#4554 Tee Shots & Terrible Towels

Summary

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TBTL #4554: "Tee Shots & Terrible Towels"

Date: September 15, 2025
Hosts: Luke Burbank (B), John Sklaroff (A) [Filling in for Andrew Walsh]

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Episode Overview

This vibrant Monday episode welcomes John Sklaroff as co-host while Andrew attends to family matters. Luke and John lean into their rapport, riffing on golf misadventures, the quirks of meeting strangers while playing, Pittsburgh Steelers fandom in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, and the inside baseball of TBTL donor logistics. Throughout, the episode is shot through with TBTL’s signature blend of mundane hilarity and affectionate self-deprecation—a mix designed to bring listeners both comfort and comic catharsis.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Golf Adventures With Strangers

Timestamps: [02:33] – [29:13]

• Luke’s Golf Weekend

  • Luke recounts his “killer weekend” playing golf with his brother Sam and two strangers, detailing his anxiety about etiquette, technical skill, and being paired with others.
  • Never having driven a golf cart before at age 49, Luke admits to feeling “oddly nervous” about all the unwritten rules and logistical steps.

• Golfing Etiquette Demystified

  • Discussion on complex and arbitrary golfing customs (e.g., not stepping on someone’s ‘line’ on the green), with John poking fun at the seriousness of these traditions.
  • Quote [10:30] – John (A): "A lot of the unwritten rules are silly, this is absurd to me because, one, you're not playing on pristine...there are other people stepping all over the greens all day. So, like, those divots are likely there already."

• Being Paired With “Terrible Towel” Guy

  • Luke and Sam are paired with a Steelers fan who has little actual knowledge of the Steelers, much to Luke's amusement and gentle exasperation.
  • Quote [13:00] – Luke (B): "I want to let everyone know...that I have not been on a real golf course in like 20 years and that this could really suck."

• First Tee Jitters and Modest Victories

  • Luke describes deep nerves before his first swing, but manages to stay on the fairway and gets a par—relief washes over him, which sets the tone for a relaxed round.
  • Quote [25:54] – Luke (B): "I was the relief that, like, washed over me was palpable...it was the only par that I got the whole day. Yeah, it was the first hole."

• Mutual Incompetence as Bonding

  • The group’s actual play is as average as Luke’s—lots of talk about ideal shots but few delivered—leveling the social stakes and making the experience fun rather than stressful.

• Golf as a Gateway to ‘Cart Life’

  • The delight of driving the cart is only marginally related to the sport itself; John and Luke riff on this simple pleasure.

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2. The Mystery and Magnetism of Chain Restaurants and Local Amenities

Timestamps: [41:36] – [44:53]

• Local Costco FOMO

  • Luke bemoans how the new Ridgefield, WA, Costco (in donor Michelle Coggin’s town) could have been mere minutes from his house, but local leadership only wanted to lease, not sell, land.
  • Quote [44:05] – Luke (B): "I almost had that Costco, like, two minutes from my house...I am, I have to say, I was retroactively—and this is what exurban life is doing to me—depressed that that one could have been at my very doorstep."

• Perpetual Lines at In-N-Out

  • John is mystified at the willingness to wait hours for chain food, referencing local excitement around Olive Garden and In-N-Out openings.

• Changing Face of Local Commerce

  • Luke shares about new development nearby and reminisces about adjusting to the lack of walkable amenities, contrasting big-city life to rural Washington.

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3. TBTL Behind the Scenes: Listener Donations and Thank-You Logistics

Timestamps: [51:08] – [56:21]

• Mailing Out Thank-You Gifts

  • John explains the logistics behind mailing TBTL donor thank-you gifts (harmonicas, melodicas, stickers, tambourines) and the sense of community in seeing familiar names.
  • Quote [51:27] – John (A): "It is not a thankless job...People are just very gracious and grateful. I feel the love and I'm thankful for that love."

• Shipping Notes & Treat Discourse

  • The shipping software pings them every time a shipment is made—a technological thrill for John, and a reminder of the ongoing, year-long thank-you process.

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4. Streaming, TikTok Trends, and What We’re Watching

Timestamps: [65:50] – [71:43]

• What Are We Watching?

  • Luke contemplates starting the HBO show “Task” (with Mark Ruffalo), recommended for fans of ‘Mare of Easttown’.
  • John and his partner are pacing themselves through ‘The Bear’ and have recently watched the Netflix catfishing documentary.
  • Quote [66:44] – Luke (B): "Do you find yourself yelling ‘Yes, Chef!’ to each other in the kitchen when preparing dinner?"

• TikTok Trend Taxonomy

  • Both riff on what makes a trend go viral, the chaotic ecosystem of TikTok, and how certain memes propagate within specific demos (with the “holy freaking airball” meme as an example).

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5. Nostalgia, Sports, and Local Color

Timestamps: [49:08] – [50:53]; [61:56] – [65:07]

• Dunwoody, GA, and Calling Places ‘Tiny’

  • Luke apologizes to listener David in Dunwoody, GA, for calling his city “tiny,” after being corrected that it's really just a suburb of Atlanta.

• Chicago Adventures and John Cusack Sighting

  • Luke reminisces about the time he took the “kids” to a Cubs game courtesy of owner Tom Ricketts and sat near John Cusack – a massive cool-parent moment.
  • Quote [63:15] – Luke (B): "I've never had more baseball cred or more just--no, no more fathering cred...we were watching a Cubs game at Wrigley Field next to John Cusack."

• Movie References and Gently Mocking Film Tropes

  • John and Luke discuss ‘Gross Point Blank’ and radio inaccuracy in film, riffing about how movies always depict studios without headphones.

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6. Existential Dread, Pop Culture Mirrors, and Handmaid’s Tale Comps

Timestamps: [71:23] – [72:43]

• When Dystopia Hits Too Close
  • The hosts acknowledge the difficulty in watching ‘Andor’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, given current political realities—what once seemed like hyperbole now feels prescient.
  • Quote [71:43] – Luke (B): "I remember when the Handmaid's Tale came out...now I'm just like, what I would give for it only being the Handmaid's Tale."

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Performing for Strangers:
  • [13:00] Luke: “I just don’t want them to think that I don’t know that I’m bad at this, because I know, you know?”
• On Golf Group Dynamics:
  • [17:59] John: “He’s flying it on his bag, though. It is his personality. He’s putting it out there on front street.”
• On Hitting Par:
  • [25:54] Luke: "Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. I was very, I was—the relief that, like, washed over me was palpable."
• On Costco Near-Misses:
  • [44:05] Luke: “I almost had that Costco, like, two minutes from my house, which would have…”
• On the Never-ending Quest for Treats:
  • [54:42] Luke: "...if I don’t have some little fun treat out there that’s in the process of being processed and mailed to me..."
• On Viral Internet Culture:
  • [58:59] Luke: "I am so completely incapable of imagining what the next trend will be, you know..."
• On TV’s Uncanny Prescience:
  • [71:43] Luke: "...it is now so much worse than the Handmaid’s Tale. Like, I just remember thinking, like, that's—we're being a little dramatic here people. And now I'm just like, what I would give for it only being the Handmaid's Tale."

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Start | End | |-----------------------------------------------|------------|------------| | Playing Golf With Strangers | 02:33 | 29:13 | | Chain Restaurant Mania & Costco FOMO | 41:36 | 44:53 | | TBTL Donor Logistics & Thank-Yous | 51:08 | 56:21 | | TV Talk (Bear, Mare of Easttown, TikTok) | 65:50 | 71:43 | | Dystopia vs. Reality: Handmaid’s Tale | 71:43 | 72:43 |

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Memorable Moments

• Luke’s “Cart Life” Revelation: Realizing that sometimes driving the golf cart is the best part of playing.
• Encountering a Steelers Fan With No Steelers Knowledge: The hilarity of sporting a Terrible Towel while relying on only a vague understanding of team history.
• John’s Donor Box “Show Pic”: The idea of proudly showing off the stacked boxes of mailed thank-yous, relishing the logistical grind.
• Meta Podcast Jokes About Audio Drops and Jobs: The recurring bits about who’s “doing the job” and wry technical self-deprecation.
• Golf Scoring App Absurdity: The app literally wouldn’t allow Luke to log as many strokes as he took on one hole.

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Tone & Style

Conversational, gently self-mocking, filled with affectionate asides and lightly absurd tangents. Jokes and throwback bits arise organically. The energy is upbeat, with John’s presence bringing a lively yet grounded dynamic as he fills in for Andrew. Well-paced, with generous space for both hosts’ stories and the familiar TBTL mix of the trivial and the tender.

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For the TBTL Completist or the Curious

If you love self-deprecating “guy tries to golf with strangers” stories, mid-tier Pacific Northwest sports rivalries, and inside looks at how your favorite public radio-adjacent podcasts actually ship your loot, this is essential listening. Also a treat for anyone sentimental about Chicago, Costco, or the subtle joys of driving a golf cart.

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Sample Quote for Sharing

“My whole thing was I just wanted to have one hole where I hit a couple of shots that felt like I was playing golf—not like an alien who had been quantum leapt onto the golf course and was holding a golf club for the first time.”
—Luke Burbank [26:01]

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Transcript

[A]

About nine years ago, I managed to convince myself that I was nine years old. Every day I walk out into the street, I see things as a nine year old would see them. Does that make sense?

[B]

Yes and no. I mean, you're.

[A]

What are you, sat on a bed? It's not. It's a bouncy bounce. Bouncy bounce. Okay. What are those on your feet? They're shoes. They're not. They're your choo choos.

[B]

I mean, how else do you live like a 9 year old? I mean, you're drinking.

[A]

You're drinking alcohol. This isn't alcohol. This is wee wee. You can do this. Really stand up. Okay. Okay. Come on. Shake it off. That's it.

[B]

I feel silly. I know.

[A]

Grown. You're nine years old.

[B]

It would be nice to not care as much about what other people thought.

[A]

It's the best. I AM Michelle. I'm Ms. Mash Michelle Macy. Want to go jump on the bed? I'm a bouncy bounce. Get off there. What? Come off there. Not on Daddy's bouncy bounce. You know this tbtl.

[B]

The first part of being smart is knowing what to do.

[A]

We're gonna.

[B]

We're gonna know. We're gonna have systems in place that are easier to learn.

[A]

Cause when we can put that. Cause we.

[B]

When we can learn our system and we can get good at our system, then our talent can take over. Can I throw something on you?

[A]

See if it feels good? Sure. Okay. This is what I would do. I would start with a joke.

[B]

Vince Vaughn quote, obviously. Swingers or Crashers?

[A]

Fred Claus. Can I just stop you real quick and just say what a wonderful atmosphere you have here?

[B]

A lot of energy, a lot of motion, a lot of fun, a lot.

[A]

Of high fiving, a lot of smiles. You're both little troublemakers.

[B]

You're both huge in Japan.

[A]

You probably have a lot to talk about. Go keep things light.

[B]

Don't bring up your divorce. Well, all right. Hello, good morning and welcome, everyone, to a Monday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. As Florence Machine says, the doll days are over. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host.

[A]

There's a Hidden Valley Ranch party in.

[B]

My mouth coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio perched high above the mighty Columbia, where we are looking at an absolutely gorgeous Monday. It's.

[A]

Oh, ma pa.

[B]

It's just beautiful. May almost get up to the 80s today. The Seahawks and Mariners both won yesterday. I mean, I am feeling real good on this Monday, especially because it's episode 4554 in a collector series.

[A]

Let the fun begin.

[B]

One of my very favorite numbers for the show to arrive at. I also had a pretty good Saturday when I went out and actually played some golf with complete strangers and also my little brother. And it went well. I wouldn't say it went super great, but it didn't go super bad either. Oh, my God, guys, we are crushing it. I did videotape and I guess audiotape my very first swing wearing those, like, meta glasses.

[A]

You gotta be kidding me.

[B]

Which I felt kind of embarrassed about. But I did want to document the moment for the show. And then I saw an article about how the young people of America and the world, they are the ones who least like these kinds of glasses that are filming everything all the time.

[A]

Now, I got that old camera. He got my camera.

[B]

So we'll talk about that. Also, by the way, Andrew is out today. Got some family stuff going on. He's doing just fine. Genevieve is just fine. But he's got some stuff going on this week. We're hoping to get him back maybe by the end of the week. We'll kind of play this by ear. But I have some great news. In his stead today. It's my good friend and our colleague, one third of the triad that is the TBTL business boys, it's TBTL employee numero uno, Mr. John Sklaroff. Oh, my goodness. I want you to know, John, that just because I had your audio drop down, that's not an indication of my enthusiasm. Let me do that over again. It's Mr. John Sklaroff.

[A]

Welcome to my show.

[B]

Even that's a little bit too low. Let's try it again. Mr. John Sklaroff.

[A]

Welcome to my show. Oh, I'm thrilled to be here.

[B]

Welcome to the show.

[A]

Hey, five minutes into Andrew not being here. We're doing great. We're doing great.

[B]

I know, I know, I know.

[A]

It's all good. All good.

[B]

And I just want to say, like, you know, thankfully, you are, I think, at least minimally trained in putting this show on the Internet. So if people are hearing this, it means that John successfully put this out, pushed it out to all of the places that people get their podcasts. But there are so many little things that Andrew does from a technical standpoint of balancing out the sound. And normally he is playing. See? So what's going on here now is I'm playing the intro music and audio package, and I'm playing those little drops, and I'm recording all of this And I'm looking at your beautiful face, John. It's a lot going on here. Normally Andrew is playing the intro audio and then I'm playing the little drops and then he's focused completely on the recording of things. So I am wearing a lot of hats today.

[A]

And you look great in those hats, by the way.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

Yes, they look great on you.

[B]

Multiple hats going in different directions. And so again, apologies if this is not the usual audio quality that you get from an episode of TBTL, but it's just because the audio knower, Mr. Andrew Walsh, is gonna be out for a few days, so we'll just have to soldier on without him.

[A]

Yeah, it's gonna be great. It's gonna be great.

[B]

It is gonna be great. I really am in a good mood also. It's nice doing the show with you, John, because my guess is, I don't want to over assume anything, but my guess is that you did actually listen to the stuff that I was saying at the beginning of the show.

[A]

Yeah, I kind of pay attention.

[B]

I mean, like, because Andrew, honestly, he does. He is in a total and complete, I don't know what you'd call it, a waking coma fuse state. He's in a. He is not listening to anything that I'm saying until he hears. He hears the world, the words, rather. He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. That is the moment his brain snaps into like, right consciousness. And so a lot of times I'll say something during my little intro spiel and then I'll have to repeat it later because he's not listening. But you, because you don't do this all the time, I think you're probably going to be taking your job very seriously.

[A]

Well, and also, as you just point out, when he's doing, he's doing all the audio checks and all these things. So it's not that I don't think he's taking it seriously. Oh, I don't just. I'm just sitting here just enjoying Matthew Berry during the intro tape because I don't have anything else to worry about is what it is.

[B]

Well, what you no doubt noted as listeners did at the top of the show was that I said I had a. I had a killer weekend. Yeah, I really did. It was super fun. On Saturday, my brother and I went out golfing and if, if folks caught Friday show, they know that I was a little bit apprehensive about that because. Have you golf, John? Have you ever gone out and played? I've played real golf.

[A]

No, I've never done a round of golf. The only things I've ever done are mini golf and driving ranges. And I've had fun doing those things. But I am not a golfer. I've never been a golfer.

[B]

I mean, it is a pretty big undertaking if you're going to go out and play like 18 holes of actual golf.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And I had, in my 20s, I used to go play golf pretty frequently. Again, I was never particularly good, but my brother Sam is really, really into it. And so we had made this plan to have a kind of a golf weekend. And as it got closer, I started to become a little bit more apprehensive because again, when you're out there and you're on the like, field, 15th hole, you've been out there for three to four hours already. It was a warm day actually on Saturday. And if, if every time you hit the ball it just goes off in some random direction into the woods, it just becomes a very long, very tedious day.

[A]

A slice or a hook? Is that the two way? I don't know which is which. I just know those are the things.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I watched a lot of sports center in my life.

[B]

Yeah. A hook is hitting it to the right and a slice is. It's going out. Or, excuse me, the opposite. A slice is going out to the right. A hook is going to the left.

[A]

That's if you are a righty, I guess, if you're a righty, that's the opposite. Right. If you're a lefty, I guess. Yeah.

[B]

And I had a. I have a bigger problem with slicing it than hooking it. Although a few times. I like to point out. I like to point out that I, I'm multidimensional, that I can both hook the ball and slice the ball. I can. There's a variety of ways I fail to hit it down the fairway straight.

[A]

You're an all fields hitter. If you're a baseball player, that'd be a really great thing. If you're a hitter.

[B]

Oh, my God, dude. If I was. Yeah. A major league baseball player, I. This would be phenomenal. You would not know how to set up the defense against me.

[A]

Right.

[B]

As far as a hole in a, at a golf course.

[A]

Stationary.

[B]

Stationary. It's not as good of an approach, but anyway, my brother came down on Saturday and then we went over to the course and again, I'm not trying to make too much out of this, but I was literally like, first of all, I've never rented a golf cart, so we rented a Golf cart, which is the only.

[A]

I have. I have driven golf carts. I've never golfed by driven golf carts.

[B]

Okay. I've never driven a golf cart on or off the golf course. This was a first for me. It's weird. I'm 49 years old. I'm almost five decades old. I'm almost half a century old. That's a better way to put it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I've never driven a golf cart that I remember.

[A]

But, like, feel. Don't feel too bad about, because, like, the first 15 to 20 years, like, there, you. You can't even drive. Right. Like, you know, so.

[B]

Yeah. Okay, so we'll shave 15 years off.

[A]

Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

So in 35 years, that it would have been reasonable that I could have get my hands on a golf cart. I haven't. And first of all, so much fun. But we get to the golf course, and I'm like, okay, how do we get the cart? And then where do we drive it to? And then what is the etiquette? And the other thing about golf is. So I was just deferring to my brother the whole time because he plays golf practically every week. And there are a million little unspoken rules in golf that. I used to know some of them, but, like, you know, not stepping on someone's line. Right.

[A]

So that's what's.

[B]

Yeah, the line is where. So, like, if you're. If your ball is. Is on the green. So you're now at the point where you're going to use your club, that's called the putter.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And so your ball is wherever it is. And then there's the hole. Now, the invisible line between your ball and the hole, that's called your line. And I'm not supposed to step on that, because if I step on the green in between where your ball is and the hole is, I might make a little indentation, which really would make your ball possibly deviate. Let's say you're a perfect putt. And then it hits where my foot was and it goes off in some direction. So there's. And there's like, a bunch of things like that. Like.

[A]

Can I focus on that real quick? I, as somebody, like, who loves sports and thinks a lot of the unwritten rules are silly, this is absurd to me because, one, you're not playing on pristine. Like, unless you own the golf course and you're the only one playing on, there are other people stepping all over the greens all day. So, like, those divots are likely there already. Two, what if Your ball is landed in the vicinity of that line, and you need to be quote in the line to do your own putt.

[B]

Well, that's where you drop a little dime or a little token or a coin that you bring along. And so the furthest ball away from the hole, that is the. That's. That's who gets to hit their ball first. So if my ball is kind of blocking yours. Yeah, I will. I will walk over to my ball, being careful to try to not step on your line, and then I will put down, like, a dime or something that's a little bit, like, it's maybe a half of a golf club away from where my ball actually was, thereby freeing up a free path for your ball. And then when it's my turn to hit, I come back and I basically replace my ball where it was. But then there's all this stuff about who is technically away. In other words, who's the furthest from the hole still. And, like, there's just a bunch of ways that if you kind of don't know how to do the etiquette, which I didn't really remember, you could. Or if you drive the cart, you're not supposed to drive the cart onto the green, obviously. And just, like, there's just a bunch of unspoken stuff that had me feeling oddly nervous. There was also the component of, like, us getting paired up with two complete strangers, which I was kind of afraid was going to happen, which is what happened.

[A]

Yeah, you talked about that a little bit last week about that. That. So that is what happened. So were they cool people? Like, what was the. What was the vibe?

[B]

Well, the first thing was asking the guy in the pro shop. Oh, are we gonna be paired up with anyone? He's like, yeah, yeah, you're paired up. So I was like, oh, nuts. Because I want it just to be me and Sammy.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

We roll up, and there's these two guys. They're about our age, probably. And first thing I clock is one of the guys has a terrible towel.

[A]

Oh, I'm a big Steelers fan.

[B]

Guy has a terrible towel on his golf bag. And I'm like, now, first of all, by coincidence. So this was Saturday, by coincidence. On Sunday, the Seahawks are playing the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh, and we're introduced to these guys. And the first thing that I want to do is I want to let everyone know, particularly these two guys, know that I have not been on a real golf course in, like, 20 years and that this could really suck.

[A]

Expectation setting.

[B]

I want a level set, and I want to Also make sure that they know that I know that I'm not good at this. And so I'm going to try to kind of basically move along as quickly as I can. Like, if I'm slowing down the group, I'm going to just pick my ball up or whatever. Like, I just. I don't want them to think that I don't know that I'm bad at this, because I know, you know, sure.

[A]

Yeah, I get that.

[B]

And I. But then I also didn't want to overdo it because I've been saying to my brother Sam now for weeks, like, I haven't practiced at all. I'm going to suck. I've been, like, really kind of feeding that fed horse, and it's also a little bit one note. So I was trying to figure out how to manage everyone's expectations without just turning into a pity party or something where I'm just like, I suck.

[A]

So can I ask real quick? You. You had mentioned at the end of last week you were gonna try to get to the course a little early to do some driving range and stuff. Did you even. Were you able to do any of that even, or.

[B]

Yeah, we got to the rain. We got to the course maybe 45 minutes before. Yeah, it was time to play. And then we did go to the driving range, and I hit some balls. And were you feeling.

[A]

Were you feeling good as. Like, you're like, all right, I'm hitting it well, or were you like, this is a disaster.

[B]

The first ball I hit.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Was pretty good. But this is the thing about me in golfing is I sometimes hit the ball pretty well, but I have no ability to predict if that's going to happen or not. Like.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

So it's just pure blind luck. It is not because of my technique or. And my strategy. It's just sometimes the club happens to make contact with the ball in a way that is good, and then a lot of times it's in a way that is bad. And there's no predicting for me which one it's going to be. I have no way of reproducing the good outcome more frequently than the bad outcome. So I hit the ball decent at the beginning, and then I start just really slicing it. I'm hitting some balls that are literally sliced so badly they're leaving the driving range. They're going, oh, no. They're going. There's these side. These huge side fences that have been. Yeah.

[A]

The nets that they put up that.

[B]

I want to be clear. I'm not hitting it. So Far that it's clearing the back of the driving range. I'm hitting it so badly to the right that it's soaring up and over like an eagle soaring up and over the protective netting and going God knows where. Yeah, so that wasn't super confidence inducing. But anyway, so then we jump on the cart and we go over, and now we see these guys and we're introduced to them. And again, it's kind of one of those things where I don't. I see the terrible towel, which, for folks who don't know, that's what Pittsburgh Steelers fans famously bring to Pittsburgh Steelers games. And they wave them crazily. They're. And that's kind of their signature thing. And of course, even though I just met this guy, I can't help but sort of. I can't. I can't fight the urge to make some sort of crack about his terrible towel, because we're in Seahawk country down here. We're in Washington State. The default setting is Seahawks here.

[A]

And not to make it all sports talk on a Monday morning, but, like, like you said, they're playing each other, and the Steelers are famously starting divisive, controversial, polarizing quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers, which is, like, for sports fans that, you know, that's a. That's a hot topic issue.

[B]

So Aaron Ayahuasca. Rodgers.

[A]

Right. So this guy's bringing a lot to the table just having that towel. He's making a choice by having that towel on his bag.

[B]

Yes. And I was like. So I said something like. I forget. It was. You know, we. We shook hands, introduced ourselves, and then I just kind of said something like. I forget. There must have been one other thing that was said, but very early on in the conversation, I said, and you know what? I go something like, I'm not even gonna hold that terrible towel against you.

[A]

That's a good thing. Yeah.

[B]

He goes, oh, what are you, a Seahawks fan? And I thought, no shit, Sherlock.

[A]

Yeah, bro.

[B]

Yeah, we're in. We're in the state of Washington. We have one pro football team here. And I thought, well, maybe this guy grew up, you know, in Pittsburgh or something. Maybe some family connection. Some family connection? No, I found out over the course of our round of golf. No, just a. Just a guy from the local region here who, for some bizarre reason, decided he was going to be a Steelers guy, but also didn't appear to know very much about the Pittsburgh Steelers, which I thought was a really weird move. Like, because he's. He was exactly my age. We figured out we were both 49. And so my childhood of knowing about football would mirror exactly his childhood of knowing about football. I was trying to pay him a compliment at some point, which was what I was trying to say in a roundabout way was, hey, I think it's kind of interesting that you became a Steelers fan, because by the time he would have been conscious of, like, that team, they were not in a period of being very good.

[A]

Right. It was post the Terry Bradshaw.

[B]

See, John, you know, I know I should give you his terrible towel.

[A]

I don't want it, but thank you.

[B]

Because he seemed only vaguely aware of the team. So what I should have realized, what a normal person would have realized, was, oh, he has this towel, but it doesn't mean as much to him as you think it means to him. He has this thing, but it's not his whole personality.

[A]

He's flying it on his bag, though. It is his personality. He's putting it out there on front street.

[B]

I mean, he is, but he didn't know. Like, I'm telling him about the Steelers, and I'm like, I think it's actually kind of cool that you jumped on with the Steelers that when you did. Considering, you know, when we. In the 80s, when he and I would have been kind of getting into that stuff, they weren't very good. It was post their, their, their. Like you said, they're Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris years. He drops this name. Franco Harris. Now, people that know sports know Franco Harris was a player for the Steelers who made something called the Immaculate Reception. He made an interception for a touchdown that was legendary in the world of Steelers. Now, funnily enough, when this guy was growing up and I was growing up, guess who Franco Harris played for? The Seahawks.

[A]

Oh, he was a Seahawk.

[B]

Like, you know, in one of those, like, at the end of his career, he's barely has any gas in the tank. Whatever.

[A]

Yeah, just hanging on.

[B]

But I'm like, telling him that this player who he loves, was actually on the local team, the team located an hour and a half north of him, and he was like, oh, really? I didn't know that. And then we start getting into it about football. Not, like, in a mean way, but just talking. And it becomes clear that he has this towel, but he's not. He's not sitting around just like, deep diving on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

[A]

My intuition. But having not met this man or seen this man ever is. He's a huge Ben Roethlisberger fan, and that's upsetting me.

[B]

You know, honestly, I hadn't even factored that in. But that absolutely could be the case.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. So I decide this audio is really, really not very illuminating or enlightening. But I decided for the first hole to put on my stupid meta glasses, which are also videotape recording gurs. They can make videos on them. And I just basically started recording, like, a while before. So the other two guys are up. They're gonna take their shots. Okay. And I'm just standing there with the glass on. This is the first tee. Okay. This is the very beginning. This is me golfing. Here's. Let me see if I can. It sounds quiet because, you know, they're way up ahead of me. I'm just.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Oops.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If we can get our ball in the shade today.

[A]

This is the first time in the four times I've been here this summer that I. I hit it in the middle of the fairway.

[B]

And so that was my brother Sammy talking at first, and then the other guy talking about the fairway is the guy. One of the guys who got paired up with now what, Steelers guy or his friend Steelers guy. What's funny about it is, throughout the entire day, everybody who wasn't me was just talking excessively. Not excessively, but about, like, oh, if you. You know, you put it there and you drop it to the side of that tree, and then you play over that, and then you do this. Everybody was analyzing all day long the ideal shot. I don't know if anyone. Maybe one time my brother did, and maybe one time this other guy did actually hit the ideal shot. Like, everybody was talking like they were on the PGA Tour. Like, I'm going to hit a cut fade here, and I'm going to just try to, like, I'm going to just. I'm going to drop it on the back of the green and then, like, let the backspin bring it up to the pin. Yeah, everybody is. Everybody's talking about this. Like, they're all Jordan Spieth.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And. And. And then everyone would take. And granted, I had the. Probably the worst shots off of the tee, but no, thankfully, what I realized pretty quickly was nobody in the foursome was about to go pro. Like, there were definitely a degree. Like, my brother's pretty good. One of the other guys was pretty good. Like, they were hitting it straight more of the time than I was. But it was like, I was greatly relieved when I saw that everybody else was more in the world of, like, normal person who's still trying to perfect their golf game. Right?

[A]

Yeah. But they're talking about, like, they're going pro. That would be like me playing my once a week rec softball league and talking about exit velo and like I'm just up there swinging.

[B]

Thank you. That's right. That's exactly. I was like, when I heard them talking, I got nervous because are these people who can like literally place their fairway shot within like a foot of where they're trying to go with it. And the answer was no. So it all wants to funnel towards that sand trap. Oh, okay.

[A]

Right in the middle.

[B]

And then that's me saying, oh, okay. Like I know what in any world. Funneling towards. Funneling towards the sand trap. Oh, great. You know, and I think I said something here. Like I, well, let's see what I say.

[A]

And then rolled right into the trap.

[B]

I have a feeling I may conveniently miss the middle of the fairway, so I may be safe. I'm getting a little laugh, a little chuckle there out of. Out of our Pittsburgh Steelers fan. And again, this was be the order of the day for me, trying to just constantly let everyone know that I know that I'm not great at this.

[A]

Right.

[B]

That's the other guy. That's my turn, I guess. Why not?

[A]

Everything likes to funnel to the right, that's for sure.

[B]

So now I'm approaching, ideally just hit.

[A]

It on top of the hill as.

[B]

If I'm placing my ball down. And let me just tell you, Jon, at this point, I am like, honestly kind of feeling a little woozy, which is so dumb because, like, this is so not important in the grand scheme of things. And also, nobody cares. Nobody's judging me. It is not a big deal. But the thing about golf is, it's just, it is so easy, particularly when you don't practice a lot. It is so easy to hit the ball so badly. Like air. Like, you know, if you're playing basketball, you can go stand right next to the rim and maybe kind of hoist it up off the backboard and maybe get it in a couple of times. Like, there are certain sports where you can kind of fake it a little bit or at least seem like not embarrassingly bad. Golf is this crazy idea of I'm going to swing this implement and hit this other round thing and then try to make that round thing go exactly where I want it to go. Very far away. Like. And again, you can, you can top it, which is like you basically, you miss the ball. You hit just the very top of it, and then it just kind of rolls like three inches off the tee. Yeah, you can, you can chunk it which is where your club just, like, hits the. You know, the grass before it gets to the ball and you make a divot. You can.

[A]

Oh, if somebody told me a chunky, I would do the truffle shuffle. But they're not. You're saying that's not.

[B]

That's not. No. Just so you know, next time you're out on the course, that's actually discouraged.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But. But yeah, you can. And then, of course, you can slice it, you can hook it. There's just so many ways that this can go badly. And I'm up here, and I'm, like, setting the ball up on the tee, and the ball is like, falls off the tee, which just feels like bad. Bad, like, I don't know, indication of how this is going to go. And then I'm just. I'm just trying to breathe through it. I'm just trying to, like, block out all of the nervousness and just. Oh, also, by the way, I think there was, like, a water hazard or something, like a little creek or something that's maybe 20ft in front, so that if I were to hit it, like, just a one that's just rolling, one that doesn't get off the ground, it's going to immediately go into a creek. Like, that just felt kind of mean of the golf course to have the first thing be, like, a humiliating creek incident. But anyway, here we go. So.

[A]

All right.

[B]

Oh, by the way, for those of you who care, I am hitting a hybrid here. A hybrid for iron, I think, or something. It's kind of something between, like, a driver, which is the big club, and like, an iron, which is. Which is not one of the bigger clubs. The idea of this is it's supposed to. If you hit the ball right, it's supposed to make the ball go somewhat far, but it's also a very forgiving club, they would say. It's like. It's. I'm trying to pick. I don't care how far the ball goes. I just care that it doesn't go in the river and that it doesn't go, like, three fairways over. Right. It's all that's on my goal. It's so modest at this point. Practice swing. And then here we go. This is the real deal.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

Stay there, stay there.

[A]

Don't bounce.

[B]

And if you can believe it, John, I could see it. So that's a win. It basically went. It went. It stayed on the fairway.

[A]

Yeah. Hey, Mazel tov.

[B]

Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. I was very. I was the relief that, like, Washed over me.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Was like. Was palpable. And then from there on that hole, and then we'll stop with golf talk pretty soon. That was a par 5. So the idea is that a good golfer should be able to do that in five strokes. I did it in five strokes.

[A]

Hey.

[B]

The only par that I got the whole day. Yeah, it was the first hole. Later, one of our partners, the terrible towel guy, shared with me. He said, after that first hole, I thought you were a complete A hole. I go, why? He goes, because what? Because he thought that I was sandbagging them.

[A]

Like, hustling them.

[B]

That I was hustling them. I mean, we weren't gambling on this or anything, but he thought that I was one of those weirdos who basically is a really good golfer, but who was gonna pretend that I was not a good golfer.

[A]

And they saw your subsequent holes and was like, oh, no, he was being honest.

[B]

All doubt was removed over the rest of the round of golf, but it ended up being. It was so much fun and such a relief because. Because that first hole, like, it just went sort of, again, a lot better than I expected. And then I just didn't care what happened after that, because my whole thing was I just wanted to have one hole where I hit a couple of shots that felt like I was playing golf, not like an alien who had been quantum leapt onto the golf course and was holding a golf club for the first time. I wanted to. I wanted to kind of seem like I was playing golf. And that happened on the first hole. After that, I was like, anything else that happens is gravy. The second hole, I hit two balls onto the railroad tracks. The second hole is a par four. I did. Took me 12 shots.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

They don't even have a category for that. I had downloaded a golf scoring triple par.

[A]

If you triple par was that.

[B]

Well, that's. So you got a bogey. A bogey is. You took one more stroke than you were supposed to. So if it's a part four and you get five, it takes you five. That's a bogey. Double bogey. As you can imagine, the triple bogey, I was. I had downloaded this golf scoring app that my brother uses. It didn't even have a category.

[A]

Was it like you entered a number? We don't recognize? This is.

[B]

We didn't go that high on that hole. Like, it only let me do nine. It would only let me admit to nine strokes on that hole.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So. But no, it was. It ended up being really fun. It was one of the most Fun days I've had all summer.

[A]

That's awesome.

[B]

To hang out with my brother. It was the thing about golf that I had forgotten about and now that I have remembered is it is so much futility and so much failure if you're me anyway. And then you hit one shot that just like, you connect and it goes where you're trying to hit it. And then you're just like, oh my God, I need to be like, all I want to do today is go back to the driving range and hit some more golf balls. Like, I am totally and completely sucked back in. Plus I have this stupid scoring app that it's like $100 a year or something. I accidentally signed up for the real one. I meant to sign up for the free one.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So I now have to at least amortize that over the course of the year by playing enough golf and scoring enough golf.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That I. That I get back my hundred dollars.

[A]

That's what I was going to ask. Do you think this means like not weekly, but certainly not every 20 years. Like, did you like, you enjoyed it enough where like maybe once a couple, every few months or something or more than that, you think you'll be kind of heading back out there?

[B]

Yes. Also because hashtag cart life.

[A]

So you just saw, dude, the golf.

[B]

Cart is so much fun. First of all, it still took us like almost five hours, but that's because it was. The course was playing slow. There was people in front of us. We had. We were playing with four people. So we had to wait. You know, sometimes they had to wait for us, sometimes we had to wait for them. The are the guys that we were paired with. But like by the way, the other guy. Not, not Steelers, but the other guy. Yeah, his buddy, who was very, very, very understated fellow, let's just say like a very like very quiet, like almost. Almost mono syllabic. He had. His golf cart was an e scooter that you can ride that you can put a golf bag on.

[A]

Wait a minute. So you guys rented a cart. He brought his own cartoon scooter.

[B]

It was like a very burly, like 4x4 scooter.

[A]

Uh huh.

[B]

You know, that could like basically like if you didn't have the, you could, you could ride this thing around in the woods. It had like big kind of like tires on it that you could use to go over grass or wow. Tree roots or whatever. But it was designed so that you could also put a golf bag on the front of it. So he was just e scootering around with this golf bag that looked super fun, by the way.

[A]

So we live where I live. We're a few blocks from a municipal park here in St. Paul Municipal Golf. Golf course, I should say. Yeah. And they have carts that people can rent by. Do you see? I haven't seen what you're describing, but I've seen like, we'll be on a dog walk and we'll walk along the golf course. And I've seen people have motorized golf bags where it's like the golf bag is on wheels. And I don't know if they have a remote or that's like, kind of like. It's like they don't like. Well, I guess they have to have remote because I've seen them like walking a few feet behind it and it's moving, which I. I find that fascinating.

[B]

Yeah, that is also. That would be kind of cool, too. I liked. Now you're getting less exercise, but I liked being able to sit in the cart. I also like that we could put a cooler in the back. We had a little portable speaker, which we never ended up using because we didn't want to. We didn't want to, you know, I don't know, impose our music on the people.

[A]

We're there. Rules about that, too, about, like, you have to be quiet or whatever. Or like, I don't.

[B]

This wasn't exactly Bushwood Country Club from Caddyshack. Let's just say this is a very.

[A]

No, the judge isn't out there.

[B]

Judge Smails was not there. No, it was a very. It's a pretty, you know. You know, it's a. I don't think it's a city course, but it's. It's privately owned, but it's not a country club. It was. It was nicer than I expected and greener than I expected, considering, like, you know, I live in this kind of odd part of the state of Washington. The towns that are near me are, you could say there are pretty big sections that are fairly economically depressed. It's not a. You know, this is not a particularly affluent part of the world. And so I was kind of wondering, like, I wonder what the golf course will be like in a pretty non affluent place. And it was pretty nice, actually. You know, the grass was green and. Yeah, there were little water features and sand traps and, you know, kind of felt like. Felt like I was on a real golf course.

[A]

All right, one last question because. So I never, like I said, I've never played golf, but when Jess and I moved to Minnesota, we Were staying with her parents for a few months while we were, like, looking for a house and doing all this, you know, the transitioning stuff. And they live in southeastern Minnesota in a rural county. And I was bartending at the golf course there for a while.

[B]

Oh, I remember that.

[A]

Yeah. And. And similarly, like, it's a. It's, I think, probably similar vibe to what you're talking about. It's beautiful because it's in the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. It's like, gorgeous. But they had golf. A bar cart girl who on weekends, I don't know if it was every day, but certainly on weekends she would come in the bar and I would, like, hand her, like, all these, like, you know, cans of liquor, alcohol or whatever, and she would drive around and like, sell people drinks out on the golf course. And to me, I'm like, everything I know about golf from friends at golf, it's like, it's excuse to be outside drinking beers with your buddies for the most part. That's like the vibe. So was that happening too, around you?

[B]

Well, no, because we never saw. I was wondering about that. There was no. Nobody ever came around with a beverage cart. We saw one, I like, when we were kind of signing in or whatever. We saw a couple, but they never got over to where we were or maybe. I don't know, they were like. Again, my guess would be that the fancier the golf course is, the higher touch the golf cart situation is as far as like a cart person. A person driving around with a cooler full of alcohol. I didn't see any shenanigans on the course as far as drunkenness from our duo or me or Sam. I didn't see anybody else out there who seemed to be getting super loopy. But I definitely get the feeling that, yes, a big part of the appeal generally is. And this was. It's like, it's a sunny day.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You're generally with people that you like and you're having a beer and you're swinging this golf club, and some of it's going well and some of it's not. But that's the, the, the. The appeal is to get out there in the nice weather and kind of enjoy it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that was 100% happening. So, yeah, I am fully hooked again, I think. And my whole new personality is golf guy. So I hope.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Hope. You, John, you. You're like, you have a perfect. You have a professional obligation to listen to tbt, which is really funny to me. Like, Like, I mean, I know when you worked for apm, and we were in your portfolio, you had sort of started listening, I think, was that originally out of professional obligation?

[A]

So. So my journey with TPTL is when I first started apm, I was not working with you guys, but I was like, oh, I'm going to, like, listen to all the shows we make. So I'm, like, aware. And I listened to, like, a half an episode of tptel. I'm like, this is nonsense. And I were like, I don't understand what they're talking about. I don't get these jokes. And then, like, several months later, I was looking for new shows. I'm like, let me try that show again. And I started listening and got hooked, and so I just enjoyed it. And then when you guys were put into my portfolio of shows, I was already just like a regular listener at that point.

[B]

So you actually were listening. So you were listening first out of a feeling of, like, I should just know what the shows are. But then at some point, we did manage to capture your heart.

[A]

Yeah. And in fact, about a year before I actually did start working with you and Andrew, we were, like, reshuffling some portfolio stuff. And my colleagues on my team and our boss were talking about, and they asked me if I would be interested in working on tbtl. And at that. At that time, I had said to them, I'm like, you know, it's a show I really like. I don't know if I said, I don't know if I want to make it work. Like, I enjoy being a fan of the show. And then, like, a year later, they're like, hey, we're reshuffling some things we would like. You like, you. You. You're a fan. Like, you should do this show. And I was like, okay. And that's when I came in.

[B]

Well, we have to thank whoever forced this upon you, because otherwise we might not be here. Honestly, TBTB might not exist. We might not all be working together. Our fundraisers might not actually be sufficient so as to raise the funds for this to be a job for the three of us. So that's. That was a stride of luck for.

[A]

My boss at the time, Stephanie. She was really great, and she was like, you should be doing that show. And I was like, okay, fine, fine, fine. Yeah.

[B]

Well, speaking of the donations that happen around here, let's thank some donors. One of the other things I forgot to get from Andrew, the real music that we play for the donors thank you segment. So we're going with the absolute lowest quality. Thank you for Being a friend version that's ever existed. I wonder if this is something that will get us pulled down, you know, in Romania. In Romania, because. And also Andrew's not here today, so we can. I think he's a little bit more concerned about that than I am. Oh, that's not true. I don't. I don't want to put that on him. But, yeah, I'm a little, you know, me, I'm a little more of a. Like, let's just throw it out there and see if they catch us.

[A]

But since what I'm hearing is Dad's out of town, let the kids have some fun.

[B]

Exactly. Let the kids play some copyrighted music.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I mean, I wonder if it's like, if the version of this is off of a TV theme song, like, album that I bought at some point and loaded in. It's like 100 greatest TV theme songs. My question is, if the. If the quality of the version of the song is so bad, is it still considered, like, you know, illegal piracy? Is it still considered copyright infringement if you. You're not playing the version from the TV show, you're playing an absolute. A very sad, sad facsimile of it.

[A]

Yeah, I'm more. I'm also curious. And listen, like, this is. We have lawyers listening, so maybe one of them will write to me and tell me, email me. Don't email Luke or Andrew. Like, this show hasn't been on for 30 years or whatever. Like, does it really matter if you play the Golden Girls theme song? Like, who. Who is tracking that in 2025? You know what I mean? Yeah.

[B]

Who's getting. This is still going, by the way.

[A]

Oh, nice.

[B]

There you go now.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Who's even. Who's. Is it the estate of Stealth Yeti?

[A]

Yeah, I don't know. Like.

[B]

Like, who's. Who's. Who's that music? Is it, you know, was it Bloodsworth Thomas and Wit or something? Whoever. The creators of the Golden Girls were like.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And also, by the way, I misused facsimile.

[A]

Facsimile.

[B]

I said it's a bad facsimile. But a facsimile apparently is an exact copy, especially of written or printed material. So I didn't mean to say facsimile there. That wasn't the right word.

[A]

A bad rentition.

[B]

Thank you. A bad version. What I meant to say was thank you to Julia Bush.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Who's in Providence, Rhode Island. By the way, these are the donors today who we are thanking who are supporting TBTL with their donation. John you are probably, I would say of all the people on planet Earth, you are the most intimately familiar with these names. And these people you. Well, you see their names, you know, on the radio.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The use of intimately. Oh, yeah, that was.

[B]

I use that in the professional sense.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Very familiar.

[A]

In the platonic sense. Yeah, yeah. No, it is funny, like, because I do every month, like, people that are donating monthly. A lot of folks do give one time, like gifts during the thon, but a lot. Most folks are giving monthly. And it is like, I see the names pop up all the time. I do become familiar with the names. And. And also just since I've been working with you guys on the show, it's like. Like you guys over the years have gotten to know folks personally from events and things like that. I'm starting to get that more and more now. So, like, if I see a name I recognize that might be like, somebody we saw at the picnic, I'm like, oh, hey, I know that person. It's really fun to see the names pop up when you've met so many people and it's really awesome to see.

[B]

I sent you the dumbest question in human history this morning because, you know, we knew Andrew wasn't going to be in. And again, the list of donors is something like. He sends me a list each day, like, hey, these are the donors for today's show. And I asked you with a straight face, do you have access to the donor list? What a dumb question. It's like, could you imagine if you didn't? It is literally the prime. Your main KPI is knowing this thing. It's like you asking me if I have a microphone here. Right when I hit send on that, I was like, that was a stupid question.

[A]

Listen, I'll say, don't be mean to my friend Luke, because it is with Andrew out, like, things are kind of like. We're. There's just things to figure out. They're different. And so, like, it's. It's not. I did, when I saw it, I did not think, oh, look at this doofus asking me that. Like, I was like, oh, right, Andrew's not here. He has access to the list. I got to make sure. And it actually was great because for the rest of this week, I'm like, I have to make sure send Luke all these names ahead of time. So he has me. He's ready to go. So if anything, it was very helpful that you asked.

[B]

Well, that's good. Thank you for. Thank you for doing the absolute. I'm not saying this. I want to say this the way that sounds insulting. Thank you for doing the thing that is very much a part of your job that I hesitated for a minute with. Part.

[A]

Thanks for doing your job. Yeah, no, totally.

[B]

Thanks to Julie Prescott of Chantilly, Virginia. We got a Julia, we got a Julie, we got a Matthew. Matthew Roberts, that is, who's in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Wow. Matthew Roberts in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Then we've got Michelle Coggin who's in Ridgefield, Washington. I just found out something from my neighbor John. It's just. It's. It's been rocking my world.

[A]

Okay, okay.

[B]

And this relates to Ridgefield, Washington. So Ridgefield, Washington is the place where it just got the in and out.

[A]

Oh, yeah, sure. All about us. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

By the way, that in and out. That. Oh my God. That in n out remains absolutely slammed.

[A]

It's wild to me, I haven't.

[B]

Because a listener emailed in and said, you know, because I don't tend to eat a lot of red meat. A listener said that she was also vegetarian but that she will get this like grilled cheese sandwich there. That's really good. It's just kind of like a burger, hold the burger.

[A]

But five guys does the same kind of thing too.

[B]

And that sounds pretty yummy to me. I mean, I used to eat it in and out back in the day when I ate burgers more. And so I do. I have to admit, when I drive by, I kind of look at it like, maybe this is the day that there won't be a line and I'll swoop in and then it's like, well, today is not that day. It is, I mean, a minimum of a hundred cars in line at all times.

[A]

Can I just say, like, and this is not yuck and yums. I just don't understand people's fascination with like, chain restaurants like this. And like, listen, I'm not. Nobody loves a late night Taco Bell run more than I do. Like, I am for fast food. I eat it. I know it's bad for me. Whatever. I don't care. I enjoy it. And I'm sure if I live near an inn out, I'd want to try it. But, like, wait three months until, like, I don't understand, like, waiting in line for like an hour for a fast food burger. And like, when I used to live in Utica, New York, a community, steamed hams up there, they come see, they do call them. And it's a community that is a large Italian population and there's a Million great Italian restaurants. But when, when the Olive Garden opened up, people mobbed that place. And I'm like, you can get like. And like again, no shade to Olive Garden. Like Olive Garden great. But like you can get excellent Italian food at so many restaurants. Like why are you waiting an hour for Olive Garden? Like just go later. Go at another time. Like that. The mental, that mentality to me is the thing that I just can't comprehend. Like I'm like, I don't understand that.

[B]

Well, it's, it's, it's interesting.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because I think in the case of the In n out in Ridgefield.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I think for a lot of people it is literally like either you're a teenager and you're just looking for something to do or you're okay, a parent of, of, of of Maybe, I don't know, not young kids, but basically like I think it's something to do in Ridgefield, Washington. In fact, who knows, Michelle Coggin may have been through there. This is the thing about Ridgefield though. Not only do they have a brand new in and out, they have a brand new Costco. It's the Costco that I go to.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. And this is the best.

[B]

This is, this is, this is what's rocking my world. John.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I was talking to my neighbor, you know, last week I was telling you because I had, I was telling you and the listeners that because I was dog sitting, I was out walking around in my neighborhood and exploring and me, how is Gigi? Oh, Gigi is just an absolute. She's an angel sent down from heaven. She is now currently back with Becca. But so I happened to like bump into one of my neighbors and have a kind of a longer conversation with her and. And now I guess we're like texting buddies. She was like, she was texting me about the, about the area and some, you know, town and things like that. And when you live in. I've never lived in a place like this exactly. Where it's like again, there is not anywhere you've been up here. In fact you won. You had to grab half and half on your way here for the fun. I don't know if you went in that weird ass market that's down the hill.

[A]

No, we didn't stop there. I can't remember what was in that place.

[B]

Yeah, well that. So there's nothing. It's weird to. I've never lived in a place that has this few or few that has the dearth of options for getting stuff when you need it. Whether it's just like a grocery store or a little restaurant that you like maybe walking to or maybe a short drive to. There's just nothing like that around here. It is just if I need to get something, I've got to pretty much go. I've got to make a 15 minute drive into one of the cities. And so I have noted that down the hill from me, a much, much closer distance, they have been building the, the local city here in this town has been building this big huge kind of like multi use building that I think is going to have like maybe some restaurants in it and different things. It's part of this whole project that they've been doing. The town is called Calama Washington. I live near and the port of Calama owns this property and they're building this huge thing that's like a, a three minute drive from me, which would be incredible. And yeah.

[A]

Can I ask for personal reference, where in proximity is this to the McMinimans?

[B]

It's. Okay. Well, here's the thing.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

That there is next to that McMinimans, there's this big other thing that they built. It's the same project. So. So there is, there's a McMinimans which is a hotel and restaurant and bar.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then next to it is this big, I guess you might call it like a. Not a farmer's market, but just like a public market. It's a.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

It's this beautiful new building and it's got some like local chocolate tears in there and there's a coffee shop and there might be a little restaurant. I don't know. I don't know if McMinimans wants that. Competition wants that smoke. But there's just like little, there's like just little shops and things in there. So they are building another one of those by me. And I was texting with my neighbor going, hey, what's gonna go in there? Because that's big to me. It's like it's gonna be a restaurant that I like. Is it gonna be a grocery store? And I don't know if she knew what was going in there, but she said that was supposed to be the Costco, but.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

But for some reason Calama did not want to. I think Calama did not want to sell the land to Costco. They only wanted to lease the land and Costco said, hell no, we're going to Ridgefield. We're going to Michelle Coggin country right in Ridgefield. So what I would say is, Michelle, enjoy that Costco. I almost had that Costco, like, two minutes from my house, which have.

[A]

And you're not bitter about it. You're not bitter about it.

[B]

I swear to God, if I find out that Michelle is also rocking a terrible towel, I will be. So. I know I am. I have to say, I was retroactively and this is what exurban life is doing to me. I. Yeah. In my life, I've never clocked the location of a Costco ever once. Now I'm, like, stoked that there was one in Ridgefield. And now I'm, like, depressed that that one could have been at my very doorstep.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Not that I'm going to go to Costco to get like a thing of half and half, but I don't know, it just feels like with a Costco comes other. Other knock on benefits, like, yeah, I don't know, cheap gas and then people building more stuff near it. And then suddenly it's like, now I'm not living in the middle of nowhere, I'm living in the middle of somewhere.

[A]

Yeah. And I bet Michelle's not wearing a terrible towel, but a sweet Kirkland shirt, which I know is like a very, like. Isn't it like now like a fashionable. It is like people. It's like a legit thing. People love their Kirkland branded sweatpants or whatever.

[B]

Yeah. It was a thing that the youth were wearing.

[A]

The youth.

[B]

The youth were starting to wear Kirkland sweatshirts and things because they were all, you know, they were the generation of kids that grew up going to Costco with their parents and seeing the like sort of uncool Kirkland brand jeans and Kirkland Brand this and that. And then, of course, in the ultimate irony, they then embraced it and made it pretty cool. We also want to thank Kristen Reicher who's in beautiful Austin, Texas, where they've. They don't even need Costco in Austin, Texas. They've got every single kind of cool restaurant store. It's the home of Whole Foods. I believe it's the birthplace of Whole Foods, Austin, Texas.

[A]

The front page, right? Our friend Schaefer's bar and restaurant.

[B]

Yes. Yes. Very good memory. See, look at you knowing about the donuts.

[A]

I know things.

[B]

And then David Webster is in Dunwoody, Georgia. Do you know, I have a story involving Dunwoody, Georgia, and I want to say, I don't know if it was a TBTL listener or somebody who watches CBS who corrected me on it, but I did that TV story about Ryan Seacrest, who's from Dunwoody, Georgia, where David Webster is from.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And I think I must have looked up Dunwoody and its population. And I think, you know, it has a relatively small population. And so I said something like, he's from tiny Dunwoody, Georgia. I thought maybe it just seemed more interesting that now he's the king of entertainment. He hosts the Wheel of Fortune, etc. But he's from tiny Dunwoody, Georgia. And somebody emailed and said, you know, Dunwoody is a suburb of Atlanta. Like, that's like saying someone's from tiny Staten Island.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Something or maybe. But you don't even have to take a ferry to get to Dunwoody.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's like.

[B]

I felt very embarrassed. I'm sorry, David. I apologize to everybody in Dunwoody that I described you as tiny Dunwoody.

[A]

If the population is actually tiny, like, that's of. No, I mean, even if it is a suburb, because maybe that's what the people want. They want to live in a small suburban town, like, with access to the city. Right. Like, is that.

[B]

I guess. I don't know. I think I was misdescribing it because I was basically making it sound like he came from this teeny, tiny, middle of nowhere town and he came from.

[A]

Calama, Washington or something.

[B]

Precisely. Where we can't even get a goddamn Costco. I'm sure Dunwoody.

[A]

Thanks, Michelle.

[B]

Crawling with Costco's there in Dunwoody. I think, you know, it's basically like. Yeah, it'd be like describing a place that he was, you know, probably a 15 minute drive from, you know, watching Dominique Wilkins play for the Atlanta Hawks at the Omni Center.

[A]

Right.

[B]

To just put it in my basketball.

[A]

Or Dikembe Mutombo, if you're a few years later. Wow.

[B]

I see. Dikembe Mutombo is forever Nuggets coded for me because he was on. He and Robert Pack were on the version of the Nuggets that beat the Sonics, who were the number one seed. And Dikembe Mutombo was famously, after the final game, rolling around on the floor, hugging the basketball because he had made a critical shot block. Yes. Doing his whole thing. But anyway.

[A]

No, no, no.

[B]

That's right. Thank you to our donors for making TBTL possible today. We really couldn't do this without you.

[A]

Yeah. Hello and welcome to Top Story.

[B]

All right, John, since we have you here.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And you are the person who has the very thankless job of boxing up and mailing out all of the tbtl. I mean, the irony is that they are. Thank you. Gifts and yet you are under thanked for performing this part of your duties. I don't. I. I don't even. I don't even want to think about the tedium of the last few weeks of your life, sir.

[A]

I'll just say is not thankless job. You and Andrew have both on the show and privately expressed a lot of gratitude and I appreciate that. And, and a lot of the tens like anytime like I just. Folks saw it on our Instagram and a tick tock the other day. I posted like a little update video and people are just very gracious and grateful. So is not. I appreciate that. But I feel, I feel the love and I'm thankful for that love.

[B]

So you have been. Well, I'm glad that it's getting through because you have been mailing out these TBTL harmonicas. TBTL tambourines. And what else do we have? The malakas come through the malakas.

[A]

So the harmonicas are only things that are like in the mail as of today. And the billboard stickers. So everyone who donates got the sticker.

[B]

Oh, nice.

[A]

If you're at a level where you're just getting the sticker, you should have it or it's on its way. If you're getting the harmonica, that's coming with a sticker that's on its way if you don't have it already. But actually I will say this is really cool just because the software I use like print the labels and stuff to bring them the post office. Like, I include people's emails, addresses. So like you should be getting shipment notifications in the process. But also every time there's like an update when a label is created or when a shipment is delivered, I get an email notification. So like we're sitting here doing the show and like I'm getting the notifications on my phone. It's like shipment delivered, shipment delivered.

[B]

And so the future is now, man.

[A]

The future. Yes. Yeah. So it's really cool to see that like in real time because I feel like with a thon it's like not ephemeral, but there's like this, like, it happens and it's like this is like keeping the energy going for me at least. It's really cool to see that.

[B]

Yeah, definitely. If you get your, if you get your thawne thank you. And. And you care to take a picture of it and put it up, like, you know, put it on the social media and definitely like tag us or hashtag us or whatever, however that works. So then, so then eventually the tambourines will be Going out.

[A]

Yeah, we're gonna do so. So my plan is just kind of order of operations. Here is the melodicas are actually me, the one going out next. Then do the tambourines. Just. Just the way things are kind of shaping up. And. And then lastly, which maybe they should have been first. I apologize. But the dazzling donor packages, which include all the thank you gift. The thing that are going out last just again, the way the boxing and shipping is working. And then we have the vinyl eventually, like about May.

[B]

May, you were thinking for that.

[A]

I. It's. My anxiety is not nil or not. Not none when it comes to that. But I know you guys have talked about the show and people I know are really. Yeah, we're working on it.

[B]

I promise we are making progress. We have compiled the. The actual tracks, the greatest hits tracks for the album and. And we're gonna be. Andrew and I are going to be recording our part of it and. And then it's a matter of the production of them.

[A]

But yeah, getting impressed and everything. And so that will. That will come later on its own as separate from the instruments, which. But I. Again, actually, I think it's. I know I've been joking about my anxiety. Like, I think it's fun. It's like you've already gotten your homage, you know, your tambourine. And then a few months you're gonna get the vinyl too. So it's like, you know, it's like another thing to look forward.

[B]

Yeah, it's nothing. Exactly. It's another little thing to look forward to. Unfortunately, at this point in my life, I don't know if addicted describes it accurately. Maybe a little bit. I have. If I don't have some little fun treat out there that's in the process of being processed and mailed to me. And by treat, I mean some little thing that I've identified that I need in my life. Like, recently, I just. I just bought a new wallet because I have been using this particular kind of this wallet for, I don't know, 15 years now that Addie got me and is. It was so sweet of her. It's this. It's this great little, like, leather pouch and I think it was monogrammed even. But it is very, very ineffective as a wallet because it. You can't. You don't keep your cards in separate areas of the thing. It's just a pouch. So what I'm constantly doing, I have to. If I have to present my ID for something or if I'm looking for a particular card, my debit Card versus my credit card.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I am forever pulling out all of the cards and whatever loose money is in there and then flipping through. And so for years. I mean, for many years, I used it because it was so special to me. That was from my daughter. And then for many more years, I've been saying every day, like, I need to get a new wallet. Like, I need to. This is silly. This isn't. This is actually not particularly useful. Finally ordered one, and now I've just been, like, waiting. I'm, like, so excited. I'm, like, very, like, you know. So anyway, all that is to say for the. The people that were able to donate this year. Thank you so much, and you're welcome that you may have many months to look forward to the vinyl. That's. That's a service.

[A]

But the instruments, you'll get. You'll get sooner. Those will become. Those, you know, over the next month or so. Those should be hitting people's mailboxes now.

[B]

One of the things that I. That when I was at that concert, that classical piano concert that was in.

[A]

Oh, in nature.

[B]

In nature, yeah.

[A]

See, I listened to you when, you know, not to crap on. Not to crap on, Andrew.

[B]

But I just. No, that's fine. This is the time for it. I appreciate that, John. I really do. Again, it is. It is one of. It is one of your KPIs, but I appreciate you doing that.

[A]

Well, I'm doing my thrive review next year. I need to recall this conversation.

[B]

Yes, I will put it in. But then. Yes, absolutely. But, like, this guy, Hunter Nowak, who was playing the piano and everything, at some point, he said, my new favorite thing in the world is this melodica.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

Pulls out a melodica, which he then was playing a melodica while he was all. He was kind of playing this beautiful grand piano and then at some point, playing with the melodica.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I was like, hey, man, look, the TBTL10s.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Are going to be getting, like, who knew that this. This bonafide musical genius, Hunter Nowak, if he loves the melodic. If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for John Takamoto.

[A]

Yes, absolutely. What if. What if, like, it becomes the next, like, big trend? Like, you see a bunch of people on TikTok playing and the tens have theirs in hand.

[B]

I think so. I mean, I think. Isn't John Baptiste. He's really. I think he plays melodica.

[A]

Oh, does he? He plays, like, every instrument.

[B]

Right. Like, that guy's, like, absolute musical genius. You're right. Like, yeah. What I would say is when you get your melodica, start practicing, folks, get really proficient because. Yeah, that could be the next viral TikTok thing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And the tens will be positioned uniquely.

[A]

Right.

[B]

To jump right on that. That whole thing.

[A]

Yeah. How do you manufacture TikTok trend? This is something that no corporation asks every day, right?

[B]

Exactly. Exactly. I mean, I don't know. I mean, I am. I am. For somebody who looks at as much TikTok as I do, I am so completely incapable of imagining what the next trend will be, you know, I mean, like, you would think that I would start to pick up the rhythm of the whole thing or even have.

[A]

I think it's chaos, really. I mean. Right. Because like, there are like. Like, who would have thought the Jet to Holiday thing would have been. Yeah. I mean, like, there's just like so many random trends that just become like, everyone's doing it. You're like, oh, okay.

[B]

Yeah. And it's also very. It's funny because I've tried to explain this to Andrew before and I don't think I've done a particularly good job. There's also like kind of demographics and groups of people that have similar tendencies who then tend to jump on the same meme or trend. So there will be. I'm not going to be able to think of a particularly good example, but like, there's one that was going around for a while. It was called like, Holy effing Airball.

[A]

Yeah, I've seen that.

[B]

You've seen that, right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

First of all, not even to get into the music, which is like a. I think it's like a super song, remixed or something. Like the. The musical. The. The remixes that go on with Tik Tok, where it's like this song, but it's the sped up version and it's covered and then it's actually mixed with this other song. It's like they're so decontextualized from whatever their original thing was. But like, there's just like. It's. It's weird how some of these memes will also tend to go, like towards somebody who maybe probably has more conservative political beliefs than I do or more liberal political beliefs than I do or whatever. Like, it's weird how a certain. Or there they tend to be maybe a woman of a certain age or they tend to be a guy of a certain age or a guy who's into this or that. Like, it's just strange how like the holy frickin airball one tended to be. It seemed like a Lot of. What's that?

[A]

Younger folks. Right.

[B]

I was thinking kind of. But also a certain kind of person on there. It's oftentimes a woman who kind of is wanting to brag without telling you that they're bragging.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it's usually. It's kind of like, so my husband. My husband plays in a band. Like, so they'll be.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And they'll be like, oh, what, like a cover band? Like a bar band? And then it'll be like, holy freaking airball. And it's like, he's the bass player for Fallout Boy or something. Yeah, actually, that'd be Pete Wentz. That guy's pretty famous. I gotta think of a better example.

[A]

No, I've. I've seen the things. Like, you've. Like, one of them I actually saw recently was like, younger woman. And it's not like, obviously. Obviously single out young women or whatever, but like, it was like, oh, my. My family really likes baseball and the holy freaking airballs that her team. Her family owns the Cubs. And it's like, okay, we get it. You're super wealthy.

[B]

Wow. She's one of the Rickets.

[A]

I know. If I. So here's my TikTok experience. I don't have a personal account. I only use the TBT account to post, but then I start scrolling, of course. And, like, I'm not gonna post anything divisive or controversial or hateful. I mean, I would try not to do that. Anyways. A personal account, but certainly not from the TBT account. And, like, I saw that, and I literally was like, oh, great, your family's terrible. And I want to write that, but I'm like, I'm not going to say much from. From tbt.

[B]

I met him once, and I didn't know anything about.

[A]

I think, is he the governor? Well, that. That. That, like, arrested protesters at Standing Rock.

[B]

It's very possible. I don't know what. What's. But. But when I met him, I didn't know anything about the family or the politics. I just knew he was the owner of the Cubs, and he was very nice. It was at a weight weight event, and he came and he was. And I was. And then he gave us incredible tickets to the Cubs. This was when I was guest hosting Weight Wait for a Summer. And my little brother Sam, who's now the best golfer I know, and my little brother David and my daughter Addie all came out to Chicago to stay with me for a few weeks. It was very like, home alone, lost in Chicago. You got these, like, you Got these, like, three, because they're all clustered around the same age. They were probably all like, maybe 12 at the time. 12 or 13. They come to Chicago and then I'm their only adult supervision. But I'm working all day at wait. So each day I would just.

[A]

And let's be honest, Luke, no offense. Adult supervision, like one.

[B]

I mean, that's being generous.

[A]

Right? Right.

[B]

But it was like every day we were staying in this suite at the Westin that I somehow sweet talked the folks there at the hotel to give me. I said, I'm gonna have all these children with me here because you get, like, a bigger room. So we were staying in this huge hotel room that looked out on Lake Michigan. Every day I would just give each of them $20 and say, just like, please don't get into any trouble today. And then they would just go, like, get on the. You know, on the CTA and just go, like, run wild in Chicago for a. For a whole day.

[A]

They're doing, like a youthful. Like a tween version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

[B]

Yes, That's a better example, which I believe is in Chicago.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

I love that I picked, like, an analogy that is.

[A]

Well. But I guess.

[B]

I guess. I guess, kind of he is. He's also in the outskirts of Chicago. Right. Is that where the. That's where the McAllister home is?

[A]

I believe that's where the home is, yes. Yeah.

[B]

So years, kind of. But no, you're right. Ferris Bueller is much, much better. It was much more of a Ferris Bueller thing. But then there was a Cubs game, and I somehow got word to this guy Rickett. Ricketts. Rickett, yeah.

[A]

I think. I think it is. Tom Ricketts is the team owner and.

[B]

The painter, and of course, he was very nice and gave us tickets, and they were so nice that they. We were seated near John Cusack.

[A]

Oh, I love John Cusack.

[B]

And. And my. I'm telling you, I've never. To this day, I've never had more baseball cred or more just. No, no more fathering cred. More Big Brother credit. Three kids to a Cubs game. I think, because I forget what. Whatever. What John Cusack movie was big at the time, but somehow it had kind of. It was a movie that the kids their age were seeing. He was somehow on their radar, and they were.

[A]

Oh, interesting.

[B]

They could not believe how cool it was that we were watching a Cubs game at Wrigley Field next to John Cusack.

[A]

I don't know his entire filmography. But one of my favorite movies ever. Gross Point blank.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

John Q. I love that movie with Cusack. I feel like you guys were talking about that because his girlfriend in the movie. Or it's like the woman he's interested.

[B]

Wasn't that Mini Driver?

[A]

And she has the. The radio station on Main Street.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Like, look, it's like the Bob in the Morning setup with May Driver.

[B]

But I feel like there's something about that scene that drives Andrew crazy. If I remember right, it's. Or maybe it's our friend Bean, somebody who is in radio. It's when it's kind of like Andrew and the dartboard thing now.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Where like, when people are at a radio station, but they're. They're not. They're, like, not wearing headphones, but they're on the air.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's like.

[B]

You would never do that. I mean, we're wearing headphones right now. Obviously, like, you. You will never find a real radio personality at a radio station who's talking into a microphone, not wearing headphones. But, like, probably the director or the set designer didn't want Mini Drive. I mean, I don't know. Maybe she is wearing headphones. There was something about.

[A]

I don't think Cusack is wearing. Maybe it's a studio.

[B]

Yeah. And I don't know if they're taking a call or listening somehow. It's like there's something about the, like, I want to say, lack of headphones that was, like, throwing us off, but other than that, isn't there also is Jeremy Piven in that movie? And he's really good in that movie, right?

[A]

He is good. So he is. Is John Cusack's friend from high school that gets excited. Cusack comes. All right, so Cusack, an assassin, a hitman, comes back over his high school reunion. And because in part, there's a target he's assigned to kill in his hometown. And so Jeremy Piven was like, his high school buddy who he hasn't seen in years. And Dan Aykroyd's, like, his rival assassin who's trying to get the hit done, too. It's a. I mean, it might not actually be a good movie, but I saw at a time in my life, like, this is the best movie ever.

[B]

I thought it was a really good movie when I saw it. So. Yeah, no, I have. I have fond memories about that. I'm trying to get into. I don't know if this is what being 49 is, but I have, like, what a low. What a low bar. For. For sort of. I don't know what you want to call it, like, recreational activity. I've been trying to get into a TV show on HBO called Task with Mark Ruffalo.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

It's the same people that made mayor of Easttown.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[B]

But it's. So, it's my understanding is it's. It's basically mayor of Eastown, except now it's Mark Ruffalo. But it's also in like, Delco county. And. And. And. Or Delco. I guess Delco county would be redundant. Delaware County. But. But it's supposed to be really good. And every Sunday night I realized, oh, that show is on. I should. I should boot up my hbo. And every Sunday night I somehow am too distracted looking at TikTok.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

So I'm trying to get. I'm trying to get. Are you watching? Are you? And just watching any TV right now that you're into?

[A]

We just caught up on. We were watching Wednesday, you know, the Netflix. It's a fun show.

[B]

We just love that show.

[A]

We just watched the new season of that. We still have the bear. Like, it's one of those things where it's like such a. We like it, but it's like so intense. It's like you have to be in the right headspace to watch it.

[B]

So it's like, do you find yourselves yelling yes, chef to each other in the kitchen when preparing dinner?

[A]

Behind. No, no, we don't really get into that. Although that was a tick tock trend. I saw a while where a lot of people, like couples on TikTok were doing that exact thing. It's like cooking with my girlfriend in the kitchen, you know? Yeah. No, so. But we have to. So that's like on our list of, like, we have to sit down. Like, all right, we start watching it. Oh, we actually, the other day, I think you were talking about this. We watched the Netflix documentary about the girl who gets cyber bullied by her mom.

[B]

Oh, yes.

[A]

We just fish. We just watched that the other day.

[B]

That's not really a catfish. The. Whatever you call it.

[A]

But the catfish is in the title, I think.

[B]

Oh, yeah, that's wild. I did not see that coming. Because. Yeah, because let's just say I was really surprised that the person who was doing the bullying was. Agreed to be in the documentary also.

[A]

That. Yeah.

[B]

Rarely see that. I kept going, well, it can't be any of these people because they're in it. I was like, oh, my goodness.

[A]

Well, we. We saw the Jinx with Robert.

[B]

Well, I thought that was going to be the end of it. I thought he represented the end of the line of people agreeing to be in documentaries that were going to obviously and like impugn them as the Village. Exactly. The other show my brother Sam said that they're watching that he really likes, which he made a compelling pitch for. It is Andor.

[A]

Yeah. So I am a big nerd. I love the Star wars stuff.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I. Not to sound bleak. I really want to watch that. I know, it's like crazy close to home. Yeah. It's like I don't want to watch a show about fascism when it's like it's kind of happening.

[B]

Well, that's what he was saying. That's what he was saying was that it's not even as much of a Star wars show as it is almost like the Wire or something. Like it's a show about kind of sort of political intrigue and power and the rise of fascism and that it's like. Because I have totally lost the thread on all things like Star wars, whether it's the Mandalorian or.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Kamara Kev calls it or any of these other like kind of spin offs and things where it's like, I just, I don't know who's going to. Who ends up growing up to be Yoda or who grows up to be Chewy or whatever it is.

[A]

Like.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, I kind of like lost it on that. Except the way he described it, it sounded like, oh, I could kind of get into that. I could just get into an interesting kind of almost political show with like the Star wars universe as the backdrop.

[A]

Have you watched Rogue One, the movie? It came out like.

[B]

Is it where they're trying to get the tape?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Yeah. They're basically trying to get the hope. Help me, Obi Wan, you're my only hope tape, basically.

[A]

Well, not that, but yes, it's the plants for the Death Star.

[B]

So, okay, that's where they've got to go out to that and like blow up that thing. Right. Or like break into that tower or whatever.

[A]

No, you're, you're, you're right there. They break into the tower.

[B]

Okay. So that I've seen it. I thought it was really good.

[A]

And, or I don't know if you know, this is the prequel to this because it's the main. Diego Luna who's the main character in. You know, he's one of the leads in Rogue One. It's about him. He is Cassian Andor. And so it's his story leading up to that movie. And So I. For me. And this may be controversial for some folks who are listening. I'm sorry again, email me. Don't email Luke or Andrew to me. Rogue One is probably the second best Star wars movie there is. I think, I think it's. I think it just as a film, it's so well executed. The acting, the storytelling, everything about it is incredible to me and that's more incentive for me to watch andor. But again like yeah. The close to home, I'm just like.

[B]

Maybe wait till after the midterms.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

Like wait till after the midterms. See if that's maybe takes a little bit of the edge off because you.

[A]

That was also like Jess and I were watching the Russians a bunch of years ago or. And like after the first season or two, it was like all the Russia scandal with. With Trump and now, you know, the Americans. Oh, the Americans. Sorry, sorry. The Americans. Yeah.

[B]

I totally was like, I wonder if they made a sequel called the Russians. That would be really interesting. It's like Americans in Russia pretending in.

[A]

Russia it's Soviet Russia. Americans are spy.

[B]

I. I started on the Americans because everybody was just flipping out about it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I had such a hard time with the sort of flashback scenes I do. Really. I respond very poorly to like wigs that are unconvincing in TV shows and things. And I felt like there was like they were. Because it kind of starts off in the 80s or something, right?

[A]

Yeah. And I think the whole show is in the 80s.

[B]

Maybe that was it. I don't know. Obviously I only got a few episodes in it also. That was one of those shows that just suffered from the. The weight of expectation. I'd heard so much.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Good. About it. That by the time I watched it, it was impossible for it to live up to the expectations that I had already heard. So.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But I will try to see if I can get up on task and then I'll start talking about it on the show and yeah, I may, I may watch andor Even though you're right, it's hard to watch things that mirror the real moment of life that we're in.

[A]

Yeah. I mean I know people love the hands made tale too. Right.

[B]

Yeah, that one that. I mean, well, whatever we. Here we are at the end of the show. We don't have to.

[A]

The Badlands.

[B]

We're in the Badlands. Well, you know, look. Yeah, we're about. We're just into the Badlands, I guess. But it's like I remember when the Handmaid's Tale came out. I watched the first season. I thought it was very compelling. And then I remember hearing people saying, like, well, gosh, you know, as our politics rolled on, like, this is becoming Handmaid's Tale. And I remember thinking, let's all take a breath. And it is now so much worse than the Handmaid's Tale. Like, I just remember thinking, like, that's. That's. We're being a little dramatic here, people. And now I'm just like, what I would give for it only being the Handmaid's Tale. Like, that seemed an impossibility to me. Like an overstatement to a gross degree. And now I'm like, I feel. It feels like we've rushed right on past that and we are wherever we are. Well, thank goodness we get to do this TBTL thing together and hopefully bring, like, a small modicum of joy to people's days here five days a week. And it's in big part thanks to you, John, man, we really appreciate all that you do for for tbtb and thank you for jumping on today. Thanks for. For filling. Filling in for Andrew at the last.

[A]

Big, big shoes to fill. Thrilled to be here. Thrilled and thankful for the listeners supporting the show. Like, you're talking the tdm. Oh, I have a good show pick. It's my garage with all the boxes. I love it from the thank you gifts, but it's like. Is a hassle. But I'm happy it's a hassle I have. It's a hassle I'm glad to have. Okay. Because thankful for the support of the tenants.

[B]

That's right. Everything you're sending out represents a donation someone made.

[A]

So heck yeah.

[B]

Still be our job. So thank you, everyone.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

We are all done for today, but we'll be right back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio. So please do join us for that. In the meantime, have a great Monday. Take care of yourselves, stay safe, hug your loved ones, and please remember, no mountain too tall.

[A]

Oh, good luck to all.

[B]

That. I kind of. I whizzed that at you. All right, see you tomorrow, everybody.

[A]

I was waiting for Andrew to say it in my ears.

[B]

It's muscle memory for him.

[A]

Power out. Whoops.

[B]

All right, I'm leaving that in. I don't care.