Getting Through This with Tom and Scott

Scott goes to the NYC Homecoming Concert in Central Park, 14 hours after it ended, wearing his Marmot “surrender” jacket, that offers little resistance to the rain. But he still enjoys being a “day after” person, as Tom and Scott were when they walked around the Kodak Theater the day after the 2018 Academy Awards.

Tom and Scott spend three days in the Catskills, and marvel that the mountains never close or have scaffolding, and that you can keep your window open in your room at a Victorian inn, because you’re underneath the large wraparound porch. Plus, we speculatively uncover the lost Underwater Catskills from two million years ago, where they still played shuffleboard.

Scott goes back to a movie theater for the first time since March 2020 and wonders if the Welcome Back on the marquee is specifically directed at him. Plus, our idea for introducing the jaunty stroll competition in the Olympics, with compulsory steps and the always exciting freestyle walk. And finally, we take on the grammar establishment in an unprecedented way.

It’s a day in the life of Tom and Scott, which starts with a disappointing museum visit. Instead of sitting on the curb, and wailing “Boo Hoo!”, they pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and embark on a high seas adventure. And in doing so, they “discover” a new island!

Tom faces an ethical dilemma. Sneak into the trailer of Reporter 1 on a local film shoot, and possibly win an Oscar, or simply walk on by and earn the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Scott thinks that award should be competitive, with ads in trade publications.

In our ongoing salute to The Pedestrian, we revisit Sidewalks Across America, our plan to connect both coasts with giant sidewalks. And we once again breathe a collective sigh of relief(which is the best kind), that we need not submit a walk plan for our daily strolls.

As the young man hawking newspapers in the 1930’s would bellow, “Read All About It. Tom and Scott Visit the High Line.” Thrill to their true life adventure, as they both tell the same story. In their own words!

We love quaint old small towns, with Mom and Pop shops, many of which are not owned by Moms and Pops, but by Moms or Pops instead. And we revisit our time machine, which is only missing the part that enables time travel. But the most important part is the comfortable reclining chairs, and that we’ve figured out.

Starting today, we’re changing our schedule to two podcasts a week, after having done seven a week for 10 months , and five a week for six months. Why the change? To give you the gift of time. The greatest gift of all. Take a week to enjoy the two episodes, or use the other days to catch up on some of the 415 you might have missed. The choice is yours!

The sultry, tropical July air in Manhattan makes us feel like we’re on a Caribbean island. Tom says we just need to plant palm trees, preferably with hammocks. Scott suggests “Hammocks for the World”, and hopes this diplomatic gesture will give him a better chance of being elected Secretary General of the UN.

Tom’s stay at a wildly eclectic, romantic and boldly designed inn makes Scott recall the antithesis of that. The 1975 Holiday Inn tag line. “The best surprise is no surprise.” We prefer the element of surprise over the soulless conformity of a uniformly designed box.

Tom has a magical moment with his nephew, as they stroll along the very street that earned he and Scott the moniker, The Unofficial Unelected, Self Appointed Co-Mayors of Irving Place. Plus, Scott and his childhood friend are drenched by a thunderstorm, but they don’t care since the rain provided welcome relief on a hot and humid day.

The streets of Manhattan may feel hot and humid, but when Scott rides the wondrous NYC Ferry along the East River, the trip is a breeze and he arrives at his destination cool and collected.

The airwaves are filled with “so called experts” with made up titles like “strategist “ On the other hand, Tom and Scott have every right to call themselves, The Unelected Self Appointed Co-Mayors of Irving Place.

On Bastille Day, the French Fete Nationale, we come up with the solution to speed up America’s pastime, baseball. The players should go back to wearing wool flannel uniforms and caps, and the tiny gloves of the 1930’s and 1940’s.

We introduce a new expression destined to become famous: “A parking spot helps one person, but an outdoor dining pavilion feeds thousands.” Plies, we present the Pro Bono Corps, a new WPA-like movement, that encourages citizens to help others pick out clothes at a store, choose an item on the menu, and so much more.

We celebrate the joy of socks, the great equalizer, worn by rich and poor alike. And what else can match the unbridled joy of discovering socks you forgot you had?

Once again we take time to appreciate the wondrous inventions of today, and like the visitors to the 1964 World’s Fair, we look forward to the future with breathless excitement. And we make the bold prediction that in 2050, our clothes will look pretty much the same.

We celebrate and appreciate our freedom to walk wherever and whenever we want. No walk paths must be submitted in advance. No Papers Required! Which sounds like the name of a long running show, popular with tourists, on London’s West End.

Thunderstorms are the great equalizer, as people of all backgrounds, huddle together under awnings and scaffolding to ride out the storm. We hope that many of them stay in touch and have yearly reunions, where they can reminisce about the guy who went back out on the street before the rain had let up.

We have another light bulb moment, as Scott fights procrastination and wins, as he replaces his bathroom bulbs. Plus, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention that Tom has a 1000 batting average in never being remiss. Should he be named baseball’s MVP despite opposition from baseball purists?

Unlike most podcasts, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work on the day after July 4, even though it’s a national holiday. We imagine a world where the only explosions in wars are fireworks, that don’t destroy, but entertain. And while we celebrate America’s independence, we concede that if we had lost the Revolutionary War, we would have been like Canada. Which wouldn’t have been a bad Plan B.

Can Siri be programmed to find lost keys, wallets and 3 oz hand sanitizer bottles? And why do supermarkets have that aimless robot with no discernible purpose other than to look scary?

If Tom and Scott recorded one podcast a week for 15 months, this would be our 60th episode. Instead, after doing our show seven days a week and now five days a week, we’ve reached our 400th episode. If you’ve never given us a listen, this episode is a great introduction to our world of time travel, speculative history, science and more, and talking about everything, anywhere that ever happened.

It’s the great unmasking as Scott and his two favorite building staff people see each other without a mask for the first time. After that poignant milestone, Scott shocks Tom by revealing he still plans to wear his mask in the elevator and lobby of his building