Muse

The AM radio is a viable and modern source for news and entertainment. Totally. I used to be number one in this town, but people don't listen to AM like they used to. Seems like it's more about FM and color TV. That's stupid. It sure is, Kevin. In fact, I've got a tattoo here that fully illustrates my point. It's of this rebellious young man, and he's urinating on an FM radio.

TBTL!

you take a hot dog stuff it with some jack cheese fold it in a pizza you got cheesy blasters and then all the kids say thanks meat cat and then meat cat flies away on his um skateboard we're

doing it man this is it we're riding the thick of the action it's fear-mongering clap trap isolation is techno paranoia so bogus and dangerous and stupid that it borders on trees

You know, you're overthinking it, buddy. I mean, just kind of see this as a fun thing to do where you make a little bread.

You better finish up that vacuuming. I'm going to have a hot mic in a minute. We're talking Garamond today.

All right, hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Thursday edition of TBTL, a show that just might be too beautiful to live. Can somebody tell me what the hell is going on? My name is Luke Burbank. I'm your host.

I am extraordinary.

Coming to you from the Nest Broadcast Center, perched high in the sky above Portland, Oregon, where another day, another dangerous situation on one of these many rooftops that I'm able to see from my perch. Yesterday, there was a guy who was walking his dog on the roof of a building, a green roof. So it has a certain amount of grass and moss that they've planted. But he was using the green roof as the place for his dog to go to the bathroom. But he was also standing very near the edge of the roof, which was, you know, there were no, like, walls or fences or safety barriers because it's not really a place you're supposed to be. Today, they're shooting some kind of industrial photo shoot that must have to do with, ironically, must have to do with safety protocols. because they're taking photographs of a young woman in, like, an orange safety vest and a hard hat, and she is—it must be for some HVAC company. This is a different building, by the way, that I'm looking at. Actually, it's a building here in Portland that's called the Dumbbell Building, and I believe it was designed by one of the members of the Dandy Warhols. I'm not even kidding you. But they're taking photos of this person, I assume, in various poses that indicate something about safety. She's like pretending to look at the HVAC system, etc. But they've also just been walking around like one foot from the edge of this building, which is like six stories high. Would be instant death if you fell off of it. And it is kind of stressing me out. But I'm going to try to focus here on episode 3482. Let the fun begin. In a collector series. and not let those people standing dangerously close to the edge of a high building roof get to me. As you know, as a listener to this show, you know I'm a fan of the program Jeopardy and have been quite interested in their search for a host to replace Alex Trebek. Never let me slip, because if I slip, then I'm slipping. And they had all kinds of amazing people audition, including, of course, our friend Ken Jen, I believe LeVar Burton was one of them. Did Jake Tapper do it? Got Jake Tapper on the brain since yesterday's conversation with Andrew. Anyway, they had so many interesting people try out for this. There was one really uninteresting person that they apparently have now picked. Losers, in other words. To be the main host of the show. It's quite perplexing. And doesn't seem to be going over super great on the Internet. So we'll talk about that also. So we'll tell you, I mean, it feels real TBD if we're going to be able to continue to go back into restaurants for the foreseeable future. But if we are, we've got some helpful tips to you about how to not have your mind engineered by the menu that you're holding in your hand.

There's a lot of science where they try to get you to spend more money and do certain things based on how they design the menus. And then we saw a tweet the other day about the language that we use that might be considered anti-public transit. You know how we love to talk about that PETA thing, thrilling two birds with one scone and feeding a fed horse and stuff? Replacement phrases that are less mean to animals. Well, now we have some that are less mean to the idea of public transit. Get on the magic carpet and ride. We'll talk about that, too. And it's a Blur's Day, so we've got to do the Blur's Day messages. I'm going to do all that with the help of this young man. longest-running Cobra of the show, maybe best known for his depictions. of the tall ships do not try to come at him on the internet he's got like every meme ever produced on the internet he can knock us out with his memes he is andrew walsh and he is joining me right now from the roosevelt neighborhood of seattle washington good morning my friend

good morning my friend i um just remembered you know that thing we like to do where we unmute our microphones at the beginning of the show i just don't blame you do that i don't blame you

because that was one of the longer intros in a while. Because I got distracted with this photo shoot that has me feeling kind of nervous. And then I was honestly thinking, I might run out of music here. So that's, I blame myself. I blame myself for lulling you probably to sleep with all of that banter at the top of the show. Banter between myself and the microphone.

Can I be, I appreciate you trying to take the bullet there, but let me be 100% frank. We joke around sometimes about me not listening to your intros That's not true, I usually listen to the intros In fact, I'm listening closely for levels and what have you Today, I was a bit distracted And I was even going to say You missed the whole thing about the roof then? I heard you talking about the roof I heard somebody's up there I did miss the part about it being a photo shoot Because here's the deal, Luke And I was almost going to start the show by saying We need to do Blur's Days now Like, right now, at the top of the show Because every moment we wait we are getting five more blurs day messages coming in this is the longest blurs days ever i know people are getting excited now people are like i can't wait till the end of the show where we hear five million blurs days but as you were talking i was also playing goal catcher trying goal goal catcher i was playing goal catcher luke that famous position just like yesterday i said i was playing um as a kid i played left center field in baseball but that was but five different Right, but see, that made sense. That's a real thing.

You were an added outfielder in Little League, which does happen.

Yeah, no, but I'm not a goal catcher, but I'm just like, all these messages are flooding in, so I've been kind of pulling them in, editing them for time, and doing all this while you were talking. So it's a full-on photo shoot.

Is this a wedding photo shoot up there? No, it's like an OSHA photo shoot. So the person who's having their picture taken is wearing, like, a reflective orange vest and a yellow hard hat, even though she's standing on a roof. I mean, unless Sputnik comes down, nothing is going to hit her on the head. But this is why I know it's something that's kind of like safety related. And she's now – there's a photographer and there's somebody that's holding that big light bouncing kind of circle. Oh, yeah. You know, whatever you call that. You think – I don't work in television. There's no reason I would know what any of these things are called. but um so there's a small crew and then this this this woman who's being photographed standing near like the fans that are and part of this giant hvac thing that's on top of this huge building so uh yeah that's what's going on but again the great irony is that this is i again i assume that these photos will be somewhere online or in a a manual about how to stay safe on the job but they have been regularly walking perilously close to the edge of this building that if they were to fall off they would die immediately and that's making me stressed and then and would that be an osha complaint right you know what i mean you get a pick as the person's falling because that you got to put that in the manual i you know you know you usually have to fake something like that but in this case i mean i'd say the one silver lining would be very very believable content yeah yeah

no kidding if you're i mean if you're going to sacrifice a life for it at least get let's get

some useful sake let's get some content out of it luke i have a great idea what's your favorite

magazine that used to be owned by the razor company um not mel mel mel i always get mel and medium confused which i know are very different beasts but um uh a per you know what a great mel magazine article would be a look at all the people who've been injured on osha related projects like osha shoots or osha presentations or anything related to osha the but people who've been injured in in the service of providing instructions on how not to get injured on the job because of course who watches the watchers who osha's the osha so you have a photo shoot

where you have to have somebody who's standing on the top level of the ladder which you're not supposed to do but you have to have them on that level to show what you're not supposed to do but now who's the osha for osha's photo shoot exactly who's the larger entity that's telling them no don't put that person on the top rung of the ladder because that's unsafe yes exactly well

I've written down who OSHA is the OSHA. Yeah, so that's good. And I think that that is the type of title that is going to really draw in young people and people who are just looking for an escape from the daily tedious grinds, right? Yes. OSHA talk, I think.

This podcast is finally going places. I introduced you at the top of the show by saying, do not try to come at this guy on the Internet. Somebody. I wouldn't say mildly, but in a not somebody came at me slightly on the Internet the other day, Andrew, and I'm wondering if I I'm wondering what you think of my response. Oh, OK.

I can tell you right now that I'm already clenched up. So does it begin with, hey, dummy?

No, no, no. I was I wrote a tweet that was about the Cuomo thing, Andrew Cuomo in New York. And what's he up to? Nothing great, it turns out. You know, I noted that like Biden and and a lot of Democrats have said, you've got to leave, man. This is not acceptable. Your behavior. Yeah. And it struck me that that you I'm not saying the Democrats are perfect. Far from it. But I just find it so interesting that you do have one of the political parties that even if the person has the same letter after their name as they do, they're like, yeah, but you can't do that. like one party has not fully embraced this idea of deny deny deny and everything is a war and never give an inch there is one party that it would appear to me is still sort of saying yeah you know what if you do credible awful behavior you can't have the job anymore that and that's how i think it should be and so i wrote some tweet that was like it was a screen cap of like new york times mentioning that biden had called on cuomo to step down i said something like wow uh you know a person did something that's credibly been found to have been awful and his political party is saying you got to step down i go what is this 2015 and then the somebody responded by saying well we know it's not 1995 and i was like that's a weird response i don't like that response i'm not handling this well i'm slouching i'm depressed so i like i go to the person's twitter feed and i can see that they've retweeted people from do you know what quillette

is no and i have a feeling i'm going to regret knowing once you tell me no it's just one of

those like quillette is this thing that's like tries to present itself as being very sort of intellectual um but really it's just a front for uh you know right wingers it's like the people that would say i'm not a ben shapiro type i'm i you know i i just believe in a robust intellectual discourse that's why i'm over at quillette as opposed to uh you know one america news or something but it turns out this is a crazy thing uh most of the people on quillette if you get down to it it may take a much more forgiving view of donald trump and his policies etc so i just noticed that this the people this guy is interacting with on twitter are all people generally speaking he's retweeting and and engaging with people that are presenting uh Positions that are not my positions So I figure out what this guy's talking about He's talking about Bill Clinton And so his point is Not that his party That I assume he pushes for Has just absolutely Completely Decided that The current president or excuse me The previous president's behavior was Just not something that should ever be questioned He doesn't want to talk about that He wants to talk about the fact that the Dems probably didn't handle things regarding bill clinton correctly which is like to me a real big case of what about ism and i just saw the tweet and the first one through my head was like eight million responses by the way this person has like seven followers so it's like why do i care yeah yeah it just felt like a turd in the punch bowl and then i just blocked him i don't think

i've ever blocked anyone is that all you did oh yeah sure yeah but i almost but i still felt like i was in a way now i mean i think i hope you broke the seal just block it i'm not joking Block everyone Go through a phase of doing that Just see how it feels I'm serious

Well I block Here's actually The truth is I do block a lot of entities But it's just when I keep seeing the same ad For something that has no relevance to my life I will block those all the time So if any company or television program Or drug manufacturer Is just populating my Twitter feed with these ads I will just start blocking them Hoping that it teaches the algorithm to leave me alone or something But I don't block people usually for putting a comment into my thread that I don't love It actually doesn't happen that much I think I've pretty much chased off anyone who doesn't share the same opinion as me So I guess the reason that I wonder if this was the right approach Was because if I leave the comment there First of all, most people don't even get what he's referencing I don't give any oxygen to his bullshit If I block him, I assume he gets an update that says Luke Burbank has blocked you

No, no, it's just the next time they try to engage with you, they won't be able to. Nobody gets a notification. Oh, well, that's me. I've been blocked. I'm getting blocked. I'm getting blocked more now than we're getting blurs days coming in through the transom. Like, people are getting blocked. Oh, people block me all the time. I'm I'm raunchy. You're hot. Yeah. No, my regular tweets. You wouldn't notice. We go into my replies. I'm replying to everybody. Oh, you're a reply guy. Local public. radio, newscasters, everything. I am just going after everything, really often coming from a position of the right. No, I'm serious that this isn't what you're talking about. This is a little bit different. But you remember I did kind of a Twitter purge years and years ago. Now, this is such an old story.

By the way, one of the worst movies from that franchise.

Actually, one of the best. The purge, Twitter. One of the best, actually. I think it's one day where everybody just gets rid of all of their followers, just like everything they're following. They just erase it and then re-sign up thoughtfully to the accounts they really want to follow. But anyway, yeah, a while back, I was like, boy, I follow a bunch of people, journalists, politicians, all these people. But, you know, even when people are saying some things on hot topics that I'm interested in and agree with them on, I'm just hearing the same takes over and over and over. And it's just like spinning up and everybody's getting angry and two people I respect are fighting over new tiny nuances of the same story during the Trump administration. Actually, when I did the purge, it might have been right before that. But anyway, point being is I said, I want Twitter to be a place that when I open it up, it brings me joy. So I followed a bunch of sports stuff, which is weird because I root for the Mariners and Browns. You'd think I'd purge them, too. But like, you know, and because of that, this is my point. And because of that, I had curated my Twitter in a way that it was like it was not – it wasn't a news source for me. It was just a source of enjoyment. I could get my news elsewhere. But then we had like – we have listeners to this show who are dear to us in many ways but also want to have opinions online, which is their right to do. And I'm thinking about one instance in particular here.

Until the Twitter purge, at which point it will no longer be. And I, for one, look forward to that day.

And the person in question still listens to the show, and they probably know I'm talking about them. But, like, one time I was literally on vacation at my parents' house, I believe, watching a Browns game. No, watching Sunday night football after a Browns game. I just remember it really well. I was just having – it was near the end of my vacation. It was a really nice trip. I was just kind of in a good place. And I just opened up Twitter, and I have one notification. And it's from somebody just coming in so hot on something so innocuous, but just coming in real hot and tagging me in it and just saying, you know, it makes me throw my phone when Andrew and Luke talk about this topic. And it wasn't like a political thing. It wasn't a super serious thing. It was just it was just kind of a small lifestyle thing. And but they had strong opinions about it. Right. And it just was upsetting. It just kind of it just it was just like you're just like kind of hanging out and enjoying your vacation. you turn around and somebody just punches you in the gut. Now, this person had every right to tweet what they tweeted because it was a different perspective than mine. And that's fine. And they can share that and they can have those conversations. So I wrote them a very long email that said, listen, you will notice that I have blocked you. You are a dear friend of the show and an IRL friend, but I'm not blocking you out of anger. I'm not blocking you to upset you or to, you know, create any more negative energy. Send a message or anything. It's only because I have, you know, I want Twitter to be a place when I open it, I don't have to worry about if something's coming at me hot, you know? Yeah. And the person, I think, totally understood, you know? And that was, I'm not saying that you should write a long letter to everybody you block, but especially for strangers who are just coming in hot or whatever, like, you don't have to, you just don't have to engage with these folks. There's no reason to.

And I generally don't but see I didn't understand the mechanics of blocking like that was news to me that the person I blocked doesn't get some notification because what I thought would be a bad outcome would be if something goes from just a dumb I think wrongheaded comment from somebody that doesn't have a big influence on Twitter to them getting a message oh so and so has blocked you all of a sudden then it's like they can say to themselves yeah that person wasn't ready for my truth. Right, right, right. Like, they just had to, like, back out of the octagon. Yeah, right. And it's just more like, no, I just don't want to see that in my timeline. I don't want future responses like that because they annoy me. And I'm also not going to, like, I'm not going to, like, write a big angry post or response to it. But the fact that the person, if I block someone, they don't get a notification, that's actually good. I like knowing that because it probably makes me – and I'm very lucky that –

Do me a favor. Can you just block me right now? I'll tell you. No joke. Block me. Unblock me later, please. but just block me and I'll tell you tell me when it's done I'll tell you if I get any kind of notification and then I'll try to interact with you too and we'll see what happens

okay first I have to find you on here oh you son of a gun I should be pinned I don't know wait is that a thing I can do no I don't think you can pin people radio underscore Walsh was radio Walsh not underscored taken um I don't is that my twitter maybe not I don't think that's uh is it Andrew underscore Walsh was that taken I think it's Andrew underscore Walsh yeah

And yeah, I do think that Andrew... walsh without an underscore was taken i heard someone say okay here we go i see you now somebody said on morning edition today that they couldn't underscore something enough oh yeah and i i guess that means underline is that what underscore i mean i think of underscore as being i think i say that yeah yeah i always feel like the better way to say that is i can't overstate this in other words yeah i can't i'm saying this and i'm saying it too much but even that's not enough yeah because of the thing yeah um i people that's a common one too not to nitpick but people will very frequently say i can't understate this enough and that's i think kind of the opposite of what they're trying

to say oh i have never heard that ever am i blocked i'm gonna block you right now hold on here we go um just do it just do it quick look into your heart look into your heart okay miller's crossing humor you are blocked it's funny god between miller's crossing and osha

We have, I think, officially made ourselves the hit podcast among the 17 to 28-year-old set.

Hello, fellow kids. Okay, what are you seeing? What are you seeing? So now I'm going to type in Luke Burbank into my thing. There, I found you. It's Luke underscore Burbank. It is not. It is at Luke Burbank. Because I got there early. This is where Luke Burbanks. This is what's interesting. When I see you in the search term, it says you follow each other. But when I click on your profile, I just see – I see both of your photos. Luke Burbank, I see your profile pic, you looking over a rooftop and a cute little baby with an umbrella. I don't know who that is.

That's my nephew, little Luke. Oh, that's little Luke. And I'm looking over the edge of Hoover Dam, and I'm very scared. It is – I'm telling you, man, Andrew, you want to get – you want to get the clenches. You want to get the fear at the base of your spine. look over the edge of hoover dam man in uh i think that's still technically in nevada boy that's

scary can we go out with the song hoover dam by sugar today actually let me tweet this question to you um no so i'm gonna send you a now i gotta re-follow you by the way no no don't don't yet don't yet we need to experiment with this so i just need a screen cap or i'm going to but i basically i open it up and i can't see any of your tweets it just says you're blocked you can't follow or see Luke Burbank's tweets, and then I can click to learn more. I think I know all I need. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I just accidentally unblocked you. I'm sorry. Hold on.

You know what, Andrew? Blocking you hurts me so much. I know. I physically can't do it. I keep hitting the unblock thing. Okay. What I want to do is. Andrew Walsh has been blocked. Okay.

Oh, now it says Luke Burbank followed you. I just got a notification, but now I clicked on it. But I've now blocked you again, so it's just going to be. Hey, kids. I'll tell you what. Hey, kids. Life comes at you fast. Now, here's what I want to do. So I am going to start a new tweet. So I'm going to say, at Luke Burbank, 95, question mark, more like 1885, exclamation point. Am I right? Okay. And then I'm going to tweet this at you. And your tweet was sent. So I think everybody else can see this, but you will not see it. You have not received any notifications, right? No notifications here. Okay, so you're not I can't harass you, I can't harangue you But a bunch of people right now At least one person right now Is saying 95, more like 1885 Am I right, what is going on

That's great though, that's building excitement for today's episode I assume that most of the people That follow us on Twitter Are somehow aware of the TBTL world And they realize that what's happening Is we're doing the show And that's some sort of thing related to the show

I hope so, also I hope that I just picked 1885 like randomly I hope nobody reads into that.

It's not a problematic year.

I don't. Anyway, so now can you unblock me, please? Yes, I can.

Also, I took a picture. I also took a picture of, let's see here. Now I've got to go back to who I have blocked.

This is such good. This is so good.

Again, hello, youth. Hello, new listeners. Okay, good. Here we are. I've got you. And now I'm going to unblock you. Unblock Andrew Walsh. Oh, yeah. Which, doesn't that feel good?

Am I going to get a notification again? Because I liked that.

Now, you know what? I have to tell you, I actually, I wasn't trying to set this up, but I am slightly, I am 5% embarrassed about my Twitter behavior related to the new Jeopardy host, or who we think is going to be the new permanent host of Jeopardy, which actually will get us into that topic on the other side of this quick break. So stay with us. It's TBTL. thank you baby let's thank some donors of the day who are making this episode possible another episode andrew that i'm standing for i kneel for the flag i stand for my podcast okay and i Lay down for my Jeopardy watching I don't know Actually I do kind of sometimes I like to recline on the couch Let's thank Michelle Coggin Of Portland, Oregon Hey hey What are the chances Andrew That Michelle is the person in this Hard hat And reflective vest Who is being photographed on this roof What are the I mean Michelle Probably what One out of ten That that's Michelle Coggin Just be careful

Wear one of those They're doing okay now.

See, now they're where all the HVAC stuff is, and so that is protected by a little kind of barrier. It's just when they're out on the rest of the roof that's stressing. Michelle, just be careful, my friend. You're doing great work, though. We need every listener we can get, and we also need every donor we can get.

So thank you. Just remember us in your estate planning.

Thank you. If you have any cars or boats you want to donate. 1-877-TBTL. t b t l okay i'll stop now cecilia hanley is in des moines iowa what up cecilia god it was hard to not go into the paul simon riff there and i didn't

oh i'll bet you cecilia's never heard that before so you can do it well that's what i mean

listen as a person whose name lends itself to star wars references i know what it's like to get you know have a very here's some money go see a star war what it's like to just have a name

that's sort of low-hanging fruit yeah no i you know um when we were at the um this this i'm gonna say this in a way you didn't do let me start by saying you didn't do anything wrong let me start by saying i'm safe everybody's okay you didn't do anything wrong but i will block you on twitter

and i won't even think about it because now i know how easy it is to do i don't think i feel

embarrassed around you very much but one time that i felt embarrassed around you by something that i kind of said was at the and please do not do not harbor this this was just a small thing and you were right but we were at the Minnesota State Fair and we were trying to figure out how we should introduce our guest Brandy Brown and I had said something well maybe Stubat said you could do the song Brandy and there was like a bunch of conversations going on and then I said to Brandy we could use the song Brandy and she's like I hate that song and I came up to you and I said oh Brandy hates don't introduce Brandy with that song she hates it and you looked at me like you looked at me like you just looked at me and was like of course she does like why would you even why would you even think that you would introduce somebody named brandy with the song brandy like that is just so tired and of course she hates it and of course i think part of that and you're absolutely right and part of that was born of the fact that your name is luke and it'd be like if every time somebody introduces you they play the clip from star wars of somebody saying luke i am your father i i bet you're right i bet you

i'm more like i'm more aware of that because i have a name that lends itself to a sort of easy reference by the way it doesn't bother me at all and if i meet any tens in the wild and they want to say luke i'm your father i will totally laugh at that like it does no part of that would bother

me oh i also want to say that's though if i overhear and i don't feel like that's sorry that's the other thing that happens i just want to try that out that's kind of a new yeah that

unfortunately that also happens in one of the newer star wars and so that's a whole new life for the joke i used to just be luke luke i am your father and now it's just a just a nut tap And not in a fun way You know that I had a moment I don't think Camaro Kev is a regular Consumer of this program but he'll tell you sometime There was a Week-long window where I thought Our new joke was going to be Punching each other in the nuts I must have watched An episode of Jackass and thought it was funny And I thought that the funny thing was So the idea was if Kevin was Not ready and not relaxed Or not tensed up Just a gentle nut tap

and uh i didn't like the fact that i raised this at all i'm never gonna do a salty character again

that was a bad so you say he liked it no he hated it for obvious reasons and it was i think it probably was like two days and he was like dude i'm not joking stop and like the more drunk i would get by the way this was like seven years ago like i might have been in my late 30s yeah like he was like don't do that and i was like yeah but it'll just be funny the more we do it he's like no it's not funny and like i remember sitting in his car and like saying okay i'm sorry like and hours had gone by and now he's going to get out of his car and go into my apartment or whatever and i just said okay well see you later and then just whacked him and he was so he was driving so mad at me yeah he was sitting in the driver's seat and he was like what the he was legit as he should have been very very put off by this new fun thing i was trying to start in our friendship and uh That was the last of it, and again, Kev, you're not hearing this, but I just want to apologize. When you are hanging out with him in that weekend get-together that I'm not going to be able to make, will you please?

to give him my apologies, or just a gentle nut tap.

I would say, this is for Luke. Say hello to Luke's little friend.

That was like Triumph the Insult comic, doing an impression of Pacino. You know, I was, we also, of course, have to thank Troy Hughes in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Troy. And Laura Case-Nagai in Puyallup, Washington. Thanks, Laura. Rachel Langan Lundmark is in Tumwater. See, Tumwater and Puyallup, they're not exactly right next to each other, but they're in the same general region. You wonder if Rachel and Laura know each other. And then I think we've got a, I'm going to go with Lara. I would say Lara. Or a Lara. O'Neal Dunn is in beautiful Durham, North Carolina. This is an interesting run of names. It was three donors in a row who both have multiple last names

Yes, that's interesting Laura, case in the guy

Rachel Lang in Lundmark And, how did you say, I think you said the last name I said Lara

I grew up with a kid named Lara who spelled it L-A-R-A Lara O'Neal Dunn So that's kind of interesting

I think there's some groupings going on behind the scenes Yeah The good news is, whatever digression I was about to digress on I now forgot, and I think it's probably better for everyone Okay, unblock me

Hello and welcome to Top Story

I preface, or I sort of I set up a lot of our stories on the show With this exact sort of statement, I guess But you can really get a sense for The things that the listeners associate us with, Andrew Juggalos still Juggalos, although that's I would say that's on the wane I think they're on the wane I think they are too And it's probably just as well Not to be critical of juggle culture But you know they had their time You know we don't use wax a lot Because waxing and waning right So when the moon waxes or wanes I assume if they're the opposite of each other Then waxing is there's more of it And waning is there's less of it right

That's my guess yeah I never really thought to break it down

But we rarely use wax in that sense

Yeah you're right

Like you know the mariners The Mariners' hitters have been waxing lately.

Yeah, it sounds like they're using something on their bats that they're not supposed to.

Unfortunately, Kalanick's defensive prowess has been waning, hence losing that game yesterday. But that's not what we're talking about. That's the good news for the listeners. I just had a game flash in front of my eyes. But my point is, when this announcement came out that a fellow named Mike Richards is apparently in advanced negotiations with the producers of Jeopardy to become the permanent host, it was emailed to us by friends of the show. It was tweeted about. People were saying on Twitter, oh, I wanted to know what you were going to say about this. So clearly Jeopardy-related stuff, people in our listening audience very much associate us with that. And probably because, A, I love the show, B, we've had Ken Jen on the program, we've had listeners, like multiple listeners have been on Jeopardy. You know what the ideal would be? If we can get a listener on Jeopardy who, at the end, if they don't know the answer, just writes tbtl.net.

Oh, goodness.

That would be good. The ultimate. Now, I mean, listen, if I got on Jeopardy and I didn't know the answer to the final, I would write something like, hi to my mom, or you know what I mean? There's a lot of things that are higher on the list of the kind of gimmick answers than tbtl.net. But if somebody does that, I just want you to know, lifetime, lifetime supply of tbtl coffee mugs.

Oh, I thought you were going to say of tbtls. No, not that. Are you crazy? No, we still need to donate at the monthly level.

So lots of people were getting at us about this, the fact that this guy, Mike Richards, apparently has gotten the job, which is quite surprising to me. I didn't necessarily think it was going to be Ken Jennings, even though of the people who filled in, and I only, I did not, if I'm being totally honest, I didn't watch a ton of the other fill-in or, like, you know, temporary hosts. I watched all of Ken's shows. I thought they were great. I thought he was just really, really good. Like, he understands the game so well. I mean, what I realized, like, that's one of the hard parts of running an episode of Jeopardy is there's just so many little kind of mechanical things around the scoring and the game. And if you didn't get it right, now what do you do next? Like, there's just so many, if it's like a decision tree, there's so many little branches going off of each possible outcome. And he just knows those because he has spent so much time being on that show. And he also has a great sense of humor. Anyway, I was Team Ken. But I know there were other people that did a really good job as well. And to be honest with you, if I am looking to staff that position, I would give a person of color a very, very, very.

very strong consideration because what a great way to make that show more inclusive. And the hosting job on Jeopardy comes up, you know, once, well, about once every 40 years. So if you have a chance to put someone in that position who is a, a woman or is a person of color or is not just another white dude, like what a great chance to put something in place for the next 30, 40 years. That will just be a much, I would say again, more inclusive way to run your thing and they didn't go with any of those they went with the guy who was also you might be shocked to learn the executive producer i believe or one of the high up producers of the television show jeopardy this is i can't remember if you said it or our

friend who also emailed this to us but it's very much like cheney being in charge of the vice

presidency search right right and then it's a shocker after he had after he had vetted everyone And he came back to old Dubya and said, you know, I think I'd be the best vice president.

Sometimes the very thing you're looking for is the one thing you can't see. Yes, exactly.

That was, I think, was that Beschloss or Vanessa Williams?

One of those. That was Vanessa Williams.

One of those vice presidential historians. Vanessa Williams. Ooh, you're so divine. Just wanted to put your name in my rhyme. Do what you like. R.I.P. to Shock G. I always thought that was a great line in do what you like. He just gratuitously puts Vanessa Williams' name into the rap Because he just wanted her name in the song

I didn't even catch that, that's funny I've heard that song a lot this summer But for some reason that one just whiffed right past me

Yeah, right out the window So the other thing that's kind of funny is I have hung out with this dude, Mike Richards, you know Because he is friends with a college friend of mine And I remember hanging out in San Diego with my buddy JJ And we would hang out with his buddy Mike and at that point Mike had just gotten out of college if memory serves I think he went to like Pepperdine or something he had gone to a college in Southern Cal and he was like the host of the college TV station like he had a show on the college you know sometimes colleges will have that like a probably closed circuit television station that you can see if you live in the dorms or whatever he was on that I mean he was very interested in television and he seemed like a perfectly nice guy and I'm sure he is still a perfectly nice guy and, you know, I'm sure a competent television host. But I'm pausing because I – let me put it this way. I've had some side conversations with people very close to this process that I was about to start kind of like talking about, but those were side conversations and I didn't ask the person very close to this situation. I don't know if anyone can figure out who I'm talking about. No, I have no idea. But I didn't ask for permission to kind of relay the content of those text messages. So I guess I'll just I'll just say when I saw over the years, I would be in a bar somewhere. I am sure a lot of my feelings on this matter are totally because of my own personal feelings of inadequacy. So I want to, like, just put that right at the beginning of this. But over the course of the years, I would be randomly in a bar or a hotel room or somewhere and I would turn on the TV or it would be on. And I would see this dude on some very like two in the morning, you know, kind of like Access Hollywood, but the spinoff version doing an interview. And I think, oh, it's that guy, Mike, I know. And like, he's still grinding. There he is. OK, well, good for you. You know, and again, I'm sure he's a vastly better television host than I would ever be. And I'm sure some level, some part of me was like, well, I'm sitting at this bar drunk and he's on television. So we can see who's really living their best life right now But I just kind of had noted through the years When I would see him pop up on stuff And again, it was always stuff that was just a little bit To the side of the primo gig And then when he started When Alex Trebek announced that he was sick There was all this stuff in the media Of this dude, Mike Richards By the way He's called a white guy a dude, Andrew

So we're living in a post-racial America Wow. You are single-handedly solving the crucial social issues of our day.

Thank you. People think this is just a show about OSHA and Miller's Crossing. No, we also tackle complicated issues of race. So I kept seeing his name associated with, you know, well, we're just going to support Alex through this. And and we're, you know, like just that kind of statements that you release to the media around someone like of Alex Trebek status being sick. And it was all coming from this guy, Mike Richards. And I was like, wow, OK, well, he obviously got off the train of trying to be the person they're pointing the camera at. And he got on the train of probably making a shitload of money being the executive of this very profitable. you know, thing that is Jeopardy. And so I just thought it was kind of, it was interesting in that way. And then when I was looking at the list when Alex Trebek, of course, sadly passed away, I was looking at the list of all the fill-in hosts and I saw Mike's name on there. And I was like, how did he do that? How did he like, how did he get the bosses of the, because everybody else, I mean, I don't know exactly who the list was, but I feel like it was like Katie Couric was on there. And just, I feel like there was a range of people some of them were just already pretty famous some of them were more boutique I think there was a guy from CNBC's Squawk Box that was doing it this week I know because I called my mom and she had to pause Jeopardy and I was like who's even hosting it right now she gave me the name and I googled him so I think it was kind of some people who were not famous but were professional TV people who were like they thought well maybe there's something there some people who are pretty famous you know didn't like Dr. Oz do it or something which is yeah not a great look based on dr oz's sketchiness but so you had people that were already kind of famous and they were doing it more as like a stunt and then you had people who were maybe less famous but could maybe actually just get the job i guess but again the the uh you know fox that's guarding the hen house that then says hey could i come hang out in there for a little while while i'm guarding this while i'm executive producing this can i also host it for whatever it was a week or two weeks and then for the announcement to be that that's who they're picking i just found it quite amazing and the internet i didn't see i mean oh this is the thing i wrote on twitter that i thought andrew was probably a little snarky because again i've actually met this person and he seemed perfectly nice and if i had just been announced as the host of jeopardy it would hurt my feelings if people were on twitter saying no one wanted this but i think i wrote i just like as there's a picture of him and i think i said um uh let me get to the exact oh i said this is the outcome everyone named mike richards was hoping for see that's a good joke because i could not find one person on the line who was like oh thank god well thank god it was this dude like i just i don't understand how this was the outcome they came to well luke i have

a um i have a very hot take on this believe it or not because i saw the swirling around yesterday i only saw the broad strokes now i've read like the variety article and you filled me in on some of the details i was missing when i woke up this morning but here's the deal luke and i'm i'm not joking this is seriously a uh a theory i have that i believe strongly based on what i'm seeing in variety the headline is mike richards in advanced negotiations to become permanent host of jeopardy um i think this was leaked and floated because i think that the producers want to see what public reaction is and i love this take and i think beautiful take it's very love your take you know what i mean like the white house will do this at times and like when you read the actual article um they have people quoting it a sony picture spokesperson says discussions were ongoing with several potential candidates he would not comment specifically on richard's status a source close to the situation caution that there's no certainty and that all sides will close it there's no certainty that all sides will close the deal and other candidates remain in the mix i think this is very much a let's see what the backlash is if this is what we go with because that's the point of and also keep in mind probably a lot of the people who who maybe did the fill-in i mean how many of them do you think would really want the gig and take the gig full time based on everything that goes along with it you know what i mean like would lavar burton lavar burton really might not want to do this i mean sure of course you know what i mean and also he has a rich and

full life outside of doing this and i mean this the sense i have with this show which we learned a lot about it when alex trebek got sick because they were talking about the recording schedule and i think they had gotten into this thing where like they would do like five shows a day you know so if you think about that if you can do 25 shows in a week i mean you can really like so there was apparently like there would be these like marathon sessions that would take you know a couple of months a year a few months a year where they would just get all the shows recorded And then you're just kind of off the rest of the time So it's a job that's really hard When you're doing it probably And really draining And then when you're not You have a lot of time off And obviously you get paid handsomely So you're right I mean who knows if everyone who tried out Or at least who filled in If they actually want to take on that lifestyle And those months where you are doing Five episodes of Jeopardy a day for weeks on end

Yeah and if you're one of the bigger name celebrities Where you already have various income sources The income might just not be is, you know, for this producer, this would be a huge step up and, you know, obviously a huge opportunity for some of the other people on the roster. It would be a lateral move at best or just more responsibility in their lives. So, you know, I'm sure there are budgetary concerns and stuff, too. And again, I'm I haven't been texting with some mystery person that I cannot figure out

you're talking about who's close to jeopardy who we know i can't think of who you're talking about but i have not been joe in bremerton yes i have not been texting with that person i don't know what their appetite is for it but i would assume that they would they would accept it if offered so i don't know but um it's surprising news but i also am wondering you know maybe he does end up getting the gig and this just ends up being uh me wasting everybody's time but let's just let's Keep an eye on this space.

I think that is a very, very interesting – it's a spicy take that's very interesting, Andrew. And I bet you're right. Like I bet you that they wanted to kind of just test the waters, which then, of course, whipsaws me into a whole other thing, which is I don't always love internet outrage. And so I don't know if – they say often that the sort of – the most extreme voices are the loudest. And, you know, there's probably the sort of the television implications of this could be that they're, you know, of the I don't know how many million people a week watch Jeopardy. Let's just say it's 10 million people a week out of the 10 million people who are in the habit of watching Jeopardy. how many of them are on twitter and how many of them are tweeting vociferously about this versus how many of them would just turn on jeopardy uh three months from now and see this mike richards guy who i think is probably totally inoffensive and competent at hosting the game and just keep watching it because what they really want to do is see if they can get the answers right yeah you know what i mean like i don't like if this is what you think it is which i think you're probably right if they're just trying to see if the internet gets mad it's like of course the internet gets mad i don't think there'd be again maybe outside of levar burton who is a national treasure i don't think there is anybody they could announce that would not get the internet sort of mad because that's just how the internet works so it's if they are doing that if this is the barometer they're using it it feels like an imprecise tool to me but if it does mean that the thing is still kind of open i mean also who knows if ken wants it well that's because yeah exactly He's got that other show on, he's got some show called The Chase that he does with like Hold Sour. Like he's not hurting for, I mean, he's got his semi-regular appearances on TBTL. He's got Omnibus that he's doing with Bean Dad. Like he's got a lot going on. And even though you assume, it's like, of course he wants to host Jeopardy. I don't know. I mean, it could be one of those things where he's, I also, by the way, very much wanted to text him yesterday.

Oh, this is interesting. Oh, okay. All right.

And I did not, because I just thought, like, I do feel like I am friendly with him and friends with him.

I thought we were making a joke before that you were texting him. My whole. No, no, no.

I had been texting him. I texted him a lot when he was doing his stint.

Oh, I see. Okay, yeah.

I have not texted with him, like, recently. And then yesterday, of course, I wanted to be like, dude, what do you think? But I was like, can you imagine what that guy's phone is doing right now? Right, right. And just like I was just like he doesn't need this person that's on the outer ring of his like life being like, what up, dude? So, well, by the way, another white guy, dude reference. So I think it's official.

By the way, you know, I feel like people don't say this enough, but thank you for fixing racism, Luke Burbank. But by the way, though, you keep mentioning and I was going to ask this before, but I wanted to get my spicy meatball take out there.

But it's a good take, by the way.

And I had not considered it. I can hear that. So I'm really happy that you got it in there. That's the wind beneath my wings right now. But Mike Richards, you keep on mentioning that you know him. Well, I've met him a few times. Yeah, here's the thing. Are there chances that Mike Richards will hear this exact conversation?

No.

No chance. Okay, zero chance. Because that was making me a little cringy for a while there when you kept saying that you know him. I'm like, you know, weird things happen with this show where things get in front of people. Now, I know he's got a lot on his plate right now, and I don't think people are sending him episodes of TBTL saying hey needle drop it around the 35 minute mark and keep going until 55 well I guess question mark but um so okay you're not worried about that at all no and honestly I don't think I said

anything that I probably wouldn't feel comfortable saying to him which was I met him a few times I found him to be a perfectly nice guy I noticed him being on TV over the years I thought he had moved into an executive role i'm not sure how he got the bosses to let him it's like it's like hey jerry depoto is gonna start uh that game in new york as a pitcher really yeah we just want to see how he does oh he's the general manager of the marriage oh he's also going to be starting in place of logan gilbert okay that's an interesting move well and then yeah we're adding him to the rotation you know what after a long consideration we just like what jerry brings uh to to our starting rotation like that's what it felt like to me and i think i would say that to him and i also think there's zero chance of him hearing this because he is right now getting a ton of

attention from a ton of legitimate media outlets so a dude that he met a few times back in uh you know the 1999 is i don't think it'll be something that uh lives large in his mind i'm looking at

jerry depoto's uh pitching stats here you know that he did play did he played he did play a little bit right did he have a cup of coffee i didn't remember that he was a uh pitcher though um so i wasn't sure if you were doing that knowingly or not but no i wasn't in fact that

was a bad example that was a bad example i wish i could have well no you know what it's apt because this dude, Mike Richards, has also been a television host, just not at the highest level. And Jerry DePoto was a pitcher, just not at the highest level. So actually, that

was probably... Wow, he got a lot more than a cup of coffee, man. He played in the big leagues for three different teams for eight years. Wow, I didn't

know that. Wow.

His career ERA is... Yeah, I know. I should stop, too. His career ERA is just over four. Hey, listen, though. Let's not talk about Jerry DePoto's stats from the 90s. I had to wait. I had something you were saying. I had a legit question about whether or not. No, this is another kind of theory, though. But let's like I guess maybe for a moment, like keep it in the in the in the Mariners verse, because this this decision is probably also about money, as are all of the Mariners decisions. Right. Like. Right. And I would guess that this is probably the most affordable person. Right. If I would guess an offer, he's probably the the person who wants it the most and would probably take the most affordable rate.

Well, and he also is executive producer, so he negotiates his own salary.

Right. No, I'm sure this is our final offer. Yeah. Richards. I don't think I can do that, but I can do this. He's like playing both duetting himself like PD USA.

Oh, speaking of which, can I just mention, I was doing a little wine tasting on Saturday. Becca and I were hanging out down in the Willamette Valley, I guess, the greater Salem, Oregon area. And we're in this winery called Christum, and we're sitting inside because it had been actually raining, oddly enough. And we're tasting some wine, having a very nice time. and the the music of pd usa comes on our guy our favorite guy from tiktok who's also a musician and i was like trying to shazam it because i was like this sounds like there's no way they're playing pd usa in this winery where as i told you when i text you the average age was like 70 and sure enough they were they have like a couple of young staffers who just had a playlist going And it involved PD USA and I felt So proud of him this person I've never met I know I was Just like oh it's happening it's happening For him this is not just like he's Not releasing this music just into the void Like people are vibing with it yeah

Yeah for it to pop up in that kind of scenario Because I mean I know that he's got legions Of fans like he does and like you know He's a he's got a cult following But like yeah for it to for it to jump From hey I I like This guy who I watch on on YouTube or TikTok or whatever, to actually just having it pop up. I mean, it could have been an algorithm. They could have been listening to a Spotify algorithm, and it called up that song. But if that's the case, then—

But she knew, too. She knew exactly who it was because I was shazamming it, which is very embarrassing if anyone's done this, which, of course, you have.

I always try to low-key it.

But I was sitting on this low-slung couch, and the speaker was up in a rafter, and I was like, I got no choice but to just straight up do the one arm up with the phone extremely noticeable move to try to get my my phone closer to the speaker and then i got embarrassed uh and then the the the server the i guess you know kind of wine expert said i was like i'm trying to shazam this is this pd usa and she's like yeah it's don't tell the boys or whatever and then i was like do you watch him on tiktok she's like no i had no idea he has a tiktok yes that's my thing that's what i'm saying wow right that's awesome yeah it's uh we're we could get we could probably get him on tbtl don't you think or do you think we've missed the window

i mean yeah i mean if we wanted to work at it i think so he seems like that sounds hard there is something that um do it for live wire the show where people actually work um have you thought about that as a slogan live wire the show where people actually work um i he seems like a very nice guy there's something about him that just exudes like even in these weird characters he plays there's something that and i've heard this from other people who have shared those videos with there's just something about it you just think like you just get this feeling that deep down this is a very very sweet human being yes i agree i agree 100 all right my dude we hey i'm

white too and we've gotten to almost none of the top stories other than jeopardy but that's just how it's going to be today because we've got a ton of blurs day messages which we should uh we should get to here. Get a wrong way to roll You can just listen to your soul Just remember that life is number one You can be having so much fun Just remember that life is much fun You can be not number one

Alright Luke I had an idea. All right, Andrew. I had an idea here because we have so many Blur's Days today. Just skip them. Let's just throw them away. Start over next week like you do with your email about once every two months. No. Uh-huh. Let's make it fun, even more fun. Let's add some spice to this. Let's turn it into, and here's my one idea, but I'm open to other ideas. Let's turn it into like a murder mystery dinner where we know one of these people is the killer, but which one and we have to suss it out i love it okay it's jock what it's jock oh it's oh it's holy we haven't even gotten to jock yet hold on have you seen how much blood there was on his freaking tweed blazer i know but i feel like that could be a red herring all right here we go real

blurs day this is you know that i did one of those i did one of those when i was a kid i think you've mentioned that before you kind of liked it right no no well i like the idea of it it was it was in the dalles oregon i was i was traveling on vacation with my friend peter williams's family as i often did as a little foundling that i was and we were going down to the dalles to this um lloyd and diane these really great folks who they were friends with and they had said we're gonna do a a murder mystery dinner and like i had to borrow one of like peter's dad's like suit coats but it It was like wool or tweed. It was something that seemed very warm. And then we got down there, and the whole thing was outside. We were all dressed up, and it was about 100 degrees. Oh, my God. Just melting in the sun. So if I think about those murder mystery things, all I think about is that seems uncomfortable.

Well, as always, I will try to make these Blursdays as uncomfortable as possible. Perfect.

Here we go.

Cassandra in Victoria says I'd like to send Blursday wishes to my Sarah in Portland why is COVID still a thing I miss her FaceTime is great but I'm really looking forward to the border opening next month maybe Biden I'm adding Biden we have so much to catch up on and I really appreciate her giving me my Christmas angel a temp whoa slow down Walsh I really appreciate her giving my Christmas angel, a temporary home. Have the happiest of Blur's days, my beautiful friend. That is from Cassandra to Sarah, and that is nice, whatever you're talking about.

I would mention to Cassandra and Sarah, look it, I think it's called Avenue Zero. It is a road that is actually the border of the U.S. and Canada, and it's not like Peace Arch Park or whatever that's called, but you can go and you can sit on either side of this road and you can say

hi to each other. Oh yeah, I sent you that article. I wanted you to pitch it to CBS. I keep trying I didn't take credit for that, but I can't remember if you had already pitched it.

I did, and they said, this has the stench of a Walsh idea. No, I thought it was a really great story, and they were like, no, thank you. I am going to L.A. next week, by the way, to do a story about the Hollywood Bowl. Oh, yeah. Wait, you already started that, though, right? That's Red Rocks. That's airing this weekend. Oh, it's a series. Yes, it is, Andrew. What do you mean? Why are you so surprised? No, no, no.

You told me that, I think, and I just forgot. That's what you heard in my voice.

Okay, I just got a really good picture of this OSHA shoot, too, that I'm going to send to you. Oh, nice. For the show pic. Did you end up using the guy with his dog on the roof yesterday? I did. Yes. So this is becoming a series. This is becoming a triptych. Hopefully tomorrow there will be one other weird thing happening on one of these roofs.

You know, I'm being punished. Today is the first day in probably three years that I actually have. I was going to use the image of you blocking me on Twitter. Oh, just use that. During the show, I actually uploaded it. It's already in the system. I'm getting ahead of things.

You know what? Just bring up the OSHA thing tomorrow. By the way, they're all masked, which I find hilarious. Yeah, they're on a roof outside masks standing three feet from death.

How about you tie those masks to a pole or something and the other one around your waist? You know what?

You know what's funny? Oh, my God. I'm sorry, Andrew. I apologize.

We should probably use this photo for the show pic.

I really wish we could do a video. So the person who is posing as the safety person who's being very safe, they have a safety line on her, like a rope, right?

Oh, good, good, good, good.

It's just running to a side of the roof that's out of the shot. And then there's just a water bottle next to it. It's not attached to anything.

Wait, you can see. Yeah. I thought you meant that you can't see the end of it, but you can see the end of it, and it's not attached to anything, so it's just a fake OSHA safety?

Yes. That is. It is running. It is just running along the roof, but the business end of it, if you will, is not connected to anything sturdy. It's just so that it looks like this person has a safety cable, a safety rope on while they are standing on this roof.

I mean, could it be that this is not a safety video? I mean, could it be that this is like some sort of like, it's like for the workers' union. Like, you know, you always see those during Mariners games or whatever. Like, could this just be some other shoot where somebody needs to be on a roof and wearing this equipment? I mean, we're making, we've really leaned into an assumption here.

The good news is we're speeding right through.

Don't worry, they're short, should they?

Just racing through the Blur's Day. This is on me. Lindsay in Indiana says, happy Blur's Day to my oldest five. Noah, who turns 10 this week His dad and I could not be prouder Of the sweet, funny, caring And podcast-loving young man That he's becoming Is it bad that I count his interest in podcasts As a major parenting win? Absolutely not, Lindsay I think, honestly, that's Someday scientists will realize That's one of the greatest predictors Of someone's success in adult life Were they listening to podcasts when they were 10? You have been such a trooper through all of the craziness. Aw, thank you, Lindsay. I mean, yeah, we've done what we can. I think she's probably talking about Noah. Agree to disagree. You've been such a trooper through all the craziness of the last year and a half. Happy birthday, bud. Oh, that's for me. Thank you, Lindsay. Yeah. Trying a new thing where I call you bud.

Yeah. Rachel says, Happy Blursey to my husband, Ivan. Oh, this is Ivan. We know them. Long-time friend of the show. Rachel and I used to work together at a local public radio station. But Rachel says, There's some breaking news in here, Luke. Happy Blurzay to my husband, Ivan. I know this birthday looks a little different because we're celebrating it in... TVTL Breaking News. Amsterdam! Whoa! I'm so glad we decided to take this leap and move abroad, and I can't wait for all the new adventures we'll have here. Adjusting to life in a new country might be a bit scary sometimes, but I can't imagine doing this with anyone but you. Happy birthday to Ivan from Rachel and from all of us, And congratulations on the big move. I thought you guys were still my sort of neighbors over there in Ballard.

Yeah, I would run into them out and about in the world. You know, I grew up in a very strict household, Andrew. We were only allowed to call it Amsterdam. Oh, no, that's good.

Watch. You've got to protect the youth.

Sure.

Did you just make that up?

I think I just made that up. I don't think that's the worst joke.

I don't think that's the worst joke either, actually. How is that not?

Maybe that was circulating and I just had never heard of it.

What about tweeting that out? Amsterdam? Ooh, Amster Darn is better, actually. You won't see it because you're blocked. No, unblock me. I actually think that's a good tweet. Tell me if you think this is a good tweet. I wanted to tweet this out the other day, and I was like, can I get away with weird Twitter? And I was like, yeah, probably not, but I was going to tweet out.

I know that exact impulse.

I was going to tweet out.

I know that, and it never works for me either. That's not the brand that I've put out there.

I was going to tweet out, Mr. Wendell is probably my favorite song about people named Wendell.

Oh, my God. Do you know I spent the last three days contemplating Mr. Wendell-related tweets because of the exact same reason the guy that played third base for Tampa is named Wendell.

Luke Burbank, that was working on my subconscious. I didn't even realize why Wendell was on the brain because I just saw him.

Every time there were like, you know, Wendell's two for five tonight, I was like, Mr. Wendell. And I wanted to do some kind of tweet that was like, no more naming children Wendell because that will just make me sing the song Mr. Wendell. I mean, I didn't – it was not, as you can hear, fully formed. But I have had a Mr. Wendell-related tweet also forming in my brain during that whole baseball series.

You and I are either the best or the worst. But what do you think of mine? Mr. Wendell is probably my favorite song about people named Wendell.

I love it. Let's do a competition. Not that everything has to be a competition. I'm going to tweet, grew up in a pretty strict household, got in trouble if I – I'm trying to think of the best way to compose this. Grew up in a pretty strict household where we were only allowed to call it Amster Darn.

Yeah, I like that. Okay.

So that's what I'm putting out. Grew up in a pretty strict household where we were only allowed to call it Amster Darn.

Mine, you know what kind of ruins mine is Mr. Wendell the song. Of course, I don't want typos in my tweets. So apparently Mr. Wendell. Wait. Yeah, it's spelled W-E-N-D-A-L, which is a unique way of spelling Wendell, which kind of ruins my joke, but we're already into this. competition, and you're probably already winning because you got yours

out before me. No, I haven't tweeted. I'm waiting. Because I want this to be fair. Oh, by the way, two people

have already liked my 1885 joke, by the way. What are they liking? Mr. Wendell is probably my favorite song about people named, and I guess I'll spell it the same way again, Wendell. Okay, you ready? Are we going to count down? Yeah. Okay. It's going to be a 3-2-1 go situation, right? Yeah,

I'll say go, and that means tweet. 3-2-1 go.

We have fun. So tomorrow

We'll just check back on whose tweet performed better.

Oh, shoot. We're in the middle of Blur's Days. Can I? No, Genevieve will get mad. No, I think Genevieve will probably get mad. I think this is fair. I'm going to try to do this as fairly as possible, okay? Okay. If need be, we could call her, but that's really going to extend the segment. So you know that Genevieve and I both love those progressive commercials. We're turning into our parents. And Dr. Rick is trying to teach them not to turn into their parents. And some of those early ones I just felt were some of the best writing on television for a while there. The latest one is themed on, I don't know if you've seen this, they're in an airport. It's a bunch of people who are now displaying characteristics of their parents as they try to make their way through an airport. For example, they all have paper boarding passes. And don't be like your parents, right? But then one of the things is don't we don't have to look out the window and point out major landmarks, highways and places you've lived during takeoff. And I said that that isn't I don't I didn't think that was a really good example of a symptom of turning into your parents. I think that basically everybody likes to do that. And so in Genovee felt I was very wrong. There's a poll up. If you go to the after these messages Facebook page, I don't know what the score is right now. I think I'm winning. But the poll basically asks, is that a symptom of becoming your parents or is it something everybody enjoys? Looking out the window and pointing out things that you recognize from above.

Yeah, I'm kind of with you on this one. I don't see that as being related to somebody's age or being a parent at all. And like I have a lot of thoughts about this whole thing because I always try to get the window seat if it's available. And I love looking out the window. And I've flown – at this point in my life, I've probably flown between Seattle and Portland probably a couple hundred times. And every single time, if I'm on the left side of the plane and I'm on the window, I marvel at, like, what Mount St. Helens looks like from above. And I always think to myself, the person who is – now, sleeping is one thing. If you're on the plane and you're asleep, it is what it is. But the person who is sitting in the window position and is awake but has chosen to have the shade down or is not – or the shade's open and they're just not even looking out the window, I think how amazing is your life that this isn't something you want to observe? Like how thrilling is your life that being at 30,000 feet and looking at Manhattan doesn't – isn't worth looking up from your – and I'm going to use my go-to reference – your John Grisham on your iPad? Like how is that – like I don't get that. So anyway, I don't associate it with people your parents' age. I associate it with people who are deeply incurious.

Who would not do that, you mean? Yes. By the way, quick update on my tweet that I just sent out. It only has three likes right now, but one of them is a heavy hitter. It's MSNBC's Chris Hayes likes my Mr. Wendell joke. Now, he didn't retweet it, but he gave it a like, and I think sometimes that will give it more – you know, somebody with a lot of clout, right?

i think if they like your tweet now i'm screwed i've got i've got two likes on my amster darn tweet one is from our former colleague cory schreppel who does work at the new york times so he's a heavier hitter than he was when we worked with him but um and then uh somebody who goes under mrs s s one six zero nine four five five two mrs s liked mine too oh geez has zero followers overlap on that and then you've got the coveted haze like yeah and i got somebody uh

to Birdie421. So anyway, we'll see how this goes. We'll see how this goes, but we should really probably get back.

We're out of music, and we're three names into what is probably the biggest Blur's Day, what, Hall, Trove, Motherlode?

It's a Blurstravaganza is what we have here. It sure is. I think, here, can I jump in here, or do you know where we are?

I'm going to do Jacques. Jacques is the leading suspect in this murder mystery. Jackie. Oh, that's Jackie. Sorry.

How do you spell Jacques? I'm also wondering if I spelled Jackie's name wrong there. I don't know how to spell Jacques. I'm really bad with French words.

Okay, Jackie, you're off the hook. But Jacques, we're still looking at you.

I might have misspelled her name as I was writing it in here.

Jackie says, I just wanted to send a Blur's Day shout out to my friend.

Tracy, her Blur's Day was on Monday. She's my Blur's Day twin, and she is fabulous. Well, does that mean it was also Jackie's birthday?

It certainly does. Happy Blur's Day all around, I think.

Is that foreshadowing? Is that coming up later on? We'll find out.

Okay. It's a mystery. When's Jacques' birthday? Did I spell Jacques? Did I call her Jacques? I'm veering my head about this. No, no, no. All right, my turn. Dani, who identifies herself, a.k.a. our backup TBTL lawyer. So keep in mind, this is not Danny in New Hampshire, who is our original and I assume standing TVTL lawyer right now on retainer. But we have another Danny who is also a lawyer who is offered to take over responsibilities if Danny in New Hampshire, if she doesn't drop her lawsuit against us soon. Danny, a.k.a. our backup lawyer, says, please give a shout out to Tacoma 10 Jackie.

Oh, God. Oh, and look at that. I did spell it right. You did. You know what? Jackie's name is spelled Jackie. It's Jacques without the S Oh, okay, interesting The French version of Jacques, Jacques, has an S on the end of it At least under, you know, kind of what the traditional spelling would be

Jackie is a long-time TBTL listener, by the way We've met her at many events, including the TBTL picnic A couple years ago, feels like a lifetime ago Anyway, Danny says, without ever having met me Jackie hooked me up with a ticket for the boat show And introduced me to many fun tens And was an all-around awesome boat buddy She's smart, she's beautiful inside and out And she's funny as hell Happiest of Blur's days Jackie from Danny

How about Laura in Toledo checking in Happy belated Blur's day to Molly in Toledo Wow, we have two listeners in Toledo Yeah, Tuledo, that's why they call it Tuledo That's how it got the name I love watching your Instagram stories With all your Metro Park adventures I assume that's an area of Tuledo, Ohio You know, we have Metro Parks in Cleveland

I didn't know they called them that in Toledo as well.

Oh, home of the Cleveland Guardians? Indeed, indeed. I hope you had a great one, Laura says, to Molly in Toledo. So happy Blur's Day.

Andrew in Columbia, Maryland. This is me. I went to Columbia, Maryland. I wrote this and I came back. No, this is not me. Andrew in Columbia, Maryland says, happy Blur's Day to Bucca in Portland, Oregon. From his longtime friend and TBTL daddy, have a very Bucca Blur's Day.

How do I not... Have I met Buka and I didn't realize it? I feel like... I don't know. I feel like I should know every 10 here in Portland. Yeah. Jamie in Mississippi. This rings a bell. Jamie says, please wish a happy Thursday. Hey, I'm sorry, Luke.

Yeah. Isn't the city Jamie lives in Columbia? No, that's... Is it Columbus, Mississippi or Columbia, Mississippi? I think it's Columbia, Mississippi. So we have two different Columbias checking in here. Andrew in Columbia, Maryland.

Columbia, Maryland.

Am I messing that up? No, no, you're right, you're right. Anyway, sorry. Everything's good.

Jamie says, please wish a happy Blur's Day to my TBTL baby, Laurel. I'm so proud of her. She is currently in Germany as a Fulbright scholar. What? I told you, we have an over-representation of laurels. I said this on the show this week. You did. And this laurel is part of that. Again, over-representation sounds like we have too many. We don't. We just have a, what's a better way to describe it? You know, we have an abundance of laurels. Yeah, I like that. That sounds good. And this laurel? We're laurel rich. Uh-huh. I'm so laurel rich.

We're laurel poor, but laurel rich. No, that's not true.

God doesn't close a laurel without opening it. What? Please wish to be happy with my TBTL baby, Laurel. I'm so proud of her. She's currently in Germany as a Fulbright scholar.

What?

These listeners of ours, Andrew. I know. I have hung out with Laurel at things. I was at a baseball game talking to this Laurel. She's finishing her Ph.D. at the University of Washington, studying cerebrovascular flow. That was my rap name, by the way. It never took off.

He got flow. Yeah.

As Jay would say, he got cerebrovascular flow. She has her priorities in order because she has been to TBTL and adjacent events in Mississippi, Seattle, and Portland. Not too shabby for a baby. Indeed. Happy Blur's Day all the way over there in Germany, Laurel. And thanks for being part of the Abundance Project. That sounds like when I start running a cult, my cover story for why I'm allowed to. I'm allowed to have children with all of the female members. It's the Abundance Project.

It started off as a tax shelter, and now you're a cult leader. It got out of control. Ben says, I want to give a Blur's Day shout out to the intelligent, beautiful, and all-around highly capable Tracy. Her fierce determination is matched only by her strong dedication to TBTL and all other things righteous and good. I hope all of your dreams come true, Tracy. Cute. I started watching The Brightest Gemstones last night, by the way. Did you ever watch that?

Well, I keep meaning to because I like the people in it.

Yeah.

And it's been TikTokified in that you'll just see these, like, 12-second clips of Danny McBride being funny or John Goodman or whatever. And so those clips have kind of intrigued me. What did you think?

I'm two episodes in, and I actually really like it. and also, I'm trying to see, we have a drop that somebody must have sent into us, I didn't know what it was from, of somebody saying, you're losing your merbles, and I always thought that that was from, well, I thought it was from something, I thought it was from that show, now I hear it, I thought it was from Uncut Gems, and that you sent it to me, but it actually must have been a listener, and it's from Precious, I'm sorry, Righteous Gemstones, interesting.

You know that I Uncut Gems has become my new Lost in Translation Which I kind of think is The natural progression of life Like when I was young I loved this sort of dreamy vibe Of the Sofia Coppola film And of being kind of jet lagged In this hotel in Tokyo And drinking Suntory times and all of that And now I'm just more like Yeah I have a gambling addiction And I'm on the run From some scary Eastern European dudes I'm living in know about i'm living i'm living like a life that i can't afford with in a troubled marriage like i really identify with the howie character from uncut gems more than i guess even though the bill murray character was like older than me maybe i identified with the scarlett johansson character a little bit being young in life and trying to kind of figure out what your deal was going to be you know but now uncut gems much more speaks to me yeah tell me you need an intervention without

telling me you need an intervention you are legit crazy you are losing your marbles anyway that's

the drop i was talking about uh heather heather heather says happy blurs day to my dear friend madeline thank you for introducing me to this pod cart and now whenever i listen i feel like i am that much closer to you our daily marcos dude this is a whole thing have you down are you down with i mean we're doing an extended marco here andrew but do you know about marco polo i only

know about it because heather mentioned this in her blurs day message and so i quickly googled it before the show i was like oh this must be a new kind of face timey app uh becca this is like

the main way that becca and all of her girlfriends talk to each other they marco and it's quite i've been in the room when they and they i mean i this is mentioned in heather's message and i don't say this to be dismissive but i mean these are basically voicemails uh i don't know actually i don't know if there's a video component or if it's just audio but i guess it's simpler than typing so there's that but like yeah when it's video based accordingly according to when becca and i started hanging out she'd be like oh i got a marco from angie and i'd be like a what and then we'll be in the car and she's like hold on i just got to do a quick marco here so this is a thing people are into marco polos it sounds like heather and madeline are doing daily marco polos uh they bring me great pleasure since i can see your face oh if i read any of these i would know more about How this works I can see your face On the reg And all the way over here In Arizona Which is how you pronounce it Thank you Heather For being proper with that You're an amazing woman And I count myself Hashtag blessed To know you And call you a friend Aw happy birthday Madeline Marco Polo Greatest moment of childhood Playing Marco Polo In a pool

Happy Blursday to my five Gavin on his ninth birthday Sorry to have to play my podcast all the time, but ever since we got the sound machine, it seems to have made up for it. You are a kind, thoughtful, smart, and talented young man. I love you and can't wait for our upcoming adventures. Love, Heather, a.k.a. Mom, a.k.a. your soon-to-be teacher. Huh. I don't know if that's a homeschooling thing or a remote learning thing, or maybe Heather is just legit losing her merbles.

Or maybe Heather teaches the grade that Gavin is about to enter, because my sister Hannah taught both of her daughters, Maddie and Mary, when they were in the grade that Hannah taught, so that happened. Yeah, that's actually my guess there,

which is cool. Maya says

happy belated Blur's Day to my friend Lisa. She is a recent empty nester, which means she can finally throw some serious ragers. Can't wait. Looking forward to having a drink with you soon.

Cute. This one's a little bit longer than usual, but I had to allow it because it's cute as hell. Sarah, Beth, and Middleton. My awe sound effect. Yeah, get ready, man. Get ready with that. You need double fist that awe sound effect. Use your sound machine box in one hand and your computer in the other. I don't have that. I'd love to wish a very happy birthday.

I didn't get a sound machine, by the way, just FYI.

Yeah, you did. What do you mean? I lost it. Did you really lose your blue sound machine?

No, it's somewhere in it.

Also, it wouldn't be on the blue one. It would be on the red one.

Wait, the ah is not on this.

Oh, that ah sound is not on the red? That's not on your red sound machine? Oh, I thought it was a classic.

I went out and I hand-picked this from some probably SFX thing on YouTube.

Oh. No, it's from me. Sarah Beth in Middleton, Wisconsin says, I'd love to wish a very happy Blur's Day to my five. Hendrick, who is turning four. By my shaky calculations, over a third of his life has overlapped with this pandemic, and he's cultivated some very interesting quarantine hobbies that I'd like to brag about. One, drawing squids on everything. Two, shouting, hey, look, a strong man, anytime he sees a shirtless jogger. Three, perfecting a dance move he calls the butt waggle that contains no waggling and only very little butt. That is from Sarah Beth and Middleton to Hendrick. Happy 4th, Hendrick. Cute.

I'm going to have to perfect the butt waggle and then get on TikTok and see if I can finally get some hashtag engagement. We're going to wrap things up with Olivia in Maryland. I'd like to wish my five, Bash, a happy 7th birthday. He's been through a lot this year and kept his smile and great attitude throughout. He has the best sense of humor, and I am continually in awe of his outlook on life. I love you, Bashy. Nice. Bashy. Really cute. I feel like on these Blur's Day segments, we hear about all these young people whose parents are tens and how these young people are so funny and creative and fearless and all that. I feel like maybe we need to start, maybe the next phase of this is some kind of Zoom friend group Amongst the fives Amongst the people under, say, 14 You know, so they could Because they all sound like they would get along Like Bashy seems like Bashy and Gavin And Henrik They all seem like they would They would vibe, man

Yeah, maybe Gus could We can get Gus involved in this

Gus would be the ruler of them

Because, you know Oh, wait, there's going to be a ruler?

Well, I'm just saying You put Gus in that environment And he very quickly becomes in charge of everything I mean, have you heard of that guy?

Lord of the Flies I mean, I guess the age range is appropriate but I didn't know it was going to go that direction.

I'm just saying because Gus is on Brains On. No, I know. Because he's a frequent audio feature on this show because his mother is TBTL royalty.

I mean, he's a celebrity, let's just say what it is. He is.

He is a celebrity. Gus in the house. Remember when we were doing those virtual things and then Gus would just jump on the chat and be like, Gus in the house!

Right, right, right. I think I got a little Gus here, don't I? It's embarrassing and it's gross, but at least it's kind of funny. There you go. That's a Gus drop for you. That's right. Hey, can you – what's the word I'm looking for? Well, you made me a promise. Can you stick to your promise of going out with Hoover Dam by Sugar? Yes. What was that? Good. I love this.

I love it. I don't think I know – the band is Sugar. Is that a Bob Moulds band?

Yeah, it's Bob Mould after Husker Du goes into Sugar. I think it's got a long ramp up, so I'll get it going underneath this here.

How do you pronounce the name of that band? I've always heard it was – Husker Du. Husker Du. Sugar. All right. Thanks for listening, everyone. And, hey, we're going to be back here tomorrow with another edition of TBTL. It'll be a Friday show, which, like you said, Andrew, man, this week is flying by. I know. So do please join us for that. Until then, have a great Thursday. Stay safe. Take care of yourselves. And please remember, no mountain too tall. And good luck to all.

Peska-doot.

From this altitude And we'll come back to you And you know the time All that's left for me This latest thing I've seen What's wrong with us I don't know if the Mississippi Supposed to leave your way Old towns in New Orleans Maybe someday in my dreams A great way to feel it

Just from the dump in my mouth

Started from the bottom, now we're here Started from the bottom, now the whole team here Buy a chopper and have a doctor on speed dial I guess mad city six foot seven foot eight foot bunch young money militia and I am the commissioner you don't want to start wheezy because the f is for finisher they may They're mad, they ain't famous. They're mad, they still nameless. But we still hood famous. Yeah, we still hood famous. Panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda. Power out.