#4641 Low Key, It's Not Giving "Angel Of Death"

Summary

TBTL Podcast Summary

Episode #4641 – "Low Key, It's Not Giving 'Angel Of Death'"
Date: January 14, 2026
Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh

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Overview

In this engaging Wednesday edition of TBTL, Luke checks in from snowy Chicago while Andrew regales listeners with tales from his recent trip to Las Vegas to celebrate his 25th anniversary with Genevieve. Together, they skew the traditional Vegas narrative with stories of chill rather than chaos, and unpack the mundane, hilarious, and slightly weird moments that emerge when you visit “America’s playground” with an aversion to both gambling and spectacle. The episode's heart is Andrew's unexpectedly wholesome Vegas experience, especially his detailed review of a low-stakes comedy club show and attempts to navigate the world of video blackjack with his partner.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Vegas, But Make It Low-Key

• Andrew’s First Real Vegas Visit:
  • Despite having driven through Las Vegas before, Andrew marks this as his first proper visit and reflects on almost spending a college summer there as a valet (06:07). He wonders aloud how that path may have changed his life.
• Not Your Typical Vegas Trip:
  • Andrew and Genevieve's approach to Vegas: no gambling addictions, no wild nights, and a focus on taking it slow and easy instead of "going big."
  • Andrew: “I'm not a big risk taker. I'm not a big adventure guy. I'm not a big traveler. But also... I don't like gambling. I don't like shows. I don't like things that are shaped like either an Eiffel Tower or a pyramid.” (10:19)
• Reflecting on Expectations vs. Reality:
  • Both expected high drama ("high highs, low lows") but instead found restful, human moments. Andrew compares the anticipated drama of Vegas to mood-altering SSRIs: “You just hear about Vegas...the highs are gonna be high, the lows are gonna be lows...there's just no middle ground." (08:36)
  • In reality: “It was just really a wonderful weekend. It was just, like, very, very chill.” (09:18)

2. Vegas Sights, Vibes, and Spheres

• Admiring the Sphere:
  • Both hosts geek out over Las Vegas’ giant new illuminated Sphere. Andrew admits: “That thing is sick, though... it's quite impressive.” (10:38)
• Staying at Vdara:
  • Andrew details their hotel on the 16th floor, with stunning views of the Bellagio fountain and the Sphere. Down below, he observes the “backlot” nature of Vegas—a place that “reminded me a little bit of, like, maybe what it'd be like to walk around the back lots of a Hollywood studio or something, because it's all kind of a show, but it's never that deep. It's kind of a facade.” (11:35)

3. The Comedy Show (BBC - Big Black Comedy Show) — Anatomy of a Small Room (19:17–49:51)

• Finding the Venue:
  • The "Big Black Comedy Show" is hosted in the small "V Theater" within the Miracle Mile shops at Planet Hollywood. Andrew and Genevieve arrive late, thanks to a rideshare mishap and a reservation-dessert snafu at a French-ish restaurant, Bardot (13:11).
  • “Are we going to disturb everything? [The usher says,] ‘No, no, it's fine.’ And he opens the door and it's basically just a tiny little comedy club...maybe 100 [seats], tops.” (28:11)
• On-Stage Vibe:
  • The show’s advertising is vague, promising up-and-coming comedians “every bit as hilarious” as big names (21:03). The venue is intimate, after all, not a Vegas spectacle.
• Notable Quotes & Observations:
  • Luke: “What I was really struck by was how non committal they were… It felt like they were leaving the option open of just bringing in people off of the streets who had hopes and dreams about comedy.” (20:28)
  • Andrew, on expectations: “What I was expecting was something that was going to be like, super... showmanship… or pulling crowd work...like, really roasting white people in the audience.” (21:53)
  • Result: “It was just like stand up, you know. But then the guy who came in after... really did lean into the blueness of the comedy. But... nothing he said was essentially funny. You know, it was just like dirty or offensive in some way...” (35:25)
  • Technical Difficulties: The headliner’s microphone repeatedly cuts out, unintentionally upstaging the comedy: “Honestly for me, the fact that his microphone went out... made [it] the best part of the show of his set.” (43:32)
• Audience/Crowd Work:
  • Some mild racial crowd work (“Are you Chinese?”) that Andrew finds uncomfortable. (35:25)
  • Was Andrew roasted for being one of few white attendees? "Nothing felt essentially, you know, kind of, I don't know, unbalanced in any particular way… I think I was expecting maybe again, cause of the vagueness...that it was gonna be like...just so over the top...it just wasn't exactly like that.” (41:48)
• The Moment of Humanity:
  • Despite the cringe humor, technical glitches force the show to a communal, human place: “For me I thought that was sort of a show saver...the fact that his microphone went out.” (46:04)
• Research Follow-up:
  • Afterward, Andrew contacts the venue to identify the performers: “The lineup was Ryan Cole [host], Penny Prince [feature],” opting not to name the headliner whose style he disliked. (47:25)
• Host Takeaways:
  • Despite glitz expectations, the show was intimate, real, and “the opposite of Siegfried & Roy.” (49:51)

4. Gamblin’ Man? Low Stakes, Please (50:07–67:43)

• Blackjack Woes — The "Weekend of Yes":
  • Andrew and Genevieve try a shared pot at a video blackjack machine in New York, New York.
  • Humorous marital tension: Genevieve’s attempts to track her bets are foiled by Andrew gleefully side-betting on “dragons” and “arrows,” with no idea what they do.
  • “It would just be sort of nice to be...a little bit hard for me to see how well I'm doing when we're playing off the same tab, basically…” (63:03)
• Bar Seating Is a Premium:
  • Andrew bemoans the scarcity of available bar seats in Vegas—“The most prized real estate at any place we were was bar seating.” (51:44)
• Video Poker Reflection:
  • On Sunday night, Andrew posts up for classic solo time: “I just sat there and played video—like Jacks or Better or something—for probably a couple of hours...I just had this moment of realization where I was like, I've been playing this...I really enjoyed it...But then after maybe an hour and a half, I realized I'm not even paying attention to what I'm doing.” (65:06)
• Andrew’s Vegas Lesson:
  • The experience is about knowing when you’re done: “It was just nice, critically…when you get what you want out of it, you leave.” (68:24)

5. Listener Engagement (Donors & Community Matters)

• Community Interaction:
  • Luke and Andrew riff about an influx of listener emails correcting the difference between "lentil" and "lintel," relating to the Angel of Death/Passover story—prompting the episode title: “Low key, it's not giving angel of Death.” (77:01)
• Listener Donor Shout-Outs:
  • Several supporter thank-yous, casual sports banter, and a philosophical musing on what makes a "TBTL 22" (a Seahawks 12 + a TBTL 10 = 22). (88:16)

6. Super Bowl and Social Dilemmas

• Scheduling Woes and Football Fandom:
  • Luke laments family obligations conflicting with Seahawks games (“How much does this one-year-old [niece] really need me there as her uncle? Right?” (80:24)) and the fine line between football obsession and social appropriateness.
• Super Bowl Parties Gone Awry:
  • Both hosts discuss invitations to Super Bowl parties by non-football-fan friends and strategize about escaping them should the Seahawks make it.
  • Andrew: “I will feel bad if the Seahawks are playing in the super bowl and Paulie is just like rolling around an empty roller rink by himself, sadly, to the sound of the Peanuts music.” (84:35)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Andrew on the Vegas experience:
  “It was just really a wonderful weekend. It was just, like, very, very chill.” (09:18)
• Luke on comedy club crowd work:
  "What I was really struck by was how non-committal they were… It felt like they were leaving the option open of just bringing in people off the streets who had hopes and dreams about comedy.” (20:28)
• Andrew on the tech issue at the comedy show:
  “Honestly for me, the fact that his microphone went out... made [it] the best part of the show of his set.” (43:32)
• On gambling as a non-addictive pursuit:
  Andrew: “At our age, I think we tend to know what it is that's really kind of got us by the collar, doesn't...For you it's not gambling. Like, for me, it's not weed.” (58:07)
• On plans for imagining spontaneous trips:
  Luke: "Are you willing to go back to Vegas Saturday night during the, in the aftermath of the Seahawks game?" (69:00)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Andrew’s Vegas History & Arrival – 04:25–09:18
• Sphere/Hotel/Bellagio Views – 10:38–11:35
• Comedy Show “BBC” Setup & Arrival – 19:17–28:11
• Inside the Show & Standup Breakdown – 29:24–41:48
• Technical Difficulties & Human Moments – 37:49–49:51
• Gambling/Bar Experience – 50:07–67:43
• Listener Letters, “Lintel”/Angel of Death – 76:27–78:24
• Donor Shout-Outs & Seahawk Fandom – 87:12–90:08
• Super Bowl Party Scheduling Woes – 80:26–87:44

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Format & Tone

• Warm, conversational, irreverently funny, and gently self-deprecating.
• Deep dives into the ordinary, finding amusement and insight in the mundane.
• Lighthearted, with sharp observations about social interactions, pop culture, and personal foibles.

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Closing Message

The episode is a masterclass in finding the human, relatable moments in otherwise spectacle-driven environments. Whether you’ve never been to Vegas or visited a hundred times, the TBTL crew reminds us that the real stories are in the details—the missed hurricanes, the mike-breaking headliner, and the blackjack side bets nobody understands. Plus, if you’re a Seahawks/TBTL hybrid fan, you’re officially now a "22.”

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Power Out!

Transcript

[Rick's Shoe Warehouse Associate]

We messed up and we want to apologize to our followers. Many of you probably know our account as Rick's Shoe Warehouse, the go to wholesale shoe seller for when you need many shoes at once for a lot of people. But out of full transparency, we want to announce that our CEO and fearless leader, Rick Housel has in fact gone missing. So here's what happened two weeks ago when we arrived to work our shifts as sneaker leader and open toe kitten heel associate at Rick's Shoe Warehouse, the go to wholesale shoe seller for when you need many shoes at once for a lot of people. And we noticed Rick was gone. So instead of panicking, Aaliyah and I took initiative. Initiative. And we decided right there and then to helm the entire company. I knew a guy, my old neighbor, he had a French accent, everything, so you know he was legit. I know. And he did a digital company of some sort. So I pitched to him, hey, what if we change this company to something like that immediately? I was on board. Overnight we rebranded Rick Shoe Warehouse as consider this media, a digital company that does media and digital stuff like that. We heard many comments from where's Rick to I thought this was a shoe warehouse company. And we want to say we hear you. Unfortunately, we have no formal education as well as we don't have any informal education. So our money for the company is going down every day in a large amount. And that's not great because we have a big old office and a big ol amount of employees. So follow along as we figure out how to try to run this company so that money goes up. We've already had so many good ideas like we are going to do partnerships and digital and just overall we're going to be striving to doing all kinds of stuff that companies do every day. And actually, please leave a comment about what kind of things a company you know does.

[Andrew Walsh]

Tbtl.

[Luke Burbank]

You, honors.

[Andrew Walsh]

At this time, I'd like to present a compilation of general misjudgments. Half of them fear based, half of them just stupid. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it. Just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office, or two cups of good hot black coffee. They said it would happen and it has. The day when you could go to the movies without leaving your living room. You wouldn't have to go to the movies. The movies would come to you. Well, they are coming to you. If you're ready for them via videotape cassettes, you can play on your home television set. But if what you want is Superman, the only way you can get him is illegally from a modern day pirate.

[Luke Burbank]

The man or beast that I run.

[Andrew Walsh]

From ain't been born and its mama's already dead. When you get there, this is what you will see on the screen. And there's a little arrow over there. You press it and congratulations, you're listening to a podcast.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, all right. Hello, good morning and welcome everyone to a Wednesday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live.

[Andrew Walsh]

Intelligence for your life.

[Luke Burbank]

My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm so excited about this show coming.

[Luke Burbank]

To you today from the the shores of Lake Michigan. Very cold, very snowy, but very beautiful.

[Andrew Walsh]

Chicago, Illinois, no snow and more snow.

[Luke Burbank]

Where we are here to participate in the Wait, wait, don't tell me project. But in the meantime, my goodness, is this ever a beautiful city. When you look out, you see the white caps on Lake Michigan and it's really something. It's really a way to bring you. Episode 4641 in a collector series.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let the fun begin.

[Luke Burbank]

And I watched the Ricky Gervais, the most recent Ricky Gervais stand up comedy special the other day and I was, I had complicated feelings about it. And then I saw an article that said did Ricky Gervais win a Golden Globe for the worst stand up comedy special of all time? And jokes are really difficult, I must say. I felt seen my sort of experience with watching checked out with what these people were saying on the Internet. And so we'll talk about that a bit and we'll also talk to this guy. We will welcome back the longest running cobra of the show. Maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ship. He is Andrew Walsh. He is joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good morning, Luke. Thanks for covering for me while I was gone. I had a wonderful weekend and I, I live in Vegas now.

[Luke Burbank]

Uh huh. Is that how much fun you had that you now are, you're deciding to, I mean the taxes are low.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's a big part of it for me because you know, and I also have a lot of investments.

[Luke Burbank]

You're notably a low tax guy.

[Andrew Walsh]

I am. That's kind of when I look for a place to live, I like to. I'm looking at Florida, looking at Florida, I'm looking at various places. Do you know that I, I had a memory when I was in Las Vegas. As you Know, I have never been to Las Vegas proper before. You and I drove through Las Vegas. We drove through the strip in an RV one time in a. In a very.

[Luke Burbank]

And stopped at a place called like was like Five Aces or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

Something. I've looked it up before. We've used it as a show picture.

[Luke Burbank]

We stayed in an RV park next to a gernt park called Five Aces.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it wasn't Five Aces though. It was. It's so close to that. But I. I look it up later. It was three. It was three aces and maybe six aces. It was three aces in the jack. Three jacks in the Jill.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, is that a.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is that a.

[Luke Burbank]

Is that a group out of. A group out of St. Louis?

[Andrew Walsh]

If you ever at the Hampton Inn, I suggest you check them out. But I had a memory.

[Luke Burbank]

You've never really, really, really been to Vegas?

[Andrew Walsh]

Nope. You and I did our best National Lampoon imitation as we drove a clunk you through at one time, then stayed in a trailer park. And then. And this was my first real trip. Although it reminded me that there was a period of my life, a time in college where I actually very seriously considered spending a summer living in Las Vegas and being.

[Luke Burbank]

How do I not know this about you?

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know, man, because I'm full of surprises and apparently repressed memories. I didn't come that close to it. It was just an idea floated by my mother who was living there at the time. She was newly a flight attendant and I think the first place she moved after leaving Ohio was. I think Las Vegas is where she was based. And she was trying to get me or floated the idea of me being a valet. She's like, there's so many valet jobs here. And you know, this is the late 90s, I think. And I was just like. It sounded exciting and adventurous. I remember being pretty nervous about it already. Being like, boy, driving other people's cars.

[Luke Burbank]

Were you at Kent State or post? Kent State.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is Kent State. So this is like in college. It was like a proposed idea for something to do during a summer, I think make a lot of money, spend the time in Vegas. And I wonder how much of a different person I would be now if I had been able to pull that off. For some reason I was not able to pull it off. So this trip this week.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, based on your experience the last few days there, I mean, did you. Did you. Did Vegas sort of. How do I put it? Did you feel connected to Las Vegas, Nevada? I.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is just so boring. I didn't get into any fights? I didn't have any. Bad.

[Luke Burbank]

Bad. Many ways to be part of the Las Vegas environment. You choose your road, I choose mine.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean. I mean, just from a TV tale content standpoint, like, you know how sometimes this is such a weird and probably inappropriate place to take it, But I am somebody who's never been on any kind of. Kind of medications that affect mood or whatever. Or Is it psychotropic SSRIs? Is that the right term? Are you teasing me? I don't know.

[Luke Burbank]

I believe. No, I think that's.

[Andrew Walsh]

That.

[Luke Burbank]

That's the. Typically the term for those kinds of drugs.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Anything that helps you, you know, And I know that some people who are maybe prescribed them and have. Have hesitancy about taking it is because they're worried everything is just gonna be too leveled out, you know, And I've never taken that. But I will say my Vegas trip, you just hear about Vegas. Like, I feel like in my head, it's always gonna be at some. Whatever's happening is gonna be at some huge theatrical level. In my head, the goods are. The highs are gonna be high, the lows are gonna be lows. You're either just gonna be.

[Luke Burbank]

You're gonna be Zach Galifianakis somehow. You now are in possession of a baby.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Pack of one, as I believe he famously says in that movie. Or, you know, I feel like I'm either going to be, you know, Tim Robinson coming in with my. My tuxedo on Luck be a lady tonight, or I'm going to be the end of that sketch where he's absolutely destitute and crying. You know, like, there's just no middle ground.

[Luke Burbank]

He's going in the bathroom to do some weird stuff, and there's a. There's a fee for admission.

[Andrew Walsh]

I feel like I'm either going to be like the saddest Simpsons character, like, crying with my head in my hands, or, you know, but it's highs and.

[Luke Burbank]

Lows, and you feel like you didn't have a high or a low.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was just really a wonderful weekend. It was just, like, very, very chill.

[Luke Burbank]

How was Vdara?

[Andrew Walsh]

All credit goes to Genevieve for this. This was our 25th anniversary trip, and Genevieve just said, would you like to go to Vegas? I said, yes. And that's when I stopped thinking about it. This is months ago. And Genevieve, I mean, I think she enjoys planning things. She probably would enjoy also having help planning things, to be honest, but that's not exactly my bailiwick.

[Luke Burbank]

And so as a person who is almost thrice divorced, and a planner of home things and trips. We don't want any help.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh.

[Luke Burbank]

You being part of it means that we now have to kind of negotiate, and we don't like that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, no, good point. Well, I do say. I do think this. It was very clear that Genevieve kept, like, kind of checking in on me, like, you know, or keep on saying, like, are you enjoying this? Or. I got the impression that it was important to Genevieve that she planned this with my weird temperament in mind. You know, I'm not a big risk to taker. I'm not a big adventure guy. I'm not a big traveler. But also.

[Luke Burbank]

Which makes you the perfect Vegas attendant. So I don't like gambling.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't like gambling. I don't like shows I don't like.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't like things that are shaped like either an Eiffel Tower or a pyramid.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't like giant spheres that are lit up from the outside. Actually, that was really cool, dude.

[Luke Burbank]

That thing is sick, though.

[Andrew Walsh]

It really is. You asked about for all of the.

[Luke Burbank]

James Dolan ness of it, when you stand outside of that or inside of that, it is quite impressive.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now, I didn't stand right at the base of it or anything, but whenever you would catch a glimpse of it from the city, it was really cool. I liked it. And I'll say you asked about vdar. That was the hotel that we stayed at, and we were, like, on the 16th floor, which isn't, like, as high, obviously, as you can go, but at least it wasn't too low to the ground. And it was a really beautiful view. Like, we could see the fountains. We could see the sphere. We could see, like.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, nice. You had a view of the Bellagio fountain.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah. And so that's cool. Yeah, and so it was nice. But, of course, what I also liked was if I looked straight down from my hotel room, I could see, like, Vegas reminded me a little bit of, like, maybe what it'd be like to walk around the back lots of, like, a Hollywood studio or something, because it's all kind of a show, but it's never that deep.

[Luke Burbank]

It's kind of a facade.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, you can always see past the facade a little bit. If I look straight down, I saw this big kind of staging area where they had clearly just pulled all these, like, huge holiday decorations down. Giant bells and, like, just some, like, you know, I kind of ornamental archways or whatever, and they were just laying on the ground like, the holidays are over. But for me, it was sort of like being Able to look in the. In the storeroom closet or whatever. Yeah. And it was kind of interesting. And so I'm not. Like you said, I'm not a big gambler, but I spent some time sitting behind video poker machines and having some.

[Luke Burbank]

Honestly, we don't have a lot of stuff on the show sheet today, because I just need to hear about every single moment of your time gambling there.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I didn't do anything. Well, that's the thing, though. Like, I. I feel like I'm gonna let you down in this aspect, because I didn't sit at any tables. I told you I. Before I had left.

[Luke Burbank]

I did not. So you didn't do any table games?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, And I. I was practicing my pai gow here at home on my iPad. But then I go to Vegas. I mean, just almost like I felt like I should. I had this moment where I was, like, passing a pai gow table, and I was like, well, I guess I feel like I should do that, but I'm not really in the mood to sit and engage. I was like, this is my damn vacation. Like, don't do it because you feel like you owe it to somebody else. And so, I mean, what happened was. This was funny. So our first night there, we. Genevieve, had reservations for us at a nice restaurant that was good. A place that was in the Aria. I can't remember the name of it, but it was nice. Sort of a. It's somewhat French, I guess. Somewhat. Well, maybe you know it. It was called.

[Luke Burbank]

I probably do know it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bardot. So maybe. I don't know. It seemed like. It seemed like mostly American fare, but it's called Bardot, which made me think that might be French influenced or something. But anyway, it's just kind of a nice little dinner we had, and then we went.

[Luke Burbank]

You guys go to the. They have a dinh tai fung in there as well.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did you go to that?

[Luke Burbank]

No.

[Andrew Walsh]

I didn't realize that. I saw a sign for it later. I was like, oh, that'd be nice. But we've also, you know, we do have dinh tai fungs here, so I think Genevieve wanted to try something maybe a little bit different. We only had. I came back. Yesterday was a free day for me here at home. Monday. We came back on Monday. So we only had kind of a couple of dinners and a nice brunch that Genevieve had made reservations for. But we were. Let's see here. So Saturday night we had dinner, and then we were late for the big black comedy show. Unfortunately, dinner took us a Little bit longer than we thought. And we were getting ready to leave, and I said, oh, at some point, I was like, oh, you know what? I think I was especially taking my time with dinner. I was kinda like, I didn't wanna order our entrees right away. That's one thing that I'm sort of realizing. Sometimes at restaurants, just like everything is. Especially when you're at a nicer restaurant, sometimes it just all happens too fast. I don't know if you're at an age where this is starting to hit you too. So it's just like I was kind of like, well, let's just have a glass of wine. Or, like, you know, you're on vacation.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's stretch this out. We don't have anywhere to be after this.

[Andrew Walsh]

I feel like.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, you did, actually.

[Andrew Walsh]

Apparently in this case, we did. And I thought we had a little bit more wiggle room. So we just really took our time with dinner. It was very nice. But then at one point, I realized, oh, we're running late for the show. And so I kind of waved our waiter over. I'm like, oh, we got to run. And he was like, oh, you don't have time for dessert? And he's kind of got a dessert menu. We're like, no, no, no. Sorry. We mismanaged our time. And he was like, oh, okay. We had an anniversary dessert coming out for you. He's like, I'm sorry. They're making it now. So Genevieve, when making the reservation, must have checked a box or something for an animal. So we had this kind of nice dessert with her.

[Luke Burbank]

This is why, when you find me in various restaurants, they call me Dr. Burbank, because if they ever ask, like, is it an anniversary? Do you have a particular title of note? I'm like, yeah, throw it on there. There's a chance that will get us some kind of better situation.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I. By the way, you do need to call me Andrew Lewis Walsh, Esquire. Going forward. That's a new thing that I got going on for me as well. So anyway, you sign your emails a lw, which is.

[Luke Burbank]

Which is. I mean, not to me, but, like, generally speaking, if you're. If you're being formal, don't you. Don't you go with alw?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. How I sign, But I don't understand your point there. Does that seem too informal to you?

[Luke Burbank]

No, too formal.

[Andrew Walsh]

Alw.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I don't do lcb.

[Andrew Walsh]

Lcb? You could, though. It'd be cooler if you could.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm just saying, a guy who goes alw. He might go with Dr. Andrew. Dr. Esquire Andrew Walsh.

[Andrew Walsh]

It never occurred to me that you. That one would think that would be like formal. It's lowercase. Does that take some of the edge off of it? Can you still.

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely.

[Andrew Walsh]

Look at me as a normal.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly what you're doing there, dude. Alw. Lowercase is the most chill version of giving your three initials. But giving your three initials is. It's a flex, you know.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I don't understand why it's a flex. Because almost. I mean, almost everybody has a middle name, right? It's not like they do, but they.

[Luke Burbank]

Don'T point it out.

[Andrew Walsh]

But if they don't point it out.

[Luke Burbank]

What'S my middle name?

[Andrew Walsh]

Christian.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. But I don't point it out.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's so weird. It's like. But pointing it out would be like, I have something that other people don't. If I were signing my name A, L, E, W. Do you know my confirmation? Edward. Edward is my confirmation name. Now, not everybody has a confirmation.

[Luke Burbank]

Forget about this. So you get a. You also, as a Catholic kid, you got a confirmation. Confirmation name. That's not your. It's not one of your given names from your parents.

[Andrew Walsh]

I chose it. Yeah. When you. When you can. So basically the idea of being high in confirmation in the Catholic Church is you're baptized as a baby and so you're baptized into the church, but you're not, you know, you don't have any agency as a baby. And so when you're of age, sort of. And I think maybe for me it was maybe around 10. I'm going to guess you do something called confirmation, which is you kind of confirm everything.

[Luke Burbank]

That basically you're agreeing to the system.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, exactly. You're performing the. I'm trying to think of the proper word for it, but you get what I'm saying? I'm saying yes, I agree with all of this stuff. And. And so anyway. And so in doing so, you choose a confirmation name for yourself. And I.

[Luke Burbank]

Do your parents weigh in on that a little bit?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, they told my sister that. My sister. I think this was unfair. My sister chose a confirmation name that also was in a Beatles song because she was a big Beatles fan at the. I think she might. Was it Michelle or something? Wasn't Michelle. It wasn't Jude. Could Jude be a girl?

[Luke Burbank]

Octopus's Garden.

[Andrew Walsh]

She chose Octopus's Garden. For some reason, my parents vetoed that. My parents did veto something, or at least my mom did for my sister, which, looking back, I don't know if that was fair or not. But Edward was, you know, pretty inoffensive. I think it has to be a name from the church, you know what I mean? It has to be a biblical name.

[Luke Burbank]

Like a saint or something that's in the canon, essentially.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I think so. And so.

[Luke Burbank]

Interesting. Okay. I didn't know Edward was part of the deal, but now I will. I will now factor that in. Okay, so back to. Back to your Vegas thing and the fact that you guys were a little bit late to go to your comedy show. I'm dying to hear about this comedy show. I have. Do you know that I have revisited the website like this is not for the air, this is not for the listeners. This is for me a personal journey of double checking how AI the comedian is on the website for the comedy show you went to. I keep thinking I misremembered it. I keep going back to it and being like, just shocked anew.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, that's sort of my problem here, Luke, is I just feel like especially the idea of this comedy show, we built it up so much and I think it had to do with the fact that I just every. I just assume that everything in Vegas is going to be up to 11, right? Or as you like to say, at its limit. I know guy. And I feel like this comedy show.

[Luke Burbank]

Is just a kind of a comedy night.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was kind of a comedy show, but don't. Okay, so let me start off with this. We did get there a little bit late for you and other people who know Vegas. Cause keep in mind, when I was talking about going to this show which is advertised as the BBC with those initials very much highlighted for those who are understand the connotation that it might be a show that invites some blue material. But also it's called the Big Black Comedy show and you and I were very much. Genevieve just kind of booked the show for us. She said it was affordable and it had really good reviews. And she said every other show she looked at just had terrible reviews. And everybody was like, this was fun. We laughed. But you and I watched the video and it was like this AI created video that didn't say any comedians names and it just listed.

[Luke Burbank]

That's what I was really struck by was how non committal they were.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

Who was gonna be there. It felt like they were leaving the option open of just bringing in people off of the streets who had hopes and dreams about comedy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. And I mean to a degree I understand that if you have a revolving and sort of open ended group of people coming in Maybe you don't look at that. You don't want to be committed.

[Luke Burbank]

You don't tell anybody that it's gonna be Kevin Hart.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. But I did think it was funny that they listed.

[Luke Burbank]

Did they have Kevin Shart there?

[Andrew Walsh]

They. On the website or maybe in this video we're talking about, they would say Kevin Hart. They listed like three or four black comedians. And that said, if you like them, you'll love them.

[Luke Burbank]

For real?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. I don't know if you're gonna call that.

[Luke Burbank]

You might, you might. If you enjoy the comedy stylings of these very famous good comedians.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

You may also enjoy comedians who have one thing in common with them.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. And so. And again, I don't. I think what I was expecting was something that was gonna be like, super, and I will get to it in the show was parts of the show were very, very dirty. But I was. I think I was expecting something that was going to lean into the showmanship of that or like, really leaning on audience involvement or pulling crowd work. Yeah. Maybe pulling the white people on stage. Like, if Viv and I were going to be the only one, I mean.

[Luke Burbank]

This was everything that I was hoping for, was that you would be getting roasted as the one white attendee.

[Andrew Walsh]

Here's the line from the website, by the way. They might not be household names like Dave Chappelle, Katt Williams, or Kevin Hart, but this rotating cast of up and coming comedians are every bit as hilarious now. Every bit as hilarious. Oh, and also it says here, free drink included, which I didn't realize until later. And it wasn't really a free drink. It was $4 off of your drink. But. So Veeves and I are running late. We leave this restaurant, we're already running late.

[Luke Burbank]

Where was the comedy show?

[Andrew Walsh]

And I'll get to that in a second. We have this mishig at the Aria Hotel trying to catch a. Catch a ride share. Yeah, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Absolute disaster. Those, like, waiting areas of those casinos trying to get a car. Like, forget it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. It was this whole thing where Veeves and I were already running late. And then we run downstairs to this taxi stand place, and there was a little sign with an arrow that said, you know, stand over here. Or it indicated that implied that for your ride share services. And so Genevieve, like, calls the car a few minutes away at the Aria. This is at the Aria. Yeah. And then while we're waiting for the car to show up, Genevieve gets a text message from the restaurant. She's left her credit card up at the restaurant, which is up on the Second or third floor. So Genevieve tells me, wait for the car. This is what the license plate is. It'll have dice on the mirror. And then she runs upstairs as fast as she can. Cause she's already anxious about being late for the show and missing this rideshare. But it's also confusing as to where the car is going to show up. And Genevieve comes all the way back downstairs. She's so out of breath. I don't know what kind of shoes she's wearing. But, you know, we were out, so probably not the most.

[Luke Burbank]

Presumably comfortable.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, right, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Super comfortable.

[Andrew Walsh]

And she's coming downstairs and she's like so out of breath and discombobulated. And now she's on the phone with the Uber driver, the Lyft driver who, whatever it is. And she's like, well, I don't see you. Where are you? And then finally I just ask the taxi stand guys. I'm like, where are the rideshare pickups areas? And he's like, oh, downstairs, one level. We're on the upper level. And so as we're getting on an escalator, racing down, this Uber cancels on us. So then I call it. Yeah. Because they're waiting for more than four minutes. And Genevieve is on the phone like trying to find them. And whoever this is, she just ends up hanging up on Genevieve and canceling the ride. And then I don't know if we get charged for that or not. And then now we're downstairs. I call a car. The car's gonna be another five or 10 minutes now. And it's. And it's still not a very good pickup area. It's quite ridiculous. I'm hearing people bargain with their Lyft driver, saying, well, she says she's not going to throw up. Talking about like whatever situation they have going on in their party. And by the way, the show's. I know that we're racing to get to a show that starts at 8:30 at night. And this is on a Saturday night. So some folks were partying pretty hardy, pretty early.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm early.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I guess so. I guess all of that is only interesting to the degree that we now get dropped off at. And I'm blanking on which hotel. I think it's the one that goes by Ph. Planet Hollywood. I believe that this place, the venue that we're going to, this little theater is somewhere in Planet Hollywood. So the car drops us off at Planet Hollywood, but then once we're in there, we don't know exactly where we're Going it's more of a mishigas. Neither one of us like being late. So we're both kind of looking around asking people. It's actually in the Miracle Mile which I was unfair familiar with. But the Miracle Mile seems to be just a huge, huge mall right on the strip that is attached.

[Luke Burbank]

It's funny you say that because I'm in Chicago where the actual Miracle Mile is, I think.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh right, of course.

[Luke Burbank]

Maybe the origin story of Miracle Mile is here actually. I'm sure Vegas has just sort of co opted that.

[Andrew Walsh]

But wait, have you heard of the Miracle Mile? Am I misappropriating that in some way?

[Luke Burbank]

No, no. I think like there's a Miracle Mile in la, there's a Miracle Mile here. My guess is the Vegas one is. Is an appropriation of the other previous existing ones.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's basically a giant mall, but it's a mall that it looks like if you look up you actually get the impression of looking up at the sky. One of those things. It's got the cloud cover or whatever and it's very street.

[Luke Burbank]

But this is not Fremont Street. They've done a Fremont street kind of deal.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't understand what Fremont street is. I thought you would know what the Miracle Mile is. To be honest with you. I was ready for you to jump.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm not familiar with that in Vegas, but I know where Planet Hollywood is. My guess is that the area that is called Miracle Mile in Vegas near the Planet Hollywood has a kind of a covering, like a digital covering on the walkway which is made famous by this thing called Fremont street in old Vegas that has the same kind of deal going.

[Andrew Walsh]

Interesting. Yeah. I wasn't sure if this was digital or not. In fact, I don't know if that occurred to me. I thought it. I'm not exactly sure and I kind of just thought you would know what the Miracle Mile is. But it's basically this just huge mall like area that is attached I think to Planet Hollywood. And maybe it connects other. I'm trying to look at some street names here but it's basically just along the Vegas Boulevard, but the club itself. So veeves and I get there, we have our tickets and we're a little bit nervous about being late. We're probably at least 15, no, probably like 20 minutes late for the show. But you also got to assume that things like this are going to start late. And Genevieve had mentioned to me that it's not general admission. We had have specific seats. So we get to the door and I still don't Know what it's going to be like when they open that door? It's going to be some huge kind of venue. Is it going to be a tiny little thing? And the guy looks at our tickets and we're like, oh, sorry we're late. And he's like, oh, no, no worries. They're just getting started in there now. He's like, oh, you are close to the front. I'm like, are we going to disturb everything? He's like, no, no, it's fine. And he opens the door and it's basically just a tiny little comedy club. Like, it's like, you know, I'm terrible at guessing, you know, kind of room size and any. Basically any kind of measurement, whether it's distance or volume or whatever, but I'm going to guess maybe. Maybe 100. Maybe. Like, that would be tops. You know, it was just like a.

[Luke Burbank]

Little seated around tables, basically.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, like, kind of. Well, like seated, seated, facing straight forward. So, you know, just. Just chairs, but all arranged, you know, facing forward. Not like a cool comedy club or a jazz club like you'd see in the movies, where some people are facing the stage and others aren't. Everything is fac. But there are little cocktail tables in between every two seats or something like that. And so it's, you know, and it's relatively full. And we get there and the host is just sort of opening up. And I heard him say one joke. I don't remember what it was, but I remember legitimately laughing. It was funny enough. But then I'm like, everybody's got cocktails, but there's no service or anything. So I'm like, I'm gonna go out to the bar. I'll find the bar where everybody's getting these drinks. And so I miss most of the opener because there's a bit of a line at this bar. And that's where I learned that everybody is using their tickets to, like, get some sort of drink vouch at this bar. And of course, everybody's ordering something a hur. Everybody's ordering a hurricane. And this bar serves a couple of different small venues in this area. It's called the V Theater. And by the way, that was the one thing that was kind of funny is me trying to figure out how we get in the theater without saying big black comedy show.

[Luke Burbank]

To strangers, sir.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know what I'm saying? I mean, that's what it's called.

[Luke Burbank]

B, comma, B, semicolon, C. Well, that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is when I realized that everybody there is just like, oh, you're Here for the BBC show. Yeah, yeah, the BBC show. And everybody, you know, they say it a million times a day. It's not. It ain't nothing to the people.

[Luke Burbank]

They're not scandalized.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, they're not scandalized by it. But because like, everybody thought we were there for a different show because we were late and most people were getting there for some other show. But anyway, so I did see that people were get everybody. There's something about New Orleans and Vegas. Everybody drinks hurricane. Or maybe one person in line saw somebody else get a hurricane. You know, that's like, I have some sort of frozen blue drink or whatever. There's this long line. I'm like, are we all really getting. It was a little bit. It's a little bit like Luke, a little bit judgy. Like, really, we're all going to get the frozen drink right now. Don't you know I'm late for my BBC first of all, a little bit.

[Luke Burbank]

Luke, how dare you. What I would say is like, this is the thing. This is what my point with Miracle Mile. Vegas approximates what everybody else is doing in the United States and the world. And like, if a thing is like for. You're right, a hurricane is a very New Orleans coded thing. And then they're like, oh, but people like it in New Orleans. We should do it here. You know, Like, I don't think of it as being the. The Vegas drink is not a hurricane, but it is in fact a drink that is popular somewhere else. So now Vegas will now do it and make people wait in line for.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I was confused though, in this particular case as to whether. Cause I didn't see a big sign for it. I didn't see how like this hurricane drink was advertised. And it was literally like a line for this bar area. It wasn't like a bar that you would sit at. It was literally a bar that just serves these. I don't know, this small group of theaters. And so I really was sort of thinking, like, did one person at the front of the line like maybe a half hour ago order a hurricane? And that just put the. You know what I mean? And then everybody else was getting it.

[Luke Burbank]

Honestly with the defunding of female. They're rubbing a wrist time it now makes.

[Andrew Walsh]

So. And then I also noticed that everybody's having some sort of conversation about their drink tickets or whatever. And so I'm out there. I have my. My ticket to the show. But Genevieve, I left her behind. I'm getting us a couple of drinks. And so I'm like, well, I guess I'll use a free drink was like.

[Luke Burbank]

Part of the ticket for a lot of folks.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I'm just looking at this now on the big black comedy show website. It does say and a free drink included. But what I think my ticket got me was $4 off of my total. So I don't know why they would call $4 off.

[Luke Burbank]

Because you didn't order a hurricane.

[Andrew Walsh]

Maybe. Maybe that's it.

[Luke Burbank]

It was probably a free hurricane.

[Andrew Walsh]

Seriously, maybe that's it.

[Luke Burbank]

$4 off of a non hurricane.

[Andrew Walsh]

Maybe it. Maybe you're right. Maybe that's what it was. I'm sort of.

[Luke Burbank]

Because a hurricane is probably a cheap drink for them to make also because it's like, it's mostly, you know, it's mostly Slurpee.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

And then an unknown amount of alcohol in. In it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. And Viv's and I were just getting like, I don't know, gin and tonic or something. So anyway, so I wait in this line. All of that is to say by the time I get back in, the host is already done. So I missed most of like the host. I don't think he spent a lot of time warming up the crowd. Kevin Hart done. He. So Kevin Hart was just the warm up act. Exactly. And then Eddie Pepitone comes out, which I was shocked.

[Luke Burbank]

Unlikely. Unlikely casting, but we love it.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was just judging. What am I doing here? That was my favorite.

[Luke Burbank]

You were making sure I was listening.

[Andrew Walsh]

Unlimited Eddie Pepitote. So anyway, so I go in and now the second guy is on. It turns out there's only gonna be three performers this night. And so I guess this is the feature artist. And he was fine when I came in. He's kind of a good looking guy and he's. Oh, I know how old he is. He mentioned. Yeah, he mentioned, I think a couple of times he was 44 years old. So, you know, he's been around for a little bit, but he's, you know, doing a bit. One thing that I didn't totally love was that he was one of those guys who's always thinks that the crowd isn't laughing quite enough. So it kind of becomes.

[Luke Burbank]

So his go to is kind of like. Like, what's going on? Like you guys aren't feeling me right now kind of thing.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, he had this whole thing where the half. He kept saying like this half of the room isn't laughing. It wasn't our half of the room. And it kind of didn't matter. And so he's doing a lot of Crowd work like that, which it wasn't like terr. You know, it's just a little bit of a crutch that I see comedians do a little bit too much. I'm kind of like, you can maybe lean off of this a little bit. And some of his stuff was funny, some of his stuff wasn't. It wasn't the best comedy I'd ever seen in the world. It certainly wasn't the worst. But also it was just normal. And I can't explain it to you. It's just like it was like being in a small comedy club and seeing some people who.

[Luke Burbank]

It was neither. It was neither big nor black. It was comedy.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then so he finishes up his set. He's. I'm generally net positive on him and I just liked his vibe. He just seemed like he was a very likable guy. And at the end he's like, he starts working in the T shirts that he's gonna be selling into his act a little bit. Just kind of like, hey, just so you know, I put it. And. But, but it was all very relatable it wasn't it like, I can't explain it, it just. But it didn't have some sort of Vegasiness to it that would seem over the top or I know why you're all here and we're gonna do something that's really Vegas. It was just like stand up, you know. But then the guy who came in after and I did get all these guys names. I'll tell you how I got their names later because I needed to do some follow up research for this conversation. But I'm not 100% sure I want to name them all because the last guy I really did not like too much and he was maybe a little bit more what you were expecting. He really did lean into the blueness of the comedy. But it was one of those things where nothing he said was blue.

[Luke Burbank]

Comedy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, nothing he said was essentially.

[Luke Burbank]

Funny.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, it was just like dirty or offensive in some way that there's a clear. I couldn't. I didn't get eyes on this guy. But there was somebody in the front row who must have been Asian. So then he starts asking this guy, you're Chinese? And then he's saying like. But it's always interspersed with no, no, no, I love everybody, I love everybody kind of deal.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that fixes it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, right.

[Luke Burbank]

If you love everybody, you can be racist.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it's just kind of like, I didn't love that. That was. I mean, the racism wasn't a huge part of it, but it was enough of it that I didn't like it at a certain point. Point. So I do feel. And I don't know if you agree with this, but I felt this way for the middle comedian. I guess you'd call him the feature or whatever. He. I don't like it when the comedian refers too many times to how much people are laughing in the audience, and it feels a little bit like a crutch to me. But generally speaking, I got really good vibes off of him. And I feel like if I'm in the audience, I'm not going to fake laugh at jokes, but I'm definitely going to be ready to laugh. You know what I mean? Like, I don't think.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, you're there to help.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm there to help in a certain way. I'm not gonna laugh at everything and I'm not gonna fake laugh or whatever, but if something is funny, I'm going to audibly laugh or whatever because I do think it helps the room and it helps the experience and it helps the comedian. And they're working and they're two feet away from you. You know what I mean? It's like it's a small comedy club. Yeah, right. Like, we're looking. I mean, he's right there. And so. But by a certain time with this last guy, I'm like, I don't have to laugh at this anymore.

[Luke Burbank]

But then.

[Andrew Walsh]

Then something interesting happened that I actually think made the show a lot more interesting and better. But I do feel like it's going to give you the wrong impression of the show. But the guy who's the headliner, he's a guy. He's about. I think he mentioned his age. I think he's 60, or maybe he's in his early 60s, kind of a big guy kind of a guy, big stature, sort of. And he's just dirty, you know what I mean? He's just making dirty jokes or statements that aren't really funny, but it's just like.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, like, kind of like sexual stuff.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, a lot of sexual stuff. And then, like I said, sort of. But. But fine. Not toxic. You know what I mean? Like. And again, I didn't like him kind of, like, talking. Yeah, there was some stuff that was definitely racially tinged about, like, Asian characteristics. I was like, this isn't funny. I don't feel any responsibility to help this guy anymore. But generally speaking, it was still a very human experience, sort of. And you're in the small room. But then his microphone Goes out. And I think what he's using is just like a standard microphone, but they're not using.

[Luke Burbank]

They're using things like an RE50 or like a Sennheiser.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, Something like that. You know, just a handheld standard stage mic, but instead of being plugged directly in, they're using those things you can plug into the bottom of it to make it like a wireless mic, you know what I mean? And you and I know this a.

[Luke Burbank]

Little like a radio transmitter.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. I'm pretty sure that's. That's what's going on from. From my vantage point.

[Luke Burbank]

Never let that happen. If I was doing a thing, by the way. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Either get a wireless mic or get a wired mic. And so I think his little transmitter was coming. I don't know what it was. So his m. Starts breaking. This guy who is the headliner, but I'm not the biggest fan of him, so he has to, like. He waits for a while, and then, like, it's really funny that the. Whoever the sound guy is eventually comes to the front again. This is a very small room. Whoever the sound guy is comes from the back and then just takes the guy's microphone away and doesn't give him a new one. And now I'm really interested in this because I'm interested in microphones and technology and what would I do in this situation? And how do you not have another microphone?

[Luke Burbank]

So now he's just on stage with no microphone.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Now the room is small enough that I think if he. If he talks loud enough, or even as he was talking into the microphone anyway, everybody can probably hear him. But he's clearly a little bit uncomfortable not having a. It's kind of a vibe killer. But for me, it felt more like a moment in the room because I didn't like what he was doing. I don't need another vibrator joke because a woman was there by herself, you know what I mean? Which was one of the things he was kind of teasing. This woman who was in the front.

[Luke Burbank]

Room is definitely going to be using a vibrator, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. But she's also very game, and she's laughing along with it or whatever. But, I mean, like, him losing his microphone is not the worst part of this show, certainly. And then it becomes really funny because now he's just left up there without a microphone for a little bit, and he's kind of like rolling his eyes about it in a humorous way. But then the tech comes back with his microphone, and it's working for a second, but then it stops working again and it kind of goes on for the rest of his set. Now there are two microphones in play, but neither one of them are working for this guy. And I have a theory. I think this guy, I mentioned that he's kind of bigger and I think he just has big hands. And I think he's gripping the microphone in a way that he's kind of gripping the bottom of it. And this is totally just a theory that I had.

[Luke Burbank]

You think he's shorting it out?

[Andrew Walsh]

I think that there's something about the way he's grabbing it. He's grabbing both the transmitter and the microphone kind of at the bottom. It's both his style of holding it and his big hands. And I say this as a big handed man. I think he's just holding in a way that maybe these other guys aren't. So they're bringing microphones up to the front and they're working. At one point, the feature guy comes and gives him a mic and it's clearly working. And then they start busting his chops a little bit. And it was really nice. And then like kind of at the end, even the guy I didn't like much was just kind of like, hey, listen, you know, we had to call this the big black comedy show because we knew there's only a way to get black people in here or whatever. And everybody's kind of laughing about it.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, what was the kind of. Not that this, I guess, particularly matters, but what was the. Were you and Genevieve sort of like one of the few white folks there or was it mostly white folks?

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know. I would say. And I didn't get a good look at the room because we were kind of in the. The second row. There's definitely like a white couple in front of us. It seemed mix, you know, it seemed like a mix of people. But I'm going to guess the room was probably mostly black. I'm guessing. Yeah, I would say so. I don't know. I don't have numbers on that. Maybe three court. Nothing felt essentially, you know, kind of, I don't know, unbalanced in any particular way. You know what I mean? There was. There's nothing again. My whole trip is just kind of like, yeah, everything was just.

[Luke Burbank]

Was it noted at all that you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Guys were there as white folks, not me and Vee? There was a little bit of like, you know, talking about race, but it wasn't. And trying to think, did any of the comedians call out any white people in particular? They were Calling people out, but about different things. And I can't remember any. But it was not like. It just. I think I was expecting maybe again, cause of the vagueness of it and this really cheesy promotion of it, that it was gonna be like, almost like if the Simpsons were to do a parody of what this would be like, just so over the top. Like, look at this. White people here. You know, Homer Simpson.

[Luke Burbank]

We are so lame.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know, because that is.

[Luke Burbank]

That's literally. It's like white people drive like this, Black people drive like that. And then Homer laughs and goes, we are lame.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that's probably why I. That's probably. I do remember that. And that's why my brain maybe went there for this. But it just wasn't exactly like that. And then just at the very end, because by the nature of the technology kind of failing them and everything, I think it kind of ended with both the feature guy and the headliner on stage. And they were just like, it just means a lot to come out if you could tell people to come in. It just. It was a very human experience, in fact.

[Luke Burbank]

Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

Not oversized in this vegasy way that I thought it was going to be. And while not all of the comedy was necessarily for me, and I definitely did, you know, I would actually not want to see the last guy again. I didn't like him. I said hello to him after the show and that, you know, he seemed like, I think he was a good guy. It wasn't my kind of humor. I feel like he is just maybe in a gen of a generation where it's kind of like the difference between being edgy and being funny isn't as clearly defined.

[Luke Burbank]

Dude, this happens so much in stand up comedy. In any. In like, not to, you know, speak poorly of what was going on at the BBC comedy show. But I would say in low level comedy, stand up comedy, there's stuff that's just like humor adjacent.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

It's like somebody saying something that sounds like a joke, but it's not. It's not funny. It's not actually like, it's not clever, but it's next door to a joke and then people will laugh at it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, exactly. And his stuff all came back to sex in some way that wasn't. It wasn't really funny, you know. But like I said, as they wrapped up the show, it did feel like kind of a nice little moment. And like, honestly for me, the fact that his microphone went out, it made.

[Luke Burbank]

Him the best part of the show of his set.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it wasn't because, like, I feel like, oh, yeah, this guy's better when his mic is off. Like the two guys from the Muppets because he dropped. I'm not trying to do Waldorf and Sadler, but it was just like, well, we had to deal with this as an audience and as the people on stage, and it just made everything a little bit more real. And, you know, and so I actually enjoyed it. I am. I was thinking about this later, since you and I talked about this and you were like, you should go see, like, Carrot Top. I think maybe you raised that. Maybe some listeners did, because Carrot Top, you know, I did. He's got his reputation. But then a lot.

[Luke Burbank]

I just was thinking, if you wanted to do the most Vegas thing you could do, it would be Carrot Top.

[Andrew Walsh]

And, like, a lot of listeners backed you up and said, oh, I saw that. That was good. And I was hanging out with a friend who had happened to see Carrot Top and is not a listener, didn't know we talked about that, but happened to have seen Carrot Top in the past few months and was telling us about it and what an amazing show it was. And so it sounds like Carrot Top was good, a good show. There is not one part. It probably, by all measures, maybe even a better show. But I have no regrets. I'm so glad we did this. It was just a fun little thing to do. And so, again, do the Eves enjoy it also? Yeah, I think so. I think she basically shares my feelings about this. I think that maybe if you were to ask Genevieve, and maybe we will someday, if I can get her back on the show, maybe Saturday night at the Eagles. Oh, that's right. You're gonna. We're gonna see you on Saturday. In a social context, I think that maybe she thought the mic going out was not a good thing. I considered it a good thing because I felt like, first of all, I'm a tech head, so I was really interested in seeing how they. I think I've probably said this to you before, but I think I realized at a somewhat young age that I was a radio person, because my favorite part of listening to the radio when I was a kid was when something would go wrong. And I remember, like, nothing. I remember having a theory that nobody listens as closely to the radio radio as when there's dead air because you're dying to see how they're going to get out of it. And I think in today's day and age, that's maybe less true because it's just going to be everything's so automated. When they get out of a dead air situation they're just going to go right into a mattress for you commercial or what have you. But back in the day when there were live DJs you're like, what's going to happen? This record is skipping. The record skipping like the DJ is going to come back on, you know like I like little mess ups like that because it kind of reveals the human side underneath and so forth. For me I thought that was sort of a show saver for me I think that I left feeling better because of the technological issues than maybe I would've.

[Luke Burbank]

I've been trying to get on the BBC tour.

[Andrew Walsh]

Uh huh. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And as a person who's been attempting to be part of that whole comedy thing, it's good for me to remember. But seriously, actually it is good for me to remember when I'm even just doing Livewire or we're doing, you know, TBTL live stuff. Like when something goes wrong like that, like where the microphone's not working or whatever, something inside me just like speeds up, you know, in this insane way of like this is going so badly. But the fact of the matter is it's probably a, it's probably fine for the people who are there and it might actually be a moment of humanity like you're describing.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I mean it really depends on the situation. And I feel you as well. Like I'm not obviously on stage like you are. Every now and then we'll do a TBTL thing and you know, you want to avoid that and the feeling of time passing when you're the one on stage and you feel like things are falling apart. It's just a minute, feels like an hour. Right. And so, and you're kind of panicking and you're trying to figure out what's going on. Did I lose you here on the, on the, on the Riverside connection. Luke, it looks like.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I'm here.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I can hear you. Just we're having some technical issues on our side today too. You probably think I just threw that in there. The listeners are like, oh now Andrew's trying to make it seem like they're having technical issues just so that we'll.

[Luke Burbank]

Like this as Andrew's mic just disconnected. It's the best part of today's show.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I think you're gonna get a lot of that today. I feel like I'm talking a mile a minute. But here's what I wanted to close out with the BBC part of this Luke. Since I Never thought I would say, but I did want to know who the comedians were because I knew that you and I were going to be talking about this. And again, I didn't. I don't want to maybe throw the name of the person I didn't like out there, because that's not what I'm trying to do here, here. But I knew that the host's name was Ryan, and I didn't have a huge impression of him. I heard, like, maybe one joke before I went out to get our drinks, and I thought he made me laugh, like, within moments of sitting down. And then the middle guy, the feature guy, again, lead a little, leaned a little bit too much on the kind of like, oh, this side of the room isn't laughing. And like, trying to like, okay, move on with that. But still had some good jokes and was generally a good time. And then the last guy, I didn't like as much, but I knew the middle guy's name was Penny Prince. I got that. If somebody Googles him and you. Here's his comedy. I don't know what is online, but what I heard in the room was pretty good. I liked him, but I didn't know the host's name. I only knew is Ryan. And I only knew one part of the headliner's name. So on a whim, when we got back, I called the V Theater in Las Vegas in the Miracle Mile, and I nobody's gonna pick up, but I'll just. I'll just call. I called the V Theater. They picked up on the first. First ring. And I said exactly what my conundrum was. I was like, hey, we're at the show on Saturday night. I got the feature guy's name, but I didn't get the rest of the guy's names. I was wondering if you could tell me who they were so I can check out more of their stuff. And the woman on the phone was very nice. She's like, you know what? I don't have their names, but if you could shoot me an email, I'll look into it for you. And so I did. And I'm still thinking, like, this email is going to get lost. So I sent an email to box office at V Theater or whatever AT was, and I explained my situation. And within like an hour and a half, somebody else had gotten back to me with a list of the performers. So, by the way, the lineup was Ryan Cole was the host, and this guy, Penny Prince was the feature person. I'll leave the headliner off it because I don't want to bash him, but not that I'm going to do much damage, but there's no point in looking him up. You wouldn't like his humor. But all of that is to say I just really love the fact that I just thought this was going to be the most sweet sort of like, sort of non personalized experience one could have. My first Vegas show, but it was actually very intimate and very human and I really liked it. And I have no regrets. There's not another show that I wish I had gone to that night.

[Luke Burbank]

Right. Like between the actual scale of the room and the way that the folks got back to you, it was the opposite of like, you know, Siegfried and Roy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Essentially.

[Andrew Walsh]

And so anyway, and then, you know, I've been blabbing forever. I mean. But later that night, did you win.

[Luke Burbank]

Anything on video poker?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I. At one point I was literally $15 up. And I think that's the most I was up the whole time.

[Luke Burbank]

What were you playing?

[Andrew Walsh]

This was the, this was the funny part. So that night, Saturday night, you know me, all I wanted was to find a bar where I could sit at the bar. I love sitting at bars. Right. Like, better than sitting at a table or whatever.

[Luke Burbank]

I was lecturing, by the way. This is why I was talking about Old Town. Like, I was trying to picture the perfect bar for you to be sitting at whilst playing video poker and having a free drink.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, the problem was, I got to say, and I didn't have a lot of negative emotions while I was there, but the one thing I did, we got there Saturday afternoon, did all this stuff Saturday night, and then, and kind of took a stroll around Saturday afternoon before dinner. And we're looking for a place to watch whatever game was on Saturday, Saturday, whatever football game was on. And it was really, really hard to find a bar that had any open stools, let alone two. Like, my initial reaction was Vegas needs more bars for people to sit at. Because every now it might have been because the NFL playoffs were on. And so more people were interested in sitting at a bar and watching the game and when possible, playing the video poker that's built into the bars. But I thought, oh, that's what I'm going to do this whole time. Time, even well into the evening on Saturday night, even after the crowds were starting to thin out. The most prized real estate at any place we were was bar seating. So on Saturday, I didn't even get to do that at all. I sat with Genevieve and this was an interesting moment in our relationship. And again, I don't know how much we want to go. And I'm looking at the time here.

[Luke Burbank]

We've been recording for almost an hour all the time.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. I don't know how much time we have here, but this was a critical moment in our relationship. Do we want to hear more?

[Luke Burbank]

So in your 25 year relationship.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. So Genevieve wanted to have sex on the blackjack machine. Right. And I'm like, no, sorry, that's. That.

[Luke Burbank]

Doesn'T have people playing blackjack on.

[Andrew Walsh]

So sorry, I think I stepped on your joke there. It's a little bit garbled up for some. You know, what I'm dealing with on this end, Luke. There is some technical stuff. So every now and then you disappear on me as I turn off this echo cancellation. So sorry for the weird sound quality. And when you and I are missing each other. But what happened was. So they had. Genevieve loves playing blackjack. I don't think she's ever played at a table with live people before, but apparently when she goes to Vegas, she's been here a few times and I haven't. She likes to find a video blackjack machine. And so she was practicing on her phone or whatever leading up to this trip for the last few days or whatever. So we. We find the machines there. There weren't enough of them, and so we waited some folks out, and then we finally got a spot. And these. These blackjack machines, it's like a. They're arranged kind of in a circle. There's like three machines all arranged kind of in a circle, pointing at each other with sort of a spinning sign in the middle of them. Right. But these particular machines were like kind of two for one as far as people sitting down. In other words, Veeves and I could sit down next to each other on this little bench at this point. Blackjack machine, this video blackjack machine. And we could put in money and then both play with that same pot of money, but we were playing individual games on the screens in front of us. Does that make sense?

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, so the. You know. By the way, are you. Are you holding back because of the technical issues? You don't have to. I didn't mean to get in your head.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm just letting you. I'm letting you unfurl this story. I have. I already have over 36 questions.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, sorry. I'll hurry up here.

[Luke Burbank]

Was there a human. First of all, the question number one. Was there a human dealing at a central location that was reflected upon the digital blackjack outcome?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, this. This particular One is purely a. Is purely a video game. Behind us. You have the roulette wheels that are.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, physical, kind of like a human, but it's being filmed, and then you can bet on it at various positions.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. I saw that, and I saw the physical roulette wheel. I never saw a physical human being who was dealing. I did see the sort of communal betting you can do on a blackjack game that you would assume would have a physical person dealing, and then it's represented in the video screen. I never saw the physical person. I did see the physical roulette wheel that has, like, the cameras pointing down on it, and you can kind of get a bench seat and make your digital bets on that. But this is one that is purely, like. Like playing on your iPad, only it's three or five dollars a hand or whatever the minimum bet is. Right. But the thing that I kind of want to point out here is, and I do think this is key, and it kind of took me a while to sort of maybe understand Genevieve's point of view on this, but so Genevieve and I sit down, and we put. I don't know, let's just say we put $60 in or something into this machine, and then it's like, okay, good. And then we're both playing, but we're playing our individual games. The screen is split in two. I'm playing on the left. Genevieve's playing on the right. Our two blackjack games have nothing to do with each other and Genevieve. And also, one thing that I'm learning is that there's a whole bunch of side bets I can make on this blackjack, and I haven't practiced blackjack in a while, but I'm playing blackjack, and it's fine. It's kind of coming back to me. I'm like, oh, that's right. Don't hit too often. And all these little things are coming back to me, and I think it's like, $3 a hand or something. So it's not exorbitant. I don't mind, like, sort of learning on the fly again. But then maybe I'm having a little. Little bit too many drinks. Is I just start making all these side bets, but I don't really understand what they are. And so I'm sort of googling them on my phone while.

[Luke Burbank]

Are you, like. Are you dragging chips, like, digitally dragging a chip over onto the side bet?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. So along the bottom of the screen, you have denominations ranging from a $1 chip, 3, 5, you know, 10, 25, up to probably 100 or 500 something, I don't know. And then I'm dragging. I'm usually playing a $3 hand, so I'm dragging three or five dollars. So I'm dragging a three or five dollar chip to the middle to make my blackjack bet. But now I'm kind of like, well, what if I put $1 or $3 on the side bet that says 2 kings? And I'm like, well, I guess I know what that means. If both me and the dealer get a king or if I get dealt two kings right away, I'm going to win a certain amount of odds. And I just kind of like, I like the fact that these side bets can play some like really incredible odds. But I clearly. But I'm also missing something.

[Luke Burbank]

Welcome to gambling.

[Andrew Walsh]

Some of the nuances of it, you know. And Genevieve just kind of keeps saying, like, you know, Genevieve and I can both be a little bit. And I think I get this a little bit from her. A little bit, you know, a little bit maybe overly cautious with money at times. But like Genevieve kept saying, this is the weekend of yes. Like, don't worry about it, just have fun. Just have fun. And so I'm just playing.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, first of all, that's a good instinct to be overly cautious with money, particularly in these casinos. But also it's a fun instinct to be like, you know what, let's throw some, let's throw some chips at these silly double king bets. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it's also like, this is something that I think at age 49, I know myself well enough if I was a. Well, first of all, I'd been way broker if I was there in my 20s. But like, there are certain things that I've been very scared of in my life because I grew up hearing the worst case scenario. And so I remember long before I ever placed any kind of a bet in any way, just watching movies about gambling and gambling addicts are having that.

[Luke Burbank]

And people are losing their kind of everything impulse.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. And so I've always been very leery of it. And now at age 49, I'm aware of the things I'm addicted to and I'm aware of the things that don't.

[Luke Burbank]

It ain't pull tabs.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And like I'm always happy to pull some tabs if I have the money in my pocket. And I'm always happy to say I don't have to make that money up when I inevitably lose it because I always just assume I'm doing this for a fun and I'm spending this money because I want to have fun here at this table for a little bit. Like, I just never have to worry about, like, I got to come back here tomorrow because I went overboard and now I need to win it back or anything.

[Luke Burbank]

At our age, I think we tend to know what it is that's really kind of got us by the collar, doesn't.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

For you it's not gambling. Like, for me, it's not weed.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. And so I'm just like. So I'm not worried about it. So we're just having fun. And then I'm. And I'm kind of joking with Genevieve. I'm like, I don't know. I'm playing in this.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm.

[Andrew Walsh]

Here's a little. Here's a little side bet that has a. A with an arrow that points to a 2. I don't know what that does. Let's just see what happens. You know, I could. I could get $25 off of $1, and I didn't. Some of them paid off a little bit, you know, here and there, but no big deal. But I guess what I'm getting at here is Viva and I are both having a nice time. You know where we are? I don't know. Oh, we're in the New York New York, by the way, when we're doing this. So I don't know if you have feelings about that for me. I was just sort of like, I don't know, whatever is fine with me. Do you have thoughts about the New York New York?

[Luke Burbank]

You know, I like it. It is, if I remember. What I like is near the park mgm, which is the only non smoking casino in Vegas. Like 100% non smoking. So I like that for the park MGM. I do. Is New York. Do they have a roller coaster that comes into the facility?

[Andrew Walsh]

If so, I didn't see it. I did see that I passed underneath roller coaster tracks outside at one point. Point. Okay, I didn't see it. There isn't anything especially special about what I saw in the New York New York other than a bunch of really cheesy nods to New York culture. There was a hot dog stand in one place. Unfortunately, I'd already eaten my anniversary dinner. You know, there was like some big bar that was. Every stool was taken up called like midtown or something. There was. Oh, you would have loved this.

[Luke Burbank]

The bar called, like, what are you looking at?

[Andrew Walsh]

Stop remembering that.

[Luke Burbank]

Ironically, I did see that in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that's right. Yeah, that's right. But what I thought was funny And I can't help thinking of you in these situations is Veeves and I are playing this video game, this blackjack video game, and we are right outside of a fake Irish bar, which is just so funny to have that in the New York New York, because in Vegas, because it's not that different than any fake Irish bar. I know that you have a special sort of chip on your shoulder about. I. It's not Irish pubs, and that kind of thing is not your culture, and you don't really like it. And it was just so funny that, like, do you need this representation in the New York New York? Like, it's just like, it didn't seem any different than o' Malley Toots in Wallingford. You know what I mean? Right, Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, we're bringing, like. Imagine being from, like, the Midwest and going to Las Vegas for that authentic New York experience, right? Where you also have. Have a. Like a Simac. How do we say that? Simulcrum? Basically a pretend Irish bar in the pretend New York in Las Vegas. Like, what the heck?

[Andrew Walsh]

But it was helpful for me because our machine was right outside of this bar, you know, like the bars in the casino. And so in the middle of the casino was a very, very packed. Again, this is Saturday night. And I kind of didn't realize this difference between a Saturday night and a Sunday night in Vegas. I just. It was busy there, and I'm like, well, yeah, I thought, Vegas, baby.

[Luke Burbank]

Right?

[Andrew Walsh]

That's how it is. And so it's just.

[Luke Burbank]

We played that sound effect for you a lot when you weren't here. I'm glad it's one of your favorite. You're a classic Vince Vaughn head.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, exactly. You know me, I was just there looking for my Elizabeth Shue moment. But so I tried to get a drink in the middle of this casino at this, like, light, loud, raucous bar. And it's like, there's a. What's that, Luke?

[Luke Burbank]

New York, New York in New York.

[Andrew Walsh]

New York, in the middle of the casino at this loud bar. And I'm just like, this line is not moving at all. I'm like, what if I just go in and start a tab at the Irish bar that's. That opens up right where we're playing. So it was actually kind of a cheat code for me because that bar was not that crowded, and so I could just go in there and buy a bunch of drinks. So that was a long. That was a long way of saying, maybe I'd had a couple more drinks and maybe I'm getting silly at the machine, but all I know is Genevieve at some point has gone from like, we're just here to have fun, like, have fun, don't worry about anything to she's kind of like, well, I really. It's just, it's a little bit hard for me to see how well I'm doing when we're playing off the same tab, basically, which is why I went to so much detail before telling you about how Viva and I are putting the same amount of money into a pool. And now we're both playing it, but she's taking it a little bit more seriously because she's like. And then. And so I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, I guess it is a little bit harder to tell. But then I continue just my tomfoolery. And at one point, Genevieve's kind of like, it would just be sort of nice to be. And she's doing that thing that went from kind of like, it's a weekend of yes, do whatever you like.

[Luke Burbank]

This is my girl. I am so in her world. On, on this. This would drive me insane.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it totally makes sense because then, you know, like when I was playing video poker later, it's like, yeah, you want to. You want to know when you're up and when you're down and you kind of can't tell when you're both playing off of the same thing and the guy next to you is just kind of like.

[Luke Burbank]

And with different strategies.

[Andrew Walsh]

What does this dragon do? What did this dragon do while she's over there deciding what to do on a soft 17 or whatever? And so at a certain point, obviously.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, this is, this is, this is. I don't need to bore with the details, my friend, but you gotta hit us off 17 against a face card. It's a no brainer.

[Andrew Walsh]

But anyway, so I just thought it was so funny because I know there are people in Genevieve's life who she makes fun of for doing that too, who will just like, so, so clearly want something, but just won't come out and say what they want. But then eventually it's just kind of like, oh, oh, oh, you want me to leave? So I think at some point I might have stopped playing that evening, but it was fine too, because for me, it was kind of like, okay, and I think I wandered around. And then I. Oh, that's right. It doesn't really matter. I just sort of wandered around a little bit. I was looking for a place to stay.

[Luke Burbank]

You went to the pretend Bronx.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. I said hey, I'm walking here. It was a. It was a whole thing. And we ended up not staying too much longer after that. And then the next night, which was Sunday night, vibes were very different. The whole town, like, got significantly quieter. And so we went back to, I think, the aria on Sunday night. And that's where I posted up for a while, just, like, at a bar drinking drinks. And they did comp them, and. And I just sat there and played video like, Jacks are better or something for probably a couple of hours. But then I.

[Luke Burbank]

Maybe.

[Andrew Walsh]

Maybe an hour, hour and a half. But then after that, I. You know, what happened was I'm playing the game. I'm just scrolling, and it was like playing my iPad. And then I was like, my. My. My brain was wandering. My mind was wandering. I wasn't thinking about what I was playing anymore.

[Luke Burbank]

Suddenly I was kind of bored with the experience. Experience?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, kind of. And not in a bad way. Like, I'm bored. I want to go home. This sucks. Just kind of like, I just had this moment of realization where I was like, I. I've been playing this. I really enjoyed it. I got the experience that I wanted. I wanted to sit down. I wanted to just keep on spinning this thing for a while. I wanted to drink some gin and tonics. That's what I was, like, planning on doing and picturing myself doing in Vegas. But then after maybe an hour and a half, I realized I'm not even paying attention to what I'm doing. And I started losing money really fast because I wasn't really thinking about it anymore. I was just literally thinking about other things in my life. And I realized. Wait a second. Second. This is arrow two. What's that?

[Luke Burbank]

I was saying a arrow two?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, right.

[Luke Burbank]

Those side bets.

[Andrew Walsh]

No. And so anyway. And so then I was like, oh, you should stop doing this now. Like, you should just go do something else. But then I would check in on Genevieve, who's, you know, she's been playing. This is again Sunday night. And she's been playing blackjack this whole time by herself, not having to deal with me at all. And I come and I sit next to her, and I'm just like, oh, hey, how you doing? She's like, I'm good. I'm good. And she's just kinda like. I'm like, oh, you don't mind if I sit here? She's like, yeah, don't play if you don't mind. I'm like, I don't mind. She's like, just don't get in my head, and I was like, okay, you don't want me here. So I wandered around, and then I just found a nice comfortable chair, and I read my book for a while, and I had some beers, and I watched life go by. And I know that probably sounds pretty lame, but I loved it. I love sitting and reading my book. And people watch. People watching. I don't know if you know this, honestly, I don't know if I talk about this a lot, but it's free. It's. Is that an expression? I love it. No, people watching is one of my. It wasn't about. Oh, no, no. I hope I don't come off as sounding cheap. I probably spent like $80 or something on video poker. I just stopped caring. And I was like, oh, I. I'm just kind of done here. And then I was like, I guess I don't know what to do. And then I went outside around, I don't know, like, I would keep on walking by Genevieve, like, she didn't know I was doing this, but I would every now and then just, like, walk by. And she just looks so intense, playing her black jack. I'm like, well, she's doing what she had pictured herself doing, you know, leading up to. She's having her moments. And I just kind of enjoyed wandering around, looking at things. I went outside. I took a bunch of, like, kind of pictures and videos because Sunday night was just really weird. I kind of didn't realize how quiet it would relatively get. And then. Yeah, so it was just like, Genevieve just planned it really perfectly. Never once was I stressed out about anything. I wasn't stressed about the flights. I wasn't. That's why I said, like, I. I feel like I was on whatever drug that just evens everything out. And it was just like, really nice. Like, I'm really glad I got to see Vegas. Our hotel room was nice. Apparently it was an owner. Like, somebody owned the suite. Have you ever been in this situation before?

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, so this is like kind of like an Airbnb or a VRBO kind of a deal.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, I guess it was actually in the Vdara, so it's like, kind of like you still have to go through all of that stuff. But Genevieve had booked it on Travelocity or something, and she didn't realize until we got got there that it's some kind of situation. It's not quite Airbnb. I don't think they would maybe partner with Airbnb, but they do have something where apparently in these places, you can own your Own.

[Luke Burbank]

This is somebody's condo, essentially.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I guess so. But when you go up there, there's nothing that indicates that, like, oh, this is somebody's personal taste in anything. You know what I mean? All the art on the wall is just as, you know, they still have.

[Luke Burbank]

That, that, like, giant, like, canoe art sculpture they do.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's a strange, I don't quite get what the tie in is, the, the sort of canoe and kayak. I don't understand, like, how that plays in. But I liked the building. Everything was just, like, really, really nice. And it was the perfect amount of time. We ended up leaving on Monday and, like, you know, after my Sunday of, like, blowing a bunch of money, you know, sitting at the bar, doing exactly what I wanted to do, but getting my hour and a half or two hours out of that. Genevieve getting to play her blackjack, getting to see our comedy show. By Sunday night, I was like, yeah, that was great. Let's go back. It was a perfect amount of time. Like, it was just, like, it was just nice, critically.

[Luke Burbank]

And this is really what I'm wondering, and I think the listeners are wondering on Saturday night when Camaro, Kev and I have had a few small beers, are you willing to go back to Vegas Saturday night during the, in the aftermath of the Seahawks game.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, this coming Saturday. I thought you were saying, I thought.

[Luke Burbank]

You were giving, I mean, like, in, like, four days.

[Andrew Walsh]

So you're.

[Luke Burbank]

Because we're probably. There's going to be a moment if the Seahawks win.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

There's going to be a moment where Kevin and I decide it's a good idea to go to Vegas.

[Andrew Walsh]

Interesting.

[Luke Burbank]

And I need to know if you're interested. I can tell you this. Genevieve's in.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. No, clearly she has more, she has more blackjack to play, certainly. Just don't, don't try to play with her, Luke. I, I, that's, you know, it's funny. So let's set this up a little bit. So the Seahawks are playing a very big playoff football game this Saturday. I was so psyched to hear that it was a Saturday game and that I can attend, or at least not attend, but view it somewhere. And I was already sort of thinking, hey, maybe this will be one where we can watch it at the Eagles or I can watch it here at home. I was already thinking that. And then last night, you texted me and a few other friends up here in Seattle and said, hey, I'm going to be in town. Do you guys want to get together at the Eagles and watch the game? Which I'm all. I'm all in for. You sort of made up my mind for me since I was on the fence. That sounds like fun. So Saturday, first of all, you and I, I feel like, have not hung in a social situation that was not related to work in a very long time. I feel like. Yeah. Can you even remember the last time that you and I have not seen each other that was not tied to either our work together or some gig that you had like a live wire?

[Luke Burbank]

I've done everything I could to avoid it.

[Andrew Walsh]

I understand. But thanks for coming Saturday.

[Luke Burbank]

We have no choice but to hang out.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. And so we're going to do that. And you're thinking that the funny thing about your joke and not to tear it down, but I've been kind of studying humor over the weekend is. Is that.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, you were recently at a big black comedy show.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what I'm saying. I kind of see first of always need a backup mic. Do you think that that's Kevin's thing, though? Like, I almost feel like you and Veeves more than you and Kevin, but maybe I don't know that side of Kevin.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, it is. You're right. It's probably more in me and Veeves tendency. But I think there's a point at which Kamaro Kev is sort of down to clown. So I don't think it's his. I don't think it's his go to. Is like, we should go to Vegas. But I do think that there is a point at which he is agreeable to the idea.

[Andrew Walsh]

I see. Well, but you're right.

[Luke Burbank]

The premise of. The premise of my Jo was slightly flawed because it is not his. It's not his tendency.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I would definitely go back. I have a commitment on Sunday that I can't miss. So unfortunately, I can't. I can't plan to make the spur of the moment decision with you on Saturday.

[Luke Burbank]

But it does sound unhoused, folks in Seattle over me and Viv's and possibly.

[Andrew Walsh]

Camaro Kev, seeing how quickly you can become unhoused by spending all of your money on side bets that you don't really have a solid grasp on. But I absolutely would like to hit any of.

[Luke Burbank]

Did you hit any of the side bets?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, from time to time. One would pay off, but nothing huge. Like, I wanted one of those. What I wanted was to like, you know, put one or three dollars on a side bet and then have it pay off 25 to 1 or something like that. Because some of them can. You know, every now and then I would. I would certainly get my money back. I would get a push on a side bet every now and then or a. Maybe a three to one, tops. But I was only betting a dollar or or so on those. So this is not a big.

[Luke Burbank]

Again, this is the universe protecting you. Because if you were to have hit one of those like, like 25x, you'd be locked in.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

You would be totally like stuck thinking like, like obsessing over this stuff. That was like the first time that I ever went to Las Vegas. It was. I was. It was probably in like 19, maybe 99 or something. And I remember going to O' Shea's Cause I Casino, which you could play like $2 blackjack. And I brought $40 for my whole trip, including Las Vegas. And I think I must have hit one of those weird side bets that probably paid me, you know, 25 to 1. And something in my brain chemistry shifted, like, permanently. And I'm just glad for you, my friend, that that didn't happen for you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, well, I mean, I kind of. Because I was. I getting that on maybe when I was playing my Pai Gow on some of my know, just fake p. Like not with real money on my. On my iPad or whatever. When those things pay off, you're just like, oh. And so I was waiting for some of that to happen with my real money. And so I was kind of like, oh, man, I really want that. And I didn't. I didn't get that. And like you said, maybe that's the best. Good.

[Luke Burbank]

Very much for the best. All right, let's thank some of our donors. Andrew. The last couple of days, the. The listeners and the donors have been treated to some what we call non traditional donor music because I don't have this song.

[Andrew Walsh]

So what are you using? Are you using something off Monday it was.

[Luke Burbank]

It was Monday. It was. The Home Depot theme doers getting more done.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, that's appropriate. The listeners are getting more done.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. With their donations. And then yesterday it was. Oh, fui. What was. Was something that I'm sure is getting pulled down in Romania, but it was. It was not this song. So we're glad to be back to our normal stuff and glad to be back to thanking the folks who are making TBTL possible with their donations, including Laura Grace Linsky of Raleigh, North Carolina. Have you heard, Andrew, that there is a. A controversy. A controversy about the pronunciation of Raleigh of late?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, but it. I feel like it might be one of those names that I'm always a little bit insecure, saying, I've committed to.

[Luke Burbank]

Raleigh, but apparently people are saying rally or saying other things. And the Internet is. Yeah, like Rally, North Carolina.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know about that.

[Luke Burbank]

Sir Walter Rally.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know. Raleigh.

[Rick's Shoe Warehouse Associate]

Was he.

[Luke Burbank]

Was he was Sir Walter Raleigh. Was he the one who threw his cloak down?

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm sorry to be.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, but. But I really don't know.

[Luke Burbank]

I believe the story of Sir Walter Raleigh or a story that I heard as a kid was there was something where somebody, probably a woman, was walking in an area where there was some amount of water. Water. And Sir Walter Raleigh, or Rally, put his cloak down over the water so that she would not step in water. Which, by the way, doesn't even make sense. Like, you're still gonna. Like, that's not gonna help.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know that trope so well from, like, you know, even I remember in cartoons, a cartoon character would put the.

[Luke Burbank]

Cloak down, throwing it down, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

But then the person would step on it and it would end up getting. Then they would fall into a deep hole or puddle or something like that. But I didn't know that it was. But it does. Let's see here. I imagine on something called historiamagazine.com and it says, Walter Raleigh, stripping away the cloak of myth. So you have the right guy. And did you mention on the show, this is really important to me? Every now and then we get a flood of responses on something that is.

[Luke Burbank]

And we never know what that thing is coming to.

[Andrew Walsh]

But so many people, Luke. And I don't know if you address this on the show or not. Have your back when it comes to Lintel. You were talking about. You were confusing lintel or lentil, but you were like, I don't understand why this is part of. What myth were we talking about? Or what song?

[Luke Burbank]

Passover.

[Andrew Walsh]

Passover, right. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

It's a myth. I think you could say that. No problem, no judgment. I think it's scientifically unlikely that the angel of Death moved through Egypt and killed everyone who didn't have blood on their lentil.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're just saying that that is not the angel of Death's vibe like that. Just say low key.

[Luke Burbank]

Lowkey. It's not giving.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's not giving. Angel of Death.

[Luke Burbank]

It's not giving angel of Death.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is that the show title or is that a little bit too dark?

[Luke Burbank]

You're in charge.

[Andrew Walsh]

Low key. It's not giving the angel of Death. But anyway, you were saying lentil and. And you didn't Understand why that was like, kind of.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, it was so weird because while we were talking about. About it, I was googling it and I was saying it slightly wrong. I was saying. I think I was saying lentil, like the bean. And it's lintel, I think.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Lentil versus Lintel.

[Luke Burbank]

But it was so strange because it's very rare that when you put something into the Internet, even like if you're close to usually gives you a result that kind of confirms whatever it was you were thinking or not thinking. And it was a strange experience where I was like putting this into the Internet as we were. Were talking and it was. The Internet was giving me nothing.

[Andrew Walsh]

One letter R. We have all the AI in the world, but one letter.

[Luke Burbank]

R. That letter made such a big difference.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, but you would just think that maybe in the context the computer that's supposed to be so smart these days can say, oh, maybe you're thinking of Lintel. But boy, the listeners knew exactly what you're talking about. Did you address this on the show? Because I sent you one screen grab.

[Luke Burbank]

I just read each one and I just. Just it. It. My heart swelled four sizes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, good. You did see more than just the one I sent you because I've been getting inundated on the text chain, which you don't see everybody just wanting.

[Luke Burbank]

Keeping that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I've been gate kept before and I didn't like it one bit. Anyway, congratulations to you.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you. It feels. It's a rare experience for me, but it feels good to actually not have been totally crazy on something. So thank you to all the listeners who weighed in on that. Thank you also to Kelsey Bannon, who's in Woodinville, Washington. Hey, thank you. That's for my niece's first birthday on Saturday. And this is a thing you missed, by the way, which is so David's daughter, Gemma is. She turned one actually yesterday, but they're having a birthday party. The birthday party starts, I believe, at 3 on Saturday.

[Andrew Walsh]

Whoa.

[Luke Burbank]

Which is very close to the start. Start time of the football game on Saturday.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is this because David is not a big football fan and he doesn't. Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

And this is the point. This is what happens when you're not a football fan and you plan your. First of all, you impregnate your wife one year and nine months ago.

[Andrew Walsh]

What were you thinking?

[Luke Burbank]

On the wrong day. But so the whole thing is that, like, he is. How do I put this?

[Andrew Walsh]

He is.

[Luke Burbank]

And I actually agree with Alicia on this. His wife, she does not want the entire birthday party of her daughter to turn into a like Seahawks freakout. Which makes sense also that was a thing that happened at my house for what was allegedly a Christmas party and it turned into a Seahawks freak out and that was only because Philip Rivers was playing in the place first football game. So what we're trying to do is, what I'm trying to do is figure out how much, how much does this one year old really need me there as her uncle, Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

How much will she remember even I'd.

[Luke Burbank]

Say almost none of it.

[Andrew Walsh]

So did you, you, I mean I'm sorry that I did not listen but you, you talked to David about this on the show. I guess, I guess I don't, I want to hear about this but I don't want to bore the listeners with you just telling me what they've already heard. But what we, what we decided was he.

[Luke Burbank]

Well first of all he also has some access. You, David and my dad have access to some kind of like dark arts on the phone and the computer where you guys can watch anything at any time. He's apparently got an app that he can watch the on even though he's not paying for them. And I'm going to report it by the way to the ghost of Paul Allen that stealing Seahawks content. But what we agreed was he is going to when the party has called down and he's doing the dishes, that's when he can low key put his phone out and watch the Seahawks game as long as.

[Andrew Walsh]

But the party starts at 3. Like an average party is going to last like what? Like, I mean more than two hours.

[Luke Burbank]

Certainly it might for them. I don't care. I'll be at the eagles at about 5:30. I mean again we've established this kid will not remember.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, can I tell you a very quick story as we think the donors hear about something that I've been dealing with in my life. My dear, dear friend Paul, who is mentioned on the show quite a bit. He's one of my closest friends from high school, introduced me.

[Luke Burbank]

He's the reason that you and Genevieve are together.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly, exactly. And he is turning 50. He's just a little bit older than me. He's one grade older than me and I got a text or I got one of those some sort of a, you know, we don't do party full us olds. I got like an Evite of some sort or something from them also because it's a scam and because I avoid partyful anyway but. And he's like come celebrate. He's, he really loves Roller skating. I think this is something that maybe came later in life. I don't know. But Paulie these days loves roller skating for the past several years and he's. He lives near a really cool roller rink on the south side of Seattle, and he goes there a lot and he likes to have his birthday parties there. And I got an interesting invite from him when I was in Vegas for Saturday. No, not this Saturday. It's for February 8th. His. Come join us for a roller skating adventure on February 8th and celebrate Paul's turning 50. 50 is a big one, right? You want to be there for your dearest friend in the world?

[Luke Burbank]

Sure.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you know what February 8th is? It's the Super Bowl. And so I wrote back, I'm like, hey, I know this is super lame, but I mean, I literally can't. I already took time off of my volunteer gig and Veeves and I have to watch the Super Bowl. We'll be well deep into Super bowl bowl coverage for our, you know, after these messages, podcasts. And also, I just like the super bowl. You know what I mean? But I had to say, like, I know this is lame and like, I know you're not into sports. I mean, you can't be that into sports to not even look to see when the super bowl is before booking your 50th birthday party. But I felt terrible.

[Luke Burbank]

I found out that the super bowl was on February 8th from Elena Passarello, my co host on Livewire, because they were trying to do an event, some kind of a, like, I don't know, fundraiser thing. And they were like, February 8th. And I was about to hit cool on it. And then Elena, of all people, who's not even a football person, was like, well, you guys know that's the Super Bowl. And I was like, unsend. Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. And so I feel really bad. And Paulie wrote back, he's like, oh, don't worry about it. Like, you know, we'll get together. And I didn't realize it was the super bowl, but I was sort of. And Paul could listen to this. He listens to the show sometimes. I was like, sort of, sort of looking at. Because I haven't talked to him any more deeply about this yet. But I was looking at the Evite or whatever it's called, and seeing like, how many yeses, how many no's, and how many unresponsive, you know, non responses so far. Because I was wondering, like, if the Seahawks, I mean, this is in Seattle and if the Seahawks are playing, you don't Even have to be that big of a football fan to. To want to be engaged with Super Bowl Sunday. And again, I, I'm not trying to look past the next couple of weeks of playoffs and we're still just hopeful now. But, like, I feel bad. I will feel bad if the Seahawks are playing in the super bowl and Paulie is just like rolling around an empty roller rink by himself, sadly, to the sound of the Peanuts music.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, there are enough nerds that will still want a roller skate. But this is a real issue for me because, like, Becca's sister in law and brother do a Super bowl party every year and it's a big thing and they look forward to it and everybody looks forward to it, and I've been going to it for years and I'm already saying, if the Seahawks are in the Super Bowl, I will not watch this. Yeah. In that environment.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, that's a. That's a non starter for me. Yeah. And nobody understands why. They're like, well, what do you mean? It's a Super bowl party. They're in the Super Bowl. Isn't that just more party? I'm like, no, you do not get it. You don't understand this mental illness.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, no, I mean, yeah, I, obviously, I completely understand. You do? Yeah. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm saying that to other people on the Evite.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. Right.

[Luke Burbank]

They do not understand this.

[Andrew Walsh]

You. Right. Yeah. If it's, if it's Bill's Niners or something like that, you can be like, yeah, okay, whatever. I have some. I have some feelings about.

[Luke Burbank]

I'll bet on a doink.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'll bet. Always bet on doink. And, and you can have fun with it. But. Yeah, but my question for you while we're here in the middle of thinking the donors is what is your ideal? What is your ideal? If. If you know that a huge group of your social circle being Becca's family and everything, they're all doing this other thing. And now you're free, though you've said, like, I, I'm too int. Are you just staying home? Are you coming up to Seattle to watch it with us? Like, what are you doing?

[Luke Burbank]

Probably. Probably watching it with you. Because, like, I don't want to be by myself at my house if they win the Super Bowl. That's not. I need to. I need to hug and jump.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, so it needs to be. But I mean, this is the whole thing. This is the tale of two Super Bowls, which is super bowl number one, that the Seahawks won. I mean, they went against the Steelers and They lost. But like then the first one they won against the Denver Broncos. I was at this place, this loft, and it was amazing because there was a lot of people to hug and jump with. And then the next year I was watching the super bowl in that same place when the Patriots picked us off at the one yard line. And I would still say, I think I would. I want to be, if they make it to the Super Bowl, I want to, to be with, with the people I love who get it, if that makes any sense. I can't be with the people I love who don't care about it as much as I do because they're going to say something that is going to make me furious and then relationships will end.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right when one person says, why is everybody so sad?

[Luke Burbank]

And you know who gets this is Aaron Loewenson of Santa Monica, California. California donors today. Thanks, Aaron. Thanks also to Ashley Renner who's in Everett, Washington. We know that Ashley is a 12, or if not a 12, at least a person who gets the vibe. You understand? Ashley, you read the room. You would never say, why is everybody so sad after we throw an interception on the one yard line. And we appreciate that about you. Also thanks to Sam Viner of North Vancouver, British Columbia.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nice.

[Luke Burbank]

A lot of not South Vancouver, not Mid Vancouver, North Vancouver.

[Andrew Walsh]

And by the way, just a, first of all, I want to mention a lot of very familiar, friendly names on the friendly names. A lot of just friendly friend. A lot of friends and longtime listeners and donors on the list today. Thank you. As always. I love seeing people's names year after year. Quick correction on Ashley. Ashley is not a 12. Ashley is a 22 because she's a 10 because she's donating. Plus she's a 12.

[Luke Burbank]

So she's actually a 22. Yes, that could maybe be, that could be our new thing. Like the people are getting 22 jerseys and like, so if you are, you're a Seahawks fan but also a TBTL fan, you are a 22.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think you got it.

[Luke Burbank]

I like that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I wonder where Aaron Moo of Nampa Idaho comes in. You know what? I'm going to guess Aaron is also a Circle Hawks fan. This is like we are the major football team. Like I would say west of the Rockies, although it's Colorado is Denver west of the Rockies.

[Andrew Walsh]

I want to. Well, let me tell you this. I want to say yes. I also wanted to hit some of those side bets, though.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I would just say that like the Seahawks, I believe are probably Aaron's team because of Aaron being in nampa, Idaho. I'm going to assume that all of these donors, wherever they're distributed, they're 22s because they're. They're good people and they care about things that matter. That's right. And those things that matter, Andrew, are the Seattle Seahawks supporting tbtl and you and me and Genevieve and maybe Camaro. Kev, going to Las Vegas on Saturday night.

[Andrew Walsh]

What if I just did pop up from Vegas? What if we just took the show on the road?

[Luke Burbank]

I would love that so much for you. Like, it would really buck my conception of you, but I would love that for us. That would be such a fun plot twist.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, when you first said, like, well, what if we get a wild hare and decided to go to Vegas after the game on Saturday, like, if I didn't already have that commitment, which I really can't get out of at this point, I was like, I would, because my only responsibility on Monday is to do. I think the only responsibility I have on Monday is with you. And so if we just take a little.

[Luke Burbank]

We'd already have Genevieve and Camaro cat, Right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

We could do it from the hotel room. It would actually be a lot easier than this. You've been listening to me garbled down the line from Chicago, but let's not rule it out.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right, Somebody.

[Luke Burbank]

Can Anna. Can Anna and Alfie cover for you?

[Andrew Walsh]

Anna and Alfie is always there, so she can't cover for me because she covered for me last weekend, in fact, so I don't want to put that on her, but I am looking at my calendar.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh.

[Andrew Walsh]

We'll just see what happens.

[Luke Burbank]

Can Anna come to Vegas with us while you handle your biz?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, actually, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd have more fun with Anna than me. But I want to come anyway. We'll figure it all out.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm looking forward to all. It's all sort of predicated on the Seahawks winning on Saturday night. But anyway, we'll see what happens in the meantime, thank you for listening, everybody. We are going to be right back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio for all of you. So please, if you can join us for that. In the meantime, everybody have a great Wednesday. Take care of yourselves, and please remember, no mountain too tall.

[Andrew Walsh]

And good luck to all. Power out.