The Commercial Break - Just Fyre TCB!
Episode Date: February 27, 2025Episode#704: Bryan & Krissy recall a person claiming to be connected to Fyre Fest 2 trying to get some money from the show. Bryan wondered why ANYONE would consider attending this Sh*t Show part 2. Al...so, Mads on Love Is Blind is a man-eater, The Pitt has Bryan singing a new tune about medical dramas and "one time at band camp" Bryan didn't go to band camp. Watch episode #704 on Youtube Text us or leave us a voicemail: +1 (212) 433-3TCB FOLLOW US: Instagram: @thecommercialbreak Youtube: youtube.com/thecommercialbreak TikTok: @tcbpodcast Website: www.tcbpodcast.com CREDITS: Hosts: Bryan Green & Krissy Hoadley Executive Producer: Bryan Green Producer: Astrid B. Green Voice Over: Rachel McGrath To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Tina Tannen Tweez is happy to announce its grand re-re-opening.
Tina Tannen Tweez is now re-open after we had to close after our last grand re-opening.
That's right crab apleons, Northwest Butchuk County's only tanning, tweezing and anal bleaching
spot is back and better than ever.
With four state of the art burn beds, you'll be redder than ever, making her wetter than
ever.
The juice is loose.
TT&T has the only beds anywhere in the world that turn the UV rays up to 11.
That's right, back by popular demand, and thanks to Doge D regulations, our 1970s era tanning
equipment will give you more solar radiation in one session than most astronauts get standing
outside their spaceship.
Bake me a cake, Rocket Man.
And make sure to stop by the Tina Tweezing tent, conveniently located steps from our
outdoor restroom facilities.
¿En donde está el baño?
You get a professional plucking, so you're ready for some
Put a quarter in the swear jar.
This week and this week only when you order one lip waxing,
we'll throw in the other lips for free.
Barely legal.
Ladies, let's trim that basement beard and put out a fresh welcome mat
for that special hunk of spunk in your life.
Slip and slide.
We'll get up close and personal
with our five-in-one Brazilian technique.
You'll leave feeling sexy, silky, and smooth,
or your next visit is 10% off.
Plus, available now to all new Crabapple customers,
you can brighten up that dark star while you wait.
We've flown in Eastern Europe's hottest
bleaching technician, Belania.
All the way from Latvia
and fresh off her DJ residency in Ibiza,
Belania's bringing all the tools to make the boys drool.
Bippity boppity boo.
Make your no-no zone a go-go zone when you lighten up that
brown blossom into a white rose because you never know who's looking. It's your creepy neighbor.
Tina Tannen Tweez now re-re-open at 127 Main Street in Crabapple Township. Tina Tannen Tweez
is not responsible for lost or stolen items inside or outside the facilities or in your body cavity.
Please be aware that TTNT is operating under a state carnival license and may not know
exactly what they're doing.
By entering TTNT you agree that some of the chemicals and processes used may be harmful
to your health.
Any person or persons who receive services at TTNT may be subject to surveillance by
state authorities.
Tina of Tina Tan and Tweedz may not leave the premises for any reason due to illegal
arrangement with state police. Tina Tan and Tweedz, ready and ready to go with a smooth choo-cha and a shiny hoe.
On this episode of the Commercial Break.
But I'm going to tell you right now, don't give your money to these people because you
will end up being disappointed. One point one million dollars.
Give the commercial break one point one million dollars and we will turn off the RSS feed
and the commercial break.
You can put whatever name you want on it.
Christy and I will do an episode every day for the next five years just to you.
That's it.
That's what you get for one point one million dollars.
And I think that's a much better deal than staying on a yacht for four days
Yeah, and a festival that no one's gonna play at you know what I'm saying. It's gonna be 33 P acoustically
What if who's gonna play there? I can't believe that he's doing this again
The next episode of the commercial break starts now
Yeah, Cas and kittens welcome back to the commercial break.
I'm Brian Greene.
This is my dear friend and the cohost of this show,
Chris and Joy Hoadley.
Best to you, Chris H.
Best to you, Brian.
Best to you out there in the podcast universe.
Thanks for joining us.
I was gonna say you're the Mads to my Dave,
but you know, I don't know how many people will get that.
How many people will pick up on that?
Will you pick up on it?
I don't think so.
The Mads to my Dave.
Okay, like Madison? Like Madison. Ohhhh. I got it. Okay so you're that far. Those who know. IKNYKDY. So you're that far in the show? I am not. I am only three episodes in but I unfortunately saw a real that indicated what I'm headed into. So here we go. Love is blind.
Okay, don't tell me everything.
But Love is Blind, up to episode four, spoiler alert.
Turn off the first segment
because we're gonna talk about it.
Love is Blind is back
because it seems like it's back every two months now.
They're constantly doing one
and they're about a year behind on production.
So what you're seeing now is filmed about a year ago.
And I see why they do this is so that the, when they get together for the recap, you
know, the live reunion, they actually have some meat and potatoes to talk about.
So time has gone out, people who are married are either married or not.
People who have been together, you know, it just gives them some breathing room.
Plus it probably takes a long time to cut and edit those shows. Yeah, that's a lot of footage.
Into a storyline that makes sense.
And they do storyboard these out,
make no bones about it.
They flip-flop, you know,
they might take something that happened on day three
and make it look like it happened on day two
to further the storyline.
You get it, it's editing of a reality show.
It's not all straightforward.
They have to make it interesting.
I gotta say, slow start on Love is Blind season number 12,
or whatever on.
Slow start.
They focus a lot on the pods.
They do.
Well, there's three full episodes.
Now, I believe four full episodes.
It goes into like, they're still in the pods.
I'm in like six.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
They're still in the pods at six?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, that's a little unusual.
Yeah. And I think two seasons ago, they got, they had like two still in the pods at six? Yeah, that's a little unusual.
And I think two seasons ago, they had, like, two episodes
in the pods, and then they were right at the honeymoon.
I like that.
Plus, I like my people a little crazier
than they are this season.
However, there is one X factor that everybody is talking about
who's watching Love is Blind.
Her name is Mads, or Madison.
She is a smoke show.
Smoke show. And when I mean a smoke show, I mean the type of woman who eats men for breakfast and spits them out before brushing her
teeth at noon. This girl is trouble with a capital T. Been there, done that. I literally have dated women with the exact same personality. Now,
Astrid and I are watching, because this is a couple's watch. There's not a lot of stuff that
we have as a couple's watch, because Astrid doesn't like me watching TV with her anymore,
but she'd prefer I be in the studio than anywhere else. But this is a couple's watch,
so we got excited. Love is blind, you know, it happened to come out on Valentine's Day,
so we sat, we watched, but it was so slow.
The first episode or two were so slow.
We only got through one episode a night,
whereas last season or the season before,
we were getting through two or three,
maybe four episodes in a night.
New episodes would drop and we'd burn through them.
So I wasn't super, like, hyped about this season
after the first episode, but smartly,
the producers started focusing in on a girl named Madison.
Nassar and I are watching this. Madison's having these dates and she's kind of whittling
it down to two or three guys. But every guy that she is talking to, she is trauma dumping
all of the things that have happened to her. When a guy says something,
she will say, let me give you an example. Well, my mom was a drug addict, and so I had to raise
myself and make hard choices. Fast forward to a couple scenes later, she's with a different guy.
Well, I grew up in a very strict church, and I thought to myself, you grew up in a very strict church. And I thought to myself, you grew up in a very strict church with a drug addict
mother? Like something didn't add up to me. And every time they showed Madison, she had yet another
trauma, another drama, another, and listen, I'm not diminishing trauma. If she did have a drug addict
mother and had to grow up and raise herself, I kind of raised myself too. Like that's a very traumatic thing to go through.
And as an adult, if you haven't kind of sat down
and reasoned with that part of your life,
then it's a very difficult thing to move past for sure.
And so, but she kept saying, I'm past it, I've done it.
I'm self-aware.
But then every time something came up,
she had to bring up the trauma again,
every time, every conversation. Another example, I don't want to talk about sex right now because
I grew up in such a strict church. I'm very, I'm very, I'm reserved and I was made to feel like sex
is shameful and that women weren't supposed to have sex unless it was for the purpose of making babies.
Very next scene, she's like half naked,
twerking, basically mutually masturbating
with another guy in the pod.
Which was very, and I know the producers did this
on purpose to kind of like, you know, give this,
hey, she's saying this, but she's doing that.
Saying this with this guy, doing that with that guy, what's up.
So they're also honing in on this and they're doing it slowly and pretty connivingly, but
you can pick up on it very early.
So if you haven't watched it, I'm giving it to you.
I'm not giving away anything, but Madison is trouble with the capital T.
One of these guys is onto her.
with a capital T, one of these guys is on to her. One of these guys is so self-aware and I think emotionally intelligent that when Madison is saying these things, he is not
like rolling over like a puppy dog for her sexy voice. Now he has no idea what she looks
like, I don't think anyway. He has no idea what she looks like, but just the way she
talks can kind of twist you into
a knot.
I'm sure a lot of these guys are just drooling listening to her voice and her talk in this
sultry, sexy way.
Well one of the guys, he's seeing past it and he's like, yeah, I don't know.
He asks, what's your attachment style?
And she says, dismissiveness.
Whenever something happens that I don't like,
I tend to run away from it, right?
And he says, yeah, I don't think I like that.
I don't think that's something I could handle.
He's being honest with her.
Where the other guys are like, Madison, Madison.
Well, wait till you see.
We'll take it a little further out.
Oh, really?
Well, I saw the reel this morning and I understand it.
What?
What did it say?
That she kind of like blew up the whole thing for another girl altogether?
Well, that happened. But then there's something further that happens.
Okay, well drop the bomb.
Drop the bomb.
Really?
Yeah, love is blind. Love is blind. Spoiler alert, we're talking about it. By the time
this comes out, everybody will have already seen it.
It's a narrowed down to the one guy, I think his name's Dave.
I don't know.
He's the guy who also said that he grew up like, that he was a nerdy guy.
And got bullied as a kid.
So they kind of had that in common or something.
Anyways, it gets down to the two of them and he doesn't do it.
He doesn't do it?
She narrows it to him and only him and then he says, I can't move further.
It's too much. He's says, I can't move further.
It's too much.
He's like, I can't.
Engagement's a lot.
And that's his thought.
This is the guy who I was talking about.
I like that guy.
I like that guy too, because he was honest with himself.
He's like, I think something's off here, and I'm not going to just-
He doesn't do the engagement.
So I don't know what happens after that.
There's some kind of a repair or she moves on to another guy.
I don't know.
Very interesting.
Good for you. I think that guy's name is Dave. Good for you. Dave or
Sean, one of the two. Good for you, Dave. Good for you. I'm so proud of you, Dave. I'm
so proud of you.
Because he was really smitten.
Yeah, of course. And if he saw what she looked like, he's probably going to kick himself
in the fucking nuts. Yeah. She was a model. She's an artist. She's an international woman
of mystery. She's done, I mean, every time they talk, someone talks to her, she was a model, she's an artist, she's an international woman of mystery.
Every time someone talks to her, she did something different, she's doing something different.
I don't know, she seems like a bit of a chameleon to me, like an emotional chameleon.
And listen, I'm not pointing out Madison to say that, don't take this as, oh, Brian just
thinks all girls are crazy.
No, I don't.
No, you can just recognize the crazy.
I just recognize the crazy. Having lived with it, dated it, been there, done
that. And maybe we all have had some similar experience with someone that just is an emotional
chameleon. They gaslight you, they tell you whatever you want to hear, they give you love,
they pull it away. This is Madison. This is what she's doing. And you can see it in even through
the editing of the show. If you've ever been in one of these relationships, guy or girl,
then you feel it. You're like, Oh, this seems a little too familiar to me. And even though Madison
is a total bomb of a physical woman, it's just so much, there's so much drama behind those eyes
that it's like run as fast as you can.
Yeah, well this guy did.
Yeah, he's gonna kick himself in the nuts
when he finds our Instagram.
When he finds our Instagram bikini pictures,
he's gonna fucking flip out.
I haven't even looked at her for her.
I get a little, like I don't wanna like ruin it for myself.
So I don't, yeah. Right, that's why I was trying
not to look ahead.
And I know that they're not supposed to post
and you know, but you can like tell little things
if you check out their Instagram.
They make my other benign Instagram posts until the episode reveals,
whatever the episode reveals. But yeah, but then the rest of the, the rest of the stories are like,
eh. Oh, and I can already see a crack in one of the ones that did get engaged.
Oh really? Okay. All right. Well, don't tell me that because there was, we so far have seen one
engagement and it looks like something that actually could be promising.
Yeah, that one, that first one?
Yeah. Is that the one where we're seeing cracks?
No.
Okay, good. All right. Because I like those too.
It's when they see each other.
Oh, it's when they see each other?
It's another couple that when they see each other.
Love is not blind, guys.
Love is not blind unless you're actually blind.
Do you know what I'm saying? That's it. It's just the truth.
We use all of our senses to eat. We use all of our senses to fall in love. All of our
available senses, let's put it that way. But love is not blind unless you're actually blind.
That's the truth. It can't be. There's no way. You can't look at someone you're not
attracted to and go, I want to fall in love with that person. It's really hard to do that.
I mean, so many people have tried with me and it just
didn't work out with anybody except for Astrid. I want to get her eyesight checked.
You won the prize with her.
I did win the prize. I married up for sure. All right, while we're on television shows,
which we tend to talk about once a week, but while we're on television shows, I wanted
to let you know, I am watching, I think, probably
one of the best television shows I have seen in a long time. And let me preface this by
saying I am not a medical drama kind of guy. ER, what was the other one? Grey's Anatomy.
You can name the endless amounts of medical dramas that there have been on television,
St. Elsewhere, all the medical dramas that have been on television and caused quite the ruckus,
quite the stir, I have just never been convinced
they're interesting enough to watch for any period of time.
I'm not into it. It's not for me. I'm sorry.
It's just like a... It's like...
I don't know, like bad...
Like bad romance drama wrapped in with some medical bullshit
and there's always some mystery that someone's uncovering
and some medical miracles happen out of nowhere. It's all a little too fluffy
and bullshitty for Brian. Okay? I like Seven Little Johnstons. That's where good television
lives. However, that said, I am on the pit and the off. So fantastic. And that Noah Wiley, who's on that show, executive producer, co-writer, and the lead in that
show plays like the, The Pit is a teaching hospital in Pittsburgh.
They call it The Pit because he works in the emergency room that is filled with people
and they don't have enough time, they don't have enough money, and they don't have, you
know, all these other reasons.
It's just like a real live emergency room.
It is so incredibly real down to the, down to the, um, like the props that they
use for the medical procedures, the words that they're saying, they're using words
that clearly only surgeons or doctors or medical professionals would even know.
So it's like, you're a fly on the wall.
You are a fly on the wall.
In the emergency.
Yeah.
On a real emergency room, not one where you're a fly on the wall. You are a fly on the wall. In the emergency. Yeah, on a real emergency room.
Not one where they're fluffing up the language for the viewers,
you know, to kind of homogenize it for everyday viewers.
This is like they're saying the real words.
And then in between, the storylines slowly unfold.
Okay.
And the storylines are interesting enough to keep you engaged.
The acting is fantastic.
It's quick paced.
They're taking care of a new patient, you know. And by the way, I love how this is done. It's 15 hour shift
at the pit, 15 episodes, an hour each show. So you're actually following them minute by minute
during the show. So it's not like there's big jumps in time forward or backwards. I mean,
there are some flashbacks so you can get some of the story, but basically when
it's 9 a.m., you're following them from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and you're, they're treating
the patients in real time during that hour and those patients can stay for multiple episodes
depending on what kind of case they have or they can be in and out in an hour.
So it's fascinating.
It's fantastic.
I fucking love it. It's on Macs. You should watch.
Everybody should be watching this.
It is very much being talked about right now.
It's already been picked up for a second season.
Michael Crichton and his estate,
Michael Crichton's estate had sued the pit
because Noah Wiley was on ER.
And then one of the writers and producers from ER
also was a writer and a producer on this.
So they're saying they stole the idea for ER. ER also was a writer and a producer on this.
So they're saying they stole the idea for ER.
But I saw a couple episodes of ER
and I don't remember it being half as engaging as the pit.
Yeah, also I was in my 20s when the ER
or 20s or 30s when ER came out.
And maybe it just wasn't that stage in my life
when I could like deal with a medical drama.
I love this show, watch it.
But that, but there's a point here. There's never
a point to the commercial break, but there's a point here. I have, for a long time on this show,
have wanted to find a way to wrap music into the show, but we are not equipped to actually play
music on the show. We're big music fans. Yeah, we're big music fans. But the radio stations,
you know, you listen to radio or you listen to Howard Stern or
someone on Sirius, and they can play all the music they want because they have ASCAP licenses.
They're able to do so.
Those things are terribly expensive.
And I looked into it because I really wanted to play music on the show.
And it's just not a possibility.
It's too expensive for the amount of downloads.
For all five downloads we have, it's like 70 million dollars. But I'm gonna take some chances
here and there, and I'd like to share with you new music when I find it. Now
this music is not new, but this is a fantastic song. I'm gonna give you the
name of a band and I'm gonna let you listen to a song that was the opening
song to The Pit. Okay? You know those people that control the opening song to The Pit. Oh. Okay? Uh, du-du-du-du-du-du-du.
You know, those, those people that control the music
on shows now are doing a really good job.
It's the only place you can find music these days.
Do you know what I'm saying?
So, um, but they do do a great job.
Because I think the,
I think the cost of playing some of this music
has come way down, and there are more licensees,
like musicians, artists, people who own these rights, that are willing to put this music in
shows for cheaper prices because they know it will lead to more streams.
It does, yeah.
That's the name of the game. When I was a kid, you would have never heard a Beatles commercial,
a Beatles song in a cereal commercial. Fucking Frosted Flakes and Let It Be, really?
But that has all changed.
The landscape of music has completely changed to the point where it's so impossible to
make money selling albums that these people have to make money anywhere they can.
They're willing to license these songs out.
And I think they do it for a much more reasonable rate.
And the people who are putting the music in these shows are really good at what they do. They find like these little unknown artists
and they can blow up one commercial
or television show can blow them up.
Okay, ready?
Opening to the pit.
I'm going to say a name of an artist
and I wanna know if you have ever heard
the name of this band.
Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise.
I have, yes.
All right, here is the opening to The Pit.
He's really good.
This got me, because honestly, I wasn't even
considering watching The Pit.
And then I saw the little trailer for it,
and then I pressed play.
And this was the first thing I heard,
and this wrote me in for the rest of the eight shows
that are out so far.
eight shows that are out so far.
Honestly, I wish this had played the whole episode.
I just want to listen. I've listened to this for 15 hours.
Good stuff.
I have no idea what this has to do with medical drama, but it's so good.
It's so good, it draws you into the first episode.
And there's like shots of Pittsburgh
and riding over the river.
And it's, how are you gonna turn a television show off
if it's got this at the beginning?
Am I right?
Am I right?
Yes, you're right, you're right.
So Robert Bradley, speaking of Love is Blind,
Robert Bradley is a blind man.
And the way that this band got started is the other members of the band wanted to start like
a grunge band back in the 90s. They were like that grungy kind of thing, right?
Everybody was in it.
But they were really bad.
They weren't doing so good.
They weren't on 33p level.
They were definitely not Chopper Johnson material. They were in a practice space, I think in New Orleans,
they were in a practice rehearsal space,
and on a break or getting ready to practice or whatever,
the lead guitarist heard Robert Bradley
singing in another studio space, the window was open,
he could hear him through the window.
And then he came out later,
he heard him through the window again.
And then hours later, Robert Bradley still singing.
And so he convinced him to come and sing for the band, sing with the music.
And this is what came out of it.
And some of the music that these guys put out is just fantastically soulful.
And Robert's got that voice that I think only a blind man from New Orleans can have, honestly, if I'm being, you know,
if you think about it for two seconds,
that's a million years worth of life experience
in that voice, and it just got me.
I'm convinced, I'll watch The Pit for at least one episode.
Just to hear that.
And the funny thing is, there is not another drop of music
in the entire series.
That's it, one song, that's it,
but whoever made that choice, whoever
picked that song, whoever got Robert Bradley shit, called the Robert Bradley whatevers
and said, Hey, can I use this song? Was 100% right that that gets you through the first
15 seconds and then you're involved. You're like, okay. And then the doctor walks into
the ER and he starts his shift and you're like, okay, well, I guess I'll just stay around for one hour.
Oh man, and it comes out every Thursday.
Fuck you, Hulu.
I mean, not Hulu Max.
Fuck you.
I just want to watch all 15 hours.
Is that okay?
I would burn through that show.
I really would.
Anyway, Love is Blind, The Pit.
I would suggest The Pit before Love is Blind, but you know, they're both medical dramas
in some way, shape or form.
All right, let's take a break.
And I got to talk to you about something that is crazy.
Something crazy has returned.
What?
I will blow your mind when we get back.
Let me do something Brian has never done.
Be brief.
Follow us on Instagram at The Commercial Break.
Text or call us.
212-433-3TCB. That's 212-433-3822. Visit our website, tcbpodcast.com, for all the audio,
video, and your free sticker. Then watch all the videos at youtube.com slash The Commercial
Break. And finally, share the show. It's the best gift you could give a few aging podcasters.
See Brian?
That really wasn't that difficult, now, was it?
You're welcome.
Get ready for Las Vegas style action at Bet MGM,
the king of online casinos.
Enjoy casino games at your fingertips
with the same Vegas strip excitement MGM is famous for
when you play the classics,
like MGM Grand Millions or popular
games like Blackjack, Baccarat, and Roulette. With our ever-growing library of digital slot
games, a large selection of online table games, and signature Bet MGM service, there is no
better way to bring the excitement and ambiance of Las Vegas home to you than with Bet MGM
Casino. Download the BetMGM Casino app today.
BetMGM and GameSense remind you to please play responsibly.
BetMGM.com for Ts and Cs, 19 plus to wager.
Ontario only, please play responsibly.
If you have questions or concerns about your gambling
or someone close to you, please contact Conox Ontario
at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge.
That MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement
with iGaming Ontario.
Hey you out there in the podcast universe.
I'm dropping in to share with you a podcast
that I'm currently enjoying.
I only agree to this a couple times a year
because let's face it,
I really want all the attention on me and my show,
but Odyssey, our network, has dropped a true gem.
Alright, some free word association here.
Young adults looking to have the time of their life, billions of dollars in free flowing
revenue, secret administrators who will do anything to avoid bad press, and cover-ups
with endless twists and turns.
Put them all together, mix them up, and you've got the wild universe of college campus life. And now, the Odyssey Original Podcast's Campus Files takes a deep dive into some of the wildest
scandals that have taken place within colleges and universities across this country.
While these universities are attracting some of America's brightest minds, some of the
most absurd things are happening there.
The rigged admissions, the sports scandals, and of course, a good Greek life drama. Who doesn't enjoy a good Greek life drama?
The Campus Files podcast is exposing the stories you will not hear on the campus
tours. Listen and follow Campus Files, an Odyssey original podcast available now
on the free Odyssey app or wherever you're listening to podcasts. And thanks
to Odyssey for supporting good content and great content creators. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you
pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft or a lawsuit? No business or
profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from
major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today,
starting at $19 per month at ZenSurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen.
Okay, are you ready for some of the craziest news you will hear music related, festival related?
I think so.
This year, or maybe ever. Do we all remember freaking the way fuck out back in 2020
when some douche canoesle, some scam artist decided
to put together something called Fire Fest?
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Fire Fest, the-
There's two documentaries about it.
Ignominus Festival That Never Was,
the best festival that never was. The best festival that never happened.
On Pablo Escobar's private island with swimming pigs and baloney sandwiches and tents that
weren't set up and artists that didn't show and basically the total shit show that almost
killed some people, honestly.
Left them out in the middle of this island without infrastructure, water, food,
and certainly no festival, certainly no music.
And this guy went to jail.
He did.
Because he raised a lot of money, and that money went where?
No one really knows.
It went to just trying to put together a festival that was clearly short of the mark, but short
of any mark.
Like this wasn't worthy of a dive bar, let alone an actual festival on a private island where
people paid tens of thousands of dollars to get pampered for an entire five days.
They didn't even get a pot to piss in.
And lots of people were pissed, and lots of people were stuck, and lots of people were
put in really tough situations, bad situations, by this one guy.
Now, let me tell you how this has to do with the commercial break.
About three years ago, I get an email.
We're our own Fire Fest.
We're our own Fire Fest.
And like maws to a flame, shitheads be good shitheads.
Because about three years ago, I started getting communication from a guy who claimed to be one of the new executive producers for Fire Fest 2.
Yeah, they're trying to bring it back.
They did bring it back. It is back. I mean, that's what they say, right?
Let me give you the skinny on this. They have not announced one artist, because I'm sure no artist would attach themselves to this.
Right.
Who would attach themselves to this, who would attach themselves to this?
I don't know.
I don't know either, but I can't imagine it's going to be anybody we're seeing.
I'm sure that there is somebody out there who, if they get the money, they will go do it,
because it's hard to make money in music, you know what I'm saying?
So maybe they'll decide to do it.
Okay. So three years ago, I started getting communication from a guy who will remain
nameless. And he starts telling me that he would like to put this guy who had just gotten out of
jail on our show. Could he come on our show? Do you remember this?
I do remember you saying that.
Okay. And we communicate for a long time about this. We go back and forth. I'm trying to make
a decision
about whether or not this makes sense for the show, whether or not we want to
even get involved. Yeah, was this before he went to jail? This was after he got out of jail.
Remember he only spent like a year in jail. Fireface, hold on one second.
I just want to make sure that I get some of these facts right. So this guy
communicates with me for about a month and he says, they're
going to put together a prep show for FireFest 2 at a secret location somewhere in New York.
And if you allow Billy to come on your podcast, Billy McFarland, the guy who actually created
this, the guy who went to jail, if you allow him to come on your podcast, then I can get you one ticket to
this like FireFest 2 prep concert, whatever. He was trying to put together like a satellite
show or something, right?
Okay.
They were going to make this big deal. I don't think that ever happened. You could get a
ticket to that. I will get you one ticket to that at face value. So Billy was going to come on the show,
make an announcement about Firefuckfest or whatever it was too, Firescamfest too. And
then I was going to have the privilege of paying Billy to go to his show, thousands
of dollars to go to his show. But then I couldn't say anything bad, I could ask questions,
but I, you know, I couldn't shit on FireFest, whatever. It became this long complicated
conversation where clearly this guy was trying to get money out of me. He was trying to get me to
pay him to have Billy on the show. Now, you're probably saying to yourself, Brian, do you even think Billy was involved
in any of these conversations, or is this just some guy
who decided, you know, I found a sucker, essentially?
Well, I had been CC'd on multiple emails with Billy,
and Billy responded on at least one occasion.
And while I don't know Billy's specific email address for sure
100%, sure seemed like it
was Billy's email address.
Let's just put it that way, right?
So Billy was trying to get money out of podcasters like me, I assume this, I'm not the only one,
to then go and put his little shit fest together.
He hadn't even paid back the people who got fucked over the first time.
That's right.
He's trying to make money.
And as a matter of fact, I think our good friend, Andrew Callahan, if I'm not mistaken,
All Gas No Brakes, found Billy McFarland and found out that he was acting as a ticket broker
for prestigious concerts and events.
And he was making, trying to make thousands or tens of thousands
of dollars reselling concert tickets after he got out of jail. And they actually almost
sent him back to jail because he wasn't allowed to do that. He was using other people's credit
cards to do that or whatever it was. This guy is trouble. I mean, I get it. Second chances,
I agree with it. I've had plenty of second chances in life myself. This, and I'm sure I'll have a few more before I'm dead. This commercial break
has had 30 second chances in its life. We are the little podcast that couldn't, but
this guy, Billy, is notoriously dumb at what he does. And if you pay for Fire Fest 2, you
are just as dumb. Don't give this guy your money.
Don't do that because he is going to disappoint you.
There will be no Fire Fest 2 in the way in which he envisions it
or tries to sell it to you.
He's a good salesperson.
He doesn't follow through on what he says he's going to do time after time.
And he's always trying to build people out of money.
That's clearly Billy's game.
You want to take a guess at how much these tickets are? He's always trying to build people out of money. That's clearly Billy's game.
You want to take a guess at how much these tickets are?
Sure, about $2,000.
For one FireFest general access pass, it is $1,400.
What does that get you, you might ask, Chrissy?
The basics. I can't even get through this website because it you might ask, Chrissy. The basics.
I can't even get through this website because it's some complicated, you know, slick website.
I think there is also a level of tickets where you need to fill out an application.
Fill out an application.
Fill out an application.
That's his thing, right?
He tries to make everything seem very exclusive.
Yeah, very exclusive indeed. Okay, for this you will get access includes access to the festival grounds on Isla Mujeres
at the water stage.
Transportation will be provided from our preferred hotel locations.
The Fire Ignite package grants four day access to the Fire Fest, May 30th through June 2nd. Doesn't it seem like there's not a lot of time to be selling those tickets?
No, there's not.
Yeah, this is going to be a shit show, no doubt about it.
You have to get your own travel, you have to get your own accommodations.
But then there's another level of tickets, Chrissy, which I think is probably more suited
to us.
If we're going to go to Fyre Fest, this is what we're going to do.
We're going to do the Fuego, VIP experience, the Fuego experience.
We're going to do the Fuego experience and what's that gonna include?
Let's see here. That is going to include access to Isla Mujeres. We're gonna get to explore,
embrace the unknown and defy impossible alongside some of the most fascinating people in the
world. Oh my God. I don't know what this gets you besides that.
Really?
Access to the most fascinating people in the world?
Access to the most fascinating people in the world and I'm paying 20.
I am paying for that.
I will pay, how much is that?
That's $5,000.
That's what I'll pay for that.
A ticket. Yes.
Your own exclusive getaway.
But I can get the Phoenix Artist Access for $25,000.
$25,000. Now, to be fair, this does include private travel.
So you can, this website, by the way, Billy is terrible.
It's terrible.
Who uses Flash anymore? Honestly, you're using Flash, dude. Stop it. Make a website that doesn't
take up all the resources on your, on your computer. Okay. Fire Phoenix package grants,
four day Phoenix access to the Fire Festival. And that's all it says. What? Clearly this can't be true.
You don't get anything else but that? Sounds like a deal to me.
Yeah, fuck that. I'm not going to do that. You don't even know who the artists are.
Oh, Phoenix Passes include complimentary luxury accommodations for two in the Fyre Artist areas
two in the Fire Artist areas at the five star Impressions Isla Mujeres or the five star Al Malari Isla Mujeres for three nights.
One king or two doubles, private ground transportation to and from the Cancun Airport or the fire
ferry and the fire concierge will reach out to the Phoenix pass holders to assist with
travel and accommodations.
Okay, so you get your travel.
Commercial flights are readily available in and out of the Cancun airport.
Fuck you!
Fuck you!
So that's all I get?
I can't wait to see how this goes down.
Oh, now added, the Prometheus package for $1.1 million.
No.
Yes.
Prometheus guests will live like the gods of fire.
Prometheus pass holders have their accommodations provided by fire and they will have the option
of a four-stateroom yacht or a luxurious four-bedroom villa with immediate proximity and access
to Playa Fire and Festival
Grounds for three nights from Friday to Monday, the fire concierge will reach out to you to
coordinate your ultimate stay.
You will also be flown in and out on a private plane.
I mean, there's a sucker born every minute. I know that there's a sucker
born every minute. I get it. And I also get that there are going to be some people on
this earth who just can't pass it up. In the year of Dogey and Dogecoin and Hock-to-a-coin
and all this other stuff, there are some people who have money who probably should have never
had money and they're willing to spend it just to be involved in something notorious like this.
So I do have a feeling that Billy will sell tickets to this, even though he has announced
no artist.
Yeah, that's-
No one knows who's going to be there.
And you're going to pay someone $1.1 million to take a private plane down to Cancun and
stay only four nights on
a four-state room yacht.
I promise you.
And what do you do?
Like fill out, like just check, yes, I want this $1 million package.
Run your Amex.
Here's my credit card.
Run your Amex.
One, run your Amex to Billy's.
Here's the number.
Personal zeal.
That's right. I mean, honestly guys, for $1.1 million, you could rent a four-state room yacht in Cancun.
You could fly privately, probably for $50,000.
A nice plane for $50,000 down to Cancun.
Atlanta to Cancun and back, a really nice plane, like a 12-seater, like the kind you
see in rap videos.
You know what I'm saying?
You get down there, you can probably rent a yacht for 20 days, fully staffed, and go
anywhere you want to in that Yucatan Peninsula, and come home with $500,000 in your pocket. I promise you, it does not cost $1.1 million
to rent a yacht for four nights and be at a festival
where no one's playing.
There's no one announced.
Why would you do that?
I don't know, Billy.
I'm sure that somebody likes him.
But I'm gonna tell you right now,
don't give your money to
these people because you will end up being disappointed. $1.1 million. Give the commercial
break $1.1 million and we will turn off the RSS feed and the commercial break, you can put whatever
name you want on it. And Chrissy and I will do an episode every day for the next five years,
just to you. That's it. That's
what you get for $1.1 million. And I think that's a much better deal than staying on
a yacht for four days in a festival that no one's going to play at. You know what I'm
saying? Is it going to be 33P acoustically? Who's going to play there?
I can't believe that he's doing this again.
I can't believe someone's letting him do this. I mean, I guess, you know, who's going to
stop you from doing it? But I can't believe the people down in Mexico haven't seen the movies. They're not like,
ah, you know, we should get a deposit. We should get a deposit from this guy.
Yeah, surely they have.
Yes. And I think that Billy is probably hedging his bet. He's waiting for people to buy tickets
so that then he can pay artists to get down there. That's why he hasn't announced anybody,
because what festival in the world starts selling tickets in artists? I know that there's like
Bonnaroo has been going on for the thousands of years and it'll probably be the last thing
remaining when the fucking asteroid comes down to earth. We'll probably all be at Bonnaroo.
And so they sell tickets year round even before they announce, but they have a track record
of treating you right. They have a track record of doing this.
They have a track record of being successful at getting really fucking good artists year
after year, time after time.
Billy has zero track record of anybody even showing up to play on a stage.
Why would you trust that he's going to give you the best experience ever?
What is the experience?
Being in a hotel in Mexico for $25,000?
Fuck you!
Fuck you.
I don't believe it.
I don't take it.
Can you believe this?
No, I can't believe this.
And I can't wait to see how it ends.
That being said, I am gonna email this guy
that I was talking to a couple of years ago
and see if we can get a couple of tickets to go down there.
Because it was gonna turn into a shit show.
I wanna be there.
So we get documented all here on the commercial break.
I'm sure a lot of people wanna do that. Oh yeah, yeah. Oh, you know, there's gonna be, yeah,
there's probably media requests out the ass. And after this rant, I'm sure we won't be invited,
but we'll try nonetheless. Okay, we'll take a break and we'll be back.
Rachel here. While Brian takes his old man bladder to the little boy's room, let's talk turkey.
TCB needs your help.
If you love the show, do us all a favor and share.
Sharing is caring.
And we know you care.
Don't you?
Well, don't you?
Oh, that was some childhood trauma.
Rearing its ugly head.
Do you want to be on the show?
Leave us a voicemail at 212-433-3822 and you could be the next TCB disembodied voice.
Ooh, what'd you do today?
I was a disembodied voice?
You know, that sounds more dangerous than it actually is.
Find us on Insta at The Commercial Break, on the web at tcbpodcast.com, and all the
episodes on video are available the same day at youtube.com slash the commercial break
I'm gonna go help Brian get back up the stairs
Well, you listen to the sponsors and then we'll all meet back here and get back to this episode of the commercial break
I'll take a raise now bitches. Bye
Okay, so I wanted to follow up on a conversation that we had a couple of days ago about the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The band is not Mania, it's Manna, and they are a very famous Mexican rock and roll band.
Nice.
And Astrid saw them when she was a kid, and she really loved them, and so I got myself
educated about them and their music.
They're older, they're like, you know, they're like the bad company problem.
And not, they're like the zeppelin, you know,
they're older, they're loved.
They've got millions,
I mean, they've got billions of streams on Spotify.
So clearly they're very popular.
And they are in this year's rock and roll nomination class.
And that means that the Academy, the rock and roll hall of fame Academy or
voting class is currently voting on who should get in.
And I think they elect five every year if I'm induct five every year,
if I'm not mistaken.
And then you can vote.
We, the public can vote also.
You can vote up to seven times.
Oh, I didn't realize we could vote.
Yeah.
You can vote up to seven times.
It might even be seven times per day.
Go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website and vote.
But I think there's like a couple thousand members that vote, I believe.
And our vote only counts for one of those votes.
So it's almost a joke at the end of the day, right?
I get why they're doing it, but you don't have any real effect on what happens.
But I thought that I would get an update on where we stand with the voting.
Oh, okay.
With just a couple of days left to vote, I thought we should get in the game here.
Check in.
Right?
Okay.
Currently, Fish are in the lead.
After just a couple of weeks of voting, 101,000 fans have voted as one of the 14 nominees
for the class of 2025.
This is the first time that the group has been nominated.
Billy Idol is in second place.
There are so many people on this earth that aren't, well, Billy Idol?
Of all the people, Billy Idol?
Honestly?
Yeah. But maybe then you think about like who the people are
who would go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website
and vote just like I did.
I voted for Outkast, by the way.
Um, Soundgarden is in third place with 57,000 votes,
followed by Cyndi Lauper, Bad Company, Joe Cocker,
Chubby Checker, so far down the list.
That's a joke.
The Black Crows are in the back, lead the back half of the list with 39,000.
Mariah Carey, 36,000.
Outkast is 35,000.
Oasis is 32,000.
Joy Division is 31,000.
While the White Stripes are at 31,000.
Really? I'm surprised.
And Mana comes in with just 12,000.
Artists of Stories.
Okay, so there's 1200 people who vote
and ours counts as one vote.
That's kind of a joke.
Like they should make it one artist.
Allow the public to vote first.
Whoever wins is inducted.
And then they get, and then the other people, the other 1500 people, 1200 people who vote on it, then they get to vote the other four. That feels like it would make, then it was meaningful to me.
And I think you get a lot more people to vote on it if that was the case, because I'm tallying all
of that up. If you can vote seven times, maybe seven times in a day, and there's only like five
or 600,000 votes that have been cast, that's not like a huge amount of, of
votes that are being cast.
But if, if they said, okay, now you're going to induct one of the five, then
I would be much more involved in it.
Yeah.
I'd actually want to go and vote.
I agree that fish should be inducted.
It's their first class inductees if they do get inducted.
I don't agree with the rest of the way
that this is going down.
Chrissy and I told you guys this.
Fish, Joe Cocker, Chubby Checker.
White Stripes, Outkast.
Those are the people who absolutely need to be in. Sound Stripes. White Stripes. Outkast.
Those are the people who absolutely need to be in.
Soundgarden will come around again.
They will be in.
Don't worry about it.
I listened to that album the other day on my way home.
Bad Motorfinger?
Oh man, is it good.
Oh man, is it good.
Life changing actually.
Just the way that it's put it.
A thought of young Brian.
Getting in the car, driving, listening to it.
Oh, I didn't drive until I was 18. I didn't have a license until I was 18 years old. You said you drove, driving, listening to it. Oh, I didn't drive until I was, I didn't have a license until I was 18 years old.
You said you drove across the country listening to it.
I drove across the country with other people.
No, I wasn't driving with other people driving.
Yes.
Uh, yeah, but man was, I mean, that was like a transformative album.
I just absolutely loved it.
So yeah, Soundgarden will get in and I agree that they deserve to get in,
but Joe Cocker has had to.
This has gotta be his 30th time being nominated.
I mean, for God's sakes,
how many times are we gonna nominate Joe Cocker
before he gets in or Chubby Checker even?
He was around in the 50s.
This has gotta be his 30th year being nominated.
Chubby fucking Checker.
He did the twist kids.
Or was that Little Richard? Did he do the twist? No, it was Chubby Checker. He did the Twist Kids. Yeah, he started it. Or was that Little Richard?
No, it was Chubby Checker.
What did Little Richard do?
Oh, tons of stuff.
Yeah.
Good golly, Miss Molly.
Good golly, Miss Molly.
Tons, tons of stuff.
Sure got to go.
Good golly, Miss Molly.
Tooty fruity.
Tooty fruity, oh Rudy.
Tooty fruity, oh Rudy.
I'm telling you why I did not like Tutti Frutti.
It's because when I was in the band playing my Sexyphone,
full of saliva and spit flying everywhere,
when I was playing my Sexyphone, I had to play Tutti Frutti
was one of the songs that we played at the football games.
You did?
Yes.
How did that go?
Yeah.
Tutti Frutti, oh Rudy.
No, but I'm thinking with the band. Yes. How did that go? Yeah. A-toot-a-froot-a! Oh, Root-a!
No, but I'm thinking with the band.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yes.
And that 150 times over and over and over again while they set up the next play.
Whatever they do in football.
That's why Brian did his best to avoid Friday nights at the stadium in high school.
Yeah, I was sick.
I wasn't there.
I was in disguise.
I would not show up to the band, but I would show up to the game and not go in the stadium
so I couldn't be seen by my band director.
I did everything I could to get out of those.
Not because I was embarrassed to be in the band. It know, it was neither here nor there. I wasn't particularly
a popular kid in school anyway.
You just wanted to have fun.
I just wanted to have fun. I didn't want to be, I didn't want my Friday nights taken by
...
What did you think it was going to be getting into the band?
I thought it was going to be... What did you think you were going to do in the band?
Have sex?
I don't know.
I thought there were going to be hot band chicks playing the flute and I was going to
get in their first chair, if you know what I mean.
I thought I was going to wet their reed.
Do you know what I'm saying?
Well, I had to wet their reed. Do you know what I'm saying? Like I, well. You did it for the looks.
I had to take an elective.
I had, you know, my parents encouraged us to do things outside of school, you know,
like any parents do, you, you, you try and be a well-rounded person.
I loved music.
There was no doubt about that.
I had a passion for it.
I was playing that loud guitar horribly at home for hours on end.
And I think that I just wanted to direct that energy
somewhere in the band seemed like the natural place to do that.
At least I got to play the instrument.
But not all the way.
But I didn't want to fully commit to everything the band had to do.
Like, I liked to go to Busch Gardens every year for the band stuff,
for the band, you know, the band camp,
or whatever it was, a band challenge or whatever it was,
you know, that cost my dad $10,000 so I could go and smoke cigarettes
and avoid any responsibilities with the band for five days. I liked that
kind of stuff. But the Friday nights at football, years in a row, it was, I just, you know,
it was kind of a little much for me. I actually wanted to see what the other kids were doing
when I was sitting there. And then every year.
Nothing like showing up in disguise to really hang out.
I swear to God. I swear to God.
I do remember a specific night and my band director would get on my ass.
His name was Mr. Poole and he was a really a lovely guy.
And he was just trying to guide a very wild child into some kind of responsibility.
And he could be tough, right?
I think he was a man of a certain flavor, if you know what I mean?
I think he, I think he was, uh, you know, I think he liked other men.
That's what, that's what I think.
And so he was very effeminate, uh, in his movements, his actions and his voice.
But you could, he, you were just as scared of him as you were of the
senior varsity football coach, because when he meant business, he meant business.
And he got, he could get an ornery real quick and it kind of scared me a little
bit. And so he would always like jerk a knot in my chain.
He called me into the office, you know, where were you on Friday night?
And I'd be like, I was Mr.
Poole. I really was not.
This is the third Friday night.
You were not feeling good. So the next Friday night that you're not feeling good, you're going to
be leading scales in the class for the next two weeks. And I didn't know my scales, so
I didn't want to lead scales. No one wanted to lead scales. So I was like, oh shit. And
then, so I remember one night I was stoned out of my brain. It was Friday night, the
game started at 730. It was like 630, 645, and I knew I had to go there, but I was stoned out of my brain. It was Friday night. The game started at 730. It was like 630, 645.
And I knew I had to go there, but I was too stoned to do it. Like, I was just too stoned.
And all my friends were going to the game. So what did I do? I never wore a baseball cap. I still
don't. Very rarely I wear a baseball cap. I put on a baseball cap. I put on some baggy clothes, and I went in and I stood in the
back.
I had no fun whatsoever.
I was paranoid.
And one of the girls in the band recognized me.
And she was like, shouldn't you grab your saxophone?
And I was like, huh?
I didn't bring it.
Huh?
No, I don't think I understood what she said.
She was like, I'm ready to do that. I was like bring it. No, I don't think I understood what she said. She was like,
I was like, and I just, I ran, I ran out of the place. I was like, I was too scared. And she kept my secret. Thank you very much for keeping my secret.
Yeah, it was. But I'd say if there were like, you know, 10 home football, seven,
eight, 10 home football games a year, Mr. Poole was lucky if Brian showed up to two of them,
two of them. But I'll tell you what I didoole was lucky if Brian showed up to two of them. Two of them.
But I'll tell you what I did show up to,
I always showed up to the graduation ceremonies,
which were at the Atlanta Symphony Hall
in these huge symphony hall, huge, right?
And we would have to sit on stage and play that fucking song,
the March of the Whatever, you know.
Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do, we would have to play that while every single graduating
student came up and got their degree.
And even though the school was much smaller, like two hours, but I liked it because it
gave me and my first chair friend a chance to go downtown, smoke cigarettes
around the building, and fuck off for a couple of hours. And kids, that's really what's
important in high school. Smoking cigarettes and fucking off for hours, believe me.
More good advice from Uncle Brian.
Oh yes, the good old days.
Oh man, the good old days. Honestly, I pine for that.
You do?
I don't.
No, I don't, really.
But I mean, I didn't realize how good it was back then
to have a home that was paid for, electricity that came on.
No matter who paid the bill.
I didn't have to worry about working.
Work was essentially just for fun money.
Smoking cigarettes wasn't going to kill you. They didn't know that back then. You know what I was essentially just for fun money. You know, smoking cigarettes wasn't gonna kill you.
They didn't know that back then.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
Just like, I tell my kids all the time,
don't try and grow up.
Don't try and grow up.
It's okay, just enjoy it.
Like, don't worry about the next thing.
Don't worry about, you know,
what mommy and daddy are talking about.
Don't try and grow up.
It's just-
Turn the lights off.
Yeah, turn the lights off and go to fuck the bed.
Stop throwing up on my shoulder.
Yeah.
Ha ha ha.
Listen, you know, you get to a certain point in life
and you realize just how good you had it back in the day.
But I digress.
The truth is kids, I should have followed through
on my responsibilities and shown up
and played on Friday Night Football because that would have been the right thing to do.
But then I wouldn't be the same lazy, mediocre comedy podcaster I am today.
No, you wouldn't.
That's right.
Canceling recordings every fifth day.
I don't want to do it today. Ah! 212-433-3TCB
212-433-3822
That's where you can leave us
text messages, questions, comments,
concerns, consents, ideas.
We'd love to hear from you. We will respond.
Or you can leave a voicemail and maybe you'll hear your voice
on the next episode of
The Commercial Break.
How's that? How's that for a deal?
You don't have to sit that one out.
Go leave us a voicemail. I'll cut it up in weird ways and make you sound strange.
At the commercial break on Instagram, TCB podcast on TikTok and do us a favor. Go watch our show
after you finish listening to our show, youtube.com slash the commercial break for all the episodes the
same day they are here on the air here on the audio feed, the air here on the audio
feed and tcbpodcast.com all the audio all the video and your free tcb swag.
Give us your address.
We'll send you some no muss no fuss.
Okay, Chrissy, that's all I can do for today.
I think so. I'll tell you that I all I can do for today. I think so.
I'll tell you that I love you.
I love you.
Best to you.
Best to you.
And best to you out there in the podcast universe.
Until next time, Chrissy and I will say, we do say, and we must say, good them up.