#4585 I'm An Ideas Festival, Michael

Summary

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TBTL Episode #4585: "I'm An Ideas Festival, Michael"

Date: October 28, 2025
Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh

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Episode Overview

In this classic Tuesday episode, Luke and Andrew juggle topics ranging from podcast award controversies and awkward advertising campaigns to personal food experiments and peculiar smells. As always, the duo blend tangents into reflections on culture, their own habits, and the general absurdities of life—this time with a heavy dose of sleepiness, food-talk, and meta-media commentary.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. Podcast Golden Globes and the ’Pay-to-Play’ Awards Game

• Main Topic: Luke introduces the news that the Golden Globes now have a podcast category—however, TBTL is not among the 25 nominees.
• Behind the Curtain: The award is run by Penske Media, who also owns a company named Luminate, responsible for picking nominees. Penske also offers a festival where, for tens of thousands of dollars, you can be interviewed and potentially written about in their own publications.
  • Luke: “There might be a way to pay to play. We will get into that.” (01:10)
  • Andrew: “It’s such an evil genius move, honestly.” (75:57)
• Transparency: To be considered, podcasts must pay a $500 submission fee—even TBTL could nominate itself, though they agree it’d be a waste of money.
• Meta Issues: Noted lack of diversity and the selection of only major commercial podcasts (e.g., Conan O’Brien, Dateline, Joe Rogan).
• Favorite Quote:

  “The company picking the podcasts... is also owned by the people that own the Golden Globe. So that's seen as a little bit of a—I don't even know if conflict of interest. I don't think anyone cares about this enough for it to be a conflict of interest.”
  (Luke, 67:22)

• Tangents: They riff on the “For Your Consideration” Hollywood award machine (“If TBTL wanted to spend $50,000 that we don't have…”).
• Notable Bit: Marc Maron’s legacy is dissected, concluding that podcasting probably does not deserve reverence usually given it—“I just don't think that this is a medium that should be talked about with reverence when the intro to the show is ‘What's up, what the…’” (Luke, 90:32)

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2. Sleep Inertia, Wordle Woes, and Gamified Morning Routines

• Andrew’s Wordle Streak: Andrew laments that his 160-day Wordle streak ended because he guessed the wrong word, and the emotional impact is surprisingly strong.
  • (03:35) “I stopped counting. I was so close… And then last night, same deal.”
• Becca’s Solution: Luke narrates a private exchange where Becca, his partner, shares her Wordle success—with some clues that she may have had an advantage due to the nature of the day’s word.
  • (19:00-21:43) “There is something about today's word that would make it more top of mind for a Becca-type person...”
• Games & Life: Connections and Wordle are contrasted for fairness and satisfaction.
  • (04:02) Andrew: “There’s been some controversy. It was just a wor and I chose the wrong one.”
• Community Poll: They invite listeners to submit “top five” lists of quirky little joys or routines (e.g., beers at certain places, smells, wordle experiences).
  • Contact: voicemail at 206-414-8285 or email [e-mail] (10:18)

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3. Top Five Underrated Smells & The Power of Nostalgia

• Offbeat Ratings: Andrew wants to know people’s “Top 5 Underrated Smells.”
  • Example: The smell of a two-stroke engine, motorboats, gasoline mixed with water, and, distantly, cigarettes.
  • (06:42) “I would suggest the smell of like two-cycle engine starting up is an underrated smell...”
• Luke on Childhood Scents: “Wouldn't you agree that gasoline and cigarettes in. In moderation were two really great smells?” (07:59)
  • Both share aversion to cigarette smoke in enclosed spaces as kids, but can enjoy a nostalgic whiff outdoors.

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4. Food & Cooking Tangent: Tofu, Curry, & Kitchen Improvisation

Timestamp: 22:34–45:26 (Tofu adventure) & 37:56–45:26 (Cooking enthusiasms)

• Luke’s Early Morning: The Tofu Factory Visit
  • Woke up at 3 a.m., filmed at Ota Tofu in Portland (“the longest continuously operated tofu production place in America”).
  • Process: Step-by-step narration of turning soybeans into tofu—with traditional coagulants and labor-intensive hand methods.
  • Taste Test: “I will tell you Andrew, it was actually really tasty and didn't taste like any other kind of tofu I've had before. It was very, very light, very clean. But then at the end, there was just this nuttiness to it…” (29:49)
  • Family Story: The new owners are a former baseball player and his optometrist mother, who bought it from the Ota family to keep the tradition alive.
• Andrew’s Cooking Mood: The Autumnal Urge
  • After bar night, makes surprise matzo ball soup at 1 a.m., then embarks on Sunday and Monday food projects.
  • First attempt at chicken curry from a recipe is “just okay”—reminds himself you refine a dish over time.
  • (39:40) “I just got to remember, like, don't throw in the towel on the recipe—just build on it.”
• Luke’s Pantry Creativity:
  • Proud of making dinner entirely from pantry/freezer odds and ends: fondant potatoes, tuna pasta with roasted Costco frozen broccoli.
  • (41:52) “Every single thing that I ate last night came from something that was existing in my kitchen that had not been gone out and purchased… I’m still like a first grade level with this, but I’m at a first grade level now.”

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5. Pop Culture, Ads & Media Critique

Advertising Campaigns & SNL

• AT&T Commercial Rant: Luke expresses outrage at the new “can of whoop up” Luke Wilson/Billy Bob Thornton campaign for AT&T.
  • (49:45) “Who are the ad wizards who came up with that line? How did that line survive the arena of all the different ideas and revisions for this script?”
  • They play the ad, lampooning its muddled attempt to evoke rural masculinity and the nonsensical line, “I keep my boots clean by rolling with AT&T.”
• Scoreboard Bit: The absurdity of Luke Wilson checking a fake weathered scoreboard with binoculars for “fastest, most reliable network.”
  • (54:36) “He wants to look at it from a certain distance, a certain remove, so he can just check in for himself who has the fastest, most reliable network…”

Comedy, SNL & Writer Jim Downey

• ‘Financier Epstein’ Bit: They play and celebrate the infamous Jim Downey “Jeff Epstein, the financier” moment from Conan O’Brien’s podcast (15:55–17:25), connecting it to Downey’s SNL writing career and his cameo in “The Chair Company.”
  • (14:37) “The rehabilitation of Jim Downey’s reputation with me and me alone is afoot.”
• Tangential SNL Critique: Discussion of the limited comedic merit of most SNL cold opens, and Downey’s big reputation among insiders vs. audience.

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6. Listener Engagement: Top Five Lists Call-In

• Ongoing call for listeners to submit “top five” lists about beer, popcorn, or anything fun and specific—not limited to food.
  • (10:18) “If you have any kind of goofy ideas like that... email [e-mail] or call... 206-414-8285 that spells TBTL.”

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7. Smaller Moments & Memorable Quotes

• Favorite Quotes, Banter & Humor:

  • Andrew: “I like you, Dottie. See, that's the thing.” (00:00, in-character riff opening)
  • Luke: “I'm hooked... My tongue was shaking.” (01:29, riffing on tea/coffee addiction)
  • Andrew: “A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips, a lifetime on the toughet.” (26:34, laughing about tofu texture)
  • Luke: “Saturday nights at midnight, I would love nothing more than to come stumbling in from the Madrona Hill studio and smell matzo ball soup.” (37:53)
  • “We love taking the name of somewhere from somewhere else in the world and then mispronouncing it.” (60:40, on U.S. town names)

• Listener Donor Thank-Yous: (58:02–65:27)

  • Usual playful debates about how to pronounce donor cities, delight in little regional mispronunciations, and affectionate ribbing of regular supporters.

• Meta-Show:

  • Luke, repeatedly referencing his sleep deprivation and admitting the day's “energy is a facade” after a 3 am tofu shoot, weaving that exhaustion into the day's tone.

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8. Lightning Round: Neighborhood News, Sports, and Perfect Neighbor Documentary

• Neighborhood/Smells: The legendary "Uncle Sam" conservative billboard near Vader, WA, is now owned by a local Native American tribe, displaying “Native Land #Chehalis” next to Uncle Sam—“subtle, inoffensive, and that means it’s going to drive the right crazy.” (57:27)
• Sports Producer Rants: Luke rails on pre-produced network sports bits—animation, cringe writing—“anything outside just telling us about the game... is going to get into ‘just because Jonathan Abrams doesn't have the reins anymore, doesn’t mean the bit’s not firmly between his teeth.’” (110:44)
• Netflix Recommendation: He lauds “The Perfect Neighbor,” a documentary told solely through police bodycam, for being immersive and affecting.
  • (104:55–107:45) “…absolutely literally like the audio and everything, it's audio from—there’s no narration, there are no talking heads being interviewed. It is purely through the body cam.”
• Miscellaneous Tangents: Gummy candy cravings, movie-showtime confusion, late-night Safeway cookie dilemmas.

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Notable Quotes & Moments (With Timestamps)

• On Golden Globes’ Podcast Category:

  “The independent company is also owned by the people that own the Golden Globe. So that's seen as a little bit of a... I don't even know if conflict of interest. I don't think anyone cares about this enough for it to be a conflict of interest.”
  (Luke, 67:22)

• On Wordle Streak Loss:

  “I was 20 days away, Luke. I was 20 days away from matching, maybe even less. I stopped counting. I was so close. My top streak is 182 days and I was in the 160s...”
  (Andrew, 03:35)

• On AT&T Ads:

  “Who are the ad wizards who came up with that line? How did that line survive the arena of all the different ideas and revisions for this script?”
  (Luke, 53:30)

• On Making Tofu:

  “Making tofu is so much harder than being a professional baseball player was physically.”
  (32:32)

• On Cooking With What’s Available:

  “Every single thing that I ate last night came from something that was existing in my kitchen that had not been gone out and purchased...”
  (Luke, 41:52)

• On Podcast Reverence:

  “I just don't think that this is a medium that should be talked about with reverence when the intro to the show is ‘What's up, what the…’”
  (Luke, 90:32)

• On Sports Production Cheese:

  “Anything where they're trying to be filmmakers, where they're trying to do something funny about like, I don't know, just like a graphic about a guy who is on a team... anything like that it's going to get into ‘just because Jonathan Abrams doesn't have the reins anymore, it doesn't mean the bit's not firmly between his teeth.’ It's the worst kind of writing ever and it's getting on national television.”
  (Luke, 110:44)

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Segment Timestamps

• 00:00 – 01:51: Opening banter, character riffing.
• 01:51 – 06:31: Sleepiness, heater chat, wordle woes.
• 06:31 – 13:27: Top five experiences appeal, underrated smells.
• 13:27 – 18:49: “Chair Company” discussion, Jim Downey/SNL, and financier Epstein clip.
• 22:34 – 35:06: Tofu adventure, food production.
• 37:10 – 45:26: Food moods, curry failures, kitchen improvisation.
• 49:16 – 55:19: AT&T ad rants, Luke Wilson campaign.
• 58:02 – 65:27: Donor thanks, place-name debates.
• 65:46 – 86:31: Podcast Golden Globes saga, awards machine, Penske Media, Marc Maron.
• 86:31 – 97:29: Who should get podcast reverence?
• 104:55 – 107:45: “Perfect Neighbor” Netflix doc rec.
• 110:14 – End: Rant on network sports cringe pre-production; outro.

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Tone & Style

• Humorous, slightly loopy, and meandering.
• Self-aware, meta, and prone to digressions.
• Equal parts genuine curiosity, skepticism, and routine self-deprecation.

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Summary for First-Time Listeners

This episode is textbook TBTL—a freewheeling blend of pop culture critique, quirky personal stories, community engagement, and media industry skepticism. If you want hosts who can spiral from an AT&T ad to tofu coagulants, and from there to the nature of podcast awards, all while riffing honestly about their own flaws, sleeping habits, and Wordle streaks—this is your jam.

Skippable: Ads, intros, outros, most of the donor thank-yous (except for in-joke value).
Do Not Miss: The AT&T ad-takedown (49:16ff), Pod Golden Globes exposé (65:46ff), and the bodycam doc rec (104:55ff).

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Power Out.

Transcript

[Andrew Walsh]

Look, Dottie, I like you like. I like you. See, that's the thing.

[Luke Burbank]

I like you too, Dottie. There's a lot of things about me.

[Andrew Walsh]

You don't know anything about, Dottie. Things you wouldn't understand. Things you couldn't understand. Things you shouldn't understand.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't understand.

[Andrew Walsh]

T T B T L.

[Luke Burbank]

I was shaking. My tongue was shaking. My head, my arms were shaking.

[Andrew Walsh]

On my legs.

[Luke Burbank]

My feet, too.

[Andrew Walsh]

In no way do I want to appear pushy here, but please shut up.

[Luke Burbank]

That's a no from me, dog. There are two types of people in this world. Those who like Neil diamond and those who don't. My ex wife loves him. You know something? That was pretty funny. You should think about being a comedian. My friend is a blackjack dealer, and on his forearm he has a tattoo of an ace and a jack. You see, I'm a blackjack player.

[Andrew Walsh]

On my forearm, I'm gonna get a Tattoo of a 10 and a 2.

[Luke Burbank]

And then maybe later a king. You know how someone might describe a situation that's unpleasant or confining as being like a prison? This is what they're referring to. Well, all right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Tuesday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. It tastes like soot in hot water.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm hooked.

[Luke Burbank]

My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. It is our turn coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio perched high above the mighty Columbia, where, boy, has it gotten chilly all of a sudden around here. I've got not one, not two heaters going. I've got, actually a blanket slung over my lap to try to stay warm.

[Andrew Walsh]

Isn't there a slanket somewhere you should be feeling with your farts?

[Luke Burbank]

It's working, though. That's all I'll say about that. And here we go, everyone, with episode 4585 in a collector series. Let the fun begin. We tried to talk about this yesterday and we ran out of time, which might be related to the fact that we'll probably never win a Podcast Golden Globes award. We are living in the midst of a podcast boom. Yes, there is a Golden Globe for podcasting. They've announced the 25 podcasts that are nominated for the Golden Globe in podcasting. We are not on the list, but it turns out there might be a way to pay to play. We will get into that. Also, I think last night I zeroed in on what I think is my code, currently my least favorite advertising campaign. I think we found the worst one going currently. Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one? So we will get into that. And, you know, I just want to be very transparent. I'll be very open and honest with the listeners today. I know you hear me right now and you think, God, that guy's full of energy. But it's an act, my friends. It's a facade because I'm very tired. I got up at three in the morning to go watch them make tofu in Portland today. We're just blowing through nap time, aren't we? So I may pass out at any moment during the show, and I hope you'll all forgive me for that. I'm gonna do my best and go as long as I can today, but I'm very, very sleepy. Thankfully, we've got this guy, longest running cobra of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. He got a healthy 11 hours of sleep last night.

[Andrew Walsh]

In short, things are going extremely well for him.

[Luke Burbank]

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

[Andrew Walsh]

I was 20 days away, Luke. I was 20 days away from matching, maybe even less. I stopped counting. I was so close. My top streak is 182 days and I was in the 160s. And once again, around midnight last night, I did the wordle and I got.

[Luke Burbank]

Maybe that's part of the problem.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, it worked for 160.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. But not for 161.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, it didn't. So, yeah, this happened to me the other day. I've been doing them at night more and more, honestly. But the other day and then last night, same deal. I went through all five turns and I realized, uh, oh, I only have one more turn in the morning. And this time I knew there were two options that I could see. At least there were two wolves and I had tortle and I chose wrong this morning. And I'll be honest with you, if it doesn't feel like a day setter, you know what I mean? It's just. It's just like you don't want to play. I mean, I'm not. I'm not gonna not play. I don't feel like, you know, sometimes with that other game, Connections, what they come up with is so unbelievably. Categories. Yeah, it's kind of like things that I thought smelled like coffee or something. Like, what are you talking about? But you know, connections is connections. It's a word or it's not. For the most part, there's been some controversy. It was just a wor and I chose the wrong one. So here we are.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm sorry. Hey, that reminds me though, just, you know what? Six letter pitchers and catchers report for wordle sooner than you'd think.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Five letters.

[Luke Burbank]

Five. That's how many. That's why another thing holding me back in the game. I don't know how many letters.

[Andrew Walsh]

You keep adding letters to it. Well, you know what, we could maybe create a list here, Luke, the top five worst wordle experiences. I don't know. Okay, that maybe is shoehorning in our little plan here, but reminding us.

[Luke Burbank]

Can you remind the listeners of what you're talking about?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. So a couple of weeks ago or last week or something, we got a voicemail from listener Bobby who wanted to share top five beers and meaning like kind of beer experiences, A beer you have at the ballpark, a beer you have when you're camping or whatever, which led to a conversation about top five popcorn experiences. And you and I are looking for more submissions along those lines because we're going to be pre recording a couple of shows when I'm traveling next week. And so I was trying to think of good examples because they don't have to all be food or drink related. And I was thinking like, I'm not going to flesh these out right now, but like you could do like top top five underrated smells. I think that's an interesting one. I've been pondering this and again, maybe somebody will put together their own list. But like the idea of an underrated smell I think is interesting because obviously like coffee in the morning is not going to be on that list because that's a very properly or possibly even overrated smell. Right. So what are the top five underrated smells in your life?

[Luke Burbank]

When you say overrated, I mean maybe.

[Andrew Walsh]

Not overrated, but rated correctly. People aren't, people aren't overlooking it.

[Luke Burbank]

Right. Okay. It's not slept on, as they say. It's not underappreciated. It's very appreciated.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. Whereas I think like, for example, I would, I would suggest that like the smell of like a two cycle engine starting up is an underrated smell. I don't think that's. I mean maybe in other parts of the country, maybe if I was still where I grew up, people would talk about that smell more often. But I feel like that is not one that the two stroke engine smell, especially you combine that. Are motorboats usually two stroke too? Because I feel like that's a smell, the smell of gasoline and water on a motorboat Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I think it might depend on the particular kind of. Of. Of outboard. But yeah, that. That smell of. Because, you know, you're. You're. You're pressing. My experience with every two stroke engine is always I'm pressing that little kind of, you know, reservoir of fuel and then primer.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is that the prime?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I'm priming it a little bit, you know, but like, there's usually. Oftentimes there's a little kind of rubber bubble that holds a little bit of the fuel, and I'm pressing that and I'm like, well, this dad gum thing ain't gonna start. You know, I'm wrenching on it.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're gonna flood it. You're gonna flood it, Luke.

[Luke Burbank]

This isn't starting. Gosh darn it. And then I hit that thing again. It's. And right when I am about to give up, it jumps to life.

[Andrew Walsh]

And.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, you got a little bit of that. That fuel smell. I mean, I do think in our childhood, wouldn't you agree that gasoline and cigarettes in. In moderation were two really great smells?

[Andrew Walsh]

As a kid, I never thought about the smell of cigarettes as being either I was a smoker or an ex smoker, where I would just. And with cigarette smoke especially. And obviously mileage will vary on this depending on your relationship with this smell. But for me, it has to be like really, like a cigarette really far away that just sort of catches the wind a little bit. Yes, Donovan. And it wafts to you. It can't be done.

[Luke Burbank]

Like you don't even have.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. You don't want to be in a room with it. Right?

[Luke Burbank]

No. And in fact, when I was a kid, I remember I had a couple of friends who, like, their dads smoked, or let's be honest, their stepdads smoked. And that was like. I didn't like that. I didn't like being stuck in a car with the windows up in a. Like a Datsun B210 with the windows up and a cigarette going. And KZ okay on the radio. That gave me bad feelings.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

But that being said, because I didn't grow up in a household where people were smoking occasionally like a cigarette that wasn't being forced upon me too close in a confined space. I sort of. I liked the smell of that, too.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you think it's weird that they're changing the warning label on cigarettes in the United States to say, warning, smoking is going to make you look too cool? That's a new directive, if I understand it correctly.

[Luke Burbank]

It's every. It's a fire hose of norms violations and every day there's a new norm being violated.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's the one that seemed just like it went just a step too far.

[Luke Burbank]

I almost got, I almost bought a pack of cigarettes for my French guy costume on Saturday, but then I ended up just forgetting to. But I thought, like, I don't think I've ever bought a. I mean, I probably smoked. I probably in my life, I bet I've smoked 30 cigarettes total. But I don't know, I bet you a pack of cigarettes has got to be, what, 15 bucks these days?

[Andrew Walsh]

I think so. I was talking to somebody about that recently. Somebody who said they bought a pack of cigarettes for a friend or something. And he was like, I. I smoked when I was young. He's like, they were $2 a pack when I started. I'm like, yeah, me too. Gas. Gas was a dollar a gallon and cigarettes were two bucks a pack. And cigarettes of course have ballooned even faster than price of gas because of all the taxes and the, you know, the things people are doing to try to dissuade people from starting the habit. But it would have been amazing if you started smoking for your Halloween costume. And Becca was like, hey, you know, you look a lot younger when you smoke. And next thing you know you're just like, you're changing everything.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, speaking of Becca and of course.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can I just give out the phone number please? If people want to submit like some sort of a top five list, we are looking to record maybe early next week or later this week. So if you have any kind of goofy ideas like that email, email me andrewbtl.net or call it in the voicemail line 206-414-8285 that spells TBTL. Go on, Luke. Sorry.

[Luke Burbank]

You can always leave a message at farmerzak's. I made the mistake of watching that Detroiters the other day where the plot is that they need to re record a jingle for a grocery store called Farmer Zach's because the Sam Richardson character had. He sang the song originally with his ex girlfriend. Yes, Amber Ruffin.

[Andrew Walsh]

Chemistry, right?

[Luke Burbank]

But in the watching of the show I ended up being subjected to you can always get a deal at Farmer's Axe. I've just been walking around singing you can always get a deal at Farmer Zacks for like four days.

[Andrew Walsh]

Anytime you mention Detroiters I just think, ah, time for a rewatch. Also, by the way, I am enjoying you and I had a quick conversation off air. I'm not caught up but I did finish watching episode one And I. About, like, more than halfway through episode two of the Chair Company. They're not long. I don't know why I stopped it halfway through, but I'm so glad that the show has a bit of a plot. Like, it's not just. I compared it to friendship when we first talked, because it just seemed like the whole point was just to create cringe without a lot of.

[Luke Burbank]

By the way, the movie. Not the concept for people that are unfamiliar.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I was talking about the concept.

[Luke Burbank]

I stand correct.

[Andrew Walsh]

They seem good for a while and they get real cringy. No, yeah, sorry. The movie with also Tim Robinson in it. But anyway, what I like about this TV show is that it's not just a meandering collection of bad decisions that don't make sense. Like, there is a bunch of bad decisions, but at least there's a reason for it. And there's this noir mystery that sort.

[Luke Burbank]

Of pushes it forward. There's a mystery afoot, which I agree with you. Like, I think that was the thing that some of the other stuff is missing, particularly friendship. Although I stand by friendship, I found it entertaining.

[Andrew Walsh]

The concept or the movie?

[Luke Burbank]

Neither. Okay. The place in Wisconsin where I truly, finally felt like myself. Truly the mayor of friendship. The unelected mayor of friendship. Currently seeking a third term. Oh, I just want to. Can I blow your mind, please?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Mark's walking out of the room. So, you know, in the. In the television show the Chair Company, in the HBO program the Chair Company, I don't know how much you remember from the first episode, but Tim Robinson's character works at this company, and what they do is they design and build malls. And he's got, like, a guy who I think maybe works for him, a sort of older gentleman who has. Who's kind of. Kind of got like an odd, like, almost like a hippie Zen quality. He's talking very calmly to him, I think. Doesn't he have, like, a lanyard with, like, a.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bubbles. Yes, bubbles on his face. And it becomes a problem. Yeah. So he was passed over for the promotion that Tim Robinson's character gets. And so. But he's, like, very Zen about it. And he says, listen, I work too much anyway. I need to have some fun. That's why I put this little thing of liquid bubbles around my neck so I can blow in the office.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. Well, you know, that's Jim Downey, the guy who put this in your life. Oh, Jeff Epstein, the financier.

[Andrew Walsh]

The guy who's famous from his appearance.

[Luke Burbank]

On the Conan podcast for saying Jeff Epstein, the financier.

[Andrew Walsh]

Financier guy. You know, now that you say that, I can connect it. Like, sometimes you point that out and I'm like, I don't even see it. But yes, in my mind's eye, now that you say that, because years have passed, I think, since probably that, that, that bit of him on Conan that's gone viral, I think is a few years old. Right.

[Luke Burbank]

I think it is, because I had do like, some. Some cross referencing. Like, I looked a picture. Jim Downey was an SNL writer. In fact, there's a new documentary coming out about him, which I've always been a little bit. I have to say that, boy, this is. This is not really enlightening the listeners much. My evolving thoughts on Jim Downey and a TV show, very few of them seen that, have seen the Chair Company. But the thing I always kind of said about Jim Downey was he is a sort of a patron saint. He's a very revered character in the world of SNL because he worked there for many, many years. And he famously, he wrote all of the cold opens. That was sort of his job, if I understand right, or at least like one of his main jobs. And I've always thought that the cold opens, other than maybe being kind of funny because it's an impression, are often, to me, the least inventive part of snl. And so I've always had this thing with this guy Jim Downey, which is like, oh, I know all the cast members love him and they go on about Downey and he's this legend, but I'm like, but are those cold opens that funny? Well, now, him, first of all, him saying the financier Jeff Epstein, and him being this kind of weirdo character on the Chair Company. The rehabilitation of Jim Downey's reputation with me and me alone is. It's. It's afoot.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you think? I mean, I wasn't going to do this, but. Should we play the clip that we keep on referencing? Now? This is something that, because of all the Epstein news recently, it's been just. It's almost unavoidable. This clip from Conan o'.

[Luke Burbank]

Brien. O' Brien needs a friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Which I'm looking for the date here. I see that this was posted. This particular version was posted to YouTube at least a year ago. Should we play it? It's.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, why not?

[Andrew Walsh]

They're all just sitting around. It's like it's Conan and Jim and then some other guests who I. I don't know if you recognize them.

[Luke Burbank]

I think it's probably sonam of session. And Matt, the other. Sona and Matt are The kind of 2 OG, I guess you could say sidekicks, and.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. You know, I thought there were guests over there. I don't listen to that show. Yeah. Matt Gourley. Yes. Okay, take a listen.

[Luke Burbank]

There are many, many figures in our society who contribute an enormous amount to our culture and people who have unconventional personal lives and. And yet they seem exempt from criticism. You know, Jeffrey Epstein.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. No, no, let me finish.

[Luke Burbank]

I see Jeffrey Epstein. No one, no one, you know, criticizes him. And yet.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

[Luke Burbank]

Is a double standard.

[Andrew Walsh]

Jim, Jim, hold on, hold on, hold on. Much has been said. Much has been said about Jeffrey Epstein. Terrible things. No, Jeff.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm talking about Jeff Epstein, the New York financier. Yes, we're talking about the same Jeff Epstein. No.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

No.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. I.

[Luke Burbank]

What? I never, I never heard.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, it was a big story in the news. Huge.

[Luke Burbank]

No.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. For you to say.

[Luke Burbank]

No one ever said Epstein.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, Chef Epstein. Yes. The financier. The island. Yes. He had an island that I've never been to.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I. I'm pretty sure, with respect, if there was some news about Jeff Epstein, I would have heard.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I don't know where you. What rock you've been under. It was a huge story. And I have to. Jeff Epstein is. I have to tell you, he's gone. He's dead. What do you mean he's dead?

[Luke Burbank]

He's dead.

[Andrew Walsh]

He's dead.

[Luke Burbank]

Sorry. Nice try. If Jeff.

[Andrew Walsh]

Anyway, it goes on from there. I didn't know. Did you want to hear the whole thing, Luke? It's longer than I remember.

[Luke Burbank]

I think it delivers. I think that's high comedy. I don't even need to say this to our listeners. They get it. They're smart people. The joke there, please, is not about the activities of one Jeffrey Epstein at all. It's about a guy who just had a friend who is a New York financier and was in the real dark about a real big news story in our world. So there's a documentary coming out about Jim Downey, which I now like. Before, I would have said, ah, pish posh. The guy who writes the. The cold opens on SNL are used to. But now I'm like, oh, the guy that I like from the chair, you know, the chair company and the guy who made a funny financier joke to me. So I may check that out now.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can I oh, go ahead, go. Well, I know you've been trying to get to something related to possibly Becca and Wordle, but I, I did want to ask because this has come up before and I don't want to put you on the spot because I don't. I'm kind of looking it up on the fly. But I also wonder the era that Jim was doing the cold opens and if that's either, was he somebody who helped like sort of invent that? Because if he was there in the 70s and he was sort of like the godfather of that kind of idea, you definitely understand that. But then, you know, like you, I'm not a huge fan of them in the modern era because it's just like, it doesn't really seem to be funny. It seems to be like a literal blow by blow. We've taken the transcript of a press conference and we just have people read enacting it sort of, you know, so I don't know kind of what his.

[Luke Burbank]

Role is and was the story was that he did it, you know, he had that job in the 70s or 80s and then I think didn't like went away, did something else. And then I remember it being a story that they had like brought him back.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

Or reassigned him to that or something. I remember that being one of the plot lines about SNL at some point was like they brought back the guy who made the cold open, you know, legendary or something like that. Now, I have sent you to your text message, Andrew, to your text service. I have sent you a screenshot of Becca's completion of the wordle today. And I don't know what any of this means and this is probably going to be terrible imaginary radio, but I just, I want to, I want to narrate for you what she and I were texting about. When you said that this broke your streak, I said, was today's wordle really hard? And she said, well, not for me, but. And then I said it broke Andrew's 160 day streak. And she emphasized that. And then she said I had an unfair advantage. And I said, which is question mark. And then she just sent me this screen, whatever you call that, of how hers went. So I guess it took her.

[Andrew Walsh]

She got it in four, four out of six.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's like, it looks like it's like nothing. And then all of a sudden she just kind of lands at her something. She goes, do you know what the word is? And then I made a guess and I was wrong. And then she said, show Andrew that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Screenshot this Is interesting because I also.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know what that means. Does that mean thing to you, this screenshot?

[Andrew Walsh]

It does now, and I don't want to spoil it for our listeners, but. Okay, so first of all, it means that on Becca's first turn, as on my first turn, neither one of us got any of the letters right. I will tell people what my start. Well, maybe I won't if people are trying to figure it out. But basically, I use the same exact starting word every single day because so far it hasn't hit and I feel like I need to. It's got three vowels in it, which I like, so none of my usual letters hit on anything. That's why they're all gray. Now I'm wondering if Becca and I tried the same second word because she and I both got yellows for our second and third position. That means that those letters exist somewhere in that word, but they're not in the right position at that point. Then she starts to get a lot of greens for her third try and then solves it on her fourth. And there is something about today's word that would make it more top of mind for a Becca type person, I will say, but I'm trying to be vague, and I think I'm achieving it.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I mean, this is. It's good of you to not spoil this because people are. In fact, this morning when I was at the tofu company and was. We were waiting for something to happen or whatever, I look over and our producer has his phone, and I think, oh, he's probably texting New York. He's probably doing some sort of important CBS business. And he's on the wordle.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

So this is a. This is a. A drumbeat in the lives of many people, including our listeners. And so I do want to be careful that we don't.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

On this morning. I mean, it's so fresh. It's piping hot fresh. Andrew. This. It's hot and fresh out the kitchen. This wordle. So we got to be careful.

[Andrew Walsh]

And two other people on my text chain, by the way, have busted out as well.

[Luke Burbank]

Wow. So this is another. We're in another corer situation.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's. It's one of those where there's just a lot of. Of. Once you sort of figure out the base of the word, there's a whole bunch of options that could. That's why I had on my last try, there were at least two more that I could choose from, and I. And it ended up being one of the two that I Identified. And I just chose the wrong one, by the way. Do you want me to text you what the word is so that you can understand what Becca's talking about?

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, sure. And also, she did send me her second word. And I guess if I give that out on the air, that's also a hint. So we just have to kind of.

[Andrew Walsh]

Be you and I, maybe. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

It's for our private collection.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

Anyway, a couple. The update on tofu is that it's a very interesting process. I don't. Are you a tofu guy, Andrew? Do you ever mess with tofu when you're doing a stir fry or anything?

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't usually make it. I think sometimes Genevieve has the. Because there's two different ways you can make tofu. Right? Like, I didn't grow up with it, so. And I don't say make.

[Luke Burbank]

You mean. You mean cook it. Not actually, like, at your house. Grind up the soybeans.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what I mean. Like, Genevieve will sometimes get some stuff. Stuff that is like. It's like kind of pre cooked in a certain way. And so you only have to kind of heat it up on the skillet. And then there's other stuff that's way more jiggly. Right. That you have to really be careful with.

[Luke Burbank]

That would be firm. There's. There's extra firm and then there's. There's a range of how firm it is. I guess there. Maybe there's soft would be the.

[Andrew Walsh]

I thought there was also some stuff that was almost like. Almost like pre browned. Although maybe I'm mistaken about that. But all that is to say I don't cook with it all that often. I used to think. I used to. I used to be averse to it. I think I'd never had before. And it doesn't look very good raw to me. But Genevieve will throw it in some dishes sometimes. But kind of.

[Luke Burbank]

I have to say, I kind of grew up with the same mindset around it, which was. Well, first of all, it wasn't something we really ate in our house. And then it was for, you know, it was one of those food types that got kind of like, caught up in the. Along with like, maybe sprouts and other things that were seen as, like, healthy and quote, unquote, weird and only weird because, like, a lot of folks in America weren't used to eating it. It's a big, big thing in other parts of the world. But I didn't have real thoughts on it one way or the other. When I stopped eating meat, I Started having a few more thoughts on it. Like, I started occasionally buying it, and I was not buying the right kind. I was buying the kind that still had a lot of moisture in it, which you then have to either put in a tofu press or put between a number of books to get all of the moisture out of it so that it's really compact. And then you can dice it up and kind of stir fry it. And it's actually really yummy and. And has some like, I don't know, whatever you call it, structure to it. Then I realized, oh, you can just buy this kind that's extra firm. It's already been basically, like, compacted down to a very dense little brick of something. And the thing about tofu is it mostly is just something that is high protein and that picks up the flavor of whatever is around it. So if you were making a yummy stir fry and you had some nice extra firm tofu cut up in there, it would pretty much just taste like the stuff that you were already cooking. Cooking. That's what I thought all tofu was about until I had some tofu today made by hand in front of my very eyeballs at this place, Oda Tofu in Portland, which is the longest continuously operated tofu production place in America. Which is kind of random that it's in Portland. And it is a crazy process. It's so simple. So I go in and there are just these. All of these big kind of plastic. Huge plastic tubs of soybeans that are just soaking in water. And they've been soaking for like 16 hours. And then those beans are drained and then put into a grinder that kind of grinds them into a. Just a chopped up, you know, much finer thing. Then they're kind of put in this roaster, and then they're put into this other, like, expressor kind of machine that like, has this inflatable bladder in it that basically pushes all of the chopped up and roasted soybeans, which is now kind of this milk. It's basically soy milk, but it's still got husks and stuff in it. So then that goes through this strainer. And then you have, like, pure soy milk, which then is taken over and they put this kind of chemical in it that's made out of seawater, which is. That's the big thing they do there that I guess other places don't do is they use this particular kind of, what this is a coagulant. It causes the soy milk to turn into curds and whey. I thought that was just for little Miss Muffet. And having seen whey, I don't know what she was doing eating her curds and whey curds. I could get whey. Miss me with that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips, a lifetime on the toughet. Yes, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

But so then you take this, you take this kind of. Again, you would. This part of the process would not be for you, Andrew. It's very much in that kind of textural zone that you don't really like. But then you, you kind of stir up the, the, the curds and whey and then the process of taking this thing that looks kind of like cottage cheese basically, and forming it into these totally solid bricks. If you're doing like a firm tofu, it was so satisfying. I feel like you would love this part of the process because you scoop it all into these metal trays that have all of these drainage holes in them. And they're made, they're custom made to have these little indentations like bricks of tofu. And you scoop in all of this. Imagine just like a person, Like a person does.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is a part of the process a person does.

[Luke Burbank]

All human. So they, this place between, this place we were at and they have one other little production place in Portland between the two of them and like five or six people or whatever it is, they make about 6,000 pounds of fresh tofu every single morning. Morning. And it doesn't, it only lasts for like a week. You got to eat it right then pretty much, or take it home and like, and you take all these like kind of this slurry of these curds and whey and then you start scooping it into this cheesecloth lined big rectangular box and you kind of smooth it out and then you fold the cheesecloth over it and then you put this big weighted lid on top of it and all of the whey, all the liquid starts draining out the sides and you put it under this hydraulic press, which you hit and it goes down, it goes and it like compacts it. And then you turn the hydraulic press off, you pull it back out, you take the lid off, you undo the cheesecloth and you wring out the cheesecloth. Because the cheesecloth that's on top has been absorbing a tremendous amount of this whey. You get the cheesecloth all wrung out and dry, you put it all back on, you put it back together, you put it back under the press, you hit it again. By the fourth time, ish, that you've done this, this thing has gone from being this like. Like imagine it's a giant slurry of cottage cheese to a solid, beautiful brick of this tofu. And it's like. And then you, you. You put it onto this wood board thing and then you dunk it in water, and then you cut it in the water. And then you have this brick of.

[Andrew Walsh]

This tofu which, like. Is it like a cookie cutter cutting, I wonder? Because there is. In those perfect squares, is it like one.

[Luke Burbank]

These squares are a little bit less perfect because they're cut by hand. So the kind of. Of I. So the whole thing about this place is that it's not mass produced. So the stuff that you. Yeah, the stuff that you would get if you were to walk into SARS Super Saver and grab a thing of tofu would very likely be made at a very large scale. And a perfectly cut brick, you know, sealed in a certain kind of thing, it would have been used a different enzyme or not enzyme, but a different coagulant to. To basically cause the curds and way to separate out because he's using the traditional Japanese kind. But because of that, you can't do machines with it. You guys have like a person standing there, like, watching it. It's very labor intensive. Then the guy's like. And of course, they're filming all of this and they're like. The guy's like, take a bite. So I'm just holding a brick of tofu and I'm like, inside, I'm like, do I want to take this bite?

[Andrew Walsh]

That's intense.

[Luke Burbank]

It's intense. And. But of course, you know, I am there to be hopefully somewhat entertaining and to be game. So I said, okay, so I take a bite. And I will tell you, Andrew, it was actually really tasty and didn't taste like any other kind of tofu I've had before. It was very, very light, very clean. But then at the end, there was just this nuttiness to it because it's just basically soybeans and water. That's pretty much. It tastes like soot and hot water. I'm hooked. It was. It was. It was really tasty. And then it was actually. It's a pretty cute story because this. This place has been in. In Portland for 100 years. And it was owned by this family, the Ota family. That's why it's called Ota Tofu. And so the guy who owns it now with his mom, his name is Justin, and he was a professional baseball player. He was drafted by the Texas Rangers. Yeah. And played baseball in the minors. And his mom was an optometrist and his mom, they're Japanese American. And his mom would go to this kind of thing that happens in Portland that's a lot of kind of middle aged Japanese American folks and then a lot of elderly Japanese American folks and the more middle aged Japanese American folks make these big meals, these big lunch meals, and all of the elders kind of get together and everyone sits around and has like, you know, traditional Japanese food and they hang out and they tell stories and it's just a great chance for folks in the community to bond. And this Sharon is the name of the mom. She's like an optometrist in Beaverton, but she like meets with this woman who is by herself making this tofu. This woman, Mrs. Ota, and she's working 80 hours a week making this tofu and she's like, yeah, I'm, I'm pretty old, I'm gonna stop doing this now. And this woman, this optometrist was like so moved and also had been eating this tofu her whole life growing up in Portland that she was like, we, this thing cannot stop happening. So she calls her son, who's now living in Virginia at the time he's out of baseball and she says, we should buy this tofu company and you should move back here and we'll run it together. So that's what they've been doing for the last however many years. And like, they didn't know anything about making tofu. It's like a very, again, it's very simple, but it's also very time consuming and like a pretty crazy, like I was telling him, I go, this is the opposite of passive income. You know, in the business world, all the, all the business bros, all the rise and grinders, like, you just got to get passive income, man. You got to get your money working for you. It's like, this is the opposite. This is active income. Every single dime you get out of this is because you stood there, he said to me, he goes, I was a professional baseball player and this making tofu is so much harder than being a professional baseball player was physically.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is there any connection between being a baseball player and being the son of an optometrist?

[Luke Burbank]

Do you think is there another baseball player who's the son of an optometrist?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I'm just thinking about how important it is to see the ball. Yeah, I'm not even joking. Did you say he's a pitcher or.

[Luke Burbank]

I think he was, I think he was a, like, I Don't think he was a pitcher, but he was. I think he was a DH, actually, because I looked up some of his stats. Oh. But check this out. Check out this optometry moment that. That is connected. I think you're right. Although she was wearing glasses.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, well, you got to. I mean, you got to sell the product.

[Luke Burbank]

Do I trust an optometrist that needs glasses?

[Andrew Walsh]

Good call.

[Luke Burbank]

So we're filming, so I'm doing a taste test with the mom. Sharon, by the way, I ate. I ended up eating so much tofu before, like. Like 8am today, let's just say more tofu than I've ever consumed before 8am in my life. But she put it like this amazing, like, miso glaze on it and stuff. It was so delicious, so incredibly delicious. But we're. We're standing around, she's setting up the food for us, and we're. We're in the production facility, so there's all kinds of steam and things are going off and heat and whatever. And our producer Anthony, who also had a camera set up, was like, we're in the middle of the taste test. He goes, sorry, everyone, my camera lens totally fogged up. And I was like, oh, okay, so we need to start over. And I'm looking around and I look and I go like, oh, there's a paper towel. I go, here, do you want a paper towel? She goes, no, no, no, no, don't do a paper towel. She goes, there's cheesecloth over there. Use that. And Anthony's like, yes. And I go, oh, look at you knowing about cameras. She goes, no, I was an optometrist, and I know what you're not supposed to use on a lens.

[Andrew Walsh]

Ah, right.

[Luke Burbank]

I was like, all right, fair point.

[Andrew Walsh]

Fair enough.

[Luke Burbank]

Fair point, Sharon.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

But anyway, that was my morning, learning so much about tofu. So much more than I ever thought I would know. And it was real. Like, you know those Mr. Rogers or Sesame street little things where they'd show you a crayon being made or Sapphone getting made? I love that shit so much. And like, when I first showed up at. I think I got there at like 4:30. And then I realized this is mostly gonna be B roll. And that just means stuff that I'm not actually involved in. That's our camera guys getting footage of the thing. Thing. And I was like. So my first thought is, I could have watched the end of the World Series. I didn't have to go to bed at 10pm because I didn't have to be here at 4:30am but then I started watching the process and I was so mesmerized by it. I found it to be actually totally fascinating. And I was like, this is. I'm lucky to have this job. I like that I got to go see this thing being made at. In the. Under the dark of night. And now I could be insufferable at parties when the topic of tofu comes up. I like that for myself.

[Andrew Walsh]

You mentioned that they make it in the morning. Obviously you were there in the morning. But is there a reason, do they stop at a certain time of day and is there a reason it has to be morning intensive or it's just their schedule that they chose?

[Luke Burbank]

A lot of it goes out to restaurants. Like a lot of the, A lot of the customers are restaurants and other kind of like food service. You know, it goes out to grocery stores. They also have. It's a retail location. People can just. That was another crazy thing. It's like 7:45 and people are just walking in to buy their tofu for the day from this little counter. Like I was like, man, I've never been that organized that I am getting my tofu checked off my to do list at 7:45am but I think it, I think it has to do with, you know, having it be ready to go. And he said it's kind of like fresh bread, you know, it's like you make it that day, it tastes better that day. Yeah, yeah, that makes people buy it that day. So I think that's the early, the early start part of it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, I had a, I had a little, you know, let me process my feelings on something here, please, if you, you don't mind. So like yesterday at some point I was on my phone, I think on Blue sky. And this is one of those things where you just never know when us. When a message, a general message that you put on social media is actually going to sort of take root with somebody. And I will say that maybe I'm. Because of the fall, I'm just in a mood to make food. I got home from the bar on Saturday night. We were all at the Eagles having a few drinks and I took off kind of early, I'll bet you. I got home, I'm going to guess around 10:30, maybe 11:00 clock at night at the latest. And I had some vegetables I had to clean up and put away. And it was one of those things where you pull on a yarn, you pull on a little piece of thread and then everything kind of unravels on you. I was literally just cutting the ends of some celery off because I need to clean it and put it away. And then I thought, oh, well, then I'll put these celery scraps in my compost bag that I keep in the freezer that I can not a compost bag, but it has onion bits and celery bits and other vegetable bits that I will someday turn into a stock right along with like some chicken or turkey or something.

[Luke Burbank]

Tell them the bone collector.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. And then I'm like, oh, I'm kind of running out of room in this bag. I gotta make stock pretty soon. Like this all happens very quickly. Next thing you know, I'm thinking, well, I still have to use up my stock from last Thanksgiving or whenever it was or last winter at some point. So then I pull all the stock out and again, this is at night after the bar. And then I'm like, oh, well, I could turn this into like matzo ball soup. So I find like matzo mix, you know, pre made matzah mix that we usually keep on hand. Next thing you know, like Genevieve comes home several hours later and she's like, it smells so good in here. And I'm like stirring a thing of matzo ball soup at like literally one in the morning.

[Luke Burbank]

If things don't work out, Andrew, for you and Genevieve, and I hope they do, will you please move here and make matzo ball soup?

[Andrew Walsh]

Make some midnight matzo.

[Luke Burbank]

Saturday nights at midnight, I would love nothing more than to come stumbling in from the Madrona Hill studio and smell matzo ball soup.

[Andrew Walsh]

Never thought that this would be my USA up all night moment. That's what USA up all night should have been about. People just making soup late at night. But anyway, so there must be something going on with me because then that was Saturday night. Then Sunday, I'm like, well, we'll just have the matzo ball soup for dinner. But then I kind of couldn't help myself. I stopped at the grocery store and just very basic, just got like some chicken thighs to roast and some veggies and stuff. And again, that's probably the season speaking to me, but I woke up yesterday, Monday with plenty of food in the fridge. Like I had just, you know, but then I'm scrolling and the New York Times just randomly tweets out a recipe for a chicken curry. Now I don't cook all that often and when I do, I'm kind of like just, you know, pretty much in the pattern of cooking the things I already know how to make sort of, you know, like, I kind of keep making. I learned how to make chicken fried rice five, 10 years ago or something, so I make that a lot, you know. So I'm not saying that I make. Make only boring things, but I don't get out of my comfort zone all that often. And I just saw this recipe pop up for a chicken curry, and I'm like, God, I really love the flavor of curry. I happened to have made rice the night before because I was like, maybe this goes well with chicken. So I had this thing of, like, white rice in the fridge. I'm just like, God, chicken curry would be so good on that. And so I ran to the store, grabbed the few ingredients we didn't have. I was surprised to see that we had most of them here. And, you know, it took me a little bit longer than the instructions say it will because I'm pretty slow on things, but I really enjoyed my time making it. But I gotta say, by the time the curry was done and I was putting it on my rice, it was just okay. And I gotta remember that the first time you make a recipe, even if it's just okay.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

That gives you something to build on. Because, like, I now. Because I'd never made it before, so I didn't know what to fix for or what to do. I also think that maybe, like, it didn't have as much flavor as I thought, and I'm like, well, our curry powder is kind of old. I do think that spices lose their flavor. I probably should have doubled this. I probably could have cooked the chicken with the onions a little bit more this, you know, to change the texture. And, like, I know that going back into it, I will. If I save this recipe, I will improve upon it over time. But right now I've got this whole thing of curry in my fridge that I'm pretty meh about. Again. It's not bad. It's not bad to eat, but I just. I was looking forward to that really strong curry flavor so much. And I just got to remember, like, don't throw in the towel on the recipe. Just build on it. But I don't know, you're probably like that too, I assume.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, hugely. Like, I. Almost everything that I make the first time is lousy. And, you know, it takes a long time to improve. And. And again, I have a far narrower range of things that I can make than you. This was me last night. I think I'm also in a fall foodie mood in that this is. I talked about this on the show a couple of weeks ago. And this is. It's. I'm 49 years old, soon to be 50. It's remarkable that I'm just finally arriving at this point in my life of just, like, going, what do I have in the kitchen right now? Or in the pantry or whatever? What can I make with that? And, like, I noticed yesterday that I had some. I had some russet potatoes that I'd had for a while. They're going to start growing eyes pretty soon. So I thought, let me do something with those. And I decided, oh, I like these fondant potatoes where you basically, you peel the potatoes, you cut them up into kind of like, you know, sort of medallions, but thicker, and you salt them liberally on both sides. And then you get some olive oil going in a pan, and you basically kind of sear off both sides of them, and then you put some stock in there. So I also had rosemary randomly. So I had potatoes and rosemary. So it was like, the rosemary is critical for this thing because it just infuses it. So you get a nice brown on both sides of the. Of the kind of. Of slices of potato. And then you. You put some stock in there or some veggie stock, which is what I had. And then you put some big pats of butter, giant amounts of butter. And then you cook that whole thing for, like, 20 minutes in the oven.

[Andrew Walsh]

You've taken it off the stove top now, and some.

[Luke Burbank]

You take it off the stove top, and then you bake that, basically. And the potatoes, like, absorb up, like, the stock and the butter and the rosemary flavor. And they're just these, like, like incredibly flavorful medallions of basically butter and salt and rosemary. They're really delicious. So I had that going. Then I was like, but I want to make something else. But I was like, I had some dry pasta, and I had some canned tuna, and I was like, you know what I could do? I could do a tuna pasta or something, but I didn't have any peas, which I thought usually goes in that. But I did have some frozen vegetables, Like a big bag of Costco frozen vegetables. Those are the only veggies I had because I've basically burned through or thrown out all of my veggies right now. So I fish out all of the broccoli from the, like. This was a bag of, like, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and something else.

[Andrew Walsh]

You just dumped all the veggies on your Coke mirror and started, like, sorting them out.

[Luke Burbank]

It did exactly reds, blues. I smashed them up with my Costco cart.

[Andrew Walsh]

Why is there an image of David Bowie staring up at me while I prepare my dinner? Dinner?

[Luke Burbank]

I, I, I, but then I was like, you know what? Like, I don't think that these, I don't think this broccoli is going to be all that hot. Like, it's, it's frozen broccoli from Costco. It's been in my fridge. The bag had never been opened, but still, it's like frozen broccoli from Costco that's been in my freezer for six months. So then I thought, oh, well, I'll roast it. So I found out from the Internet that you can. Did you know this? You can. I mean, you can roast frozen broccoli.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, I didn't know that I made fro. I, that's literally one of the things I roasted on Sunday was broccoli, but wasn't frozen. I love roasted broccoli so much.

[Luke Burbank]

I, I gotta get, I gotta get into it, because I have to tell you, even this was pretty okay. And I, if it had been like, you know, fresh broccoli unfrozen, it would have been amazing. But I basically hit these frozen clumps of broccoli with olive oil and then some salt and pepper and some other little herbs or whatever, and then I, like, roasted it. Roasted the living tweedle out of it to the point where it actually was pretty good. Like, it had a little bit of, a little bit of crunch to it. And then I made up the pasta and then saved some of the pasta. Then I made a little kind of a sauce, like a cream sauce out of stuff I had. And then I put the, I put the tuna and the, and the broccoli in and mixed it up, and it was, like, super good. And again, this is, like, this is real bachelor arms cooking. I mean, this is dry pasta and some butter and some other things and something frozen out of the freezer. Like, this is not going to win a James Beard award. But what was gratifying about it for me was every single thing that I ate last night came from something that was existing in my kitchen that had not been gone out and purchased. Because my, my whole thing with cooking is if I ever actually make something, I go to the store, I spend $100 on ingredients, including some sort of a spice that I didn't have that the recipe calls for. And what I'm learning now is I'm just figuring out a little bit more, not, not a lot more, but a little bit more of how to just combine things what will probably Work how I can. Oh, I don't have that thing. That's okay. I can use this thing instead. Like, I'm. I'm getting again. I'm still like a first grade level with this, but. But I'm at a first grade level now. Being able to kind of like look around the kitchen and go, hey, what would be good that I could just make that's here right now. And that was. That was actually pretty gratifying as I was watching just an awful Monday Night Football game and trying to understand why I couldn't make myself care about the baseball game until later. Until I wrote a blue ski and then had to delete the blue ski because of how actually interesting the baseball game was. Was.

[Andrew Walsh]

I would like to hear more on that. I just. I'm just having a day with my Internet games, Luke, because what happened? And again, no, literally, people say nobody cares about your fantasy teams, but I've been really stuck in the middle and I really messed up last night. Draft. Well, it's less about last night. It was more Sunday. I think it was Sunday night. What happened was basically all day Sunday, I was. They give you a percentage of your chance to win or your likelihood to win. And like, all of the players that I played were really panning out. I didn't leave any huge numbers on my bench except for Waddle. He was coming off an injury, so I left him on my bench. And then he did end up performing better than a wide receiver that I did play. I'm getting into too much detail here, but I'm telling you, Sunday it was like you have a 75% chance of winning, a 90% chance of winning. And it went up to 94% chance of winning because a lot of the players that my opponent played was. Were sort of busting out. And then another reason to hate the Green Bay Packers Sunday night, a Love Lisa tight end named tucker craft got 36 plus points. That beastly. So much for a tight end. A tight end could, on a regular day or week, get you maybe eight points or something. You know, maybe up to 15. Maybe, maybe. But like 36 points from a tight end. And I opened up my phone at one point and I was like, oh, I now only have a 60% chance of winning. And then as yet, what? I didn't even watch the game yesterday. I just kept looking down. I don't know who else they had, but it was enough. It was basically this Tucker Craft that broke me. And then last night, at some point late at night, I looked down and I Saw. Oh, I've officially lost my bit. It was just a really bad week. Like, I don't think I can pull out of my slump now. So I sort of feel like my fantasy football season is essentially over. I feel like my wordle strange is over. I just. Maybe I should find more fulfilling things to do. Like.

[Luke Burbank]

Like cooking curry.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. Up your curry game. Well, so what happened to me last night? Last night I was. As I was making all this food and stuff, I was like, start off watching Monday Night Football and it was, you know, it's like the Kansas City Chiefs against the Washington Commanders. And the thing is, the Commanders, they're really good. Quarterback is hurt. So it's Marcus Mariota. And it's like the Commanders don't have a real good chance in this game. And in fact, they ended up losing by kind of a lot. But I found myself like, watching this football game knowing also there was a World Series game on, but being more interested in a blowout Monday Night Football game and then writing on Blue sky. Like, basically, I don't know what I was trying to do. Roast MLB or something. Roast MLB like a broccoli floret. I go something like, I'd rather watch a football game with the corpse of Marcus Mariota in it than the World Series involving two teams that aren't my team. Which was really how I felt when I wrote that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Blueski.

[Luke Burbank]

And then eventually the Monday Night Football game ended and then I was getting ready for bed, but because, heaven forbid I'm doing the dishes without something to look at, I switch over to the World Series game, which turns out is a corker. It's a hell of a game and I'm very much drawn into it. And then I have to go and delete my blue sky post because I couldn't stand behind it because it is. I didn't even get to watch it.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was the worst night of the.

[Luke Burbank]

The for me to put that.

[Andrew Walsh]

That blue sky out to say, like, baseball's boring, basically. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

No, it was an 18 inning World Series game. It was full of crazy, like, people getting thrown out at home. Like it was a. It was a totally riveting game. And. And I, I obviously was. I was loud wrong with my. With my blue sky post. But before, when I was still in football mode. Andrew, I saw a commercial that I don't have right in front of me. If I was more organized.

[Andrew Walsh]

Tell me about it. If I know it, I might be able to find it.

[Luke Burbank]

It. I'm sure you can. It's not Obscure at all. It's part of the. I want to say these are like AT&T ads though. They're the ones that I've mostly seen Billy Bob Thornton doing. But now they got Luke Wilson roped in on this.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, I saw that with Genevieve while we were playing cards. I don't think the sound was on. Or maybe we were talking over and I'm like, oh, they're bringing Luke Wilson into the can of Whoop up campaign. Thank you.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly.

[Andrew Walsh]

Say that in it.

[Luke Burbank]

I knew it was something equally bad.

[Andrew Walsh]

Here, let me see if I can find this.

[Luke Burbank]

So for people that don't know there, this is, this is an AT&T campaign. And the first ones we've seen, the ones we've noted have had Billy Bob Thorton walking around. It's like he's. They're always walking around on a road that seems like it's the dirt road that goes underneath a series of power lines in like the woods, like that, like so that the power workers can get to the power lines kind of a thing. And it's Billy Bob Thorton walking around. He goes AT and T pretty much opened a can of Whoops up on the other, on the, on the competitors. It's like no one says a can of Whoop Up. I guess they might say can of Whoop ass. But it's just like this, like, it's like it's something. It's this like idea of masculinity to me that's annoying. Like I'm, I'm tough, I'm. I'm as big as all of Texas and I'm out here and I'm opening a can of Whoop up and then you throw Luke Wilson in. Last time I saw him, he was shaving his head to needle in the hay in the friggin tenon bombs.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I will now, I will give them credit for this and I haven't. We'll play the audio here in a second. He's like kind of out. Looks like maybe he's out on a, on the front porch of, of some sort of like, you know, farmer's house estate or something like that. But at one point he holds up a newspaper called the Chronicle and the headline is very, very big. It says T Mobile most challenged for deceptive ads. And I gotta say that's not the.

[Luke Burbank]

One I'm referencing, by the way.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, okay. I'll play this one in a second. It goes by pretty quickly, but I'm just like every time I see something like that in like a cartoon or A commercial or a movie. I'm just like, like, at least in this reality, headlines aren't clickbait. At least the headline is T Mobile most challenged for deceptive Ads. Like the Seattle Times would write that you won't believe this phone company is being challenged for deceptive ads. Let's take a listen to this. I think this is the one that I did see the other day at.

[Luke Burbank]

And T's been carrying America's calls since 1876. When you've been around that long, you can spot a hustle coming from a mile away. T Mobile is the master of breaking promises. While T Mobile stays caught up in untruths, AT T keeps building what matters. America's most reliable network. Right, Graham?

[Andrew Walsh]

When you compare, at the very end, you see a dog. That's not the one, though. That's not the one you.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I have the one here. Do you want me to play it for you? It's from. Okay. The first thing is like, like I know that the Wilson brothers, Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson are from Texas. I know they're famously. That's where they became friends, I believe, with Wes Anderson and everything. So I guess it's is not completely made up. But like, I don't, when I'm thinking culturally Texas, I don't think Luke Wilson, like, I don't think of him as being a guy who's out there just like, you know, kicking a cow turd on a hot day. Like, it's just funny that they, like, they're, they're really. I feel like they're really leaning into this part of Luke Wilson's personality that I don't like. I said, I think of him as the guy shaving his head to the Elliot Smith song in Tenenbaums or is more hipster coated. Yes, in my mind. So, okay, so this commercial in this one, it's, it's set at the same location. Okay. Where he, he's actually. I believe he may start out on the porch, but he's going to go on a walk. He's gonna be out on the dirt road with his dog, and he's going to. It's like these commercials. I feel like they have to have something that's right on the edge of being kind of bawdy or something. To tell facts from fertilizer. I keep my boots clean by rolling with eight. Yes. Let me just go back to the beginning there. I got in a little. A little late. This is Luke Wilson telling us about how he knows how to tell facts from fertilizer. When you grow up out here, you learn to tell facts from fertilizer. I keep my boots clean by rolling with AT&T. You know, first of all, that line makes absolutely no sense. I keep my boots clean by rolling with AT&T.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that's a. Did you not know about this? This is a service they provide now.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, okay, I stand correct. Yeah, they do.

[Andrew Walsh]

They're still main. They're mostly still in the sort of mobile network market, but they also have a boot cleaning service as.

[Luke Burbank]

Because they were acquired by Skydance.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's my understanding.

[Luke Burbank]

Part of one of their new KPIs is some amount of boot cleaning. Cleaning. Like how did that line, who are the ad wizards who came up with the best line? How did that line survive the arena of, of all of the different like ideas and revisions for this script? I keep my boots clean by rolling with AT&T. It's just a nonsensical line. Okay, now he's walking up this dirt road. He's got the dog with him from fertilizer. I keep my boots clean by rolling with AT&T. You know, the company that invented the telephone, AT&T is America's first network and it's still the best. That's not me talking. That's the scoreboard. Just the fastest, most. And that's where Luke Wilson does something truly remarkable. He raises a pair of binoculars to his eyes that he's just been walking with. And then in the distance, as I wrote on blue sky, in the deep interior of his Texas property, he has apparently erected a high school football style scoreboard that only relates to speed and reliability of the major cellular carriers.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, he's very dedicated to the message.

[Luke Burbank]

He's like, it's weathered by the way, it's a wet. It's like he put this up years ago and occasionally wanders his property to pull out his binoculars to stare at it from a distance. He could just walk up to it, but he wants to look at it from a certain distance, a certain remove so he can just check in for himself who has the fastest, most reliable network. This is a thing we are led to believe is happening on Luke Wilson's property in Texas.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, listen, I don't want to talk down to you, but they do make pre stressed scoreboards now so he didn't have to.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, you know, I'll be buying one, by the way. I'll be buying one within the week they come.

[Andrew Walsh]

So it looks like they've been around.

[Luke Burbank]

Tina.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, dust.

[Luke Burbank]

That sounds like something that I would buy off of Instagram. Right?

[Andrew Walsh]

It does. It's a vibe. By the way, this is a total aside but you must have seen this. This was kind of big news, I guess yesterday I think I saw Seattle Times and now I'm looking at a Kow headline. That Uncle Sam billboard on i5. You know, we, we talked about on the show when it went. I guess I need to give a little bit of background here. This is a famous billboard that has been in the same family. In what area is it Luke, would you say?

[Luke Burbank]

You kind of call it Vader Washington kind of area. And, and it was called Hamilton's Corner. Oh, nice name for it.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it was this big billboard with a picture like a hand painted picture of Uncle Sam. And it would have these very conservative messages on it. It for decades. Right. You grew up with that billboard.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, for my whole life growing up it always had crazy conservative like unhinged writing on it. You know, it'd be that kind of letter board where you can change the letters and. Yeah, so that was years and years, decades of my life.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then it kind of stalled out. I remember the last messages were when had something to do with both like having to mask at a restaurant, I believe or have your. Have your vax card at a restaurant.

[Luke Burbank]

I think it was something like we didn't die to have to show our paperwork for food.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

And then I think one side was the side going north was how many Americans will we leave behind in Ukraine?

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. So that really timestamps and then it just stayed there for a while. And then we saw that they were selling that property that the sign was on. And then I think we did talk on the show that a Native American group bought it. Right.

[Luke Burbank]

Local tribe.

[Andrew Walsh]

A local tribe. And now they have changed the message. Now it just says native land, hashtag tag Chehalis with a picture of Uncle Sam. And so like I love it. Right. Like it, it doesn't have to be like hey, we're going to like try to zing back or whatever. But like this is native language. It's just to the point.

[Luke Burbank]

It's. It's subtle, it's inoffensive. And that means it's going to drive the right crazy. It's going to drive the group of people that are always telling me to f my feelings. Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, absolutely.

[Luke Burbank]

Up a wall because somebody put the word native and land next to each other.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right next to Uncle Sam.

[Luke Burbank]

That will ruin. That will just ruin the week of a bunch of people who are so tough. Andrew. That they don't care about feelings. They're just about facts and being tough. Except for they're all crying right now because someone put native land on a.

[Andrew Walsh]

Billboard they own because somebody opened up a can of whoop up and they don't know the difference between facts and.

[Luke Burbank]

Fertilizers, which is what I'm filling this slanket with. Thank you, baby. All right, let's thank some donors. We don't need that AT T money. We can make as much fun of those AT&T commercials as we want because we don't need their money. We get our money from the donors. That's how this whole thing works. 100 listener supported. They've separated facts from fertilizer, and then they put a little bit of the fertilizer back into the facts. Yeah, I should support tbt. And there are folks like Cassie Palmer in Salt Lake City, Utah, of the Palmers of Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now, I saw this coming up, so I've been thinking about it. I didn't look it up, but I did realize, oh, Cassie is part of our Utah family who usually reside. And I'm wondering if maybe Cassie has moved out of the small town. Yeah. But it's usually. And I'm hoping I'm saying it right. Is it Tooilla? Is that it?

[Luke Burbank]

Andrew Lewis Walsh. He absolutely nailed it. I can say it.

[Andrew Walsh]

I couldn't spell it for you, but that's been a project of mine to remember how.

[Luke Burbank]

And it has been a successful one. Cassie, thank you so much. Thanks to all of the Palmers. We love them. Thanks to Tyler Teton in Federal Way, Washington. Now, would you say, is it possible Tyler's last name is pronounced Teton, like the mountain?

[Andrew Walsh]

Teton. Teton could be the brand, potentially.

[Luke Burbank]

Tetton seems like the third most likely to me, but I don't know. I don't know if I've seen this name before.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, here's. Let me run something by you. Can you just try this on for a second, Luke?

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely.

[Andrew Walsh]

So by donating to tbtl, Tyler. Tyler allows us to create this podcast every day, Right?

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Could we call him Tyler, the creator? Because of that?

[Luke Burbank]

We.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sure. And then we don't have to even worry about the pronunciation.

[Luke Burbank]

That's right. Thank you, TC in Federal Way. We appreciate. Actually ttc.

[Andrew Walsh]

Ttc, yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

T, lowercase T. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Smaller T, uppercase T. Smaller T uppercase C. Perfect. Thanks also to Amber Scrint, who's in. In Cairo, Michigan. Now, I believe this has come up before because. Is it. I'm going to say it's caro. I know there's a Caro, Illinois. That one I'm familiar with.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now, if it were up to me, I would say Caro.

[Luke Burbank]

But Caro, it's probably Caro. I think you're right.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's probably Caro, but I don't know for sure. So we've covered our bases.

[Luke Burbank]

No, you know what? It's. It's Caro. How did you say it? Caro.

[Andrew Walsh]

I just said Caro. It's C E R O.

[Luke Burbank]

No, you're absolutely right. Right. That Cairo, Illinois, is one of those towns. We love this in America. We just love it. We love taking the name of somewhere from somewhere else in the world and then putting it in America and then mispronouncing it. So Cairo, Illinois is spelled like Cairo.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like city of Cairo. Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Much like there's a. There's a new deli in Louisiana that's Delhi. It's not New Delhi, it's Del. It's Delhi. Like, spelled like New Delhi, but it's pronounced Delhi. Oh, yeah, there's lots of examples like that. But Cairo, Michigan is not an example of that. And I apologize. And this is why it's important that there's both of us here, Andrew, that it's like, you know, we can't have just one person flying this plane because if they have a medical event, we need the other person to step up. And you just stepped up there by correcting me on Cairo, Michigan.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. And I think we have somebody checking in from Denver, Colorado.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, we do. That would be Sarah Hogan in good old Denver, Colorado.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thank you, as always, Sarah.

[Luke Burbank]

The Mile High City. Did we. Did I hear. Did we hear a rumor that Blucifer. No, you know, I was saying, did we hear a rumor that Blucifer was going away? But I think it was from my Uber driver one time when I was filming in Colorado. And I think the Uber driver said something to me about Lucifer and they're going to get rid of it. And I was. I was terrified at that news. I'm terrified of Blucifer, but even more terrified that they might get rid of Blue Lucifer.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't think they would ever do that. It's been now they've leaned so far into the lore of the curse and all of the strange happenings that happened, what, underneath the airport or something? I don't even know. I'm making stuff up now. But I just do not believe that they would get rid of Lucifer at this point.

[Luke Burbank]

Not to mention that I don't think Sarah Hogan would ever let that happen. Kathy McLean has less of a dog in this fight. Kathy's in Streamwood, Illinois. Of course, we all know that. That. But I think Kathy is a team player. And if Sarah Hogan reached out to Kathy and said, I need you to sign some kind of a petition that they're gonna not take Lucifer away from dia, I bet you that Kathy would step up, because Kathy's. That we see that Kathy has stepped up to support tbtl. So we know that Kathy is. Is, you know, spoiling for good trouble.

[Andrew Walsh]

I wonder if it's too much to ask, and it might be too much to ask, and so I'm not gonna ask it, but I'm just gonna float it. Wonder if it's too much to ask Kathy to handcuff herself to Blue Sea for that.

[Luke Burbank]

Might be. Well, you know what I get. Doesn't hurt to ask.

[Andrew Walsh]

Doesn't hurt to ask.

[Luke Burbank]

Kathy, you're allowed to say no.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. No pressure.

[Luke Burbank]

No pressure.

[Andrew Walsh]

I say no pressure so much. Luke, I probably don't say it to you because I like to apply a certain amount of pressure to you. It's good for the dynamic, but I cannot tell you how many times. And it's usually, like, very small things, too. But I'm always, like, telling people. I usually. I'm on, like, a no. Like a two no pressures per text message clip at this point point. Like, I'm always like, no pressure, but if there's any chance you're in the neighborhood and you could drop my book off, you know, do it to it. I'm at home. But again, absolutely no pressure. I'm not in a hurry. I'm always writing stuff.

[Luke Burbank]

Like that book ending. You're. You're making a no pressure sandwich. Exactly. The two slices of bread are no pressure. You know what I. I said to the guy making tofu this morning? Because we were. Everything was being timed out. So the tofu, I was telling you, you literally put it under pressure. You put it under these plates, these things that then have a hydraulic thing that's smooshing them down. And we're. The timing. We're waiting on something, and we're waiting on these, and we're going to film something else. And I said, oh, if you're ready, we could do this other thing. And he kind of looks over at his machine that's pressing out a brick of tofu. And I said, also, no pressure in. And I wasn't saying that to be funny. Like, it was a situation in which what we were waiting for was the pressure. We were literally Waiting for this thing to pressure, push down and squeeze the whey out of this tofu.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did anybody acknowledge it? Did he acknowledge.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I let it go too.

[Andrew Walsh]

It wasn't good.

[Luke Burbank]

It was early in the morning. We were all tired. Yeah, nobody wanted to be there. But I just thought how many times when you say no pressure is it is the thing you're referring to literally an actual pressure situation, Physical pressure.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I did tell my friend who is driving a steamroller the other day, I said no pressure. And then he just did.

[Luke Burbank]

You're at that disco demolition, weren't you?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, he just tapped the end of his nose and pointed at me.

[Luke Burbank]

Uh huh. Yep. Kate Bergstrom is also supporting the show. Our friend dates with Kate also. I can now consider Kate to be Blood Pressure Bergstrom.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. Because I believe came in with some good facts.

[Luke Burbank]

I believe Kate's been giving us some intel on blood pressure. Kate is in Phoenix, Arizona. I bet you Kate has been in Phoenix, Arizona for a good number of years. And yet somehow this seems like new information.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, me too. I was thinking the same thing. I wasn't sure if I was going to bring my. My surprise at that to light or not. Because I should remember that no pressure.

[Luke Burbank]

If you keep forgetting where Kate lives. Kate, thank you so much for supporting the show. Thank you everyone for making TBTL possible. This would absolutely not be happening if not for our donors. Thanks again.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hello and welcome to Top Story.

[Luke Burbank]

You know, I don't know how far we need to go into this.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sorry, that was just a funny way to start a Top Story.

[Luke Burbank]

I know. I'm not. I was not. I'm. I am not, not. I am not selling the sizzle on this topic. But basically I do think it's kind of interesting that the Golden Globes have a podcast division, but the cold. The Golden Globes, I guess are actually.

[Andrew Walsh]

Owned by Penske Media group as of 2023. Right. It was a somewhat relative somebody when. When you had all the like kind of complaining about the Golden Globes. I think the Foreign Press association decided just to sell it off to another company which then ended up selling it to or combined with Penske or something thing.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. And they own a bunch of like entertainment kind of media. I think that they own Deadline, Hollywood, Variety, Indiewire, Hollywood Reporter, Mob Report in.

[Andrew Walsh]

The Hollywood Reporter too, I think. Which. Am I right about that? Maybe I hope I'm wrong about that because I was.

[Luke Burbank]

I think. I'm not. Here's the thing. I'm not seeing it on their Wikipedia page, but I don't know enough to.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm probably confusing it, but.

[Luke Burbank]

But also, also, the thing about Penske Media that always kills me is the fact that I always, like, I grew up with Penske Motors, and I guess the guy who owns Penske Media, Jay Penske, who by the way, is younger than us, which I guess doesn't make him that young, just younger than us. He's the youngest son of Roger Penske, the founder of the Penske Corporation and former race car driver.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, interesting. And unfortunately, Hollywood Report is part of Penske as well.

[Luke Burbank]

It is.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it is.

[Luke Burbank]

Why did they leave that off this thing?

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know. Let's see here. It Sundays, as of 2020, the day to day operations of the company are handled by Penske Media through a joint venture with Eldridge Industries. So it sounds like it's maybe not.

[Luke Burbank]

As cut practically just about every single, you know, I guess you could say popular. Or at least as far as the various outlets that report on, like, Hollywood and the movie industry and stuff, that's pretty much all of them that most people could ever name. If they could name any of them, they would be naming the Hollywood Reporter, they'd be naming Variety, you know, things like that. Like I said, the Rob Report. The Rob Report is a magazine that I feel like you can find out where to buy the world's most expensive sailboat in a glass bottle.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I don't think I know about the robber.

[Luke Burbank]

I think the Rob Report, that's what their specialty is. Like. Would you like to buy a cufflink link that is $40,000, but is the kind of cufflink that Steve McQueen was wearing in the movie Bullet?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I see. It's literally. That is the editorial focus is luxury cars, jets, yachts, and travel. I thought this was just one of those magazines that appeals about a guy named Rob. Well, that maybe appeals like that is about the industry, but appeals to a certain class of clientele where the ads skew that way. I see. That's what the Rob Report is. I had not. I was totally unfamiliar, familiar.

[Luke Burbank]

It's an insane magazine that I've only seen when I'm like, you know, I'm waiting somewhere for something and they have a waiting area and they've just got like, random magazines. And I'll see the Rob Report. It's just like. It should just be called Stuff no One should be Allowed to Buy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Stuff no One should have the Money for. Because if you have that amount of money, you probably got it from by extracting it from someone Else.

[Andrew Walsh]

By the way, I bought a. I bought a single copy of Harper's magazine the other day. I used to like picking up a Harper's here and there. I had a. A subscription about a year ago, I don't know if you recall. And it was like a really good deal and it gives you access to like their 200 years of archives or whatever it is. 150. But all that is to say I was like, I don't have that subscription anymore. I was in the U district. They have an actual old school magazine store. Bulldog.

[Luke Burbank]

Bulldog.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And I was like, you know what?

[Luke Burbank]

They'll probably still there.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it's still there. God bless.

[Luke Burbank]

Right? I really needed that.

[Andrew Walsh]

W today they sell coffee, but they also have a big magazine selection like the old days. And I bought it. And again I'm really glad to to once a year buy a magazine and support Harper's, which I don't think is like really like rolling in it these days. Are rolling in. I guess not rolling in it, but it isn't bringing tons of cash in. But it was $10. It was $10 for a single issue of a magazine. And I was like, wow, that, that is not what I would have expected in the 90s.

[Luke Burbank]

I have mentioned this before, but I've started subscribing to the. The physical copy of a magazine called the sun, which is I guess you called a literary magazine. But it's so unpretentious. I just absolutely love it. They're out of North Carolina and I would highly recommend that if you're looking for a mag and it's by the way, it's pretty cheap like they sent me. It's adorable. In fact, I could find it because I, you know, I'm auto paying now and they sent me. Let's see here like a notification that renewal confirmation. Your subscription to the sun, mailing to the address below has been renewed through our auto renewal program. First of all, I appreciate that when companies do that nice of them, they go, your card ending in the number has been charged $1 5 monthly issues.

[Andrew Walsh]

What?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know if it's a dollar a month. If it's $5, I don't know what is going on. I need to check in on them, make sure they're okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

But it's less than a quarter. An episode, I can't. Or an issue. I should say.

[Luke Burbank]

Sorry, I feel like I misunderstand. It has been charged $1 for five monthly issues.

[Andrew Walsh]

Shoes.

[Luke Burbank]

Maybe it's.

[Andrew Walsh]

Wait, is this a. Did you just start this up? Is this them running a dollar just to like check the card?

[Luke Burbank]

No, I've been getting it for like six months now.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know.

[Luke Burbank]

It's great though. I, I would recommend it even if I had to pay $5. I thought I was paying $5 per magazine, which I was fine with. Absolutely fine with. But anyway, this, the story is that the, the Golden Glows has a podcasting category now. And the. To the degree there's a controversy around it, I guess it's just that. Well, first of all, the list, I don't have the list right in front of me, but it's the people that you would expect. The list was picked by some company that bills itself as the sort of leader in audio data. They try to say that they're like the ones who are the knowers about podcasts and their popularity and their relevance and everything. Now that company is also owned by Penske Media, which is complicating things. So the company, company that's picking the podcasts for the Golden Globes, the independent company is also owned by the people that own the Golden Globe. So that's seen as a little bit of a. I don't even know if conflict of interest. I don't think anyone cares about this enough for it to be a conflict of interest, if that makes sense. Like, I just don't think outside of whatever article that I saw that our, our colleague John Sklaroff sent us and maybe a few people in the podcast community, I don't think that this is a wedge issue for most American voters. I don't think they really care that much. Much. But what I did, what it made me feel. Well, for one thing, you can, it appears you can. Like there's this. Penske Media puts on this, or one of these companies is maybe under Penske puts on this festival. I guess it's like a podcasting festival of sorts, or it's an ideas festival of some kind. And if you want to be interviewed, if you want your podcast to be on stage and be interviewed in the festival, it's like echo, thousands of dollars. And for, for, for $50,000, you could actually have an article about you written in one of these magazines. I don't know if it's Variety or one of them. And basically the implication was if you're willing to pay a lot of money, like a four year consideration, you know, which is what happens for like the Oscars and stuff, what happens is if you make a movie and it's nominated for an Oscar or you want it to be Nominated for an Oscar, you start spending a shitload of money on what's called a four year consideration campaign where you start, start getting billboards in all over LA for your consideration, please consider, you know, what's a movie that Little Miss Sunshine. And then you, you know, you do all these mailings and you buy these space and these magazines and you, you pump all this money into the Hollywood media economy trying to get the people that vote on these things to consider voting for your thing for the award. So there's some kind of a for your consideration festival. And if, like, if TBTL wanted to, if we wanted to spend $50,000 that we don't have, we could pretty much end up on stage being interviewed and being written up in like one of these magazines, Variety or something as part of this for your consideration festival. And the allegation is move ever closer to maybe finding ourselves on the list of the 25 podcasts that have been nominated for a Golden Globe.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm an ideas festival, Michael.

[Luke Burbank]

I think I proved that with Rob Report Mountain.

[Andrew Walsh]

With Rob, right? Yes, with fyc. Yeah. So the campaign. So basically you have the Golden Globes and they say, hey, we the people who own the Golden Globes also own tons of media that is aimed at the industry. And so let's create a new category called podcasting for the Golden Globes. And then if anybody wants to win that category the way they will need to do it. And of course this is going to be aimed at the huge name in podcasting already who already get all of the ink. Right. Like you're right, your Conan o' Brien's needs friends and that we're talking about earlier and I'm sure the one speaking of, speaking of Michael Bluth, smart lists, I'm sure is one of them.

[Luke Burbank]

Did you read this part? The initial list that this company called Luminate, by the way, is that the greatest name ever for a company that says they're the knowers of podcasts? Luminated.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm gonna illuminate all over this list of nominees, but they, they didn't include smart lists in their first like their 25 nominees. And then there was such a, such a uproar that then, and that would, that there was like three or four other podcasts that weren't included. And then they said upon further consideration, we have now added them back in. They've, they basically added new podcasts into the list because people were so mad that like smart list wasn't on the initial list.

[Andrew Walsh]

And basically. But what they're saying Is. Is if you want to win, you probably have to spend a whole bunch of money on ad advertising in these, you know, print and digital pages that are aimed at the industry and the people who can vote. And guess who owns all of those publications? We do. It's like such a. It's.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's such a evil genius move, honestly.

[Luke Burbank]

The shows that the podcasts that are nominated include, this is alphabetical order, 2020 from ABC News, 48 Hours, Dateline NBC. Here's my problem with those podcasts. I love the classic podcast.

[Andrew Walsh]

They just. I love when they started podcast. These are the. Basically the three big ones that invent the format, right? The medium.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, exactly. Keith Morrison, somebody found him once wandering around a field in Iowa, and he was holding a piece of wood that was roughly shaped like an ipod. And he said, I know I sound crazy, but someday there's going to be a device that's roughly like the same size and weight as this piece of wood I'm holding. And it's going to hold music and stories on it and radio shows, but radio shows you can listen to anytime. And they're going to call it podcast podcasting. And that's why Keith Morrison is one of the founders of the idea of podcasting. The Dayline NBC podcast, if I could be clear, is just the TV show Dateline NBC.

[Andrew Walsh]

They don't judge it up at all, I kind of assume, but I wasn't sure.

[Luke Burbank]

They may have. Listen, I'm not up. I'm not up to speed on this. As of October 28, 2025. I know that I listened to some of the early ones, and it was literally just the show. Now, maybe they've. Maybe they've added some sound effects, or maybe they've got a. It's one of the most popular podcasts in the world, which is, again, I don't want to. I want to be careful with this. That I don't just sound like I'm just. I'm just jealous and. And butt hurt, because those are two things that I actually am. But it's like the idea that, like, they slap Dayline NBC, they just take away the pictures and they just put the audio onto the Internet, and it's more popular than anything we've ever made. Does make me feel jealous and butt hurt. The other. Some of the other ones include Good Hang with Amy Poehler. I think that's a really good show. I like that show a lot. It's, you know, it's exactly what you think it would be. It's the great Amy Poehler talking to her really funny friends about things they did that were funny. Which is a good show. Like, I'm a fan of the show, pardon my take, which is a sports show that I, I see in clips on TikTok. That's a barstool show. But actually the guys on it are not overly barstooly, if that makes any sense.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sense.

[Luke Burbank]

They're like, they're actually, I think they seem like pretty good dudes who may actually have pretty decent politics and are. They know a lot about football. I like them. The Ben Shapiro show. Another good guy. Yeah, solid guy, Ben Shapiro.

[Andrew Walsh]

So what are they doing about that Golden Globe so white situation? They still.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, they're putting the Joe Rogan Experience and the Megyn Kelly show on. Okay, good.

[Andrew Walsh]

Fantastic. Okay, so so far, love, loving the diversity.

[Luke Burbank]

This past weekend with Theo Vaughn is also on there. I mean, look, it's. I'm in such a glass case of emotion and also a glass castle, a glass house when I say this. But like Theo Von's podcast is the most underproduced thing in the history of the world. It is Theo Vaughan sitting in a room musing. Now, it so happens that, that people like Theo Vaughan's musings. I find them kind of incomprehensible. Like, I just honestly kind of don't. He's always like, we used to have a guy in our town, we called him El Chicharron and he was one of them guys, you know, like he had like a three wheel bicycle. You know, it's like, what the fuck are you talking about? Like, he just saying, he's just saying folksy things that like, you know. But anyway, let's.

[Andrew Walsh]

My thing with him is I'm scared to listen to that show because I think I'll like it. Like, it's hard. I would like really serious. You throw Ben Shapiro out there. I'm just saying that's not for me, you know, that's like, whatever. I don't, I don't need to check that out. Yeah. But the thing is about Theo Vaughn, I don't know much about him. I only started to hear about him like when we were doing shows with the text me back folks. And like you and Lindy and Megan were kind of like making jokes about Theo Vaughan at that point. I don't even think I really knew who he was. I just heard people reacting to him. And then of course I know that he's, you know, like he helped normalize Trump and like, you know, people will point to that as A huge interview on Trump's, like, sort of podcast tour that helped him, helped him get back in the White House or whatever. And so, like, you know, I can't overlook those things. But, like, there is something that I think I appreciate about this particular side of the industry that sometimes it is simply un, kind of indescribable. Well, but I was just gonna say that it's just kind of like it's pure charisma. And sometimes that charisma is weird and awkward. And when I see little clips of him, I understand how people can sort of like, relate and also be like.

[Luke Burbank]

What is this, what is this thing?

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, what is this? Theo Vaughn sort of. And so that, that's one that is always sort of itched the back of my head. Like, I should probably just learn more about him and listen to the source as opposed to listening to what everybody else is saying about him. But again, knowing that he was part of the media blitz that really, really helped the rise of fascism doesn't help me much at all either.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, when the pandemic hit and I first started spending far too much time on TikTok, I started seeing clips of this guy and I was like, I think that guy was on Road Rules. Like, he was like a MTV Road Rules. Like, he might have been a real world guy too. And I think he was sort of a kind of a quasi stand up comedian, but I think he was one of those, one of those folks that, like, when the pandemic hit, he just got a camera set up in his living room and just started talking, talking. And I really kind of like, liked it at first because again, he's folksy and he's, he's, he's unassuming and, and again, as far as the whole, I don't, I don't really know where he actually comes down on Donald Trump. I mean, I guess you could say he platformed him. So that's where he comes down on. He put him on his show to talk to him. Unfortunately, he's not, I don't think, like, read in enough to have asked Donald Trump. I didn't watch the interview, but I don't think he probably asked Donald Trump any actual important, probing questions, because he does. That's not what he does, you know, Know. And so, but all that is to say, like, I'm sort of neutral on him, but, like, I guess that's just one of those ones where I am jealous because it's like he's doing a less prepared version of what we're Doing and just thriving doing it. Which means he has that much more Riz, apparently than we do.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, let me actually quote, I just realized you probably read our buddy Chris Hayes's op ed in the New York Times a couple of Sundays ago.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I missed it. And I saw that you said to him pretty early, by the way, nice flex on like Sunday, like, hey, great piece or something. And I didn't even know the piece you were referring to.

[Andrew Walsh]

I just, it popped up in my feed for some reason. And so, so I read it and it was good. And again, it's kind of an extension of talking about in, in terms of politics and especially the Democratic Party, how focusing, focusing differently in this attention economy, as Chris talks about, is different than it was back when the whole, the whole way of winning elections was just get as much money as possible and then just plaster traditional TV stations with your message. Right. And it's just more complicated than that. And I think near the beginning of Chris's piece, he even says, like, and I want to be careful not to misquote him here because he will hear it. And as you know, he is very punitive and by the way, very litigious.

[Luke Burbank]

Loves a strongly worded email. He loves us more than almost anyone I've ever met. The number of strongly worded emails we have from Chris Hayes, and yet he's still, still supports the show financially.

[Andrew Walsh]

He loves to copy his lawyers on those strongly worded emails. It's just nobody loves to copy their lawyers more than him. No. But I think he says that the most humanizing moment, if not the only humanizing moment or likable moment, I can't remember exactly the adjective he uses of Donald Trump in media. Was talking with Theo Vaughan and Trump, not answering questions, but just asking Theo Vaughn about, about drugs and what different highs are like. Remember that? And I saw clips of that as well. And something like, is cocaine a stronger high than alcohol or something? I'm probably messing up that quote as well. And so there is something about, there is something that, like I was saying before, I guess it's really hard to describe. Like you were saying, hey, it has very low production standards, which sometimes that can gall me if the, if there isn't talent behind it. But it's like I kind of sort of appreciate, although I know very little about him, the idea of somebody being a component, complete phenomenon based purely on the uniqueness of their personality, which sort of seems to be the case with him.

[Luke Burbank]

Right. But that was supposed to be my thing. Oh, right. And it's not where I'm friggin making tofu at 3 in the morning.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

And judging dog Halloween costume contest anymore.

[Andrew Walsh]

I got a thank you note from somebody who said thank you for making sure we got to that yesterday.

[Luke Burbank]

Up first from NPR is on there. The Daily is on there there. Pod Save America, which I am a fan of, Call Her Daddy is on there. So it's like. And Dax Shepard's on there. It's just like, you know, these really big ones. One of the things too that's interesting is at the bottom of this page. This is the Golden Globes website. It says eligible podcasts are invited to submit entries via the Golden Globes submission site. And then it's got a link and it says submission deadline is October 31, 2025. Now it is a $500 submission feature fee to even submit your podcast. But I guess this is not the final list necessarily. It sounds like these have made the list. But this list, I don't know, I guess it could, it could be infinite. It could get. It could be the top 30 or like the 30 nominees. It, it seems like we could nominate TBTL if we wanted to blow $500 on.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, that's what I don't understand about this list because anybody. I mean this is just like classic public radio. You know what's what I'm looking for awards as well. I almost said contests. That makes us. You're going to have the Morning Edition host like singing and dancing in front of three people in spinning chairs. But you know, like any awards thing, if you're going to submit a story for the Murrow Awards, national or local, I don't think they set a limit to how many people can apply for that. They'll just take your money and your submission and then judges will decide, you know, which one actually wins or which ones actually win. So that's why I'm a little bit confused about what this pre list is if people are still submitting their nominations. Like yeah, anybody can submit to this kind of stuff if you want to pay for the submission.

[Luke Burbank]

You know what, I'm surprised didn't make it. And this is where I really want to go with this and where I also really want to keep this to like a few minutes because we've been doing this a long time today and we've all got places to be. And by that I mean the listeners have places to be. I'm surprised they didn't throw Marc Maron like a posthumous like you're going out on top because you made the Greatest podcast in the history of the world Podcast award. Like, there is something. And again, I a little bit know Marc Maron. He's always been really nice to me. He's been nice to the show. He's been on it a of bunch. Bunch.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is he done now, by the way? Did he have his final episode?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, Obama was his final guest, of course.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Which is pretty. Actually a really cool idea. And I'm stoked that Obama did it and I'm glad that that worked out for them. Like, I mean, I've. I've. My rap on Marc Maron and his show. And by rap, I just mean my. My thing on it, not my knock on it. But it's always just been. It was so funny to me because he started that show right at the time that we started TBTL as a podcast. And obviously we're doing this here right now. And he became apparently the greatest podcaster in the history of the world. And the kind of like, I don't know, and I'm just being honest now. The, like, the way that I see the way that people talk about wtf, the reverence with which they talked about it, you know, was so interesting to me because, like, I thought it was a good show and I was a regular listener for a long time. I mean, obviously I think that Mark is super talented, but, like, there was a point at which it just felt like, okay, we get it. And I think when something broke inside me was the other day, I was looking at something on Tick Tock and it said. And it's just like one of these guys who's kind of a content farmer. So what they do is it's a guy in his house, he's in front of a green screen, but he's always just finding something that's getting so much attention in the pop culture that then he latches on his angle to it because that through an SEO thing or an algorithmic thing, will start to put his content in front of people. And so he was like, did you know that Marc Maron's podcast is so influential that it's the reason that the Bruce Springsteen movie got Married Married or Got Married got made. And it was like this whole. It was like, Marc Maron didn't just have one of the most successful podcasts in history, and this guy's cycling through these, like, magazine photos of Marc Maron where he's just being cool and he's like in black and white, he's in a Jean Jack, and he's just like. And then it's like, but it's not just his podcast. His podcast wasn't just one of those popular podcasts of all time. It actually led to the Bruce Springsteen movie Deliver Me From Nowhere or to somewhere or whatever. By the way, Andrew, you'll be really happy to know that every legitimate movie reviewer I've seen talking about that movie says it is unwatchable.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh my God, I laughed.

[Luke Burbank]

It's getting roasted in a way that I have not seen. I've not seen a movie get roasted that bad in the public space in a long time. People are. Critics are like drubbing it.

[Andrew Walsh]

I did not know that. And I don't, you know, I don't need to do that Gen X thing where I got to be the first in line to hate on something. But I will tell you that I saw the trailer in the movie theater. I don't. Before Weapons or something. And I kind of bark laughed out loud a couple of times because it looks like. It looks like Mr. Show or the people from Stella or whatever are doing a parody of a biopic. And again, the huge thing is just like so self serious. It's just so. These things are so self serious. And it's exactly why I liked this, that Pavement fake documentary or whatever it was, because it sort of takes down this kind of ridiculousness.

[Luke Burbank]

So the story was that Marc Maron had had the writer of the book. So that Delivery from Nowhere was actually a book that somebody wrote about Bruce Springsteen making Nebraska. And Marc Maron had had that person on his podcast and. And was talking about the book. But then some big Hollywood types were such fans of Marc Maron show that they heard the guy talking about the book, they reached out to the author to develop the book into a movie. And there was something about this. Like, Marc Maron had already had his victory lap of wtf, which I think was well deserved. It was a really good show. And it had just been like, again, I just don't know if any podcaster should ever be talked about with reverence. Like, I just don't think. And I. And certainly not us, like, I don't think this is a medium outside of maybe what like our friends at the in the Dark podcast did or something. Or maybe, you know, maybe really important journalistic work. Maybe you could be reverential about the, about the impact of the work or just the reporting or whatever. I mean, but like, I just don't think that this is a medium that should be talked about with reverence when. When the intro to the show is what's up? What The.

[Andrew Walsh]

Does he say that at the beginning of every episode? I haven't heard that in forever.

[Luke Burbank]

It was part of the. It was part of the. It was part of the open. And.

[Andrew Walsh]

And like, the last time I listened to that, by the way, can I put a timestamp on it? Because I remember I was never a regular listener of that show, but I remember I listened when Robin Williams died. I went back and I listened to.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I heard. That was a really good interview.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, because it was an interview after he died and it was with his ghost. And a lot of people were like.

[Luke Burbank]

You can't book that.

[Andrew Walsh]

But he. No.

[Luke Burbank]

Why couldn't you book that when you were in la?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, exactly. Actually, the funny thing is I was living in LA at the time and Robin Williams had just died and everybody was saying how his previous Marc Maron appearance, I don't know how many years prior, was really good. And so I did listen to it. But, like, first of all, it was an archived episode I listened to, and it must have. I lived in LA in like 2014, maybe 2015, that we could look up when Robin Williams passed. But anyway, that is literally, it's been 10 years since I listened to an episode of what is arguably one of the most kind of foundational podcasts of the last 20 years.

[Luke Burbank]

Again, I mean, I think I can't say this enough. I think it was a good show.

[Andrew Walsh]

When did you start podcasting? 2009. Right, sorry.

[Luke Burbank]

Probably. That was probably when we were, like, fired from the radio. I mean, we were putting it up as a podcast the whole time, but.

[Andrew Walsh]

Which is when I was listening.

[Luke Burbank]

So as an only podcast product, probably 2009 or something. And I've told the story a million times, but, like, I remember. I remember we had Mark on TBTL from my house. I think he might have been on the phone or something. It was somehow like he was also there in person sometimes, but. But I remember talking to him and he was telling me, like, off air, I think, about how he was starting up a podcast and he was pretty excited about it. And I think Jesse Thorne from Sound of Young America had gone over to his house to help him, like, set up the microphone and stuff. And he was excited because he was. Somebody was mailing him. There was a coffee company that was paying him in coffee beans. They were giving him coffee beans for mentions. And I remember thinking, thinking, oh, oh, you poor little fool. We get real money over here in TBTL land from Chateau Sam Michelle. And like, thinking, having this kind of almost just like, they're There, like, Pat. If I could just pat him on the head and say, good job. Keep trying, kid. So that's woven into all of this for me, how much I didn't understand just how big his show was going to get. But again, I guess it was just something about the reverence around the victory lap that's not even coming from Marc Maron. By way. The. By the way, that's not him saying everyone should respect me and think I'm a God of podcasting. I think he probably has the right perspective. But all of the, like, the think pieces and the long magazine articles about, like, what did it mean to the culture? Just, like, was a little. And then hearing that he also was. He's so influential that he's also the reason movies are now made, Andrew. Because he is. He has people on his show. And then Hollywood's. Listen. Oh, speaking of Hollywood, I have signed us up for a Golden Globes Again account.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, fantastic.

[Luke Burbank]

And you know that we can submit not just in the podcast category. Do you know if there's four different categories that I could submit us for right now?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, what are they?

[Luke Burbank]

Motion picture, television, individual submissions, and podcast.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, we can't submit motion picture. We haven't finished.

[Luke Burbank]

Why not?

[Andrew Walsh]

We haven't finished our film yet.

[Luke Burbank]

I finished many films, Andrew. I. I made a movie called Forbidden Love that I submitted to the Stranger Short Film Festival that involved my dog flea humping people's leg when they tried to vacuum.

[Andrew Walsh]

Not a TBTL production.

[Luke Burbank]

Who says has to be a TBTL production?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I thought you said that we could submit.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, we can. I'm just gonna keep 8020 on the back end because I made it, but I'm gonna cut you in for 20, so it's not a bad deal. Television. Best television series, drama. Best television series, musical. It's funny because I guess the idea is that, I mean, it's just. It's hilarious to me that this is the submission process. I mean, you were just talking about it. It's kind of like one of those, you know, journalism awards that we could have applied for in public radio. But I guess it never occurred to me that this is literally how the Golden Globes, like, so if we did make a TV show, we could submit it here and then they, I guess, would potentially watch it, and then it could. Maybe. I didn't.

[Andrew Walsh]

So this is specifically pilot. So in other words, this would have to be a TV show that was based on a podcast or a film that was inspired by a podcast.

[Luke Burbank]

Nope. I'm sorry. I probably Described it in a confusing way. So there's four different categories. There's motion picture television, individual submissions, and then there's just a category called podcast.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I see. So if we went individual submissions, that'd probably open up a link tree to best actor. Best. Do they still divide up by actor and actress and everything?

[Luke Burbank]

Female actor.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And. And male actor.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

So, yeah. So if I click on create submission, it's. I agree. Hold on. I'm agreeing to the guidelines. Next. Eligibility lead cap. I won't read. This is very long. But yeah, I could just basically go in. Like, if you were in a movie, Andrew, I could. I could go in and I could submit you for best individual performance. Now, if I go to.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's my confusion before. I see. So you're saying we. You mean we the people or just the royal we or whatever. Not. Not TBTL. Because I was like, how does TBTL work there? These are just the four BAs, basically broad categories that anybody can apply to be considered in. Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. In podcast, we've got narrative scripted as. After you click through just the main podcast page, we've got narrative scripted, unscripted, hybrid, and then educational or informative.

[Andrew Walsh]

Definitely not informative. What is. Is there a category for leeching information out of your listener's brains somehow? Is there a category for making.

[Luke Burbank]

Don't forget money information? Slash, money money.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

It is crazy to me that I could actually nominate TBTL for a Golden Globes.

[Andrew Walsh]

It would.

[Luke Burbank]

It would be a big waste of 500. We're not going to do it. But I do think I somehow in all of that, in reading that article that John sent, and I. It hadn't really occurred to me that, like, that's really what they meant, that you can just. Anybody can submit any podcast for a Golden Globe.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And again, that. That's a harp on this. But I was a little surprised, like, that there is no. Of the candidates that you listed. And again, I don't even know what to call them because I don't understand what that list is. If they're still taking nominations, maybe those are just the ones that have floated to the top that they're giving extra consideration to, but that there's.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. What is that, 25.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And I don't know the makeup of any of these podcasts or who works on the show. And I'm not trying to, like, think of everything in a binary way, but you didn't name, like, one show like, that would be representative of anything but the white experience, really.

[Luke Burbank]

Or.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, you didn't mention news ones, but, like, for the chat ones, you mentioned Theo Vaughan, maybe smart lists or something. And again, I don't know the makeup of all of these things, but, like, yeah, like, is two dope queens. Is that on there? Is that still a going concern? By the way, I'm just pulling. I happened to hear Phoebe Robinson on a podcast recently.

[Luke Burbank]

So I was thinking, yeah, is she promoting something? Because I just saw her on Sam's show. Sam Sanders.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I heard her on Comedy Bang Bang. And she is in a new project, and I can't remember what it was, but I will tell you that I did get my Martin Star Secret Stash gummies, or whatever they're called.

[Luke Burbank]

Did I tell you that? You almost.

[Andrew Walsh]

Almost.

[Luke Burbank]

Poisoned me into buying Lifesaver gummies at a movie theater? Because you were just playing.

[Andrew Walsh]

You were just thinking about the gummy conversation last Friday.

[Luke Burbank]

I do want to hear about these Martin star ones. I'll just do this really quick and then.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I don't know about you. They're fine.

[Luke Burbank]

They're all good.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, they're good. They're. I. I paid a lot, you know, for shipping and everything. I paid $27 total for five bags. Like, a bag that you would get. You would pull at, like, the checkout counter. You know, it's like, not super. You could probably. You would have them in the car on your way home in traffic. So, you know, to order them and have them shipped and everything. It's not, like, super cost effective, but they're good gummies.

[Luke Burbank]

They tasted good last Friday. It was after we got done with the show and a few other things. It was so unbelievably stormy here. Was that atmospheric river. Yeah, gross. And I had this sort of weird amount of time in my late afternoon where it was kind of. Kind of like I had some stuff going on at night, but I was kind of wrapped up mostly for the day of work and stuff, and I just thought, oh, I'll go see Begonia. And so I'm like, begonia, near me, and I see, oh, it's playing down at the movie theater down at the mall near me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can you remind me what that is again? I'm sorry, I forgot.

[Luke Burbank]

It's the Yorgis Lanthamum with Emma Stone.

[Andrew Walsh]

We haven't talked about that. Genevieve told me that he has a new one out. Okay, I'll be seeing that.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, it looks. It looks crazy, like all of his movies, but looks really pretty intriguing. And I, like, there's. You know how it is in A relationship. Like, there are the movies that I have sworn to Becca I will see with her. Like, I think it's. Is it Blue Moon, which is about the. The guy that was in Rogers and Hart. And then Rogers and Hart becomes Rogers and Hammer. Hammerstein. And the guy, Hart kind of gets left behind, and it's Ethan Hawke. It's a. It's a Richard Linkletter film. So I got to see that one with Becca. But I was like, I can sneak Begonia in. So I get in my. I jump in my car. Begonia starting in 20. 20 minutes. I raced down to the theater. It's that thing of when, Andrew, you. You buy your movie ticket at the concessions.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

So I get in line, I get to the front, and I'm going through that candy corridor that they take you through. Now they're routing me through at this Regal or whatever it is. And because of our conversation about Martin Star gummies, I was like, frick it, dude. I'm getting a lifesaver. Like, lifesaver gummies. I was like, that sounds kind of good to me right now. So I got a bag of those. I got some Kit kat, some mini KitKats. I order my popcorn. I order my soda. I'm getting it all. The very nice person at the concession says, anything else? I go, oh, my God. I almost forgot the most important part. Ticket to Begonia. And she looks at me like, bawot ya. And I was like, oh, yeah, Begonia. And then she's looking through the screen, and she's like, I don't see that here. I don't think that's out yet. I was like, I think I would know. I'm arguing with the person that works at the movie theater who has the screen of the movies that are playing.

[Andrew Walsh]

No offense, but I think I would know if Begonia was playing.

[Luke Burbank]

With respect, I think I'd know what movies you're playing at this movie theater that I have barely considered its existence in my lifetime. So of course Begonia is not playing there. And now I. I'm like, do I have to have these snacks? She's like, no, no, of course not. Okay. She hadn't actually made the popcorn yet, so.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. And the other snacks are packaged up. Do you know what led to the mistake, though? Because you must have looked up a showtime. You wouldn't have just showed up and.

[Luke Burbank]

Been like, well, the one I saw a showtime. I went on Friday. I don't know what. I don't know what happened, because at first it looked like it was showing Me the Thursday times. And then I actually took the initiative to click over to Friday and it showed me Friday was 3:20. And here's what I think was happening, Andrew. I think it was shifting me to this week. I think it comes out this week. And I think, remember I said there should be some kind of a law that if you're looking up something on a calendar, the default should be the day that you're actually. This is what happened to me with my doctor a while ago. Like it. I think that my doctor's office. The calendar immediately went to the first available date. And so I'm. And I should have been more conscientious about what I was looking at, but instead I'm just like looking at, oh, I see there's an availability on Thursday. Okay, I'll do that. Not realizing it's a Thursday in three months. And I think similarly when I said begonia near me, it went to like Thursday like a couple days from now.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. When it's going to. Actually looks like the first I can see it is this Thursday, October 3rd.

[Luke Burbank]

So I think that the calendar was like, well, he only needs to know about the times when begonia is showing. We're not going to show him this week when there's no begonia. So I was like fast forwarded a week and didn't realize it. But then this is what happened to me. I then. So I take the candies, I put them back and I'm walking around and it was like I was. Andrew, when I tell you I was bereft.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

It's like it's. It's 3:26, it's torrentially raining and I don't even know what to do with myself.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did you even look at what the other options are?

[Luke Burbank]

Did. I would have seen Roofman, but it was 45 minutes into the show.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's too much.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, it was the only other thing I was about to be like. Well, I just watched like how to train your Dragon 7.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Like literally in a situation like that, sometimes watch a movie, whatever. Yeah. Watch anything.

[Luke Burbank]

I was. There was literally nothing starting.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

If there would have been anything that I could have even possibly tolerated that would have been starting in the next 20 minutes. That's what I would have done. So then I walk out of the theater. First of all, I walk through the. I think you might have even been in that mall. The world's most abandoned mall.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

It's basically a movie. The a bombed out JCPenney and now weirdly, a thriving food court.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, really? I never went in. I should have gone in. I just remember, like, hobbling. It was when I had. I. I was still undiagnosed, but I had. My arthritis was kicking in big time. And I just remember walking, trudging through that parking lot to get to the grocery store that's on the other end of the parking lot and, like, walking up on little curbs and being like, why can't I not walk on curbs? So that is a very depressing parking lot. But also, it's colored by my personal experience at that time.

[Luke Burbank]

So it's. I'm, like, kind of walking through this, like, kind of depressing mall where everything is shut down pretty much. Just like, you know, like, there's like a. Actually, you know what? I'll be honest with. There's a game store in there that seemed to be thriving. A lot of people in there playing games.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that's cool.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that was kind of cool. I was happy about that. But. So then I go and I get in my car, and then I'm like. I'm like, I guess I'll just go home now. But I was like. And I already knew what I was going to have for dinner. I knew that I was going to have another square of my vegetarian lasagna. So I didn't even have. Like, I couldn't justify. Like, I was like, well, I could buy stuff for dinner. But I was like, but I have this whole thing of lasagna that I made the previous night. I was like, okay, you know what I need? I'm almost out of romaine lettuce. That's what we'll do. We'll go to Safeway. We'll get some romaine lettuce. Our life does have a purpose.

[Andrew Walsh]

You just needed a. You needed a mission, huh?

[Luke Burbank]

I needed something to. I need. So then I go into the Safeway, but now I'm walking out. Now I'm thinking about. Now I'm thinking about sweet treats, because I had those gummies and I had those Kit Kats in my hot little hands, and then I put them back, and now I'm like, you know, like, sweets delayed is sweets denied. I'm like, now. So now I'm walking around Safeway, I got a bag of hearts of romaine in one hand, and I'm just like, what sweet treat do I want? And Andrew, when I tell you that I took a at least 30 minutes to make my decision around cookies, it was so messed up. I was in the weirdest head space feeling.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know this.

[Luke Burbank]

I Walk. So well, so I walk up to, I'm in the bakery and they have those like plastic, like a clamshell of like 12 cookies, right? It's five bucks. It's like really cheap.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it's, it's like in the bakery area. So you get the impression that they.

[Luke Burbank]

Made it there, maybe they made them there. But it's like 12 chocolate chip cookies and I'm like, I don't need 12. I know I will eat 12 if I have these in my house, I'll eat them. That's more than I need. Then there's two individually wrapped ones and those are $3.99. So I could get. And I'm worried two is not going to be enough. So then I'm like, well I could get four of the individual of the, of the double packs. But now I'm paying more than I would to get 12. So I'm just standing there like frozen for a long time. And then I'm like, oh, I know what I'll do. Cookie dough. I'll do the pre made cookie dough dough that's on the other side of the store. So I walk over to the other side of the store and I get some pre made cookie dough and I have my romaine lettuce and I get, I go back to my car and I drive home. And that's what I ended up doing Friday night as I watched this crazy powerful documentary called the Perfect Neighbor on Netflix. I don't know if you know about this or people have heard about it. First of all, I just want to say trigger warning. It is emotionally wrenching. It is, is a, a phenomenal piece of filmmaking. I feel like the documentaries, the word documentary on Netflix has gotten really, really kind of bastardized. Like most of the documentaries on Netflix now are just like very quickly thrown together. It's a bunch of pre existing interviews or news clips. And then maybe they get like one or two people to sit down, people who didn't even, weren't even at the thing. Just like a crime expert or whatever to just kind of like you know, talk about it. And then they, they dice it all up and they tell you we got a documentary about, about this thing. This is not that. This is a very sad story about a shooting in Florida that happens in this neighborhood. But the entire story is told through the police body cam. And it is absolutely literally like the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Audio and everything, it's audio from.

[Luke Burbank]

It's all no narration. Wow, there's no narration. There are no talking heads being interviewed. It is purely through the body cam and the story is told. I mean, the police were called out to this location many, many times. So there was a trove, a ton of body cam footage and then some stuff later on involving, you know, law enforcement. But there is. It's all just. I don't know if you'd call that passive camera or verite or what you might call that, but it was. It's a. And it's an incredibly riveting way to tell this story, and it's a really powerful story. Addie and I were texting about it saying, like, I guess some people are like, should we even be seeing this? You know, like, is this an invasion of privacy into the people involved? Because this is body cam. I feel like the message that the movie portrays is so important. I think that. I think it's worth telling it in this way. And it's. And I hope it's worth it to the people that are. That are featured in there, that their. Their, you know, likenesses are. Are out there, because I think it has an incredibly powerful message. But, yeah, it's called the Perfect Neighbor.

[Andrew Walsh]

Dude, they don't even. They don't even set it up by a. Say saying, there's no whining in football, but sometimes football comes to wine country. There's no narration any. There's nothing even like that at all.

[Luke Burbank]

They do. They do have. It's weird. There's a couple of lines like that right at the beginning of the film, which I think kind of. There's no whining in football, but every August, football comes to wine country.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, so that's from the Perfect Neighbor.

[Luke Burbank]

That's from the Perfect Neighbor.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what I thought.

[Luke Burbank]

Um, let's see. I'm trying to find my other. I need to get more. I need to start watching Hard Knocks again. I need to end the show.

[Andrew Walsh]

How do you. How do you have these saved? Are they under Hard Knocks? Are they under Liev? I feel like Liev would be something.

[Luke Burbank]

I would have a hard time remembering which goes first, the I or the E. Exactly. I think I gotta go hard. This is the other one. This one is less. Is less. Great. But it's when a couple of those. I think they were at the time. Were they Oakland Raiders? I think they were the Oakland Raiders maybe at this time. And they were. They're going horseback riding.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And. And if you want to know where we are in time, they're using Old Town Road, I believe, here. So.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that's a. Or maybe a fake Old Town Road. This is where we were in our. In our shared experience.

[Andrew Walsh]

Everybody ain't your friend.

[Luke Burbank]

Just because he surrendered the reins doesn't mean Jonathan Abram doesn't still have the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bit between his teeth. Oh, God.

[Luke Burbank]

It's just. Just brutal.

[Andrew Walsh]

Fits that same pattern. I love it.

[Luke Burbank]

So, you know, we really do have to go. But I will tell you that it is across sports, whether it is baseball, football, those are the main ones that I watch. There is nothing worse than when the producer, the executive producers of the sports broadcast try to get in any way creative or funny or anything with the content that precedes the actual game. You know what I mean? Like, they're experts at portraying the game, at showing us the game. It's showing us all the angles, at talking to Gene Sterretor. The thing of the showing us the game they're masters at, or the baseball game for that matter. Anything where they're trying to be filmmakers, where they're trying to do something funny about like, I don't know, just like a graphic about a guy who is on a team, but he's done this thing or he's from this town. You know what I'm talking about?

[Andrew Walsh]

Are you talking about. I think you're talking about something different than what I'm picturing, which is. I'm thinking of the in game things where they'll show the two opposing quarterbacks, but they'll animate it like they're both in school. But then one of them gets a dunce cap because they've had a bad season and the other one is rising to the top of the class and they get a little hat that says valedictor. I can't say that that word valid. Valedictorian. How do you say that word valid?

[Luke Burbank]

Valedictorian.

[Andrew Walsh]

Valedictorian. I have trouble with that one. I want to put an extra V in there. But anyway. Is that the type of thing you're talking about?

[Luke Burbank]

That's a version of it. Which is like, yes, it's so un. It's. It's so uncreative. It's so unbelievably uncreative. But there was something that played before one of the Mariners Blue Jays games that was on Fox that was. I think it was supposed to be kind of actually more like inspirational, like, will these players rise to meet the moment? But it was just. It was so cringe. It was so unbelievably terrible. And I guess I just don't watch enough national baseball broadcast to know that they also do this shit for baseball. I know about the football version because that's what I'm always watching. But I was just like, we need to take away the keys from these sports producers to do anything that's outside of just telling us about the game and who's doing what and what points. We're to supposed that you're great at anything where we're calling on you to be funny, to write like a funny skit or script or like a bit that someone's going to be doing or an animation, anything like that it's going to get into. Just because Jonathan Abrams doesn't have the reins anymore, it doesn't mean the bit's not firmly between his teeth. It's like, this is the worst kind of writing ever and it's getting on national television.

[Andrew Walsh]

Some of it's getting better, though. The fonts used to be really bad until Jordan Hudson sort of started taking.

[Luke Burbank]

The font honestly was big improvement.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I putting in some texture in the background that looked a little bit.

[Luke Burbank]

I could do that in five minutes. I don't know how to. I don't know graphic design, but I could do that in five minutes.

[Andrew Walsh]

How do you spell bell check?

[Luke Burbank]

What's that?

[Andrew Walsh]

I said, how do you spell Belichick? It was just a final cherry on top of the Jordan Hudson riffing we were doing. That's what happened there. I don't like me not being able to say that word that I tried to say a couple of minutes ago. That's not a good way to end the show.

[Luke Burbank]

But listen, Andrew, would it make you feel better if I said Volkswagen?

[Andrew Walsh]

No. Nothing can save me right now, Luke.

[Luke Burbank]

I know you're having a tough day. I'm sorry, my friend. All right, thanks for listening, everybody. We are going to be right back here tomorrow with more imaginary. I'll be less loopy because I will not have gotten up at 3am to make tofu. So hed tofu and horfed too much tofu. Okay, so we'll see you tomorrow. In the meantime, have a great Tuesday. Take care of yourselves. And please remember, no mountain too tall.

[Andrew Walsh]

And good luck to all. Power out.