Tell ‘Em Steve-Dave #661: Incensed!

Release Date: December 15, 2025
Main Theme:
This episode brings together the classic TESD crew (Walt, Bry, Q) and special guest Rub for a highly candid, darkly comedic look at everyday absurdities: misadventures at the office, “incense wars,” social irritations at home, navigating AI’s weird new world, and a philosophical dive via the debut of Rub’s new game, “Mr. Brightside.” The tone is raucous, irreverent, and true-to-life, blending improv-level riffs with surprisingly heartfelt undercurrents.

Highlights & Key Segments

1. [01:56] Checking In: Giddem’s Absence & Studio Status

• Get ‘Em Steve Dave is in rehab, set to return home soon, but his absence has closed the Hazlitt office/studio indefinitely. Walt implores listeners not to show up: “If Giddem’s not here, no one’s here.”
• The crew jokes about the office’s fragility and Giddem’s real value:

  “It really shows you how much he’s earning, that money, sitting and waiting for those...customers.” —Walt (04:07)

2. [05:57] The 2025 Airport Plaza "Incense Wars"

• Get ‘Em, though absent, stirs controversy by alerting the team to a brewing “incense war” between tenants.
• The Situation: ‘‘Yarn Lady,’’ a Plaza mainstay, posts an angry letter demanding the mysterious incense burner “PLEASE STOP.”
• Discussion: Is she exaggerating her reaction for effect, or genuinely suffering? Is her claim of migraine and burning eyes legit?
• The TESD crew sides with longevity and sympathy:

  “You just can’t come in here with your fancy-smancy smelling salts from all over the Persian Gulf...burning them, then everybody’s got a headache.” —Walt (06:22)

• The group imagines comical escalation (“no pets or incense!”) and the potential for pet-owner comeuppance.
• Memorable image: Walt mistakes a leaf for dog poop, nearly cleans it up to avoid blame in Giddem’s absence (10:18).

3. [11:19] Domestic Babble: The Perils of Spousal Chattiness

• Bry vents about MaryBeth’s constant dog/cat chatter and newfound eBay “flipping” obsession:

  “When your wife is rambling, how do you cut down on that?” —Bryan (11:19)

• Walt’s life hack: perfected autopilot listening from years at the TESD table—“I can seemingly look like I’m involved...and I’m fucking in another land.” (13:58)
• Rob admits to the inverse problem—zoning out so completely he misses his wife’s conversation entirely (14:55).
• The group brainstorms (and rib each other about) personal ‘retreats’: Bry needs to reclaim his basement as a man-cave/hobby zone.
• The segment highlights the need for personal space/hobbies in marriage, and the comedic lengths to which one may go to escape or recapture a little independence.

4. [16:52] Spouse as ‘Flip(ster)’: The eBay (Non-)Hustle

• Details of the Great Johnson Family Flipping Plan: Pyrex, ceramics, “lily pads,” estate-sale misc., and unused projects cluttering the house.
• Walt compares it to his own would-be “zombify-the-paintings” hobby; everyone notes the gulf between acquisition motivation and follow-through.
• The real domestic irritant: phone game addiction. Bry notices MaryBeth’s “nonstop” gaming, paralleling his own mother’s earlier habits (18:05).

5. [19:43] The Hobby Void and the Value of New Circles

• The men question if spending so much time together at home is healthy, and what it takes to carve out solo interests:

  “...that is a product of you and her being together for weeks on end without...anything that brings you apart.” —Walt (19:56)

• Proposals: VFW, Elks Lodge, community theater (Q: “Once a year, you do Othello, or something...”), ASPCA/library volunteering, working at Barnes & Noble rearranging magazines, or acting.
• Bry, per usual, finds a way to pre-empt any new challenge: “I can’t work at Barnes and Noble...that’s not free time, that’s a job.” (25:09)
• Q offers a gentle nudge: “I think he needs a new circle that’s only his.” (24:08)

6. [36:27] News & Riff: AI, ChatGPT, and the Dangers of Algorithmic “Hallucinations”

• AI in the real world: A lawsuit alleges ChatGPT “fed the paranoid delusions” of a man who killed his mother—raising the philosophical minefield of tool-vs-user responsibility.

• Walt’s central analogy: “Let’s say it’s 1910, and someone uses a car to run over their mother—would we get rid of cars?” (39:14)

• Q and Walt don’t shy from the gray area between convenience, responsibility, and the encroaching inability to tell real from fake in the digital world.

• Q’s observation about art, creativity, and AI:

  “There’s something about art...what it means to be a human through art...there is something offensive...about that being created by something that doesn’t even live.” (48:43)

• Walt: Artists can (and should) make AI a tool—levelling the playing field for those lacking budget, not just talent.

  “Why are you shutting the doors for those people now who finally now can create something...on this new technology?” —Walt (49:37)

7. [54:21] TESD 2025 Christmas Special and Audiobook Announcements

• [54:21] Reminder: 7.5 hour Christmas Pod releases Dec 23 on Bandcamp & Patreon, proceeds to charity ([00:00] and [54:21]).

8. [57:05] Debuting “Mr. Brightside”—Rub’s Game of Absurd Silver Linings

• Concept: Each host picks a random unpleasant fate (incontinence, losing object permanence, all-liquid diet, etc.). The challenge is to rationalize or “normalize” their life under these conditions.

• Sample Dilemmas–Highlights:

  • Bryan (Incontinence): Would get medical help, then wear diapers and be forced to time podcast recording carefully (58:29).

    “Mary Beth, we’re recording tomorrow, so come on, give me a hand in here, cover up that toilet—I don’t want to see it!” (60:23)

  • Q (No Object Permanence): At first lost, attempts a “Memento” solution by tattooing reminders on his body; Walt reframes as living through endless rediscovery and delight (63:20—70:09).
  • Walt (Liquid Diet): Proposes IV nutrition or baby food, tries to maximize health routine; notes spitting up is an issue (72:33).
  • Q (All Secondhand, Even Food & Underwear): Quickly finds the loophole—just needs an assistant to take the first bite, otherwise not a big deal (“just like royalty!” 77:26).
  • Walt (No Touchy): Driven to the “boy in the bubble” life to avoid accidentally killing people or animals; makes peace with a hermetic existence (81:33).
  • Bry (No Animals Ever): Realizes he must live outdoors tent-style to avoid invisible animal dander/death—turns into a Key West camping fantasy, but complains about bugs (83:19).

  Memorable exchange:

  Walt: “Negative Nelly!”
  Bry: “Can’t do it.”
  Q: “Can’t do it, just kill me now.” ([87:14])

9. [88:48] Philosophical Lightning Round: Love Lost in a “Coma,” Life as Always-On Honking

• Walt (Coma, loved one moves on):

  “I would not expect her to not try to live some semblance of a normal life... She’d never expect me to come out of a coma five years later. Just happy I’m out of the fucking coma.” (89:28)

• Bry (Can Only Talk About TV Show “Alice”):

  “We could start a podcast: Alice Does Live Here.” (95:46)
  He must relate everything in life back to Alice for the rest of his days.

• Q (Must Sexually “Soak” Only, a Mormon loophole):
  Solutions: find a hot “bed jumper,” maybe use a hospital bed, but ultimately—“Just lie back and hang out. No thrusting, no cardio work... at my age, who needs this pressure?” (106:42)

10. [107:57] Final Absurdities: From “Toot Toot” (Bry speaks only in horn sounds) to LED Mind Readers, and Time-Locked Tech

• Bry (Horn sounds): Has to develop a horn “language” and teach friends (108:13).
• Q (Believes everything anyone says): Must have his friends always around to prevent disastrous scams (110:54).
• Walt (Weight oscillates by 100 lbs each day):

  “Some days I gotta be bedridden. Someone’s gonna have to wipe me when I’m bedridden!” (117:06)

• Q (Thoughts visible on forehead via LED):

  “There’s sombrero time, and there’s just leaning into being the blunt guy.” (121:13)

• Walt (Stuck with only tech from birth year—1967):
  “I love old TVs… I think it’s a very airy kind of floating kind of existence where I’m not weighed down by today’s gizmos.” (126:14)
• Bry (Every interaction ends in a stinging insult): He’d blame neurological injury and warn everyone in advance; jokes about the effect on the pod and being beat up at McDonald’s (129:01).

11. [133:04] Rub’s Plug & The Ethics of Podcast Cross-Promotion

• Rub plugs his own podcast, “Reviewing History” (covers historical movies with ‘dick and fart jokes’), admits to borrowing TESD’s game style.
• Debate: Should TESD expand with more cross-pod appearances?

  “Should we think about—like—you know, branching out, going on other podcasts…?” —Walt (133:46)

Notable Quotes

• On Incense War Diplomacy:

  “You just can’t come in here with… your fancy-smancy smelling salts from all over the Persian Gulf… burning them, and then everyone’s got a headache.”
  —Walt (06:22)

• On Escaping Domestic Babble:

  “I can seemingly look like I’m involved in what you’re telling me, and I’m fucking in another land. I’m not here, baby.”
  —Walt (13:58)

• On Tech & AI Job Disruption:

  “Why are you shutting the door for those people now who finally now can create something…?”
  —Walt (49:37)

• On Spousal Attachment:

  “She does not want to stay home by herself. It’s so sweet.”
  —Q (21:23)

• On the Game’s Spirit:

  “You’re the arbitrage… The arbiter of normal.”
  —Walt / Rub (75:58)

• On Soaking:

  “Look, it’s not the end of the world. There’s a lot of fun to be had with soaking—and you can still talk dirty.”
  —Q (101:46)

• On Being a Perpetual Insulter:

  “I would put a sandwich board, like a little one on you: ‘I have Tourette’s. I’m gonna say shit that’s gonna make you mad. Please don’t beat me.’”
  —Walt (129:29)

Timestamps of Major Segments:

• [00:00]: Christmas Special plug
• [01:56]: Show start, rehab update, Hazlitt office closed
• [05:57]: Incense wars at Airport Plaza
• [11:19]: Spousal conversation & eBay flipping obsessions
• [19:43]: Hobbies, new circles, finding independent purpose
• [36:27]: AI lawsuit, creative potential, and responsibility discourse
• [54:21]: Christmas special/audiobook update
• [57:05]: “Mr. Brightside” absurd-life game (through end of show)
• [133:04]: Plugs & cross-podcast debate

Conclusion & Tone

The episode is a perfect example of TESD’s balance—laugh-out-loud banter and scathing self-deprecation, interlaced with moments of true insight about relationships, change, aging, technology, and staying weird together. Each segment flows with familiar, effortless conversational chemistry; the debut of Rub’s “Mr. Brightside” delivers especially creative riffing and philosophical musing disguised as filth and farce. Whether you want to learn about incense politics or the philosophical limits of soaking, this episode delivers maximum TESD authenticity.