Episode #5
Two in the Think Tank
With Hosts Andy Matthews and Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall
Note that transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and are checked by over-worked and under-paid interns. So, please excuse any inaccuracies. Thank you.
Original Release: Monday, September 13, 2020
Zack 00:00
Some of the stuff that you've come up with is can be on should be on television right now. Do you remember? Funcle?
Andy Matthews 00:06
Funcle. Now that's fun uncle. And is this a competition to see who can be the most fun uncle? Or is this the one where you get to different uncles We've had a few uncle sketches Is this the one where you get two uncles from different sides of your family, and you try and get them to kiss?
Zack 00:27
That and so much more. Coming right up on today's episode of the pilot spotter.
INTRO MUSIC
Zack
You're listening to the pod spotter. I'm your host, Zach Robidas. There are just a shitload of podcasts out there guys, like just too many to count. And there are more added every day. And that's why we're here. We are going to weed through the nonsense for you guys. We're going to do the heavy lifting and finding those little diamonds in the rough every Monday, we're going to talk to the creators and hosts of those podcasts and we're gonna play clips, and hopefully you find it useful and entertaining. And we all learn something in the process. And if you do, please subscribe to our little podcast and visit us at the podspotter.com and on Facebook and Twitter, and Instagram @thepodspotter for extra content and information on upcoming shows. Thanks y'all.
Well welcome everybody, Two in the Think Tank. today. It is a podcast where two comedians try to come up with five sketch ideas or seven if the first five aren't good enough. They produce their show weekly from stupid old studios outside of Melbourne, Australia and have been putting out episodes since 2013. They have a library that boasts over 230 episodes clocking in at about an hour per episode, you would need 10 full days of consecutive listening to binge all of their shows. With me today the prolific sketch duo and hosts of two in the think tank, Alister Tremblay Birchal, and Andy Matthews. Welcome, gentlemen. How are you?
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 02:44
I am very well how are you?
Zack 02:46
I'm well I'm well. You just came from recording another podcast. Right? So these numbers are all wrong. This is all rubbish. I gotta throw this out. Can we please start again?
Andy Matthews 02:54
This is out of date as we speak.
Zack 02:57
Yeah. You just recorded one. You're currently recording one, you guys have more recorded content. I think that anyone that we've screened thus far for this podcast 2013 you?
Andy Matthews 03:08
I we should point out that we've also recorded some challenge episodes. So for the hundredth episode, we came up with 100 sketch ideas. And that episode went for 11 hours. And for the 200th episode, we came up with 200 sketch ideas. And that went for I think, close to 17 hours, and was outside the capacity of the hosting platform to be able to upload the podcast
Zack 03:30
broke the system, but they're on iTunes, they're on iTunes, and you can watch it on YouTube.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 03:40
Yeah, we had to like contact them and make them make a different like change the way they do things.
Zack 03:47
you just gamed the system in order to get your one hour, two hour 24 hour podcast on iTunes.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 03:54
And people would just say like, why can't you just cut them up into three episodes ago, it's against it just goes against the whole point. The whole point is endurance. And it's gonna be difficult for people.
Andy Matthews 04:03
And it's gonna be hard for us to record and impossible for people to listen to
Zack 04:08
It's it's a bit of a badge of honor to for people, like people like to say I did I did the whole thing with you guys. I was there for all, you know, 24 hours or whatever.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 04:17
well, yeah, we would say a couple of words. During that, like we would make up a key word that somebody could tell you at the end of the podcasts to let you know that they listened to the whole thing
Zack 04:29
to start with a piece of audio that's probably been passed around internally here at pod spotter more than any other and really grabbed our attention earlier and is a pretty good representation of what you guys do on a daily basis. This is Santa.
CUT TO CLIP
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 04:45
What I thought of right at the beginning when you mentioned Santa, is for some reason I pictured a bunch of billionaires sitting down to a meal on some super yacht And it's a couple of like, you know, it's like one billionaire who's entertaining, you know, four or five other billionaires. And they're sitting down to this beautiful meal and the Butler's cutting the slicing the meat. And they said, I don't know if you've ever had this before, but this is actually Santa.
Andy Matthews 05:22
The most dangerous game of all, Santa
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 05:26
Santa, this just the rarest meat of the mall.
BACK TO INTERVIEW
Zack 05:30
A bunch of billionaire sitting, sitting around a yacht in the most exotic foods, and the one that one bags Santa for that for that trip.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 05:40
That imagery comes because I remember years ago this something like that happened with maybe Zuckerberg or one of the one of those people where they were eating roasted koala apparently. Yeah, which is an endangered animals. So that's kind of where some of that
Zack 05:55
People get so bored. They're just like, what else can I put in my mouth? I mean, we've done it all. I've done something new, something imagining. So that's the style. That's the format. It's two comedians, literally, we get to, we get to go inside your process, you've recorded the process. And the process is the show and a lot of ways just you guys sitting around in the think tank. And it's the only like, I can't I was trying to think of like, Is there a TV show, or it's just like, the writers sitting around the writer room, or, like, it doesn't seem to be something that exists in any other format. But for podcasts, it works really well. And it's just, it's so fun to listen to you guys just sit around.
Andy Matthews 06:39
I think it's a bit of a trope in like, you know, in like, comedy circles too, you know, for when people are sitting around riffing or something, they said, this is this should be the show this watch. But I think as soon as you take it out of room, yeah, but as soon as you take it outside of the room, I think I think that dies. And as soon as you try and actually recreate that kind of thing. It I think, I think it can't stand up to the kind of scrutiny or the, the amount of pressure that comes from being a real TV show or anything like that. But podcasts which have sort of by managed to bypass all of that, and they really do just put the listener just there in the room with you. Maybe that's the only way that you can sort of get away with it, you know, take all the pressure off, and it's just just what is what it is just chatting.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 07:26
Yeah, I was just gonna say and it's fun. Because it's, it's sort of like the most fun part of the creative process when an idea can be anything and it's not limited by budget, or you know, or anything like that. And so you can really throw your craziest ideas out there. And you can entertain the, you know, the possibility of this being made. But the reality of it being made will often be much more restrictive. So only like in your mind is probably better
Zack 07:54
I can only liken it to like the you know from from an actor's standpoint, the rehearsal process in so many ways is often more fun than actually doing the show the pressure of doing the show is not as exciting as being in the room generating ideas and coming up with things where Oh, if I do this, then you get to do that. And there's no pressure to like, look a certain way or do a certain thing. It's very freeing and liberating. And that's what we hear. When we listen to this podcast. It's just free association. And it's fun for us when you guys arrive at these ideas, and you take the time to arrive at these ideas and you're in just this sort of free associative place. But does that ever get you in trouble? Has that ever gotten you like, when you're when you operate at that place all the time? Certainly you're saying things like, you know, you're talking about what testicular warfare and R-rated Dick Van Dyke and just weird things like badger dick tie clip. Talk about operating in htat space..
Andy Matthews 08:55
I will say that I think in some of the early episodes, I said the things that I would absolutely probably not say now. So definitely said some things that I feel very uncomfortable about. But I also feel and I hope you know, it's there's a lot of context out there now that if somebody did want to listen to every single episode, and I'm not suggesting that would be a good idea for anybody for their personal or mental well being. But I think that you would see us and certainly me grow and become a better person. So I think I'm happy to leave the things that I said early on there as an example of, ‘Oh, you know, he's come a long way,’ and that's an example to other stupid white men.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 09:45
And I and I have this fantasy that I would be really good at apologizing for things that I've said in the past and so I think I'm excited by the idea of getting in trouble for something and then I could be really good at apologizing. I could say heartfelt you know, like, I'm just so sorry. You know, I've changed and I've learned and all that kind of stuff.
Zack 10:05
Yeah, you were early adopters of this format and your origin story reads like an Australian tall tale. What like and what Andy, you built something with your hands and you guys--
Andy Matthews 10:17
do they don't do that in America.
Zack 10:19
You're no no no, no, there's no building studios and it looks like you you've you built the studio and you invited Al in and you guys --
Andy Matthews 10:31
Well I I sort of attended that's that's one way that I can push things forward, you know it is a kind of you build it and they will come. But we wanted to build a studio for filming sketches and doing this kind of thing. And I was only really, you know, in my early days of friendship with Alistair, but I knew that I wanted to be better friends with him. And so I went ahead and rented this studio with another friend, and then told Al, you need to move in to make this financially viable. So we built little rooms inside this huge warehouse. And we lived in those and had a studio at the back and then built a little loft where we had our first podcast studio, and I would be up in the ceiling cavity crawling around in the asbestos dust and screwing in things and blacking out, blacking out the light, the limited amount of natural light that did actually come in, I had to block all that out because that was interfering with the cameras. So we lifted this sort of old ice factory in, down the end of an alleyway. And on the first night, we were staying there on our, in our little boxes on the concrete floor. There was a stabbing on our front doorstep and the police came and arrested people. But it was it got better from there got better then there were very few stabbings after that.
Zack 11:54
the think tank was born out of failure, right. I mean, it was born out of not just stabbing. But you both applied for a writing competition or something like that. You You met at a
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 12:05
We met at a call out for like a community radio show where they were calling out for comedy writers. But we were neither of us were comedy writers, but we kind of wanted to be. And then we met there. But then we were kind of the show with kind of ended up dying pretty quickly. But we were I think the only two people who felt sane enough to hang out with. And then it started like that a little bit. And then yeah, and then we Yeah, we moved in together. And then we were like, okay, we want to make stuff. But then we didn't really make stuff for a while. And then we were like, Okay, well, if we make a podcast that we don't have to edit at all, then all the barriers to creation will be out of the way, all we got to do is record and then upload. And we can you know, we could watch, I can watch you do that and force you to do that like that, you know, and that's how we kind of made it happen.
Zack 13:03
I'm so interested in chemistry and how people find that they have chemistry and like, I guess I'm curious, like, was there an early joke? or How did you know you were like-minded individuals, and that this would be a compatible thing. People spend millions trying to get to people that are compatible in a room together. And I guess I'm just like, yours is so darn good, that it's the reason I think a huge reason why people show up is just to hear your banter.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 13:31
That's very nice. Thank you. But uh, yeah, it's a weird one. I don't know, I think when I would that first meeting where we had to read things out, or there was the opportunity to read things out at this kind of call out for this radio show. I think maybe Andy was the only person who did read something out. I can't remember. But he had read
Zack 13:52
specs for his warehouse clubhouse.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 13:57
He had a lease, a lease for this warehouse that he was like, anybody willing, who's come across quite desperate.
Andy Matthews 14:05
I read a bush poem. Yeah, I'd written it I'd written like if, you know, a comedy bush poem, which I you know, I don't think today would be very funny. But and I'm sure Alistair had written something because otherwise I wouldn't have been confident that you were not a lunatic like everybody else who was there. I think you must have you must have had something. There was a guy there remember who he had a bunch of sketch ideas. But every single one of them seemed to have something to do with Jennifer Love Hewitt's boobs. He had you know, yeah, four or five sketch ideas and that like and then the boobs would come in, like towards the end of the sketch? No,
Zack 14:54
it always got back. Everything just kind of returned to it.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 14:59
Yeah. It still wasn't topical then like it was just--
Zack 15:05
you got to catch up with that guy. You got to have him but you have to yeah so yes see if he's still see where he is in his Jennifer Love Hewitt
Andy Matthews 15:13
pretty hard to track down I think
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 15:14
there's there's an element of maybe our chemistry and I'm not sure but I think it's there is a strange thing where we can give each other shit.
Zack 15:25
it's always good natured shit. Yeah, it's always positive constructive shit when we hear it, it's like, yeah, that's not like hear it. Let's give an example of some positive, some positive shit. That that you give each other here. This is what's here. Let's hear your thoughts on two points.
CUT TO CLIP
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 15:46
But we are equidistant from each other because egalitarianism is very important.
Andy Matthews 15:52
Hmm, thank you
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 15:54
for that interesting. However, two points are always equidistant from each other
Andy Matthews 16:00
Alistair, you know what you've got there. That's either the most interesting thing that anybody's ever said. Or the stupidest comment that's ever been made.
BACK TO INTERVIEW
Zack 16:12
Which is really, when I’m listening to your pod, that's really that's sums up beautifully. how I feel about it. It's like, and this is, what am I doing? I'm, this is the dumbest thing. And then all of a sudden, some little nugget will arrive. That's the most brilliant thing I've ever heard. And that happens generally every, like, you know, 10 or 11 minutes listening to you guys just ramble. It's a beautiful thing. But that is a good example of the good-natured ribbing that that goes on to in the think tank.
Andy Matthews 16:39
I think it's sort of what you want in a friendship, right? Like it's, it's, it shows that you just as open as you can be to each other, and they know how stupid and how flawed you can be. And it's fine. Like, every time somebody makes fun of that thing about you and then continues to want to be your friend, then you know that that thing isn't isn't so bad, at least in this context. It's the dream.
Zack 17:05
I know. Al you at one point where like, I'm, I'm nervous. When I think about people hypothetically, like not specific people, specific people don't make you nervous. But the hypothetical idea of a person listening to me at times will make me nervous. And it's funny concept that like, yeah, it's a if you think about it too much, you won't be able to say or do or operate at the level that you guys do. There’s not a question in there. I don't know.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 17:39
But there is like, no, yeah, it very much is like, I mean, we do go in to just go say the dumbest things possible. So we've set the bar very low in that regard by just going like, Look, let's go in here, say some dumb thing about a guy, riding a pig through town. Right? And, and know that that's what we consider content. Yeah. And so by setting the bar that high, or like, you know, or just going like, Alright, what's the opposite of a helicopter? You know, and that, that, you know, like, so that you there's no expectation on what talking should be. And so therefore, anything is talking and a good starting point, from which you could find something that might be interesting or funny. Yeah, I
Andy Matthews 18:25
'm interested in the guy riding the pig through town, I want to know where he's going, I think, to the avatar, and he's riding the pig to the avatar, and then he, he has the pig butchered the avatar
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 18:45
And he rides the meat away.
Andy Matthews 18:50
He constructs a bacon bicycle.
Zack 18:53
So if we were in 200 years from now, we were in a podcast Museum, and think tank were there, you know, undoubtably the think tank kiosk would be there
Andy Matthews 19:08
a whole wing I like to think,
Zack 19:10
probably probably a wing. And you walk up to the think tank kiosk or display. And there are your pictures and there is a there's a red button there that you press and it would it would it would let out some piece of recorded content from the think tank or some a moment or a piece of improvised music. Would you have hoped? Of what of what the would would sound like or be a joke, anything?
Andy Matthews 19:38
I've got a I've got a strong feeling of what it actually will be. And this is the tragedy of two in the think tank is that our best sketch ideas happen in probably the first two or three episodes. All the people who are big fans of the show whenever they like, oh, tell you what sketch I really like where you can always be like, is it Ludwig is it Ludwig van betoven. That's where this is like, this is the dumbest ones. They're all waste. Yeah. Or is it? That's why loads week then a Beethoven had a mobile weekend? Or is it under a restaurant from maybe the second episode where there's somebody builds a restaurant or something called “under a restaurant” underneath a police station? And this goes on and on and on explaining how it came to be called under a restaurant. Those are the sketches that people like, not any of the fat, like, literally over 1000 sketches we've done since then. No, it's the first two or three and then it's just been grind since then.
Zack 20:41
Maybe that's because people are like, Oh, you have a podcast, they'll check it out. And then they do their due diligence. And they download. Yeah, first, the very first little baby idea that you ever had, and that's forever, what you're known for. Yeah, a van that sells wigs. And I think you guys actually sang a little ditty. And that a pretty good song. There's nothing funnier to me than when, you know, you guys been grown men taking ridiculousness very seriously. And that's where you always sort of arrive, whether you're debating where a third arm should grow out of a human. Or, you know, any of your idea or something like going to war, but just by putting your balls on, on the objects and effects of the other country. It's a very serious tactile approach to your sketches. It's all it's logic forward. And so that idea of like, logic of the absurd is sort of your bread and butter
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 21:47
yeah, let's, let's see how that goes. Let's see how do going to war with your balls, and how that could actually work in reality.
Andy Matthews 21:58
I think like, the saying is that like, you know, deconstructing comedy is like, dissecting a frog or something that, you know, the frog dies. And it's not very interesting, but like, and while we are sort of dissecting Cobmedy, it's almost like we're trying to build the frog from the ground up like Frankenstein a frog. So it's okay, because you're not watching it being killed, you're watching it, come to life. And so, hopefully, that means we get around it, because we do if deconstructed, if taken, if, if discussing how a joke works is bad, then we have done multiple, very, very bad things over a long period of time. So just trying to justify it to myself,
Zack 22:39
but also you I mean, you you go into every one of them with the idea that we could we have to be able to produce this we have to be able to do this, this has to be a fully fledged thought a fully fledged idea. But how many of the, you know, 2800 sketch ideas have actually gone through full production? I know you, you've produced your magma series, which is what tell us about magma. And tell us about I guess, how many of the 2800 have seen the light of day?
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 23:12
Sure, well, magma was us as two engineers. And we we've come up with this idea for creating a new industry of mining magma. So you would go and extract magma out of the ground, and then make islands and then you would use engineering to solve problems in the world so that it would be less problems on this island. And that would lure people to this island and he could sell it as real estate and stuff. But we did use sketch ideas in there. As like the details to color this kind of show that was a live show we did for at the comedy festival.
Andy Matthews 24:01
Like the idea that we need to turn the number five upside down because at the moment, it's got a curved base, so five would fall over. Really it five should go up the other way. So that rests on that flat bit.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 24:06
And then we did also use this idea of two partners like at one partner sort of saying I want to share all of myself with you, and that they had collected all their dead skin cells and hair and nails and teeth that they shed throughout their lives and then kept them in big plastic containers so that they could you know, after the wedding night reveal it to their husbands you know, husband or wife and say, Look, you know, you you're loving me, but now you're loving all of me--
Zack 24:38
Has a family member ever been. Has anyone a loved one a parent ever heard one of these thoughts, one of these sketch ideas and just been like, ‘Hey, I was listening. And you know, competitive lactating is just that what Where did Where did we go wrong with you? What did what happened?’
Andy Matthews 24:59
My parents did listen really early on, they listened to the first few episodes. And then I think it like there was one crucial moment where they did stop listening. And after that they I think they said to me, that was a bit weird, wasn't it? And then they haven't mentioned it again, since it's been, you know, several hundred episodes.
Zack 25:18
It's just moments, just little moments here and there. Yeah. Like, no one had to sit you down and say, listen, we have to talk. Something's wrong with you. And you, you can, you can't.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 25:29
I had a friend who played it. She says she worked for a pottery company. And they were they would play podcasts out loud. And everybody would listen to them together. And she was like, I've enjoyed listening to two in the think tank. And then, and then she put it on over the thing. And I think very, very early on, we started talking about how tittt the two in the think tank is like a long tit. Like certain talk about very long boobs, I think. And the idea of like, I don't know, look, she said very early on, she was like, actually, let's not play this to everybody.
Zack 26:06
Speaking of long tits... Well, there's a schism here there's a great divide, but is it long? Is it long tits? Or is it twankers? For your fan base? The idea, you know, when when a fan base is named, that's the sort of calling card of a successful podcast, you and you have you have you have a bit of a civil war for your think tankers, tankers, or long tutors. What, let's settle it right here once and for all. Who do you recognize as your fan base?
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 26:35
I think because I came up with long tit I feel ashamed. And
Zack 26:41
that's the number one rule you can't I mean, I've been trying to call pod people, you know, listeners of the pod spotter pod people, I can't come up with it. It has to come it has to happen organically. You know, I got to stop pushing my agenda.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 26:53
So I'm pretty sure we didn't come up with twankers. Yeah.
Zack 26:57
So that might be it, twankers.
Andy Matthews 26:59
I quite like twankers. I think twankers has got something.
Zack 27:02
Have you seen? Have you ever been watching something? And then like, did that? Did they steal that? from us? Did they take that is that I think we said that in 2014, I came up with that idea when you're generating as much, you know, thought, as you guys are there exists this, you know, as I said, 2800 idea library that is just at anyone's disposal to just go and generate thoughts for themselves.
Andy Matthews 27:40
There has been one that was brought to our attention, which is the big one, which is on Conan. They did a sketch about international waters, and about how you could if you go out into the sea, and you like you bottle water from international waters, and then you come back onto land, and you stand in that, then you can break any law that you want. And that is an idea that we came up with on the show.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 28:00
And they hit very similar beats that we hit. I mean, I yeah, that any I think that people could come up with it independently anyway. But the idea that you would sort of pour the water into a kiddie pool, and then stand in that Kitty pool, where you commit a crime?
Andy Matthews 28:14
Yeah, but I think I think it's so likely as well, that it's just parallel thinking because there are so many, so much comedy. Now, there's so many people trying all over the internet, you know, no one on Twitter can ever accuse anybody of stealing their joke really, unless they've copied and pasted it. Because it's just everybody's trying all the time. any topic. We're all giving it a go. And there are certain topics that are just right, for comedy, you know,
Zack 28:40
one idea like that, too. It's sort of similar to the birth of electricity. how all of these scientists were really close at the same time. Tesla or Edison, who I'm not really sure, you know, very similar. Yeah, actually international waters.
Andy Matthews 28:55
Yeah, we came up with the idea for electricity on our podcast, actually.
Zack 29:01
Is that right? Congratulations. Why did you have so much trouble with your sound then early on, it feels like it would be better with some of the electronics in general,
Andy Matthews 29:08
as, again, we come up with the ideas we don't necessarily implement them.
Zack 29:14
Well, I'd love to play a game here with you guys. That is part of our show. And I have a little feature here. I like to call “How well do you know your baby?” Where i ask a series of questions about your baby, about your pot about to tank to see how well you remember some of these sketch ideas that you've heard of just Is there much recall for you? Do you go back? Or is it usually just when people's bring something up to you?
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 29:44
If we're writing stuff, I tend to go back and re listen to a lot because, you know, sometimes there's sort of half formed ideas that I can just take straight up and then write them up. And then we do have some listeners who are almost considered the scholars and you can go to them. You can go to them and like you go cuz like somebody will ask us a question on Twitter, we go, I'm sorry, we forget most of the stuff that we say, as soon as we stop talking. And then there'll be a few people who will discuss who are like, I believe that is in the 100th episode around while, you know, this particular guest was around and things like that.
Zack 30:21
Well, let's see, if the two of the think tank scholars can answer some of these correctly, and we'll see which ones you guys can get here. Three questions for you. Just get two out of the three correct. And right behind me here. We're gonna feature on this beautiful bookshelf, some two in the think tank swag in perpetuity. It'll be up there forever if you get these right. So you're playing for something pretty nice. Ae you ready? Okay, how well do you know your baby? Question number one, I'm going to read a list of sketch ideas from your sketch library from from the canon, and we'll see can you identify which one is fake? Okay, so here's a list. One of them is fake. Okay. Number one, just read the list. You tell me which one is fake. Cheese mourning.
31:16
Pollen-trapment.
31:19
Cat prison. Prison puppets. premium fire brigade. I'll read them again.
Andy Matthews 31:22
Okay, premium fire brigade is absolutely correct. They will come to your house and they will put out your fire with Perrier water. What was the second? Pollen-trapment. That's one where creatures have evolved to look like humans that you think you recognize. So you go up and shake their hand and then the plants they put pollen on the back of your hand to help pollinate other plants. Now now you really I'm getting I'm having a lot of trouble with some of these other ones. Cheese mourning. That does sound like something we would talk about.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 32:05
Cheese mourning.
Andy Matthews 32:07
Yes, I think it's where you make a sculpture of your dead beloved out of cheese. So that you can, you can cut cuddle them in bed and then also maybe eat them so it's even better than your beloved was, so you would move on more quickly. Or am I just making this up?
Andy Matthews 32:31
And then Cat prison?
Zack 32:34
Sorry, it's a cat prism. And prison puppets.
Andy Matthews 32:40
Okay, so cat prism? No, it was rat prism. Because you actually you shoot a rat through a prism and you split the rat into its component qualities like cunning, and being hairy and small, and having a yucky tail. And then you can project those onto other things. And they will be imbued with it. So the last remaining one prison prison. Yeah, prison puppets, I think is the thing. So I'm saying cat prison is fake. It's rat prism. Al. Do you concur?
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 33:08
Yeah. I concur. Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. We've been thinking about rat prism recently because we're currently writing something about passing beams of light through through a prism and we're like, Yeah, well, light light isn't the law. What if there was other things you could pass through prisms?
Zack 33:27
I pick the one, I try to go through the deep fake on the one sketch revisited. That is exactly right that was amazing. That is from Oh, you know, I really pulled the cross section 240 episodes and incredible and you're able to relive all of them as well. Al aren't you the one writing them down jotting them down to
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 33:53
Jotting them down therefore I don't they don't go into the memory. I'm using some external memory and then this thing just forgets it straightaway.
Zack 34:01
too good. Um, I was gonna I had to change up a rat. Sorry, prison puppets there. Because I'd mentioned competitive lactating earlier, but competitive lactating was also one that I had in this earlier because I really wanted to play a bit from competitive lactating. Let's Let's hear for a moment from you guys discussing competitive lactation.
Cut to clip
Andy Matthews 34:28
What would happen if we were all lactating a bit all the time? Would it be a thing where like bros would go to the gym and really work on lactating a lot and then would lactating? Like just producing huge quantities of milk? Would that be an Olympic kind of event? You know, the your ability to just fill glass after glass after glass? Would we all be sitting there like applauding, you know, the lactation world’s Ian Thorpe as he is Somehow out of nowhere pulled another like pint and a half at the last second there the beer Peter van Hagen band in the four by 100
BACK TO INTERVIEW
Zack 35:12
I love the this life sustaining thing and women is respected as this beautiful thing the conversation between a baby and a woman but the minute you give it to men, we would just make it a dumb sport. Look how much money you make today, bro.
Andy Matthews 35:26
How much you milking? I did we did we go on in that I wanted to discuss the idea because I think this is a good idea, a form of swimming, where before you can do the swimming, you have to fill the pool. Everyone has their own pool, but you've got to fill the pool with your own bodily liquids. And then before you can then dive in and continue swimming. Sure. I think breast milk Yeah, but what are the what? Blood? sweat, saliva? Yeah. There's fireworks? Or is it is it's a timed event? Do we think? And? No, I think that's really a good point. I think No, I think you it's it's it's just it's open ended. And so that you know, you'll be drinking, pissing whatever into that pool bleeding. bleeding. Yeah. And as much as you can over as many days as it takes to fill. You know, it's just a 25 metre pool and just a lap pool.
Zack 36:24
Someone who is in this sport would be called a sequesteration. Yeah,
Then there would be runner there would be people known not only for secretion, but like they would have the the other component would be the runner of secretion liquids, like someone that's known for bringing, you know, being the fastest at bringing you materials for your secretion. Yeah.
Andy Matthews 36:47
Well, I think it's a it's a it's a it's definitely a support team as much as anything. Yeah.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 36:53
You would have to thank a lot of people well, I couldn't have done this alone. I couldn't have got all these glasses of water and I suppose sort of fluid for stimulating blood production.
Zack 37:07
Yeah, everyone always goes right to water. But it's really I mean, if you can get the blood flow, if you can keep your red blood cells poppin you're gonna get there fast.
Andy Matthews 37:18
I think I think that's I think that's a fool's errand I think it's a sketch. I think it's again, it's a sketch.
Zack 37:28
That's all the first question guys. That was you got number one. Okay, I'm gonna move on to number two, although based on how well you did with the first question, we're definitely just gonna put something up here. You've won this game as far as I'm concerned. Question number two. I'm going to read you a sketch title. And we're gonna see if you can remember it. But based on how well you did the first one. I'm not too confident you're gonna get stumped here. Can you remember? What the sketch Navy-tivity is about?
Andy Matthews 37:59
Navy?tivity. Navy tivity.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 38:02
Oh my God? Do you think you involve Jesus? Well, it would involve Jesus
Andy Matthews 38:08
feels like it would but
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 38:11
jeans would he be wearing jeans.
Andy Matthews 38:13
I wonder if it's something to do with the first. Oh my gosh, I have absolutely no idea. See, I named so Alistair writes the sketches down but then I name them. Okay. And in my attempts to do some kind of feeble, feeble pun or joke or something, I very often lose the meaning of the sketch entirely
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 38:41
baby be born indouble denim?
Andy Matthews 38:44
No, no, no, no, I know what it is. I know what it is. It is Jesus's birth and is it the waters break into the manger.
Zack 39:04
Let's see. Let's see if that's correct. Let's listen to you guys discussing Navy tivity
CUT TO CLIP
Andy Matthews 39:10
you can't possibly get planes close enough together. Just trying to picture how you, representing the Virgin Mary cuddle a plane representing baby Jesus or an ultralight representing baby Jesus. I think without killing the baby Jesus.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 39:28
That's true. Yeah, I guess he would need need a number of helicopters, one to play a donkey, one to play a sort of a ---
Andy Matthews 39:36
Right so they're not they're not cradling baby Jesus, but maybe they are sort of airlifting baby Jesus who's represented by a tank
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall
maybe they could be refueling babies.
BACK TO INTERVIEW
Zack 39:51
Re-fueling baby Jesus broke me. When I heard that the first time so good.
Andy Matthews 39:57
I have no memory. I know, and I gotta say, I still don't know what it was about---
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 40:03
Is it like, like one of those sort of like,
Zack 40:05
The Blue angels? I mentioned the Blue Angels. Yeah, exactly. Question two there it was Navy tivity. So good. Guys, your final question. For games, even though again, I stated you've already won the game. Not a question so much as a task. I wanted to see if I could rewire the engineering of the think tank to come up with, you know, we're a podcast about podcasts, maybe we give back to the podcast community and come up with to generate three podcast ideas by using the resources of the think tank, and I'll actually give us one and say that sequestians is that could be we you know, that could be a pod. I think that we sort of brainstorm one already. And so we can come up with two other podcast ideas
Andy Matthews 41:09
Yeah. This is this is the first thing that that comes to my mind is I think this could in fact, be an entire podcast app. Right. So what it is, is that you place your regular podcasts through your headphones, but it now splits them into the left and right channels. Okay. And now in waiting to one year, you have the podcast coming into one year, but then into the other year, you have I don't know. I guess sounds of sounds of people nodding or agreeing and sort of laughing along, but they sound more like they're in the room with you. So it makes the podcast less of a solitary experience. It feels like you're listening to the podcast with a group of other people. Even though you're still desperately alone.
Zack 41:57
left brain right brain?
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 41:58
Yeah. Well, that's a good idea. Yeah. I didn't think of a podcast idea that could be let's make a sentence. Right. And so we I guess we just come into it. And we go, Hi, everybody. We're gonna today we're gonna, we're gonna come up with a sentence. And then we
Zack 42:16
A totally new one that one that hasn't ever been?
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 42:19
Ah, yeah, I think so. I think we good to come up with a new one. But you know, I guess there's nothing wrong with coming up with one that, you know, has already been done. But as long as you did the work to come up with it, you know, the meaning could be different in this new context. But you know, you kind of go, what do you think would be a good, a good first word? And then you kind of you can have a little discussion, you go, Well, you know, I like the word apple. I like eating apples. And I feel like if I heard apple at the beginning, although it'd be a weird thing to start a sentence with
Andy Matthews 42:47
an incredible thing to start a sentence with. I mean nobody is out there starting sentences with singular nouns. That just doesn't happen.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 43:00
I know that that's what you know, but think about, you'd be intrigued. You'd feel there'd be a feeling of warmth, the reminder of eating apples. You're, you're in a good place to accept to accept the rest of the sentence. Now, you see that question? This is the audience playing along this is them going to go from here? What kind of sentences you're gonna write the starts with apple?
Zack 43:28
it's an interactive pod. There aren't too many of those. Yeah, there's not a lot of live pods. So hard to do. Not Not as much fun to listen to, you know, years later.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 43:42
No, you’re right. But I think I think you know, even if they're just playing the game in their mind,
Zack 43:47
Yeah.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 43:48
Okay. They're going oh, I wonder what sentence I would write that starts with Apple.
Zack 43:52
I think we can I'm gonna I'm gonna I'll write down Apple sentence generator. I don't know that it's gonna be produced next week.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 44:01
Oh, now I know what it feels like
Andy Matthews 44:02
Yeah.
Zack 44:06
Yeah, I’d be a horrible addition to your podcast. I just say no to every No, no, no collaborative. When you listen to the think tank, it's always helping each other. generate ideas. No, no, next.
Andy Matthews 44:20
No, I don't think so. Try again.
Zack 44:24
Let's take a quick break here. We'll be right back.
CUT TO PROMO
Zack
Guys, we are here to fill the role of finding great content. For you wonderful podcast, we are podcast liaisons for you bringing you the quality pods that you aren't listening to. So if you like the show, please check us out and subscribe. Visit the odspotter.com and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @thepodspotter for lots of good stuff. And please, please leave a review a favorable review. My ego is fragile. So if it's if it's not good, I'm probably just going to delete it. So I'll Subscribe rate and review us on Apple podcasts and spread the word. If you like what you're listening to. Every Monday, we're gonna release a new episode review of a great new pod and we're just gonna keep plowing ahead, so, so please do keep listening. And if you have any suggestions for future pods, please email us at thepodspotter.com. And we will give those a listen. And if you have been changed or moved or inspired or entertained by any of the pods we have recommended, please also let us know because we'd like to know that we're doing a good job. Thanks everybody.
BACK TO INTERVIEW
Zack
You know, when I've watched TV, and I'm just like, like, we have a show on Fox right now. That's like, they're just smashing Legos. You know, they're just like, they make a Lego statue and then they smash it. And I'm just like, if Why don't writers just go and and just buy the think tank. Here's it. Here's it. I'm gonna write a check. Here's the think tank I want. Let me have those ideas because some of the stuff that you've come up with is, can be on, should be on television right now. Do you remember Funcle?
Andy Matthews 46:14
Fruncle, now that's fun, uncle? And is this a competition to see who can be the most fun uncle? Or is this the one where you get to different angles? We've had a few uncle sketches? Is this the one where you get two uncles from different sides of your family? And you try and get them to kiss? Or is this the one where you actually have to decide? It's a game show? And I think you actually have to decide which uncle you don't want to have anymore. And like And literally, they're not allowed to be in your family.
Zack 46:50
That’s dark? This was the one was let's play it actually, I let's listen to Let's listen to Funcle
CUT TO CLIP
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 46:59
What if you spend time with two uncles? It's kind of like a dating show. But at the end, you have to pick which which is the best uncle? Or which is the uncle that you'd like to like you have to disown one at the end or
Andy Matthews 47:15
Oh, like or it's just you have to pick which uncle you'd like to spend a bit more time with.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 47:20
Yeah, but the one has to definitely, like be rejected in a big way. Yeah, there'll be stakes,
Andy Matthews 47:25
I suppose. But I quite like the idea
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 47:33
Which is the better uncle, which is the better uncle i think.
So it's like it's like the bachelorette meets Who do you think you are? meets the dating game?
Andy Matthews 47:41
But with Uncles
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 47:42
but with Uncles
BACK TO INTERVIEW
Zack 47:43
Yes, there is the Funcle competition. I love that. As a fun uncle I just want to be on that. on that show. I want to get in there.
Andy Matthews 47:55
Yeah, I think that what like what we didn't mention at the start when we're talking about like the joy of doing things, just as hypotheticals in the podcast just coming up with the ideas. Yes, we don't have to worry about the potential budget. But we also don't really have to worry about the limitations of our ability as writers. We can you can imagine having a big budget, you can also imagine being a good enough writer to pull this off. And I think we rely on that a fair bit as well. Imagine if talent wasn't an obstacle.
Zack 48:30
Well, I think you guys are damn talented. And I just love listening--
Andy Matthews 48:33
that's what I wanted to hear. Yes.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 48:37
That's very nice. Ah, an old old ideas are kind of still developing. Like there's a bunch of things that are old ideas that I've kind of started writing up as like potential TV shows, and they're always kind of floating around. I think the ones that kind of stick with you or come back and still seem strong A few years later you go, Well, that's got to be a strong idea. And when we did like we at one point, we did make a sketch show that was called sci fi sketch experience. And we did just mine a bunch of sketch ideas for that. And that was a live show. And, and that was really fun. Because there's just like, there's so much material that we can work with. And we can just really pick the stuff that Yeah, we really love.
Zack 49:16
Is there. Is there much research and development that goes into I know that I do sometimes you'll just have an idea that you'll come up or you'll have written maybe a word down. I know you get generate you generate ideas from your fans, your fans will submit three ideas but what sort of life research and development goes into? Are you just naturally curious people I guess, or because you guys are really smart when you're talking about, you know, seemingly sophomoric things and blue humor. You have a very as I said before, sort of tactical approach to it, what sort of research and development is there for something like this?
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 50:01
I think we're both just naturally curious. I think we both have a little slightly sciency engineering background. And so we, we do like talking about things that sound like, you know, that sounds smart kind of, you know, quantumy, spacey kind of stuff like that. And, and I think it's just what you what you're feeling is that you haven't heard that many people talk about those kinds of things in such a stupid way. And so it's kind of, it's just that mixture of like, yeah, just dumb and smart sounding blending together. And but it's, it's an
Andy Matthews 50:37
old comedy trick, right is to talk about something stupid in a smart way or something smart in a stupid way. And like, as comedians, like so often the time you comedians get up on stage and speak with such authority about big topics or, like complicated issues, and then they pull in references to this, and that, but they don't actually understand any of the shit they're talking about. they've read the same headlines that you have. They've just got the balls to drop in some like, you know, words like Aristophanes, and trickle down economics. And they, you know, you you, when you're the only one with a microphone, and nobody's allowed to ask questions, you can get away with saying all sorts of shit. And people just like, well, I assume he knows what that word means. But if nobody's asking you, well, you get away with and that's what we are doing a lot of the time, we've got just enough knowledge to get to the end of the sentence. And that's all we need.
Zack 51:34
Here's an example of that, that very scientific sort of tactile approach to to absurdity here is a historical Doc, about shit.
CUT TO CLIP
Andy Matthews 51:45
So what about this? It's a historical documentary about, and I'm sorry, everyone. But it's about a shit on the floor of a public toilet. Right. And I don't know how long it's been there. Maybe ages maybe not all that long at all. But, I mean, we probably have the same questions about that shit. That we do about the heads on Easter Island. Who put this here? Why here?
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 52:20
Why here? Why did they carry it here from there, which is where the toilet is?
Andy Matthews 52:25
Yeah, why not over there. It clearly belongs over there. And yet it's here.
BACK TO INTERVIEW
Zack 52:32
That is Andy And Al for historical Doc about shit
Andy Matthews 52:35
I’m really sorry about that.
Zack 52:41
That's just a taste of what you're going to get guys when you tune in to Andy and Al. But it is it's it's always you follow the logic to its natural conclusion. And it sounds absurd. But then one of the number one television shows on Netflix two years ago was American Vandal. And that is basically historical talk about shit only. It's a it's a mockumentary about someone drawing penises on a car. And so you it's easy to dismiss some of these ideas as nonsense, but you that was back in, you know, 2015 or something that you're saying this idea. And we've seen this show, we've seen iterations of the show on TV. And so I just think that it's such an amazing resource for anyone that it's changed. It actually like just having you tow bounce around my brain has like kind of changed the way that I've been thinking about things and in a not healthy way. Yeah, a very unhealthy way.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 53:37
We’ve radicalized you,
Zack 53:39
you really have and it's why it's weird. I'm hanging out with your human bodies, because you just exist as this weird thought generators.
Andy Matthews 53:48
It can be hard to switch off sometimes.
Zack 53:49
yeah, it must be is it? Is it like, do you find yourselves? You kind of did it with me instantly? Andy early on and I wasn't able to, to match your Think Tank level. But like, is that something that happens regularly? where you're like, you take things to their natural, absurd conclusion.
Andy Matthews 54:05
You got to remember that, like you, your wife or whoever is already sick of your shit. So does it. Like you got her a bit better to just just like, Oh, that. That's right. We're just having a conversation in our relationship. This isn't a riff, shut it down.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 54:25
Yeah. So that's, that's why we kind of just have that outlet with each other. It kind of is just, I think the reason why we want to do the podcast was just because our regular talking was kind of that it just, every time sort of felt fun and kind of like a like a, you know, like a bit of a journey like that. So we're like, oh, we may as well just like, start writing these down. So that we you know, we can make stuff at some point and then and, and also record it so that if there's any value in this, then we can, people might listen, but you know, we really didn't think anybody would listen But it's it's been nice that
Zack 55:01
they're listening. And it's fun. And what's exciting is it's it exists forever. It'll always be there. You don't know what it's gonna happen to it as a sort of thought generator, the think tank is there and it's a resource and people should check it out. Because it's a lot of fun you did, but 100 sketch ideas for 100 episodes 200 which was an all day event for 200. Do you have plans for your 300th episode? Are you going to revisit this crazy format?
Andy Matthews 55:36
I think if we do 300 sketches that might have to be the last episode of the podcast.
Because it's no, but it's just so many sketches.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 55:44
I don’t think so--
Andy Matthews 55:46
But it’s just so many sketeches. That’s a years worth, in a day.
Zack 55:49
You gotta start making some more, actually, yeah, you got to start putting some other feet. Yeah. Well, I'm excited to hear it. Whatever it is, even if it's, you know, just a couple sketch ideas. I'll have fun listening to 300. As I've had fun in the past, guys, it's the last five minutes of the podcast, which means no one is listening. They're done with their jog or making their meal or whatever it is doing. No one is here. It's just the three of us, which means it's time for “Go ahead. No one is listening”. Where we each use this time now privately to vent about something may be going on in our lives share a secret or tell off a former boss. And I will go first with “Go ahead. No one is listening”. And I'm going to use this week to discuss Dave. my neighbor Dave came over the other day and was chatting with me on the stoop you know, just about children and, you know, the state of the world and, and everything that's going on parking, we discussed parking lot to kind of a situation upfront here in New York. And at the end of the conversation, Dave goes, ‘Oh, by the way, I had it’. And I was like what and he's like, yeah, add add the Big C had COVID. Okay, see ya. I just thought, you know, what? Way to bury the lead? Dave? You gotta I know that you think that? You know, you're indestructible now we don't know. We know so little still about this, about this thing? I wouldn't. I'm not, you know, going outside. Had he lead with that? I just stayed for a wide berth. But these Yeah.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 57:33
Do you find yourself stepping back a couple of steps. As soon as you mentioned that.
Zack 57:37
No, I did. I think I was like, oh, but you know, but you're not. But it's not contagious anymore. Like the the doctors cleared or something like that. He was like, I think so. I don't know. You can't, get out of here with that
Andy Matthews 57:54
Oh, Dave.
Zack 57:57
I think that enough time it passed. So he seemed to think he was fine. You know, it was probably 10 days--
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 58:05
how it spreads?
Zack 58:07
He's not , fortunately he's not listening and no one else is to he's not alive anymore.
Andy Matthews 58:11
Fortunately. Yeah.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 58:14
Look, I guess I guess I we had we have planned a little thing. But I guess I should admit at this point that I have on one occasion stolen from my employer. Not my current employer, former
Zack 58:27
someone who was employing you?
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 58:29
Yeah, who was employing me? And I found a real sneaky way to sneak a wine bottle out.
Zack 58:36
Yeah. Well, how did you do it?
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 58:39
I actually this one one point I was running the tasting table. Yeah, the in the wine section. And I realized that they pour out the expensive wine that they have people taste at the end of the day. So what I did is I got I got a grape-colored drink. And then I poured that out. And then when I had a moment alone, I poured the expensive one into that grape. Drink bottle.
Zack 59:05
I’m getting notes of tannins, red pepper, blue Gatorade,...
Andy Matthews 59:16
I'll, I'll share to be working from home a lot. Obviously recently doing writing in my room.
While my lovely wife Carly looks after our many children, and, and you know, very often there can get quite loud and screaming and very often I'll come out and help. Sometimes I don't come out and help. And sometimes that's because I'm working very hard. But also sometimes it's just because I'm scrolling on Twitter and not working at all.
Zack 59:49
You're hiding
She's not gonna listen, no one's listening. You're fine. Don't worry about it.
Andy Matthews 59:56
I think that's guaranteed that to me,
Zack 59:59
I haven't listened to the last five minutes of any Think Tank. I don't think anyone has. I have no idea how you say goodbye or any of that. So, have you ever listened to the end of the podcast?
Andy Matthews 1:00:11
No, even the ones were making my brain tunes out well before the end
Zack 1:00:16
you're fine in there. I think you're fine in there.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 1:00:19
I'm not listening now.
Zack 1:00:23
I'm sure she has her version of hiding. I'm sure she she takes her moments do.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 1:00:28
Yeah, my wife has said that she loves walking into the pantry and finding me just standing in there on my phone. That's just the thing I do a lot. As I say, I hide away in the pantry and I'm just---
Zack 1:00:39
life. It's all toilet time. It's all toilets. If I come out under 10 minutes, she's concerned like what that was a quick one. Are you? What was that? And are you alright? That's I'm just in there forever. On the phone.
Andy Matthews 1:00:51
We don't have a lock on the door in the toilet and the kids just come straight in now. That's a permeable. That's a permeable membrane. Yeah, that. Again, straight through there.
Zack 1:01:05
Well, let's, that's a good place to end on permeable membrane. Thank you, gentlemen. Once again for doing this. I know there was a time thing which seven in the morning here, nine there. And I know this was tough to make work. But it was a real pleasure diving into your pod and getting to chat with you, gents.
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 1:01:24
Thank you very much
Zack 1:01:25
And you’ve been spotted? That's something I do. Yeah. I still don't know how to end I still don't know how to end it. Maybe you can help me. Can you help me end the show?
Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall 1:01:35
That's just like Arnold Schwarzenegger is like, you've just been in a movie, they needed a catchphrase. And I liked that. I really, like you've been spotted. I know. You know, you didn't feel like your whole heart was in it. I felt like I you know, I was like, oh, I've been spotted. That felt nice.
Zack 1:01:52
Okay, that's good. That's good. Okay. All right. Maybe we'll keep trying it. Maybe with a little more vigor. Please, come back and talk to us after 300, whatever that is. And it was a pleasure. Talking to you, boys. Thanks so much. So everybody, so where can we hear you? Where can they download and listen on all platforms?
Andy Matthews 1:02:17
You told us they weren't listening now. Okay. Just Yeah, you can find us absolutely anyway. In fact, we recommend Spotify because some people have trouble downloading the long episodes. From the inferior servers that you'll find elsewhere. Spotify can handle the full mass of Episode 200 but you can find us everywhere and we're on Acast so you can find us there as well.
Zack 1:02:41
Guys, thank you so much. Thank you very much.
MUSIC
This has been the pod spotter the place that showcase the pods you need to add your library if you have one that you think that we should feature here on the show let us know via thepodspotter.com or Facebook or Twitter or Instagram @thepodspotter, thanks y'all. This has been Zack Robidas, the pod spotter is created by the Price brothers, produced by oink ink radio, associate producer Tori Adams, and is recorded and produced at baker sound in Philadelphia