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Luke Burbank
God, you get a lot of B52s. Yes.
Andrew Walsh
I have no idea why I have
Luke Burbank
Fred Schneider's solo album.
Andrew Walsh
Why did I buy this funky little purchase? Is that your Fred Schneider? Yeah. Why did I buy this funky little purchase?
Luke Burbank
We have our own Freds. Okay.
Andrew Walsh
TBTL
Luke Burbank
oh, look at this.
Andrew Walsh
What do we got here?
Luke Burbank
We've got some big, bad voodoo daddy. We've got some Cherry poppins. Daddies. Lots of daddies.
Andrew Walsh
Are you all afraid? No. Daddy's here for you, my widow. Angels.
Luke Burbank
Don't take this the wrong way, but you've just been kind of hanging around a lot lately, which isn't a bad thing, but it's also not a good thing. See you later, suckers.
Andrew Walsh
I'm taking myself on a hot air balloon ride. All right.
Luke Burbank
Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Tuesday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live.
Andrew Walsh
It's your lucky day. You just found a USB flash drive in the parking lot.
Luke Burbank
My name is Luke Burbank. I'm your host.
Andrew Walsh
There's a Hidden Valley ranch party in my mouth.
Luke Burbank
Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio perched high above the mighty Columbia, where I usually report what the weather patterns are. But I just can't figure this out. Today it was when Andrew and I established our recording line, it was torrentially raining. This is like four, four minutes ago, torrentially raining. So I had the Denzel. Didn't know you like to get wet, though. Ready to go. And now in those four minutes, rain stopped. Clouds have parted. It's blue skies.
Andrew Walsh
I don't. This is so confusing, Ron.
Luke Burbank
I don't know what's going to be happening in the weather front, but I have a pretty good idea of what's going to be happening on the content side of episode 4745 in a collector series, Let the fun begin, which is where we have landed. Right now, there's a scandal enveloping Flavortown and its mayor, Guy Fieri. How dare you? There is a growing body of evidence on the Internet that he does not actually swallow any of the food that he's eating when he's at a diner. A drive or a diner dive. Drive in.
Andrew Walsh
Any memories are made in. In your mouth.
Luke Burbank
We'll do a deep dive on if Guy Fieri is actually swallowing the food that he's eating or pretending to eat. This guy always uses his mouth to make memories, Some of them not great. Honestly, he's the longest running cobra of the show, maybe best known for not waiting for his pizza to cool down long enough and his depictions of the tall ships. He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.
Andrew Walsh
Weirdly, that sound was me trying to explain my take on city politics specifically.
Luke Burbank
Oh, this was from the Burian debate.
Andrew Walsh
Certainly was. Hey, listen, I'm kind of hoping that you didn't look too closely at your email today, because do you remember on yesterday's show how blown away we were by the kismet, the coincidences? I believe the big ones were. We started talking at the beginning of the show about Comedy Bang Bang in some detail. Then later on, a dazzling donor brought up Comedy Bang Bang and wanted us to talk more about it.
Luke Burbank
I've been following them on the road. The very tour that I was talking
Andrew Walsh
to you about, there was quite a bit of a Subway sandwich talk. And then our other dazzling donor brought up sandwich talk right away and her dazzling donor message. Anyway, there were like very, as I, as I lay it out here, if somebody hadn't heard the show, maybe that sounds like weak tea, but I was legitimately blown away by all of the coincidences there. And then I opened up also my email today and I was blown away again because there were two other very big topics on the show yesterday that we either planned on talking about or accidentally landed on. One was the podcast Subway Takes. I paused there because I was trying to figure out. It is a podcast, we have decided. But also you and I know mostly as the clips that are excerpted for TikTok where people are riding the subway and they offer the host some hot take they have on a topic and then they parlay that into a full podcast. And we're also talking about the term, the slang term, not on my bingo card. Right. That was something that you had brought up and you said you're just kind of sick of people using that expression. And also, it didn't really make a lot of sense to you.
Luke Burbank
That's the thing. I don't even know if I'd say I'm sick of it. I'm just, I'm confused because I don't think of bingo cards as displaying. Like in this case, it was unfortunately, Simone Biles had a health scare and she said, I didn't have that on my bingo card. I'm curious about the bingo cards where health scare would be something that would complete your bingo or be part of your bingo card.
Andrew Walsh
Well, this part isn't so much of a coincidence, although it is funny. We heard from a lot of listeners who said, you guys sent us a TBTL bingo card, like seven years ago with a whole bunch of things written on it.
Luke Burbank
I was like, oh, health scare on there.
Andrew Walsh
I don't think health scare was on there, but people were like, I got one voicemail from somebody. I think it was Nancy, who was very flushed. She's like, did I invent that? Didn't you send me a TBTL bingo card with a bunch of things written on it? But putting that aside for. And you're not crazy, Nancy. We did do that, but putting that aside for a second. We also got this piece of tape that was sent to us from listener Greg, a little clip of Colin Jost on the TV show, or let's say podcast, Subway Takes. So what's your take? The expression no way, I didn't have that on my bingo card is the dumbest expression I've ever heard. 100% agree. I feel like if you're playing a lot of bingo, which obviously on Subway Takes, this is on Subway Takes. And I want you to. I didn't grab, obviously, the whole thing. I just got 30 seconds there. I think you'll actually. No, that's okay. I think you'll enjoy it. But yeah, we were talking about Subway Takes quite a bit yesterday in the show. And the other big topic was the bingo card conversation. And Colin, Greg was like, oh, this might be relevant to yesterday's show. So what's your take? The expression I didn't have that on my bingo card is the dumbest expression I've ever heard. 100% agree. I feel like if you're playing a lot of bingo, which obviously I am all the time, if you've ever looked at a bingo card, it makes no sense. There's not like predictions on a bingo card. It's just letters and numbers. The only things on a bingo card are bingo, right? Unless you're writing things onto a bingo card to keep notes for predictions of the future, it's just letters and numbers. Or unless you just have B64, like B64 happens to you. If I opened a newspaper and the headline said B64, I'd be like, oh, I had that on my. That's a pretty good joke.
Luke Burbank
This hurts because they're just doing what we did, but better.
Andrew Walsh
I don't enjoy that on Subway, but it's on. I mean, does that not blow you away that it was on Subway Takes? And also exactly what we're talking about yesterday? So, Greg, I mean, thank you for sending that in. I'm glad I checked my email today.
Luke Burbank
I worry of the universe is getting close to folding in on itself. Yeah, that's a level of coincidence. That. And, you know, I know that there's. I know that that doesn't mean there's. I don't know, some larger forces at work. But it's hard to not think something's going on metaphysically, because that's crazy. Not. I mean, how often do we talk about that random clip show Subway Takes? Not that often.
Andrew Walsh
Not that it comes up from time to time. I mean, this is the only other thing we're also talking about mentalists. I mean, is there any chance that that had buried itself in your subconscious somewhere? And I didn't even think of that when I was grabbing the tape.
Luke Burbank
Maybe I saw it.
Andrew Walsh
I mean, you do get a bit of a fugue state maybe while you're scrolling. And by the way, that's not why I brought this up. I'm just thinking that now. I mean, that could, you know, that's possible.
Luke Burbank
That is totally possible. That in one of my fugue states of furiously observing TikTok, I guess that could have. I could have seen that. Not remembered that I had seen it and then adopted it as my own take. That's very possible. Actually. I don't have any conscious memory of seeing that clip before, and I certainly wouldn't have intentionally ripped off Colin Jost's bit. I would have just attributed it to him. But it's. I cannot rule out the fact that the possibility that I maybe saw that and. And then just completely forgot that I saw that.
Andrew Walsh
Well, let me ask you this again. I've written this down. I've put in an envelope. Who do you think is the top basketball player in college right now? And I've put this in an envelope.
Luke Burbank
How many. Let me count the letters in his name.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
Please do not to go into O's the mentalist talk again, because nobody cares except me. But, like, I was obsessed with the fact that long before I knew he was a mentalist, I had read an article about a guy who set the world record for most times running around Central Park. And it was a crazy story of a feat of endurance, and the guy was named Oz Perlman. And I was like. Then later, when we had the rise of the mentalist, I was like, that's the guy who ran like a hundred laps around Central Park. Like, how is that not even part of his backstory? And he never talks about. I mean, I know you were reading his Wikipedia page the other yesterday, and it mentioned that he's like a distance runner, but I feel like, you know, for all the mentalism, which is impressive, his ability to, as a performer is impressive to me. I would be leading with the fact that I was holding the world record for most laps around Central park in a given 24 hour period. It was a really well written piece in the New York Times. Just about, like, how unbelievably difficult this thing he did was and how he was basically, like kind of losing his mind at the end, but he just kept doing. I think it's about a. It's like a six and a half mile loop. If you do the inside loop of Central park, which I like to do when I'm in town, I don't do it a hundred times or however many times Oz Perlman did. But, like, every time I hear him being interviewed, I want him at some point to take a pause on the mentalism and to just go, oh, by the way, I hold the record most times. Just because that's just wild that the same person who can do all these really amazing parlor tricks of supposed mentalism also just weirdly has run around Central park more than anyone else has in a given day.
Andrew Walsh
Where do you see? This is a weird question, but I'm being earnest about it out of curiosity. Like, when you presented, however, Oz came up on the show yesterday. I had never heard of him at all. Is this something that you've absorbed mostly from, like, TikTok and clips and stuff like that? Like, his whole thing? Because it sounds like it's this whole thing that I was totally unaware of. Or are you still. Do you occasionally dip into, I don't know, ESPN or wherever he's flashing his mentalism?
Luke Burbank
No, it's one of those. I swear to God. It started with the Central park thing. Like, part of what intrigued me about him was I felt like I was the only person who remembered that there was this other dimension to this guy's life. So because of that, when it came up, like, oh, yeah, wherever I saw the first mention of him, maybe it was on like, America's Got Talent or something. Like, he was on one of those shows. And I was like, that guy has the same name as the guy who ran around Central Park. That's got. And I looked him up like, that's the same dude. That's crazy to me. So because of that weird footnote in my mind, I started, like, clocking him more than I maybe would have otherwise. He got. He. Then he popped up on the Howard Stern Show. Howard Stern and his staff were very, very stunned and impressed with his work. So that put it on my radar as well. And then I think in one of the seasons of Hard Knocks, I don't think I even watched the season, but I saw the clips on, like, TikTok, because it knows that I like football stuff. And so I started seeing clips of him. He does this move. This is what, like, yesterday we spent a significant portion of the show me repeating Pablo Torre's guest, debunking some of the tricks this guy owes to us. So I won't waste too much more time on it today, but he did this one trick that I really don't. I don't fully understand how he did. It's in the, like, you know, that. That sort of meeting room that NFL teams all have, you know, it's kind of a big, like, not conference room, but it's, you know, it's like a classroom.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. It's got kind of. What would you call it? Not stadium seating, but is that what you call that kind of state, that. That, like, theater seating? Sort of. And then the coaches up front, and
Luke Burbank
everyone's got a desk and there's a big.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
And the coaches are up there talking, you know, hyping the players up and then obviously, like, diagnosing plays, diagramming plays, whatever. So Oz is in that room with. I forget which team it is. I think it was a New York team. But anyway, it's a football team. And he does some trick where he basically, like, gets a guy. He gets, like, the quarterback is holding a football. This is. They're not in pads, they're just, like, in the film room or whatever. And he gets the quarterback. He just says, like, throw it to one of your buddies. And, like, he just throws it to, like, a random guy in the room. And then Oz Perlman has written down the guy he was gonna throw it to. Oh. And it's like, that one really does sort of perplex me because that doesn't seem like a thing you could know. It seems like it would just be. It really legitimately would be a decision in the moment for that quarterback guy to just kind of, like, playfully lob the football to one or two of his different teammates. There's, like 40 guys in the room. He could have thrown it to anybody.
Andrew Walsh
But I don't even say, wait a second. Throw it to the guy you were going to actually throw it to the other guy. Throw it to the guy who had been 30th on your list. Okay, we're going to go 31. Throw it to the 31st guy. So speaking of hard knocks, now that is a show that I watched years and years and years ago. I remember watching. I mean, it was when maybe I was first really getting into the Seahawks with you and the gang. Now, it wasn't a Seahawks focused show then. I think it was like, I think I watched the Miami Dolphins season of that show. And I think everybody knows what it is, right? It's like a quasi documentary reality TV show that sort of focuses on one team during the summer training camp leading up to the NFL season. And anyway, I watch it a little bit. I enjoyed it, but then I quickly, pretty quickly started to dislike it. I'm not a big fan of reality tv. And it started to feel, I don't know, I just started to feel the cameras and stuff like that. And I don't know, there's some of this dialogue.
Luke Burbank
There's no whining in football.
Andrew Walsh
I heard you.
Luke Burbank
But every August, football comes to wine country.
Andrew Walsh
I knew you didn't like, you were
Luke Burbank
not a fan of that sort of writing.
Andrew Walsh
Listen, you know me. I love Slunk Jeep more than anybody else.
Luke Burbank
I do think Liv Shriver is a national treasure.
Andrew Walsh
I do, too. I truly do. So anyway, all that is to say I fell off it and then I find it difficult to get back into it. I think maybe there was a Brown season that came years later that I did watch. Having said that, this year, and you and I have mentioned this briefly on the show, that Hard Knocks is going to follow around the seahaw this, you know, this, this off season leading up to the season. And so I'm guessing that you and I are both going to be interested in this. You way more than me. But I bet y' all carve out some time at least to watch the first episode. We'll see how much I like it. I really don't like that production style. And I feel like that show in particular might be, I don't know, carrying a lot of its, I don't know, carrying a lot of the weight of its own reputation at this point, if that makes any sense. I just don't know if that style of programming is for me, generally speaking. But also, and this is a little bit of a confession and I'd like your take on it. I have this thing, you know, the Seahawks coach Mike McDaniel, Mike McDonald. Sorry, that wasn't even a joke. I really do have to think about every time. But Mike McNally, Dingle, the Seahawks coach, Mac McDingle.
Luke Burbank
It's Mark McDam, Daniel, back at it again with the same names for people who don't know there are like eight guys in the NFL that have some version of the name Mike McDonald and it's so confused.
Andrew Walsh
It's Mike McDaniel or McDaniels maybe, who is actually speaking of Miami now or was. Did he end up losing his job? Did he end up getting fired?
Luke Burbank
I think he's like an offensive coordinator somewhere.
Andrew Walsh
He's kind of been.
Luke Burbank
He's been busted back down to second in command, which seems to be actually like kind of agreeing with him. He. I saw him in an interview the other day. He seems very happy. I think maybe head coach is a lot of pressure.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, it is. I could definitely see that. All of that is to say I think that Mike McDonald is a. I think he's a good coach. Well, listen, they won the super bowl last year. Obviously he.
Luke Burbank
I think One of the KPIs of the NFL player.
Andrew Walsh
Listen, I don't want to go out on a lim here, but I'm going to say that he's a good coach. No, I mean, and not only is he a good coach, but he's like the right fit for the Seahawks and everything. I have no issue with him as the coach of the Seahawks, but when I hear him in interviews on the radio, you know, I got 17 all the time. Just deeply boring. But also, like, I get this thing of just being like, I would hate to be in a room with this guy and not even in like some sort of a toxic or over the top kind of way. He's just like. Probably one of the reasons why he's a good football coach and can be this leader of men is he's just a bro. And he's so. Bro.
Luke Burbank
Yeah, interesting.
Andrew Walsh
I mean, kind of bro y. I mean, he's, he's smart, he says the right things. I think he's relatively media savvy, but. Oh, you know what? Well, this kind of ties into something we were talking about a little bit yesterday too is I think he's the type of guy who says, let's rock. I think like to like, he's like, all right, let's rock. Like, he's just like that kind of attitude.
Luke Burbank
Like he's got to sing it in a song, though, because we know you don't like that.
Andrew Walsh
He says, let's rock and roll, boys. Yeah, Rock and roll. Ain't no pollution. Rock and roll. What is that? Rock and roll ain't noise pollution. That's an ACDC song.
Luke Burbank
Oh, okay. I'm trust you on that.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, I think it's.
Luke Burbank
I was not allowed to Listen to them as a kid.
Andrew Walsh
Razor's Edge, I believe. But anyway, yeah, it occurred to me that, like, watching the. Watching the Hard Knocks might make me dislike the team a little bit more. I don't know.
Luke Burbank
Well, here's the thing, you know, I don't want to turn this whole thing into a trial of, I don't want to be, I don't know, over defending Hard Knocks. But one thing is, you said you don't really like the kind of style or the format. I actually, what I've always liked about it is that as opposed to like a reality show, like say, the Bachelor, there's no. I find the format of Hard Knocks to be actually very kind of lovely. Like, it's, it's now fairly predictable, but in a way that I enjoy. It starts with like somebody building a football helmet.
Andrew Walsh
You know what I mean?
Luke Burbank
Like, it's like. Or it's like the equipment manager putting together the football.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. And maybe putting the helmets in the lockers. Right, right.
Luke Burbank
But first actually, like taking off the face mask and like cleaning it and like cleaning off the scuffs of the helmet and then putting a new decal of the team logo on it. And then it's some sort of a, like, I don't know what the term for that is, but just sort of like a process part of footballness or it's a. It's an extreme close up on a sprinkler that always.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, always.
Luke Burbank
And it's, you know, and it's. Of course, you know, it's some, it's some Prime Liev Shriver. I will say that the writing is, is. Is. Is pretty hacky, but I actually think it's very beautifully shot. And the other thing I'll say about it as a quote unquote reality show is that the stakes are actually quite high because one of the things that it covers is people being cut. And those are real things. Those are players being brought into, you know, who are trying. They always follow a number of kind of long shot players that are in training camp that are hoping to make the team. And you really do, generally speaking, become pretty attached to them. I think that they're smart, they pick likable guys and they present them in a way that makes them likable.
Andrew Walsh
And they focus on the underdog. Usually there's one storyline that really focuses on like an underdog, like trying to make the team. Right. And that's where you're mostly.
Luke Burbank
And I become pretty invested in that. And as opposed to like a dating show where the worst Thing that happens is you don't get to marry your soulmate who you met a week ago on, you know, in the Bahamas or something. Like this is people's real, actual like livelihoods and their lifelong dream and it's playing out, you know, when they're being cut or when they're making the team. So whereas I think a lot of reality television is sort of like the stakes are actually not very high. The stakes on this seem pretty high to me for these specific people, which I, which adds interest level for me. And then like also just, I actually find myself liking the players more than I thought they did. The Dallas Cowboys one season and it was Dak Prescott and I think Ezekiel Elliott. So Ezekiel Elliott was a top flight running back. Dak Prescott, of course, is the quarterback. And I believe they have a really close friendship or at this time they were both on the team and had really close friendship and it was freaking adorable. They would get each other these presents, like these birthday presents and stuff. That was so charming. And like, their interactions I just really, really liked. And like, I think their families were really friendly and they just like, again, this is HBO intentionally cherry picking and showing us the best moments from these people's lives and the most likable moments. But it's working on me, so I actually think I like the show now. You're right. Mike McDonald is not a super charismatic, dynamic guy. But it also remains to be seen how much he'll even be in the season. That comes down to like how much availability he's offering to the cameras, what the plot lines end up being. He'll certainly be in it a lot, but like, I don't know. I will watch it, I think.
Andrew Walsh
Will you drink every time he says let's rock? Let's just see if he does that because I could be totally wrong about that. He might never. In fact, the more I set this up, the lesser the chances are that he, he will say it. But I do think that no matter. I don't care if it's 6am in the morning and you're at a prayer breakfast. If. Why are you guys. Wait, by the way, why are you guys watching Hard Knocks at this prayer breakfast?
Luke Burbank
Because it's a cool ass prayer breakfast.
Andrew Walsh
Okay, cool. So you're at a cool ass prayer breakfast.
Luke Burbank
Yeah, dude. It's not one of those lame ones where they don't, where they don't watch
Andrew Walsh
hard in long view.
Luke Burbank
I only go to the coolest prayer breakfast and everything.
Andrew Walsh
And if Coach McDonald says let's rock, you do have to find some alcohol and drink it no matter what.
Luke Burbank
Turn some water into wine now, would you? Would transubstantiate.
Andrew Walsh
And again, this isn't a debate about, like the quality of the show, but would you at least agree that A.J. barnard is mostly there for the zipline? Nice.
Luke Burbank
A.J. barnard.
Andrew Walsh
Okay, so here's the thing.
Luke Burbank
I. I worry that I will really not like AJ Barner by the end. Oh.
Andrew Walsh
Because it's kind of a big personality that, like, it's almost like the people who have a lot of personality might not. That might be too much personality. Once the, the cameras are on there, the camera might like him too.
Luke Burbank
I think a little. AJ Goes a long way and like, I feel like I, I think he likes to wear cowboy hats a lot, which is a big red flag for me. Unless you're actively herding cattle. You know, white guy with cowboy hat at a thing where you're not cowboying is always a. It's all. It's always got me a little concerned. So, like, yeah, I. It's also just, I mean, not to go full no point here, but like, I forget for long periods of time, Andrew, that the Seattle Seahawks are the world champions of football. It was such a strange season where they. I. Every season I have in the back of my mind this theory that the Seahawks could win the Super Bowl. And it's almost never worked out. I mean, it's worked out two times, but. So of course last season I thought, well, I mean, I don't know, maybe we catch fire at the right time. But I didn't really, at the core of my being, think it was gonna happen. And so therefore, it was just kind of a weird surprise that they just completely got it together at exactly the right moment and just became this dominant team and won the super bowl in a pretty easy fashion. And somehow it's like I'm just like the first time they won the super bowl, the next entire all off season, from when the super bowl was over until the real season started again. I think I thought about it five times a day at a minimum. As I would walk from one room in my house to the other room, I'd be thinking, I can't believe the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. And I don't know if this is what it feels like to be a Patriots fan or to be, you know, because the Mariners have never been to the World Series and because the Sonics don't exist anymore, it's just so rare for me to have a team that is the world champion and then to have it happen twice. And so now it's just kind of like. I mean, I'm excited about it, and I think we're going to be a good team. I'm, of course, very worried about what the Los Angeles Rams are doing. Do they just have an infinite supply of money? I don't understand. They're like the Dodgers of football. How do they just keep adding the top players at every position to their team? That seems like that's supposed to violate
Andrew Walsh
some kind of rule, especially in a team or in a league with salary caps, which basically ball, of course, doesn't have. But, you know, can I just say that. And I don't. This is all just vibes coming from me, and I could be totally wrong about this, but. And it's not like I listen to tons of national perspective on Seahawks football, but I just get the impression that it's not just you. It's like. It's like just the nation. Could I. Here's what. Here's what I'm trying to say. I think five years from now, some. Somewhere between five and ten years from now, if you took a poll of American casual football watchers and just ask them who won the super bowl for the 2025 season, but they can't look it up, they'd probably say the Rams. There was so much just like. More like sort of probably say the Patriots or maybe the Patriots, although the Patriots remember them being in the super bowl. Maybe. But I just sort of feel, at least. At least on the NFC side, I just sort of feel like, like the Rams were really expected to win. They had the team for it. And while I don't want to say there weren't any good narratives around the Seahawks, because, I mean, the whole Sam Darnold thing is a good narrative. It's just like, what a surprising quarterback to have there. But it's just like, it wasn't like a super flashy team. It wasn't like the Legion of boom. It was. It was like. Yeah, I think it just sort of caught everybody a little bit by surprise. And that's why it'll be sort of interesting to see if the. I think the. If the Seahawks can parlay this into some more, you know, while certainly making it to the super bowl or even like close to the super bowl seasons. Like, I think it'll stick with people more otherwise, I think it can just feel like a. A weird anomaly.
Luke Burbank
It's strange to win the super bowl and then. And retain pretty much your entire team and then also be an afterthought.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
It is somehow we're the underdog again. It's like, hey, guys, we just won the super bowl, and we have pretty much all the guys we won the super bowl with. That's a pretty good resume. And everyone's like, yeah, yeah, you know, maybe we'll, like, maybe we'll get second in the. In the NFC West.
Andrew Walsh
So it'll be now. I'm actually way more interested in Hard Knocks now than I was when we started this conversation. And. And by the way, everything you said about my goal, everything you said about that show, too, like, and I know that you weren't, like, trying to debate, like, whether or not the show is good, because I'm not even saying the show is bad. I'm not trying to take away anybody's enjoyment of a show. That type of programing just isn't for me. I watch very little TV anyway, and when I do, it' something weird like DTF St. Louis or something. You know what I mean? Like, I like very heavily fictionalized, you know, storytelling and that kind of thing. I'm just not drawn as much. You know, I used to love documentaries. Like, back in the day, like in college or whatever, I loved documentaries. But that sort of style of, like, you know, the docu series and all of that has sort of. I don't know, we were just. We're just so inundated with that style of storytelling these days that it just doesn't hold as much appeal to me. But everything you said is right. I do think that what happens, because I used to love that show, I think it did start to feel like a formula to me, a little bit like you talking about formulaic. But the fact that I haven't watched it now in a long time and that the team that I have the most interest in is in it. I'm sure, like I said, we'll watch it, and I hope to enjoy it. I'm not trying to prove myself right, that it's not worth watching now, because
Luke Burbank
we've entered a sports vortex here. Let's just try to get it out of our system very quickly, which is the whole Josh Naylor vs. The Detroit Tigers situation that went down recently. We didn't. You and I didn't get a chance to talk about this. Do you think that Josh Naylor, our first baseman, was in the wrong for running into. When he was trying to cover the base at first crashing into their player and then also throwing his sliding mitt while he was sliding home to score a run? And is there a person less qualified to weigh in on rule breaking than AJ Hinch, who was the manager of the Houston Astros while they were frapping cheating.
Andrew Walsh
He was weighing in. How so?
Luke Burbank
Well, he's the coach. He's the manager.
Andrew Walsh
Oh, he's the coach. He's the manager now. Oh, I see.
Luke Burbank
But it used to be with the Houston Astros when they were in their prime cheating mode.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, well, I'll. I'll. I'll let you carry this conversation, mostly because here's the deal. I just have not been able to get into a good rhythm with watching or listening to games lately. Like, I've been trying to follow them, but it's just. Maybe it's because the road trip, the timing has been weird. So I've been listening to games with kind of catch as catch can and sort of like with half an ear to the radio. And so I sort of. I did not see the collision at first base at all. I read a little bit about it. I did go back and watch the mitt toss near home plate as Josh Naylor was sliding in. And I don't know if I actually went back and watched them actually beat him with the ball. So I will tell you that emotionally, I was pretty pissed off. I saw a lot of social media stuff from Tigers fans, who, by the way, I've never had an issue with the Tigers. I've always just generally liked them as one of those Midwestern teams that are very rootable. The fan base seems nice, but seeing all this hatred towards Josh Naylor, who I just absolutely love, boy, it really turned something on in me. I actually sort of trolled some Detroit fan who. You did? Well, it's just sort of some rant because I was at. At this coffee shop. I was trying to. I was just at this coffee shop doing a little bit of reading on something, and I was catching this. This sense that something had gone on in the game. So then I'm like, doing a blue sky search, I think, for the word Naylor or something, just to see, like, where I can find the best clips of this and what people are saying or something. And some dude basically said something in one, like post said something about his personal life, like, hey, leaving soon for Spain, then I'll be back, whatever. Also hope Josh Naylor gets hit in the shoulder again or something like that, or I hope they beat him again or something like that. And I just rode underneath, like, out of the blue, because this person is not somebody I follow. I have no idea who this person is. I just stumbled on this thing because I was trying to Figure out what happened in the game. And I just wrote, lost the game, did ya? Because this was after the first game, and it seemed like a very Midwestern way of putting it. And he did not respond. And I'm really glad he didn't because he doesn't need some stranger kind of trolling him. But I was so mad at them coming after Josh Naylor biased in his favor. But I also did not see the collision. At first, the mitt thing seems like Tom foolery, like him throwing his little, like, sliding mitt. I could see why the team would be. Why the opposing team would be a little bit irritated by that. But listen, if you're not breaking the rules, one of the reasons why I love Josh Naylor is because he's always testing the boundaries of what the rules are. And if there's not a rule against it, why not do it?
Luke Burbank
Yeah, I. The collision at first base. So what happened was he fielded the ball and then it was one of those things where the pitcher was running to first. But I think Naylor decided it would just be more effective to run the ball to the base himself instead of throwing it to the pitcher. I don't think in any universe he was hoping to have a collision with the guy. I don't think that that was his intention. So I think that the base thing was just, you know, it just was one of those things. It's a bang, bang play. Also the part where the. So he's then in the same game, I guess he's running around 30. He's running for home. He has the. They now have these, what they call sliding gloves, which look like an oven mitt that guys will wear so that if they slide head first, they don't, like, break their hand. But he's not wearing it. He's just holding it. I cannot imagine a universe in which he's running around the bases and this is a really close play at home. And he's thinking, I'm gonna throw this mitt, this, this sliding glove at the guy. I think he just, oh, I'm holding onto this thing. I don't want to be holding onto it anymore because it's, it's weighing me down or whatever. And he just let go of it. And it just so happened that it was flinging it kind of in the general direction of the guy. It didn't, it didn't, like, knock the ball out of the guy's hand. It didn't even hit the guy. As far as I can tell, it wasn't dangerous. Maybe he. This was always his plan. But, I mean, I feel like it would just take so much concentration when you're. First of all, we know this. You're the. Maybe the second slowest person in Major League Baseball. If you're Josh Naylor, you're running home and you're remembering to throw the. The sliding glove at the guy. I just don't think any of it was intentional. But that being said, then they were showing clips of him last year when he, like, jumped up in the air when the guy was trying to turn two and, like, had the ball bean off his back, which obviously he did on purpose. And I kind of went on this journey with it, which is, I, like you, am very defensive of Josh Naylor, very protective of Josh Naylor because he's our guy. But then I'm like, but, man, he does a lot of things that are. He does more of these kinds of things than anyone else I know about in Major League Baseball. And I had to have a moment of reflection, kind of going. I could actually see why other teams could get annoyed because there's just a lot of. There's just too many incidents where it's like, if you take any of them individually, you could be like, well, that's not a big deal. But in totality, it's like, he does do a lot of stuff like this.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. So I'm now just watching for the first time this collision at first base. I don't get the complaint here at all. Like, you don't want collisions, but he's not doing anything outside the norm of he's trying to tag the back of first base. First base. Like, is that what you were saying as well? Now that I have eyes on it, like, I just don't. I don't see any intentionality there. I will say the throwing of the mitt or the sliding glove or whatever you want to call it, that. To me, I don't think that he was thinking about it when he left first base, but I do think that given the very specific place where he threw it with his left hand, he kind of throws it directly at where kind of home plate and the catcher would be. I think that that was a little bit a. Of. Of. Do we say trickeration in baseball? But it doesn't bother me, and it certainly doesn't seem worth getting beamed for. And then the play that you talked about was that in the ALDS against the Tigers that he jumped and tried to block? I don't remember that part. Yeah, it was either that or the Blue Jays. And so if it was the Tigers. I would imagine that also the Tigers are just still a little butthurt about the seven game loss. You know, like, I think that that is what's driving kind of a lot of this stuff.
Luke Burbank
Stuff we was hoping for some razzle dazzle. Razzle dazzle. That's right, man. Razzle dazzle. On your mark. On your mark.
Andrew Walsh
Get set, get set now. Ready, Ready.
Luke Burbank
Go, everybody. Razzle dazzle. Well, well, well. Andrew Walsh. Here we are thanking what appears to be our final dazzling donor of the year. At least as far as the messages we have received from folks donating a dazzling amount of dough, which usually means we are, we are approaching the next thon. That's how that tends to work. We've worked our way through all the donors of the day and the dazzling donors and, and we're our man. A young man's thoughts turn to the
Andrew Walsh
next thon, which we'll have some information about later this week, right?
Luke Burbank
I think on Friday, right?
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, I think it's okay.
Luke Burbank
Big thon announcement.
Andrew Walsh
So we didn't talk about whether or not we could announce the announcement, but yeah, I think, I think we'll try to round up John, get him on the show on Friday, and tell everybody what we've been working on and what our plans are.
Luke Burbank
But of course, no list of dazzling donors here in TBTL land would be complete without thanking our friend Jill Jarris in Lakewood, Ohio.
Andrew Walsh
Heard of it, Andrew? Oh, I certainly have. I certainly have. I've sat on a. On a hot tin roof of a garage with a slingshot and a dream in Lakewood, Ohio. Wow. Wow.
Luke Burbank
That's a very Norman Rockwell.
Andrew Walsh
I really did.
Luke Burbank
Jill says hello, co bros. I'm so happy and grateful that I was able to dazzle for another year. Boy, aren't we too, Jill? We're happy and grateful. The Biz boys and the Tens mean a lot to me. And listening to the show helps me keep negative voices and spiraling anxiety at bay. I don't quite understand how the show does it, but when I'm having a rough day, a little TBTL makes it all better. Ah, Jill, that is such a nice thing to say. And I'm really glad that for whatever reason, for whatever inexplicable reason, and we can't explicit it either, by the way, but that it's something that kind of brightens up your day. Now, for my promotion, Jill says if you were excited by the Winter Olympics and or Paralympics in Italy and you want to keep that spirit going, listen to my podcast, Keep the flame alive. We air all year round and talk anything and everything about the Olympic and Paralympic movements, how sports work, Olympic technology, commentary, sports surfaces. You name it, we've got it. We're your favorite aunties who sit on the couch with you to watch the games. And we're likely the only show that sits at the intersection of the games and floor maintenance. See, like, that could really draw you in, Andrew.
Andrew Walsh
Sure, absolutely.
Luke Burbank
Whether or not you are big on the actual sports, I think you hear floor maintenance and your. Your ears kind of perk up.
Andrew Walsh
Well, I will say. And I know it's a big. I don't follow basket, but I know it's a big time for. Oh, who won that game last night, by the way?
Luke Burbank
San Antonio, baby.
Andrew Walsh
Really? Okay, so it's a 2:1 series now, is that right?
Luke Burbank
It's a 2:1 series.
Andrew Walsh
Interesting. Well, yeah, I don't know anything about basketball. I really don't watch it. And. But on the occasion that I'm, like, in a bar or restaurant and it's on, and I look up and somebody comes out with that big mop and they mop up the basketball court, that's always very satisfying to me. And I always wonder, could I do that job and would it be gross? Because essentially you're kind of wiping up people's sweat.
Luke Burbank
Only when they fall, they don't even. They don't use that big mop anymore, my friend.
Andrew Walsh
What?
Luke Burbank
They use a big circle on a stick now.
Andrew Walsh
But is it like. But it's a person holding the stick, so it's a.
Luke Burbank
Yes, it looks a person holding the stick. It doesn't look like. I mean, I think you're thinking of the kind of traditional. Like a mop with strings, right? Is that what you mean when you say mop?
Andrew Walsh
Well, like, it was like, the kind of, like, dry mop that you would see somebody pushing. Like, the janitor would be pushing it down the hallway in a grade school or something like that, or maybe even a middle school.
Luke Burbank
They don't have those. They don't use those anymore. They use these big circles that are. I don't know why they're considered, like, better. But this is. Now, what the. You know, if during an NBA game or a college game, if somebody falls down and there's sweat on the floor or whatever, you'll see somebody run out with a stick with a big circle on it.
Andrew Walsh
Now, that's the kind of height of Tatum. I think that's what I'm picturing. I mean, I think I would. I don't Know, but you don't. You don't consider that to be like a mop. Do you know the kind of mops I'm talking about that like a janitor might use? Like. Yeah.
Luke Burbank
Although that's more. But that mop isn't usually for moisture.
Andrew Walsh
No.
Luke Burbank
When you're talking about going down the hall.
Andrew Walsh
Right.
Luke Burbank
And I think what they're dealing with in an NBA game is moisture because they're worried about sweat. That. That's more like, you know, you would do that when you got to the gym in the morning. Right. The big one you're talking about get all of the dust off of the floor. That's what. That's. You would want that job. Actually, you know what? That would be kind of zen. I think you would enjoy that job because it's kind of like mowing a lawn.
Andrew Walsh
Right.
Luke Burbank
It's very like, you just go in a kind of a grid pattern.
Andrew Walsh
As long as you can see what you've accomplished. That's a big thing for me. Like, tasks like that can be frustrating if you don't. If it's not a clear delineation between what's been cleaned and what's not. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Luke Burbank
Yeah. Now I'm obsessed with these. Why they decided in. In game now for sweat, why they decided to go to these. These circle mop things. What was wrong with whatever they were using before? NBA teams primarily use the pro mop, hyper dry or game mop for court maintenance. These heavy duty mops, heavy duty sports mops feature polycarbonate or aluminum bases and highly absorbent micro cleanse pads. Yeah.
Andrew Walsh
And this is what I was picturing. I just called it a mop. Did you picture me like a. Like a string mop? Like that you dip into a bucket or something like that? Because I don't know if you knew about the circle.
Luke Burbank
I found, again, found the circle to be an interesting step forward. And if you were not tracking these things, I didn't know if you knew about.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, because I would see more. You know, I don't think I would have any exposure to this back in the 80s or 90s. So, yeah, I think I was talking about the modern mop system. All that is to say, that is the kind of floor maintenance that when I see it, I'm like, oh, okay. That's when I perk up. Not. Not when the players are, well, sure.
Luke Burbank
And that's why you, I think, would enjoy Keep the Flame Alive, the podcast that our friend Jill has been doing. You can find us@flamalive pod.com flamalivepod.com Jill says LA 2028 is coming. Get excited with us. Thanks again, Cobros. What you do is so important. Well, Jill, what you've been doing is so important. And congratulations on the pod. I was also looking at Flame Alive, and they got some good gets. They just interviewed a silver medalist Paralympic coxswain named Jenny Sitchell. You know what the coxswain is, right, Andrew?
Andrew Walsh
That is somebody who is in the boat. Are they. Do they have the megaphone in the boat? And crew. Okay, there you go. That's what the coxswain does.
Luke Burbank
They're usually in my experience, because in college, my freshman year, I somehow lived in the part of the dorms with a lot of the people that did crew at the University of Washington. And most of the people were very big and very strong, you know, and then there'd be these very diminutive, tiny people that would hang out with them, and those would be the coxswain, because their. Their thing was not taking up very much room or adding very much weight to the boat while also having a. Some kind of special, you know, ability to motivate, which, again, you can hear a much more interesting description of this if you tune into Keep the Flame Alive, the most recent episode there that Jill has been doing. So, Jill, thank you very much. We couldn't do this without you.
Andrew Walsh
Hello, and welcome to Top Story.
Luke Burbank
All right, here is a story, actually, you sent to me, Andrew, about. And, you know, I know that we should pronounce people's names the way that they are pronounced. So we'll call him Guy Fieri. But for some reason that always. I always struggle with that. Maybe just because I always thought his name was Guy Fieri.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, I don't know. I'm kind of with you. Although I think I've given over to just trying to say fatty, because I was never sure if I. I wasn't sure if the world had changed or if I was learning new information because I never watched the show. Like, I literally don't think I've ever seen an episode of any of his shows. And, like, I'm not here to be like, mister, like, oh, let's hate on Guy Fieri. Like, is there anything more obvious or boring than that that's been done? So it's not like I ever had a strong feeling, but I wasn't sure if, like, suddenly the world woke up to it or if everybody'd been saying that on the show the whole time. And as a non Watcher. I just thought it was Fieri.
Luke Burbank
I think it was part of the larger reexamination of Guy Fieri. And by that I mean, and we've talked about this a lot on the show, he is a guy who's kind of got a lot of energy and is not somebody who seems like they spent a ton of time living inside their own head, which I'm both jealous of and don't really know what to do with, with. And the kind of food that he tends to champion. It's just a bunch of stuff that is not necessarily in my wheelhouse. And yet all accounts are that he is absolutely lovely as a person, that he's really great to the people he works with. Everybody who meets him just like loves this guy. And so, so to speak. And even though I was kind of like in the earlier days of the show, it was a easy, it was low hanging fruit for me to make fun of him. I had a lot of listeners that started checking in and being like, no, no, he's the best. We love him. And I think that the, I think him just being a nice guy in the world, again, it's difficult when his name is Guy and I'm referring to him as a guy, but I do think him just being a kind person in the world, like the word spread on that and, and it went from being something where it was easy and fun to make fun of him to being like, no, actually he's a sweet guy, to being like. Actually the move is to like him or at least to definitely not not be roasting him. And somehow in all of that, saying his name properly also became part of it.
Andrew Walsh
Well, I gotta say, I think I. Well, this is what a corny thing to say. But first of all, I'm going to say that I think the Seahawks coach is pretty good. I'm going to go on a limb with that one. And I'm also going to go on a limb and say I think it's nice that people are sort of rewarded for being nice. Maybe we just do hear about so many toxic workplaces or whatever. I'm still stinging over the Ellen thing, but the fact that it's kind of like, well, know what? We'll give him even more of the benefit of the doubt because generally speaking, like, he navigates the world, that makes people feel better. Like, I like the fact that you get a little rewarded for that.
Luke Burbank
You know, I don't think I've ever watched an episode of Diners Drive Ins and Dives. But what I can tell you Andrew is. I have driven by and eaten in what seems like hundreds of places that have been featured on the show, because just you get out into America, you just start driving around, and you would be shocked at how many places you see that. I just was in the. Oh, I was in the cab in Chicago the other day, and I went. Was taking a circuitous route to o' Hare for whatever reason, and we went by this diner somewhere in Chicago, and huge signs all over the diner that, like, this is a place that Guy Fieri had been to. In fact, when I lived in Bellingham, the Bay City, down at the bottom of the hill, next to the Trader Joe's, there was a diner of some kind that we used to go to all the time. Time. And their big thing was Guy Fieri had been there. Like, it really is something that when he. When his show comes and they've done 500 episodes of the show, that's a lot of episodes of a TV still rolling. I don't know that part because I don't watch the show because I'm a kid. But that's. You know, even if they stopped at 500, that is a ton of episodes. And it's more than one place in each episode. So you think about it, I mean, he's gonna end up having gone to, like, thousands of places, so. And all of those places are going to have big signs that say, Guy Fieri once ate here.
Andrew Walsh
The only one that I can think of off the top of my head, and I was just looking it up to confirm it, is Voula's here in Seattle.
Luke Burbank
Oh, he went to Voula's? Yeah.
Andrew Walsh
And to their credit, I don't think it was plastered. I mean, like, I think I know it because there was probably a little sign somewhere, a newspaper clipping or something like that, but it doesn't seem to be their number one branding thing or something. I also haven't been there in forever. In fact, I kind of held my breath to make sure that it's still open.
Luke Burbank
And it is.
Andrew Walsh
It still seems to be operating. And then the other one is, I think, not long before he passed away. So, sadly, I think Anthony Bourdain went to the Pacific in fish.
Luke Burbank
Didn't he eat with Skip? Didn't he eat with Knute Berger?
Andrew Walsh
Oh, is it there? Is it? Oh, that would be good. I didn't remember that detail.
Luke Burbank
Took him to the Pacific.
Andrew Walsh
Smart. That's smart. I remember being at the Pacific Inn right before that episode aired, but they knew it was going to air. And I remember talking Cause I wasn't like a regular there or anything, but it was sort of in my neighborhood and I loved it. When I lived in Wallingford, it was the closest bar that I actually legit liked. And I remember going in one time and sitting on one of those tiny little stools where you wedge yourself in. And the bartender looked a little bit stressed. And it was basically because he knew this episode was gonna air either that night or the next night or something, and that they were gonna be just flooded with. Because that's the type of place that it really thrives on its regulars and its clientele. Anyway.
Luke Burbank
Well, there's a twitch streamer and video creator named Dr. Spaghetti.
Andrew Walsh
Of course there is.
Luke Burbank
And somebody. It wasn't even Dr. Spaghetti, but somebody in his comments or something forwarded him this conspiracy theory that says that Guy Fieri in all these episodes of Diners Drive Ins and Dives, we never see him swallow any of the food. We see him intake the food. We see him, you know, chewing the food, but they never actually see him swallow. And having made a fair amount of television myself, wherein I'm eating, by the way, that's what I was just doing in Houston last week. I was eating Viet Cajun food on camera. So I know that, like, for one thing, editors are always trying to get more stuff in in a shorter amount of time. So my first thought was maybe they'll just like. Maybe they're just not showing him swallowing because that's not relevant to the plot. They're showing him take a bite. They're showing his response, but they just don't think, like, they just. They're like, if we're going to lose something for time, we're going to lose the swallowing because it's assumed he's going to swallow this food. But then there are all these, like, super cuts that are going up about, like, basically showing things where for them to actually cut it so that he's not swallowing, it's not helping the plot of the show. It's not moving things along. It's not saving time. It's almost like they're going out of their way to never show him swallowing or something. They also show this one where he's like. They're calling it the empty chopsticks situation where they're showing him, like, he's taking a bite of something, but when they slow it down, you can see there's literally nothing on the chopstick he's putting it up to.
Andrew Walsh
That part that's interesting.
Luke Burbank
I actually think that there's a reasonable Explanation for the. For the chopstick one, which was the camera guy didn't get him, so he picked up some food with his chopsticks. He's eating the food. The camera guy didn't get the chopstick going up to his mouth for some reason. So the camera guy just said, as is often the case, can you do the chopstick again? And he just moved the chopsticks back up to his mouth. He repeated the motion, but without the food on the chopstick, because he was already chewing. It was already in his mouth. That's a kind of a thing that happens all the time when you're shooting. They're just like, oh, can you put that down again? Oh, can you move it? Can you pick that up again? It's a lot of that kind of stuff. But I will say I'm watching the investigation of him never swallowing. And it's almost like him not swallowing is actually making the. It's actually like making the episode worse. Like, it does. It does seem like there is something going on because again, this is not just like, moving the story along more quickly. This is not for efficiency. Efficiency. It's almost like a. Like a jump cut to never, ever see him actually swallowing the food. Now, I will say there are a lot of people who have been on the show and other chefs that have worked with him that are like, this is insanity. This guy eats all of the food. I have hung out with him, I have watched him eat the food. So that obviously, I think. I tend to believe those people. I think it would be an insane world if for some reason Guy Fieri was not surprised, was chewing but not swallowing the food. I mean, that would just be nuts. But it is kind of strange that they can't find any footage of him swallowing on Diners Drive ins and dives.
Andrew Walsh
You said exactly what it was in the back of my head, which was like, I feel like with this story sort of becoming a social media thing, if there is somebody on set who said, yeah, yeah, that's kind of a policy of ours for whatever reason. And maybe that reason is. And this was my work. Working theory is that he is ashamed of his Adam's apple and he doesn't want to show the world as it goes up and down as he digests his food. So that. That's probably what it is. But, like, if that were the case, I feel like somebody would have come out of the woodwork. Like, somebody would have been like, yeah, it is a thing, you know, they cut before it. And maybe it's just reasonable. It's just like, he just can't intake that much food. Or our editors actually think that that is not the best part of it. Or, like, whatever it is, there could be a reasonable explanation. But if it really thing, I feel like somebody would say, yeah, this is why it's a. Because how many, as you mentioned, how many episodes of the show are out there? So many people have worked on it. There would be somebody privy to this information. My favorite part of the conversation, though, is just like, the. The obsession over it. Like. And again, I don't want to say the word Dr. Spaghetti any more than you do, Luke, but I did sort of like you said, like, saying, and I don't have it in front of me. The quote was something along the lines of like, this is so stupid, but it's so stupid we can't not investigate it. Or something along the lines of that. Which I kind of understand getting the sense of just like, all right, let me dig into this. I got to dig into this. And I have not had the opportunity to watch the actual montages, but I think that it will now be a distraction. Like, when you're watching a movie or a TV show and you see a bad continuity shot, like, I. I don't think that I'm especially sensitive to it, but when I see it, I am like, that Matt. Is it the. Is it Matt Damon? Meme of him snapping his fingers and pointing at the screen? Do you know what I'm talking about?
Luke Burbank
I don't think I know that one.
Andrew Walsh
I don't think it's Matt Damon that's the problem. It's one of the other guys that I get Matt Damon confused with, but it doesn't really matter. But Stephen A. Smith. Exactly. But I'm just like, oh, look at the continuity. And I always have to rewind it and show Genevieve salad on her fork in this scene, but it turns into a spoon with soup on it in this next cut. That would be insane. But anyway, so once you do see it, you can't unsee it. And so I'm also interested in people who actually watch his show. If this now lives in their head, like, it becomes a game within a game.
Luke Burbank
Guy Fieri. Excuse me? Guy Fieri is handling it with his normal aplomb. He has responded. He said he thinks it's great that people are still talking about the show. Yeah. Which. Which is a really good response.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. And honest, probably.
Luke Burbank
And also, I think he's. I do think he is swallowing food like a typical person. And so I don't think he's like. I don't think he's trying to cover anything up, so he's not worried about, you know, his dark secret getting out. So he can kind of roll with this also. What. I'm just. I always sort of knew this, Andrew. But, like, I'll tell you this. The world of Twitch streaming is so foreign to me. And I'm. I'm at Dr. Spaghetti's YouTube channel, and this is the. The main video. Guy Fieri never swallows the investigation. And it's just like kind of this super clip of a bunch of stuff. But then it's like he's got a. A frame around the YouTube video, you know what I mean? That's kind of like animated. So you've got the typical thing that you. We all think of when you watch something on YouTube, but I guess you can also do some sort of a, like, wraparound, like a cartoon thing. So what we're seeing is, again, footage of Guy Fieri not swallowing the guy. Dr. Spaghetti down in the corner, talking to him. Kind of like I am right now of the YouTube page. A dog. I'm guessing that's his dog. Maybe the dog is probably some kind of a. Is some kind of a, you know, celebrity on the show. I'm sure there's a backstory. The dog is just kind of a freeze frame of the dog. It's actually very cute. Underneath the dog, it says Swallowers. Asiago peach, Bobby Shroom 5, Pete Basil tunes. I'm assuming those are people that are maybe donating money on the live stream to get their name put up there, but they're being called Swallowers because, of course, the whole thing is Guy Fieri is not swallowing. Then there's like a. Remember Mystery Science Theater 2000, where it's like the kind of like little figures down in the movie theater watching.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, I'm seeing this now, too.
Luke Burbank
He's got that going on, but it's like. Appears to be Barack Obama the dog again. Afro man from his tribe.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, good eye. Yeah. We're in that suit. Yeah.
Luke Burbank
I don't know who the woman is. And then Happy Gilmore, like, Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore. It's like I am so perplexed at what is happening here, but I also know this is a whole world that is huge to a bunch of people. And it's their tbtl. They know what all of these inside jokes are. They know why there's a picture of Afroman in his American flag suit that he was wearing during his lemon pound cake trial recently. It's just like it's just a world of craziness. But I also know that it is a world that means so much to the people that like it.
Andrew Walsh
And I. You know, this is only sort of my second exposure to this kind of, like you said, the. The animation around the Twitch stream. And it makes it put something else into context for me because I was watching a video. You just land on weird things sometimes. And I was watching a video of somebody who. It was a long thing. It was like 30 minutes long. And it was like, I don't let this scammer off the hook, right? We hear about those telephone scammers who really scam people out of, like, large amounts of money, right? And this person was pretending to be an old person, I believe, and, like, kind of confused about technology and then like, sort of letting this scammer take over his computer, but then overreacting to things and just basically stringing the scammer along until the scammer starts screaming at him and all this stuff. But while he's doing it, it all seems to be live. And I was very confused about the production model myself, but I was also like you, Luke, fascinated with it in a way that made me feel bad that I don't understand how it's done anymore. And I realize I'm pretty sure that I could sit down with Twitch. And I'm not saying, like, immediately know all of the ins and outs of it, because I know that it is not the case. But, you know, if I wanted to spend an afternoon learning the ins and outs of Twitch, I think that I am capable of doing that. It's just like. But back in the day, it wouldn't be like, sit down and learn it. It would just be my culture. You know what I mean? I like technology. I like that stuff. I was just always kind of not the first one to do that stuff, but certainly one of the first people to just be like, well, let's just open it up. Let's see what she does. And now the. Is just maybe because my personality has changed or I'm old or whatever it is like you. I don't know how they do it. And I got so obsessed with how this guy was apparently livestreaming, but also making it seem like suddenly he puts himself inside of an animated TV in an animated living room while this prank caller is being animated somewhere else. And then there's all this stuff that is going on, but it seems to be a live stream. And I was like, damn, I don't understand this, but it's Absolutely. I'm enraptured by it.
Luke Burbank
Yes. I mean, and we talked about this when I forgot to bring my computer on a trip recently, how like the idea of me trying to do work stuff on my phone is just so. Would be insanity to me. I mean, I literally bought a computer and returned it so that I would just be able to type into a keyboard versus on my phone and for TBTL implications. But. But like, I mean, it's so generational, like the stuff that people are doing on their phone too. I mean, I know that some of these streamers, they have pretty elaborate setups and you know, there's a lot of tech behind it, but also just the fluidity with which these digital natives just know how to do stuff on their phone and use Cap Cut or whatever. That's. I think, I don't know. I see sometimes on TikTok that somebody used Cap Cut to make this thing or whatever. It's just like. Yeah, there is just a bunch of stuff that I guess I'm probably never going to learn. Right? Like, again, I don't think. I don't feel that old at age 50. I'm not trying to say that I'm done learning about the world or trying new things, but I also just think, like, I don't think. I just think that there's a world of technology that I'm probably never going to really engage with or like understand how it works. It's just, I think I just kind of, you know, it's gone past me. And this, this is even this drone. This is kind of a side conversation, but I bought this drone. I was all excited about it.
Andrew Walsh
Oh yeah, I forgot about that.
Luke Burbank
I've flown it. Well, part of the problem is I bought. It's not one of the more expensive ones. I didn't want to spend like a thousand bucks on it or something. So it was like a cheaper one. But it's in 4K and it has a come home feature. That was the big thing I wanted is I wanted to just be able to hit a button and it would return to me because I was worried I would, I don't know, fly it too far away or, I don't know, lose it or something.
Andrew Walsh
Can I ask you a quick question about that come home feature? Do you know if it also uses like sensors to. If you just hit come home, it'll come home, but it can also sense the world around it a little bit. So it doesn't hit a. Hit a tree or a guide wire or a guy wire or Electrical wire or something.
Luke Burbank
Or a Guy Fieri.
Andrew Walsh
Isn't that weird that I said, I wonder if that's why I said that.
Luke Burbank
I don't know about that. That's a good question. Again, I've gotten it up there. I've flown it, like, three times. Part of the problem is the one thing that they said on the reviews on, like, Amazon or wherever I bought it was, was this is a really good drone in terms of all these features and the price point. The one thing is that the app kind of sucks. And, boy, were they right. It's like they spared every expense on the app itself because you run it off your phone, right? Like, your phone is the kind of way that you connect to the drone. And the drone itself is. Seems pretty cool. And, you know, came with an extra battery, and when I've been able to get it to fly up in the air, it's a cool thing. But it also. The app is always crashing or the app won't connect to the drone. So the app is the whole problem. But I don't know. I guess it's like I had big, big plans to become a drone meister and to fly this thing around my house and to get all this cool footage. And it's like, yeah, but I'm gonna have to sit down for an hour and watch YouTube videos and try to learn how to actually do. I flew it, like, the first time I got it up in the air, I immediately crashed it into a tree in my yard, which was. And I thought, well, that's broken. But, no, they make them pretty tough. And then I think the second time, something else happened. Like, I just. I guess I'm just bad at learning new things at this point. I've never been great at it, but I think I'm getting worse as time goes on.
Andrew Walsh
Out of curiosity, when you say the app is how you talk to it, is that how you actually control its direction and stuff, too? Or is that just how you control the camera? Okay, that's interesting, because I had a very kind of. I'm assuming, Jennifer, you've got it for me. And I don't want to be rude about it, but, like. Like, a long time ago now, I can't remember where we were living. Genevieve got me, I think, a pretty, like, more. More one that's probably more like a toy than anything. And it was kind of flimsy, and I think I still have it. It did have a camera built in, but, like, I tried to use it once, but, like, my personality is not befitting A drone. Because I'm so nervous. I was just so nervous about losing it the whole time or getting in somebody else's way or freaking somebody out. And I mean, I think that maybe if I lived out in your neck of the woods, I'd learned to be a little bit more bold about it because at least there's not as much stuff going up in the sky. And there aren't as many maybe neighbors to freak out or whatever. But we tried taking it to like a soccer field at a park somewhere here in the city, but people were playing soccer and I couldn't control it well enough. That was the thing. I couldn't control it well enough. So I didn't trust myself to not hit somebody with it or something. And sometimes when I'm driving out in the rural country, I think, well, this is a place that maybe I could learn how to fly a drone. But it's very anxiety creating.
Luke Burbank
I have none of those. I can't blame any of those things for my hesitation because, yeah, I don't have. I've got a lot of room here. My neighbors are chill. There's no power lines on the kind of river side of my house. So there's just. It's an ideal environment for it, which is why I bought it. But it's just because I've been frustrated by it like two or three times that I'm just like, what I need to do is I need to just block out an afternoon and go, I'm gonna figure this thing out once and for all. Because again, when I get it up and it's flying around, it is exhilarating. I also, I don't know, a few months ago when Becca and I were at the. At the coast, we were taking a walk on the beach. I might have mentioned this on the show, but we walked by these two kids. I'd say they were probably. They were like brothers. Maybe they were like 9 and 11. And they were just like flying a drone on the beach. They were just kind of standing on like a log and they had a little. I mean, it was probably a. A pretty, you know, kind of a simple one. It. I don't think it was probably even as fancy as the one that I have, but it was like, I don't just turned to Becca and I said, if as a nine year old, I was in possession of a flying machine with a camera on it, if I could. I mean, we were making paper airplanes. We were trying to make the better paper airplane at that point.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, right.
Luke Burbank
The idea that you could Have a mechanical flying machine that you own as a 9 year old that you can fly around remote. And it'll also videotape everything that's going on. Like, I would have lost my mind. That is so much cooler than any of the stuff that we had. And that's just normal life if you're a nine year old kid. I mean, that's not a particularly. That's probably $100 Christmas gift. You know, Like, I just. I was like, I don't. I don't know what I would have done. I would have lost my mind from happiness.
Andrew Walsh
I am looking. It looks. Did they. Did somebody take it down? I. Oh, no. Here it is. I found a great commercial and a play for you and I'm gonna send it to you so you can see the visuals as well. But let's just see how the audio does on.
Luke Burbank
Never before has there been anything like the blimp. The first radio control aircraft safe enough to fly indoors. Radio control lets Chip operate all four
Andrew Walsh
propellers so he can maneuver any way
Luke Burbank
he wants up or down and all around. The blimp is filled with non flammable helium, so it's lighter than air. So safe it can't cause damage. Yet tough enough to take any punishment your young pilot can dish out.
Andrew Walsh
Okay.
Luke Burbank
Okay, Chip, my turn. Chip the Blimp by Meego.
Andrew Walsh
So that is from 1980. That is a commercial for the Mega Blimp, or Mego is the brand. It's called the Blimp. And it's basically just a mylar balloon with like a little like a little remote control device on the bottom of it. And you can fly it around your house. They show it actually crashing so, so gently into a chandelier to show you how safe it is in the home.
Luke Burbank
Is that where you kind of go, oh, the humanity?
Andrew Walsh
That's exactly where I go.
Luke Burbank
You're just like. It's much lower. Much lower level of danger. Oh, oh, oh, the humanity.
Andrew Walsh
Oh, the humanity.
Luke Burbank
This thing I would. This. I mean, I'm looking at. I do not remember this from my childhood. I don't remember anyone I knew having it.
Andrew Walsh
Me neither. I just stumbled on this recently.
Luke Burbank
I would have been totally obsessed with this.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
Because again, the idea that I could somehow radio control something that is aloft would have been so insane to me. Like, even though it's. This is a pretty simplified version of it. It's like you said, it's a big mylar balloon. So what did the. Did the balloon have.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. How did it. How did it. Like helium in it Well, I think. Well, I guess it just looks like a mylar balloon. Right. But the thing is, like, how long
Luke Burbank
do those helium tank.
Andrew Walsh
And then do you refill it? That was always my question, too. Like, does it. Is it refillable? I found this part because I put together a show for after these messages, all about commercials that feature scenes in blimps, which is very interesting. And then at the end, I just threw this one on there because I was in all of my searching, I came across this thing, and I thought, oh, I'd love this as a kid. But also, how long would this blimp stay afloat?
Luke Burbank
Yeah, I wonder if there is. This is the most boring thing ever to try to analyze this. But I wonder if it almost had early drone technology, which is that there was a little fan. There's that little red housing that's kind of attached to the blimp. I wonder if that actually had a fan that created a sort of an upward motion that.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah.
Luke Burbank
That would lift the balloon or something. Because it seems like it wouldn't be. It wouldn't make sense to have to have a helium tank in your house and fill that thing also. Then it would maybe fly away too far.
Andrew Walsh
Or you would take. Maybe you would take it into a place where you could. Because I remember if you needed helium as a kid, you would go to, like, a drugstore or something, right? And they have the big tank full of.
Luke Burbank
Or the grocery store. Even the, like, kind of the floral department or something. They would have the big helium tank where you could get some stuff.
Andrew Walsh
Hey, speaking of the grocery store, am I. This is a huge change in the conversation, and I don't know. You're probably in a hurry. We can get out of here. But I. Am I weird to not love the idea of getting shots in my grocery store. Like, my doctor wrote me a prescription for some sort of a. Some sort of. I don't know, some sort of a vaccine or something like that. But it's not one of the. You know, it's not the COVID It's not the flu. It's not that. It might be pneumonia or something like that. And he said, usually we save this for people who are 50 and older. You're just shy of that. But you are on some drugs that sort of suppress your immune system a little bit, so wouldn't be the worst idea for you to get this shot. And I'm like, okay, you want to do it here? He's like, no, no, no. You do it at the pharmacy. Just at the drugstore. And I'm like, oh, well. And I even said I'm like, not a big fan of a lot of the drugstores around where I live. Like, I just don't want to go to like a.
Luke Burbank
You know, they can do it at that subway.
Andrew Walsh
Exactly. And I'm just kind of like that. And like, I don't want to.
Luke Burbank
There's needles laying around everywhere.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, look. Oh, look. Oh, it's fine. You know what I mean? Like, I don't want to walk through one of those stores where it's like, oh, this used to be the seasonal decoration aisle, but now it's just like some. One lone stuffed bunny is hanging off the shelf. And then there's like a dusty five pack for some reason of diet cherry Coke that somebody just like, you know, smurfed one off of there and left the rest behind.
Luke Burbank
Or Stephanie Courtney talking about the food in the 99. I'm Cinnamon Coke, right?
Andrew Walsh
And then I'm gonna, like, trudge to the back back and get a shot. But then he's like, no. Well, where do you get your prescriptions picked up? I'm like, oh, yeah, I guess that's at the QFC on Holman Road. They have a little pharmacy in the back, and they hand me my pills or whatever I need, and that's fine. But I don't like the idea of going into my regular grocery store and just sitting in one of those little chairs waiting for somebody at the grocery store. And I know that they're licensed pharmacists, if anybody's listening. And they're all like, ah, this is what we do. We're all professionals. We just have happen to be stationed at the qfc. That's fine. There's just something about it. It's like, I don't want to just sit in one of those chairs. It seems so bleak to me.
Luke Burbank
I think. Well, I've gotten. I think I may have even gotten the COVID back when that was happening more frequently. And some. I think I may have even gotten a Covid shot in a grocery store. And the thing is, they do have a small room. They're not doing it next to the like, you know, tortilla chips or something. Like, you get to go. It's private. Yeah, can I have some emotional support, Tortilla chips and guac while you do this? It's, you know, it is. You go into a room somewhere. So no one's gonna. Nobody who's in the grocery store is gonna observe you getting the shot. If I remember right, I think some of this. I think some of this is because you've expressed on the show a general dislike for the experience of getting shots anyway. So there's probably no place you're loving it happening, but also it being a weird, slightly chaotic environment like the grocery store adds to your lack of excitement about it. Would you say that's true?
Andrew Walsh
Maybe, yeah. And also maybe it's because it's my grocery store. And like, I got. I know that I got one of my Covid shots up, like off of Aurora, but further north. Like, maybe it was Linwood or something like that, and it was a totally fine drugstore. And I went back and you're right, they took me into a little room and it was all good. But I remember even at the time being like, I need to get at least as far north as Linwood. I need to get out of the city a little bit. There's something so depressing to me about some of the drugstores in this general Northgate Aurora area that the idea of sticking myself with. Honestly, you make the joke about stepping over other needles to get in there. It's just like it's in my head. It's like, okay. And that's why I'm kind of like, I was even thinking again because my. I told you in great detail in the show that my doctor has moved his practice over to Redmond. And I was like, maybe I should just go get all of my shots at some nice drugstore in Redmond or something. I just don't know if I want. And maybe is it ironic or apt that I run into my bad phlebotomist at the QFC on Holmes? What if it turns out that he's moonlighting also as a pharmacist? That would be.
Luke Burbank
He's like, they don't pay me enough. That's why I don't do a good job at the medical office you see me at. So I've got to pull double duty. I'm also the guy who gives the flu shots here at the. I have to tell you, they've got me so beat down now with what you can and cannot get easy access to in those kinds of stores. I was in the Safeway down in town and I realized I needed some more shaving razors. Just kind of like the typical, typical whatever, you know, disposable safety razor. And do we call them a safety razor?
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, I mean, I know it seems a little old timey, but I know what you're talking about. But then you're talking about the kind where the whole thing is disposable, not just the razor itself. Yeah, okay.
Luke Burbank
Yes. So, yeah, the whole thing. Because I want to try to handle. I want to try to create as much plastic waste.
Andrew Walsh
That's why I bring it up.
Luke Burbank
So I. And again, I was like, I was getting some food and stuff and I was like, well, let me just go over and grab some raisins. I was like, well, there's just no way, way I'm going to be able to walk up and grab a bag of razors because like, those are always now locked down. And sure enough, I could. They had razors. They were right there. I didn't have to. Now this is a grocery store, so maybe people aren't stealing that from the grocery store the way that they allegedly are stealing that from CVS or, you know, Walgreens or these. Again, I just. I'm just echoing what you've said, Andrew, but I don't think that there is a more depressing example of late stage capitalism than. Than the current state of drugstores in America. Because think about what. In fact, you know what, down in the.
Andrew Walsh
Even where you live too. I was gonna say, I was gonna ask, is there a difference? Cause I was wondering if it's kind of like the difference between like an urban grocery store where I live and maybe a place that is more suburban or exurban.
Luke Burbank
I think it is a little different, to be honest with you. I don't shop in those kinds of, you know, pharmacies very much anyway. Unless. Unless that's the only option. And so like, for instance, I was mailing that. Whatever that was. I was mailing those dishes back and that was when the woman would not loan me tape. And I did go back to buy tape and the tape was right there. And I don't remember that particular one that was in Longview seeming especially bombed out. I do think that there's a difference of what city you're in and what part of the city you're in, how they tend to treat these things. But like, the thing is that the pharmacy. We're old enough to remember when pharmacy was like a fun place to go. Not even. Cause you were a kid, it wasn't that you were getting prescription medicine. It was just like they had candy and like magazines.
Andrew Walsh
Wasn't the magazine magazines and pool noodles
Luke Burbank
and just like it was this kind of catch. All of a bunch of stuff that was just kind of fun and interesting to look at and colorful. And you know, I've talked a lot about. I grew up, you know, Going to this place called Craigen's Pharmacy that was. Now it's like that church at 77th and Aurora that's called like Mosaic or something. But they were just a delight to be in as a kid and to watch them become the tip of the spear of, of like corporate greed and private equity and racial profiling. It's like everything bad in the world, it all seems to come to a head. You know what was a Bartel Drugs is now a bombed out CVS where they don't trust you to hold any of the items. Yeah, it's just like a real bummer.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah. Bartel is the perfect example of it. For people who don't know, that was like a family run chain that was started here in Washington state. Right. Or definitely the Pacific Northwest.
Luke Burbank
Yeah, Washington.
Andrew Walsh
And in the past 10 years or so, Drug Mart, a company based out of Ohio, I believe just because I grew up with Drug Mart is why I know that they just bought a bunch of them up and then said we can't sustain these and just started closing them all down and it's like, oh, great, thanks. Hope everybody got them.
Luke Burbank
Buying them and ruining them.
Andrew Walsh
Yeah, exactly.
Luke Burbank
What are you, the Ellisons?
Andrew Walsh
What do you mean?
Luke Burbank
That doesn't look like anything to me, actually. I mean, the funny thing is, and we should probably wrap things up, I. People have been reaching out to me, you know, with the Scott Pelley firing and stuff and asking my take on that because I do work there and I'm not, not talking about it because I'm worried about getting in trouble because that would have happened a long time ago. Like this is, what we're doing is so far off of the radar of anybody who would, I don't know, be disciplinary towards me. It's just that I don't. It's complicated for me. I don't know. I mean, I feel bad about it, but. But I also. I've been like the last couple of days trying to think through my, like my statement, as it were, on the matter and I haven't quite landed on how I. I don't know how to talk about it. So once I do, I'm happy to. I don't want anyone to think that I'm, I'm like afraid to broach the topic. I really just, I guess if I do talk about it, I want to try to say something that's semi coherent or cogent and I'm still kind of. I'm still sort of puzzling through my thoughts on the matter. So once I, Once I've arrived at something, you'll be the first to know and then the listeners will be the second to know.
Andrew Walsh
And then I will twist it and turn it.
Luke Burbank
As you often do.
Andrew Walsh
As I often do, but. All right. Do you want to leave things there for the day then?
Luke Burbank
Probably. What are we doing for the music?
Andrew Walsh
How about this?
Luke Burbank
Are we alternating through rights free music? Are we playing the same Ninja Turtle song? What are we doing?
Andrew Walsh
I've been sort of alternating. Yesterday we played something by a group that I or some artist that made some rights free music. They go by telecasted and this today is Diala. Let's see what this is. This song apparently is regulate but I don't think it's Regulators mount up.
Luke Burbank
No, that would seem very not rights free.
Andrew Walsh
I grabbed these a long time ago I think for the TB telethon last year while we needed some music for our. For our video stream. So I know that I liked these a year ago or at least like them enough to use them.
Luke Burbank
Yeah, this is working for me. So that is going to do it for today's episode of the show. But we are going to be be right back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio for all of you. So please, please, please join us for that. In the meantime, have a great Tuesday everybody stay safe, take care of yourselves and please remember, no mountain too tall.
Andrew Walsh
And good luck to you all. Power out.
TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live – Episode #4745 “Liev Me Alone” June 9, 2026
Episode Overview
On today’s TBTL, hosts Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh bring their signature blend of playful banter, deep-dive pop culture musings, and extremely niche sports talk to the table. This episode centers around some odd and satisfying coincidences in show content, the meta-phenomena of podcasting and internet culture, an in-depth reflection on the show “Hard Knocks” and the current state of the Seattle Seahawks (fresh off their unexpected Super Bowl win), plus a viral conspiracy theory about whether Guy Fieri ever actually swallows food on his show. Plus, the guys make space for nostalgia about kid toys, the generational divide in tech adoption, and the changing—and increasingly bleak—nature of American drugstores.
Key Discussion Points
Notable Quotes & Moments
Timestamps for Major Segments
Summary/Tone Notes
This episode embodies TBTL’s best qualities: quick-witted yet offbeat, unhurried yet never wandering too far off course, and always anchored by listener community (Donor of the Day, callbacks, emails). Luke and Andrew take delight in small-bore cultural oddities (Guy Fieri swallowing, mentalism origin stories, mop technology) while allowing for pockets of nostalgic lament and gentle self-deprecation (“there’s a world of technology I’m probably never going to really engage with…”). Sports, as ever, is both a shared passion and a lens for reflecting on broader media/tech changes, with plenty of room for tangents and personal confession.
For listeners new and old, this episode is a sampler of TBTL’s trademark blend: meta-podcasting, food TV conspiracies, sports nerdery, nostalgia, and the shared absurdity of modern life.