Getting Through This with Tom and Scott

Scott discovers that NYC nightclubs are alive and well, as he and Ginger take in a thrilling show at Birdland, where they are happily surprised to be seated at a front and center table. Tom exhorts all of our listeners to “get out there” and not stay home all the time, which will no doubt become a very successful marketing campaign.

When a server asks if Scott wants to wear a sombrero at his birthday dinner, Tom steps in and declines, saving Scott from having to hire a crisis management team for cultural appropriation. Tom’s generous and thoughtful dinner was 20 days after Scott’s actual birthday, leading us to call for a Birthday Week, Birthday Month, and eventually a Birthday Year, where we celebrate nonstop. And no more us...

In a new dispatch from Tom and Scott’s ProcrastiNation, Scott moves a step closer to opening the box, assembling and using the Waterpik WaterFlosser. Tom reveals, in a shocking confession, why he stopped using the WaterFlosser from his White Sink Days, when he lived in LA. We discuss our plans for a Museum of Procrastination, coming pretty soon, and we also salute the world leaders who are procras...

It’s the first day of Spring, when a young man’s fancy turns to visitors from outer space. We express both relief that extraterrestrial travelers have not arrived here, with the attendant traffic issues, as well as a desire for them to not just send small advance parties as they have already conceivably done, but to land a large spaceship with many on board, to help save our planet.

We welcome the return of Daylight Savings Time, support the bill that would make it permanent, and as one Senator said, “give Americans two more months of sun.” But we also love that moment when we set the clocks ahead and rejoice in the longer and lighter days. Perhaps letting everyone choose their own Time and time zone is the answer.

We introduce a new way of walking that involves raising one’s knee an inch or two higher than usual, to ward off embarrassing spills on city sidewalks. This “urban marching “ is undetectable to passersby, and is part of our concept of “pedestrianism”, which honors and exalts the pedestrian, wherever they may be.

Scott has just 1000 pages left to read in The Power Broker, which he was inspired to begin reading by the documentary Turn Every Page, which Tom has just seen as well, detailing the decades old working relationship between Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb. In addition to his powerful and precise writing, Caro exemplifies the German word, referred to in the film, “sitzfleish”, the ability to focus,...

Scott celebrates his Birthday with a Capital B, as he and Ginger love every moment in Washington DC, unlike those Republicans who hate spending time in the city where their job is located. And in an instructive and inspirational moment that should be played for all journalism students, Tom points out how one word can change the meaning of a sentence, and ultimately prevent all wars.

Scott discovers the French word that describes what he and Tom have always been. A Flaneur, walking the streets as urban spectators, marveling at the architecture and people along the way. And there is no English translation that does flaneur justice. So when anyone makes a derisive comment like, “So you just walked around all day?”, we can tell them we’re doing what Degas, Renoir and Cartier-Bres...

Among the many reasons we want workers to return to their offices, is the need to keep creating new films and television shows set in an office. Compare the joys of an office comedy to the tedium of a lone, forlorn person working remotely at home. And another more personal reason is to make Tom’s girlfriend’s office cleaning company flourish again, so they can go back to enjoying burlesque and oth...

By expressing his amazement at AI and ChatGPT, Scott runs the risk of “being a little late to the party”, but he and Tom decide it’s actually better to be a little late, than be on time and the first one there. Because that necessitates a nervous laugh, that Tom suggests that Scott teach for a semester at an Ivy League school.

Tom is opposed to people living forever, which is a possible application of CrispR, the Nobel Prize winning gene editing technology created by Mme Charpentier and Doudna. Scott stages another non intervention to assure Tom that his position will not adversely affect our future friendship with this Nobel Prize winning duo, and may even lead to us winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

It feels great to dress up! Yes, it’s fun to wear your Sunday best, as Scott did for his day after Valentine’s Day dinner with Ginger. And there are other practical benefits to putting on a suit and tie and strolling down Madison Avenue. Since so many offices are still empty, just by taking the elevator to a random floor, you may be given a high paying job and a corner office, just for showing up!

Tom faces the mild terror of Valentine’s Day in the Catskills by driving 40 minutes to buy flowers that are not chrysanthemums, or as his girlfriend called them last year, “flowers of death”. Scott and his girlfriend boldly buck the system by deciding to celebrate the holiday on February 15, to bolster his case for a “designated” Valentine’s Day, that people can celebrate when they choose.

No, Tom and Scott aren’t news junkies, despite the fact that they collectively read the replica editions online of several local and national newspapers, and diligently watch all of the cable news networks, including some international ones as well. So what needs to happen is an anti-intervention, where our friends and family gather in a large room, and tell us to keep doing exactly what we’re doi...

The alleged Chinese spy balloon takes us back to the decidedly less threatening film The Red Balloon, which we prefer to the current version, since it takes place in the magical streets of Paris, rather than Montana and Idaho. Also, we suggest a new segment on the Oscars that would boost viewership. An “In Memoriam” type tribute honoring those who are very much alive, but never completed their scr...

We love sidewalks, and appreciate the fact that they don’t wiggle like Jello, as fun as that may sound. So we raise our podcast glass to the cement industry, or as some pronounce it “Ceement”, for giving us solid and sturdy sidewalks, for better living.

Scott unzips his Eddie Bauer parka, reveling in the relative warmth of a 54 degree “Pre Spring” day in Manhattan, while Tom faces a harrowing challenge in the Catskills, when he discovers three of his four tires are virtually bald, or at least have receding hairlines.

We extol the virtues of the mighty, but unassuming, river just minutes from Grand Central Terminal, as we embark on the Hudson River Line. And we propose, but are fervently against instituting, a Solemn Car on trains, for quiet, mournful reflection only, that goes beyond the requirements of just the Quiet Car.

When Tom moves The Great Bookshelf and several works of art into his formerly bare walled minimalist apartment, it’s not just a move, it’s a movement, as he creates a library/museum/living space lodging. Now Scott must decide if he should eschew his own minimalist decor and follow Tom’s lead.

Scott’s no Mr. Fix It, but when he figures out, thanks to Google, how to reset a wall outlet, he becomes a bonafide member of DIY Nation. Plus, why taking candy from a baby is a good thing. And an exclusive first look at where disasters waiting to happen hang out.

We introduce another idea that will appear in the New York Times Style section three weeks from now. To celebrate your birthday with friends the day before and after, and spend the actual birthday alone doing whatever you choose. It worked for Tommy this past weekend, and it can work for you!

It’s our annual friendly reminder, not the other unfriendly kind, that even in the depths of winter, the days are actually getting longer! That’s at least two minutes more per day of daylight that will make getting through winter a little easier. And no, we’re not winter deniers. We just believe in pre-spring.

As Scott begins to read The Power Broker, Tom and Scott propose that the world prioritize essential workers, like delivery people, servers and baristas, over run of the mill hedge fund managers. And reverse their pay scale accordingly. Because at the outset of the pandemic as well as today, who would you really need to show up at your door?

Scott returns from his nephew’s wedding in Miami, where, among other fun adventures, he danced with a belly dancer. Which of course leads us to a discussion of TV dinners, three second movies, and how using the term, “Pardon me”, can empower someone else to be King or Queen for Three Seconds.