#4665 Yossarian's Ulta

Summary

TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live

Episode #4665: “Yossarian's Ulta”

Air Date: February 17, 2026
Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh

---

Overview

In this episode, Luke and Andrew deliver their classic blend of personal anecdotes and playful banter, diving deep into topics ranging from the quirks of aging and medical maladies, to nostalgia for public radio, music licensing at the Olympics, and the confounding bureaucracy of modern returns at retail stores. The episode’s tone is gently comedic, meandering, and warmly self-deprecating. The show’s thematic throughline is about finding the absurdity and humor in everyday inconveniences and the minor indignities of adulthood.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Medical Maladies & Aging Woes

• Plantar Fasciitis and Other Ailments
  • Andrew opens up about dealing with plantar fasciitis, rolling his foot on a frozen water bottle for relief.
    • Andrew: “I'm rolling my foot on a frozen water bottle. You ever do this?” (05:07)
  • Luke shares he’s had plantar fasciitis in the past, suggesting night boots and expressing surprise that it lasted so long (lasting up to 18 months per medical advice).
  • Both swap tales of injuries that seemingly resolve themselves without explanation.
• Familial Aches
  • Luke’s daughter Addie (her 32nd birthday) is now coping with neck pain—she sends Luke a photo in a new inflatable neck brace.
    • Luke: “She sent me a picture. She is having neck pain and… you can inflate it.” (16:03)

Tone: Lighthearted but relatable, poking fun at the indignities of the aging process.

---

2. Radio Nostalgia & Community Stations

• Discovering KMUN Astoria
  • Luke is captivated by the eclectic programming and community spirit of KMUN, a public station from Astoria, Oregon; he lists their programming (Science Friday, Le Show, On the Media, The Ezra Klein Show), emphasizing the soothing pleasure of relinquishing control over playlists.
    • Luke: “I've just been loving this music… I haven't listened to that kind of radio in the longest time…” (16:56)
  • They marvel at the station’s local music shows (like "Sounds of Japan" and "French Air"), inventive fundraising, and community focus.
  • Andrew contrasts KMUN with his old haunt, KIXI, lamenting format changes away from his beloved old-time radio and music.

Memorable Quotes:

• Luke: “It's very relaxing to have some—to let Jesus take the wheel… I've forgotten how much I like not having to pick… the next song.” (17:01)
• Andrew: “They started integrating talk programming… it’s not what I was tuning in for.” (21:51)

---

3. Retail Bureaucracy, Catch-22s, and Daily Triggers

• Returns Gone Awry
  • Listener Annie calls in (63:34) describing an infuriating exchange at Ulta: after returning a broken shampoo pump, she’s told she owes more due to a price change since her purchase. Only a manager’s “exception” resolves this Kafkaesque bind.
    • Annie: “Wait, the product I bought was, like, defective and now I have to owe more money?” (65:08)
  • Andrew and Luke share similar stories—Becca being denied a return on broken jewelry because “the package was opened.”
• Literary References
  • Conversation veers into the territory of Catch-22 and Kafka as metaphors for modern consumer experience, with Andrew dubbing it "Yossarian's Ulta."
  • They riff on the satirical absurdity of both store policies and Joseph Heller’s classic.

---

4. Olympic Music Licensing Fiasco

• NYT Article: Skaters and Copyright Hassles (38:19)
  • Luke introduces an article revealing Olympic figure skaters’ recent struggles to secure music rights for their routines—sometimes receiving approval only hours before performing.
    • Luke: “It never occurred to me that they had to get clearance on the songs that they're using…” (39:04)
  • Discussion about song selection rules: formerly only instrumentals allowed, then lyrics, now pop hits—causing licensing headaches.
  • Some instances: skaters choreograph elaborate routines only to discover they may need to swap their music late in their training (e.g., a skater appealing directly to the Minions’ creators for song rights).
  • The process is mired in inequity: skaters with more resources have an advantage in securing preferred songs, while those with fewer means settle for public domain options.
    • Luke: “It shouldn't be the case that only the rich ice skaters and figure skaters can have the music of their choice…” (44:11)
  • Both hosts question why the IOC doesn’t handle these issues at scale.

---

5. Dazzling Donor Segment

• Listener Appreciation
  • Luke and Andrew thank long-time donors Dave Bledsoe and Bobby Pape, reading their messages on air.
  • Dave’s message: TBTL is “like a line from Rush’s ‘Spirit of Radio’: ‘Begin the day with a friendly voice, a companion, unobtrusive.’”
    • Dave (as read by Luke): “What the hell is this show about? 11 years later, I’m still trying to answer that question. And the second I have, I am out.” (31:45)
  • Bobby requests a spin of the “wheel of classic topics,” leading to tangents on sports memories, notably Drew Bledsoe’s injury and the dawn of Tom Brady’s career post-9/11.

---

6. Nostalgic Pop Culture Tangents

• Tony! Toni! Toné! and Pop Memories
  • Multiple references to ‘90s R&B trio Tony! Toni! Toné! (no member is named Tony), cheap GI Joe toys, and childhood memories tie into continued discussions about nostalgia, aging, and mistaken pop culture knowledge.
    • Luke: “I did not know Raphael Saadiq was a Tony Tony Tone guy.” (50:00)
• Neil Diamond Biopic Confusion
  • The hosts are bemused by the unclear marketing surrounding “Song Sung Blue” (a Hugh Jackman/Kate Hudson film about Neil Diamond impersonators), critiquing how it led viewers to believe it a straightforward biopic.
    • Luke: “I feel like they did not do a great job around the marketing of the movie Song Sung Blue.” (57:51)

---

7. Tributes, Endings, and the March of Time

• Alan Arkin In Memoriam
  • Andrew is startled to realize Alan Arkin passed in 2023, leading to a tangent about beloved celebrities aging and inevitable goodbyes.
    • Andrew: “He might have been of the level that we would have maybe dedicated a conversation to [on the show].” (71:41)
  • They briefly reminisce about Arkin’s work (“Glengarry Glen Ross,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Catch-22,” “Edward Scissorhands”), and ruminate on aging actors like Alan Alda.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• Plantar Fasciitis Woes:
  Andrew: “I knew that you had had it, but it makes sense for you to have it. Like, for you, it’s a running injury… for me, it’s just because I weigh too much and I don’t get enough exercise, which bums me.” (09:14)
• Surprise at the Length of Injuries:
  Andrew: “It said… it’ll usually resolve itself between six and 18 months. And I’m like, well, I don’t have that much time!” (07:29)
• Public Radio Nostalgia:
  Luke: “I love to see that they’re still making it… it’s a cool little cultural experience of getting the context for this music. The music also just absolutely slaps.” (15:54)
• Bizarre Returns Policies:
  Annie (caller): “Are you kidding me?… You sold me, like, a faulty product. So I say to them… can’t you just, like, change the price maybe to match what the price was when I bought it?” (65:08)
• Music Licensing at the Olympics:
  Luke: “I didn’t come in today expecting two Tony, Tony, Tony references in the same conversation.” (46:48)
• On Tony! Toni! Toné!:
  Luke: “I did not know Raphael Sadiq was a Tony Tony Toné guy… none of them were named Tony!” (50:00)
• On Impersonators’ Movie Marketing:
  Luke: “That’s because he’s not Neil Diamond; he’s a Neil Diamond impersonator. And they didn’t put that… I feel like they did not make that public enough.” (58:17)
• Alan Arkin Tribute
  Andrew: “He might have been of the level that we would have maybe dedicated a conversation to.” (71:41)

---

Important Timestamps

• [05:07] – Andrew’s plantar fasciitis woes
• [11:52] – Luke discovers and waxes rhapsodic about KMUN Astoria, OR
• [15:54] – Luke talks “Sounds of Japan,” daughter’s birthday, and inflatable neck brace
• [38:19] – Olympic figure skating & music rights headaches (Top Story)
• [63:34] – Listener Annie’s Ulta return nightmare
• [68:46] – Show title riff: “Yossarian's Ulta” & Catch-22 digression
• [71:41] – Alan Arkin’s death and in memoriam reflection

---

Closing Thoughts

This episode is a delightful tapestry of small frustrations, warm reminiscence, and affectionate ribbing—a perfect encapsulation of TBTL’s charm. Even the arcane annoyances of retail returns gain resonance in the company of deep-cut pop and literary references. At every turn, the hosts’ rapport and curiosity about the oddities of daily (and cultural) life anchor the show. Listeners are left with laughs, a surprising amount of nostalgia, and maybe a nudge to check when their favorite actor last appeared on IMDb.

---

Power Out.

Transcript

[Andrew]

Chase, what's your favorite thing to snack on when you're jamming out to music? Um, I don't know.

[Luke]

Everything's good.

[Andrew]

Okay, well, we're streaming live on Bagel Bites tv, so can you say bagel bites?

[Luke]

Oh, yeah.

[Andrew]

Bagel bites.

[Luke]

Okay, great.

[Andrew]

But can you say it in a sentence like, I'm chase dreams, and when I'm jamming out to music, I love to eat bagel bites.

[Luke]

I'm chase dreams, and when I'm jamming out to music, I love to eat bagel bites.

[Andrew]

Okay, great.

[Luke]

Congrats on whatever it is you do.

[Andrew]

TBTL.

[Annie]

Tbtl Coming across the airwaves full of.

[Andrew]

Love through the sky, there is one more thing. The network has received quite a few angry phone calls from older viewers about our theme song. Really?

[Luke]

I think our theme song's zazzy.

[Andrew]

Laughter.

[Luke]

A sure sign of a good time.

[Andrew]

A year ago, this is exactly what.

[Luke]

Greg Kinnear was doing. But now he has an Oscar for sliding doors. 3 Jingle all the door things are.

[Andrew]

Going to start happening to me now.

[Luke]

Well, all right. Hello, hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Tuesday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. The word that comes to mind is ludicrous. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. Hello.

[Andrew]

L R. Ooh.

[Luke]

Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio perched high above the mighty Columbia, where we are looking at a kind of a rainy, wet, mossy day here. Didn't know you like to get wet, though. Had some real nice weather during the weekend. And it did that thing where tricked me. I. I was coming up with this elaborate explanation to Becca about how basically it's already spring. I was like, it's sunny. We're gonna spring ahead in a couple of weeks. I couldn't remember what the groundhog saw or didn't see. And I was like, you know, just nothing but sunshine and blue skies ahead of us.

[Andrew]

And.

[Luke]

I knew I was lying. She knew I was lying, But I just. I wanted it so badly. I'm not going to get bogged down in that. What I'm going to focus on is that we have made it to episode 4665 in a collector series, Let the fun begin. And we have a ton to talk about, including the Winter Olympics, which are going on right now. I actually watched some curling last night. Curling? That's a. I don't have them on the show sheet, but there's a whole situation and curling as well that we can talk about. And also the fact that A number of the figure skaters were, like, in the. In the weeks and the days and even the hours before their performance, wondering if they were going to be able to use the music they had been rehearsing to and carefully choreographing their entire routine.

[Andrew]

You got to be kidding me.

[Luke]

It does involve minions, as so many things do in these troubled times. So we'll get into that. Also, I've got a new favorite local radio station that I've been jamming out to on Bagel Bites tv.

[Andrew]

I heard about that thing on the AM radio.

[Luke]

And we've got this guy. The longest running cobra of the show, may be best known for his depictions of the tall ships. Something else you may or may not know about him. This guy is a four and a.

[Andrew]

Half foot tall pile of awesomeness.

[Luke]

He's Andrew Walsh.

[Andrew]

I knew you were gonna do that.

[Luke]

Joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew]

Good morning. A little background on why I ended up.

[Luke]

That was just a better drop anyway, though, honestly, like, it was to slightly mess with you, but also because it was a better suggestion. So best idea wins around here, Andrew.

[Andrew]

I'll let. I'll let the audience. Should I let the audience in on this or should we just leave them there?

[Luke]

A lot of people say, what do you mean behind the curtain? You mean there's anything that is behind the curtain? And we're like, yes, there is. And we're going to let you behind it right now.

[Andrew]

That's right. You and I were doing our little sound test. We run through all of your drops. This is not a joke. It sounds like a joke, but we do a real sound test where we play all of your drops and you read into them and I get a good level. And sometimes we have to adjust the level of a drop. And you played a drop for me today during the sound check that was a little bit low or something. Or for some reason it just didn't sound.

[Luke]

The audio was low and also kind of echoey. Like the person. I had forgotten that the person who sang the whatever little drop is. She's kind of off mic too, which I don't really love. So, yeah, so I was playing that.

[Andrew]

We were testing the room or something. So anyway, you're like, I don't like that one. So you're like, I'm going to pull a different drop for you. And then, you know, while you're going through your library, we're chatting about some things. And then before you played for me the new drop that we wanted to sound test, I said, I want to guess what it is. And I guess, or maybe it was right after you had played the new drop. I said, oh, I thought for some reason you were going to play the four and a half pounds of awesomeness. This guy is a four and a.

[Luke]

Half foot tall pile of awesomeness.

[Andrew]

I keep saying pounds when it's foot tall. Not good with measurements. So I kind of knew once I introduced that idea into your head when we did the regular show, you would bamboozle me by slipping that one actually in there.

[Luke]

Andrew, much like your BDSM life, that's.

[Andrew]

About going to the post office.

[Luke]

Much like your boxes, mail, stamps, and delivery.

[Andrew]

Thank you.

[Luke]

I like to keep it spicy so that we, you know, we still have fun all these years later, you and I.

[Andrew]

Do you know what I'm doing right now? Luke, I wanted to tell you about this yesterday, but I felt like there were so many things over the weekend that maybe starting with this was not the best idea. But you know what I'm doing right now? And I don't know if this makes you uncomfortable, and it's maybe should. I'm rolling my foot on a frozen water bottle. You ever do this part of that?

[Luke]

I haven't done the move. I've heard about it. Is this because of the ankle thing you were dealing with?

[Andrew]

I think it's not so much an ankle thing. I think it is.

[Luke]

It is plantar fasciitis.

[Andrew]

Plantar fasciitis. I've been doing more reading about it, and this weekend was pretty rough, to be honest with you. There were times where it was, like, kind of fine. And then I told you we had gone on a little walk around Ballard. Maybe I didn't. I don't know. You did. I meant to, but by the end of that walk, it was like, rough, rough stuff. I was limping through those. Through those mean streets, and. And so one of the things people say to do is, like, you can freeze a water bottle and roll it under your foot. I've already got one of those spiky balls that I. You know those things that you roll your foot on? No, they're like the size of a baseball, but they have little spikes on them, little rubber spikes, and they're plastic or whatever. And it's just sort of like. Kind of breaks up the. The tissue in your foot a little bit. It's like a massage ball is what you would call it, I think. And anyway, so I've been using one of those for a long time now. I'm trying this ice thing. I thought it was so it's your arch.

[Luke]

Your arch is bothering you.

[Andrew]

Well, that's the weird thing about it. It started, it really felt like my ankle. And I was like. And I know plantar fasciitis is not an ankle related thing, but I was reading about it and people were like, well, it can feel like your ankle because you start walking funny because it's actually the pain might be on the bottom of the foot.

[Luke]

It sort of displaces the pain or the discomfort to somewhere else. But the ankle ultimate issue is probably the plantar fasciitis.

[Andrew]

I was dubious about that. I really was. And I was like, I don't know, it feels like the ankle. But then when I started icing it, I realized the place that felt the best when I was icing it was actually the bottom of the foot. And I was like, ah, this, this is all starting to track a little bit, but today is a lot better. The last few days were really bad. I know this is something, you know how you look it up on WebMD, you're like, well, how long will I be dealing with this? And for these types of things, it's like, usually, like do some cases between.

[Luke]

One day and a life.

[Andrew]

Basically it was like, yes. What is the community? That's for a day or for a lifetime? Bothel.

[Luke]

Welcome to the bothel of health.

[Andrew]

Yes, the bothel of health.

[Luke]

And also, this may be terminal.

[Andrew]

It said something like, oh, it'll usually take care of yourself. Do the stretches, do the water bottle stuff, keep it iced. And it'll usually resolve itself between six and 18 months. And I'm like, well, I don't have that much time.

[Luke]

And 18 months. Yes.

[Andrew]

And I was going to other sites, I'm like, you mean weeks? You mean, you mean hours. But no, apparently it's six to eight. Don't worry about it. It'll take care of itself in six to 18 months. I don't even know who I'm gonna be in 18 months.

[Luke]

I've had that before. I've had plantar fasciitis and it did. I don't know if it took six to 18 months.

[Andrew]

It did go away.

[Luke]

I don't have it any longer. If it gets. And I don't. Sounds like you're already on the mend. But one thing they. Sometimes you can sleep with a special boot. Did this come up in your research? Yeah, it has something to do with like keeping your foot straight at night and maybe keeping the. Whatever it is. Yeah, the toes, tendons and muscles and things basically extended because that's what happens overnight. They kind of. They sort of curl up and tighten up. And that's part of the pain.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Sorry to cut you off, but yeah, like the boot, or I even saw a sock version of it where it looked kind of weird. You put on this sock that has a. That has, like a strap attached to it that goes up to your knee or something like that. So basically, you're bending the front of your foot upward at night to keep it stretched. But I'm hoping that it doesn't come to that. I gotta say on. I think, oh, the day was Sunday, honestly, that it was, like, really, really bad. But the past two days, or I guess today's Tuesday, it's getting better and better, so I'm feeling better about this. I knew that you had had it, but it makes sense for you to have it. Like, for you, it's a running injury. Right. It's like an athletic injury. For me, it's just because it's like I weigh too much and I don't get enough exercise, which bums me.

[Luke]

Well, you know, let's. Of course, I love that narrative because it makes me the athletic hero of. But I do think it can just kind of randomly come on. Because one thing is it went away and I didn't. I wasn't diminishing my jogging.

[Andrew]

You know what I mean?

[Luke]

It was just kind of. It just. I think it comes and goes for folks. So. Yeah, I'm actually pretty relieved. Remember I was having that weird, like. Like, kind of upper leg pain.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Luke]

That I was. I was Googling, and I think it was a. It's like a tendinitis kind of a thing, but it basically is where kind of like my leg and hip join each other. And I was. There is this billboard when I go into town. There's a billboard for, like, a physical therapy place. And I've never been to physical therapy. And every time I would drive by it, I would think, I'm gonna have to call that place. Because it was like this leg was really bugging me. And then it just miraculously, it did exactly what I was hoping it would do. But what I thought there was no chance it would do, which is it just kind of stopped hurting.

[Andrew]

The dream, you know?

[Luke]

Right, right. That's. That's the. That's the dream of it.

[Andrew]

Because.

[Luke]

Because, yeah, I was definitely thinking. And that's what happens when you go on the WebMD or things like that is. It's like, oh, this is a lifetime condition. And here's what you do. Here's here's the treatments, and you're gonna definitely need to see a doctor about it and stuff. And I was like, or maybe I'll just ignore it and it'll fix itself. And that worked amazingly.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Luke]

Then I've been doing this other thing where I've been. I've been having some sciatica pain, and then I started doing nerve flossing. You familiar with this?

[Andrew]

This is when you floss your teeth with the nerves of your enemies.

[Luke]

Yeah. Yes, yes.

[Andrew]

Yeah, I've read a little bit about that in some comics.

[Luke]

It was kind of in one of the later Game of Thrones books.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Right.

[Luke]

When it really starts to fall off, you lie on your back and you raise the leg on the side of your body where the sciatica pain is, and you kind of do this weird kind of bend your leg, and then you. You pump your foot up and down five times. And it's supposed to be, like, somehow loosening up and moving around your sciatica nerve. And it kind of worked, actually.

[Andrew]

Really, the only reason I don't believe you is because nobody knows how to spell sciatica. And I don't think that you would have actually been able to look this up.

[Luke]

I believe I put in. It was like. It was psi Attica or whatever, and it just found it.

[Andrew]

One of my favorite area rappers, actually.

[Luke]

That's right. Exactly.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Luke]

Yeah. Hey, do you know that I've got a new favorite radio station that I've been jamming out to called KMUN out of Astoria, Oregon.

[Andrew]

I know you were texting me about this the other day. I was hoping that they might carry Speaking of Faith, but I did not see it on the broadcast schedule.

[Luke]

Well, I don't think Speaking of Faith is the name of the show anymore, Andrew. It's called On Being.

[Andrew]

Oh, right. I know, but still.

[Luke]

But they've got just about every other classic from your. Your and my day of. Of. Of like, working in public radio and stuff like that. I was reading an article in the Astoria, Oregon, the local newspaper. This is advertising, like, working. Andrew, I'm scrolling through a story. It's actually a very sad story. It was an obituary for a young woman who. Who died in a car accident recently on the part of the road in Oregon that I can see from my house. And I had seen a bunch of, like, emergency vehicles. And I was kind of, you know, in the following days, I was like, I wonder if that was in the news. And I looked it up, and unfortunately it was, and somebody passed away. And the article about about this woman who was a. Like a vet tech in Astoria. A young person, sounded like a great, great person. It was in the Astoria newspaper, which I didn't even know they had a newspaper over there. And I was reading it and then there was this ad for this thing, KMUN 90.9 Astoria. And I clicked on it and I have been listening to this station practically non stop since I. Since I was telling you about it on Friday. It's really great. It's just like again, they've got Le show with Harry Shearer. They've got. I believe, I pretty sure that they do. Well, they do left, right and center with our friend David Green or an AI program posing as David Green.

[Andrew]

Nobody can ever tell.

[Luke]

We'll never know. They do on the Media Freakonomics, the Ezra Klein show, which I didn't realize.

[Andrew]

Called Speaking of media Now I didn't.

[Luke]

Realize the Ezra Klein show was a thing you could play on your radio station. You know what I mean? Like, which is so small minded of me. I listen to the Ezra Klein show every week, but I listen to it as a podcast and that's how I think of it. And then. But of course, what is a podcast, Andrew, but a thing you could also broadcast on your radio station?

[Andrew]

Yeah. Because wouldn't that be the kind of a similar story with the Daily. Totally Ezra Klein Show? A New York Times.

[Luke]

It's a New York Times show.

[Andrew]

Yeah. So that would sort of be kind of a similar.

[Luke]

Yeah, it's exactly like that. And by the way, I was shocked when I heard the Daily being played on the radio. Yeah. Because of just how I categorize these things in my mind. They've got, they, they also feature, of course, Democracy now. They've got alternative radio which I'm going to click on this now and see. Is it still hosted by David Barsamian? Yes, it is. Alternative Radio, established in 1986 is an award winning weekly one hour public affairs program. I used to run the board at KUOW during alternative radio. That's why it was near and dear to my heart. I love to see that they're still making it then. They've got a bunch of different music shows. I was listening to this show last Friday that it comes on after they do play Science Friday. By the way, the show is called the Sounds of Japan and it's just Japanese music, but it's hosted by this guy who clearly is here from Japan and it was so informative and interesting. He was like saying like okay, this song is from a movie soundtrack. It's from this particular Japanese movie. Think of this as kind of like our John Wayne kind of a movie. And da da da da da. It was like this little kind of cool cultural experience of getting the context for this music. The music also just absolutely slaps like I've not been listening to. I have this one double vinyl album. I think it's called City Pop. It's like Japanese pop music from The, I think, 80s or something that Addie had at her house. And I, when she was in the other room, I took a picture of it and so I could remember what it was called so I could order it and have it at my house. But I didn't want her to know that I was just abs. Just nakedly stealing her music. By the way, speaking of my darling daughter, today is her 32nd birthday.

[Andrew]

Oh, I will. I would wish her a happy birthday. It's not quite the right time in the program schedule for that, so I'm going to hang on to this.

[Luke]

Membership has privileges.

[Andrew]

Absolutely.

[Luke]

She did. I was wishing her happy birthday this morning. She sent me a picture. She is having neck pain and she has this, like. I didn't even know they made this. Speaking of. Today's whole show is about basically, maladies.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Luke]

She was basically like, yeah, this is being 32. I. You know, I reach you from bed wearing a neck brace, dad. At the age of 32. But it's. It's a thing that you can put on your neck and then you can inflate it so it has like a hand pump. So it's. It's. It's kind of a neck brace thing. But you can. You can pump it up and then like extend your neck, which is kind of a great idea. Right.

[Andrew]

So extend your neck. It sort of inflates in a way that it kind of pushes your neck further away from your shoulders or your. Yes, your head further away from your shoulders.

[Luke]

Yeah, your head further away from your shoulders. She said it slowly inflates so you can decompress your spine a bit.

[Andrew]

Oh, interesting. That is interesting.

[Luke]

But anyway, I have this one Japanese record that I really like, but I was just loving this music. It was so good. And anyway, so now I've just been, like, checking in with this radio station. And what I like about it is. And you know this too, from your Kixie times and things. It's. It's very relaxing to have some. To let Jesus take the wheel. I think that was the name of the Japanese guy who was hosting that show. No, it's really nice. I've Forgotten how much I like not having to pick either. The playlist, the album in question, the next song. Yeah, I just haven't listened to that kind of radio in the longest time where it's just like, okay, now they're gonna play this song and now they're gonna play this song and now I'm gonna hear this. Underwriting some business in Astoria. It's a. I'm really, really digging it.

[Andrew]

I'm on their website now. I wonder. I bet you they hold a pretty awesome fundraiser. I see that you can donate at any time. But I'm wondering what their schedule might be because I'm kind of fascinated. Now I have not listened to the station. I'm just sort of googling around right now as we speak. But this is an interesting kind of local station that I don't know if casual listeners would pick up. The difference of this, this is clearly a public station, but it doesn't follow the usual NPR style, like member station style. So it doesn't have like they're not.

[Luke]

Playing Morning Edition, not Morning Edition and.

[Andrew]

Atc, which means they're probably not paying. They're probably not on the same kind of model because I think radio stations sort of, you know, if you are going to be like on that kind of NPR station model, you're buying probably various packages where you also get the midday shows. And if you're in a small market, you get a whole bunch of stuff from npr. It looks like they're really piecing this together themselves with a pastiche of local programming and some local news programming, which by the way is not cheap, as you well know.

[Luke]

No, that's what I'm so impressed. Yeah, they have, they're, they're creating some local news content which is really hard to do.

[Andrew]

Exactly. Especially when you're sort of like doing it on your own in this particular way. So I'm pretty. The reason I kind of, as soon as you said that they had some Pacifica programming, I'm like, oh, okay, yeah, this is, this is one of those scrappy stations and it's all, this was impressive in 2002, in 2026, it's all the more so it seems to be.

[Luke]

A tremendously well run operation. I was looking at their staff. They have, you know, some full time staff. I think that they're, my guess is they're very beloved in the community. They have some really good names for some of their shows. I told you this the other day. But they have a French music show that's called French Air.

[Andrew]

Oh yeah, that's a great name.

[Luke]

Yeah. And then they have a show that's on at 2am on Sundays called what's the Frequency, Kenneth?

[Andrew]

Oh, really?

[Luke]

It's a musical series from award winning writer producer Paul Fisher, who spent 24 years writing for Dan Rather on CBS Evening News and has now returned to his roots in public radio. Each episode is hand mixed for maximum flavor. But yeah, I'm really digging this station. There's one more thing I was gonna say about it that now is eluding me in the moment. Oh, they also seem to have this. This like newsletter they put out that is weirdly called the Current, which is like, I guess I hadn't heard about the one in Minnesota. I think that's because as story, you know, it's a coastal town and so it's a reference to that.

[Andrew]

Oh, I thought. I was also thinking of the public radio newspaper called Current as well.

[Luke]

That's what I mean.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Oh, sorry.

[Luke]

What I'm saying is I don't think they'd heard. I don't think that they. My joke was that they were ripping off the Current, the one that we know about name. But I think about the radio.

[Andrew]

You're talking about the radio station. I was talking about the publication Current.

[Luke]

I meant the publication which also I think comes out of Minnesota. Right.

[Andrew]

Oh, it does. I didn't.

[Luke]

Adding to the confusion.

[Andrew]

Oh, I did not know that the newspaper. I thought you're talking about the radio station. The Current that comes out of Minnesota. I did not know that the newspaper came out of Minnesota. Oh, okay.

[Luke]

I believe.

[Andrew]

I feel like.

[Luke]

Hold on, I'm double checking this. This is so uninteresting to listeners. I apologize.

[Andrew]

Have you looked at their. The merch shop, by the way? You're gonna buy all this stuff?

[Luke]

Yes, the KMUN merch shop.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Luke]

Yes, absolutely. It's. It's amazing. This whole thing and this, this newsletter, the Current that they put out. The illustrations on it are phenomenal. When Becca and I were in Cannon beach this week, there was a copy of this little paper, the Current, in. In this bookstore we went into. And it's like a beautiful little. I don't know if it's a monthly or a weekly, but I mean, it's like the, the art on it, it's, you know, just amazing.

[Andrew]

Yeah, this is a. This is pretty sweet. I don't. I love that you got into this. I don't know that I will be, you know, moving on over here as well and living in the space with you.

[Luke]

Well, you're a kixie. Man, like your father and his father before him.

[Andrew]

The thing is, I'm not even really a Kixie person. I mean, I still fly the flag. Like, I was cleaning my window yesterday and I saw my little Kixie window cling, which I will cling to forever, of course, but I kind of don't know what' going on over at Kixie anymore. I mean, when I got into Kixie, they were like exclusively 50s and 60s music. And it was like very music.

[Luke]

As cool today as it was back.

[Andrew]

Then, as cool now as it was then, which I. It's. It's kind of good to set level set like that because would be like. Well, I don't know how cool it was in the first place. But anyway, you know the Dick Clark rock roll and remember, like, they were totally bought in on that. And now I don't want to disrespect what they're doing. I think that they are considering one.

[Luke]

Of our friends is the sales manager.

[Andrew]

Right, Exactly. But like, they started integrating in, like, talking about podcasts on the radio. Like, they have the strip of programming in the middays now. That is talk programming. But you can tell they're playing the.

[Luke]

Ezra Klein show now.

[Andrew]

They're not playing the Ezra Klein show.

[Luke]

How great would that be? You're just scrolling the AM dial and you just get Ezra. They're talking about abundance.

[Andrew]

They're playing Ezzy and Bill talking about how to manage the. The cash and cookies on your computer type of stuff. Which I don't mind. I don't mind that. But it's not what I was tuning in for. And then it was like they handed it all over to Bloomberg News for a while, like big chunks. It just kind of like they're floundering around because, I mean, listen, I was the only person who was listening to the old format. I realized that. But it was really special to me and I loved it.

[Luke]

And I think you should have listened harder.

[Andrew]

And I think they've backed. I don't think I could have. And I. And I think they backed away from a lot of the. This really bums me out. A lot of the. I think. I don't want to speak out of turn here, but the old time radio stuff, that really got me into old timey radio because same with you, I would just get in the car on a Saturday night, usually after dropping Genevieve off at the Eagles. This is how I was sad. This is about, let's say, a year and a half ago. This is how I was. Would you like pin a note to her what's that? Yes.

[Luke]

Would you pin a note to her and drop her off if found wandering the streets, return to.

[Andrew]

I would tie her mittens to her jacket sleeves. I would. An average Saturday would have been, Genevieve says, you know, it's bingo night at the Eagles. And like, oh, yeah, I might do that with you. And then the Saturday moves forward. And then as it gets closer and closer to bingo time, I start thinking, like, of course I could stay home and just, like, play darts and listen.

[Luke]

It's also bingo time for you, but.

[Andrew]

A different version of that. It is bingo the cat time. And then by the time it's bingo time, I say, you know, I don't think I'm gonna go, but I'll give you a ride if you want. And that's always nice. She doesn't have to figure out public transportation or take a car or whatever. So then I'll drive Genevieve, drop her at bingo night. Hope I don't see any of our friends as I drop her off, because I feel bad that I'm not coming in. And then pin her note to her, push her out the door. And then as she leaves, then I turn on the radio and it was just in time to start hearing things like the Whistler or Johnny Dollar. And it was just like such. It was like, oh, I'm going home. I have the whole night. I probably have, like, some sort of like, awful frozen pizza in the freezer waiting for me.

[Luke]

Freezer feast.

[Andrew]

Freezer feast. So anyway, that was sort of how I got into it.

[Luke]

All is well in your world now.

[Andrew]

I listen to those shows on podcasts, like those old time radio shows, which is just not quite the same. Or I listen on satellite radio, which is sort of in between the.

[Luke]

I have a theory about this station, by the way. KMUN and how it is, you know, it appears to be certainly, if not surviving, maybe even thriving. I think it's because the city of Astoria, Oregon, is a magical place. And I think it's only a matter of time before I end up living there. This is my theory. It's one of those kind of small towns that just punches above its weight for culture and just kind of cool stuff. Addie and I were there for her birthday. It might have even been last year or two years ago. We went out and stayed out in Seaview, Washington. This, like, cool little kind of community there of little buildings and trailers and stuff. And we stopped in Astoria on the way back and, like, it's just as charming as all hell. And I think it's the kind of place that like you can still buy a semi affordable house there. So people, you know, move there and kind of just figure out their life, you know, for their. Maybe their families and their job stuff and whatever. But it just seems like it's a. It's kind of a magical little place. I think I'm gonna told you about this when I came back from there the last time. It was the first ever cable television operation was in Astoria, Oregon. And it was basically this woman at a store told me and Addie the whole story. But it was like basically this guy wanted to watch tv.

[Andrew]

Oh, right, right. I knew, I was vaguely remembering.

[Luke]

It was like a guy wanted to watch TV and there was a giant transmitter. But for some reason, for some reason he basically just wired an end. He wired a cable from the transmitter down into his like apartment or hotel room or something. And it was like the first ever, I guess example of. Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was the first broadcast television or something.

[Andrew]

I forget cable. I'm gonna look this up because I know you were talking about the show. I don't know, I'm have to look it up while I talk here. But I remember it was something about they were in a dead zone for broadcast or something. So he basically ran. And I'm almost wondering was it related to him wanting to watch a sporting event too?

[Luke]

Yeah, it was, it was something. I'm just getting bits and pieces of the story back into my brain. But one of the things was that like there was a. Like it was like a hotel that had like a television in the lobby or something. And then people would come in and watch that somehow. But then like this guy wanted to have his own television or something. Are you. Have you gotten eyes on this?

[Andrew]

Yeah, and this is what I was looking up last time too. This is earlytelevision.org by the way, and the article is cable television in Astoria, Oregon. Though not the first cable system in the US earlier systems were built in Arkansas and Pennsylvania. It is one of the earliest. Beginning at the end of 19 Stanley Daniels and Ellie Parsons began experimenting with receiving TV signals from Seattle in Portland, 125 miles away. Between the two cities is a mountain range about 4,000ft high. And they have clippings here of the actual newspaper articles about Astoria to get video show two sets ready for Wednesday. So now I'm reading original source material, but it says first public television showing in Oregon is scheduled for Wednesday night according to Stanley Daniels. So I think yeah, these two guys basically ran a cable.

[Luke]

I think yeah, it's amazing. Anyway, I just think Astoria seems like a kind of a magical place and a place where they're like, we're going to support this local public radio station and make it happen. So go Astoria, I guess is the point of that. We was hoping for some razzle dazzle. Razzle dazzle. That's right, man. Razzle dazzle. On your mark. On your mark.

[Andrew]

Get set, get set now.

[Luke]

Ready? Ready. Hey, let's thank some dazzling donors. These fine folks are donating a dazzling amount of dough and we are grateful for it. We don't have. We're not in the, the glitz and glamour of Astoria, Oregon, home of the original home of cable television. Andrew. We're. We don't have that kind of money backing us.

[Andrew]

This is just.

[Luke]

We're out here. I'm in southern.

[Andrew]

I'm sorry, I don't know I interrupted you. You go ahead. I was just gonna say we do have a merch store as well. That's all. I was just trying to.

[Luke]

That's a good point.

[Andrew]

You know, but we don't make money off. That's very important to say.

[Luke]

We have a merch store, but we would rather if you didn't take advantage of it. I think it's the messaging.

[Andrew]

We don't lose money on the merch store, but we don't make money in the merch store. The only, literally, the only way we make money is through donations.

[Luke]

And I guess there's a small amount of pr. Maybe somebody's wearing a TBTL T shirt and somebody asks them, hey, what's that? And then you say, it's my favorite podcast. And then maybe that person becomes a listener.

[Andrew]

But maybe if you're out there, I'd love to hear from you. Have you, have you. Did you start listening to TBTL on the reg because you saw a sticker or a T shirt or a mug somewhere?

[Luke]

A water bottle.

[Andrew]

Or a water bottle.

[Luke]

Are you. Yeah. Did you find your way into this by way of merch?

[Andrew]

That would be amazing.

[Luke]

That'd be really interesting data point for us. What we have here, Andrew, is incredible. Generous, long standing supporters who send in money every month. And that's how this is a job for you and me and our guy, John Sklaroff. And today we want to thank a longtime friend of the show, Dave Bledsoe in New York City. Dave as in Dave's not here. Bledsoe as in Drew Bledsoe, to whom I am not related. Drew Bledsoe is. Is Drew Bledsoe had to me a Very interesting. He's kind of the Wally Pip. He's sort of the Wally Pip of football in a way.

[Andrew]

Yeah, because he was the one who preceded Tom Brady. Right. I think I was watching that game in a pool hall in Boston.

[Luke]

That's so random.

[Andrew]

Not a pool hall. I was playing pool in a bar with friends.

[Luke]

But that is just so random because of course, at the time, nobody would have. Nobody would have sort of predicted that this kid coming into the game out of Michigan, Tom Brady, was going to become arguably the greatest quarterback of all time. Here's what Dave Bledsoe has to say for his dazzling donor message. For me, TBTL is like a line from Rush's Spirit of Radio. Begin the day with a friendly voice, a companion, unobtrusive. Hmm. I like that. I listen in the mornings while I kick. While I'm kick starting my brain with coffee. Back in 2014, while listening to Pesca's Gist, he had a guy on talking about podcasting. This fellow once had a radio show that ended, so he made the switch to podcasting. And that guy's name was Tom Lykis. Nice, Dave, nice.

[Andrew]

It's Flash Friday. I honestly, I was no longer looking at the screen when you were reading that, so I thought that was you making that joke. That's good, Dave.

[Luke]

That was all Dave. That was. Dave is not only listening to the show and then funding the show, he's now writing for the show, and he is writing successfully. I'm kidding. It was Luke. So I pulled up tbtl, I listened and I thought, what the hell is this show about 11 years later, I'm still trying to answer that question. And the second I have, I am out.

[Andrew]

No.

[Luke]

So keep what you're good news, Dave. None of us will ever understand this. So you're stuck with us for the foreseeable future.

[Andrew]

You're welcome for the frozen water bottle talk at the beginning of the show.

[Luke]

So keep doing what you guys are doing. Never change. Finally, thanks to Luke and Andrew, I was inspired to try my hand at podcarding. And now, almost 11 years later, my podcast, what the hell were you thinking? Is still going. Oh, yeah, I have. This is. I've checked out Dave's podcast. It's incredible. He has been. He has been doing this podcast for, you know, for, as he says, 11 years. And that is such a feat. Like, we do this five days a week because as I just mentioned, it's our job. We literally get paid to do this. It's how we support ourselves. But when people do a podcast that is mostly a labor of love and they do it for over a decade. I like that is so incredible to me. And I doff my cap to the David. He says it's no tbt, but I feel less shame about it. So thank you, tbtl. I feel actual pride. My donation helps TBT exist. So everybody go check out Dave's podcast. What the hell were you thinking?

[Andrew]

The hell were you thinking?

[Luke]

What the hell were you thinking?

[Andrew]

What the hell were you thinking?

[Luke]

I don't know. I'm sorry, I. Mistakes were made. Anyway, Dave, thank you so much for. For supporting the show. And congrats on your long running program as well. Thanks, man. Maestro, on your mark. On your mark.

[Andrew]

Get set, get set now.

[Luke]

Ready, ready.

[Andrew]

Go.

[Luke]

Everybody, look who it is. It's Robert Pape the Fourth. It's our pal Bobby Pape in Eerie, Pa. Esquire.

[Andrew]

I'll give him an Esquire.

[Luke]

It's Robert Pape III. It's Dr. Robert Pape III, Esquire, DDS slash. What's the most formal title we can give for somebody who's running a symphony? Because I believe that's what Bobby is doing.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Is Bobby. I should know this, but Bobby's kind of on the fundraising side of things, right?

[Luke]

That's pretty much. Well, I have a feeling that in his job, you know, you're always. He is the. He's the executive director of the Eerie, Phil Harmonic. And my sense is, because a friend of mine is the president of the Oregon Symphony, my buddy Paul. And what I. His job is largely fundraising.

[Andrew]

You know, I mean, you just have.

[Luke]

To be if you're a kind of a large arts organization. So I'm sure that comes with the territory.

[Andrew]

I'm reading the press release now. Are you as well? Eerie Philharmonic appoints Bobby Pape as next executive director. The thing that doesn't make sense to me.

[Luke]

We didn't get a press release about. Did we?

[Andrew]

No, I thought you were gonna say we didn't get a press release from Bobby on this, but Bobby has signed me up for plenty of subscriptions in the past. We don't need to add to it. The thing is, but for a second, I was just sort of thinking. But like, because Bobby's kind of of our generation, I'm assuming that he's a little bit younger than us, but, like, I'm just like, well, Bobby can't be the executive director of a nonprofit. We're still kids.

[Luke]

I know, I know.

[Andrew]

We're not old enough to be doing this kind of important stuff.

[Luke]

Well, let Me? Yeah. Let me lay this on you. Oftentimes people that have important jobs are younger than us now, which is not okay at all, in my opinion. Robert, Bobby says spin the wheel of classic topics.

[Andrew]

Tm, what are our classic topics? I did have something. That's the thing I was Googling, first.

[Luke]

Of all, I wanted to find. Should I drag that. That tote board wheel?

[Andrew]

Yeah. Do you have it keep. Do you still have it over there? Yeah, I was trying to build a rep. I was trying to build a replica over here, which I could find mine.

[Luke]

Maybe the Madrona Hole studio.

[Andrew]

Okay, I've got it right here.

[Luke]

Yeah. So here we go. Let's just do this at home.

[Andrew]

9 11. It landed on 9 11. Go, Luke.

[Luke]

And you know, that was such a fun topic pre 2001.

[Andrew]

Well, actually, can I honestly jump in here and say the reason I said that was Drew Bledsoe. I wanted to look up when his injury was. I think Bobby would be into this, like, from his part. Oh yeah, this is classic part of the content. But I was like, well, because I told you boldly and with confidence that I knew where I was when that. When that.

[Luke]

Yeah, you clarified. It wasn't even a pool hall. No, it wasn't a bar that featured pool.

[Andrew]

And I definitely have a memory of being with Genevieve and a couple of other of our friends. We weren't even big football people, but we were playing pool in this bar and the game was on and there happened to be a little TV near our area. This is probably pre flat screen TVs in bars, to be totally honest with you. And I was like, I could be. I know that I was in that bar watching some sort of Patriots game, playing pool. At one point, am I kind of conflating the idea that that was the game? And so I looked up when the game was that he got injured. It was September 23, 2001. And that did sort of shock me because I was kind of like. Like, of course we were back in playing football. I don't even know that football took a break after 9 11. But that was such. I mean, obviously such a, you know, world rattling event that it's kind of funny to think that. Oh, just. And then just a couple of weeks later, Tom Brady took the helm and would become like the best quarterback ever in the world. And that just happened a couple of weeks after that other world rattling event. I don't know what.

[Luke]

That's right.

[Andrew]

I don't know what I'm doing there, Luke. It just seemed weird in my head.

[Luke]

Well, I'm glad you were able to clarify that. And I wouldn't have picked. I would not have known that that was all happening around the same time. Like, I don't know what I would have thought. I would have maybe thought Tom Brady was. Started playing professional football in, like, 2010 or something. Like, I didn't really get back that far.

[Andrew]

I would have. I would have guessed maybe 22,000 two or three or something like that. But, yeah, for some reason, a 2001 thing did really shock me. What. What. What did the wheel actually land on, Luke? I'm sorry to totally.

[Luke]

Plantar fasciitis.

[Andrew]

Oh.

[Luke]

But we've already talked about that today, so we're kind of screwed.

[Andrew]

We've already kind of.

[Luke]

We've. We've already kind of, you know, burned that Roman candle of content.

[Andrew]

Yeah. From both ends.

[Luke]

Yeah. Unfortunately. So. Bobby, there you go. That's the wheel of content. I hope you enjoyed it, and thank you so much for the support.

[Andrew]

Hello and welcome to Top Story.

[Luke]

This is a Top Story that you actually sent to me, Andrew, which I found very interesting. It's from the New York Times, written by Tariq Panya. Figure skaters try to master a new routine. Copyright compliance. I guess it never occurred to me that they had to get clearance on the songs that they're using that they're figure skating to. And it turns out it's actually very. That can be really challenging from a sort of paperwork perspective. And whoever it is that they're trying to get the permission from sounds like there's a lot of foot dragging. And so you have a lot of these skaters who are, like, weeks out from the Olympics or maybe even at the Olympics, still waiting to find out if they're legally allowed to skate to the music that they've been practicing to.

[Andrew]

Because there's been a bit more of an emphasis on cracking down on this, I think in the past, they were only. First of all, the Olympic rules, I think, or maybe even just figure skating rules for whatever national or global body it is. It was. You could only use instrumental music. Right. For a long time. Yes.

[Luke]

Yeah. No lyrics. And then they would let them have lyrics in ice dancing.

[Andrew]

Right.

[Luke]

Apparently. And now they're letting them have lyrics in figure skating, I think, because they think it will make the sport more popular. And so, you know, if somebody's figure skating to Pitbull.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Fireball can't play that. It'll melt the ice. Yeah. And so, of course, having popular music is a bit more of a draw. And so they just started Using it now, I knew, like, I never really thought about it, but it's not surprising to me that you would need to get this music cleared. It's more surprising to me that they weren't doing this, especially because I would figure it would be more of a broadcast rights thing. I would just figure, oh, interesting.

[Luke]

Yeah, they'd have to clear it for NBC.

[Andrew]

That's what I thought. Like, and I know NBC doesn't own the Olympics, but obviously, as the huge broadcast partner, you would just sort of think that, like, oh, yeah, they would kind of check those boxes. But I guess this is an issue that doesn't just apply to broadcast. This applies to their performances outside of the Olympics as well. Because there's somebody who, at the very, very last minute, got their song cleared just so they could do their Olympic routine, like, literally the next day. But the licensing organization said, you can use it for the Olympics this one time, but after the Olympics, you can't use it anymore, so you got to get a new routine. I don't understand. And as much as I found the topic of this article interesting, I don't think it does a great job of explaining some of the details of how this works. Like how they got so far. What was the mindset of some of these skaters where they're like, okay, I'm just gonna use this song by Tony. Tony. Tony. What was Tony, Tony. Tony's biggest song. It feels good. Yeah. Okay.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Okay. Feels good. We're like, we're just gonna use this. Cause this is what slaps in 2026. And then they're like, but we'll just build the whole routine around this. Now. We'll spend months and months and months and months building this routine and practicing it. And in the meantime, I'm sure the paperwork will all work out. Like, I would get that shit cleared right away. But maybe it's because the landscape is changing. And so maybe by next Olympics, this won't be as much of a shock to them that they got to get this stuff cleared.

[Luke]

Yeah. Like this one. One of the skaters. Let's see. Olivia Smart and her ice dancing partner, Tim Deke. They competed for Spain. They traveled to Italy, unsure that the clearance for their song of choice from the soundtrack of the recent Dune movie would come through in time, even though they had requested it months earlier. Tim was like, maybe I'll message Hans Zimmer myself. Smart said, referring to the film's composer of the soundtrack. The permission came through. Just before the competition, there was another guy who. Who kind of went viral because he wanted to use a Minions song, and he couldn't get clearance, so he made a video begging the Minions to. Begging whoever.

[Andrew]

This is a. This is a direct appeal.

[Luke]

It's that one minion who has, like the. He's like the steampunk Minion. Where's the one? I don't know. I know. So I bet you I would actually kind of like Minions if I ever watched it. Like, legit. I bet you it's pretty funny. But it's because I don't have kids that age. I never got into it. So it's like. It's a complete black box to me. What goes on with Minions.

[Andrew]

It's funny, as you were describing that. I'm like, yeah, I know what you're talking about. He has a. He has a light on his head. But no, they all wear goggles. But one of them only has one eye for some reason.

[Luke]

Yes, that's the guy I was thinking.

[Andrew]

Of, by the way. I've never seen the Minions or I always have to remind myself this. The Minions.

[Luke]

Despicable Me.

[Andrew]

Despicable Me was the original product. And I was at the gym one time, just on the elliptical, and it happened to be on. And I don't even hear the audio. It just had subtitles. And I remember being kind of sucked into it, Luke. And I didn't even get to hear the voice acting, which is like, those are where the stars are. So I'll bet you I could get into it if I were. It's just the chance of me sitting down to turn on the Minions is gonna.

[Luke]

You know what they need to do next year? They need to do a Minions halftime show so people can complain that it's not in English.

[Andrew]

God, yes.

[Luke]

Like, I couldn't understand a word they were saying. Yeah, yeah, the Minions, Yeah. There was another thing about this. About this music that I thought was a kind of an interesting angle to. This is basically the question of fairness. Because I don't know if you got this far into the story, but somebody was saying, okay, a lot of figure skaters and people that participate in. I call it ice skating, but that's not really the name for it. Some of them are actually making some pretty good money depending on what country they're from and what their endorsement deal is. And, you know, they have the money to basically pay to get the rights to whatever music they want. But then a lot of the other ones are amateurs. They're really living hand to mouth. They don't have the money to just pay whatever they want. And so there's an unfairness there because if you're rich, you get to pick any music you want and thereby maybe have a better routine. Like it shouldn't be the case that only the rich ice skaters and figure skaters can have the music of their choice and everybody else has to just use some rights. Free ass shit.

[Andrew]

Yeah. When I was reading this, some like.

[Luke]

Buffalo gals, won't you come out tonight?

[Andrew]

Camp down race once again Skating to Camptown race races.

[Luke]

It's our fourth competitor of the evening. Skating to Camptown racers.

[Andrew]

I. You know, my takeaway from the now you got to take this with the largest grain of minion possible because I don't watch the Olympics and when I do watch the Olympics, I assume that's what the Minions say. I think. So.

[Luke]

Basically, you know, you want to.

[Andrew]

Get me to watch the Olympics do a Hamburglar themed performance on the ice.

[Luke]

I like the idea that whatever the Hamburglar said or grimace, actually, I guess is it. Who said Robble Rob?

[Andrew]

I thought that was the Hamburglar.

[Luke]

No, that's probably the Hamburglar. I like the idea that the Hamburglar, that's the romance language. And then you have all these languages that split off from it. And Minions is a romance language. It's like Hamburglar is the Latin to the English. That is Minions.

[Andrew]

Robble. Robble is a dead tongue. Is that what you're saying? That's insulting to so many scholars and hamburger thieves. But I was reading this article just thinking, like I would just go back to not using popular music. You know, like you just have everybody because, well, I mean, I don't want people just using AI to create music because that really sucks for musicians. Fired all the planet and all kinds of things. And the price of hard drives, apparently, do you see the price of hard drives are going up because of the price of RAM is going up and all has to do with all of this AI shit. Yes. Anyway, I should have bought that. I should have bought that hard drive that I left on the counter as I stormed out of Office Depot a couple of weeks ago. Because it's probably $1,000 now, but I don't know. You watch more of this stuff than I do. Do you think it would just be a level playing field if everybody just had to get some, you know, like some sort of like not rights free, but like you pay a nominal amount of money for. There's so much of that kind of content available online. You know, you want to make your little video for whatever, you can go to various services and pay a licensing fee. For something that is not Tony, Tony, Tony or whatever is, you know, top of the pops in 2026.

[Luke]

I just, I didn't come in today expecting two Tony, Tony, Tony.

[Andrew]

It's the same conversation.

[Luke]

One maybe, but two. That, that exceeded my expectations. Well, that was the other thing too. I mean, you're right. There's. They should figure it out. Like the, the. The IOC should just pay for it or something. You know what I mean?

[Andrew]

Like, it's like I don't know if they have any money, Luke.

[Luke]

Well, yeah, that you know of.

[Andrew]

Yeah, right. It's all buried at the bottom of the sea problem.

[Luke]

It's all in Sep bladder. It's all in Juan Samurai's back pocket. Did I just name two IOC presidents off the top of the dome? Samrao or Sam?

[Andrew]

I think Sep is the FIFA guy though. No.

[Luke]

Am I wrong? No, you're right. You're right. The thing that they mentioned in the article too was they said the rights. I don't have it right in front of me, but they basically. I was kind of surprised at how not expensive this is. They said the rights, you know, basically to get this music can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars. They might have even said like $3,000, which again, $3,000 is. $3,000. Yeah, here we go. The cost associated with using a piece of music can range from a few dollars to as much as several thousand dollars per year.

[Andrew]

And I also. Yeah, I guess you're licensing it, but.

[Luke]

Yeah, but I'm figuring like that's actually not as expensive as I thought it would be. Like if you really, really, really are, you know, want to do your routine to a particular song and you've got to go out and like go fund. You got to fundraise $3,000 to get the song you want. Like, I mean, I don't know that I was. That was not as expensive as I was expecting it to be.

[Andrew]

I'm with you on that. And again, not to, not to just dismiss a few thousand dollars, especially if you're doing this as an amateur. You're putting so much time like just. I'm sure your life is just like absolutely 100% revolves around you. Just like waking up super early, spending like 15 hour days on the ice. You know, you don't want to come back and try to run a Go fund me so that you can afford, I don't know, a song by. I don't know, is there like a kind of a hip hop trio, like kind of that. That you think that'd be a good.

[Luke]

Example that does like, but they all have different names.

[Andrew]

Well, they would have similar sounding names, but spelled spelled differently. I, I don't know. I can't. I can't think of anything off the.

[Luke]

Top of my head.

[Andrew]

But if you just had to raise the money to license that song, like, I could understand that being a bummer. But again, this sort of feels like, well, it would be a bummer if your entire career you didn't have to do this. And now suddenly this is a new expense. But I do sort of feel like when it gets normalized, it's like, oh, $3,000. How much do you think a pair of skates cost? Like professional skates? Like that? Like, for real? Like, like, as I say that maybe I'm an idiot, but I just assume that if you're at the level of ice skating that you're going to the Olympics. Are you just spending boku bucks on ice skates? Are those like super special ice skates? I assume they are. I assume they cost way more than just.

[Luke]

I would assume that you're sponsored by an ice skate company.

[Andrew]

Good point. But if you were to buy those skates, though, like thousands of dollars for a pair of skates. Do you think or am I just a fool?

[Luke]

I don't know. I'm way out over my skates on this. And I'm also, if I'm being honest with you, Andrew, I'm reeling from some information that I've just learned, which is that nobody in Tony Tony Tony is named Tony.

[Andrew]

The original. Like, their real names are not Tony.

[Luke]

Their real names are not. There's not a Tony amongst them. They are Dwayne Wiggins, his brother, Raphael Sadiq, born Charles Ray Wiggins. By the way, I didn't know Raphael Siddiq was a Tony Tony Tone Guy Guy Tony Tony Tony.

[Andrew]

You know him from outside.

[Luke]

Yeah, I know him as Raphael Sadiq. He has a whole, he has a whole, like, career outside of Tony Tony Tony.

[Andrew]

Oh, okay. I don't.

[Luke]

And I did not put that together that he was that. That he was. Yeah, I mean, he's. I've. I don't know if I've seen him live, but I've certainly, you know, seen him coming through town. I've heard him promoted on the radio. I've heard his music on the radio. I had no idea he was one of the Tony Tony Tony guys, so. It's Dwayne Wiggin, Raphael Siddiq. Have we cleared this, Andrew?

[Andrew]

Well, as long as you're talking over it, I think we're okay.

[Luke]

And then Timothy Christian Riley. By the way, Timothy is the only one that even has a T in his first name. So I'm gonna give him a little bit of credit on this.

[Andrew]

Does it say how they got their name?

[Luke]

Originally they went by Tony, Tony, Tony as a joke until they realized it, quote, had a nice ring to it. Really.

[Andrew]

But what's the joke?

[Luke]

Well, the joke was on me. Andrew going around all these years thinking it was a band that had three guys named Tony in it who just happened to spell their names differently. I would have.

[Andrew]

I mean, the joke's on me. Cause I thought they had at least like three to five hits.

[Luke]

If the rhythm feels good to you, baby Let me hear you say uh.

[Andrew]

Uh, Baby, I kind of forgot about the sexiness here.

[Luke]

If the rhythm feels good to you, baby Let me let it take you away or whatever they say.

[Andrew]

Then their second most popular hit is something called. Called let's Get Down. And I don't think I know this at all. So did they only have one song that I knew? You didn't think we could flip it on your ass, huh? No, I didn't. Remember, I specifically said. I'm like, I don't think Tony, Tony, Tony can flip it on my ass. Luke. We were having that conversation before the show, I think, huh?

[Luke]

Yeah, that wasn't. But that was an off air conversation. Yeah, it was a private conversation that we were having.

[Andrew]

Now what you hear is not.

[Luke]

Oh, of course I like this. They got DJ Quick in them. DJ Quick is in the mother effing house.

[Andrew]

So Anyway, I guess 2020 only has that one song. I thought they had a whole bunch of songs that I would.

[Luke]

Well, they have a lot of songs, but you mean songs that you knew about.

[Andrew]

Yeah, I mean, I'm sorry. Songs that I knew about. Because I have a very specific memory. And this is. This gets into Drew Bledsoe territory with me again. But I remember for some reason, I associate Tony, Tony, Tony with my friend. With my friend Tim Cassida, who had a very fun basement area. And he had Luke. He was the only person I've ever known in my life who had the USS Flag, which was the ultimate in GI Joe toys. It was this huge.

[Luke]

Oh, it was the aircraft carrier.

[Andrew]

Yeah. And it spread out like across a whole floor. It was a huge, huge toy that the other toys would land on. If you can picture even like a full size GI Joe airplane, it was like all to scale. So you can imagine this aircraft carrier was huge. And Tim had it. And we would spend. And he also had laser tag. He had. Had literally everything.

[Luke]

Sounds like a child of divorce.

[Andrew]

He was an only child. I believe so.

[Luke]

Or only child.

[Andrew]

Yeah, I don't think divorce, but only child. And lived with his parents and grandparents. And so I think that really kind of helped grease the wheels on things. And so he had everything a boy could desire. And so I remember like playing GI Joe, playing with the USS Flag down there and listening to like whatever the pop radio station was. And I remember it was like the era of I think, Tony, Tony, Tony. And I want to say. Oh, geez. I want to say Red, Red wine.

[Luke]

Oh sure.

[Andrew]

Ub 40. Ub 40. Would that have been around written by Neil Diamond? Oh yes, of course. Originally a Neil diamond song, but it was the UB40 version of that. And I think there was also. This is where I'm really stretching here and I have to. I have to enter this conversation backwards by associating and then you're going to get me there.

[Luke]

Okay.

[Andrew]

I believe There is an 80s cover song of an Elvis song.

[Luke]

Yes, it's Fools Rush in. That's a UB40 song.

[Andrew]

Also, maybe I'm confusing those, but that wasn't what I was thinking of. I was thinking of the one that.

[Luke]

Was a Cheap Tricks cover of Teddy Bear.

[Andrew]

That's maybe exactly because I was about to say they used a version of it for Teddy Grahams. Yo, yo, Teddy Grahams.

[Luke]

Teddy Grahams.

[Andrew]

But what's the. It was Cheap Trick.

[Luke]

Cheap Trick covered Elvis's Teddy Bear. And I remember this because I did a lip sync. First of all, I did not know that was an Elvis song. I thought it was a Cheap Trick song. I would have been in like seventh or eighth grade and there was a talent show and I did a lip sync to the Cheap Trick version of the Elvis song Teddy Bear. So that would have probably been around the same time.

[Andrew]

I'm looking for this. Is it definitely Cheap Trick that did Teddy Bear or is it definitely called Teddy Bear? Because for some reason I'm not.

[Luke]

I could be wrong about that. Teddy Bear by Elvis.

[Andrew]

Do you remember this? The commercial though?

[Luke]

Oh yeah, the Teddy Graham's one.

[Andrew]

It makes me want to eat a Teddy Graham to this day.

[Luke]

And a Teddy Graham really was, let's be honest, it was a Graham cracker.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Luke]

But just in the shape of a teddy bear.

[Andrew]

But then they started coming out with different flavors. Remember they had like a chocolate one, I think or something.

[Luke]

Oh yes. Chocolate Teddy Grahams is a four and a half foot tall pile of awesomeness. By the way. Andrew Just quickly, what do you think a unopened still in the box 1985 USS flag aircraft carrier is going for on ebay?

[Andrew]

It's going to be expensive because I told you that I had a couple of just. And I still do have a couple of, like, leftover figurines, like action figures. And Genevieve bought me a bunch of little rubber bands so I could replace them because they were kind of breaking at the waist. And then I was like, oh, this is fun. I'll buy a bunch of other little pieces of GI Joes and put them together. Buying broken GI Joe figures was out of my budget, Luke. Like, they were selling broken GI Joe figures for, like, $30 a piece, depending on who they are. So in the box.

[Luke]

USS Flag, Storm Shadow with one leg. Yes.

[Andrew]

I mean, it must be expensive. I'm going to say eight. I'm gonna say $1. No, wait, I'm gonna say.

[Luke]

And come on down.

[Andrew]

No, no, wait. I'm gonna say. I'm gonna say $1,239.

[Luke]

I'm gonna say Andrew, because I'm reading it off of the screen here. $29,999.

[Andrew]

What? Well, that's what they're selling it for.

[Luke]

That's what they're asking. Will they $30,000 or $30,000? $30,000 or. Andrew. As low as $1,440 on Klarna per month.

[Andrew]

Oh, great. Klarna. Have you. I assume that you have not messed around with Klarna, right?

[Luke]

I have not messed around with Klarna. I have enough, you know, access to consumer credit as is. I don't need to. I'm just finally digging out front of this Michael's card situation.

[Andrew]

Yeah, right.

[Luke]

I don't need to have Klarna on my ass.

[Andrew]

So I am. And I'm not doing this to prove you wrong, but I'm doing it because my head is reeling. Now. I can't find any popular cover of Let me be your teddy bear, let alone Cheap Trick, and I'm trying to figure out what each of us are thinking of. So did Cheap Trick possibly do a different.

[Luke]

No, no, no, no, no. It wasn't Teddy bear.

[Andrew]

It was.

[Luke]

Don't be cruel.

[Andrew]

Don't be cruel. I'm. That's what's happening.

[Luke]

Somebody has thrown their phone and is just now turning around to go retrieve it. It wasn't Teddy bear was what it was.

[Andrew]

I. And I was confusing it with the teddy bear because the commercial was probably running at that time. I was thinking of. And Cheap Trick Doing don't be cruel. And that. And all of those things remind me of hanging out in Tim's basement for some reason. And I'm being absolutely serious.

[Luke]

Speaking of Neil Diamond, Andrew, I have a. I have a. I don't. I wouldn't say a beef. I feel like it was a real. I feel like they did not do a great job around the marketing of the movie Song Sung Blue. Have you seen, like, I don't know, billboards? They don't do that anymore. Unless you're in LA or, I don't know, any kind of advertisements or mention of this. This. It's a Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson movie. I saw Song Sung Blue.

[Andrew]

I saw the trailer for it twice in the theater, so I don't know what movies I was seeing, but I saw the trailer twice. I know that.

[Luke]

So you saw the trailer, which means you then actually had the relevant information about the movie, which is that they're a Neil diamond cover act, right?

[Andrew]

Yes. Although I'm not even sure that I clocked that for a big chunk of the first time I saw the trailer or something. I don't. Are you saying that they're kind of burying the story? Everybody thinks it's actually a biopic of Neil Diamond? Because I think. I thought that even maybe after seeing.

[Luke]

The trailer ones having seen the billboard for it again, being in LA and seeing like some digital ads for it somewhere, not, not the trailer, but just like a picture of them and you can tell that he's supposed to look like Neil Diamond. Hugh Jackman. But it's. So you can tell what it looks like is they. It looks like a biopic where they couldn't find someone who looked a lot like Neil diamond or they didn't have a lot of money for hair and makeup. Like it looks like a biopic where they didn't do a very good job of making the guy look like Neil Diamond. But that's because he's not Neil Diamond. He's a Neil diamond impersonator.

[Andrew]

Yes. Which.

[Luke]

And they didn't put that. That's. I feel like that's not. They did not make that public enough. So I saw. I remember seeing a poster for it or whatever for it and thinking like. Like, God, that looks like absolute shit. Then when I find out that it's about a Neil diamond cover act, I'm still not going to see it, but I'm a little more interested and I understand why he doesn't look exactly like Neil Diamond. He's not playing Neil diamond in the movie.

[Andrew]

Yeah. I Don't think that I saw the whole first. I don't think I saw the trailer and got to the end of it and didn't realize that that was the bit. But I do think it took me maybe a while because I don't think I was paying that much attention to it. My brain shuts down when I think I'm seeing a biopic. Advertisement I just hate biopics so much. They're so self serious and corny and so when I was like, oh, they're impersonators and kind of, you know, like, you know, hard. It's kind of a hard luck story. It definitely, yeah.

[Luke]

I mean, it's. It's a more interesting idea of a film to me.

[Andrew]

Yeah, absolutely. No, no, absolutely. I'm with you. I was listening. I can't remember who it was, but I'm gonna say it was somebody like Aukerman or Bill Simmons, like somebody who actually, like, has podcasts about movies and consider themselves a movie person. Somebody that I was listening to said they walked into the theater not knowing that it was about impersonators. They thought it was a biopic going into it. So I think that you have a lot of. A lot of evidence on your side. Do you think that they were kind of being sneaky on purpose?

[Luke]

I'm just wondering that too, because to be honest with you, now I'm looking up the real story of this Neil diamond cover band from Milwaukee. They were called Lightning and Thunder. They were Mike and Claire Sardina, AKA Lightning and Thunder. And I'm looking at pictures of them and I, I would absolutely watch a movie about these two people. So much more so than about the real Neil Diamond. Peace and love. Yeah, but you're. But that's me. That's what I like. And yeah, you might be right that they were just kind of like the. In the promotion of the movie. They kind of wanted people to misunderstand what the movie. Because most people like, why would I want to see a movie about a Neil diamond coverman? I want to see a movie about Neil. Neil diamond himself. So maybe they were being coy about it, but it worked too well because it made me not want to see the movie. Now that I'm reading in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about Lightning and Thunder and looking at pictures of them, like doing their performance. They seem fascinating. What I would watch is a documentary about them.

[Andrew]

I was literally going to say that. I was going to say I'd rather. Because I still think that this movie is pretty mid. I don't know if I heard that from somebody who saw it or just based on the trailer? I still think the movie isn't quite as good. It's more interesting than a straight up biopic, for sure, but I would watch a documentary about the real ones. Sure.

[Luke]

Yeah. Anyway, that's. That's my tight five on Song Song Blue.

[Andrew]

Here I go once again with the email. Every week, I hope that it's from a female. Oh, man, it's not from a female.

[Luke]

All right, emails, v. Mails.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Luke, I have a voicemail for you here. This came in a long, long time ago, and it's been sitting in a folder on my desk. I've been meaning to play it, but the problem is, is I'm trying to reach way back in my memory to remind you what prompted this voicemail. And what I think it was was I had purchased for almost $0, like, for, like, literally $1.99 or something like that. I had bought a cat toy at the pet store that I brought home, and then it was broken, and I just wanted to go back. It was just like a stick that you would put a toy on the end of for your cat, but the end of it came off, rendering it totally useless. So I just go back to the store and swap it out with another one. And I was totally ready for them to say, no, we can't even accept this anymore. And be like, okay, well, then I got to spend another $2. It is what it is. But instead, they let me swap it out, but they still had to run it through their system. And then when they ran it through the system, they said at the end of the exchange that I owed 17 cents or something like that. Do you remember all of that? It's letting me take a broken stick and replace it with a working stick that I bought the day before. They're like, okay, run it through. And there's like, well, now for some reason, you owe us 17 cents. And I had to, like, I think. I don't know, remember how I paid that 17 cents, but I found it to be pretty annoying. I think that that is the story that prompted this call from Annie. Wow.

[Annie]

First of all, that new voicemail threw me off.

[Andrew]

So.

[Annie]

Sorry. I was, like, chewing chocolate. I wasn't ready for that.

[Luke]

Oh, my God.

[Andrew]

I don't. The new voicemail, that must have been when we changed it for the. For the billboard. Right, Right.

[Luke]

Oh, right.

[Andrew]

I. I just.

[Luke]

Yeah, I forgotten that.

[Andrew]

We changed it up a little bit, I think. Yeah, yeah.

[Luke]

Zazzle. We gave it a little zazzle. I think it's what did she say in that drum?

[Andrew]

I love that. I think I love that phrase so much. Anyway, go ahead, Annie.

[Annie]

Okay. I am listening to. I don't know, Monday's episode about Andrew owing 17 cents. Hey, and I am T riggerd. I went to Ulta, and I had a shampoo bottle, and it had, like, a pump on it. And so I go in there, I'm like, hey, I bought this.

[Andrew]

I have the receipt.

[Annie]

But, like, the pump is broken, so I just want to exchange it. And they're like, okay. And so I'm thinking they're gonna do it. Andrew was saying, like, you just get the same thing, and you walk out the door. There's no boopity boop on the cash register. So she's like, okay, I'm gonna, like, you know, do it on the computer. I'm like, okay, whatever. So she does a thing on it, and she's like, oh, well, it was on sale when you bought it, so you owe, like, $4. And I'm like, no, no, no. I just want to exchange it, like, the item that I just purchased, like, a few days ago. Like, the pump is broken on it. And she said, yeah, but it was on sale then, and because you're bringing it back now, you owe $4. And I'm like, are you kidding me? Like, of course I don't say that to her. But in my head, I'm like, like, are what? No, I don't owe $4. That's crazy. You sold me, like, a faulty product. So I say to them, I'm like, wait. The product I bought was, like, defective, and now I have to, like, owe more money because I discovered it after the sale. Can't you just, like, change the price maybe to match what the price was that I bought it? And she was like, no, I have to get a manager to do something like that. And I'm like, get the manager? Could you call your manager over? Like, I'm full pg, I guess middle age now or something.

[Luke]

Yes.

[Annie]

So the manager comes over and, like, the situation is explained. And she's like, okay, I'll make the exception. What? This is an exception now?

[Luke]

What?

[Annie]

I can't. I'm triggered.

[Andrew]

Anyway, well, I'm glad it worked out. I thought you were gonna say that the manager wouldn't help you either, but at least you got.

[Luke]

I'm. I'm texting Becca to try to get clarification of this. She had a situation like that at, like. I don't know if it was H and M. It was One of those. She basically bought something that was in a package. Like, it was. I think it was some jewelry or something. And then when she opened the package, it was actually broken. So she took it back, and they said, we can't take this return because you've opened the package. And she was like, yeah, but it was broken. And I couldn't know that until I opened the package. And they were like, yeah, sorry, with the package is open, we can't return it. And it was the same thing. It was like, well, can you get a manager? Okay. And they get the manager, and the manager basically says, like, I'll allow it this time.

[Andrew]

You'll allow it this time? Wrong.

[Luke]

Yeah, exactly like. And it was, you know, it was one of those moments where it was. It was very. Would you describe that as Kafka esque?

[Andrew]

I could see that. Yeah. Like, because you just can't kind of. You can't fight the system. It just sort of seems like it's almost. Or, yeah, well, in this case, it's almost Helleresque, right? It's catch 22.

[Luke]

Yeah, exactly.

[Andrew]

Well, I can't return.

[Luke]

She didn't turn into a bug, Right?

[Andrew]

Yeah, but, like, it's. It's like, well, I can't. I can't fly because I. What is the. What is literally the catch 22 is like, he doesn't want to fly his last mission, right? He's like, I can't fly it because I'm not fit to do it. And they say, well, the policy says if you say you're not fit to do it, you are fit to do it. Like, it's just like this impossible scenario where the snake eats its tail of. Of. Of Nonsense, right? And that's sort of like what's going on. Like, well, we. You open it up, you find that it's broken. You can't return it because it's open.

[Luke]

Yeah, it's more like Yossarians. Well, I'm just gonna. I was gonna try and make a Schrodinger's Cat, but then throw in a catch 22 name. Then it was just.

[Andrew]

What about Yossarian's Alta? I don't know. I'm doing my best.

[Luke]

Sure. That's a show title. Why not?

[Andrew]

I mean, the only problem is. Do you think. Think we've already named a show? That's my one.

[Luke]

You know, I never got through catch 22. I didn't. Like. This is when I knew that I was not a smart person, because at least two or three people in college were like, oh, man, My favorite book is Catch 22. It's just so. It's so kind of, I don't know, arch and like, it's, you know, it's just a scathing satire and, you know, whatever. And I read it and I was like, I didn't get it. It.

[Andrew]

I am. Wait, you did read it or you didn't finish?

[Luke]

I read, like, half of it. That's how I knew there was someone named Yosarian in it or Yosarian or whatever.

[Andrew]

I read it.

[Luke]

The main dude, right?

[Andrew]

Yeah. And I read it in college. I remember liking it. Okay, I don't remember. I don't know. Just sort of. I just remember reading it being like, well, this is a book that you read. Like, I don't even remember how I felt about it. I now. It's been a really long time, so I don't know if this holds up, but I loved the movie because it's Alan Arkin who plays Yusari, and also it's Mike Nichols who directed it from the Graduates. So I just remember when I say I love that movie, what I think I love is, like, the opening scene. I'm sure I've said this on the show before. It's been a long, long time. But I'm pretty sure, like, the opening shot is just like a still camera shot, maybe on a tarmac. And it just is like a lot of planes taking off and landing in World War II. And like, there was something so still about it and from that era of filmmaking that I'm guessing, like, kind of missing mid mid 70s era. I could be wrong about that, but there was just something about that. It's like literally one of the movies I watched because I like the quality of the film. You know that feeling.

[Luke]

Totally. Yeah. Like the film stock or whatever you want to. And you know what? I bet you if I read the book now, I would really enjoy it. I don't think I knew it was a satire. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, I think I was just reading kind of like, why are these people being weird?

[Andrew]

They all act very weird. Yes, you're right.

[Luke]

Instead of being like, this is a satirical commentary on how militaries operate and how wars are fought, etcetera, etcetera. I think if I had that in my. Because I wasn't reading it for a class, that was the other thing. The only books I've ever really gotten through are because they were assigned reading in college. But this was a voluntary exercise for me. And I remember not just not getting it. I bet you if I reread it now, or certainly if I saw the movie, I bet you I would appreciate.

[Andrew]

The absurdity of it. The other thing is, I'll bet you I read this around the time that I was reading a lot of Vonnegut. And I would. Maybe not. You know, there's a lot of differences, I think, but I could also sort of seeing it being in that, like, kind of satire world. Can I tell you a story about. So you know that I love me some Alan Arkin, right? Like, I really, really like Alan Arkin. We talk about him a lot on the show. Because I'm obsessed with people who have the same letter starting their first and last name. And Alan Arkin is one of those people. But I also.

[Luke]

Second granddaughter was a regular listener to this show for many years.

[Andrew]

No, I didn't.

[Luke]

Molly Arkin, big fan of the show at one time. Molly, if you. If you hear this.

[Andrew]

Molly, are you still listening?

[Luke]

Shoot me a note.

[Andrew]

Well, then trigger warning to Molly and everybody. But I. Will.

[Luke]

Molly, stop listening.

[Andrew]

No, no, no. I mean, it's. I have nothing but love for Alan Arkin, but he's one of those actors who I like so much that. And I don't like admitting this, but sometimes I think, like, oh, yeah, he's of that generation where we'll be saying goodbye soon. You know, like, one of these days I'm gonna wake up and it's. That's gonna be the news.

[Luke]

By the way, throw Alan Alda on the list.

[Andrew]

Alan Alda.

[Luke]

But the thing is double A's, because he's also alive. And I just saw a photo. He looked great, but he's getting up there, and I was like, I don't wanna live in a world that doesn't have Alan Alda in it.

[Andrew]

Well, here's what I realized is Alan Arkin has passed away. He died a couple of years ago in June of 2023. And I can't remember if I knew that and mourned or if I'm just learning this for the first time. This clearly doesn't ring a bell to you either, because I think you were entering that conversation assuming that he was still with us as well.

[Luke]

I was following your lead.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Yeah. But, like, you don't remember. We didn't do a tribute to any Al. We didn't do TBTL's tributes to Alan Arkin.

[Luke]

In memoriam.

[Andrew]

In memoriam. You know, I sort of feel like he might have been of the level that we would have maybe dedicated a conversation to.

[Luke]

Yeah, he definitely deserved it. He passed away in 2023 at the age of 89 years old. I mean, my big Alan Arkin, kind of like the thing that he did that first really put him on my radar and will always be his main thing for me was probably Glengarry Glen Ross. He was phenomenal in that.

[Andrew]

Wait, yeah. Wait, who is he in Glen Gary Glen Ross? Wait, hold on. I'm having trouble picturing him.

[Luke]

He's one of the guys. He's just one of the salesman. Yeah, yeah, but he's great in that. And then, of course, Little Miss Sunshine, he was really good.

[Andrew]

And then his Oscar, I think, pretty late in the Last life, right? Late.

[Luke]

Argo.

[Andrew]

Argo. Yes, yes.

[Luke]

Edward Scissorhands.

[Andrew]

Oh, I've only seen that once. I didn't remember that one.

[Luke]

I would think you'd be a real Edward Scissorhands guy. I. That. I love that movie so much. Just the, you know, the sort of set design of it, really.

[Andrew]

Yeah, I.

[Luke]

The costumes, the way it's shot, you know, I. I just, I love that movie.

[Andrew]

It's so.

[Luke]

It's so stylish.

[Andrew]

I don't know. Oh, and of course, gross point blank. Yeah. I don't know why I didn't get more into that during my. Who directed that during phase of.

[Luke]

That's Tim Burton.

[Andrew]

Tim Burton, Yeah. Because I really did love Tim Burton. He might have been the first director whose name I knew because I loved Batman so much. And then you kind of get into that world, it's like, oh, this guy has a whole vision. Right. It was like when you're at that age, you're learning about, like the vision of filmmakers, yet for some reason, Edward Scissorhands, I saw it once and liked it. Okay. And then just never returned to it.

[Luke]

But yeah, he was also in Burt Wonderstone.

[Andrew]

He was looking at. Really.

[Luke]

I'm just looking at his IMDb now. I don't know.

[Andrew]

You know that I actually got confused there for a second because I thought you're talking about the ping pong movie. And I was like, no, no, that can't.

[Luke]

This is what happened. When a joke gets into the water supply, you no longer. You can't separate facts from fertilizer because you joked too hard with Genevieve about something that you can't remember what the actual source material is.

[Andrew]

We need to get facts from fertilizer as a drop before that goes away, before that wash of sands of time.

[Luke]

And you know what else he was in. And this really brings the show full circle. Andrew, he was in Minions. The Rise of Gru he was in Minions, the Rise of Gru.

[Andrew]

Which minion did he play?

[Luke]

The bald one.

[Andrew]

Oh, okay, gotcha.

[Luke]

The one that wears goggle. The kind of irascible bald one. The one that's kind of a little stooped over a little bit. A little bit crusty, but in a lovable way. He is that Minion. Well, there you go, Andrew. We did it three years late, but we finally, we memorialized Alan here on the show in the manner that. That he deserved.

[Andrew]

I don't want you to list them because it's such a bummer way to end the show, but do you have certain, like, kind of celebrities that are kind of like in the back of your head? It's like, oh, one of these days we're going to wake up and we're going to have to really be sad.

[Luke]

I don't know if I'm keeping a running list, but I really did have that thought about Alan Alda because his grandson and took a couple pictures. It was like his 90th or 90 something birthday and they went out for dinner. And by the way, he looked great, like. And he was, you know, everything seems to be going great for Alan Alda, but I was like, honestly, I was like, oh, my gosh, Alan Alda is very old. And man, I'm gonna be really bummed when. When we don't have Alan Alda anymore, so.

[Andrew]

And you're also gonna have a lot of angry listeners if anything happens to him in the next couple of weeks, by the way.

[Luke]

Yeah, I just realized that it's pretty powerful. Jinx. So, Alan, you gotta hang in there, buddy.

[Andrew]

Just to keep just.

[Luke]

I can't take that smoke from the.

[Andrew]

Listeners feet off of Luke's back. Yeah.

[Luke]

All right, that's gonna do it for today's show, but we will be right back here tomorrow with more of this imaginary radio. TBTL2 Rise of Andrew. That'll be tomorrow on the show, so tune in for that. In the meantime, have a great Tuesday. Take care of yourselves, and please remember, no mountain too tall.

[Andrew]

And good luck to all.

[Luke]

This is what happens when an inside joke gets into the water supply.

[Andrew]

Power out.