. Which is not much like I told you and again I never say this to brag but I can afford. I have a dollar and two cents. I have that. I have access to that kind of money. I have to make some phone calls but I have access to it. But it kind of stuck in my craw because I do kind of hate these like sort of just like various businesses adding fees. I didn't even get into this with you but like the place where I take rugs to get them cleaned Da burns which I've had to get some rugs cleaned recently.

[B]

That place has been there forever and.

[A]

I like that place. I generally have a good feeling towards it. But they're now adding a certain, like, a 3% fee to credit cards. And when you're paying excellent $200. Yeah, 2 or $300 to get a rug cleaned, it's not 300, but like 250 or something. Get a rug professionally cleaned, the percentage on that gets up there. You know what I mean? It gets close to $10 to use a credit card. And you're like, what? I'm supposed to come in here with cash. So I do. By the way, I now when I go to DA Burns, I'm like, Screw them. I'm not paying their $10 credit card fee. I go and I get cash, and I force them to get me change when I pay with, like, $300 bills or whatever. Anyway, I clearly have.

[B]

I'm surprised you're getting that many rugs clean.

[A]

Well, it's kind of. Yeah, we had kind of.

[B]

For bummer reasons, I'm sure.

[A]

Yeah, we kind of had, you know, bananas had made some stains and stuff, and it was just kind of time for a refresh. In fact, they still have one of our rugs. I got to go pick that up. So anyway, I kind of just have this chip on my shoulder about just adding fees. I don't mind paying for services, and they should charge what they charge, but this idea of like, oh, we're going to charge you for using a credit card has always felt a little bit punitive to me. But I was also thinking, well, I wonder if I could pay with cash there? And then, as I told you on the show, I don't know if this wing place takes. Takes cash or not. I do know that D.A. burns accepted it, but I do know that a lot of places don't take cash anymore. So I thought, wait a second. If I go to this bar and they charge to use a credit card, but they don't accept cash, that seems like a real bummer. But I don't know whether or not they take cash. So I told you I was trying.

[B]

To hose you up and down.

[A]

I was going to try to figure it out. So I went to their website yesterday to look for a phone number. And their contact page, it just is a bunch of text that explains their restaurant a little bit further. And then at the end says, do you still want to contact? Says, fine. If you do, you can use this form. And there's no phone number. I'm like, you millennial little jerks. And anyway, so I sent them a note, and it was one of those online forms, so I had to copy and paste it and save it for you. Oh, by the way, I had to fill in my first name, last name, and email address. And so I used an email address that I don't usually use, one that I've had for a really long time that I mostly use for like signing up for stuff or spam related stuff, but I didn't want to use my name. So this came in from Carl Winter. By the way I sent it. That's the name. What do you think about my fake name? Carl Winter? Is there a famous person named Carl Winter?

[B]

Well, there was. What was the Carl who was on Arrested Development. And of course he.

[A]

That's weather. Is Carl weather. Because winter is a season that starts with W. Maybe that was on my mind. Anyway. Anyway, this note to this wing place came in from me Yesterday, going on 24 hours ago now, I should point out. From Carl Winter. Hi. Do you got. That's my tone.

[B]

Yeah, that's Carl Winters voice.

[A]

Hi. Exclamation point. Hi. Do you guys take cash? I noticed a fee for you.

[B]

So he's kind of a Jiminy Glick type. What is. What do we.

[A]

That's why they call me multidimensional. I wrote how you do ranch with your wings. That's pretty good. Do you take cash? Hi, do you guys take cash? I noticed a fee for using my credit card last time I was there, so I'd like to use cash going forward. I assume if you charge extra for credit cards, you must accept cash. But I just want to make sure before I make the trek. Thank you, exclamation point. Now, obviously I felt the need to make my little point with my second sentence there. I assume if you charge extra for credit cards, you must accept cash. Obviously. But I just want to make sure before I make the trek down there again. And so that was my tone. It's been 24 hours. These fools don't look at their inbox. Or they looked at this and just. And then just said self care.

[B]

Some of us don't look at our inbox as a form of self care.

[A]

That's true. But these folks clearly were like, oh, literally, their contact us page begged us not to contact them. So my guess is I'm never going to get a response from this. And it's starting to turn me off this place. And I'm thinking more about our conversation about Wingdome yesterday.

[B]

That's what I would like to point out is that I didn't even realize this. There are multiple wingdome locations. You've got the Wing Dome. I Always think of the one in.

[A]

Greenwood which would be closest to me anyway. Right.

[B]

But there is one down on the waterfront.

[A]

Oh really?

[B]

Yes. There's one down in like on pier whatever. Like right. Not far from where you went to your other one. So if you wanted to have another adventure day where you took the E line or maybe you were going to go to a baseball game but pre baseball game that beautiful new waterfront down.

[A]

I'm doing that tonight actually. But I don't think I have time. Time for wings before the ball.

[B]

There's a wing dome down there and I. And.

[A]

And they looking at this. Yeah.

[B]

I. I think that. And they seem in my experience like a little less. A little less into their own program. They're a little less. There's a little less personality going on. Which honestly if you like the wings at Wingdome I think I would say.

[A]

I don't need personality.

[B]

You don't need the personality. You need the wings. Now the thing is I am.

[A]

I gotta say. Can I just say one thing though while on this. I'm not going to the wing dome that is literally on the pier behind Elliot's Oys like that feel like it.

[B]

Will be too touristy.

[A]

Yeah. And I took a walk down there. I was telling you this weekend after my little wing date with myself and I loved it. I mean the crowd was out. It was a beautiful day. You would not have believed. And also they were opening up the last leg of this. This waterfront park. So it's kind of an event. Yeah. But it was also just chock a block with people and tourists and it was really really busy and a really, really beautiful day. But I am not going to that Wingdome. I'm not waiting in line with a bunch of people who are visiting from.

[B]

Other feeling on a rainy. Not even a rainy but like on a. On a. On a. Well Thursdays, you know it is the Friday of the middle week as I've famously said. So who knows. But I would check out the one in Greenwood. I have been in Seattle for so long or I lived in Seattle so long ago, I should say Andrew. And that stretch of Green Lake was. Or Greenwood rather was very. It was a big part of my life and my hood. Like as a kid growing up in Seattle and then just through various places that I lived I would. You know I used to go to that Green Greenwood public library all the time. We used to play video games at the mini mart that was across from the. You know like arcade games. Like when a gas station would have one like Spy Hunter. Game in it or one like Qbert game. And it'd just be like random neighborhood kids with quarters just hanging out there.

[A]

It's literally how you become the last Starfighter.

[B]

Right. But that Wingdome on Greenwood, it was an auto mechanics. And I remember it when it was an auto mechanics. And then when all of a sudden one day, and I don't know when that place was established, I was probably at this point a teenager or something, but I remember them turning it into something called Wingdome and me going, that has no chance of succeeding. First of all, you're putting it in what used to be an auto garage.

[A]

Yeah. And just so folks know what Luke is saying here, it's not just like the corner that the garage used to be on. They totally retrofitted this. This repair shop. It's really cool.

[B]

Yeah. Repair shop. That's what I should be calling it. Yeah, no, no, it is cool. And also, this must have been at the absolute sort of earliest wave of hot wings being a whole kind of meal that people considered like, you would go to a restaurant to have, like.

[A]

In the 80s and early 80s.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Like, because there was, as far as I was aware, I had, like, I had never even heard of the idea of a restaurant that was dedicated to the project of hot wings or wings. And I saw that and I was like, have you lost your mind? That's. That's why people should absolutely never trust any of my futurism, any of my predictions about what will and will not be successful. Because I am loud wrong all the time. And that was one of the many times where I was like, who is going to go to a restaurant in a. A repair shop that just serves what, chicken wings? It's still there to this day, prosper.

[A]

And it's. And it's a really cool location. And I didn't realize that they had expanded out yet. It looks like there's one also down in kind of near the arena. It looks like maybe in South Lake Union or something. I closed the map out at this point. But yeah, no, I'm glad they're doing well. I'm glad there are other options. And yeah, honestly, this place where I used to. I'm already saying used to, this place that I, you know, discovered recently, I like the vibe of it. I like, like sitting at a bar. I can't remember does Wingdom. Can you sit at the bar in Wingdom? My memory of it.

[B]

I've only been there with Camaro Kev, and we sat at a table. I can tell you from experience they serve alcohol.

[A]

No, I know it's not okay. Yeah. It's not about what you mean, though. You want to sit at the table. I don't care whether or not I can drink alcohol, necessarily, depending on what the date is. But, like, I just like to sit up at the bar, especially if I'm kind of eating by myself. And I don't think wingdom has that. And that's one of the things that I do. There are just, like, all these little weird factors that go into what I'm in the mood for. I've told you this before. I don't know if it resonates.

[B]

I will be done. Sewing dome come when I do. They have a bar. Is this heaven?

[A]

Wow. Didn't expect an incantation.

[B]

It kind of worked better than I expected.

[A]

But, like, for me, sometimes, especially when I'm totally at my own whims, if that's the right word. Like, Genevieve's gonna be gone this weekend, in fact, and I probably on. And I don't have to record with Hannah on Saturday, so there's a chance.

[B]

Katy, bar. The door, everybody.

[A]

I could totally say Saturday being another day where I grab my camera, I get on the line, I head south. I go to a place like that wing place I was telling you, I sit at the bar. I have a high life. Like, whatever. Like, there's a whole part of that, like, when I'm choosing a place that I want, sometimes the food is, if not secondary, sometimes tertiary. Like, I want. What environment do I want? You know, I get that. And sometimes wingdom, it feels like, do I want to go in and sit at a table by myself? There are times where that's fine, but usually on a day like that, I want a counter or a bar. And again, it's not always about the alcohol. It's not always not about the alcohol, but it's not always about the alcohol. Like, even. Like, there's a Vietnamese place I love to go have lunch at, kind of at the Holman Road area. Luke, what is that neighborhood called? I can never think of it. And then people say it. I'm like, oh, yeah, car key. Yeah, it is car key. That's very specific. Crown Hill, though. Would Crown Hill be.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Anyway, there's a Vietnamese place there that I love. And when I walk in, they say, do you want a table? And I always say, no, I want to sit. Sit at the counter. Like, there's just something about sitting at counters that I like more. Anyway, I've gone on too long. Power out. Thank you, baby.

[B]

All Right. Let's thank some of those donors who are keeping us in window money with their voluntary donations of cash. This is 100% listener supported podcasting. And with the news of the day from the Hollywood Reporter about AI Podcast, I'm more grateful than ever that somehow this thing is working as a business model. And it's thanks to folks like Krista Gilbert, who's in Seattle, Washington.

[A]

Krista, I believe. I hope I can say this. I think in the East Lake neighborhood, Krista is the person who's been arranging all kinds of tens meetups. I think arranged that Ray Nier's game meetup earlier this summer and a bunch of other stuff too. Thank you so much for everything, Krista.

[B]

Thank you, Krista. Thanks to Susan Goodwin, also in Seattle, Washington.

[A]

Hey, Susan, could you help Krista, do you mind?

[B]

I mean, honestly, like, we can't. I know it's. Krista is now a victim of her own success and that keeps falling to her to have to do everything.

[A]

Yeah, so let's.

[B]

Lloyd. Lloyd, in a way also in Seattle. Could you help out?

[A]

Hey, Lloyd.

[B]

It's our buddy. Hey, Lloyd. Do the delivery. Lloyd has been a long, long, long time tbt, Alfredo.

[A]

Yes, indeed.

[B]

Thanks, Lloyd. Appreciate you. Great to see your name on this list. Also thanks to Lori Hope of Mukilteo, Washington.

[A]

Thank you, Lori.

[B]

Help me, Lori. You're my. That's a Star wars reference.

[A]

It is, but why? But why?

[B]

I guess her last name is Hope.

[A]

Oh, Hope. I was so focused on the lorry. Sorry, I was trying to figure out what's going on there. Right. No, that makes sense. By the way. Somebody finally explained to me what the show.

[B]

That was a fair response even if.

[A]

You were tracking that joke.

[B]

Yeah, I know, but why?

[A]

I finally understand the Han shot. Shot first T shirts, by the way. Is it Han shot first or first? Like usually the shirts say Han and I didn't realize that had to Camaro. Kev explained this to me on Sunday. The background of it, it had to do with the. The re release of the film and how Lucas sort of changed that scene. I never knew that. I always thought it was just like hardcore. I mean it is hardcore nerdery. But I just thought it was like sort of just more frivolous. But it actually has to do with like kind of being irritated by Lucas for like literally changing the narrative of that scene to make Han seem less murderous in the re release.

[B]

Oh, okay, I see. So that's like the north remembering. Like you can't like when he re released the films he Tried to kind of like spiff up Han Solo's image.

[A]

So here, here's the version that Kamaro Kev told me. But this is a version that Kim told me on Sunday on my second Bloody Mary that I'm now regurgitating to you on Thursday. And I don't know these words very well, these worlds very well, but the good news is our listeners don't either. So let me explain it to you the way I understand it and make everybody else really angry at me, which is this. You know the original scene where Han Solo sitting across from that, what, bounty hunter Greedo?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

All right, I should stop.

[B]

Are they in Mos Eisley's Iceland spaceport? You never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

[A]

I'm not going to add any extra details to this because I'm already getting get the main points wrong. So I'm just going to say they're sitting at a table in a bar, and in the original scene, Han just takes his blaster under the table and shoots this alien creature that he's sitting across from. Yeah. It's my understanding that in the re release in the 90s where they were using digital effects to sort of spiff things up and tweak things here and there, Lucas didn't like the reputation of Han basically murdering somebody. So we apparently used digital technology to make it look like Greedo took the first shot at Han and that Han Khmerrakev said that. That they took some digital technology to make it look like Harrison Ford, like moves over to the left for a second or to the right or something like that.

[B]

I'm looking at people faster. And then you're getting this really right, Andrew.

[A]

Great. Well, thank you. And then Han shoots. And so. So all those shirts that say Han shot first is a repudiation of this bastardization of that scene.

[B]

Well, I mean, Mos Eisley's Space Cantina is a stand your ground cantina.

[A]

That's my understanding. Is it Space cantina? Is that what it is? We always get that wrong too, don't we?

[B]

Well, it's confusing because. What's his name? Alec Guinness? Is that who plays good?

[A]

Yeah, Obi Wan Ben Moss Iceland Spaceport.

[B]

You won't ever find a more wretched hive of scum. So he calls it Moss Eisley Space Port. I think I might have called it Moss Eisley Space Court.

[A]

Oh, I think that's what it was. We always used to say time or two. But I even play that again because.

[B]

I heard it as as clowns there. Yeah, yeah. Moss. Iceland spaceport. You will never find the more wretched high.

[A]

I will say come and villainy. I now I hear port. But I have always thought it was court, too. And I don't think that that is a crazy thing to think, because a food court. You think of a food court. Exactly right.

[B]

But then when you're reading up on. So I'm in Wikipedia now. The smuggler Han Solo, played by Harrison Ford, is cornered by the bounty hunter Greedo, which is played by Paul Blake and also Maria de Aragon in a cantina and is forced at gunpoint to sit. So when you see Mos Eisley's being referenced, it's often called a cantina, I want to say. So that's why there's a little bit of confusion there for us, I can tell you. Andrew, who is thoroughly not confused by this local Star wars knower, Danielle Fontaneu of Bremerton, Washington.

[A]

Thank you, Danielle.

[B]

Thanks, Danielle. So nice to see your name on the list as well, for all these years.

[A]

Appreciate you.

[B]

And then if it isn't Kathleen Lockhart of Buffalo Grove, Illinois.

[A]

Buffalo Grove, yes. That sounds Buffalo Groove.

[B]

It's more of a groove. Buffalo Groove, yes. I saw this clip of Fred Armisen on, Like, Fred. I find Fred Armisen's like, are we. I guess I'm going to call it third act. I really. It's actually a fourth act. I am finding Fred Armisen's fourth act to be so charming.

[A]

What is it?

[B]

I mean, well, okay, so First Wave, First Wave Armisen. Second Wave Armisen. First Wave Armisen is, you know, he was a. He was a drummer in a punk band. I think the band might have been called Trenchmouth. He was just like a punk drummer and who was kind of funny and somehow became, I think, friends with Carrie Brownstein. I don't know if he was on SNL yet. I think he and Carrie Brownstein started just making these videos called, like, Thunder Ants or something.

[A]

Oh, yeah, gosh, I did forget about that.

[B]

Where he would play, like, Saddam Hussein who talks with a. Like, with a Mick Jagger accent.

[A]

Yes. We used to use some of that as intro tape, but it got way too confusing and weird.

[B]

And I don't know if Fred Armisen was on SNL yet by that point, but, I mean, the sense I have is, like, his first thing was he was just, you know, he was a musician, and then he was making these little videos that people thought were funny. He gets on snl, of course. He's amazing on snl. I call that Second Wave Armisenism.

[A]

Do you want to hear any of the thunder?

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Stuff. Okay. I love this. So both of these are listed as Saddam. I think I stopped using because it was unclear without the visuals who this is.

[B]

But he's dressed and I think he is talking about war crimes, maybe.

[A]

Yes, I think he is. Now there's two. There's two of them here.

[B]

Do war crimes anymore? It's not fun like it was in the day.

[A]

I'm not sure what I've grabbed here. I'm gonna play the longer one first. This is a full 42nd, so if it gets bad, we can pull out. Did people ever call you a sellout? You know, when you. When you started getting other people to.

[B]

Make your shirts, did you ever deal with that?

[C]

Well, so busy with the economy of Iraq, education, infrastructure. I can't even think about those things. But I do miss it. I do miss the 50 people. I make a speech to 50 people, literally, and I'd go, yeah, I'm going to take over the world. We're going to take over Kuwait. And those are the days, you know, that's when you. You being a dictator is really being a dictator. You know what I mean? You're not. It's not the same thing now. And I feel for people in Pakistan. I feel for those leaders because they've lost sight of it all.

[B]

It's just what an insane character to come up with. Okay, so then Second Wave Armisen is like. He's on snl, which is, of course, he's incredible at that. And Third Wave is Portlandia.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Which is, of course, really great. Still pops up in my TikTok feed all the time. Bart Skompson. You had to go to law school or wherever you went, you don't know scaw. And then there's, I would say, current day Fred Armisen, which is musical comedian. So he just shows up on things and it's mostly like playing drums in different styles.

[A]

Yeah, he did a whole special on that where he had like a whole bunch of drum sets. Right. And he kind of. They were kind of stretched out kind of into the crowd on the stage, and he kept playing different drum sets.

[B]

And now he'll do that with guitar. He'll kind of just play different styles of guitar. But it's like, this is what. This is, how this sort of band plays or this kind of person does it. This is not going to probably translate to the radio, Andrew, but. And are we in the Badlands yet? We're eight minutes from the Badlands. I'M going to play it for you. Anyway, it's Fred Armisen. I think this is on maybe on either Seth Meyer or Fallon. And he's playing the drums. He's sitting behind the drums. And the premise is he is the drummer for Diana Ross in the song I'm Coming Up. I don't know what that song's actually called, but I love it. And what he's pointing out is that it seems like the drummer was the only one who didn't know the song.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Because the drum part is so delayed and kind of like, just kind of. And so, again, this is so much better with the visual, but it's Fred Armisen trying to get Diana Ross's attention. She's already started the song, and he's just kind of. He's just kind of improving this drum just to kind of, like, do something. And he's saying, Mrs. Ross, Diana. He's trying to get her attention as the insert of the song is playing. Okay, so we'll see.

[A]

This is like a concert stage.

[C]

And let's say that Diana Ross is, like, right there at the microphone. Somewhere off beyond the camera.

[B]

He's looking around. I don't know what this is. He just throws out, like, a totally unsure little couple of beats. Look on his face. This is why this is not working. It's audio. The look of confusion on Fred Armisen's face as the drummer. I love when he starts saying, Mrs. Ross.

[A]

Ms. Ross. Ms. Ross.

[C]

What do you want me to do? How do you guys all know this song?

[B]

It's Fallon, by the way. You might have heard the uproarious laughter that could only mean a Jimmy Fallon segment. Anyway, that did not work on radio, but I would highly recommend that people go check it out online. And I salute Fred Armisen in his. In his. His fourth. Fourth wave.

[A]

So the third wave was Portlandian. Fourth wave is him just showing up and doing all of these and doing.

[B]

I'm gonna call musical comedy.

[A]

Yes. Yes, yes. Yeah.

[B]

Which he's. Which he's great at. We love him very much, and we love our donors. Thank you for making TBTL possible today. We could not do it without you.

[A]

Hello, and welcome to Top Story.

[B]

You know what's funny, Andrew? We're in day four of me having this dog here with me, and she's already starting to, I think, sense what the length of TBTL is. Or, like, I think she just stood up. Like, I think I said something that made her think that this human is wrapping up whatever this weird thing is that he does. Rudy was extremely dialed into the whole.

[A]

Situation, of course, And Bingo, my cat, is as well. It's really interesting, especially I've mentioned this to you, and it must have something to do with how my voice changes when I start talking into a microphone, because it doesn't feel that different to me. But when Genevieve comes in here every Tuesday evening, comes into my studio, and we sit down to do after these messages together, Bingo will follow her in there, in here. He'll jump from the windows. He'll ask for pets. He hangs out with us. He'll sit down, settle down on the windowsill behind me. And Veevs and I are doing. We're talking. We're literally talking into the microphones each other, but we haven't started the show yet. We're just, like, kind of chatting. And then this just happened this last Tuesday. We even had to call it out on the show, because the second we're like, okay, ready to go? Okay, I'm rolling. Music starts. I pull down the music a little bit. I start talking. I'm like, hey, everybody, welcome. After these messages, Bingo immediately, like, happened on our show the other day, just pounces on me from behind and runs out of the studio. And then the moment we are done recording, he comes back into the studio. It's not. Not insulting.

[B]

I know. I mean, that's really. At least Rudy would actually sit there and tolerate it.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Like, the idea that for Bingo, it's like. And it is. It is so strange how they can be so perceptive about something as seemingly imperceptive as the shift in your voice when you're talking into the microphone versus when you're not talking into the microphone speaking. Andrew, of talking into microphones, I'm surprised that you sat on this story for an entire day. I feel like this is a seismic event in our world. And I sent you the link last night. I said, this is our top story tomorrow. And you're like, oh, yeah, I saw that the other day. You are seem a little less scared about the fact that there is this company called Inception Point AI that has started a popular. I don't know if it's popular or not, but a podcasting network that's actually. It kind of has a sort of a funny name. I think it's called Quiet Please.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Which I kind of.

[A]

I don't have a little bit of me right now.

[B]

It's a little bit clever, but it's. It's a podcasting network that is going to just generate podcasts using AI the headline from the Hollywood Reporter. 5,000 podcasts, 3,000 episodes a week, $1 cost per episode, behind an AI startup's plan. It's run by a woman named Janine Wright, who used to be an exec at Wondery, which you. Wondery, how she got fired from that place or moved on? Well, Inception.

[A]

Well, I don't actually. Can I just ask you what you mean by that? Because this seems so in line with the original roots of Wondery, because the original roots of Wondery was, well, we'll make podcasts basically to create IP that we can then make TV shows out of. Right?

[B]

Yes, you're right. I guess I don't know what I meant by that. I was just trying to be clever with Wondery.

[A]

Okay, sorry.

[B]

As you can hear, I feel like.

[A]

This is like such a 2025 version of that, which was like 2013, 2014. Like, oh, yeah, let's grab this next thing that just sort of commodifies this genre and doesn't really care about the genre.

[B]

Speaking of wingdom, another thing that I thought would never work was, like, Wondery, like this idea that you could do these podcasts and then like you said, one of the huge parts of the business would be you make a popular podcast and then, you know, a cable network wants to make a version of the Therapist Next Door or Dirty John or whatever. Did occur to me that that would be as robust as it turned out to be for Wondery. The way that these podcasts work, apparently. They've already got 5,000 shows across the Quiet Please Podcast network, and they produce more than 3,000 episodes a week. Collectively, the network has seen 10 million downloads since September of 2023. It takes about an hour to create an episode. From coming up with the idea to getting it out in the world. The company produces different levels of podcasts. The lowest level involves weather reports for curious geographic areas or simple biographies, and higher level involving subject area podcasts hosted by one of about 50 AI personalities they've created, including food expert Claire Delish, gardener and nature expert Nigel Thistledown, and Oli Bennett, who covers offbeat sports.

[A]

Now, these AI podcast hosts, if we're using the that term, aren't just audio creations. They have headshots as well, which are featured in this article. And there's something about that that is doubly weird to me or concerning. I don't know. I don't know if I'm concerned, to be honest with you. I think it's stupid. But they've created these AI versions of human beings with these headshots. Of these three attractive people, Claire. Delish. How do you feel about that name for the food expert? She's. She's a woman. Probably in her. What would you say, maybe like late 20s? Obviously all of them are attractive. Then we have this square jawed man named Ollie Bennett. What does Ollie do again? You just said, what is his.

[B]

Ollie covers offbeat sports, I believe.

[A]

Off. Okay. I thought that was Nigel Thistledown who did that.

[B]

Andrew, come on. Nigel Thistledown's the gardening expert.

[A]

Oh, of course. That makes total sense. And he's an. Who is depicted here with a kind of a white beard. He's again, handsome, probably, I'm gonna say in his 60s, looks a bit wizened and is wearing. What do you call that material that his sport coat is. He looks a little bit like.

[B]

Is it like tweed or something?

[A]

Yeah, I don't have him in front of me. It's a tweed sport coat. Yeah, exactly. And a tie. So he looks like he's not afraid to get his hands dirty, but they're not dirty right now. He looks professorial.

[B]

That's one of the things that they're trying to do, apparently, is to make these AI hosts into sort of personalities. Yeah, apparently. According to this article, the idea behind the company, let's see. Came after one of these guys, William Corbin, accidentally developed a hit podcast during the pandemic, in which he read daily CDC reports and then branched out into weather reports and other shows that took off. The company now consists of a team of eight, with four working on content. Content. Podcast topics are selected with the help of AI based on Google and social media trends. And then the team may launch five different versions of the show with different titles to see what performs best. The podcasts are often titled after simple SEO search terms such as whales, so that they're discoverable. Now, this part, I have to say, this is this guy, Colin Wright, who was working. Or actually, no, Wright is. Sorry, Janine Wright. This is. Is the. I assume I. I picture Janine Wright as being the woman from 101 Dalmatians. I feel like she's wearing a coat made out of podcasters.

[A]

You know, like, see my cast. See my cast.

[B]

That's right. She says we might make a pollen podcast that maybe only 50 people listen to, but I'm already at unit profitability on that. And so then maybe I can make 500 Pollen Report podcasts. Now, I don't think that's the worst idea I've ever heard. I mean, the thing about this is I've always said to people That I think. Well, because that's the only kind I've ever been capable of making. I think narrow casting is kind of an interesting idea. I think being the best podcast about what the pollen count is, there might be something to that. I kind of like that idea. I just wish it wasn't being generated by these bots. The content team, led by Katie Brown, a former lifestyle television host and home goods expert, gives each podcast a title, creates an outline of the podcast with the content filled out by AI and assigns it one of the personalities as a host. Other team members do a final check and add in music and sound. The shows are also spot checked periodically. Now I have one of these shows here, Andrew, that actually, actually our friend P. Fletch hipped me to yesterday. It's very confusing, actually, because the. It's. It looks like it is hosted by Jason and Travis Kelsey, but it's not. It's called Football Brothers and the art on it is obviously AI generated art that is intended to create people. Two male figures that look strikingly similar to the Kelsey brothers, but are in fact not them. Probably from rights issues, but it's called. As far as I can tell, I believe the podcast is called Football Brothers Podcast. Colon Inside Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift's Relationship Reveal. So a thing we were doing kind of jokingly the other day on the show. This is. Could there be something that's more SEO'd than this? It's clearly created to get people who have a high level of interest in. In the Kelsey's, in Taylor Swift, in whatever. But my understanding is that I'm gonna. I'm gonna hit play on this. This is not going to be the New Heights podcast that is hosted by Jason and Travis Kelsey. This is going to be whatever the heck they're doing over there at. At this AI Podcast network. Here we go. I have not previewed this, by the way.

[D]

Welcome one and all, to another explosive episode of Football Brothers with your host, marvelous Marty Sinclair there. Folks, hold on to your hats because history is knocking louder than a linebagger at the goal line. This week we've got a story that's juicier than a Fourth of July watermelon. And trust me, you do not want to blink and miss a single detail.

[B]

Stop. Because it's too good.

[A]

I was. I'm sorry, I wasn't telling you to stop the tape. That was confusing. I was telling him to. Why? How are we 20 seconds into this and he's made two terrible analogies that are completely unnecessary. Does a linebacker knock at the door. What did he say? Like a. No. That was terrible.

[B]

Yes, that was.

[D]

It's absolute bedlam, folks, as we dive headlong into the past seven days and the whirlwind lives of Travis and Jason Kelsey. From locker room drama to romantic gestures worthy of a John Hughes movie. From podcast bombshells to gritter on grit.

[A]

Who's.

[B]

He called it John who's.

[A]

Who's first.

[B]

Who's. That's. By the way, when I listen to the like, AI Voice doing, you know, reading me my magazine articles. Yeah, those are the little things that'll get you, like, it's. It's kind of doing a semi human job. And then it'll call it John who's.

[A]

Oh, my God. Can I just. And I know that you set this up, and I do want to hear more of this, but can I just mention something? The way you described this podcast is a little bit different than when I looked it up when I just googled Football Brothers Podcast. First of all, I had to, like, scroll through a whole bunch of the actual New Heights podcast, which is really it. And then eventually you get to the Apple podcast page for this podcast. And I don't know if this is the same thing you're looking at, but it is so unbelievably misleading. The art for it says this in order. And this is also the full title of it. Jason and Travis Kelsey, Football Brothers. Yeah, that is the official name of this podcast. And then, like you said, there's two men on there who look remarkably like literally Jason, Travis. How is this not a lawsuit? I got to say, I didn't. When I read this article the other day, I didn't know about these particular details. This, to me, it's less about AI and more about like, literally infringement. Like, this seems like you are. This seems like a lawsuit. Like, you are literally confusing the marketplace. And potentially you're. Look, you're taking people who are looking for a podcast. You're using their names to misdirect them into your podcast so you can make money. How are they not suing?

[B]

Yeah, that's a really good point. This is also, again, the first that I'm really delving into this outside of reading the article. So I was also unfamiliar with. Yeah, just how clearly they're. They're just stealing. You know, they're stealing their likeness and image. Image and. And tricking people into. I wonder how. I wonder what. It would be really interesting to somehow see what the sort of average. The TSL is. The time spent listening for people that accident into this, if that makes any sense. You know what I mean?

[A]

Like, short shows to. I see here, too. They're like six minutes long.

[B]

Yeah, I guess this one is 5:45. Oh, it won't let me skip ahead. I wanted to skip ahead because what our friend Pflech sent me.

[D]

So settle in and let.

[B]

Okay, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm actually gonna hit play, but I'm gonna mute it so you don't have to listen to it.

[A]

I might be able to skip ahead. By the way, I have the whole Apple page here in.

[B]

Oh, nice. Okay, can you get to the 4:15 mark in the show?

[A]

Well, there's a whole bunch of episodes, so I need to make sure that we're looking at the. That I'm looking at the right episode. Is this the August 16 episode? Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift reveal love story at New Heights podcast Amid.

[B]

If you can go to the four minute mark. Okay, there was. I don't know if it's still in there, but Phyllis was in her car playing it and then sent me a video of it. There's. Somehow the thing goes HayWire at about 4:15 where it's just like the AI directing something to do something. But can you just.

[A]

Yeah, I'm looking for it now. Sorry, the. The interface is a. I wasn't super familiar with it. I'm jumping in here a little bit before the four minute mark just to give us some time, see if it does the things.

[D]

But folks, it would not be Football Brothers without some classic Travis and Jason banter. The podcast was bursting with playful teasing and genuine admiration. Taylor declared that the show itself played matchmaking quipping. This podcast got me a boyfriend. Ever since Travis used it as a dating app, their chemistry was undeniable, with flirty asides and inside jokes flying across the microphones. At one point, Travis couldn't help but gush that Taylor is the greatest songwriter of all time and the smartest woman in the world. Leaving her blushing and listeners everywhere cheering, Taylor shot back her own compliments, praising Travis's ability to make her laugh.

[B]

Laugh.

[D]

And describing him as a human exclamatic. I ocean point. The energy between them was so.

[B]

I think that was it.

[A]

That's it. Exclamatic point. Hold on, let me go back and see.

[B]

What did he say? What did it say? Don't praise the machine.

[A]

Don't praise the machine. Let's take a listen to this again. So it tries to say exclamation point.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[D]

To make her laugh and describing him As a human exclamation I. Ocean point.

[B]

Can you grab that?

[A]

I was gonna say we have to isolate that.

[B]

And full credit to Pflech, who hipped me to this. I would have never gotten this far into the file.

[A]

Full producer credit today.

[B]

Human exclamatic a point. Now, here's the thing, though, like, obviously, like this in its current form is. Is. I don't think it's very entertaining and I don't think. Think that there's a ton of people who will seek this out. But I mean, like, every conversation with AI is just. Yeah, but what about when it gets better and better? And also like this just this flooding the Zone thing, it's so.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I mean, honestly, it's so. I know that, like, look, I know it's not particularly new or novel for a person who works in a certain kind of industry to lament when technology comes in and changes that industry. You know, there was a bunch of people that were making horse and buggies that were really pissed about Henry Ford, you know, like, so I, like, I don't have a right to be a podcaster if someone comes along with some technology that makes more interesting stuff that people like more than what we're doing. I don't have some inalienable right to do this. That being said, this just feels gross to me. This line from the former Wondery exec, Janine Wright, who's running this, that says, I think that people who are still referring to all AI generated content as AI still slop are probably lazy Luddites.

[A]

Yeah, I love that she's insulting the people that she's trying to win over. Like that. To me, that was the thing. I think I even texted that to you. I'm just like, that. That's what stood out to me. Just the rudeness of that. You're being featured in an article talking about your new service that you're putting out there, let's call it that. And you're saying, yeah, and the people who aren't into this are. Are Luddites. They're idiots. They don't get it. Yeah, that. I hated that. That.

[B]

Yeah, that's like. I mean, can you imagine wanting to make a living so badly that you're. You're willing to be team AI Slop, Right? Like, that's like. Like that. That's. That's the. That's the wagon that you're going to hit. I'm going to keep going with this horse and wagon thing. Like, that's who you want to be and you want to Be critical of, like, real. You know, I mean, honestly, just have the. Have the good sense to at least do this under the COVID of night. At least have a shell company, have some factory that looks like it makes Adirondack chairs. And then inside it, you're actually doing this and lie about what the company does. Don't just be out there being like, if you think AI is slop, you're a Luddite. It's like, God, I can't believe this is the hill that this person wants to go plant their flag in.

[A]

I know that everybody is thinking this, and so it's obvious to say. But it reminds me of when the Smashing Pumpkins released their father fourth studio album called Adore. And it was an experimental album where they changed their sound quite a bit and started messing around, I believe, with more like kind of an electric sound or more of a. Maybe more of a processed sound of some sort. And Billy Corgan said he was disappointed in his fans for not coming along with him. He, like, he. They basically released an album that people didn't like, and then he blamed the people for being too dumb to enjoy the record or not being big enough fans. I was like, that's not how this works, Billy Corgan. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

Anyway, I knew you were about to say that, so I just wanted to get it in there.

[B]

Well, thank you for. Yeah, you wanted to get credit for that. Billy.

[A]

Billy Corgan. For the Adore comparison that everybody was thinking of.

[B]

So, I mean, I tend to think I was saying this to you in our text messaging yesterday, which was like, again, I think we are. We are weirdly insulated against this because. Because it is so niche what we do. And the people that like this are. We are not getting generalists that are listening to this show or people that just kind of want to hear, like, a recap of. I mean, there are podcasts that are probably recapping what happens on New Heights because it's so popular or, like, you know, there are. There are people that want to listen to something that is essentially the, I don't know, Entertainment Tonight of podcasting or something that's just very general, very breezy. It's giving you some information on something that's not as linked to the personality of the personalities of the people doing the talking. There is a version of that out in the world. That's not what we're making. It's going to be a long, long time before they can get the AI again. Would the. I even consider launching a new segment called Badlands.

[A]

No, I think so. Don't think so. You know, melt it down. I want to go back to something you said a moment ago because it's something that I say a lot, or at least that I try to examine a lot. When conversations about kind of progress or technological progress, societal progress moves forward, people will often say like, well, you can't cling to the past. And I'm always thinking of that. Like things change, you know, you use the classic buggy whip example, right? Like you're not going to like say, hey, we shouldn't make cars because it'll put the buggy whip industry out of business. That's like in the classic cliche thing there. And I'm all for progress and not clinging to the past for. For no good reason. I think that part of the conversation about going back to work, these companies are trying to force people to go back to work. Not necessarily because it makes jobs better or the product better, but because they have real estate and cities are losing tax revenue from not having bustling downtowns. And that sort of seems to me like, well, you can't, we're in a different place as a society now. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube on these things. So that's generally how I approach things like progress, things move on. Don't cling to the past just because it's the past. However. However, yesterday on the show or maybe the day before, you were talking about passing the old buildings that used to be newspapers when they were these. Just these big buildings that housed these institutions that were doing really important work. Now I want to be careful here. I'm not saying that what we're doing on TBTL is really important work. And I'm not saying that we're journalists. Certainly I'm not saying it.

[B]

Most people do sign their emails to us.

[A]

Us.

[B]

What you do is so. No, it is a good point. No, there is a point in which we have to acknowledge that to the people that like this show, it is important.

[A]

Actually, that's a really good point. I didn't even say that as a jokey self deprecation line. I meant it more like we're not doing investigative journalism that is holding people in power's feet to the fire. And what we're doing is important to the people who listen to the show and I really appreciate that and I didn't mean to be dismissive of it. But when you do talk about the importance of a strong, free, well funded press, I don't want to compare myself to that. And when you were talking about seeing the parking. So you said sort of two things yesterday that struck me. When you're talking about sort of, kind of like the. The changing in the newspaper industry. And you said you'd see the beautiful buildings where they used to be housed. And now the newspaper is just like a little corner of that, while God knows what. The rest of that building is probably making AI slope, while a couple of journalists are just sort of like, trying to like, kind of recap headlines that they saw on Reddit or whatever. That's a pretty insulting way to describe some people doing some tough work. But, like, that's the worst of the worst, Right? And you also mentioned passing these parking lots that used to house or used to, like, sort of. Yeah, like, kind of like store all of the trucks that would do delivery of the newspapers down by the stadium. And there were two sort of things that there. The idea that newspapers aren't delivered by truck anymore, that's just technology moving on. We can get good news online. So the empty parking lot is, to me, a marker of how times have changed, but not necessarily for the better or for the worst. Just we get our information differently now. But when you actually look at the state of journalism today in 2025, it is inarguably worse than it was 20 years ago or 30 years ago. I'm not one of those people who says journalists and newspapers were always doing good. There's been yellow journalism. There was, you know, like, literally, there's a lot of shady stuff going on in the 1900s, newspapers that were like, tail wagging the dog, getting us into wars and stuff. So, I mean, the press has always had its own issues, but, like, as an institution that holds feet to the fire and truth to power and all of the. Those high ideals that does not exist anymore. So I just sort of want to break apart this idea that, yeah, sometimes time marches on and that's okay. But also, sometimes things do get shittier. And I think that's maybe what we're looking at now.

[B]

Yes. And I think also there is an argument that, like, so when the automobile came in and replaced the horse and buggy, you know, that was a bummer. Bummer for the people making the buggies. But then it also meant a lot of people were making cars. Cars. Yeah. And a lot of people were, you know, there were a lot of jobs that were created around that, and a lot of people found purpose in that and were able to raise their families, etc. Like, I can't see a world in which Farming more and more, quote unquote, creative stuff. I mean, not that podcasters constitute. Well, actually, maybe they do. I was gonna say not the podcasters constitute a large part of the labor force, but who knows? Could be a significant at this point with how many podcasts there are. But, like, I. I feel like there is something that is.

[A]

Is.

[B]

That is truly a bummer about taking something that human beings were doing and trying to figure out the best way to just have a piece of software do it. Not only just because of the loss of job, but the sort of the loss of creativity, the loss of humanity, the loss of like. I mean, I forget who it was who said this, but it was like, you know, the promise at some point of technology and of the AI and things like this was that we could have the robots and the machinery do all of the stuff we want, want to, we didn't want to do, and then that would free us up to do all the interesting creative stuff we do want to do. And somehow it seems like, no, the AI is making the podcast, and the only job that the AI can't take away is picking up litter on the side of the road.

[A]

Picking apples. Yeah, exactly, picking apples.

[B]

Like, you know, we're. We're like, somehow it seems like the progression is towards the humans doing more of the jobs that can be physically really demanding and also maybe intellectually not that stimulating. And the other stuff, the, you know, we're gonna let the robots handle all the fun stuff. They're going to be making the art, they're going to be doing the paintings, making the music.

[A]

You know what AI should be doing? AI should be doing your concur forms. No, but you're doing your concur forms while AI is. You are. When you want to get paid.

[B]

AI should be not doing my concur forms for me. Like I am.

[A]

Right, exactly. No, it's like there are so many things like that that we should be letting the robots do, and instead it's kind of like, oh, no, this is great, at some point we won't need real musicians anymore. Well, who wants that?

[B]

Right? Exactly. I think that's a worse outcome. Not just. I mean, partially because it means that musicians can't make a living doing this art that they're really good at. And also just because it's like, it's important to human existence that we express ourselves creatively. And if we farm that all out, it's like, I just, I mean, I really can't get over how sinister this whole company sounds. And in particular, this Woman, Janine Wright. Like, I just. I. Again, I could kind of understand if this was some sort of a, like, Palantir level, like, weird sort of, you know, DARPA project that they're like, I don't know. I want to blame DARPA for this, but you know what I mean, if it was, like, a secret project that was uncovered by Pablo Torre, by the way.

[A]

By the way, you just feel like there's not enough shame involved.

[B]

Involved, exactly. There should be. I mean, you know, this is what unfettered capitalism does, and I'm not surprised it's happening. I'm surprised at how unapologetic they are. Speaking of Pablo Torre, I think you mentioned this to me, but he actually had. This is my obsession du jour. Pablo Torre finds out he had a piece on this American Life this week that was actually phenomenal. Did you listen to that piece?

[A]

You know, it was one of those things that was. Once again, Luke. It leads back to my shower. I turned on the radio and it was on, but it was one of those things. And I used to hear program directors say this way back when this American life seemed like a very new and sort of risky venture to put on your airwaves. I mean, how long ago is that, right? But I remember the ding against it was, if a listener jumps into the middle of a story, you're totally lost. And that's what happened to me with the Pablo thing. I turned on my radio, I heard his voice. I was like, oh. Because I was looking for it on the dial, and I was like, oh, this must be. This must be Pablo on public radio. What is this? But then my mind kind of wandered because I didn't hear the beginning. I knew it had something to do with soccer. Right? A soccer player.

[B]

He's interviewing this guy who sort of was a prankster, which I know is. You're not into prankerism. But this one was pretty entertaining. This guy was talking about how when he was, like, a teenager, he and his buddies. This guy's, I think, British, so he's really into soccer. And they had basically started a rumor that this one player was gonna be going to, like, I think it was maybe Birmingham or whatever, some, like, Premier League team, and they had successfully gotten this rumor into the water supply so that the coach of the team had to deny the rumor that this player was coming. They had basically called a hotel and faked, like they were his agent and pretended they were renting a room for this player at this hotel in the town that they were trying to promote. You Know, pretend he was going to be maybe. So they kind of thought, oh, that was so cool and fun that we got this rumor started. And so at some point, years later, he's watching the Olympics, this guy is, and he sees, I think it's the Honduran national team. He sees a guy on the, a very average player on the team from Honduras and he goes to Wikipedia and he creates an entire fictional stat line for this guy where this guy is just like scoring like goal after goal and he's getting all these assists and he's doing this slowly over time so nobody really notices it. It just becomes now this guy's Wikipedia plays this random.

[A]

Wow, they're pretty strict on Wikipedia too. Man. Things get flagged very easily.

[B]

This was a long time ago. Yeah, so maybe it was. Yeah, maybe before they had as much kind of, whatever you want to call it, as many safety measures or accuracy. But he gets all this stuff on there and he even comes up with this nickname for the guy, which is the Honduran Maradona. As in like Diego Maradona, the famous. Who I've been calling Maradona for a million years, except I heard Pablo Torre call him Maradona today. So now I have to do that because he rules everything around, around me. Anyway, so this guy gets this whole thing and he, and he basically like pumps up this player's resume and then he sees a notice that an mlb, an MLS team from Houston has paid this guy a million dollars.

[A]

Whoa.

[B]

Just based on Durin Maradona. And so anyway, I won't, I won't ruin the story, but basically like he, he gets this guy all this attention and this guy ends up getting his million dollar contract. Contract. And then anyway, 10 years later, after all of this, this guy, this British guy who's now like a journalist goes and basically goes and talks to the team in Houston and goes and talks to the guy in Honduras about like what happened when a guy who was very much not the Maradona of the Honduras, of Honduras showed up for his million dollar contract at a pro team in Houston.

[A]

That's great.

[B]

It's a good story. It's a real good story and I would highly recommend, recommend it. They don't even have a badlands on.

[A]

Pablo Torre finds out to their detriment.

[B]

Exactly. They're too afraid. There's a right way to rock and.

[A]

A wrong way to roll. You can't just listen to your song. Just remember that life is number one. You can be having so much fun. Just remember the day life is Much fun. You can be nothing but. Luke. Are you ready to blurs?

[B]

Ah, I was born ready.

[A]

Do you know how people can blurs?

[B]

Let's see. In the privacy of their own home.

[A]

First and foremost, with full consent. That's right.

[B]

No, it probably involves emailing you.

[A]

Right, Email me. My email address is andrewbtl.net, you put blurs in the subject line and you write a short little message either to yourself or celebrating somebody in your life who has a birthday. And Rachel did that. Rachel says, Happy 50th birthday to me. My husband and four besties all turned the big five zero this year. I'm the only 10 in the group, so they will not understand my blurs day joy. But I had to include them. Anyway. Anyway. I love you, Cal, Nina, Sam, Julie and Franny. Happy birthday, everybody. Happy Thursday, Rachel. Could it be Nenna N E. N A. Could that be. Is it Nana Cherry? Weren't we just talking about Buffalo stance a little bit ago? Or was I just thinking about Buffalo?

[B]

I think you were thinking about. But you were thinking about Buffalo Grove, Illinois.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And then I thought of Buffalo. Buffalo stand.

[A]

And that's Nana Cherry, right?

[B]

Yes. I always heard it as Nayna, but I bet you that was Nayna Cherry. I was always. It was Nayna Cherry, but I bet you that was an American mispronunciation of Nana Cherry's name.

[A]

I don't. Well, I will. Don't let me introduce new evidence into that because I don't know if I've ever heard it before. I think I've just always said it that way because I've seen it written down. But all of that is to say happy blursday to Rachel and gang. Oh, this is a real. How. How do you do? How do you do? Making me read greetings in other languages, but I'll do my best. Yes. This one is Italian. What? What is ulala in Italian?

[B]

I think it's Ulala.

[A]

It's still Ulala. Okay, good. Well, you know, it's Europe. Yeah.

[B]

How do you mean? How does an Italian. How would an Italian say.

[A]

I think of. Oh la las. Or Ulala is being kind of a French into.

[B]

Yeah, definitely. It seems French to me. But like Italians would say bellissimo. Beautiful bellissimo.

[A]

That's a spicy O la la. I might be getting closer. Yeah, that's good.

[B]

I'll take it.

[A]

Bu Campano to our five autumn. Do you think I got that right? Bu Campano.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

To our five autumn. I know you're having a great time during Your semester abroad in Florence, Italy. It took 22 years, but you're finally getting to spend a birthday in the country that you were born in. Can't wait to see you at Christmas. Love, Mama. Ibabo.

[B]

Cute.

[A]

Sophia says, happy belated first birthday to my five. Alice, your dad and I love you more than you can imagine. More than you love oatmeal. Wow, That's a lot. I'm so glad we didn't name you Citizen. Or Clamit. I can't believe I missed wishing you a golden blur. Now, I know I've. I've always said that chlamydia sounds like it would be a good name if it didn't mean something else. Yeah, but is Citizen. Citizen is something you brought to the conversation, right? Were there people named Citizen?

[B]

I thought that was Citizen.

[A]

I thought that was something that you were riffing on at one point years ago.

[B]

I've done so many patented riffs.

[A]

Yeah, sure. Anyway, Happy Blurs Day. Citizen or Alice, whatever you go by now. John says, Happy 51st Blurs Day to me. I didn't write in last year, mostly since I was in the middle of what was close to the worst stretch of my life. But the last nine months have been close to the best of my life. So I'm ringing in the next year filled with gratitude and joy. Thanks for the show, being a steady hand through it all. Ah, John. I'm glad to hear that things are taking an uptick. Happy Blursday. Jerome and Anna sent in this message. Happy 13th birthday to Lily. An absolute delight of a kid makes parenting impossibly fun. Our only. You're fun. You're just impossibly fun. Our only challenges are living with a theater nerd who can't contain the impulse to dance and sit all the time. And the brain rot terms us elder millennials can't keep up with. What does turtle furt mean? Anyway, Happy birthday. Yaya. You're pretty. All right. Amanda says, Happy Blurs Day and many more. Amanda says, happy Blurs Day and many more. To my cup of tea, John. East Grand Rapids, Michigan. Cute. I like that one. Came in a little bit like a. Like, what were those messages? A telegraph. A little bit. Happy Blurs Day and many more. Stop. To my cup of tea, John, stop. East Grand Rapids, Michigan. Happy Blurs day, John. And thanks for writing in, Amanda. Ishmael says wishing the beautiful and extraordinarily talented Hemi a truly wonderful Blurs day. Luke.

[B]

Hey, it's our pal Hemi.

[A]

Hemi was just a donor this week. I Believe a donor that we mentioned and thanked him the air. Thank you again, Hemi. And happy blursday. Ishmael says we've started many adventures, often accompanied by the comforting familiarity and cozy, gentle laughter of TBTL. Not only are you a perfect 10, but an amazing mom, wife and friend who brings joy to everyone around you. With peace and love from your devoted 11. Moving towards a 10 and a half.

[B]

Cute. That's really, really sweet.

[A]

Yeah. And this will wrap us up here.

[B]

As a shorty today.

[A]

No, I got one more. Hold on. I got one more. This will wrap us up here. Tiffany in New Jersey says, I'd like to wish my old pal Lisa with two eyes in Tacoma a happy birthday. Tomorrow is her actual blurs day, so she's still a listener. If she's still a listener.

[B]

If she's a what? I know. I've seen Lisa ball games. I'm friends with Lisa.

[A]

Oh wow. If she's still a listener. It never even occurred to me that Lisa was. It wouldn't still be. Is she listening to that AI slop? Ugh, I sound like a Luddite.

[B]

God, she's such an out of touch Luddite.

[A]

Tomorrow is her actual blurs day, so she's still a listener. It's a win. If not, I have no power out. Except that I did get my harmonica today. Woohoo. What you do is so important. I didn't know that the harmonicas were.

[B]

Already shipping John Flaroff, man, major props.

[A]

All right, now that ends the official blurse segment. What did you have, Luke?

[B]

I have a little belated blurs day that somebody wanted to hit me to of our friend listener Rachelle in Lakewood, Colorado, who had a blurs day last week and I believe. Did you wish Rachelle a blurs day? A happy blurs day this week? Was that on your list?

[A]

Well, I had a blurs day message from somebody. I pronounced it Rachel, saying Happy 50th Blurs Day to me.

[B]

No, this person was being shouted out by a friend of theirs. It was actually last week. They're a big TBTL fan. Fan. And it didn't come together to wish them a blurs during their actual blurs day week. Maybe they were a bit bummed out about that. So we want to make sure that Rachelle in Lakewood, Colorado is getting her blurs day due.

[A]

So people are sending you blurs days now.

[B]

And maybe most shockingly, I'm checking them.

[A]

And you're checking them. Interesting. Cutting me under the loop.

[B]

That's how I think this was Somebody who maybe is not a. I think this is a pal who is not a TBTL listener. Because if they were, they would know that sending an email to me is one of the worst possible ways to get something on the air on tbtl. But somehow, miraculously, this one worked every now and then. Yep.

[A]

Stop. Fuck. Right? Wasn't that Shonda tore blind Squirrel? Wasn't that Shonda Torre's profile? Official TBTL profile on the website for a long time. That's it. I thought it was like a stop clock is at least right twice a day or something like that.

[B]

That sounds. Sounds plausible.

[A]

Anyway, good times.

[B]

All right, my friend. All right. I guess that's going to. Did we have. We didn't really have Badlands today because we had blurs days.

[A]

Not.

[B]

Yeah, super. But maybe tomorrow.

[A]

Yeah, tomorrow's a Friday. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, tomorrow's gonna be. I think it's gonna be primed for Badlands. You know what? I'm. I'll talk about it tomorrow. I am trying something this weekend. That is a terrible idea. I am playing golf with my brother Sammy.

[A]

Oh, interesting.

[B]

18 holes of real golf on Saturday. Something I have not done in 30 years.

[A]

I've literally never golfed before one year back.

[B]

He's also good at golf and I am bad at golf. And I don't know how this is going to go. So I guess that's more of a Monday story. More of a thing to report on a Monday. But in the meantime, that's going to do it for today's edition of the program. The good news is we will be back here tomorrow with more imaginary race. So please, if you can join us for that. In the meantime, have a great Thursday. Take care of yourselves. Go Mariners. And please remember, no mountain too tall.

[A]

And good luck to all.

[C]

How you doing? I'm Saddam Hussein. I'm the evil one. But listen, if you're gonna go out and have a good time, wear your condoms. It's not worth it, not worth the trouble, not worth the pregnancy. Let's keep it down to a minimum. Use condoms.

[A]

Power out.