#4713 I Love It When You Call Me Big Puppy

Summary

TBTL Episode #4713: "I Love It When You Call Me Big Puppy"

Air Date: April 24, 2026
Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh

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Episode Overview

In this Friday edition of TBTL, Luke and Andrew bring their signature banter to everything from the deep tribulations of puppy care to the bittersweet closure of a beloved Seattle karaoke spot. The episode brims with stories of neighborhood eccentricities, nostalgia for 3am karaoke, delightfully mundane errands, and candid reflections on modern urban life, all set in their trademark meandering yet heartfelt tone. Listener support and community shoutouts play a key role, while the duo dives into pop culture as well as a comedic but pointed look at recent political oddities.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. The Trials and Triumphs of New Puppy Parenthood

(00:53–17:54)

• Andrew's Life Upended by Puppy Lucy: Andrew describes the monumental shift in his schedule since adopting Lucy. Early mornings, interrupted sleep, and the relentless demands of a young dog have transformed his nights and work schedule.
  • Notable quote:

    "I love this dog more than life itself. I would do anything for her, including getting up at 6:30 in the morning, but there are very few people I would do that for. In fact, some would say that she's not even a people. And maybe that's the key right there." — Andrew (13:28)

• Sharing Doggy Duties: Lucy’s bathroom habits and zoomies have imposed a regime of late-night and early-morning walks, with Andrew and Genevieve trading responsibilities.
• Reflections on Adaptation: Andrew discusses the emotional and physical adjustments involved in adapting to pet ownership, recognizing that the exhausting puppy phase is temporary—if challenging.
• Changing Attitudes: Andrew notes how his irritation over people placing dog poop bags in his garbage has faded, admitting,

  "It doesn't really bother me anymore because my garbage bin is filled with it...I'm not. Of all the things to lose sleep over, it's just falling pretty far down the list. I am more chill about that." — Andrew (38:31)

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2. Neighborhood Dynamics: RVs, Crime, and Community

(18:23–20:45)

• Increasing RV Encampments: Andrew’s Seattle neighborhood is seeing an influx of RV dwellers. While previously tolerant, he admits the situation has become concerning, especially with recent incidents.
  • Notable quote:

    "There's business going on. There is all kinds of business going on in these things. And we're seeing scenes." — Andrew (18:37)

• Neighbors' Tensions: The neighborhood's debate over how to respond underscores tensions present in urban communities everywhere.
• Balanced Perspective: The hosts reflect on the complexities of city management and housing issues, pushing back against easy red-blue blame games.

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3. End of an Era: Seattle’s Best Karaoke (SBK) Closing

(20:45–34:16)

• Beloved Spot Forced to Close: SBK, a late-night karaoke staple for Luke, Andrew, and many listeners, is being evicted after 30 years due to real-estate pressures.
  • Notable quote:

    "This is why we can't have nice things." — Luke (03:19)

  • Shinji, the magnanimous owner, remains philosophical and gracious about the closure:

    "While learning I must vacate this location after 30 years was a shock, I am now focused on the challenge ahead. On the other hand, realizing this is my final weekend at this location makes me a little emotional." — Shinji (27:44)

• Recollections and Anecdotes: The duo recounts their wild, alcohol-fueled nights at SBK, including late-night mixer runs and party events.
  • Notable moment:

    "He could have just been, like, these idiots again...never his approach." — Luke (24:36)

• Support for Shinji: Andrew urges Seattle listeners to use SBK’s still-operating karaoke system delivery service to support Shinji during this transition.

  > "Let us deliver it to your party location. They'll set it up for you. You don't need a DJ to run your own karaoke with our system. And, Luke, you and I have used it before. It is pretty simple to use." — Andrew (31:15)
  

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4. Listener Dazzling Donors & Community Shoutouts

(33:28–39:48)

• Lorraine from Massachusetts supports the show, thanks TBTL for their positive influence, and shares updates on her family’s health journey.
• Support for Research: Listeners helped support a glioblastoma research organization, illustrating the power of the TBTL community.
• Jokes About Dog Ownership: The hosts riff on how pet ownership changes a person—Andrew facetiously claims his heart is expanding "both for love and for whatever the cigarettes are doing" (37:00).

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5. Twisted Teas, Rituals, and Consignment Shop Shoutouts

(41:52–53:17)

• Twisted Tea Tasting Party: Andrew discusses his newfound fondness for Twisted Tea, mixing it with ice and enjoying neighborhood walks—prompting good-natured ribbing from Luke.
  • Notable quote:

    "You kind of doing this little ritual standing up on that overpass. By, by the way, my new favorite furniture and art consignment place, Big Whale Consignment..." — Luke (50:22)

• Love for Big Whale Consignment: Luke shares his admiration for a charismatic local business owner who’s revitalizing perceptions of their Aurora Avenue neighborhood.
  • Played clips of the owner's viral videos, celebrating North Aurora’s vibrant local art scene.

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6. Political Comedy: RFK Jr., Breathing, and Boner Pill Ads

(53:47–65:40)

• RFK Jr.’s Odd Congressional Hearing Audio: A viral audio clip featuring RFK Jr’s heavy breathing is dissected, with humorous commentary and a detour into his controversial health stances.
  • Notable audio:

    "[Laborious breathing sounds]" — RFK Jr. (56:16)

  • Notable quote on his appearance:

    "He's like, you really. It's like, it's like, you know, somebody went to, like, a Chipotle ... and they just chose every weird intervention a guy of his age could do. Like, I'll take some hormone. I'll take some TRT. And I'll take some ... tanning." — Luke (59:53)

• Boner Pill Advertising Rabbit Hole: The hosts hilariously unravel the growing complexity of male enhancement advertisements, speculating on the future of "third wave bonerism."
  • Notable comedy:

    "What can we expect in Third Wave Bonerism? Because we're in second wave right now..." — Luke (64:02)
    "No, it's not a show title." — Andrew (64:14)

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7. TMZ's Washington Invasion & Holding Power Accountable

(65:54–81:57)

• TMZ's Political Turn: Luke and Andrew discuss a New York magazine article about TMZ deploying reporters to Washington, D.C., and how their brash, irreverent style exposes lawmakers in ways legacy media won't.

  > "There’s just something about this, this very like, kind of just like, I don’t know, rapacious, absolutely no sense of... decorum... being unleashed on a rapacious, no sense of decency Republican politician that just feels like, boy, you’ve met your match." — Luke (70:37)
  

• Comparing Media Cultures: The difference between traditional D.C. journalistic etiquette and TMZ's no-holds-barred approach is highlighted. The hosts see value in TMZ’s outsider perspective, even as they lament the state of American journalism.

  > "It's sad that like TMZ to the rescue ... but you know what I mean. It's like when we live in this era of like a post shame era..." — Luke (76:32)
  

• Harvey Levin—From People’s Court to TMZ: Nostalgic reminiscences about Harvey Levin’s rise from TV legal analyst to king of tabloid news.

  > "Harvey Levin, I think, was ahead of the curve on this, realizing that the true future of media was in sending shameless people..." — Luke (80:06)
  

  • Andrew discovers his nephew produced TBTL live events ("There's a teeny bit of Harvey Levin DNA coursing through the TBTL origin story...").

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• "You need to do better. It's not an open field. It's not a farm. Okay? Just park your car... It's not that hard." — Andrew (00:36) [on parking lot confrontations, opening sketch]
• "I love it when you call me Big Puppy." — Luke (06:21) [reference to the Notorious B.I.G.]
• "I'm trying to have an attitude of just, like, just be here for it... This won't be forever, this phase of things." — Andrew (16:30)
• "Did you know my garbage can is not pure as the driven snow anymore? It's been befouled by your, by your pack." — Luke (38:54)
• "Third wave bonerism... No, it's not a show title." — Luke & Andrew (64:14)
• "[RFK Jr.] looks like a puddle of death." — Andrew (59:47)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:53–17:54 — Puppy life update, adaptation, and the new Andrew
• 18:23–20:45 — Neighborhood RVs and city policy frustrations
• 20:45–34:16 — Seattle’s Best Karaoke closure, memories, and community support
• 33:28–39:48 — Dazzling donors, listener involvement, and garbage bin etiquette
• 41:52–53:17 — Twisted Tea rituals and local business shoutouts
• 53:47–65:40 — RFK Jr. hearing, boner pill ads, and political lampooning
• 65:54–81:57 — TMZ in DC and holding politicians accountable
• 80:06–81:32 — Harvey Levin nostalgia and TBTL connections

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Tone and Style

As always, TBTL’s tone is friendly, self-deprecating, and gently irreverent, peppered with in-jokes, affectionate barbs, and a sincere appreciation for listener contributions. The episode meanders in a comforting, conversational way, embracing digressions as a feature, not a bug.

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Summary

This episode is brimming with life’s big and small moments: the all-consuming reality of being a new dog parent, the lament for Seattle’s vanishing quirky nightlife, urban living’s messiness, and the weirdness of modern politics. It’s quintessential TBTL—irreverent, digressive, deeply human, and always community-minded. Whether you’re here for the karaoke nostalgia, pet tales, or sociopolitical absurdity, this episode has a spot on the couch for you.

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For more details, listener links, or to support SBK’s karaoke delivery service, listeners are urged to visit sbkaraoke.com.

Transcript

[Andrew Walsh]

Excuse me. Are you happy with that park?

Yeah, what's wrong with that?

You're way outside the line. You're taking up two spaces. I'm like an inch over the line. No, you're a foot over the line. You're taking up two spaces. And the next car is also gonna be taking up two spaces. Then you're gonna leave, and then that car is gonna get blamed. This is chaos. Society can't function like this. What? You have to be in the lines the way it's supposed to be. Here's an idea. Why don't you mind your own business? Well, I suppose that's an idea. Not a very good one, though. Oh, no, Just say, you know what? I'll do better next time. I did fine. I did fine. No, that's not. I need to do better. You didn't do fine. You need to do better. No, I did fine. You need to do better. It's not an open field. It's not a farm. Okay? Just park your car. Park your car between the lines. It's not that hard. Look, just pull in between the lines. Why don't you stay between the lines of your own business? Why don't you stay confined within the lines of. Of not being an.

[Luke Burbank]

Cause you're way over that line.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right? The only person who's the here is the pig parker.

[Luke Burbank]

A pig parker?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. So you're calling me a pig? A pig parker. Hey, you know what? Have a real nice day, okay? I will. I'm sure you will, too. At everyone else's expense.

T, T, B, T, M Guess what day it is Guess what day it is It's Friday, Friday Gotta get down on Friday Everybody's looking forward to the weekend.

[Luke Burbank]

Is this for real? It's called the Dark Web. It's where you can find all the cool stuff.

[Andrew Walsh]

The enormity of their flat brain, the enormity of their stupidity is just overwhelming. It's like the most requested thing when I ask them on Facebook what you

[Luke Burbank]

guys wanna see from me.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's like, get drunk, get drunk, get drunk. And there's a time and a place for it. And guess what? That place is now. And that time is now.

[Luke Burbank]

Did we just become best friends? Well, all right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Friday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. Oh, you're gonna love the liff and tweedle out of this. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. I just want you to be normal. And clearly you're not coming to you from the Madrona Hill Studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, Ma. Pa.

[Luke Burbank]

It's just beautiful where we are. Looking at a picture perch.

[Andrew Walsh]

Perfect.

[Luke Burbank]

Friday, everybody. Blue skies, green grass, brown deer with speckles that just wandered through the yard here outside the Madrona Hill Studio, which then had me Googling deer garden, which the Internet gets very confused when you're trying to figure out what kind of plants can I grow that deer would like to eat? Because mostly the Internet is obsessed with figuring out how to make it so deer don't eat your garden. But right now, I was watching deer eat, like, blackberries, and I thought, that's gotta be something. I mean, like, not even the BlackBerry, but, like, the thorny part. I was like, can I grow some stuff here that they would like to eat that I don't want that just is there for them kind of like a. I don't know, like a Sizzler or a Racks. Back in the day, if you're from Seattle, you know, something with, like, a nice little salad bar but, like, for deer that they could eat.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know.

[Luke Burbank]

I need to focus on the task at hand here, which is episode 4713 in a collector series. Let the fun begin. I'm excited today, though, because it's. It's a beautiful day. My brother dftv is coming over later this afternoon.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, Romano.

[Luke Burbank]

With his wonderful wife and his beautiful. Their beautiful daughter Gemma. Gonna be watching some baseball. We're gonna be doing some gr. It's just gonna be. It's gonna be a spectacular Friday, everybody. But again, none of that can get started until we have delivered the goods here. By which I mean today's episode of tbtl, which actually includes a little bit of sad news. One of my very favorite places in Seattle, at least late Night places is. Has its last weekend in its location. Seattle's Best Karaoke is being told by the owners of the building that they need to vacate because they want to do something else with that building. I'm sure something really worthwhile. I'm sure something that rhymes with shmorange Shmiri or something. But anyway, this is why we can't have nice things. I mean, I'm literally currently in contact with Shinji, the owner of Seattle's Best Karaoke, trying to figure out if we're supposed to be sending the tens of listeners to SBK this weekend or if we're not, if it's already sold out and overwhelmed. So, anyway, we'll talk about that and so many other things with this guy, longest running cobra of the show. Maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships.

[Andrew Walsh]

You want showmanship, you got it.

[Luke Burbank]

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

[Andrew Walsh]

Good morning, Luke. Sorry, I just had to. Well, hopefully everything is okay. I had to do a really quick rush job on a Photoshop to send our friend the stew bot. I had to get a picture while you were talking. I had to download a picture of Claire Clifford the Big Red Dog. Then download a image of a big stamp that says liar. And I could stamp the word liar over Clifford's face and send it to the Stubbot before we started the show. But it's all done now. We're done. I'm finishing my conversation about lying.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh yeah, buddy. Lying dogs.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, what's in Soviet Russia?

[Andrew Walsh]

Coronavirus gets you.

[Luke Burbank]

What's going on with you in the Stubbot?

[Andrew Walsh]

He just texted me to. I sent out the TBTL newsletter earlier than usual this week and he wanted to know if he was the inspiration for that. And he was not the inspiration for it. It was the fact that my puppy dog got Me up at 6:30 this morning is what inspired that. And so I don't want to take, you know, I don't want to steal credit from the Stubbot, but I need to let him know that it wasn't really him that inspired me so much as my dog. And I said it's because my dog, even though she promised me she would be a late sleeper in her has proven not to be.

[Luke Burbank]

I see. So you're not saying Stu is the liar. You're saying Lucy is the liar.

[Andrew Walsh]

Dogs are the liars. Yeah. And he said it's as a species. Yeah, he says it's a. It's, it's. He put it on Big Puppy as. As he put it. And so I thought of Clifford the Red Big Red Dog as a. As Big Puppy. Anyway, it's not even worth.

[Luke Burbank]

I love it when you call me Big Puppy.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'll just laugh at that. That's a good one.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that. Because here's the thing. The fun loving criminals, at least those of us that are west coast based like just woke up this morning to like a pretty early morning photograph of a dog. Tall boy of Rainier Beer.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. A tall boy of Rainier. By the way, outside of its comfort zone, outside of its natural habitat. Right out there.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

In the Midwest. Do they sell Rainier out there or was that a special delivery to our friend the Stubbot?

[Luke Burbank]

That's A great question. I guess I don't know the answer to that, but he basically was saying Stubbot was saying that. That he's drinking Rainier this weekend in honor of. I mean, what. Ultimately, what it was was a Minnesota Timberwolves text. His basketball team, the Timberw, are in the playoffs. But he was referring. This is how. Unfortunately, this is how checked out from the NBA I am. He was referencing a player on the Timberwolves who's actually a Washington State kid. And so. But I. I was like, he must have. Like, I looked at the timestamp. I thought, well, maybe he sent this last night and it took a while to get through. Again, I don't want. I'm not here to judge anyone's drinking habits. But then I believe you checked it and said. And I'm paraphrasing right now, you said,

[Andrew Walsh]

I believe I just said it's 10:30. Wait, no, it was 9:30 his time. Right? I said it's 9:30, Stu, is what I believe I said.

[Luke Burbank]

But then I think you followed up with said, aren't you getting started a little late or something?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I did. I did say you're behind. You're behind. You're a little behind schedule, maybe. Yeah. Because at first I just wrote, Stu, it's 9:30. And then I thought, oh, that's a. That's a. It sounds like. I'm not joking. It sounds a little bit more judgy than I meant. Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

So then he said, I already delivered the newsletter. It's the freaking weekend, baby. Which is. Which is. Which was, of course, relevant to your communication with him later, because you also put the newsletter out on the second week in a row. I think you had that newsletter out wicked early. And here's what I was going to say. And this is. Well, it's. I've already told you. I'm. It's like I'm walking on sunshine. It's a beautiful Friday.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it's nice.

[Luke Burbank]

I've got. I've got my brother and his wife and my niece coming over. The Mariners are playing in St. Louis. I've got a reasonable. Lois, I've got a reasonable amount. Who's going to do it? You? You?

[Andrew Walsh]

You don't have the guts.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm. I'm. I'm looking forward to a reasonable amount of yard work before they get over here, which is a quick mow of the lawn. So it's going to be. I'm just. I'm. I'm. I'm very, very excited about this Friday and this weekend. Becca's running the Eugene marathon. I'm an unpaid marathon support staff which involves driving her to the race course at like 3:30 in the morning on Sunday or something. Those are, those are my big week.

[Andrew Walsh]

The biggest one I've ever had. Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. Continue talking about your weekend plans.

[Luke Burbank]

But we need sonic branding.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, we have to. It's exactly. It's sponsored.

[Luke Burbank]

We owe the listeners. We owe Paulie.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right.

[Luke Burbank]

I also just freaking love this song. So. I'm in such a good mood. I don't want to take this in any way to an, to a topic that could get testy or weird. But I just want to say it's been an interesting. I mean, let me put it this way. You work much harder on TBTL than I do and that's a true statement. You do so much post show production. You write the newsletter, you're monitoring when people are saying, oh, Spotify is being weird with the show. You just like, you really work very hard on this show and the fact that people like the sound of it, you get all the credit on that. But you are by your own admission a person who is generally not a huge fan of early morning stuff.

[Andrew Walsh]

No.

[Luke Burbank]

And what I have, this Lucy addition to your life has completely flipped your schedule. It's like I don't even know who I'm dealing with. I'm getting emails at 6:30 in the morning. The newsletters flying off the presses at 7am I could get used to this.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know. I don't know how long this will last.

[Luke Burbank]

Get used to this. A whole new Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I don't. You know, I would. I love staying. I haven't stayed up. I went to bed at 10:30 last night. The problem at the beginning of the.

[Luke Burbank]

That's not sarcastic. Oh, I know that you love that and you need that as a kind of a mental reset. I really mean that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it's. Yeah. I've mixed emotions. I'm trying to like not. I had a few kind of rough moments I think in the first. You know, it's now about a week and a half. Right. Wednesday was the official two week mark of us having Lucy in the house. And that's official because that's what our kind of trial time window was. Two weeks. And now we haven't officially paid the adoption fee yet. But essentially it's no longer a trial. This is. Lucy is part of the family, or the pack as we call it. We're no longer a family. We're a pack now. We're Lucy's pack. And so anyway, it's been a tough some days, especially the first two weeks proper, were there were some rough times because first of all, it wasn't just a lack of sleep. It was almost like most of those days, the first week especially, it felt like jet lag because I'm used to a certain waking up and going to sleep. But not only was it sleep deprivation, but it was also a complete, you know, flipping of my schedule. But it was also we. She goes to the bathroom a lot. This is just puppy stuff. She like, you have to take her out late at night and then she will wake you up early in the morning. I think it was last night or two nights ago. And I would like to say this is very good behavior. This is not bad dog behavior because she is not having accidents at night. We keep her in our room with us. We have a baby gate up. She's not allowed on the bed. She's got her own bed in there and she's got a pillow on my side, her bed on Genevieve's side. She kind of goes back and forth between them, mostly sleeps in her own little bed. And when she has to go to the bathroom, she wakes us up by kind of like walking around and shaking her collar or whatever. And she has not had an accident in the bedroom since like maybe night two or three or something like that. It's really good. But last night she. Or two nights ago she woke me up. I think I'd gone to bed early. Then she woke me up at midnight and then she woke me up at 2am and then I think Genevieve did the 5:30am and then I did the 6:30am or something. And then usually like if I am up taking her out at the 6:30 window, I'm not going back to bed. If it's 5 o', clock, it's on the edge. I might go back to bed. But the thing is, if she's starting her day at 6:30 as she has the past two days, then I'm taking her outside and then she's coming back in and she's kind of got the zoomies. So then it's my job to just like funnel all of her energy into good things like playing and chewing on the things that we're supposed to chew on and not harassing. Bingo. And not, you know, trying to get attention by chewing on things that are going to get a reaction out of me. So like, it's been good. I love this dog more than life itself. I would do anything for her, including getting up at 6:30 in the morning, but there are very few people I would do that for. In fact, some would say that she's not even a people. And maybe that's the key right there. But you know, because once I get up, like, I can't bring her back in the bedroom because she's just going to be full of energy and run back and forth and back and forth and like bang her head up against the wall. So I got to like go out. And we have, we now have a little basket where she goes in and chooses which. It's the most adorable thing you can possibly imagine. She chooses her toys when she wants a tug of war toy or a let's go fetch ball or whatever it is. And we just work out her. We work out all of her energy and we go outside like probably three or four times in the course of 90 minutes until she's, until she settled into her day. And so because of that, yeah, my schedule's been all, all weird. I do feel though, where it was at first, I wasn't sleeping at all. Now I'm. I've just shifted to kind of more of an early morning schedule, trusting that Genevieve is going to do like the midnight takeout or whatever.

[Luke Burbank]

So it's just in your Andy times, though.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I am. I mean, because that's the thing. Like I have snuck downstairs for maybe like one hour here and there and maybe watch the last couple of innings of a baseball game and thrown like, I'm trying to like not get totally bad darts. So I'll throw like one quick like 40, maybe half hour, maybe 45 minutes, throw a few darts just to like, remember what it feels like to be alive. But like for the most part or to be dead inside, to have whatever, to have personal freedom. And again, none of this is a complaint and I want. And I said this to you off air yesterday. She's a really good dog as far as these things are concerned. Like, she's not a problem. It's just a lot of work to do this stuff. I got a thing. I told you. I got a email or a note or a text or something from a buddy the other day who said, just like, just thinking about you. Like, puppy days are tough days and a lot of people kind of forget about that. You kind of forget about it when your dog is one or two years old. But it's just a lot of work. And I appreciated him reaching out to say that because it has been a lot of work. It's been really good. But do you have no moments of just like, oh, I'm going to turn my back on this situation? Because if you turn your back on the situation, you're going to be cleaning up. You're going to be cleaning something up pretty quickly. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Well I give you credit though because like you, we were talking, you and I last week about, I think it was about the newsletter coming out early, this is off air. And you said, well, yeah, because basically like there was like two hours at like five in the morning where it was like the dog was under control or had gone back to sleep and like was under Genevieve's care in one way or another or was sleeping and I was like, well, these are the only two hours that I'm gonna have that are basically like, yeah, where I could actually focus in on the newsletter. So I give you huge credit for that because even though I tend to be now, I guess I'm kind of more of an early riser than I used to be. How do I put it? If I were to wake up, let's just say I get up about 6am but if I were to have to go to the bathroom at 4:30 and I wake up and I can't go back to sleep, I'm not being productive. From 4:30 to 6 I'm just like, I don't know what I'm doing. Maybe I'm tossing and turning, I'm scrolling because I think I'm resentful of the fact that I'm not sleeping. So I don't go out into my, you know, living room area and sit down and file CBS expenses and concur at from 4:30 to 6 I'm just like, I'm not sleeping but I'm not being productive. And it sounds like you're using your non sleeping hours to be or yeah, your non sleeping hours to be productive even though you would rather that you were on a different schedule. So I tip my cap to you on that one.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thanks. Yeah, and even the, all the going outsides, like going outside is not a bad thing. Generally speaking. It's good for one's health. But you know when it's kind of like I'm going outside because I'm waiting for her to go to the bathroom or something, you can kind of be like, oh, it can sort of feel frustrating. And there were times at first before she really knew what the gambit was too. Like at least now she knows to go outside and at least assume the position. Like she understands that, like at least pee a little bit. Or make it look like you're peeing, like, we're doing this for a purpose. And she's gotten a lot better at that. But at first, when you're just standing out there and you're just waiting and she's looking up at your whining and she doesn't know why you're outside, and you're like, I don't want to be outside either. And it's raining. You know, a few of those days early on, we had that really bad rainstorm. You're standing out in the rain thinking, like, what am I doing? And I'm like, I've really tried to just shift my attitude on all of this. This won't be forever, this phase of things. I mean, we'll always have to care for her, of course, and happily so. But it won't be like this. It won't be this frequent. It won't be this, like, are you gonna do it or are you not gonna do it? And hopefully we'll get to a point where she tells us when she needs to go to sleep or go to the bathroom. But my point is, like, I'm trying to have an attitude of just, like, just be here for it. Like, and even if it's not, like, even if it means turning on NPR or reading Stu's newsletter while we're standing, like, just being like, I need to be outside. And especially, like you said, Luke, on a day like today where it's like, oh, it's not pissing rain. It's just dogs.

[Luke Burbank]

Going to be such a fun summer. And also, have you considered retaking up cigarette smoking?

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't think I ever thought of this.

[Luke Burbank]

Feels like a perfect cigarette smoking kind of situation.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. Exactly. I keep on telling her, I keep asking lucy, can you bump me one of those smokes?

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. You'll be like, hey, Lucy, can we go back outside, please?

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, Lucy, do you know what the AM PM Is, by any chance? They sell all kinds of things. You can smoke there. Some of them are in the parking lot, and some of them are actually inside.

[Luke Burbank]

Some of them are more formal, and some of them are more informal.

[Andrew Walsh]

We have a. Wow. We have an area literally a block from our house now where there's been one RV that's parked there for a long time, and somebody's clearly living in it, which you, I hope you know, I have absolutely no issue with. He's been a good neighbor and he keeps his place tidy or whatever, but there are other times where then a few other RVs come or whatever. And then sometimes they're kind of, I don't know, cleared out in some way, I'm assuming encouraged to leave by the city in some way or another. But the neighbors are having a freak out now. And I will say, you know, not. I don't want to get all next story about it, but I do understand the difference between, you know, an RV or two where somebody needs to sleep because they're poor and that's the. That's the only thing they can afford. And I will be a good neighbor to them and they will be a good neighbor to us versus we now have, I believe, five or six RVs. And it is definitely not. There's business going on. There is all kinds of business going on in these things. And we're seeing scenes. And then finally today, some not finally, like, I've been waiting for it, but obviously it was going to happen. Some concerned neighbors are like, this is getting. This is getting really bad also. I just remember somebody was stabbed on our street a couple of days ago, too. So. Yeah, so. And I don't know if that's related to that or not, but it's kind of like things sort of ebb and flow in our neighborhood as far as, like, these things go. And I'm not somebody and I don't engage usually with these conversations, but I also, I'm. I'm not so Pollyannish about it that I think, oh, we should just say everything is great with this scene that's going on right now.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's just start Hamsterdam.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right, Exactly. There's a difference between, you know, helping folks who, you know, need to sleep in an rv. Absolutely. But what's happening now, like, literally a block from our house is getting kind of rough and, like, neighbors are trying to, like. And again, I don't really engage with this one way or the other, but they're like, talking about, like, I don't know, should we go out there with pots and pans and march up and down the street? And I'm like, that doesn't sound like a good solution. That is that. Thank you, Luke. I believe that sounds.

[Luke Burbank]

I believe.

[Andrew Walsh]

Summarize my thoughts.

[Luke Burbank]

Reverend Lovejoy's wife on the Simpsons energy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. Exactly. They're like, well, the city isn't going to help because they only care about the World cup now. I'm just like, I don't, you know, it's like, I don't. I hate that. You know, I don't like the emails too much more than I like the situation out there either. But. But Again, I don't have any good answers. I don't know what it is, but, like, that's just something that. That we're living with.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, well, you know what, Andrew? Running a city is complicated, and I feel like, you know, there's people that are not to get into, I don't know, local politics or whatever. But it's like, a lot of people in red America love to point at, like, things that go on in cities, whether it has to do with unhoused people or. Or different things, and just go like, these are all run by Democrats and they can't handle it. It's like. No, it's actually way hard. It's really hard to run a place that has millions of people who have all kinds of different things going on. And which brings me to a sad bit of news, which is, speaking of the changing city, are one of my very favorite places, at least at a certain hour of the night. Andrew in Seattle. Sbk, Seattle's best karaoke, is. Is going to be closing up after this weekend. A lot of people who've listened to the show for a long time know that there was a period of time where we used to hit that place a lot because it was open after the bars had shut down. It's one of those places you can rent a room and do karaoke. I feel like it was kind of the first one that I knew about in Seattle. Then after that, there's been kind of a. A trend of, like, kind of fancier places, you know, kind of like for

[Andrew Walsh]

the rooms, for the private room area,

[Luke Burbank]

for the rooms with, like, a. Usually a nice bar associated with it. And kind of. It's almost like, you know how you had, like, regular bowling alleys when we were growing up, and now the only ones that can survive are called, like, Lucky Strike.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And they're like a whole bar experience that sort of was what happened with these karaoke rooms. But the thing about SBK was we could generally roll in there pretty tuned up at about 2:30, probably when we'd been ejected from all of the other places. And it was, you know, I think technically you needed to get a liquor license.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

In order to have alcohol in there. But I think it was a. We. Let's just say we. We had some workarounds and would sometimes be, you know. What was. What was the name of the mini mart? Alfie's.

[Andrew Walsh]

That was right. Alfie's was right around the corner. I'm trying to think, what did they call those? Like, it wasn't a liquor License, because banquet banquet license. So they didn't have a liquor license themselves. But you could by be. If you filled out, like, an official banquet license and you would go online and, like, just pay. What would you pay? Like, a $20 fee to somebody, then print out a piece of paper. But our pale Shinji over there was pretty gracious with us once he got to know us.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, he was such a sweetheart. And I can only imagine, like, again, this was in. In. In my. In my. Maybe. Maybe almost the apex of my wilding out days, but just like us. Us after. Let's just say maybe even a full day of activities. And now we've, like, Mandarin Gate has closed down, or wherever we are is closed down, and we're like, still not done having fun rolling in there. And then you just have this guy Shinji who owns it. He's just, like, such a sweet guy and just such a, like, opposite energy of whatever energy I was bringing in. And yet never got annoyed with us. At least notably, at least that we could tell. And was always just very gracious and sweet to us. Well, in fact, he even helped us with a TBTL event at Chateau St. Michel. If you remember, back in the day, we had, like, karaoke at one of our events, and we hired SBK to come out and manage.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was it. But he definitely came out also to the Maris Farm event that we did.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, maybe that's it.

[Andrew Walsh]

I could confuse you. I think you might be confusing those. Or he did more than one, because I feel like we also rented equipment for him for some event we did. I was gonna say at the Eagles, but that's not right. Maybe we were considering. Did he rent us some stuff for. No, I don't think so. But I feel like he's rented us some TBT stuff and, like, come out and set up his equipment for at least one, if not more than one, TBTL event as well. Like, and he's just, like, the most gracious, gracious kind man. You know what I mean? Never, never, like, holding us over a barrel for these services he's providing at all.

[Luke Burbank]

And also, yeah, just. He could have just been, like, these idiots again.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, back in the day when we rolled in there, and that was just never his approach. Such a sweet guy. Also, just such a. Like a. He's such an interesting dude. Like, I sort of become friends with him, and I remember he and I were talking one time about. And I think he'd be okay with me sharing this. Like, he. You know, he has a. He and his wife have a daughter. And they had worked very, very hard to, you know, set their daughter up on a good path educationally, et cetera. And I think she had gone to pharmacy school or was going to be going to pharmacy school, which they're really proud of, as they should be. And then she, I think maybe changed her mind or was having some. She was taking some time to consider her options. And he said, at first I was really just like, what are you doing? But he goes, Then I just, I took her on a fly fishing trip for a week and we just went fly fishing and we just talked and I just kind of tried to read her energy. And at the end she just convinced me that, yeah, that wasn't, you know, that the path she was on was maybe not going to be the path for her. And like I said, hey, well, then you got to do whatever you, you know, he just had such a great, like, kind of, I don't know, even tempered, wise approach to everything. So I was very sad to see our buddy Camaro, Kev was the one who hipped me to it that the SBK website was mentioning that the landlord of the building informed Shinji like just a few weeks ago that they are no longer going to be able to rent out the space. Because again, I'm guessing, because that's, if I remember right, is that like the last sort of low slung building in the area? I can't remember the exact sort of architecture of it, but, like, you know, that's an area of town in downtown Seattle. It's actually by the rebar kind of down there. And what would you call that? The, like, I don't know, is it the Denny Triangle? Maybe I was gonna say that, but I can't even remember what that actual. The implications of the Denny Triangle.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's by the 24 Hour Fitness I used to go to, because I remember, I've told you this on the show

[Luke Burbank]

before, we need our aid out of this.

[Andrew Walsh]

We needed mixers one time for our very, very late night rendezvous at sbk. And I think it was literally like three in the morning. We had booze, but nothing to mix in it. And then I remembered, wait a second, I belong to the gym, literally around the corner and they have vending machines and they're literally open 24 hours. So me and the mummy went around. It was such a weird feeling walking into my gym, a gym that I was going to daily at that point, but walking in at three in the morning, three sheets to the wind, just like tagging myself in with my fingerprint and then heading to the Powerade machine to try to get some mixers.

[Luke Burbank]

Can you imagine getting, like, an attaboy from the gym? I'm like, hey, Andrew, we noticed that you were working out at 3am Congratulations for hitting your step goals like, I was three sheets in the wind on my way to four.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm going to need a guest pass for this guy.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, exactly. Oh, and he'll also be living here.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, exactly. But he's still there, actually.

[Luke Burbank]

So I emailed. I emailed Shinji this morning just to say how sad I was to hear that they were going to be moving or that he's not going to be able to be there anymore. And he said, hey, thanks. He said, while learning I must vacate this location after 30 years was a shock, I am now focused on the challenge ahead. On the other hand, realizing this is my final weekend at this location makes me a little emotional.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Like he said, I will be sure to let you know if anything new comes up. Sincerely, Shinji.

[Andrew Walsh]

They gave him, like, less than a month, right? Notice. Yeah. Total.

[Luke Burbank]

And I'm gonna. With no. With absolutely no information to go on, Andrew. But just based on how things tend to go in cities, I'm gonna. I'm gonna tell you that this. Whatever the reason for kicking SBK out is, it's bad. Like, it's. It's so. It's so that this either building can be raised or so that this particular, you know, location within the building can be hollowed out and turned into something in my mind, horrible.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, I mean, listen, and if we need, you know, we need housing. And so I don't want to be hypocritical about it. If there's some sort of housing involved, like, that's something. But my question for you is, how long do you think this property is going to sit unoccupied? The way my favorite butcher shop up there on green Lake and 105th is still unoccupied and just fenced off. That thing shut down five years ago. I'm thinking, is it Jensen's? Is that what it was? Jensen?

[Luke Burbank]

Jensen's, yeah, exactly.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's still just a building that they finally just put a fence around so that people couldn't, like, you know, squat in there anymore. It's just like they ran a business out of business, and it just still sits there.

[Luke Burbank]

Now, here's the thing I'm noticing. I'm looking at this building now. I'm Googling about. It's a new. This stuff. It's called Balfour Place. Is the name of the apartments that are above it. They look like they're very recently built, let's say, in the last 15 years. And so SBK, you know, again, Andrew, this is a testament to how absolutely loaded I was anytime we were there. This is the first that I'm actually taking in the overall sort of physical structure of the building.

[Andrew Walsh]

See, I knew that there's an apartment above it because I was a smoker a lot of times when we were there. And so while I was outside smoking, people were always coming and going into their apartments. Probably loving the fact that I was smoking, too, now that I think of it.

[Luke Burbank]

But. So I don't think that this is the case where the building itself is going to come down. But I'm just. I'm saying whatever these economic forces are that caused the landlord to say, we don't want SBK here anymore, we want to put something else in that's going to be, I'm guessing, more lucrative or more. Whatever. It's just, you know, it just feels like it's a piece of, of, of, of everything fun that I liked in Seattle, getting kind of driven out through one economic factor or another. So I asked Shinji, I was like, should we send the TBTL listeners your way this weekend, or are you already kind of, like, you know, is it already sort of sold out and booked out, and is it going to be kind of a madhouse? Because I have to imagine we weren't the only people that kind of had a mild obsession with this place. Like, for people that like karaoke, for people that, like, you know, being a little wild or whatever. I bet you that there will be a lot of people when the word gets out that that will want to be down there. And he said, Saturday is booked out, but rooms are still available after 11pm today. He says, on Sunday, the last day, we are open from 6pm to midnight. It's still wide open. Reservations can be [e-mail] so, to any of our karaoke heads out there in the Seattle area, if you want to go say hi to our pal Shinji this weekend, go to sbkaraoke.com and make your reservation. And then I said to him, I said, I hope you have a fun weekend and can enjoy seeing people who've appreciated SBK so much over the years. And he said, I will try to enjoy this. Thank you.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's tough. Here's one thing. I'm being serious about something here, so everybody shut up. Here's how we can help Shinji, by the way, as it says on their website, karaoke system delivery services will continue as usual. This is another big part of their business. And so if you are in the Seattle area, and I know this is a very niche thing, but if you're in the Seattle area and you're planning an event, maybe you are already thinking about getting some karaoke action in there, or maybe you're getting that idea right now. This is still a service that they provide and probably could use your business on more than ever. Now more than ever. It says, we deliver karaoke systems to your home. Let us deliver it to your party location. They'll set it up for you. You don't need a DJ to run your own karaoke with our system. And, Luke, you and I have used it before. It is pretty simple to use. And if you'll recall, it has a very fun feature that you did not think was very fun when I learned how to use it, which was I could put echo on my voice. Do you remember we were doing a live show at Maris Farm, and he showed me how I could turn this knob up, and I'd be like, luke, Lu. Luke. Luke. So, anyway, yeah, if you are looking for anything along those lines, please think of SBK first.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, and what I'll say about that, too, is, you know, karaoke is one of those deals where they do sell little machines online now, or you can, you know, theoretically, you could try to run it through your home stereo. But if you've ever had a party and there has been the promise of karaoke, but then, like, it's not. The system doesn't work, or you can't get the right kind of music where it's like, it's the backing vocals or it's the backing tracks but no vocals, but then the lyrics, they're not, you know, lighting up. And, like, there's just. It's a more complicated thing than you would think, even in 2026. And it's so much more fun when it works. Like, it's so much more fun when you just, like, the whole thing actually does what it's supposed to do. So, yeah, let's show our guy Shinji some love for all of the times that he tolerated our shenanigans.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hello.

[Luke Burbank]

We was hoping for some razzle dazzle. Razzle dazzle. That's right, man. Razzle dazzle.

[Andrew Walsh]

On your mark.

[Luke Burbank]

On your mark.

[Andrew Walsh]

Get set. Get set now. Ready, Ready, go.

[Luke Burbank]

Everybody rattle dazzle. All right, let's thank some dazzling donors, because our home karaoke delivery service never really got off the ground. Because it was all. Shinji had already cornered the market.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

We've had to focus more on the podcast side of things. And the business model here is we ask people to voluntarily donate money for a show they can also listen to for free. And somehow, miraculously, people have been doing it. And there are people like Lorraine Goyet. He was in South Dennis, Massachusetts. South Dennis, Massachusetts. I know that. I've read that name before. Why? Because Lorraine says this is my fourth dazzling donor message in a collector's series.

[Andrew Walsh]

Love it. Well, thank you. Thank you for the very generous support.

[Luke Burbank]

We've read South Dennis at least three other times. I ended last year's by mentioning the Silence Do Good website that artfully and with attitude reminds Boston's citizens of its pro democracy heritage. Since then, Minneapolis St. Paul has had to struggle to preserve that heritage. John, Minnesota, you're doing wicked good. Freaking awesome. Thank you.

[Andrew Walsh]

You did the accent. Or wait, you'll know. I'll know when you do the accent, I guess.

[Luke Burbank]

Actually, honestly, that wasn't my worst accent. No, I'm not saying it was great, but I'm saying I've done worse. Thanks also to the six good and awesome tens who contributed to to the glioblastoma research organization. Yeah, that's a. That's. Boy. What do I say about that? Other than folks that are dealing with that or who have loved ones that are dealing with that need all of the support they can get. That is a really, really, really awful, awful disease. They listened. They sent me an email. They got the link to the gro, they contributed. They sent encouraging words. My sister is still with us. That struggle continues. She and the family were buoyed and amazed by TBTL participation in 2023. Spouse and I did the cross country trip sporting a TBTL bumper sticker. We were reassured by finding decency everywhere. When I walk our pre named rescue dog, Luke.

[Andrew Walsh]

You have to get the pre named in there.

[Luke Burbank]

Just in the rain. I would be. I would be honored and flattered. I mean, we already know that Andrew and Genevieve named their dog Luke Jr.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

So I don't think there's anything wrong with naming a dog after me. I'm struck by how many good people are in our midst. But Andrew's right. Not the ones who leave poop bags in our garbage cans.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, it's interesting. No, I do that now. It's fine. No, I'm just joking. That would be so.

[Luke Burbank]

That would be such a funny plot twist. If, like, if basically, like, in all the ways that dog a dog are we saying ownership? What are you calling it?

[Andrew Walsh]

I guess ownership. Yeah, I think you're right. It is weird, right? I'm like, I own you, but dog caretaking, dog having.

[Luke Burbank]

Anyway, it would be so funny if, like, dog ownership changed you. Suddenly you're just like. You're a guy who gets up at 5. Now you're a guy who smokes cigarettes again. You're a guy who throws poop in other people.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm just whipping them over people's fences.

[Luke Burbank]

Just. It's just like. The one good thing is, like, you have. Your heart expands because now there's even more love in your heart for Lucy, but in every other way, you're just becoming a terrible human.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I will tell you that. Yeah, exactly. My heart is both expanding out of love and for whatever the cigarettes are doing.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, exactly.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, I will say this, and this is probably more good news as I. As I try to open myself up to this experience. I was thinking about it the other day, my whole anger at people who put dog poop in my garbage bin. Especially after the garbage bin has been emptied, because I was. Lucy still goes to the bathroom in our yard. We keep her on a leash in the yard because she's still small and she could get under the hedges. It would be an absolute nightmare. So she's still leashed mostly in our yard.

[Luke Burbank]

And if she got under the hedge, could she get out of the yard completely?

[Andrew Walsh]

Technically, no, because there's a fence that runs that you can't see, but there is a fence that runs throughout every. You know, through every hedge. But there are holes here and there, and. Oh, yeah, we can't get back there to test the fence. You know what I mean? So she left alone for any period of time she could potentially get away, and it's just too early for those kinds of shenanigans. Anyway, she's also growing so quickly that, like, I'm watching areas of the yard I used to be worried about that. I'm already like, you can't get through there anymore. Nice. But anyway, all that is to say, she goes to the bathroom, I pick it up in bags as if we are on a walk. You know, we have those little bags on her leash. And then when our garbage bin is at the curb waiting for pickup, she and I walk to the curb together and I. I put the little poop bag in there. And now our garbage can is filled with those bags. When I used to see those bags, it always meant a stranger has put poop right in my property, and it's been very bothersome to me even, even a little bit before the garbage had been taken away. I'd be like, really just gonna do that. And I will say, while I still think it's a rude thing to do to people and I am not going to do that myself, it doesn't really bother me anymore because my garbage bin is filled with it. It's absolutely filled with it now again, I still don't think it's morally right, but it's just like I'm not. Of all the things to lose sleep over, it's just falling pretty far down the list. I am more chill about that.

[Luke Burbank]

Your garbage can is not pure as the driven snow anymore. It's been, it's been befouled by its, by your, by your pack.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

So it's kind of like, again, not that you're encouraging it, but it would not be nearly as big of a change as it would have been before. So. See, this is another way that things are.

[Andrew Walsh]

I hate, I hate this fucking well balanced person I'm becoming. It's awful. It is awful.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm here for it. Lorraine says, thanks, guys for doing your part. Well, Lorraine, thank you for doing your part. We appreciate the support over these years and also just for you being the person in the world that it sounds like you're being, where you're just kind of like you're out, you're engaged with your community, you're taking care of your family and your sister and, and your loved ones, but you're also looking for the good in the world, you know, and, and noting it when you see it. Those are all really positive things. So thanks for. Thanks for being who you are. We really do appreciate it. Maestro, on your mark. On your mark.

[Andrew Walsh]

Get set, get set now. Ready, ready, go.

[Luke Burbank]

Everybody rattle daddle. Nailed it. Andrew just got a good. Oh, no, wait a second. I think my bell may have. Did my bill just give up the ghost completely?

[Andrew Walsh]

What's going on?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think I, I don't know if I can even keep the little. The plunger up on this. Okay, it's working again. I got that 11:11. I got that 11:11 in.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, 11:11.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm winning some points over here.

[Andrew Walsh]

Would you. Would you like me to read this next message? It's short.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I've got it.

[Andrew Walsh]

And you can text with your girlfriend.

[Luke Burbank]

I, I just send her the picture. It's just, it's kind of, you know, it's just asserting that I'm the alpha in the relationship who cares more about her than she. Whoever sends the 1111 text. Text first wins the day.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I, I, that's right. It's a, it's a screen cap of the clock. It's not like a nice little note.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

No.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, come on now.

[Andrew Walsh]

What?

[Luke Burbank]

It's a screen cap of the clock. It's not like a nice, thoughtful note that takes any effort.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, trust me, as somebody who's Talking to an 1111, I prefer it to be as clean and simple as possible.

[Luke Burbank]

Purely a photo. It's purely. It's just a flex.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

You know who loves it is our second dazzling donor, Robin Laughlin Aaron, who's in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

[Andrew Walsh]

I wonder what it's like in Stevens Point today. I'm hoping.

[Luke Burbank]

I bet you. I bet you it's. I bet you it's lovely. Although I know the east coast was having crazy weather. I know that's, I know Steven's Point is not the East Coast.

[Andrew Walsh]

59 degrees right now.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

Looking okay. It looks like you do have some rain coming on Monday, but today is a nice sunny day. Big orange orb representing your weather today. That's great.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. I'm glad that Robin's gonna be having a nice weather day there in Steven's Point because Robin deserves it. Because Robin is supporting the show and says it's an honor to be a dazzling donor this year. Thank you, Luke, Andrew, and John, for all you do. Well, Robin. Thank Robin. I'm guessing this is an educated guess or an uneducated one. Robin must have come by to our get together in friendship, don't you think?

[Andrew Walsh]

Probably so. Yeah. I met a lot of people that day.

[Luke Burbank]

There was a lot of folks from Wisconsin and from the surrounding areas who came out to that fun, fun night. I feel like our friend Elise was on the cutting edge when she brought that buzzball. Yeah. Because all I am seeing now on TikTok is buzzball content. There are. It is, it's one. I mean, it's the Twisted Tea of 2026. I feel like it's in the way that I think a lot of people. You maybe. I don't think you were drinking it ironically. I don't think you really like to do stuff ironically. But, like, I feel like twisted tea kind of had a moment of, of people drinking it. I don't want to say ironically, but like a little bit because it was a trend. But then people just were just drinking it because they, I don't know, I guess they liked it or you like it. And buzz balls are just. I saw somebody online or on TikTok, a young woman who had driven across state lines, I believe she had driven up to like Delaware or New Hampshire or somewhere because they apparently had buzz balls that she'd never experienced before. She's walking around the liquor store in whatever this state in the Northeast is and analyzing the different buzz balls. And man, people seem to love that stuff.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I saw that the stubbot brought a buzz ball to a party or sent a buzz ball to a party in his stead over the weekend last weekend. That's a true story. We had a. We had a little bit of a twisted tea tasting party over here last weekend. Luke, this is a true story.

[Luke Burbank]

Impromptu or was it the plan?

[Andrew Walsh]

Sort of impromptu. I'll explain to the degree that anybody actually needs to hear this. But when the weather does turn like this, I.

[Luke Burbank]

A man's thoughts turn to teas.

[Andrew Walsh]

A young man's thoughts do turn to twisting teas. And I was thinking and I think again. My brain was so mushy last week. I'm starting to kind of get into. I felt like last week I was all like kind of sleep deprived and sort of, like I said, jet lagged feeling. But I remember Friday rolled around and it was a nice day and I thought, oh, I've had this dream of walking a dog and drinking a twisted tea or whatever. And even though Lucy wasn't ready for a long walk at this point, I was ready for some twisted tea. So I went to the grocery store like my proper grocery store and, and I checked to see if they had. My deal is usually I buy a tall one single tall boy of twisted tea. Now a tall boy in this case is a 24 ouncer. Really a tall boy in beer is like a 16 ouncer. But a twisted tea tall boy is basically like two cans, you know, two 12 ounce cans all in one can. And I would usually pour that into my water bottle on, on the rocks and wander around the neighborhood or something. And I was in the mood to do that and, or at least drink one at home or something. So I go to the grocery store, my proper grocery store and apparently the proper grocery store, the Q, they're above selling Lucy's of, if you will, of twisted tea. I'm like, oh man, I guess I got to go to SARS for this because I wasn't going to buy like a 12 pack of it or something

[Luke Burbank]

so I can't get it outside the a.m. p.m. Well, I. Yeah, it feels like a parking lot purchase.

[Andrew Walsh]

Probably not going to be a full one. But the. But anyway so like, listen to, listen to how depraved this is. So I. I leave my regular grocery store with my proper groceries or whatever, and I'm like, well, I guess I gotta stop at the SARS on the way home to get my, you know, single, double can, single serving of Twisted Tea. And I go there and they were sold out. Like, they only had like peach flavored or something like that. And at this point, I've been thinking about it for like an hour or something since I left. And I left one grocery store to come to another slightly dirt baggier grocery store to get this thing. And I'm staring at it and then I'm looking over at the 12 packs, and then I'm staring at where it should be, and then I'm looking over

[Luke Burbank]

at the 12 packs after all this,

[Andrew Walsh]

and I'm like, am I gonna do this? And I'm like, well, I'm not leaving the SARS empty handed. Am I gonna buy a 12 pack? I did not like the idea of buying a 12 pack of Twisted Tees. Yeah, but I think, you know, where the.

[Luke Burbank]

Nobody does.

[Andrew Walsh]

I bought the 12 pack and I bought the Arnold Palmer kind. The ones that are like half.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Or whatever flavored half a tea. And I brought them home. And that night I listened to the Mariners game. I think that was that terrible, terrible game. That was also the terrible broadcast with Healy or whatever. And I had. I learned something important that night. I was by myself that night. And I drank two of them, which is my usual serving. And then I went in for a doctor's recommendation, I went in for a third. And I don't even think I finished the third because it's not the alcohol. They're, they're. They're equivalent of a beer is, you know, a can of beer, essentially sweetness, but it's not the sweetness and the sugar. And I was feeling like, racy and like, not grass. Like, okay, now we know our limits. Limits are two. Two cans, 20, 24 ounces. But then also I had a refrigerator full of these damn things now, as opposed to just like, oh, it's a Friday. Try to convince myself I'm doing this on a whim. And then folks were coming over. People have just been kind of coming and going, meeting Lucy. And we had a group of friends over, just briefly before Genevieve went to the Eagles last Saturday, a bunch of folks swangled by, as Kevin would say. In fact, he was one of them. And I had mentioned my 12 pack of twisteds and somebody said, well, I'd be interested I think it was our friend Liz said, well, I'd be interested. And I was like, okay, well do you want to split one with Kamaro Kev? And so I poured over ice for both of them. And then. And somebody else was like, oh, I'm sorry, were you handing out twisted teas and you didn't like. Literally somebody was like, well, I would like one as well. I'm like, all right, let's just do this. So I started pouring out some twisted teas over round ice balls.

[Luke Burbank]

So you got to show off your ice making skills.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. Because a twisted tea, I've never had a twisted tea. Not on ice, I would imagine that's even worse. I need it on ice to cut it a little bit.

[Luke Burbank]

That's. See this is so funny. I had always pictured you with it just like in the can.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I take my water bottle to SARS pre ice cubed. That was my move on my walks, so I couldn't even.

[Luke Burbank]

And then you fill your water bottle and then you. And. And then you would maybe enjoy a sip or two on your way home.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I think the first time I did it, it really was a whim. Like, I'll buy this thing. And so. And then I do think maybe I drank it on the way home or I brought it home. But I'm a big fan of, of pouring things over ice anyway. I think it improves it. I honestly, I've said many times, I think the best part, or not the best part, but the most important ingredient in a gin and tonic is the ice. Can you imagine drinking a gin and tonic that isn't on the rocks? That actually it gives you a bad.

[Luke Burbank]

Honestly, makes my stomach turn.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Something about the idea of warm gin.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh God, right. Just like floating light. That's probably how they do it in Europe because they have some aversion to ice over there. But anyway, so after I had my first twisted tea experience, I believe this was last summer, I was like, oh, what I'll do is I'll just take my water bottle, I'll keep some. I'll pre ice the water bottle at home. The same water bottle that I take to the gym, by the way. Love it.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, good.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then so I take it over to SARS. I buy my 24 ounce can of Twisted tea. And then in the parking lot between the SARS and the AMC oak tree, I pour the. The tea into the water bottle I love. There's never quite enough room in the water bottle.

[Luke Burbank]

Chase the rest of it.

[Andrew Walsh]

So you just have to down the Rest of it really quickly. Get rid of the can while the security guard is keeping an eye on you. And then you go to that walking bridge over Aurora and you stand up there and you watch the traffic go by, you watch the world go by, and you have yourself a little twisted. Tea on the rocks, my friend.

[Luke Burbank]

I honestly love this for you and I really mean that. Like, you know me and like, I'm very ritualistic about things and like, and, and. And stuff. Like, even though some people may be hearing that, they may be. They may be thinking that doesn't sound fun for them. I. I know exactly. Like, on a warm summer day, you kind of doing this little ritual standing up on that overpass. By, by the way, my new favorite furniture and art consignment place, Big Whale Consignment, which I've actually never been to, but I am absolutely obsessed with them. Lots of people have been sending us clips of this. This business owner, she owns this consignment store on Aurora, and she makes these unbelievably charming videos about the spot. In fact, I'm trying to pitch CBS if they'll let me do a story about basically small business owners that have really effectively harnessed social media. Because I just want to basically interview this woman and give her more attention.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's interesting. Yeah. And I love her because she's. That place that you're talking about is directly across Aurora Avenue from this shopping center that we're talking about.

[Luke Burbank]

This where the Garden ihop and everything.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. And she makes these videos that go viral. And she started, I think her very first big one a couple of years ago was like, hey, listen, this part of Aurora gets a really bad reputation here. I was on the podcast.

[Luke Burbank]

People drinking twisted teas out here.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right here. I was on the podcast. Gonna tell you about some of the worst things in my neighborhood not 20 minutes ago, which I sort of have mixed emotions about. Cause I'm very protective of my neighborhood. And I love where I. I live. And there's a lot of good things about it. And I. What I like is this woman says, hey, listen, North Aurora is not all just the bad stories you hear from people like Andrew Walsh on his podcast. Like, we have a lot of good things going, including my store, and you should come visit. In fact, Luke, literally this very minute, I just got the latest email from this neighborhood thread about the activity going on down the street and said, I don't think anyone has mentioned reaching out to the media yet. Is there any appetite to contact a local news outlet? This person doesn't know that the media has already been covering it on this show, which is about. Exactly. The media is on it. But the important thing is that nobody in my neighborhood knows that I do this job. That would be a very bad development.

[Luke Burbank]

Do not, under any circumstances, anyone blow up Andrew's spot. I was trying to see if I could find on the fly, a big whale, one of her videos. Here we go. Let me. Let me just play this for you. This famously. When we play stuff off of Instagram and YouTube or it goes great, but here, let's try this here.

[Harvey Levin]

I'm a consignment shop on Seattle's infamous Aurora Avenue. And everybody told me it would fail, but I'm still here. When I opened my shop, I really wasn't taking Aurora's colorful reputation.

[Luke Burbank]

By the way, she's standing under your twisted tea bridge. Yeah, she is in the media.

[Andrew Walsh]

Watch closely. She might get a little drop of stew from my water bottle as it drips. There's a.

[Luke Burbank]

A guy, a bearded guy ambling across the bridge. He looks a little turned up.

[Andrew Walsh]

Watch your tongue.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Harvey Levin]

Into consideration. I just needed somewhere to hide all the. I was buying so my husband doesn't find out what some would call a big mistake. I would call a bold choice because although we've had our fair share of broken windows, unique visitors, and interesting business propositions, we turned a consignment shop on Seattle's wildest street into a home for over 150 local artists. Big Wheel is a lot of things, but mistake is not one of them. And Aurora Avenue might be a lot of things, too. We're just here to show people what else it could be.

[Luke Burbank]

I love her so much. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

And there's a little. By the way, her place abuts a little art space. I think that art, like kind of a. A communal art space or of some sort that I've never been in. Like, there are cool things going on.

[Luke Burbank]

I think she might run that space, too. In one of the videos she taught.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I think she talked about 150 local artists. I think that's an expansion of.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I didn't know that.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I think so. It's kind of. Yeah, it's like she's got consignment and then she's also got all this art that's for sale that's from local artists and stuff. Like, I mean, I just think that it's so great. So anyway, all that is to say thank you very much. We really appreciate the support from Robin.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is that where we are in the show?

[Luke Burbank]

We're still there.

[Andrew Walsh]

I thought we were in Top Stories.

[Luke Burbank]

We have not played that yet, but we're going to now. Thanks, Robin. We would not be here without you.

[Andrew Walsh]

You.

[Courtroom Announcer]

Hello and welcome to Top Story.

[Luke Burbank]

Now we're in Top Stories. And Andrew, speaking of Internet audio, I'm actually very intrigued by this. Yesterday on the show, we got into an RFK Jr conversation and.

[Andrew Walsh]

And he says, RFK Jr says skin not effective. Is that what it was?

[Luke Burbank]

Something to that effect? Let's see. RFK Jr. The Onion headlines. Let's see here the archives. Let's see.

[Andrew Walsh]

Questions efficacy of skin. RFK Jr questions efficacy of skin swollen.

[Luke Burbank]

RFK Jr warns Americans not eating enough bees.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did you see today's headline yesterday, by the way? Yeah, I almost sent it to you. I'm doing this off the. Off the cuff here, but it says, RFK Jr spins brain on finger.

[Luke Burbank]

And there's just a photo of him spinning his brain like a Harlem Globetrotter spinning a basketball.

[Andrew Walsh]

The reason you were buying time yesterday and reading those Onion headlines, which were just hilarious, was because I had told you about a piece of tape that I had seen on the. What do you say, ascendant social media platform blue sky of some congressional hearing where a senator is talking and you hear the death rattle of breathing coming from RFK Jr. And you don't even see him. The camera is not an RFK jun. The camera is on. What's the sender's name? Is it. Is it literally Crapo Crepe? I knew it wasn't Crapo, but it might as well be. And he is so basically at some sort of an HHS hearing. I actually don't even know what was going on. This was earlier this week, but the senator is actually kind of praising RFK

[Luke Burbank]

Jr. Programs, ID, and he's a Republican.

[Andrew Walsh]

While he's talking, you just so basically, what do you call the table during a hearing that, like the test, the people testifying sit at whatever.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know what the name for

[Andrew Walsh]

that is, but RFK Jr. Is presumably sitting there.

[Luke Burbank]

Mike Crapo, by the way, not Mark Crapo.

[Andrew Walsh]

And anyway, so Senator Crapo is talking, but while he's talking, you just hear RFK Jr breathing into the microphone, which is always a bad sound. But, Luke, let me put it this way. I believe this to be real. I found this elsewhere online as well, I guess because we don't see him. Maybe the Internet is fooling me, but I really don't think so.

[Luke Burbank]

TBT has not independently verified this report.

[Andrew Walsh]

I haven't individually Verified or independently verified it. But take a listen to this. It sounds like a joke. It sounds a lot like. I don't know if I told you this about Lucy, but she snores. I don't know if puppies are supposed to snore. It sounds like Lucy is in the room during this testimony.

[Senator or Official]

The many that you described in your testimony, in that context, in your testimony, you identified nutrition as a bedrock of health and one of the primary levers for treating and preventing chronic disease.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now, we're going to keep going. This here's one of the reasons I believe it's real. At the very, very end. And they cut to him, you see RFK Jr. And you're at the very end of this, you're just going to hear him say two or three words, and there is no doubt that the voice matches these breathing sounds.

[Senator or Official]

You also emphasize that it's imperative for our nation's health care providers to be equipped to incorporate nutrition into patient care. Securing commitments from more than 50 medical schools to provide at least 40 hours of nutrition education is an incredible start. I don't think it was very long ago that there was probably very little nutrition taught in medical school, and now we are encouraging that to be a focal point. How does HHS plan to build on this progress? By securing additional commitments from medical schools and expanding nutrition education into other key areas, such as residency training, medical licensing, and continuing medical education.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you very much, Chairman.

[Andrew Walsh]

He's in charge of our health.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's the thing. Look, I mean, he has, I think the condition is called spasmodic dysphonia, which is, you know, a thing that happens to folks. So his speaking voice is. Is odd. I don't think anyone would. I. Obviously, we. Even for the RFK juniors of the world, it's probably not cool to make fun of that.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's a good point. I guess. I didn't know.

[Luke Burbank]

No, no, I'm not.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm not trying to. That's context, I guess. I didn't re. I don't. I don't think I knew that. Or if so, I kind of forgot it.

[Luke Burbank]

That was not meant to, like, be trying to correct you.

[Andrew Walsh]

I get.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I'm. I'm trying to work my way to a place where I do feel like we should make fun of that, because everything else about him. I guess what I was going to say is it's like when stuff about RFK Jr is when. When things about his physicality are odd, to me, they are magnified because he's supposed to be in Charge of our health as a nation. And he promotes so many things that are so. So opposite of that and so anti science. And so, yeah, like, there's just even, like, Even stuff like his voice, which, again, would normally be off limits in my mind. It's like, is it off limits? I don't know. The whole thing is just so complicated because of his specific job, which is trying, which is putting. I think he's putting a lot of Americans in danger with the. With the people he's firing, the competent people. He's getting rid of the incompetent people. He's pointing his suspicion around vaccines, his suspicion around the fact that, according to this headline from the Onion, RFK Jr urges Americans to grow lots of pubes to keep bugs from crawling into hole. You know, I just. Some of it's medically very questionable, but. But no, it's like. And then he's also just like. He's strangely buff, like, weirdly buff for his age, and is doing these workout videos with Kid Rock that are so, like, just upsetting and ridiculous. But then again, his breathing. That sounds very unhealthy. He's also been seen smoking cigarettes. He tans. He's on all kinds.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's the thing. When the camera finally shoots him, you're like, oh, my God, he looks like a puddle of death. Like, he's so.

[Luke Burbank]

He's. He's like, you really. It's like. It's like, you know, somebody went to, like, a Chipotle or one of these places where you get to choose all of your ingredients, and they just chose every weird intervention a guy of his age could do. Like, I'll take some hormone. I'll take some trt. And I'll take some. I'll take some tanning. And I'll take some. Just like, everything that. I mean, yeah, I'll take some ketamine. We don't. TBTL is not independently verified that he is taking ketamine, but sounds about right. I'll take some. Also some, you know, some sort of whatever the Blue Chew Gold. Whatever the boner pill of the moment is like.

[Andrew Walsh]

Gold. Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

You don't know about Blue Chew Golden.

[Andrew Walsh]

I assumed you were throwing gold on there for comedic purposes. Is that actually a thing that you've heard?

[Luke Burbank]

I. It's a thing now that's supposed to like. So this is the evolution of the. If we can. We just said the wordhole. So I guess. And are we. Yeah, we just got into the badlands. I think that, you know, we're. It's A Friday, it's after 11 o'.

[Andrew Walsh]

Clock.

[Luke Burbank]

We can say whatever we want. No, but like I think that the I see like on TikTok or whatever I'll see these ads for various male enhancement and. And I guess now the, the new, the leading edge of the kind of boner pill science because I think what's happened is. I think what's happened is that with much like. With like sports betting being so ubiquitous, it's so available on everyone's phone all the time. Just everyone has started like not everyone but a huge number of people have started to do it, particularly a huge number of young men. I think we with the innovation of like mail order pharmacy stuff and like a ton of ads for like you know, what we would call male enhancement or you know, a male erectile problems. I think a lot of males have availed themselves of it. But now those pills aren't working as well anymore is the sense I get. Because now the ads aren't just like we're going to send you this pill and she's going to like it too. It's now it's like why aren't the ads are like why. Why aren't your pills working?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh I have not. You know what I mean? Cuz what I hear are these low. I just hear these ads for like local clinics that are kind of like guys, are you stake still taking those pills with the side effects and the price like you. That's not, that's not a permanent solution. You have to come here and we're gonna put air in your veins or whatever they do.

[Luke Burbank]

We're gonna give you an embolism and she's gonna like it too. Guys, would you like to look more like RFK Jr? Let us shoot all your veins up with air.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're gonna look small.

[Luke Burbank]

I get the feeling that, I get that. Do you wish you could work out with Kid Rock in a video? I get the feeling that, that because just like anything there's these sort of law of unintended consequences and what's happening is like if all these fellers are taking all these pills at some point you're. I get. I would imagine your body adjusts to it or something to where now again what I'm seeing is the ads are all like are the pills not working for you anymore? It's because. Because it's not just physical, it's mental. And so what the bluechew gold. And I guess I'm just doing an ad for them now. What it purports to do is somehow Fix the physical, which is a blood flow issue, but also get you real excited in your brain because they're trying to basically expl. Like, the pitch that they're making to guys is that this is not purely a blood flow issue. It's also a, like, are you excited enough in your mind? Flow issue. And they're purporting that this thing is. Fixes both of those.

[Andrew Walsh]

And that just sounds good. I mean, it sounds like going against nature in this way is probably like making men. Making men more horny is really what we need as a society. Because that is particularly a problem.

[Luke Burbank]

Particularly men of a certain age.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, exactly. And a certain worldview in. In some cases as well. But you do. You know, the thing that. That. That irritates me the most about this, Luke, is you're already called Bluechew. You already have a color, and now you're adding another color. Why is it not Blue or Chew? It should be Blue or Chew.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, yes. Bluechew Gold is like, you're not. It's right there in front of you. Blue or Chew. I'm also really curious. What can we expect in Third Wave Bonerism? Because we're in second wave right now, and.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can I just answer the question you're thinking right now? No, it's not a show title.

[Luke Burbank]

Listen, I was. I'm leaving that to the listeners to decide. Please sign my. My petition online to make Third Wave Bonerism today's show title. But, like, because, you know, what is it? Because whatever this is, it'll stop working at some point, you know, or if it even works at all. And then it'll be like, are the. Is Bluechew Gold not working for you anymore?

[Andrew Walsh]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

It's because you're not hearing enough kid rock music in your head while you're making love.

[Andrew Walsh]

Blue Chew Platinum is up next.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, it'll just keep. They just have to keep ratcheting it up. But anyway, that I will say that breathing from RFK Jr. Is. Is upsetting because it's like. What I would say is whatever is happening with this guy's physical body, it's not. It doesn't seem good. Like, I don't think that the goal is to have more people, particularly more men, their bodies operating in the way that RFK jr's body appears to be operating or not operating. Like, he's such a. Such a. You see him on. And again, I'm not judging what people eat, but you see him on the airplane with Trump, and he's got McDonald's in front of him. And it's like, you know, again, everyone should eat what they want to eat. But I think we can all agree that a steady diet of McDonald's is not really going to be doing anybody any good. And it's like this is the person who's again, allegedly looking out for our health, you know, and, and, and yeah, he's just.

[Andrew Walsh]

Maybe he hasn't had enough elk meat. Maybe he hasn't eaten enough raw elk meat. That's probably the problem.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, he just needs to look on the roof of his car. Yeah, he seems to us some kind

[Andrew Walsh]

of roadkill up there in the city

[Luke Burbank]

we haven't even talked about. I actually meant to bring this up as a real show topic. And here we are at the end of the week, so I can just. I don't have a lot to say on it, so it can just be a quickie. But like, listen, it's to. It is questionable to me if TMZ is a force for good or ill in our world. I would say it's definitely on the line. If not, probably not great just because of, I don't know just what it would. The kind of information that they generally traffic in. But have you seen there was a big New Yorker article about the fact that TMZ recently decided to unleash their people in D.C. and it's kind of awesome.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I have. And I'm totally unaware of this story.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, like, you know, they. TMZ has never been a particularly political organization, although I actually think Harvey Levin, the founder, has good politics. Like, he is a generally, I think, slightly progressive person. And so I think maybe just because they had sort of like, they were at their limit with like LA coverage, you know, there's like, there's only so many scandals and so many crimes and whatever paparazzi photos that can be taken. So this may have been a purely business move on their part. They were like, well, you know what's kind of like as they used to say, Hollywood for ugly people.

[Andrew Walsh]

People.

[Luke Burbank]

It's dc. What if we just like put our. What if we gave D.C. the. What's it? 30 mile zone? Is that what TMZ stands for?

[Andrew Walsh]

I always forgot about that. Yeah, right.

[Luke Burbank]

If we gave DC the 30 mile zone treatment and they have been. And it's great because the TMZ guys de gaff. They degaff.

[Andrew Walsh]

And the people mining their d gaff

[Luke Burbank]

like, you know what I mean? Like, and by that I just mean there is a certain even. Even in this day and age, even in 2026, there is a certain level of I guess what you would say is an attempt at decorum that is followed by the Washington media elite, by the people that are generally standing around in the scrum or in the press avail who are are trying to talk to RFK Jr. Or who are trying to talk to Mike Johnson, speaker of the House or who are trying to talk to whomever it is. And they, because the people that get, when you get to the job. I used to cover D.C. you know, I covered Congress for NPR and even I had a small sense of it, emphasis on small because I never really knew what was going on and I was not good at it. But like you get there, you got your BlackBerry, everyone's dressed in suits and appropriate business attire and you take yourself a little bit seriously because you are at the kind of right sort of at the edge of where the political power rests. And it's hard to not have it make you think that you are an important person because you're interviewing, interviewing important people. And it would feel, it would appear that the TMZ people parachuted in and de gaffe about decorum. They just are like I feel like I have this memory. I don't know if they were interviewing evul was they were yelling at RFK Jr. Or someone who supports him about roadkill on his roof. That's why I thought of it. But they just, they just will ask the question that they need to ask. And, and listen, there are certainly Democrat politicians that are shady and get up to no good and those people should be held accountable in my opinion. But right now it definitely feels like it's running much more hot on the Republican side and you have so many Republican politicians that are so complicit in what's going on and so two faced where they, they are so afraid of criticizing Donald Trump and his actions because they don't want to get primaried. But you know also that they kind of hate it because it's bad politics for them. In other words, they hate what's going on. They hate the war in Iran because it's making gas prices higher and they've got to go home to their district and defend six dollar gas. Like they're just caught in this impossible position that they made for themselves by the way say. But if they're talking to like a reporter from ABC they can prevaricate. They can kind of just like they can, they can sort of just eventually keep a varying and not answering the question until the ABC reporter just thinks it's rude for me to keep Asking. This is not working on the TMZ people.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's, it's kind. I wish I could give you a specific example off top of my head. I can't. But there's just something about this, this very like, kind of just like, I don't know, rapacious, absolutely no sense of. Again, I just keep using that word decorum, just like media bot that is a TMZ reporter being unleashed on a rapacious, no sense of decency Republican politician that just feels like, boy, you've met your match. Yeah, I kind of enjoy it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I, and there's, there's something too about. And this isn't a fun place to take the show. But, but you talk about holding everybody accountable, whether or not they're, they have an R or a D after their name. And I feel like those, those, those letters kind of mean less and less anyway. But generally speaking, when you do have somebody who is clearly, I don't know, like clearly corrupt or whatever, the Democrats do not support that person to the end, whereas the Republicans will. And maybe I'm, maybe, I mean, I guess you can just make the argument that maybe I'm blinded by this and I certainly am, you know, out over my skis as far as like following this stuff closely. But like, you know, like if, if somebody is caught doing something absolutely terrible, Trump will go out of his way to speak kindly of them or pardon them if given the opportunity. Whereas if you have a Bob Nendez or whatever, the Democrats are like, get out of here. You know what I mean? Like, I do think that's a notable difference. Unless I'm for getting some notable examples, people. I mean, I guess the right would say, well, what about the Clintons? But it's kind of like nobody has voted for Bill Clinton since a lot of this stuff has come out, you know what I mean? And I certainly never, I just, that, that shit doesn't work on me while we're just swearing because I never voted for that guy. That was before my time and I wouldn't vote for that guy.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think there are any Democrats or people who tend to vote Democrat who, if Bill Clinton was implicated in, say, the Epstein files in a way that was provable about his, his other than just being generally a creep. But if it was like, if, like, oh, oh, dear God, don't send Bill

[Andrew Walsh]

Clinton to prison, oh yeah, I'm going to stand up to defend that guy.

[Luke Burbank]

You know what I mean? It's like, I mean, that's the thing and that's One of the asymmetries about the mindset of Democrats and the mindset of Republicans is, I think, unfortunately not unfortunately, but for what it's worth, if there is somebody who's a Democrat who is provably acting inappropriately on whatever level, the Democrats, I think, are generally pretty quick to say, get out of here. Like, we can't. We don't stand behind you. Whether it's, I mean, if it's Eric Swalwell in California, nobody was defending him early on. You know, it's like, it's like the theory of the case is that bad actors have to be rooted out, even if they're your own bad actors, because otherwise you're a hypocrite. And again, there are exceptions to that from time to time. You know, there was this congresswoman in Florida who just had to step down. She was implicated in stealing a bunch of, I think it was sort of like Covid funds. And I will say that the Democrats in that case, what they were doing, their official position was let the legal system run its course as opposed to preemptively removing her, which I think was probably also a power play. They didn't want to lose one more voting member because it's such a razor thin margin. So I don't think that was a great move. She did leave, leave hours before there was a hearing about her. So eventually it got to her. There was this kind of weird detente between the Swalwell people and this or the Swalwell leaving and this guy in Texas who was a Republican who had had an affair with a staffer who later ended her own life but wouldn't step down, like just a guy who seemed to act. So basically what happened was the Republicans, Democrats came to some backdoor deal that was like, we'll lose one and you'll lose one kind of a thing. But.

[Andrew Walsh]

But you're right, I didn't real. I had heard both of those mentioned on NPR in regards to the Sawwell story, but I kind of didn't realize that last piece that you just put together that is probably a some they

[Luke Burbank]

reached this point now, this didn't end up happening, but there was basically this like, there was like two Congress members who were Republican, two who were Democrat who were kind of like, yeah, these guys got to go. But neither side wanted to have their folks go without the other folks there. There was talk of like a kind of an agreement of like, okay, fine, we'll take out two of our people, you take out two of yours, and then everything is kind of the way it was before. And then we can all like pat ourselves on the back for being, you know, disciplined. But I do think that generally speaking, Democrats are, are, are quicker to get rid of somebody from, from our side of things who we feel has acted very obviously and appropriately. I want to clarify one thing. I said it was a New Yorker piece. I think it was actually this New York magazine piece that Charlotte Klein wrote. Washington Enters its TMZ era the three members of TMZ's new Washington D.C. bureau arrived at Capitol Hill last Monday ready and eager to stick their camera in the lawmakers faces and ask them uncomfortable questions. But they were surprised to find that members of the House wouldn't be returning to work for another day. I was laughing. Oh, just wait until you see how infrequently these people work, said one congressional reporter. It's like a maximum four day week. The celebrity gossip outlet's Washington operation had started off with a bang. The partial government shutdown had enraged TMZ founder Harvey Levin, who thought he might shame Congress back into session by publicizing how lawmakers were spending their recesses while federal workers went without pay. The photos did not disappoint. There was a khaki clad Lindsey Graham at Disney World holding a bubble wand and boarding Space Mountain.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I saw those. I didn't realize that TMZ's work.

[Luke Burbank]

There was Ted Cruz scrolling in his economy plus seat. There were members of Congress touring Edinburgh Castle while on a trip to Scotland. The reaction in D.C. was oh that's just a codal, said Washington communications veteran New Wexler, referring to a congressional delegation. It wasn't clear TMZ understood the distinction or if it cares, it just, you know, again, it's sad that this is, you know what this like it's sad that like it's like TMZ to the rescue. But you know what I mean. It's like when we live in this era of like a post shame era where it's like Congress can be not doing its job and Lindsey Graham can just be wandering around Disney with a bubble wand.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And like the only people, you know, the only people that have the resources to send someone down there. It's frickin tmz.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

You know, I mean it's all the legacy media is contracting. They don't have someone to go catch Lady G down there. And yet TMZ does. So I guess what any port in

[Andrew Walsh]

the storm now it's a 3,3030 mile radius or zone. I guess.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. Yeah. That's that's probably the math on that. So, I mean, I'll put that down as one of my. And I know I've told this story before, but like I knew Harvey Levin, I mean, didn't know him, but the Harvey Levin used to be the on street reporter for the People's Court. So they used to do this bit on the People's Court where, you know, in between. And I don't even think they, they didn't shoot any of this at the same time. I'm sure this is all shot at different moments. But the idea was the People's Court's going on and there's a case and it's the case of whatever. The dry cleaner shrank the clothes and now these people are mad. And, and then they'd go, now let's get the on street reaction. And it would just be Harvey Levin who'd be on the street, just asking people who they thought was at fault in the case. And then the people, you know, just. And it, like, I think it was usually New Yorkers. So that's how you know, it wasn't shot in order because like People's Court, I'm sure, was shot on the soundstage in Burbank or something, but it'd be Harvey Levin on the streets of New York talking to people, people with, let's just say, limited legal training about who they thought was at fault in this particular dispute. So that's how I knew about Harvey Levin, because he was a actually trained lawyer. That's his background. Then I remember one day seeing him on TMZ or on, on CNN rather, as the founder of something called TMZ.com and I thought, boy, this ain't going anywhere. What a, what a misstep. You just left being the People's Court on street legal analyst to found some BS thing called TMZ.com that's going, that's absolutely going nowhere.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, why don't you go hang out with the guy who's making that micro blogging platform?

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. Just another case of me, me always picking them wrong.

[Andrew Walsh]

Why is there not. Why has somebody not put together like a montage of Harvey Levin on the People's Court? Like I'm seeing one tick tock where somebody trains their phone camera on their television for a clip of him on the People's Court. But you would just think that more people would be sort of fascinated by that era of his career.

[Luke Burbank]

Only me, Andrew. Yeah, only me.

[Andrew Walsh]

But. And I guess so that era would have been kind of, oh, here I might have found A little bit of something here. If I can get YouTube to please.

[Luke Burbank]

What I would love. I want to hear the on the street people weighing in on the case.

[Courtroom Announcer]

So can this landlord really make the argument that the landlord couldn't rent the apartment out again because there's a TV sitting there?

[Senator or Official]

No.

[Luke Burbank]

Move the TV out.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's ridiculous.

[Courtroom Announcer]

Even if the TVs sitting there, does that mean a tenant's, oh, I'm not going to move in if there's a TV there?

[Andrew Walsh]

No way. No way.

[Courtroom Announcer]

I mean, would any tenant say, I'm not going to move in because the TV is sitting there when he shows me the.

[Luke Burbank]

No.

[Andrew Walsh]

If anything, it adds to the value

[Courtroom Announcer]

of the apartment because there's a TV that you're not going to get when you move in.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Courtroom Announcer]

Whatever. Going inside the courtroom.

[Luke Burbank]

Harvey, what do you got?

[Courtroom Announcer]

You know, in many states, if a landlord doesn't return the security deposit that is owed within 14 days of the time the tenant vacates, the landlord is not only on the hook for security, but on the hook for penalties as well. That will do it for this case. Litigants for the next case. On the way into the courtroom right now.

[Andrew Walsh]

So he's just standing on the street. I had never seen this before. He's just standing on the street. He's on a. He's accumulated, maybe, or gathered maybe, like, I don't know, maybe there's 10 women behind him or just, like, waiting to weigh in on this particular case as he sets it up for them. That is amazing stuff.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Yeah. So, again, Harvey Levin, I think, was ahead of the curve on this, realizing that the true future of media was in sending shameless people. Actually, Howard Stern was ahead of the curve because he had stuttering jaws going up and asking celebrities inappropriate questions of him. But right behind that was Harvey Levin and tmz. And now they're all. They're our only hope for journalism.

[Andrew Walsh]

I can't believe TMZ started in 2005. Like, I feel like, oh, it's always been there. Or I would have put it in the 90s or something like that.

[Luke Burbank]

But no, I would have to. I would have to. I mean, he got a lot of. He also. I mean, Harvey Levin is a very. He's a very shrewd individual. I think he. I feel like he also was big on cnn. I mean, because, again, he was an attorney who was good at being on television. So I don't know if he popped up during the O stuff or not, but I just feel like he was kind of a He was a sort of go to on, like, you know, CNN a lot for, like, legal stuff and everything. So he's, He's. Yeah, he's a smart, smart individual. So keep, keep, keep at it. Harvey, if you're hearing this, his nephew did produce the TBTL live shows at the Columbia City Theater. Adam. Adam Levin. The guy who produced that stuff for us is Harvey Levin.

[Andrew Walsh]

I remember you telling me about Adam. You had a lot.

[Luke Burbank]

You.

[Andrew Walsh]

You worked with Adam and you would tell stories about how, how good he was at that.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, and he was really good at it, but he was bringing a totally different energy too, which was like, I remember we were in like, a sound check and somebody was messing up and he was not having it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Very task mastery, right?

[Luke Burbank]

I was like, this is why you're good at this, because this is not a. This. You're not treating this like it's a barn raising where we're all just hanging out and chilling and doing like. This was very serious stuff.

[Andrew Walsh]

I didn't. I remember you telling me those stories. If you had told me about the connection to Harvey, I. I totally did not remember that at all.

[Luke Burbank]

His nephew. So we've got a little. There's a teeny bit of Harvey Levin DNA coursing through the TBTL origin story or whatever you want to call it. So. All right, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is that it for the day? Should I get this rolling?

[Luke Burbank]

I think. I think it's time. I see my neighbor Bob is already out mowing his lawn. It's competitive lawn mowing out here, Andrew. Yeah, when Bob's got his. Yeah, when he's. Yeah. That's Brian, Brian's boy. More m. Brian. Brian got the biggest delivery of gravel the other day. He got Gravel Mountain. And then he's out there on his skid loader just, like, leveling. I'm very jealous.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, man.

[Luke Burbank]

Very jealous. His gravel is just. His gravel is absolutely on point right now. And mine is just a.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's beautiful.

[Luke Burbank]

Mine's a pockmarked mess. But anyway, I'm gonna get it worked out. I really will.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can you steal his in the middle of the night? Bring it over, bucket.

[Luke Burbank]

Feel like he's got security cameras for that exact, exact thing. I think he would definitely figure it out. So. All right, that is going to do it for today's episode and bring us to the end of our broadcast week. Thanks again for being here with us. We're gonna be back here on Monday with more imaginary radio, so please do stop by for that. In the meantime, everyone have an amazing weekend. Hope you can get out and enjoy the nice weather. Go, Mariners. And please remember, no mountain too tall.

[Andrew Walsh]

And good luck to all. D. Power out.