*PATREON PREVIEW* Beware the Greeks

Summary

Podcast Summary: Throwing Fits — "Beware the Greeks" (PATREON PREVIEW)

Date: May 15, 2026
Hosts: Lawrence Leisman & James Harris
Episode Theme:
A casual, humorous exploration of the current menswear and style landscape, with tangents into language, fitness, retail economics, and the oddities of online shopping.

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode of Throwing Fits focuses chiefly on the hosts’ signature "fit check" ritual, spinning out into a series of jokes, opinions, and inside-baseball observations about contemporary men’s fashion, e-commerce, body image, and international idioms. As always, the show is rife with banter, playful roasting, and authentic self-deprecation, all while maintaining a light but critical eye on the culture around them.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Fit Check & Footwear Deep-Dive

Lawrence and James detail their outfits in real time while riffing on various clothing brands and the concept of “fun socks.”

• James’ Fit:

  • Bally Plume Loafers: Describes them as the “nicest, fanciest boat shoes" and discusses the practicalities and etymology.
    • Quote: James Harris (02:39): “Keep the boat shoe train moving. Sailing. Dude, they're— I mean, they're...”
  • Dante Socks & Underwear: Newly discovered brand (sent free samples); ponders what constitutes a “fun sock” versus a sock that’s just “fun.”
    • Quote: James Harris (04:44): “The socks, which I'm saying are socks that are fun but not fun socks. Yep. Are by Dante, who also make my underwear as well.”

• Lawrence’s Fit:

  • Square-toe Shoes from Pen: Snagged at Copenhagen Fashion Week, emphasizing the slow growth and innovation in their footwear category.
  • Graphic Socks: Lawrence notes he's wearing dark gray socks with branding, prompting James to declare these “quite a good time.”

2. Digression: Online Retailers (Farfetch, Lyst, etc.)

A good-natured but critical breakdown of how aggregators and marketplaces operate:

• Farfetch is debated as an aggregator, marketplace, or clearinghouse for luxury goods.
  • James Harris (02:48): “To me it always seemed like some type of elephant graveyard island of lost toys for like sale items from high end brands.”
• Both hosts touch on how platforms like Farfetch (and Lyst) affect independent retailers, suggesting they “squeeze out the little guy” and “surface the big dogs.”
  • Lawrence Leisman (08:01): “I think Farfetch and Lyst are technically evil... they always surface the big retailers that maybe we do ad reads for.”

3. Language & Idiom Tangent: "Bisexual" in French

A playful back-and-forth on language, stemming from the French idiom "by steam or by sail" as a metaphor for bisexuality. The jokes escalate as they poke fun at misunderstandings and translation quirks.

• Lawrence Leisman (03:46): “By steam or by sail.”
• James Harris (03:51): “Wait, really?”
• Lawrence Leisman (06:32): “Which figuratively in contemporary French means bisexual.”
• The segment gets extra mileage out of the confusion between literal and idiomatic expression, a recurring motif in their repartee.

4. Personal Style, Fitness, and Body Image

James opens up about how working out is gradually expanding his wardrobe options, specifically sweaters and polos previously off-limits due to self-consciousness about his chest.

• James Harris (09:19): “I know. What do you mean? It's amazing. I can wear sweaters now. A whole new timeline has been unlocked. One in which I wear sweaters.”
• The talk turns toward the stages of “workout guy” social media content and the psychological complexity of posting shirtless pictures online.
  • James Harris (10:14): “Even if I got into like dream shape, I don't think I could ever be the guy that would... sneak in a shirtless pic with the right context, like at the beach on Instagram.”

5. Indie vs. Big-Box Retail

Both hosts champion smaller, independent retailers (like “and Son” in NYC and “Haven” in Canada) over global aggregators, weaving in details about store owners and personal anecdotes about attempted twin-spotting.

• James Harris (08:26): “And if you would like to support a Canadian owned retailer that has two locations—white male store owners in Toronto and Vancouver. Shout out to Haven.”

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• James Harris (02:48): “Elephant graveyard island of lost toys for like sale items from high end brands.”
• Lawrence Leisman (03:46): “By steam or by sail.”
• James Harris (04:44): “The socks, which I'm saying are socks that are fun but not fun socks.”
• Lawrence Leisman (06:36): “Figuratively in contemporary French [‘by steam or by sail’] means bisexual.”
• James Harris (09:19): “I can wear sweaters now. A whole new timeline has been unlocked.”
• James Harris (10:14): “Even if I got into like dream shape, I don't think I could ever be the guy that would even just sneak in a shirtless pic with the right context.”

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Important Timestamps

• [01:37] – Fit Check begins (James)
• [02:31] – Farfetch/Lyst Marketplace analysis
• [03:45] – French idiom tangent ("by steam or by sail")
• [07:43] – James’ extended fit rundown (with context on socks & color theory)
• [08:01] – Critiquing big retail aggregators vs. small shops
• [09:12] – James opens up about body image and working out
• [10:14] – On the psychology of posting shirtless online

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Tone & Language

• Conversational, irreverent, self-effacing; full of fashion-world jargon and inside jokes
• Loads of personal anecdotes, running gags, and linguistic wandering—fans of the show will appreciate the blend of candor and absurdity

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Conclusion

This episode encapsulates the essence of Throwing Fits: relatable (and vividly detailed) conversations about clothes, quietly sharp commentaries on retail and internet culture, plus plenty of banter that blurs earnestness with irony. The fit checks aren’t just about style—they open doors to broader cultural observations, with just enough self-awareness to keep it fun and never too serious.

Transcript

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[Lawrence Leisman]

Throw gang. We are joined by the bare nibs Baron, Lawrence Lossman and myself, the square toad sultan, James Harris. Welcome to the weekly run in the woods with today's flip on only mail

[James Harris]

on www.throwingfits.com before we get into Jonah

[Lawrence Leisman]

Hill for kith AP X watch. How do you say AP Audemars PJ how did. What was Google telling you? It's like piggy owl.

[James Harris]

I mean I could look it up. Should we get it how to pronounce? Oh, here we go. Let me get my volume fully blasted for the fret. For the folks at

[Lawrence Leisman]

Audemars Pegue X swatch and breaking machines at the gym, let's get into a fit check.

[James Harris]

I am wearing the bally plume loafers. Their words. These are boat shoes. Let's be clear.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Bally's Swiss. Yeah, yeah, these are like Swiss German Loafer means boat shoe or something.

[James Harris]

Maybe. I mean do they got a lot of boats in Switzerland?

[Lawrence Leisman]

They got lakes and.

[James Harris]

Yeah. Okay. I mean here's the deal, right? They're the nicest, fanciest boat shoes that I finally found on sale. I've been wanting these. Where you find them Far fetch little with a. With a good amount shaved off the

[Lawrence Leisman]

top now but is far fetched a store or an aggregator.

[James Harris]

These came from Bally so I think they're just like. They're like a way station.

[Lawrence Leisman]

No, they're just an aggregator of. Of. Of.

[James Harris]

Yeah, listings. I guess I thought it was more of like a clearinghouse because like they're not on sale on Bally's website. Is it like a place to list dregs and like, like, you got a new colorway. We want to move these loafers? Slash boat shoes.

[Lawrence Leisman]

I don't know.

[James Harris]

Anyway, I got a steel. They are very nice. I love them. But they're definitely boat shoes. Let's.

[Lawrence Leisman]

It's a marketplace.

[James Harris]

What the does that mean, dude?

[Lawrence Leisman]

So they don't sell the. They just like. They're literally just like. They aggregate the links of whatever you're looking for.

[James Harris]

Okay, well, when I do Google shopping, I'm looking for something at the lowest price. A lot of times it happens to be farfetched. Yeah. So to me it always seemed like some type of elephant graveyard island of lost toys for like sale items from high end brands. But maybe again there's could be.

[Lawrence Leisman]

I think it's like the same as list specific.

[James Harris]

Well, I thought list was like a data farming thing, an aggregator of consumer data.

[Lawrence Leisman]

It's shopping. But then they use the consumer data and shopping habits to then like put out those reports that are just like all fake. Anyway.

[James Harris]

But if I bought bots. Yeah, shout out to your fucking rankings, guys. If I bought something. Something from list. I'm not getting list packaging. Right, Just like with far fetch.

[Lawrence Leisman]

No, it's just an intermediary.

[James Harris]

Okay. Anyway, thank you to Bally for putting these on sale so I could finally get them and keep the boat shoe train moving.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Sailing.

[James Harris]

Sailing. Dude, they're. I mean, they're.

[Lawrence Leisman]

You know, you'd say bisexual in French.

[James Harris]

How?

[Lawrence Leisman]

By steam or by sale?

[James Harris]

That is not true.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Yes, it is.

[James Harris]

Wait, really?

[Lawrence Leisman]

Yeah. You think I just do that?

[James Harris]

Wait, so. So if you're in France and you said exactly what you just said with that enunciation, they would know what you're talking about? Yeah.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Oh, he. He gets there by steam or by sale.

[James Harris]

But they're. But they're not speaking English or speaking French.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Okay, translate that to French. What do you. I don't understand how you're not.

[James Harris]

I'm trying to know how to say bisexual in French.

[Lawrence Leisman]

By steamer. By sale. The French version. Does that help?

[James Harris]

Got it. So it's. So it's an idiom like, he's a little light in the loafers.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Le retard.

[James Harris]

The. They're kind of dainty too.

[Lawrence Leisman]

I don't know. Dainty?

[James Harris]

Yeah, I'm a fan. Comfy? Not particularly, but they're not. But they're not uncomfortable. Does that make sense?

[Lawrence Leisman]

Super thin?

[James Harris]

Yeah, I think that's the point?

[Lawrence Leisman]

Super bisexual.

[James Harris]

I don't think these are made for any deck, whether on land, by sea, or by sale.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Just dick.

[James Harris]

Yeah. The socks, which I'm saying are socks that are fun but not fun socks. Yep. Are by Dante, who also make my underwear as well.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Nice.

[James Harris]

Royal blue. This is a new brand that I discovered. And by discovered, I mean they sent me free socks and underwear, so I'm wearing them on the show. Where do you stand on a pop of color on the ankle? Is this fun? Are these fun socks? What are you thinking? What's your. What's your gut tell you?

[Lawrence Leisman]

I think you're on the right side of the divide.

[James Harris]

Okay. I can.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Especially with the. With the brown and the tonal blues and, like, the kind of just all blue, brown fit going.

[James Harris]

Try. I was trying to do a thing to be clear.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Like, what thing was that?

[James Harris]

Mix it in brown with the blue. Oh, well, I'm succeeding. I'm not colorblind, so I'm succeeding. I would say that the what up with the hat, the sunglasses, which are thistles, are black and brown. So altogether in the. That we put on Instagram.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Okay.

[James Harris]

Your boy does not miss.

[Lawrence Leisman]

But how do. Is that how you say it in French? That was weird, bro. That was. That was a little stroke moment.

[James Harris]

No, I was just try. I was trying to understand. I'm not the smartest tool in the shed, dude. Yeah. Trying to understand. I think what separates a fun pair of socks from fun socks is a pattern. Right. If you got stripes. Nah.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Color, too.

[James Harris]

Well, if these were any other primary color, it's the same thing. Right. It can't just be like, blue is good and red is bad.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Red, purple, bright green.

[James Harris]

That's more pop of color and that. And that's where it becomes whack in your mind.

[Lawrence Leisman]

I guess.

[James Harris]

So I think it's got to be if it's stripes or. Or dot, polka dots. Mic. But I kind of like them. I would do a micro dot. I don't know.

[Lawrence Leisman]

A is how you say by steam or by sail.

[James Harris]

Got it.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Which figuratively in contemporary French means bisexual.

[James Harris]

Got it, got it.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Okay. Does that help?

[James Harris]

Yeah, it's a French idiom. Sorry, I thought you were literally speaking

[Lawrence Leisman]

French by steam or.

[James Harris]

Okay. It's a reference to aquatic travel. Correct.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Nautical travel.

[James Harris]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Boats that go by steam or by sail.

[James Harris]

I think what confused me, if we really want to dig into this is you said, you know how you say it in French. If you had said, you know how they say it in France. So that's where I got. I was thought. I thought you were going to literally speak French to me or so right

[Lawrence Leisman]

over your fun head.

[James Harris]

Yeah. Moving on up from the side.

[Lawrence Leisman]

You're saying black isn't fun?

[James Harris]

What the fuck?

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[James Harris]

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[Lawrence Leisman]

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[James Harris]

Moving on up from the socks that are fun but not fun socks. I have on our legacy Emporio Armani jeans. The sweater. My favorite sweater. Wearing it again. Uru. I think there might be. They're sold out everywhere. I think there is a few left on Haven. Check Farfetch in a size one. Yeah. Or check far. I don't know.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Don't check Farfetch. I think Farfetch and Lister are technically evil.

[James Harris]

Okay, well, shit, my bad. Earlier. Shouting them out.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Well, they just like squeeze out the little guy, right? And they're always surfacing. Like they are always surfacing. The big dogs. The big retailers that maybe we do ad reads for.

[James Harris]

I don't know. Gotcha. I got this at and Son, a small independent retailer here in New York City.

[Lawrence Leisman]

A male owned retail.

[James Harris]

And if you would like to support a Canadian owned retailer that has two locations, white male store owners in Toronto and Vancouver. Shout out to Haven. They have their poc.

[Lawrence Leisman]

They're Waysians fellow.

[James Harris]

That is Right. Shout out to the. Shout out to the twins.

[Lawrence Leisman]

They're not twins.

[James Harris]

Shout out to the bros.

[Lawrence Leisman]

They came up to me at the van saying, by the way, we're not twins.

[James Harris]

Oh, you said that. You said that as well.

[Lawrence Leisman]

I was like, you guys are twins, right? They're like, no, we're like seven years apart or something. Not that crazy.

[James Harris]

They both look young and they're young at heart.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Shout out Arthur and Doug.

[James Harris]

Anyway, Haven has, I think the only ones left that you can get in

[Lawrence Leisman]

the entire world and they won't chafe your pepperoni nippies.

[James Harris]

No, dude, though, I think that working out is like getting my.

[Lawrence Leisman]

You have callous nips.

[James Harris]

No, it's getting my. It's getting my right and tight.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Dude, that's the whole point of working out now.

[James Harris]

I know. What do you mean? It's amazing. I can wear sweaters now. A whole new timeline has been unlocked. One in which I wear sweaters.

[Lawrence Leisman]

You couldn't wear sweaters before.

[James Harris]

It would. It would really, really be sweater dependent. Silhouet dependent. Polos too.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Huh?

[James Harris]

Polos. T shirts, sweaters. I was. You know, honestly, if you thought I got fits off, you ain't seen nothing yet. Because I was severely handicapped and limited.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Yeah. This might. This guy. You might see this guy wearing a

[James Harris]

polo because of my breasts.

[Lawrence Leisman]

I don't understand that. But we'll keep it moving.

[James Harris]

The. The shape. The shape and size of my same

[Lawrence Leisman]

big guys can't wear.

[James Harris]

No, I'm saying for me personally, I didn't feel comfortable wearing a variety of tops because of my chest.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Okay.

[James Harris]

Which is now hopefully being toned and maybe shrunk.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Take your sweater off. Since you're not wearing a shirt.

[James Harris]

Take it off. Yo. Imagine. I will never do that. I'll never.

[Lawrence Leisman]

We joke your sweater in the pool.

[James Harris]

You know how like you were saying, like there's all these like stages of workout guy, like the content they post. Even if I got into like dream shape, I don't think I could ever be the guy that would even just sneak in a shirtless pic with the right context, like at the beach on Instagram.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Is that the next stage in your fitness content journey?

[James Harris]

I think that if I got there, that would only be for myself and the people in my personal life that would see me shirtless. To know. I don't think I would broadcast out to the world though. I do remember when I was jacked in college taking a lot of shirtless pics for Facebook albums.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Wow, those are still out there.

[James Harris]

Yeah, Anyone can go and they look great.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Find the Wayback Machine and surface those.

[James Harris]

I think it's a private. I think it purposely private in my face.

[Lawrence Leisman]

3 months of Patreon for you.

[James Harris]

The hat on the fun head is Sorbara's. The sunglasses are thistles. The underwear, like I said, also Dante's. And that's everything. James.

[Lawrence Leisman]

I'm wearing these square toed shoes from Pen that we secured last summer at Copenhagen Fashion Week. I think that they're iterating on the footwear and growing slowly as a category. The socks are up there. Oh, look, they're down there, but they're up there.

[James Harris]

They're kind of fun. Got the branding on them. Those are. Those are quite a good time.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Are they?

[James Harris]

I think so.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Dark gray socks.

[James Harris]

Yeah. Because of the. The graphic.

[Lawrence Leisman]

Oh, okay.

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