You Didn't Ask For This
Is cereal just soup? When, specifically, is Miller Time? How many times can one "circle back?" Join Matt and Eric every other Thursday as they provide you with deep dives, thorough debates, and unnecessary answers to life's least-pressing questions.Submit yours at youdidntaskforthis@gmail.com
You Didn't Ask For This
145 | The Bitch is Back
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Matt makes his triumphant return to the pod just in time to check in with YDAFT Bingo. Then: In the Toy Story universe, how come Bullseye (Woody’s horse) is treated like an actual animal? Meanwhile, the other animal toys like Hamm, Slinky, and Rex are treated like fully sapient beings?
Finally, we close things out with some listener-demanded local legends.
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Cold Open
SPEAKER_03Well, well, well. Shit.
MattWhat do we have?
SPEAKER_02Nothing. Nothing? Oh, Matt! Hey, bud.
EricYeah. Hey. Didn't see you there. I've just been sitting in front of my mic with recording for several weeks.
MattYou think you could get away with some of the blasphemy that you've said about me over the last couple episodes? Me? Mr. Deuce?
EricOh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Go in on Zach.
MattYeah. No, I like this direction. No, no, no. He's perfect. Oh, fuck. That's right. But I am pr listen, I am proud of you for getting uh uh finally writing down the name of the number of the thought line. I did write it down. You did very good. I'm very impressed with how, and especially the first time, I have to say, it was quite fun to hear you struggle to do the regular business bits of the episode.
EricYeah, yeah. You you could hear the the the ball the bead of sweat going down my forehead.
MattYes, thread the needle. But um, you know, uh I thank Zach for stepping in in my uh absence. And Zachy D, angel for me. Yeah, I mean, uh you you guys did go real ham on calling me a cat, which of of course I I I protest and uh disavow. Um but um very cat-like. But you know what? You you know, you also had a had a sort of another reoccurring bit that I want to address. Um, you know, I've been I've been out on paternity podcast paternity leave for a little bit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
MattUh and uh I've had a lot of time to do things. Say start in on seven seasons of a television program, perhaps. Get my get my wife in involved as well. Like, why keep it to the middle of the night? Why not stretch it out? And I I have to say that I feel that it's been a long time coming. You know, you know, I know I'm kind of behind the curve here, but uh I am excited to say that I I've started. I have started DNG, I am in fact four seasons deep into Mad Men. That's right. It's been a long time almost 20 years I could have villain gotten two pace of shit. Seven seasons total. We're almost to season five.
EricThat's two-thirds of the way that I oh you son of a bitch. To think that I ever missed you. To think that I I looked out this window like a widow looking out to podcast sea.
MattOh, it's really good. It turns out, who knew, right? Yeah, John Ham. Holy shit, man. I'm about to go, Ham. It's a master class.
SPEAKER_03There's one madman in this room.
MattMan, I mean, anyone got a cigarette? I was but also, but also Don't give me hope. I also caught up on Black Mirror. That's all another thing that I caught up on. You fucking bander. There's a lot of time. There's a lot of time to start other things. Yeah. Fucking Daredevil Born Again, you motherfucker.
EricShocker when the walls fell.
MattListen to me, you narrow casting fool. I did open up TNG. I did open it up. I opened it. What do you mean? What do you say opened up like you were cracking a book to read the about the given the page on Paramount Plus? And I said read the description. And I said, here it is. I'm not ready. I'm just not re I'm not ready yet.
EricI wasn't ready, Eric. You're you were ready for Mad Men and Black Mirror.
MattYeah, well, no, I was already watching Black Mirror to be to be clear. I just am like a couple seasons behind. Okay. So I I was able to crack out, crank out some of those. But yeah, Mad Men. Well, oh yeah. Almost done with season four. Very good. Very good. Highly better. Addicting, I dare say.
EricGod damn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I imagine I imagine Mad Men has many social issues that they tackle each episode.
MattYou know, timeless themes of the betterment of all yeah, in a way, there's social issues on display. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Oh, I'm I'm sure massive social issues on display. Yeah, yeah. You know, mostly in a um uh sort of a negative sense, but yeah, yeah. Uh anyway.
EricSo fucking glad you're back.
Intro
MattWell, hello everybody, and welcome to You Didn't Ask for This. It's the podcast answering life's least pressing questions. My name is once again Matthew Shea. And I, eternally grateful to be going second, am Eric Poach. Yes, Eric. And I'm I can't stress this enough. How are ya?
EricOh man. Fucking, you know, Matt, I don't know if you know about crazy life changes. I've had some experience. But uh, but uh but yeah, I'm doing supremely well. Uh for those of you not in the know, had a bit of a career change a little bit ago. I think folks on the Discord, I mentioned this on the Discord.
MattYou've you've lightly mentioned it on the show in uh fuck boy out, farm boy in. Oh, there we go. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
EricSo yeah, uh been been working the land. Yeah. Been I have, I don't know, Matt, if you can see it. Legitimately, the farmer's tan is so real. Wow.
MattThat is, and and you know what's nice about it is you know that it you came by that farmer's tan naturally. Came by it honestly. Properly. Properly.
EricBy working the land, tilling the fields, we actually do no-till farming. No, no, we do no, we we we have a couple of experimental fields where we do no-till. Oh, it's very experimental field. I've learned so much about plants.
MattI've learned so much about babies. Oh, I bet. We we both have a whole new skill knowledge.
SPEAKER_02We could open a produce stand slash doc baby doctor's office. Very good, Eric. Yes, yes.
MattProduce and peed and pediatricians. Uh there's the word. Produce and produce and peds. Uh no, no, no, no, no.
EricIt lacks a certain musicality.
MattIt doesn't flow very well. No. Oh man. But Eric, I have to say you and Zach did a great job, as I as I mentioned there in the cold open. He's such a fucking angel, and he and he's such a ch fuck goddamn champion. And I I gotta thank him again for doing that because you did so good. I mean, uh we needed the time, truly, to to be able to stick for me to step away here for a little bit. And uh, yeah, I mean, uh of course I enjoyed editing the episodes, and I I hope you don't mind my uh little contributions. Uh not one bit from here here and there. Uh but uh yeah, I think uh it was it was a great little siesta. Um and my I can't thank you enough, Zachy D for stepping in for me.
EricOh, ooh, yeah, ooh, yeah, he's back.
MattYeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, he oh, he's back. Oh, this just in, he's back. Baby, the bitch is back. Headline The Cat is no longer away. Oh no, no, no, no. Um and Eric, we since we are this is gonna come out um right at the end of July.
Bingo Check-In
MattNormally after the end of June is when we uh beginning of July, we try to do a bingo check-in.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
MattUm, and so I do think it's time for us to do that. Uh so before before we get to a question, we will um we'll check in with the bingo card. And then we weren't going to do this, but by popular demand via being tagged on Instagram and people texting me about uh a certain local legend that we should cover, we're gonna do local legends. We're gonna do local legends, babe.
EricYeah.
MattSo Eric, let me share the bingo card though. We'll get into that first. Yes, please. Okay, so Eric, uh, we have some confirms, we have some uh non definite outs. Definite outs. Uh, we have something to discuss. I tried to do a quick Google for various things. Um do you want to start at the top or start at the bottom? Start at the top. Start at the top and crawl our way to the bottom. So we got uh these two I think we could handle together. Luigi gets off on a technicality or freed due to jury nullification. Trial hasn't started yet. No officially. We're we're still we're still we're still in the pregame. But I will say the gets off slash freed is looking better than maybe one would have thought.
EricYeah. I I I it would be a very different happen. Yeah, it was mostly now.
MattIt's like, oh well, no, actually they might have fucked this up just enough. Yeah, yes. Um, and then Trump cancels Christmas. I don't think we're there yet. No, we're not there, he hasn't had the proper moment. Um Eurovision canceled or delayed. It it very much went off without a hitch, it seems like. So we can well, you tell me, so yeah, that didn't that didn't happen. We can read that out, but you tell me, was there uh any kind of d decrease in viewership or listenership?
EricBecause I gotta be honest, I didn't even listen to the songs. I no, I didn't either. I didn't watch this year um due to various I intended to, it's just my time was monopolized. Yeah. I didn't due to a number of of uh personal oppositions to the direction that Eurovision is going. Of course.
MattBut um uh but let me let me do some Oh, you're gonna crunch you don't have to crunch the numbers. I just thought you might know because you're very clear.
EricI know that uh a few countries dropped out. Um that I know that in in protest.
MattYeah, we talked about that up top, which is why I thought it might be uh cancelled or delayed. Viewership fell by 21%.
EricOh yeah, that is a that is a noticeable drop.
SPEAKER_03That is not a little number for viewership. No, that is that is uh hoo boy.
MattUh yeah, you might want to address some things, Eurovision. You might want to, you know, the elephant in the room being one of them. Oh, hello. Uh oh, oh uh now, unfortunately, uh some some folks are no longer in the room. Uh, and that affects Home Alone sequel with the original cast. Oh I gotta mark that in red due to the passing of Catherine O'Hara.
EricPoor one out for Catherine O'Hara. What a fucking treasure.
MattI know it really is. I mean, it's such a hard loss. We're months into past it, but it's still like uh unbelievable. And she had such a good role in the studio, too. If you haven't watched the studio, you have to watch it. She's so good.
SPEAKER_02Oh, she's so good in the studio.
EricShe's so good in the studio. And do you know a movie I watched for the first time recently? I say recently in the past couple months. Tell me. Uh, Waiting for Guffman had never seen it. Awaiting for Guffman's amazing. And and yeah, Awaiting for Guffman is incredible. And the track suits they wear in that movie, honestly, they're iconic. I'm gonna, I'm not gonna lie. They eat down.
MattThey're they're they they they eat down. Indeed, they do. Uh, but um, yeah, they're iconic. That that is for sure.
EricGod, she's so funny. Um, she's so fucking funny.
MattYeah, so Joey Gallo returning to the P MLB as a pitcher. That hasn't happened yet. It probably won't, but um, it hasn't happened yet. But Eric, we got two competing World Cup predictions that are in the bag.
EricAnd Canada took it, right?
MattCanada won.
EricVery much did not. Oh, Canada. Very much did not. When were they knocked out?
MattThey were knocked out in the round of 16. They were the first host uh nation to be uh knocked out, however. Damn. So the uh of the three. Uh they they had a good run, though. They uh especially since one of their key players broke their leg in the group stage. Um I have and I also have to give a shout out to my baby for making it quite possible uh for uh me to watch as much of the World Cup as I was able to. Oh, yeah. Lindsay and I have been tallying it up. I uh there are definitely a couple that we watched split screen when there was two games at once that I forgot about, but at minimum we watched 79 matches of the World Cup. At minimum. Dang, uh you watch 79? At minimum. Bruh. I think if you if you include the ones we saw parts of, it's probably more like 83.
SPEAKER_00Nice.
MattOf a hundred hell yeah. That's so much football. It's quite a bit, it was delightful. Um, so yeah, it's a green square for Spain wins the World Cup just yesterday as as we record the beat the the Disney movie villains Argentina. My pick one, which is more important than anything else. Um so Eric, I've been talking of this whole time. You want to jump in here?
EricYeah, AI musician goes on tour, an AI generated song nominated for Grammy. So here's the I'll talk to the Grammy one first. Those haven't come out yet, right? The those those haven't the the nominations I believe haven't come actually no, they might have because I was I was doing some cursory googling as well.
MattOh well, I guess it depends on which uh uh Grammys we're you we're going with because they were in February.
EricYes, so there was a nut there was a Grammy nomination for Now and Then by the Beatles, which was yes, which was an AI assisted song. They like you know remastered it with AI tools, but I don't think that counts.
MattThe the nominations will be announced. So I would say we're talking about the nominations that come out in December. Yeah, yeah, is what I would think. And I I would think that as well. Because those nominations that you're talking about would have already been out by the time we did the bingo episode.
EricAnd uh so I don't want anyone to accuse us of you know stacking the deck, and in that in that regard as well, I have not found any information. There are AI musicians, like uh fucking AI music is exploding all over the place, not really in popularity, uh, so much as oh no, now it's now we're getting AI slop all over fucking Spotify and YouTube music and blah blah blah. Though I think AI uh YouTube at least is cracking down on AI generated content. Also, side note, can I can I can I be petty for a second? Yeah, yeah. Be a little petty. I'm gonna I'm not gonna name any names. Okay, don't. You know, um, there is a a musician in in the sort of nerd music community who was making a lot of posts about was basically making posts about how everyone just needs to suck it up and accept that AI is here to stay and it's perfectly valid to use and and and ever and everyone should use it, and you're dumb if you're not using it. Sure. And my beloved Alyssa very gently pointed out that, like, you know, no, you know, AI is harming artists because it's ripping off all their shit and you know, yeah, benefiting someone else. And this guy's like, then later, that same person posted an art posted a uh an update because there was this big thing where like they found this AI music model basically got leaked, like who all's music was getting like feeding to train this thing. And the guy who was defending AI, about like 130 of his songs had been used to train the AI.
SPEAKER_02And he was like, I'm a victim.
EricAnd and but but weirdly enough, Hubert still still refused to take back what he likes. He was like, No, I I I still stand by what I said. I'm just a victim in this specific case. That's very unfortunate. But I still Oh, yes, yes, yes. Oh, it was and and then he got uh what do the kids say, bodied in the comments about that. It was it was it was and deservingly so, I'd say embarrassing. But yeah, so no no AI musicians going on tour, no AI generated song nominated for Grammy.
MattVoyager one, as far as I can tell, doing just well, as fine as it can be. It right now we're just you know in the uh it's just going until we don't hear from it anymore. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's fine. Uh any news on Batman getting canceled? Nope. No Batman projects canceled. And uh Mercury in retrograde, officially recognized mental health screen health risk. Don't think so.
EricNo, and we are currently in Mercury in retrograde. So friendly reminder if you're suddenly anxious and feeling dreadful and everything seems to be going wrong, you don't know why.
MattCould be it. Could be. Could be also just the general world events of plague are every waking moment. Um, the Oscar nominations, of course, did not include a nomination for Mr. Paul Dano. I think their loss. I think we we meant this to be for the next round of uh nominations. I think uh this is another timing issue, I think, with the the Grammys, but we won't know the next set of nominations till January. So uh so that one kind of got that well that I think we just basically uh didn't think it through when I made it. But um I haven't seen any faking death TikTok trends.
EricNo, no. I'm sure if I go to TikTok, uh like I could find a TikTok of someone faking their own death, but it's not a trend.
MattYeah, I'm on the TikTok, so I would see it if it came across the desk, I think. And uh Magnus Carlson I did check on uh nowhere close to being dethroned as the world number one chess player.
EricNope, he's still he, I mean he's lost some some match, but that is not the same as like the man, he's the Wayne Gretzky of chess. He's miles ahead of number two. That's insane. Uh squirrels turn on the rich. Eric. Let's uh let's let's get down to the ground floor in this. So much like the the noble orcas, which were attacking yachts, we wanted to see if squirrels would also turn on the 1% while Eric checks on that.
MattWe can we can knock out a few of these others that definitely haven't happened. The Pope has not yet gotten into a fist fight. Not yet. Fleetwood Mac has not reformed again yet. Still on the table. Um I I I don't believe there's been any Jeopardy cheating scandal that I've uh been aware of.
EricNope. And just confirmed no squirrel attacks on the ultra wealthy. Don't worry. We'll get them trained up. Get them trained up, get him after the rich. Um so I do want to speak to uh there is one I can I can uh where uh because you you were reading a we we where'd we leave off? Fleetwood Mac?
MattYeah, and I just did a quick check for the Jeopardy Cheating scandal. Doesn't seem like anything recent and official this this year. Um we left off with Fleetwood Mac. We did skip over real quick new James Bond named. That very well could happen. They uh they have officially begun the search. Um we know some names floating around out there, but um uh they have not named it as of yet, but I I do think this could happen by the end of the year.
EricUh yes, I I I think that's still very much on the table. Um I do want to point out, and I'm I'm I'm looking to see if if so this is regarding middle schoolers organize mass protest. Yeah.
MattUm This was one of yours, I think. So yeah.
EricYes. Uh so there were actually this happened a couple months ago. There there were there were kids organizing protests at Dundalk High and Middle School.
MattOh, about about what? Let me guess. ICE? Anti-ICE, baby?
EricYeah, as well they should be. Uh now the as far as I wear, they the the protests weren't successful, like the schools cracked down on them hard, but they still organized them. Okay. Interesting. But do we call that a mass? Protests.
MattIt was I mean there have been lots of protests in various schools around the country, uh about about ice, um uh and other things, but definitely ice. Um I don't know that um I've heard anything about uh like in general um middle schoolers across the country specifically.
EricWell, there's still time we stand in solidarity with the with the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders of our great nation. Uh yeah, absolutely.
MattUm do you think we mark off though?
EricI don't think we mark it off yet. I don't think we mark it off yet, but I think we could do to be clear when I say great nation, the nation that will be good again once we've gotten our shit together. Correct.
MattUh we will um look into that because the I I think we might be able to tally things up and call it um a mass protest by the end of the year. We will see. We will see. Now, a country makes the national election voting age 16. I was just giving a quick uh quick Google. There are countries where 16 is the is the age, but I I don't think any have changed it to this uh to this number this year. So I think that's still out in the open. Okay. Uh I can speak to Jesse Wells releasing three studio albums. He has released one this year as of uh as of now. He did release a second, uh, well, actually the third of uh Under the Power Lines, but I specifically mentioned that uh those would not count and that uh I was looking for studio album releases. So one of the three have been made in 2026 thus far. Okay. Uh so that is uh that's your Jesse Wells update.
EricUm eye tattoos become a thing. So they are a thing, but like like they're they're so they're they're so like like 2017 was one of the most recent notable cases of people getting an eye tattoo. I think like people have gotten them, but like they're not really popping off in 2026 as much as one would hope, one being me.
MattYeah, they haven't exactly um blown the doors off, so to speak, uh, and become a mask trend, I don't think. Same thing with trad lifestyles going out and surf grind coming in.
EricYeah, we are effectively heading that way, but I don't think it's quite uh it's not been made vogue to be in serfdom. No.
MattOh, and that's this is on here twice, actually. So that and similarly, leeching, I wouldn't say has come back into fashion.
EricNo, not not I I imagine that becoming like again, like a health trend for like like juice cleanses. Now, again, this is fully acknowledging that leeches do have legitimate medical use, but I'm talking about they're still used, but they haven't come back into fashion.
MattNo. Uh just re and we can just knock these out. Surge hasn't come back to stores, Sony hasn't bought Nintendo yet, ChatGBT hasn't been notably hacked yet. Individual. It's just notably fucked up, but not been hacked. Just that. Um Eric, you heard anything about a fossil record of an advanced civilization. Not on my end, dog. Same thing with full disclosure of non-human intelligence. Yeah. Tom Cruise has not left Scientology as of this recording.
EricNo, he's still all in, unfortunately.
MattDon't know how or why he needed to give a speech at the World Cup final, but there he was, nevertheless. Um but uh yeah, I am looking forward to his new movie, though. That looks very good, even though the heavy prosthetics for the uh Digger movie.
EricUh oh, I don't I don't think I've heard about this.
MattOh, you should see the trailer. It looks real uh real fun. Uh now, Eric, we have our three sort of like uh aspirational ones to wrap things up. We know about you getting me into DD. Uh uh you've started the process. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I still have my notes. Uh, and so we did one oat dedicated to it. We'll probably do uh another or an uh at least another bonus episode of some kind. Yeah, um Eric Poach returns to theater. This one was for yourself. Eric, how are you doing? Because I'll be honest, I I remember in that episode, I said, I said to you, let me know. You want to run monologues, you want advice, you want me to do anything. Uh I I'm here to help. Other people said the same.
EricI don't think we've heard from you. No, no, no, no. I'll say this, Matt. There's a whole lot of year left. Whole lot of year. Um, and and I've actually uh been reached out to by a couple friends who are working on various projects around Baltimore and gauging my interest. So I would I so we'll we'll we'll keep our ear to the ground.
MattWe'll see what we'll shake it around, we'll see what shakes out. Now, the last one we want to talk about, Eric, is uh Matt gets Eric into Fraser. Yeah. I I I'm well aware I don't want you to think I've forgotten about this. No, no, no. I haven't forgotten about it, Eric. No. What I've done is had a child, is reconsidered it. Oh. Because you see, I uh we're we're going through a comfort watch of Fraser as well. Lindsay hasn't seen every episode the way I have. Um, but we're watching, not not every night, but you know, uh as a as a last kind of thing. And you know, I'm just I there's no easy way for me to say it, Eric. Go on. I don't know that you deserve Frasier. Okay. I don't know. I don't know that I want to open my heart to it. I don't know that I can handle a rejection of Fraser from you.
EricOh and I I just don't know if if it I because I was now you saying you don't know if I'm good enough for Fraser? It is in many ways it is. I was ready for you to like even remotely attempt to gently pad that response. And nope, here ooh, I can see you can see like the the the outline of Matt's hand forming on my cheek.
MattI'm just let me turn the other one. Hold yes, okay. Yeah, let me make a match. Um listen. Go on. I haven't I haven't decided to give up on it before I even begun. But I'm just like, I don't Eric, you asked me who won the World Cup. You just asked me. Yeah, I did. You told me you got into soccer, right? I did. To not know that the World Cup not only ended yesterday, but who won. I know. I you I I I just if that's the level of get into, I don't know that I can handle, hey, you watch and Frasier. Oh, I watched one episode and I stopped. I don't know that I can handle it. No, I get it, Matt. I get, I get, I get what you're saying. But do you uh here's what I want to know. I don't think you can do it. I what I want I wanted to come clean about that. And I don't I don't feel good about it, Eric.
EricYou did the fucking red herring that you pulled in the cold open to me. Yeah. And then you stand here. Yeah. You sit there. I'm an audience fuck. In your ivory tower made of diapers. My huggy tower. You know what? I think what's infuriating most is this is giving the energy of like a dad taking me aside on prom night and telling me, like, hey, you don't have a future with my kid. Like, this is apparently like pre-telling me to just like I I don't I don't think you you and I I just be such a gentleman to Frasier. I would hold the door here's what I want to know.
MattHere's what I want to know, Eric. Do you do Frasier home by 11? Do you have an actual interest in being exposed to Frasier? Can Frazier expose himself to you? Is my heart open? Is your heart open? Genuinely is your heart open. Because I'll tell you this about TNG. I think it's I've demonstrated my heart is open. I went through the original series uh last season last year, I think, when whenever it was. I posted it in the Discord, I posted it in the uh Patreon. So I I'm committed. I am interested in TNG. I just didn't do it yet, and I led you astray for the cold open because I thought it'd be a funny bit, and it was.
EricThat was a funny bit, and you know it. Now it's like the parent is is saying, like, oh, don't get me wrong. My kid is.
MattI just want to know if your heart's gonna be in it.
EricFor you, you're just not good enough for my kid.
MattI want to I'm telling you what I told you back then, being January, uh, and before that. I I don't see how anyone could not like Frasier, but I am somehow the fucking exception. Uh I'm just worried, given how the other get you into things have gone, that maybe you're gonna fuck me on this. That's what I'm that's what I'm trying to say. Because what am I gonna do, Eric? Are you gonna come over? I'm gonna sit you down for a watch party, or am I just gonna give you a list of episodes and hope you try?
EricI'll come fucking hang out with you and your kid and watch Fraser. But also, my heart is open. Okay. I'm I'm I'm I'm out here. Then Eric? I pulled up my 95 Pontiac Grand Am engine running in my in my little suit that I rented from Burlington Coat Factory. Then in that case, Eric. Lapel, my lapel is open for the boutonier or Frazier.
MattThen I I want to humble myself, then Eric. I want to Yeah, I wish you would. I want to I want to cop to my own insecurities here and say that I that I gave in to those insecurities in a way in a way that has not respected you and has not shown me in a good light. And and in i i i i I dare say a Fraser-like blunder. I wouldn't know. No, you wouldn't. No, you wouldn't. And Eric, I'm leaving it open. I will I I will still try, but I just want you to know, Eric, that I feel very vulnerable about it.
EricI know, Matt. And and I know this is very, this takes a leap of faith. But Matt, if you're willing, I am willing. Matt, let me just say, give me that chop salad and over easy eggs. See, what you're doing is rage baiting.
MattAnd funny. What you're doing is hilarious. See, this is what I'm talking about, though. So you're gonna tell me you're gonna get offend fake offended when I say you don't deserve Fraser, but this is what I mean. All right, all right. Yeah. So that's your bingo update. Okay, yeah. So that's a fucking That's where we are with the bingo card.
EricFrazier's gonna tear this family apart.
MattI will get he's good at it. I will get it set up on the uh uh the uh make sure that the website is all up to date with us by the time the episode comes out. There is a bingo uh page on our website, uh unaskforthis.com. You should check it out. Uh if we didn't hear, it's all new, it's got all cool stuff and all new merch.
EricOh, the merch is tight, y'all.
MattBossum. Bossum. Um so Eric, should we do a question? Oh my god.
EricYes, tell me what it should be. Okay, man. Oh, how's this feel? Your first question. Back on back on the beat. You got your gun, you got your badge, you got your mic. I'm ready. Now, our next story comes from all hail the king.
Why does Bullseye get treated as an animal, when other animal toys do not?
EricIt's Dairy King 11, y'all. Thank you, Darry King. Dairy King, who asks us in the Toy Story universe, how come Bullseye, parentheticals Woody's horse, is treated like an actual animal? Meanwhile, the other animal toys like Ham, Slinky, and Rex, are treated like fully sapient beings. That once again is Dairy King 11. All hail to the king. Oh, what a can of worms we have opened. Yes, yes. Because this is this it it's begging the timeless. It's we're we're we're look, we're we're shoot, we're shooting for the moon, we're out past the stars, you know where we are? Pluto, yes, dwarf planet. Yes, and famous dog companion of Mickey Mouse, who is a dog and is treated like a dog, and yet and yet goofy, and yet goofy, and yet goofy. I don't mean to uh yuck anyone's young, but goofy out here with full voting rights, I assume. We we hope. I can only fucking hope. He can drive cars, he's been gainfully employed in a number of professions, and he's a dog, but Pluto also dog.
MattBut Pluto isn't given jobs, cars, children. It's very much in that same several movie deals, but we can't we can't tackle that one because that's different IP. But it is well, it is part of the Disney verse. I mean, that's true. You're right about that. It it is it's it's part of the the the the the DCU. I'm gonna go to the Pixar wiki entry on Bullseye. Yeah, he's Jesse's horse. Jesse's horse, and he's a member of Woody's Roundup.
EricYes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Stinky Pete, Jesse, Woody, the horse. Were there any other members? I don't think there were.
MattUh I I do. I haven't seen four and five. I also haven't seen four and five. I do feel guilty about that.
SPEAKER_02I don't feel too guilty about it. I was kind of weird. I was like, three was such a perfect close.
MattI know they really should have stopped at three, but I hear four is good. I hear five is great. So uh Woody's Roundup. Let me take a quick uh peeker, peaker there. Sheriff Woody, Jesse, stinky Pete, Bullseye, assorted 2D critters.
EricOkay, so the very various background critters. Okay.
MattUnlike the other toy animals, bullseye doesn't have a speaking voice. Instead, he nays and makes other horse noises, and despite being a horse, he acts more like a dog.
EricOkay. Yeah, he does act very dog-like. Classic, classic movie bit. Animal that is not dog is acting like a dog. Um, now I will say this does make sense in the scheme of Woody's Roundup. Because in Woody's Roundup, there's no other animal-based characters aside from the critters, and the critters just act like critters, the horse just act like an animal. You know, you horse this all makes sense. But then you got Slinky Dog. Slinky Dog. Slinky Dogs. You got Rex, you have, you have like these are all these are also clearly not intended as far as I'm aware. Like they're your bog standard. This is a Tyrannosaurus action figure. This is a slinky dog, this is a little dog, and ham is a piggy bank. Um, I don't recall any, you know, famous media where the piggy bank, you know, talks at me, but they they seem to have developed a sort of personality, sapience. Yeah. And which is kind of wild because timeline-wise, bullseye like relatively speaking, Woody, Jesse, Bullseye, Stinky Pete are all like several degrees orders of magnitude older than the other toys. It's very true. Like, I feel like so, so like bullseye is is like venerable compared to, say, the Tyrannosaurus Rex action figure.
MattUh, yeah, yeah.
EricI I would think that's like T-Rex has not only had developed speech and sapiens, he's developed like anxiety disorders. Yeah, absolutely. So, like, what is it based on like the will of who created the toy? Was I guess Oh, that's interesting. You know what I mean?
MattLike the toy maker in like Geppetto has to infuse the personality.
EricYeah, because as we saw the case of Buzz Lightyear, Buzz Lightyear, you know, his creators intended for him to be Space Rangers, so Buzz Lightyear woke up and he was like, Oh, look, it's me, Buzz Lightyear. I am a space ranger. I'm a spaceman. I'm I'm I'm an astronaut.
MattBut but but he came unaware of his toydom, whereas Woody seems to always have been aware. Immediately everyone seems to always been aware. So you might be onto something. What were those neurons of the toy brain blocked somehow in the creation? Yeah.
EricI'll even add this, because you watch the the footage from Woody's Roundup. Yes. Um, they were all like string puppets. Yes. And when you watch Woody's movement from the very first movie, he moves in this sort of like gangly, like pulling, he moves as if there are strings attached to him almost in a way. And so like we see that influence having like nurtured his his nature, if you will. Nurtured his nature, nurtured his nature. So like there's definitely we're seeing evidence that like there's like the the watchmaker is is the toy maker is imparting a sort of uh intention into their behavior.
MattSo like I guess and maybe it's because on the show, like bullseye was always portrayed as being a whole like that they infused this sort of um base knowledge into his psyche.
EricOh yeah. And then but then with like, but then I guess I guess you kind of luck out if you're because like you look at the slinky dog, the piggy bank, the T-Rex toys. They're they're very kind of generic animals.
MattYeah, like Rex is not like a uh he's a he's a year's T-Rex from this show, T-Rex and Friends. Like, no, it's just a T-Rex. It's just a T-Rex and and and not like really a very anatomically accurate one.
EricNo, not anatomically accurate at all. So, like it seems like the more of a blank slate you're given in terms of your your mythos and story, I guess it kind of like you don't have any baggage.
MattUnless Slinky Dog is uh I guess like i it's an older toy in general. Yeah, it might not be an old I'm saying slinky dog duals have been around for a while. Yeah, they've been around for a hot minute. Our slinky dog might have been created in the 90s, but his species is uh is older. Yes, yeah. I think that's reflected in like how he talks and everything. Oh, yeah, voiced by uh Ernest. By Ernest, I forget his name off. I top of my head forgot his name. Um But yeah, the um the uh Jim Varney. Jim Varney. Yeah, I had to, it was gonna bother me.
EricYeah, I was reaching for the phone when you said it.
MattUh the um yeah, God bless you, Jim. Uh R I P. I don't know, I don't know how to explain this other than I think these generic toys, uh like Slinky Dog is not based, similar to Rex not being T-Rex from this show, Rex uh like Slinky Dog's just a Slinky Dog, a very common toy for quite some time now. Yes. Whereas Bullseye is a replica of a character, the way that Woody is a replica of a character, the way that Buzz is a replica of a character. And even though Woody is aware that he is a toy, and Buzz is not, there could be some brainwashing there at the Star Command. We don't know. It would follow to me that Bullseye being modeled off of a horse character believes he is a horse.
EricHe may believe he is a dog. Even if he acts like a dog. Yeah. I I think that's fair. And you know what, Matt? I'm I'm I'm reading the uh the Disney wiki page on Bullseye.
MattOh, so you're on the Disney wiki, I'm on the Pixar wiki.
EricSo let me hit you with this. Please. So we know we know the various histories of three out of four members of Woody's Roundup. We know that Woody was was a toy passed down in Andy's family for years. Yeah. We know that through we know that Stinky Pete was sitting on a dime store shelf for for years, among other among other toys. Sure, yeah. Uh we know Jesse via that heartbreaking. Fucking montage when somebody loved me was owned, but you know who you don't see in that montage? You don't see bullseye. That's right. And and I I looked it up. Bullseye, according to the wiki, was in storage for years until Al of Al's Toys Toy Barn found him. So the like the common thread I'm seeing here is all the toys that can like talk and converse and socialize were among other toys or played with and around human, like so they could talk and socialize and develop these skills. Bullseye was in a storage unit. Bullseye was in solitary. Oh, I see what you're saying. This is, I think, a greater commentary. So he hasn't had the exposure. No, he's been he's been trapped in darkness because for six decades.
MattBuzz had to the first movie very much is about Buzz learning and appreciating, coming to grips with his own toydom. Yeah, everyone else had that chance. Bullseye didn't. Bullseye never had that chance.
EricStinky Pete even, I mean, he's in a box. Yeah, but he was like, again, he was on a dime store show. Like he was hanging out around like at night. You know those toys were were fucking socializing. Talking about it. And he'd made it clear that he had the ability to leave his box, which he clearly did. Yeah. Do you, by the way, do you like Stinky Pete as a character?
MattOh, yeah. The one that betrayed everyone? I'm just saying, do you, do you, uh, did you like enjoy him as a like a as a as a as a I liked his arc. It was very compelling. Yeah. And you felt like he was he was compellingly portrayed by uh say uh Kelsey Grammer.
EricI forgot that that was Kelsey Grammar. Just wanted to check in on how you felt that. I yeah, I would say, I would say I I I empathized with with Stinky Pete. He was, you know.
MattGood, good. And I also just real quick, just to go back to Fraser for just a hot second. Yeah. I always want to put this caveat in there. Frasier Crane, Dr. Frazier Crane, I love the man. Kelsey Grammar, crazy nut job. Okay. Just want to make that clear.
EricAnd you have made that stance clear on this show before, and I appreciate you for sticking by your own.
MattI want to reiterate that uh Kelsey Grammar, bad, bad boy. Bad guy. Bad guy. But in this case, I have to separate the art from the artist.
EricI think, Matt, you can be allowed in the you can this can be your treat. This is this is one of the cases I have to draw the line. I mean, I could never, but okay. No, I could. My heart is open. My heart is open. I don't know. I don't like it. My heart is open. Let me take I don't like the couple. Let me take Kelsey Grammar to prom. Stinky beat. Stinky beat. No, I I think I think that Bullseye is the meta commentary on what lack of socialization and solitary confinement do to the development of a person. And I will also say that despite having been in solitary for so long, bullseye comes out. He may not, you know, be able to chat it up like the rest of us, but he chooses kindness. He does. He's a good boy.
MattI like where we've landed with this. Yeah. And I have to say, for uh, you know, being a little bit removed from the Toy Story universe at this point, I feel, Eric, we we really are tapped in still. I think, I think we're I think we got our fingers at the pulse, Matt. I think we do. Also, gotta watch four and five, I guess. So because at some point, I guess we do. At some point, I'm gonna be taking my child to six and seven. Oh man, that is such a wild that I mean. You know what? I just said that, and I authentically was like, you know, I do think they should have stopped at three, but the idea that like I saw Toy Story in theaters and like might be digging my kid to see a future Toy Story in theaters is like kind of wild. It's kind of fucking nuts, it's kind of nice, kind of warm and fuzzy. Oh speaking of warm and fuzzy, should we get into local legends? Oh,
Local Legends
Mattwe absolutely should. Now, Eric, you know that normally for local legends, I have a whole uh typed out story and and uh you know narrative that I read through a script. That's the word you're looking for. Still don't have great sleep going on. Um, but that didn't happen this time because I again mine came on demand and uh yours popped up somewhat authentically on the in on the uh Discord.
EricYes, yes. Mine mine emerged quite uh organically uh when when Against All Oddities came into the local Legends channel and posted this gorgeous stained glass piece that a friend of theirs made uh with the caption they posted it, uh, my Baltimore friend made this. I don't get it, but Baltimore people probably do. And the stained glass depicts what appears to be like a giant nautilus shell with a water wheel on it and big old cartoon eyes. And I immediately responded, Mr. Trash Wheel! That's right, friends. My local legend today is uh is a Baltimore hometown favorite, none other than Mr. Trash Wheel.
MattAnd I and I I want to say Eric jumped in there before I saw it, but uh very much a fan of Mr. Trash Wheel. Oh, who isn't? Uh he he really is a local legend. What were you saying?
EricSo for those of you not in the know, uh Mr. Trash Wheel is a trash interceptor uh that removes trash from the Jones Falls River as it empties into the inner harbor in Baltimore. So this was designed back around 2014. So basically it's a simple process. They he's a giant fucking water wheel connected to a conveyor belt that just sucks trash up out of the water and deposit it, deposits it into dumpsters that are in his in his guts, and then they they made the wheel, and then there was like a a designer or something that was like looking at the design of the wheel and basically said, What if we slapped big googly eyes on it? And they did, and he became a social media sensation. Yeah, he did. Mr. Trash Wheel is beloved by Baltimore, and not only is he beloved, he's part of a family, whole family of wheels. A whole family of trash wheels. Um, first it was Mr. Trash Wheel, then there was uh Professor Trash Wheel. Uh, he he's based out of Canton, that's another neighborhood around Baltimore, uh, with green googly eyes. And oh, sorry, uh Professor Trash Wheel is a she. Then there's Captain Trash Wheel installed in 2018 in Brooklyn, that's the Brooklyn neighborhood of Baltimore. And then most recently, we had Gwenda the Goodwheel of the West, who was installed at the mouth of the Gwyn's Falls in 2021, has purple eyes and eyelashes. Also, she's the largest of the four wheels. She picks up more trash and debris than the other three wheels combined. Wow. Sorry, one correction I do want to point out here, actually. Um, I said she for Captain Trash Wheeled. Uh, Captain Trash Wheel is actually non-binary. Thank you so much, Faith, in the Discord, for pointing that out. Uh, and for those of you who may have questions about the trash wheel, how could it be so simple? Giant wheels sucking up trash? Surely not, but here's how it works. Step one, trash is funneled into the mouth of the wheel using containment booms, which have a two-foot skirt, allowing trash to collect from below the surface. Step two, Mr. Trash Wheel rakes litter onto the conveyor belt using rotating forks that dip into and out of the water. Though the conveyor belt is slow, it can lift heavy objects. It can lift tires, mattresses, and even trees. Step three, the 14-foot wheel powers the rake and conveyor belt. Which I'd like to say how big of trees. Uh I mean, if it's floating in the in the river, I would assume big enough to float like small enough to float, but big enough to stay afloat. Okay. I mean, a whole last tree just gonna sink, Matt. It's not gonna go anywhere. Okay. I just have now I know you what you think the limits of Mr. Trash Wheel are. Oh my god. Step three. The 14-foot wheel powers the Reykin conveyor belt, even if the vessel is moving upstream, and that is fun. The fun thing about Mr. Trash Wheel, he is mobile, he can move around. Um, if master if Mr. Trash Wheel does not have enough power from the current, solar panels on his back are used to pump water onto the wheel. Step four, trash at the top of the conveyor belt falls into the dumpster on a floating barge, which is periodically emptied. And for anyone concerned about the safety of uh fish and animal life around Mr. Trash Wheel, uh, I did some research into this. The wheel, the conveyor belt turns so goddamn slowly that it would truly the fish andor animal in question would have to choose the dumpster. It would have to want to die, it would have to want to become trash in order for there to be any danger to the animal.
MattLook as hard as you want. You will find no problematic flaws with Mr. Trash Wheel.
EricNo, that's kind of the beauty of Mr. And why I think why people have gotten behind Mr. Trash Wheel so hard is because it's just there's it's just upsides. Yes, it runs on solar or water power, it it's cleaning up the harbor, it's removed.
MattLet me let me look at some stats like literal tons and of trash. Yeah. And I will say there is a there's a big old candy store and uh uh souvenir shop in Ellicott City that I have seen have Mr. Trash and I think all the trash wheel plushies.
EricYep. I own a Mr. Trash Wheel button-up, it's one of my favorite shirts. Nice, it's very comfy. Uh, and just to give a stat, um, on April 20th, 420, blaze it, uh, 2015, after the first significant rainstorm of the season, Mr. Trash Wheel removed 19 tons of garbage from Baltimore's waterfront in a single day. Damn. Yeah. Uh at the end of the third quarter of 2016, so this as of 10 years ago, Mr. Trash Wheel had collected over one million pounds of trash since its inception. So, like, these things are act legitimately helping clean up the harbor. They're a conversation piece of the city, and you can meme the fuck out of this big old goofy eye.
MattOf course you're gonna stain glass him.
EricYeah, I want that stain. In fact, I'm pretty sure I know which artist did that. I can't remember their name, but we we met a Baltimore stained glass artist who does a lot of stuff in that style. Um shout out, you anonymous artist. Shout out indeed. Uh oh, and he's inspired trash interceptors not only in other cities, like they they built one in in Panama City. Really? Yeah, yep. There's one uh in 2022 operating on the Juan Diaz River in Panama. Oh uh in March of 2025, the city of Newport Beach uh completed construction of their trash uh inceptor. Um, and the the the Newport Beach like went out like the city manager's office said there's no question that the wheel in Baltimore inspired that work happening in Newport Beach. Hell yeah. Um, and in 2019, the ocean cleanup organization has deployed over 20 river interceptors in nine countries around the world. It's amazing. Uh so it's it's Mr. Trash Wheel, an inspiration not just to Baltimore, but to the world. I mean, literally, literally an inspiration. An inspiration to the world. So yeah, you should be. I love Mr. Trash Wheel.
MattYou should know about Mr. Trash Wheel. You should know about Mr. Trash Wheel. And now you do. And now I do. Thank you, Eric. Thank you for informing the people of what we already knew and love. But we had to be informed uh about a little creature named Jimothy. So Jimothy is a raccoon that is uh been spotted in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. And he went he went viral this week, uh, or last week, I should say, and by the time you're here, a couple weeks ago. Um, the internet loves Jimothy. Instantly. He's a deformed raccoon, most likely a spinal deformity, um, that has resulted in like a shortened spine, a short sp spine syndrome, is what some people think it is. That's in short, our boy got no neck. Yeah, no neck at all, and he kind of just hobbles along uh when he's when he's walking, when he's moving. He's so perfect. He it's not so much a walk as it is a shamble. Yes. Um, so you know, as he is bogangling his way around town, um, he has become like a local um hero uh in the in this Ballard neighborhood. And one of the people to reach out, the reason we had to cover this is because not only did a.lexa Lee tag us in one of these viral posts on Instagram covering it, somebody else um texted me about it. And then uh my sister-in-law lives over in Ballard in uh Seattle. She was like, you have to uh cover Jimothy, and sent me some information that um Ballard FC, uh the uh the local soccer club there, uh they are going to be um they're organizing a TFO, which is like when you do the big banners in the um uh stands. Yeah, because you got into soccer, right? And so you know that. Um they're making one for Jimothy, uh, which is fun, and that they've been they've been throwing out chants for Ballard FC, um honoring that chants that are honoring and paying homage to uh this beautiful stubby boy. Yeah, he's got fan art going all around the town. Um the Seattle Times has called him a scrappy hometown hero. Um, and uh uh since he's gone uh viral, he's become an internet mean worldwide. People have gotten tattoos of him. There's a mural in Seattle of him. Who could blame them? Uh an honorary degree from the University of Washington was bestowed upon Jimothy. Uh and he's been recognized by the Seattle City Council. Um he is somewhat, I have to say, off-putting the first time you see him. He is a little if you didn't know this about Jimothy, if you saw this creature silhouetted uh in the darkness of night, I could see it being quite frightening. He could be an issue. I could see, I could see where one might recoil from him. Yeah, but there's nothing to do. But then you look closer, there's nothing to fear.
SPEAKER_02Nothing to fear. He's just a silly little guy.
MattHe's just a silly little dude.
SPEAKER_02He's just a silly little guy.
MattAnd who among us is not a silly little guy? There's I there's one I can hear one crying just on the other side of the room there.
EricOh, and Matt, let me hit you with this. You considered that if you if you took Jimothy and like removed his fur. Oh, you want to deform him even more? No, no, I don't want to, I don't, I don't think he's deformed at all. I think he's beautiful. He's made in God's image. Um you think that's God's image. I mean, if I look outside and I see the world, I'm like, yep. Yeah. Yep, yeah, God made God made Jimothy. Uh maybe if he had a case of mange or some sort. Maybe that's a squonk.
MattHe what is he if not a furred squonk? That that he might be from the squonk genus. I I think it lends credence to the squonk. I think I think squonk got into the raccoons. I think I think our squonk might have found a raccoon and made Jimothy.
EricAnd and let me tell you this: who on earth except a raccoon would look at a squonk and go, you know what? I want a piece of that.
MattYeah, you do. Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. Uh, and you can again get that squonk imagery on your person by getting some you daft merch from our website. And I think that is a great time to transition right on into the business, don't you? Ooh, that's a good transition. He's still got it. You first should send us some questions, which you can do on that website, udnaskforthis.com, or email us at udinaskforthis at gmail.com, all spelled out. Hit us up on Instagram if you so desire. Of course, you could give it to us direct on the Discord. Eric, would you remind me how you get a membership to the Discord?
EricMatt Appily, you go to patreon.com slash you didn't ask for this and you become a you become a patron of the podcast for one dollar a month. You get access today to the Discord. Uh Discord, which provided a lot of the content today, to be frank. Um, a lot of cool info. Uh brought us our local legend of Mr. Trash Wheel, brought us Jimothy, though people tagged us outside of the Discord as well. Um, we also have an Orgy dome, so come check that out. Tell us what you're bringing. And then for $4 a month, friends, for $4 a month, you get access to the Discord, you get monthly bonus content in the form of oops, all tangents, and you get 20% off of all your daft merchandise. So if you're you're feeling squonky, if you want to see, if you want to see what what bred with a raccoon get your squonk on.
MattUh come on over to the to the merch store today. And I just quick note on oops all tangents. We are well aware that there was no June or July episode of Oat. That is because of my paternity leave. Uh, we are gonna be getting on that and making up for it uh in August, possibly into September, um, with some bonus oat material. Don't you worry, we will make it up to you.
SPEAKER_03Don't you worry, your pretty little head. I was busy keeping a baby child human alive.
MattGet off his back! Get off of my son's back. Chill. That's my that's my nephew.
EricThat's right. I'm Funkel Eric now. He's Funkel Eric. Daddy's home and Funkel's in the house.
MattYeah. And you know what? That'll about do it. That'll about do it. From all of us here, you didn't ask for this. My name's Manche. My name's Eric Poach. And uh listen, you didn't ask.
SPEAKER_00But a close my eye only for a moment, and his neck is gone. Chass before my eyes, a curiosity.
MattFucking so good, Eric. Honestly, truly one of your best. Thank you, one of your absolute best.
SPEAKER_00In the wind.
MattMaybe, maybe you do deserve Fraser.
EricThank you. Fuck is this what earned is this what did it? Me kneeling on your porch on prom night singing this to your kid.