Bla-Z-Boy

Title: Significant Bother Segment type: non game structured storytelling Activity premise: Frasier proves that a significant other need not be a spouse. Activity request: So how have our significant others annoyed us like Marty annoyed Frasier? Rules: So the only rule for this really is that we are picking a significant other that is not our actual spouse. Competition adjudication competition established: False Method: The first question I have to answer is how he became my significant other. Anyway, next up, a thing that he did or a habit that really annoyed me. Well, next up, how we would celebrate our anniversary. And then finally, I need to explain an item of his that I would set on fire and throw out of a building.

Answer: But he would use lots of oil and he didn't use any kind of lid. And so oil would kind of get everywhere and just kind of coat the wall and coat everything. And then when I turned back around to put the vegetables into the pan, it was on fire. Answer qualification: Oil, I didn't put anything in the pan. It was just a clean pan on the burner. But the burner was coated in oil just like the wall was. This was an electric oven and stove. Ending or payoff: It turns out I went to Arby's. I was like, you need to use lids when you cook.

Welcome to Reverse Psychology, the Fraser Rewatch podcast where we go backwards through every episode of the show. Tonight we are covering Season 9, Episode 7, Blazy Boy, which originally aired on November 6, 2001. Is this the musical episode? We'll find out. I'm your host, Curtis Jack. Joining me as always, it's our resident upside downer, it's Ryan Sansone. Hurts. I am so excited to be here. This episode is going to be lit. Also with us is our common law father, it's Bradley Kirkstone. Here it is. This episode is going to be a blaze of fun. You guys are really going through these puns today. Can we get back? Was that a pun? A blaze of fun? I mean, Blazy Boy, he said it'll be a blaze. I don't know. A blaze of fun isn't a phrase, is it? It was a stretch. It was a play off of both the name and you saying lit, I think. Yeah. Yeah, Ian's close enough. It was very clever, young Bradley. Also with us today is another very special guest. It's my brother, Ethan Jack. I'm a regular Joe and I like my Joe regular. We've been hearing about that for five episodes now. Come up with a new line. What? Don't worry about it. Move on. I thought you were going to call your brother a special little boy. That's the way I thought you were going with that intro. It almost happened. Why did you call me young Brad? I'm the oldest one on the podcast. He's trying to help you out with your self-esteem issue about your age. I know, right? I am old. You've always kind of leaned into that, though. I don't think that's the problem. Yeah. I mean, when I was 19, you guys told people I was turning 91. So yeah, I guess so. It was easier to explain that way. Yeah. By the way, did you guys know this episode won an Emmy for sound mixing? Makes no sense. I didn't even know that was a thing you could win an Emmy for. Not like sound engineering, literally sound mixing? That's what it said on the website I saw. Okay. Do they divide that between comedy and drama? Yes. Yes. This was for a comedy series. Okay. Okay. That helps. Yeah. Who did they beat out? Because I mean, it must have been a down year. Mad about you? Were there cool sounds? There was piano. Yeah. I mean, I guess so. Is that hard to mix on a tick-up? It seemed like they played some of it live, which would, I would think, make it a little tougher. Okay. They played some of it live, really? It looked like it when they were doing like the little, I mean, we'll get to the scene, but it seemed like they were actually playing the piano rather than just like shooting them from behind the piano. I thought you were talking about the recliner. Uh, what? You thought they were playing the recliner live? I thought it was making a falling sound or something. You're like, yeah, they must have done that live. You're bringing weird energy tonight. I can't wait for this episode. Brad, you say that every time now. You can never wait for any episode. Exactly. Because you're just a weirdo. Well, this episode is going to feature Roz excelling as a piano beginner and Daphne failing as a piano intermediate. So do we have any musical prodigies in the house? We were just asking Ethan, right? We know Brad isn't. I wouldn't say prodigy, but I have been taking piano lessons. So it was, uh, it was fun to relate a bit. You're taking piano lessons now, you said? Yes. Oh, cool. Oh, really? Curtis did not share that detail with us. I don't know why he never updates you on my. He talks about you a lot. Yeah. I have a whole blog that I update just about your life, but I did not mention this. So many accomplishments. When did you start taking the piano lessons? I guess over a year now, because it was not this last December, but the one before. And what sparked it? It was just something I had been thinking about for a while, because, uh, you know, as kids, we all started on piano and then eventually kind of moved on to other instruments and left the piano at our parents' house dusty. For the record, you're talking about you and me and Kenny. You're not talking about every person on the planet or every person on this call. Yeah. So it's been a long time since I actually like played piano and or any instrument really. And it's just something I kept thinking about, like, oh, you know, lessons. And I felt like piano makes sense just because it's, um, if you get decent at it, it's a little something you can, you know, pull out at a party or something. Uh, or you don't have to like, you don't have to worry about your, your voice or being soulful with the way you play necessarily. Hold on. Were you before this, were you singing at parties? Well, you know, if the occasion called for it, of course. Are you guys not singing at parties? We should all be singing more at parties. Whatever. What do you mean you're going to pull it out at a party? The piano? If I happen to be a place with a piano, I play a little ditty or something. Where are you going? I haven't seen a piano in a long time. Really? It was a very nineties thing. I feel like in the nineties, everyone had a piano in their house. I never had one. Not that I would at a like mall or something, but they're like, I don't know, they're public places with them or like people have deep words. What year are you living in? Ethan, the more you're talking, the more you're losing that. Have you been to an airport? Airports sometimes have like a public piano. Just stop coming up with places. You guys don't fly? What year is this? Have you ever been in an airport? You only go to airports in, in Baltimore and, in Chicago. Podunk towns. I'm living in the metropolis of Jersey city. So. Yeah. You don't play the piano at your doctor's office? I don't. Yeah. Honest to God. It is funny. I had it. We had a piano in my house growing up. Oh, did you? Yeah. You should have me over. I'll play you a song. Did anybody play it? No, no one played. Why did you have it? I don't know. I can't imagine your, your brother playing piano, Ryan. I just can't imagine it. Oh, he's really, he's really musically gifted. Actually. My dad fancies himself a musician of sorts, but you know, I mean, he only played the piano so many times. It's just, it's, it's a lot to sit down and actually play one. So Ethan, do you go to like someone who teaches you or are you like just using AI to teach you? I pay for lessons from a human man teacher. Getting more stuff the longer you're in here. I do have to say, because our parents still have the piano from growing up. Yeah. Cause I assume no one plays it. It's probably in perfect condition. Well, actually my, my mom is a little annoyed because she's wanting to get rid of it forever. And apparently Ethan has said you can't because he wants it. I might finish my lesson someday. But he was, he was playing it over Christmas a few times and it was very impressive to hear somebody who actually remembers that. Well, you're not remembering, you're learning, but I don't remember any of the music I learned growing up. So. I remember all of it. I can play Mary had a little lamb, uh, hot cross buns. Ooh, hot. And that is all I learned. After seeing your brother be successful at this, Curtis, does this make you want to start taking piano lessons? Perhaps similar to Ethan. I have for basically my entire adult life thought it would be a fun skill to be able to actually play piano. I'm starting to question the way you guys grew up. You were forced to watch Frasier and you all have this weird love for the piano that. I've pictured myself multiple times playing the piano at a party, which is the thing we even described in that we made fun of. What are you talking about? What life do you live that we don't know about? Like, I'm very confused. Well, they grew up watching Frasier, so they thought that was a thing that could happen. It's an instrument you can play anything on, which is, I think, a lot of the appeal. If you have one, there's a big barrier to entry that they're huge. It's not that big of an entry. I have a keyboard. That's why my parents have to keep that piano, because I don't have a piano. Are you bringing your keyboard in a backpack to a party? Well, it depends on the party. No. It's a bit in a backpack. Yeah, it's awkwardly sticking out of the back of the backpack. Yeah, getting mugged. Maybe carrying a really long briefcase. I don't know. I don't know. I've never really explored this world. You should get a keytar. Ooh. You bring a guitar-shaped case to a party and everything. Oh, that could be fun. Yeah, go ahead and play the guitar, and you pull it out into the keytar. Good way to not get invited back. I just know in my bones that I am not capable. Like, I had years and years of lessons, and I rose to the ability that I reached, and then it all atrophied, and I never got better. And I just can't do two hands doing two different things. It's too hard. Curt, we all rose to the ability we reached. What are you talking about? How is that a helpful sentence? My claim to fame was that at some point in middle school, I was able to play Fur Elise. And after that, I felt like I had sort of peaked, and I just stopped trying or caring. That's way more helpful to understand than I just, I got to the skill I got to. But here's the thing. I was telling my now husband when we were first dating about, you know, the instruments I played growing up, and how I said, you know, that same thing about learning Fur Elise. And he said, Fur Elise, what is that? And I was like, well, and I think I opened my phone, and I, like, played him the Beethoven song. And he looked at me really funny. Like, you played that? Like, that's the thing you're proud of having learned? And I was like, maybe it's not a very hard song or something. But, like, I don't know. I thought it was kind of cool. Turns out, in Taiwan, that song is the trash song. The trash collectors play that song, and you run out and bring your trash to the trash collectors. It's like the ice cream man you're running out. Like, oh, my God. But it's for trash. That sounds about right. I love that. So he's like, that is the song? That's pretty funny. A literal trash song. I love that. Why don't our guys do that? I don't know. It seems like most people probably don't want to hang around the house waiting to hear a song to take their trash out. It seems really inconvenient. Let's get into the episode. All right. We open with Radio Signals over Seattle. On the anniversary of their living together, Frasier is teased because his longest relationship is with his father. Daphne wants Niles to teach her piano. We don't get a lot of rain episodes, so it's nice they highlighted the rain. It was raining so hard. Your brother said that rain will never be a plot point of this show. It comes up all the time. As I was watching with a friend of the show, my wife, Hannah, she noted from this scene and throughout the episode that Daphne's bangs are bad. Too thin. Okay. When's peak Daphne? I guess you can't answer that. They were pretty bad, though. I don't know if they ever get good. I'm just saying that in this episode, her stance was bad. Her haircut was a little jarring. Yeah. Is this one of the 51 episodes that you made her watch? I think maybe. I don't think she liked it because she doesn't like when Frasier's mean to Marty, but I think it was just because the chair is a very important part of the lore. I mean, it's your 51. She doesn't have to like it. And at that point, she was already sunk cost. She was definitely going to finish. Sure. We get a fun line out of Daphne early. I'll give my right hand to be able to play the piano the way you do. Which would make you so ineffective at playing the piano. That's a really funny joke. I didn't even get that. And especially what we learn like later in the episode, it makes no sense for Daphne to give up her hand for it. What do you mean? Because we learn how bad she is and how she took lessons before. Well, that's I think that gives credence to the line. Like, yes, of course, you would be where you shouldn't do that. It makes no sense for piano. But like we know she's tried a lot at it and is just horrible at it. Yeah. But at the time of the joke, we didn't know that, which which made it even stranger. I feel like. Yeah. This is the scene where we do find out that Ryan, I mean, I'm surprised you're bringing this up. I was just about to say it. Will you say it? You're talking. Yeah. We've been doing like this logistics run in season nine, where it's just about once or twice, sometimes even the whole episode. They just lay things out for us very explicitly. So here it's the it's the eight year of Marty moving in. How exciting. Ryan, what did you think of that? Were you surprised that it was eight years? Does that like change your view on things? Does that mean he moved in in season two or sometime in season one? Well, think about it. It's the fall of season of season nine. So if you take if that would be season one. We're at the beginning. We're at the beginning of season nine at this point. Nine. So it would be season one, right? It would be fun if he doesn't show up till season two. He does like a Danny DeVito thing. I want to live like you again, Charlie. I want to be pathetic and desperate and ugly and hopeless. Oh, that would be interesting. I mean, it's very clearly not what we're going to get. And I think in that stupid croc episode, he was already here. So like, I don't think it's even in play, but it would be great. I wish Danny DeVito was Frazier's dad. Yes. Wouldn't that be great? I was I was annoyed with this scene, though. I found myself enjoying Marty's little quips at Frazier. At Frazier. At Frazier. Look, he was a little crazed, you know? He's a croissant and a Frazier. You got to get in line really early to get it. But you were annoyed at who? Myself for enjoying some of Marty's bits at Frazier. He seemed he seemed to find this scene like he was a good character of sorts. And to keep cracking in your show. Yeah. And in the early going, he is he's having a strong performance. Frazier's crashing out. It's fun. I was having a good time and it annoyed me. Roz is invited to join Daphne's music lessons. Frazier blows up at his dad for being boring. The first thing I noticed in this scene is that there's a table or the middle of Cafe Nervosa. Like behind the scene, but for the middle of the whole place in the cafe. So there's a woman with a gigantic laptop taking up a whole table. I don't know if anybody else clocked that. I did not clock that. No, I did not. But that's that's very 2001. That's awesome. I was watching the scene. Why? I mean, you're a little younger than us. You probably have never seen a laptop that big. But the age difference is like, oh, yeah, there's like decades between us. I did not notice the laptop because I was distracted by another semi background thing, which is that the coffee guy is back. You'd already speculated this was the we'd already seen the last of them. Because the last time we saw him in a future episode. God, our podcast is confusing. He was a savant. He was like doing wild, crazy coffees and they were like testing his abilities. And it seemed like he must be a new guy because they were really impressed by him. And he seemed new to them. But now he's been around for a while. I guess he just finally studied up. He's a mainstay here in season nine. We might not see him in season eight with how much usage he's gotten. So who knows? I mean, at some point, he'll just be like a teenager. I guess I'm going to be too young to have worked there. So I don't think he'll show up in season one. Why do you think that? I think he's at least mid 30s. At least. Really? I think he's like mid 20. Can someone look that up? I agree with Ryan. I'm not allowed. Can someone look that up? I agree with Curt on this. I think he would be probably an actor in his mid to late 20s. Here's that Shaq divide. You guys were just you were looking at the piano the whole time. You weren't even looking at this old man. It is a tie. And I think it's only fair that ties go to the guests. So I win. I wrote Roz is hooking Frazier up. And I don't know what that refers to. I'm so sorry. It didn't work out with Lucy last night. But don't worry. I have tons of other friends better than her. Oh, thanks for starting at the bottom and working your way up. And of course, Frazier took offense to that. It is a good question. Why did she do that? What for? I mean, why is she helping? I'm sure. But like, if you do decide to help him, why would you give him your worst friend? I mean, it's a funny line and it works really well. But I think she's just being nice by saying there's there's even better women to come. Like she I don't think she actually picked the worst option and hooked him up with her. Frazier's the worst person to say that, too, because if he doesn't like her, he's just going to say, well, you lied to me and you told me she would be better. And she was worse. Now, what we need to really focus on, though, is all of this is so creepy when you realize that he's her boss. Correct. None of this is the bump board. I was doing a little research and it actually took a bit to find when was this guy born? This guy being James Aaron Oliver. James Garrett Oliver? Aaron Oliver. Aaron. Oh, OK. I thought he had three first names. He does. Aaron is a first name. Yeah. Apparently has the entry on the 24 wiki. He was born in 1974. So at this point in time for this episode in 2001, he'd be about 27. So boom. So you're saying the takeaway I'm getting is that this guy served Jack Bauer coffee. Yes. And he knew his order. OK, put a pin in it. We're doing 24 next. Don't worry. We'll get to it. Oh, boy. But it's called 42 because you got to go backwards. We're starting with our 24. We're going to start in the middle. Also, just a couple of details that I picked up on. They had a piano book they were holding and I think used later said tricks with triads. And I looked it up by Robert Pace. It is a real piano teaching book series. I have not dealt with it, but that wasn't just a little filler prop. Have you thought about renting it or buying it? I don't know. I got enough like beginner books, I guess. And then the other thing that stuck out was I don't even remember the line, but Marty at some point says potatoes. And he says it like potatoes. And in a couple seasons from now, he says potato. I know one other line where he says potatoes and he says it like that. So I guess that's like I don't know if that's a choice or John Mahoney says potatoes instead of potatoes. Potatoes. Oh, interesting. Is that like the Irish accent? Is that what I'm potatoes? Or is that like New York? Mahoney, wasn't he like born in England? I used to English American. What did you think of the Frasier and Marty scenes in this episode? You know, as much as I liked him in the last scene, Marty instantly became intolerable again. You didn't like him complaining about coffee? No, I think this was the least charismatic we've seen Marty. And he's a monster in a nightmare this whole series. But I thought in this coffee shop, in this moment, it was the absolute worst of the worst where he wasn't being outright racist. What? Why? He was being super annoying. See how he talks to me? I think if you're Frasier and you've heard this a million times, yes. It's annoying and grating. I did not find his behavior annoying. I found his grumpiness charming. It's the most old mannest thing ever. What do you mean? It doesn't make it annoying. It makes it on brand. The fact that he's complained about that every time he's come into Cafe Nervosa, which didn't bat an eye at that. Of course that's true. He didn't even fight it. Of course it's true. Like, could you imagine bringing your dad every time to a coffee shop? He says the same thing every time. Dad, fuck off. I'm going to a coffee shop by myself. Again, this episode is very relatable for me because I say the same things in every single scenario. So sometimes it just makes sense. We talk about all the time how annoying it is. But it's on brand for old people is what I'm trying to tell you. Right. But we're allowed to be annoyed by that. But I guess what I'm asking is, were you annoyed by what he said or just the fact that it was something he had apparently said over and over again? Oh yeah, both. Stupid. Get over the fact, I like my coffee like I like my coffee or whatever. Shut up. Yeah, the hatred is just spilling out. If I had liked the character, I still would be annoyed from this. It's like, try a different coffee, Marty, you old man. You can't taste anyway. Get over it. So what? They put milk in your coffee. Can't taste anyway? What does that mean? He's old. He's like, what, 200? Old people can't taste. There is no way he has any functional taste buds. Those teeth are fake. You lose your sense of smell and that's most of taste. Once you hit like 40. Think old people can really taste good? Because I don't, I genuinely don't think that. Oh God, Ryan. We get a title card. The recline and fall of Western civilization. Niles is slow rolling his piano training. Marty drives Frasier crazy. Making noise during a movie? Well, this is weird. I obviously don't read the title cards because they're a waste of time. But that title card is referring to a different scene, right? Like it's directly referring to the scene two from now, right? Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah. It's foreshadowing. That's what I was going to say. Thank you. Me and Ethan always on the same page. Yeah, but he can speak. So I think it's more foreshadowing, like he said. And because the recliner becomes part of the episode in this scene. Right. That more Hannah note. Yeah. Oh, what's her Hannah note? She spent a lot of this episode shaking her head at Frasier's behavior because of him being so mean to Marty. I was the thing that you misspeak and obviously she should be shaking her head at Marty's behavior. No, no, no. I won't let you misrepresent what my wife intends. Yes. She said out loud, he is so rude. And why does he have to be a dick about it with the way Frasier was reacting to everything? And then at the part when, I guess it's a little later, but when Marty's trying to oil up the chair because of the squeakiness and Niles thinks he's fallen over and immediately like rushes to evade. He said, a man who cares about his father. That's the next scene. But yes, correct. Yeah. I felt like Marty, and I know Ryan's going to disagree with me, Marty was really trying to be respectful of Frasier. Like he was really trying not to make insane noises, but his chair is just super old. I liked that he was actually trying to be cognizant of Frasier's feelings as much as possible. I think it was a mix, right? Because on the one hand, yes, I think he was genuinely trying to keep the noise to a minimum. But he also was simply not going to forego eating pretzels or forego reclining. Like those were going to happen. He was going to get what he wanted. He was just going to try his best to be quiet about it, which was not very good. I will say it was that relatable thing. Like if you've ever tried to be quiet, it's the loudest you'll ever fucking be. Correct. Welcome to my life. Okay. Not you, but the rest of us. Normal humans. Like if you're like, oh, I'm really cognizant of what people can hear me. I'm going to try my best, especially if like a chip's involved. Like if that's the loudest time you will ever reach into a bag of chips or pretzels, for sure. The moment that Marty was so annoying is when he tosses the pretzels deep, the longest he could possibly throw because he's so old. And it makes it like halfway across the table, almost immediately reach back for them. And it's so far away. It's like, Marty, you have to get out of the chair. But he's like, you know, he's being old and annoying. So he's just reaching as best as he can and then creating all this ruckus. And, you know, it was the most annoying. I was as mad as Frasier was by the end of the scene. Well, I was mad. And not because he was doing all that, but because he was neglecting a really nice looking turkey sandwich in favor of pretzels. Ah, give me a break, Marty. Curtis would never make that decision. I didn't know what you were talking about. Was there a turkey sandwich in the scene? Yes. He walks into the scene with a plate holding a big old sandwich. And he sets it down to get into his pretzels because he wanted to have an amuse-bouche, I guess. And that's when all the hijinks commence. Oh, that's funny. This is the most aligned me and Curtis have ever been on our hatred for Marty. And it's for wildly different reasons. But I do want to take it back to the beginning of the scene a little bit because when Niles is teaching Roz and Daphne the piano... How can we learn without a piano? With these workbooks on a box of adhesive stars. He was very excited about that. Never heard gold stars referred to that way. My memory of this episode was that the way Niles taught piano was without using a piano. Like, my recollection was that the entire episode, everybody just wanted to get on that piano and start banging on keys. And he insisted that they only use the fake pad to do all of their learning. And they actually do a lot more actual piano playing than I recalled. But that is something that always stuck out of me. It wasn't a lot. It was a tiny bit. But I thought it was none. I thought, like, the only thing I remembered about this episode was the piano bits. And I thought he spent literally every moment of the episode insisting they practice on just the pad. The chair is the thing that I remember most about this episode from seeing it as a kid, I guess. But the, like, user practice pad, and we're not ready to, like, could be weeks before he pressed down on keys. It was very reminiscent of, if you've watched Malcolm in the Middle, there's an episode where Hal teaches Malcolm how to roller skate. And you won't let him get the skates on his feet until he's mastered all these ridiculous hoops that he has to jump through first. I don't know why you've invoked one of the all-time great shows in a great episode, too, to compare it to this. That episode might predate this. It does. It was actually, I looked it up to be sure, like, was there inspiration? Or it was about a year prior because it was the first season of Malcolm in 2000. Nate? That is so, that's such a weird thing because I think of Malcolm as, like, a mid-2000s show, and I think of Frasier as an early 90s show. And I know that they overlap, and I know that it's possible for a Malcolm episode to be before a Frasier episode. It is crazy, yeah. But it is weird that that is also true. That was weird. I was, sorry, Ethan, I wasn't going to ask if you remember stuff from your childhood. I was going to ask, do you think that Niles would be an effective teacher for you today? I think you'd be going a little slow for me, not to toot my own horn, since I play piano and not the horn. I was going to say. Didn't he used to play a horned instrument, or was it a woodwind? I played a woodwind. I was very bad at the oboe. Yeah, Niles annoyed me as well. As soon as he's like, we're doing star sticker stuff, I was like, oh, worst teacher ever. Marty has his chair upturned to oil the squeaks. He accidentally steps on the container, spilling oil all over the carpet. Instead of accepting an apology, Fraser calls his father's actions malicious. I want to check in with Brad here. Yeah, hi. Do we think this was malicious or not? Because you're as equally uncoordinated as that very old man. Well, first off, will you say that word again with an M? Malacious. What? What? Malicious. Malicious. Oh. This is salacious. I'm the one that usually says things weirdly. I think that's how you pronounce it. Is that not, what do you guys say? Malicious. Malicious. I think you can say it either way. I don't think you can. Malicious. Malicious. Not a chance malicious. Yeah, it's not even close. It's definitely close. Malicious. Listen very closely. Malicious. Okay. Here's the thing. As somebody who accidentally does things all the time, I truly do think it was an accident. I don't think it was malicious or malicious or whatever you say, Ryan. You accidentally do things all the time. Correct. Yes. So I'm on Team Marty on this one, Ryan. I mean, he's staring at the thing before he steps on it. Well, that's only because he's an actor and he has to hit his mark. After he squirted it and said, this is malicious and the oil all over Frasier, Hannah also added a good for him because she doesn't like, she likes when Marty gives it back to Frasier. I agree. You did it on purpose. I did like that Niles ran over to really check on his dad. I thought that was nice. And it, it, Niles was really integral in this episode, really. He really, I thought was really nice in this, in the scene. Yeah, it's, it's a cute and in character thing for him to immediately rush to his aid. It was nonsense though. The chair was tipped over and he was on the other side of it. Like there's, there's no way that would happen. He couldn't see it. Right. Because the chair was tipped over and he was on the other side of it. He saw, he saw the chair was down and that his dad wasn't behind it. Right. Right. Which means that he clearly didn't fall out of the chair. Well, he couldn't see where he was. He just heard down here. Yeah. What are you saying, Ryan? Oh, I thought he saw the chair tipped over and then ran over like in the frantic Niles way. I think he saw the chair tipped over, but he didn't, he couldn't see Marty. So he thought when he said down here, he had fallen behind the chair by being tipped over. Yeah. I think I forgot he says down here. I'll just chime in to say that I am, I am on a team everybody, but Ryan in that I don't think it was malicious. When he steps on it, I think it is pretty clear that that was a, a, a legitimate accident. One that could happen to anybody and has happened to Brad, I'm sure. But yeah, I, I don't think that it was malicious. I mean, he stepped on it for days. Curtis has a new word now. This is exactly the correct word. He stepped on it for a year before he was like, oh no, all of the oils. I don't even know how there was more for him to spray on Frazier. Is that the, even the kind of oil you would use for this? Cause I feel like most of the time, if you're looking at like a WD-40 type of anti-squeak oil, it's like a semi-transparent, maybe kind of yellowish oil. That was motor oil. It's not usually deep black. That was, that was motor oil. Yeah. Well, also how about the container? The container is like a ketchup bottle. Yeah. Let's talk about Frazier's reaction. Ryan, did you think it was warranted? Which one? The malicious one. Oh yeah. When he's, when he saw that his dad purposely did it on the rug. Yeah. That was bad. I would have also reacted poorly because they just got in a fight. Of course. Yeah. But he's only got the oil out because Frazier made such a stink about the squeak. He made a stink about the squeak. I think that Frazier being mad is both believable and somewhat warranted. Like I can understand why he would be mad to see his pristine carpet destroyed this way. But I do think that the level he goes to where he straight up accuses Marty of doing it on purpose. Like you can be mad about an accident, but he's mad that he thinks Marty did it on purpose, which I think he knows he didn't. I think he is just in such a mood about being like in the longest relationship he's ever had is with his dad. Like that bothers him. And he's looking for a fight. You don't say you think they explicitly say that in the other sense. They do state that lighting up. You're being malicious in here. I can't abide by the, uh, the, there are no accidents psychiatry speak. Now there are accidents. It is weird. Cause he, he throws that out here and then Marty throws in his face later and he doesn't really backtrack. Makes you wonder maybe the chair wasn't an accident. I don't know. Frazier has stacked all of the living room furniture on the patio while workers install new carpet. When the telescope lens catches his dad's recliner on fire, he pushes it off the balcony in a failed attempt to smother the flame. I don't think Frazier would move anything. You think he stacked up all the stuff on the balcony? Oh, you think the workers did that? I 100% obviously did. Absolutely. I think the workers did that. Yeah. I did wonder because famously it is a split level, right? Like there is a raised platform on the back of that apartment. So it is funny that they put all of the furniture out on the patio, the very small balcony, instead of just putting it anywhere else in the apartment. I don't know the answer if whether you're Frazier or workers, that's still a weird move to do. I agree with you. I believe that the workers may have done it, but it does seem odd that they would have like, obviously we know why they did it so that we could have this scene. But now you want to talk about malicious, the definite correct word. When he touches the recliner, it is a very light touch and that thing goes over the edge. Like a small gust of wind could have knocked it over. Before we get to that, can we talk about the color scale and them going with harvest wheat? Were you guys surprised by that move? I told you Brad would want to talk about that. Yeah, of course. I knew it. I really wanted to talk about this. Thank you, Ethan. Me and Ethan are like twins today. Oh, sorry for your loss, Ethan. If this episode had been produced today, there would have been a title card that said 50 shades of beige. Oh. Oh, that's really good. That is really good. Yeah. So apparently they sell mugs that have a tofu, putty, oatmeal, almond, harvest wheat, buff, shades of beige. So if anybody needs some Frasier merch, that's out there. You can always use me in mug. I have a problem with this list. For one, what is buff? Buff is the hardest beige. Buff is, I know this because I live in New Jersey now, buff is like an almost yellow because buff is the official color of the New Jersey state flag, which is, in my opinion, the ugliest, the ugliest state flag. You clarified what the color is, but you didn't really clarify why it's named that. The other stuff was named after stuff. Right. They just run out of words. I think like buff guys are vaguely this color. Like what? What happened? Okay. It's a soft, thick, undyed leather made chiefly from the skins of buffalo elk or oxen. That's actually a pretty good name. Okay. I'm, I, I, all right. Asked and answered. I'm so sorry. Uh, name of paint company. You've didn't, you've done well. Now I'm afraid to ask my other question because I feel like I'm going to be fact checked again. What is almond? What is an almond? It goes from tofu. I get why tofu is the lightest and I can see now I understand why buff is the darkest. Um, but I feel like my vision of what putty is, is like a kind of orangish clayish kind of a color. Yeah, that's right. I don't understand why that would be between tofu and oatmeal. I would say my, my putty is like a pinkish hue to it. All right. That's cool. I mean, I just think about silly putty. So I, I don't have a, I don't have a frame of reference for regular putty. You gotta be kidding. How come? It's probably the first time you've seen putty is what you think the color should be, right? Like there's no other way to anchor that in your mind. I just Googled it and in the Google image search, it, it has actual swatches of, of color and is such a range. It goes from one that is actually very light. Like I could see this being between tofu and oatmeal, but then there's others that are like dark yellow. So I guess it's very subjective. Oh my gosh. What the fuck? There. Okay. There is a picture here. Take a breath. Oh God, what happened? Oh no. This swatch has putty next to oatmeal. You had the reaction of a recliner falling off a balcony and then you talked about paint swatches. A good segue, Ryan. Do you want to talk about that since you brought it up? I mean, my piece is done. There are some negligence done on that balcony. Whoever placed it there should be arrested. The one thing I noticed about the chair was just that I hadn't, you know, taken that close a look at the chair before, but this time since we're, you know, analyzing the episode it's like, well, you know, the effect is pretty effective. I think in terms of like, you can, they didn't really drop the chair or whatever, but it looked like it. And then the chair that they drop, you could see a sheen on it. Like it was more of like a plasticky material rather than like a textile. And so they, so it seemed like they printed the pattern on it. Like it clearly wasn't actually that chair. Thank you for pointing that out. Cause we would have never noticed that. You know what I did notice though? And I should have said this earlier. I noticed the chair was shittier than usual. Like before it, before it fell off of the balcony. I did clock that. Well, I think this was kind of cute. So this is one of the few times that my husband watched the episode with me. It's interesting. You're going the cute route when someone almost got murdered in this scene. So when this scene opens and the thing starts to smoke up and it's a sitcom, the joke is obviously that they don't notice. Like we, you're, we are the audience supposed to notice that there is a fire starting. I actually thought they noticed earlier than I expected. Well, so my husband was reacting to me like, do you see that? He was the only, he thought he was the only one. And then he was like, really like, why aren't they noticing this? Look, look, turn around. Like he was really invested in them seeing this thing. That's awesome. You should take him to a, like a wrestling show. He'd be so into it. What was his reaction when it fell over? He must've ran out of the room. There's no way he could have handled that. I don't remember him having much of a reaction. I remember laughing really hard and I remember him just kind of walking into the kitchen. There was some trauma he just watched. He had to go deal with that. And you're just laughing because you're a monster. Well, the fire was an emergency. And once the chair exploded on the ground, the emergency was over. Threat neutralized. Now it's Frazier's turn to not be forgiven. I like that Curtis is getting shorter and shorter with his intros. It's a short scene. There wasn't a lot to talk about, right? Like they're yelling at each other. It was a clear, heated argument. But like I was having fun with both sides. I assumed you were going to complain more about Marty throwing it back to Frazier. Why? Marty almost got killed. Okay. Look at you being a little empathetic. He's on his side now that he's going to be rewarded damages. I'm on his side. Just like Marty definitely should have been the yelly one. Right. Definitely. You know, it's good to know you're not a total monster and you can defend him sometimes. If Frazier had walked in, saw the stain and was like, oh, so disappointed. Like instead of being mad about it, he was just like, oh, this sucks. And he just kind of sucked it up and accepted it. And then this same thing happened. I could see Marty being upset and yelling and mad. But he would probably a little bit in the same kind of tone of like it was an accident. You know, I get it. But the fact that Frazier blew up so much over the spill, I don't blame Marty for thinking this was malicious. And he did do it on purpose because clearly he has got it out for Marty. Yeah. It seemed way more subconscious than anything Marty did. For sure. I do want to go to the action at the start of the scene when they're waiting for the elevator and the elevator opens. It's Marty and Frazier goes, did you feel that earthquake? I love that. I love him trying to blame it on an earthquake in Seattle. Did you feel that light gust of wind? It blew the chair, right? That's the thing. You don't need an earthquake for the way they place this. Don't you think Niles should have been more mad? Daphne almost died. She was very, very fast. It is weird that he had no, like he wasn't mad about the situation. Yeah. He understands it's an accident. Like your wife almost died. Sorry. Your girlfriend. And father. I will defend Niles in this case because in addition to the fact that the writers really needed him to leave the scene so they could have the fight between Marty and Frazier. Marty explained that Daphne stayed down. And I think this is the responsible thing to do. Somebody had to stay down there and clean up what was clearly their mess. So she's cleaning up the mess and Niles runs out both probably to help her because she needs help cleaning up the mess. And to, like you said, check on her because, you know, I think he is more concerned about Daphne than he is mad about anything. I mean, let's be real. If this happened and Daphne was away, Frazier would have called her and been like, hey, servant, come clean up this chair for me. He would have put little cones out around it and just a little sign that says Daphne will be here soon. We get a title card. Knees off the keys, please. Daphne is frustrated by the piano lessons that Roz is a prodigy doesn't improve her motivation to learn. I know you're the English major, but there's something wrong with that sentence. I can't, I can't place it. Roz is really good at the piano. Niles is impressed by it. Yeah, I know it happened. Okay. All the words made sense. It just... I just don't think you did it right. The use of that was like, it was like a... It was, it was that. That was the problem. I guess when I wrote this, I was feeling a little malicious. Not a problem. Everyone knows what you mean. Kind of liked the naughty student bit out of Daphne. I did think when we, when we did the camera cut though, it looked like the most uncomfortable position for both of them. It was weird. And also, uh, there was a, and a reaction on this one as well. When, uh, Daphne said, I know another little finger exercise. She said, oh my God, gross. Well, speaking of gross, Ryan, I'm really curious your reaction to this as somebody newer to Frasier. Were you as surprised as I was that Frasier did a boner joke? Niles did the joke. He meant like Frasier the show. Sorry. The show Frasier. Yeah. I, I, you said it in a confusing way. That I said it that way was confusing. Shouldn't have said that. Yeah. Uh, no, I don't think so. We've, we, Niles is definitely a little horny boy. We've seen that. Okay. I think when I first started watching, he was, he was more, he was surprisingly horny. But now I think I have a question to it. Okay. I do think it was great physical acting when, I'm saying Neil Patrick Harris. What is his name? David Hyde Pierce. David Hyde Pierce. David Hyde Pierce. When David Hyde Pierce. Just replace any gay with him. Whatever. They're all the same. Wow, Curtis. Wow. When David Hyde Pierce covers his lap with the sheet music, I thought that was a very, very elegantly played. Well, even before that, when they get the knock on the door and he goes, I think you should, you should get the door. Could you get that? Yeah. Could you get that? You think that was a boner joke, but that was just, again, Daphne's their servant. That's all that was. You're the helps. Oh, right. Yeah. It was just straight up misogyny. I forgot. Yeah. It's a bug port. Did anyone else notice how hairy Neil Patrick Harris's hands are? No. Are they weirdly hairy? Because he doesn't seem like he has much hair at all. I guess when Roz came in again, just that side angle is like, dang, some hair. A little gorilla mitts. I'll have to be on the lookout. I've not clocked that once. He's got like a bit of chest hair. He's barely got any hair up top or in the facial region. So that's surprising. Hmm. I don't think practice piano pads are a thing. I'm just going to throw that out there. I don't know what you would gain from that. Ethan? Any insight there? I assume they didn't invent that prop. I think they invented that prop. I feel like at this point, you could use an app or something if you wanted to do like a practice pad. But that wouldn't work because there'd be feedback with the app. Like the problem with the pad is you wouldn't know if you missed it, right? You could do it with your table right now. Like you would have no idea if you hit the keys or not. Same with the practice pad. You have to make sure your hand and wrist position is all put together before you can start pressing down on the keys and hearing the notes. You need to hear the music of your body first. Ew. Disgusting. Okay. So I'm not classically trained. So the pad could help people if they were trained. Got it. Flexible roll up piano. So this is not a practice pad in the sense of just a picture of a piano. This is an actual like keyboard that rolls up into a tiny old thing. 75 bucks. It's great. You can take it to parties. You're describing a different thing, right? Yes. This is just a sheet of paper. Yes. No, I'm saying that the sharper image offers even better than a practice pad, an actual keyboard that rolls up like a practice pad would. It's all the convenience and portability of a practice pad, but with the, you know, ability to actually play music. That's actually sick. That's a great product. I would have no beef with that. Oh my God. They've also got a rock and roll electric drum mat. It is just a, it is just a floor mat that has a picture of a drum set on it that I think you just hit it with sticks and it makes noise like it's a drum set. You would use your feet, Curt. You wouldn't use sticks. The child in the picture is holding drumsticks. Yeah. That's because it's a child. You want to have their hands busy. They're not hitting the floor with the sticks. That would be crazy. Sharper image has all kinds of stuff. Are they still a company or are you just looking at like a nineties nostalgia image? I didn't know it was still, I thought they were gone, but I mean, they got a whole website here. What does it mean they exist still? They've got a warming backrest massager with a little book light installed on top. This is great. People don't do book lights anymore. We've got phones. Should we talk to the next scene? Next scene. Sure. We're still in this one. Yeah. Niles attempts to mediate a truce between Marty and Frazier. Frazier admits to being triggered by the married couple comparison. When Marty doesn't reciprocate vulnerability, Frazier storms off. If you go to that scene, you will see at the same table in the background, a new person with a different giant laptop. That's actually really awesome. I wish I didn't miss that, but that's awesome. Thank you for pointing that out, Ethan. That's so cool. You wish you didn't miss that? Okay. Just ignore the double negatives. It's fine. That means you saw it. I think I just broke Curtis. Yep. It's about time. I mean, Ethan, maybe it's just the coffee shop's laptop. That might be a thing. It's a different laptop. Oh, I missed that. Sorry. It seemed like there were different brands. There wasn't a big logo on either of them to make it clear what the product placement might be. It just seemed like, okay, well, we've got to fashion out. People come and they surf the web on their laptops at the coffee bars. Again, you're way, way, way younger than us. Like back in the day, laptops used to be huge. By the time Ethan came along, they were shrunken down. We didn't all grow up with iPads like you, Ethan. Your nanos and your iPad touches or whatever. Yeah, we didn't have that. We had big, giant mainframes. It was 2001. So it probably was a Dell. Remember Dells? Everyone had a Dell. Dude, you're getting a Dell. For work. My laptop is a Dell. Is it really? We went to Sam's Club and they had HPs. I was like, you're not still a company HP. Oh, wow. Get out of here. They're just sold at Sam's Club? Nowhere else? I think they'd probably buy some very cheap one and just slap HP on there. I don't know. Got it. I am 100% confident Frazier would throw Eddie off a balcony. When Marty accused him of that, I think he should have just said, yeah, of course I would. I mean, you are right that he would, but you're wrong that he would admit to it. I wanted to say why, but yeah, obviously he wouldn't admit to killing a dog. That would be insane. Or wanting to kill a dog. I'm liking the back and forth between Frazier and Marty here. It's aggressive. It's loud. But I think the whole time I'm not uncomfortable. We know it's going to be fine. And I don't think that's coming from the upside down. I think it's from the way they're arguing. It's a very fun yelling. Yeah. And I always like whenever they set up like a kind of mini therapy session just because it's so on brand with the show. Okay. That's actually the part that annoys me. At first I liked it that Frazier had some sort of sense of himself, but I'm starting to buy it less and less the longer we've hung out with Frazier. Like he has these revelations about his problems. I don't, the Frazier we see, I don't think actually should see that. You know, he's smart enough and equipped enough to recognize his own patterns and issues, but he's not aware enough to actually work on them. So we just keep falling into the same wrappings, which is good for a sitcom because you wanted to really set after every, every episode. True. I think in the real world, I think he would have a hard time seeing that out of himself. They do a little bit of TV magic to have him see that part of himself, but you're right. Thankfully he doesn't fix himself. Otherwise the show had only gotten like two seasons. One, when it all, you know, blows up and does not work out. I really like the way Marty treats Niles, who's only been trying to be helpful. Like Niles is just trying to help and he like snaps at Niles. You do this for a living, do you? I mean, it didn't go well, to be fair. Yeah. If your therapist does a terrible job and someone storms out, yeah, you should be mad at the therapist. Did you think when Niles says one of you needs to go first and Fraser says, okay, I will. Did you think he was going to like actually say something or did you think he, did you see coming that he was just going to walk out? Away. He did. Cause he does be the bigger man at first. Like he really does own up to it right away. Yeah. He had already kind of admitted his flaws and then Marty was like unwilling to engage in the conversation and they start fighting again. And yeah. So Niles, Niles is like, one of you needs to like bend a little. And instead of actually bending, Fraser just storms off. Fraser had already fully bent. Like, what do you want him else to, what else could he have said? I don't even know. I think this is entire, at this point it's entirely on Marty. I'm not saying you should have done anything differently. I'm asking you if you saw this joke coming or was it a nice little surprise for you that instead of actually saying something, he just walks out. I think we were teed up to think he would continue to be the bigger man. Cause Fraser likes to act like he's the better person. So I thought he would like talk and stuff and try to, try to be the first one to, to mend the fence. He already was the better person. If you were the better person and then the person you were arguing with just shat on you immediately after that, you would be so mad. I don't know. I feel like if you give in that easily, then you're not really the bigger person. You just wanted to seem like it. If you extend an olive branch and someone grabs and takes a dump on it, like, yeah, you should be mad. Well, no, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Because I do think there is some perspective to be had here because it's one thing to say that Fraser is being the bigger man in this moment. But what has led up to this is like a week of him being really snippy and bitchy at Marty followed by a really, really aggressively attacking Marty when he, made a mistake. And then destroying Marty's only like prized possession in the entire apartment in the most brutal way, almost murdering him. That was not Fraser's fault. I know, but I'm saying like, I think with all that's led up to this, Marty is somewhat justified to need a little bit more from Fraser than two minutes of, you know, talking about himself in a nice way. Fraser keep a really big admission that no one on earth has ever done. Like, that's a really big thing to say. Like, yes, it is on me. I'm having a hard time because of this. Sorry. And and then to just again, be attacked immediately after that. No, fuck that. OK. One can argue that Fraser's not even really being that much of a bigger man because he's basically blaming them for how he's feeling and how he's been acting out. He's like, well, I've been having trouble because you guys made some made some jokes at my expense and therefore I'm using that as an excuse to be like, well, that fueled me into being like an asshole for a whole week. To be fair to Fraser, was he in that moment more accusing them of being too mocking of him or was he saying it was really just the idea that, oh, actually, my father is the person I've been in the longest relationship with. Just that fact about myself is really bothersome to me. That's what he was saying. I wish I wish he was pointing it back to them being like, how dare you guys make fun of me at a breakfast one time? That's not what that's not what he said. I wish it was. That'd be hilarious. But he acknowledges that it's it's that he doesn't have someone in his life. That's a big admission for being in a fucking coffee shop. Miles quietly discontinues the lessons when he learns Daphne took eight years of lessons and drove her instructor to suicide. Marty offers a peace gesture in the form of a classy new chair. But instead of accepting this, Fraser counters with an exact replica of the one he destroyed. The way they tease out the suicidal piano teacher thing, I think, was really great. You know, you're much nicer than my old piano teacher. You took lessons before? Oh, yeah. Eight years of them. I really enjoyed that. Her delivery was was amazing in this scene. Mr. Cruikshank. You know, he once played at the Royal Albert Hall. She did it so nonchalantly, so cool, calm and collected as she's telling us an insane story. It's a little Looney Tunes story. Why did you stop taking the lessons, honey? Well, it turns out Mr. Cruikshank was an unstable man. We do not get enough Daphne because she every time she she's got range. First of all, she's she delivers some batshit crazy stuff and it's fine. She delivers it and you believe it. It's very much a Malcolm in the Middle Hall thing where you're just like anything she says is totally in play. That said, this was a weirdly dark bit. Do you know, I was the last person to see him alive. The suicide angle made me go like, gosh, that is a dark thing to talk about on a podcast, let alone in a sitcom. I like me a dark joke plenty as much as the next one. I don't know. This one hit a little too dark for not that much funny payoff. Yeah, I feel like there's a version of this they could have done where they didn't go that dark and it was still funny. But I do think you're right, Ethan. Like she trickled it out so slowly, like dawning on Niles. Oh, she's been doing this a long time and never got better. This is doomed. As she's struggling to play even a few notes, it's and like each time she goes through it again as layers get deeper. It's yeah, really, really well done. I love how disappointed she is when she fails. The very I think she's just due to scale. So bad. Was she the one that talks about Eduardo? No, that was Marty because that was that was who he got hit the chair from. Oh, OK. Yeah, he knew he'd gotten a good chair that Fraser would like because he bought it from a guy named Eduardo. What was that? What was that joke? I know it's good. And Eduardo sold it to me. What? The blocking in this scene. Interesting. When Fraser is having the men bring in the remade Marty chair. And then instead of just immediately taking the two and a half seconds to sign his name, he's like, oh, you go over there. And then they like reveal the chair. And then he kind of goes over there to sign the paper. It was just odd to me that like, I guess they I'm not sure what it was about that scene that they were like, well, we need to keep them around, but not in the way of revealing the thing. They couldn't just be like, OK, we'll sign up and send them away. Marty's starting to blow up a little bit. And he's like, no, no, I have to rush and show this chair. But you're right. They do this extra admin bit that we don't care about. I don't care if they sign for a chair or not. You don't have to go through that. How many weeks was Marty stewing before he finally said, I'm going to buy him a chair. I'm going to I'm going to put out an olive branch because he just went and bought a chair. But Fraser had to go to a master builder to recreate the chair. And he had to go to the manufacturer of the upholstery and have them reweave it. Yeah. But Marty's old and does things slowly. At least two months. When he had to scour this, they need to find somebody named Eduardo. I do love when Fraser, you know, tells everyone that it's actually the most expensive piece of furniture in the apartment currently. Yeah. Dappy says it must have cost a fortune. And I found that interesting because I don't know if that's how a Manchester accent works. But we know her accent's trash. We know for a fact it's nonsense. Do you think she says malicious? I think everyone should. Fraser plays us out with Eddie putting the new chair through its paces. Good news, Brad. The fun run of scrambled egg scenes being good is over. Yeah. That's what it was. This was so terrible. I really thought, I thought he was going to pee on the chair. Like, I thought that would have been better. Oh, that would have been great. Yeah. That would have, yeah. But he did not. And it was, it was stupid. It wasn't, it did it like, yeah. So the streak is over. They also could have done something with the other chair. Like, given it to, like, done something funny with the black chair or something. Or shit off a balcony. That would have been great. Yeah. Or just, or ended that. Like, now I'm curious what happened with the other chair. I mean, they took it back. They gave it back to Eduardo to sell to another old man. They had to offset the cost of this most expensive chair in the apartment. Maybe they put it in Marty's room. I don't think we've seen Marty's room in full. So maybe it's just in the corner. Maybe. Well, Ethan, what did you think? Was this a good episode? I'd say good. Yeah. Glowing review. Good, yeah. It's not a great one. It's, you know, I think solid enough. I enjoy the back and forth for them. I like the piano storyline and culminating. I didn't mind the darkness that they went to in the end. And ultimately, I think just the gag of the chair dropping, it's just kind of something that sticks out as, again, part of just like the larger Frasier lore. Like, I just think about like, if they had a clip show, that would be in it. I don't know. I can't remember if they ever did any clip show episodes of this. They had a clip show and they featured none of the clips from the show. It's very confusing. Well, actually, we didn't talk about this, but we just before this, we discussed the 200th episode, which did come with an entire clip show and like an interview. Like, they did a whole special over like it. But it's not on Paramount+. I can't find it. Like, it doesn't really exist anymore. It wasn't an official episode. Like, it wasn't one of the episodes of the season. It was just a special that they put out. I don't know what to do with that, Curt. Sounds good. Brad, what about you? I liked the episode. It's not one of the greatest episodes, but compared to the season, I think it really holds up with the better end. So I'm going to give it a B+. I liked it all in all. I thought there were some funny bits. I thought the acting was pretty good in this episode. So I'm going to go with B+. Curtis, what do you think? All right. Talking it over with you, I don't think this episode is nearly as much fun to discuss. Like, sometimes we have a lot of fun discussing the episodes. I often do not laugh when I watch the episode. I laughed out loud multiple times. I thought the chair bit, when it fell, I was rolling. I thought it was hilarious. Yeah, but you were teed up because your husband was panicked about the fire. True. I mean, watching it with another person does help. I won't lie. I got to say that you're going to think this is insane. Usually. Number one. This is the best one we've seen. Whoa, Curt. Whoa, I don't agree. Okay, Curtis. You only do that for Hannah episodes. Is it because Ethan mentioned Hannah a lot? Is that why? Wow, you're number one. It's really confusing because you're wrong. Like, you're obviously wrong. What are you defending it anyway? What's wrong with you? The chair bit is a great kind of centerpiece. It's kind of weird that happens in the middle of the episode, not the end. Usually it's the end. But I think also that every part of this episode works. The Niles Daphne Ross stuff is very funny and makes sense in the universe of the show and is performed perfectly. I think that the fights between Marty and Frasier are believable, but also, like, funny and interesting. I think that this is a sitcom, like, it's all about the laughs, really. And I have not laughed this hard at any of the other episodes, I think. So I thought it was great. That's fair. Ryan? Well, I think we can walk through the reviews and kind of understand what has happened here. So Ethan's like, this is a decent episode, not the best. You're not watching every season nine episode with us. We're in clearly the worst season the show's ever had. Hopefully. Hopefully this is the worst it was. No, I'm confident. If season eight is bad, they would have canceled it. Like, if it was this bad, we would have canceled it. So I'm 100% confident this is our worst season. Well, that said, Brad, I think you're about the closest here. B plus in that range. Curt, you just lost your mind. You missed good episodes. I don't know what you're thinking. It is bad. I agree with all your points. It's not the best episode. What are you doing? It's not top five. At this point, where do people have their upside down so far best episode, if not this? Well, it's clearly the Horny Metcalf episode will always be. Okay, I thought it might be Horny Metcalf. I think it's going to be really hard for that to be knocked off its perch. A bigger question. Season nine. Do you think there is a better episode? I think you do. Is there a better episode in season nine? No, I absolutely do not. I gave this a seven eight, which is probably lower than an episode or two. But just because we were in such a bad hole, other episodes have been lowered since. This is definitely the best episode we've seen this season. Okay. That doesn't make it number one of all the episodes we've watched. You've lost your fucking mind. But like, it is good. If you really want to understand whatever psychosis I'm going through, this edged out the previous number one episode, which was War of the Words, which was also season nine. I do think I'd prefer War of the Words, but. Yes. And that was coming off a really bad stretch of episodes. So you just got recency biased. That's all, buddy. That's my whole life. Frasier proves that a significant other need not be a spouse. So how have our significant others annoyed us like Marty annoyed Frasier? It's a new segment we're calling Significant Bother. Which looks better on the page than it sounds. I'm sorry. I'll pronounce it the way Ryan would. Significant Bother. Sounds great. On board. So the only rule for this really is that we are picking a significant other that is not our actual spouse. So for me, I'm going to go with my best friend, according to all of you, Vitaly Steart, friend of the show. I'm sorry. And all of your family. Yes. We went to a wedding. It was Curtis's wedding. Yeah. Why do you say it like that? And everyone there was like, oh, all I ever hear about is Vitaly this, Vitaly that, Vitaly Steart. It was like, you even know his last name? What is happening? It all is Vitaly Street. The first question I have to answer is how he became my significant other. And it's exactly like you said, Ryan. I'll be honest with you. I thought of him more of an acquaintance. I thought he was kind of a friend of a friend. Snack up on you. Apparently at the wedding, I learned that he was, in fact, my closest friend. So there you go. You just talk about him a lot. It's just confusing. It is very confusing because he doesn't talk a lot. You guys did live together if you add up all your time for a significant amount of time. I mean, technically, if you don't count my actual spouse or like my immediate family, he is the person I've been roommates with. You guys were roommates together. Because we were roommates for a year in college and then two years after college. Anyway, next up, a thing that he did or a habit that really annoyed me. So with Vit, when I lived with him, he liked to cook and I was not much of a cook. But he would use lots of oil and he didn't use any kind of lid. And so oil would kind of get everywhere and just kind of coat the wall and coat everything. That sounds about right. No, it doesn't. Oil did not coat your walls. It did. No, it was like a thick. It was like a thick layer of oil just on the wall. If someone happened to let a match in your kitchen, it would have the whole place would have gone up. You're seeing where this is going. So one day I put a pan on the stove and then turned around to chop up some vegetables. And then when I turned back around to put the vegetables into the pan, it was on fire. And you think that's because Vitale would cook and oil would get on the wall. You don't think it's because you're a shitty cook? No, no, no. Oil, I didn't put anything in the pan. It was just a clean pan on the burner. But the burner was coated in oil just like the wall was. Wait, you're saying that the burner was on? Wait, is this gas? This was an electric oven and stove. And you're saying the burner was on fire? Yes. We all buying this? That doesn't sound right. It doesn't matter. Let him tell the story. It does matter. It totally matters. It's definitely Curtis being a shit. What exactly do you not believe about this? What do you think I could have done? Your electric stove was on fire because you put a pan on hot. I'm not buying that at all. Team Vit. I mean, it happened. What's the point of this game? Are we supposed to be siding with people because I'm Team Vit? It's not a gaming game. It's just story. So anyway, yeah, I did not. I did not cook that night either. It turns out I went to Arby's. In fact, I laid down the law after that. I was like, you need to use lids when you cook. You're the one who lit the apartment on fire. What are you? Why are you mad at him? I know that I did not coat the thing in oil because I didn't cook often enough to do so. He cooks every night. There's never been a fire. You cook one time. You suddenly have to go to Arby's. I'm not buying it. Team Vit. All right. Well, next up, how we would celebrate our anniversary. To answer that, I think he would take me out to the fanciest Michelin star restaurant he could find because that is his thing now. Is he just like really, really expensive, fancy restaurants for some reason? I love it. It's been a weird time for it. Like our whole lives, he never spent any money ever. And now every time he talks, he's like, where can I go to a Michelin star restaurant? But he just will spend money on food, which makes it better. This is the thing, though. I think he would take me out to the Michelin star restaurant. I think he would expect me to pay. Absolutely. Yeah, probably. And then finally, I need to explain an item of his that I would set on fire and throw out of a building. I helped him move into his house. I thought the pan covered it. When we moved him in, we piled a bunch of stuff into his like living room area. This is false because Vid had no things when you guys moved in together. He had four things total and because I used to live with him and he had exactly four things. So what is all this business of piling stuff? Well, I mean, I'm just saying he had boxes of stuff and it might have been mostly his wife's stuff. I don't know. But there was stuff and I was helping him move and we kind of just kind of piled it all into one room. I assume they were going to unpack everything. I've been to the house a few times since over the last five years or so. They've had this house. I'm pretty sure those boxes are still there. It is like a clutter fest in the house that would bother me if I lived there. So I think I would just I would just push most of most of that stuff that is clearly not useful or needed. I would just push it out, set it on fire. Now, is it because you have OCD or is this because you're annoyed that you moved something that he's never touched? Honestly, I didn't think about that dimension. But maybe maybe yes, maybe deep down. If I'm going to be Frasier for a minute and really reflect, I think that is probably probably the issue. But who else has a significant other they'd like to share about? I can go next. I have a significant other. His name is Bradley. Thank you. Team Brad. What's the next question, Curt? Tell us how you became your significant other. Oh, yeah. Brad likes to call me, you know, at night. Pretty much once a week since I've known him. It's hard to know when you have a complete sentence or not. That's the classic significant other complaint. Calls me at night. What more do you need? The part he's not telling you is I don't just call him. I FaceTime him. Brad's been FaceTiming since way before FaceTime was a thing. He used to call on like jank app. I used to call you on Skype. Turn on his camera. I'd be like, what are you doing? We have flip phones. He's like, yeah, we're going to look at each other. I don't know. And most of the time I am shirtless. Yes. Every. No, not most of them. Every time. And if I happen to call Brad, which is only when the Ravens are losing, he's 100% of the time in the dark in his bed. Doesn't matter when I call him. Doesn't matter what's going on. It's pitch black. I'm like, aren't you watching the game? He's like, yeah, it's in the distance, but not enough that you could see any of the light. And then he eventually flips the light on. And yes, of course, he sure. If he calls me during a football game, even if the Ravens are up by a lot of points, I'm still pissed off. Yeah. It's not my significant other because he almost never calls me on FaceTime. It's not something that we do together. But one time, randomly, I was driving home and he called me and I answered on the Bluetooth through the car and we're chatting and we're having a conversation and I get home and I get out of my car and I pull my phone out of my pocket to put up against my ear to continue the conversation. I look and he's been on FaceTime the whole time. It was like 30 minutes. Correct. What is the thing that they do? The thing that he does? You know what? I'm going to say they. I'm not going to gender him. I don't know what his gender might be. What is the thing they do or the habit they have that really annoys you? They call me naked and show me that. It's a FaceTime. No one has to do it. If you're going to be naked, call me on the phone. Don't FaceTime me. I don't mind that you're naked. I just don't need to see it. To get paid. How would you celebrate your anniversary with said Brad? Our anniversary, Brad. Oh, you're going to love this. I am going to work because we're coming up on a big one, like 20th, 25th, whatever. I don't know. Who cares? Yes. We've known each other 25 years. Yep. You got it. I don't know. It seems like that. What I'm going to plan is I'm going to work really hard. I'm going to get Nick LeCher and a bunch of producers and I'm going to bring Singoff back and I'm going to take you to the premiere of Singoff season five. Thank you, buddy. That means a lot. You're welcome. That's a, Curt, that's a acapella show. Competition. I know what it is. So you've done something nice for him. Yeah, let's do something terrible to him. What of his are you going to push off of a balcony after setting it on fire? I'm going to throw that stupid bed off the fire so he can't call me naked every night. And if he is, he's going to at least be vertical. All right, Ethan, I'm happy to go next unless you want to go. We go for it. Got it. And so I'm going to go with somebody I did live with for a long time. And that is my my buddy, my old buddy, Gregory Wineapple. Your sugar daddy. How he became my significant other is, you know, a very typical Greg story. He paid for your lifestyle? No, he he didn't have a lot of friends growing up because he was weird and he used to do weird things and creep people out. But one day he just kind of hung out with me and my other friend and just never left. I remember in eighth grade, my friend looked at me and said, we're stuck with Greg for a long time, are we? And I was like, yeah. Counterpoint. That friend has bowed out of the friendship. So it's just you and Greg at this point. Correct. And that friend thinks I should, too. I just kind of got stuck with him one day and haven't been able to get rid of him. The thing that he does or habit that's really annoying is if we go out to a restaurant and like I'm eating food instead of just like saying like, hey, can I take a bite of that? Like I would have tried that. He'll go. He'll do one of two things. He'll go. Your food looks really good. Or out of nowhere, he'll go. If you would have a piece of my food, you're more than welcome to have it. And I'm like, OK. And he just does that because he wants you to say, can you have it? Can you have a taste of can I have a taste of your food? This is a proper significant other complaint. Like that is absolutely like a married couple would be mad about that exact thing. Yeah. Perfect. I thought you were going to say that he orders for you because he also pays for you. No, no, no. I would never let him order for me. And then how you celebrate your anniversary. He's a big fan of shrimp club. So obviously we go to the shrimp club. Only he is. Shrimp club? No. Shrimp club? You did. You did panic and say shrimp at some point. I thought it was like some kind of a seafood. They tend to have buffets. Curtis was a nightmare. The shrimp club. And then the item that I would throw over. Ryan, you kind of stole my thunder. But I would actually throw over his bed that he bought when we were living together. Two different bed situations. Correct. Because it was a $10,000 bed that had a motor. What? And the bed would go up and down. And when it was going up and down, I could hear it. And it was loud. So I would throw that $10,000 bed over. You had a roommate. Right. And his bed made noises that made you uncomfortable and you didn't like it. And the noises were just a motor that went up and down. You're not talking about like all night, right? It's just the couple of times you would have moved it in a month. No, because it's reclines. It would go up and down. Right. He's got to do it for 12 hours a night. Every once in a while, if he couldn't sleep, he would do it. Yeah. And that's why you have a reclining bed, obviously. Right? Ethan, take us home. Brad's in the raw. I'm team Greg, which has never happened before. I think we've had a good connection today. So I'm going to stay on team Brad. Oh, that's too bad. I'm going to say my two best friends, Ben and Tyler. I'm sorry. You're doing a three-way thing. Oh, yeah. It's a throuple. Interesting. I knew it was going to be them. I wondered if you were going to pick one or if you were going to do the throuple. We all knew it was going to be Tyler. I can't believe it's both. This is crazy. So we met in school as young chums and then went on to go to Ohio State together. You guys met in elementary school? Is that how far back we're going? Tyler was second grade. Ben was in the beginning of middle school and sixth grade. Okay. Yeah. We lived together in a dorm at Ohio State and then an apartment off campus. I was probably, honestly, the first of the roommates because I was around less. And there was a time when we were in the dorm and I wasn't the last one to use the toilet, but there was basically a toilet emergency that it got clogged up and it was flooding our bathroom that was just the three of us. And as they're in the midst of dealing with this crisis, I bounced because a friend of mine had tickets to some musical. So I was like, okay, well, I'll see you guys later. Good luck with this. So that's probably a good memory on their end of things. You don't have to incriminate yourself. That's not the part of this. I mean, honestly, a lot of people say like, oh, you don't want to make a living situation with your best friend because then you'll find things that annoy you or whatever. I have not found that to be the case for the most part with the people I like. Because you were the one annoying them. Yeah, exactly. I got to fill that role. What a problem solver you are. In general, we kind of have a... A no musical policy? Yeah, we have a no musical policy. There's a dynamic between the three of us where like if somebody decides to create an alliance, you can go 2v1 really easily. There's a lot of double teaming and you can make whatever innuendos you want out of those listeners. Don't say the phrase double teaming in a situation where you're talking about a platonic throuple. I'm not hearing any problems so far. I did not say platonic one. I actually thought the use of alliance was really weird for a sexual situation. I guess you're not very altered. We'll play basketball and because I'm all this, I'll get a lot of double teams and that will happen a lot. Hey, so is that your habit they do that annoys you or do you have something else? Yeah, it's so annoying when I'm getting double teamed by two men I love. Just try and grab a ball. Stop double teaming me. When I read the thing, I thought you said, like, how do you celebrate your anniversary? I didn't think that was a hypothetical. I thought that was like, oh, what do we do? And I was like, I guess, do we really celebrate our anniversary? We don't really have a specific date. I would not have been surprised, by the way, if you were like, oh yeah, no, we have a set date. Use your ease into an existential crisis. It's like, oh my God, I don't celebrate my friends enough. I don't have a friend-iversity. Oh my God. We do have regular calls, which is nice. Are they naked when you call them? Not trying to tease each other, you know, when we're in person, then you can get naked. Thank you. That's Brad. Thank you. They both live in Columbus, but right now Ben's Army Reserve and he's in the Middle East right now. Oh. Here, give me Tyler's number. I'll go visit him. But it's just more reason to actually like do calls because it's like he's bored over there. So it's nice to keep up. That is a good thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I prefer that. I don't need no action. So after you just talked about your military, buddy, what would you throw over? Take 50 off it. Relax. Ethan, are you going to be in one of those videos where you're minding your own business and then you turn around and your buddy has arrived and you get so happy and you go hug him because he came home early for Christmas? Way better, Curtis. I would say the thing that I would on fire and throw off a balcony is their Twitter accounts because they still have Twitter accounts. And I find that deeply annoying. That's fair. They have X accounts. Yeah. That's fair. Fair metaphorically, but like confusing physically to do. Basically just killing birds, I guess. Just throw a dove off. Screw your Twitter account. This is a metaphor. It's nice that we all have other people in our lives. Ryan, why don't you tell us what to expect next? I don't have any transition. You should have given up on this one, huh? All right. Why don't you tell us what to expect next week when we cover the previous episode? It's season nine, episode six, Room Full of Heroes. Obviously that title has nothing to do with the main cast. So Frasier goes to a fireman ceremony, a thing we are all equally aware exists. Oh, that'd be interesting given his child's future occupation. Yes, but the brilliant season nine writers know nothing about it. True. Planted the sea. Well, that will do it for us. Big thanks to Ethan for joining us. You're welcome. Thanks to Kevin MacLeod for our theme music and thank you for listening. I suppose you don't really care if this podcast is successful. You would never take five minutes out of your precious day to go to Apple Podcasts and leave us a review. You don't use Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram, or TikTok. You aren't curious what happens if you search for Reverse Psych Pod. Lord knows you can't be bothered to shoot us an email at reversepsychpod at gmail.com. For myself, for Ryan, for Brad, and for Ethan. Good morning, New York City. I hate you. You don't want to talk about Brad's tuba abilities? I'm sorry. Did you play the tuba? No, I played the trombone in fifth and sixth grade. I wasn't great at it. I'm not a good blower. So the teacher tried to work on my blowing skills, but I just, I wasn't good at blowing. Brad? Yeah? That's enough. You don't have to use past tense also. Took me a second to get what you guys were trying to say. I wasn't even thinking that way. That's a real Curtis bit out of you.