Getting Through This with Tom and Scott

Scott's herculean struggle to cancel a subscription to a small town digital newspaper exposes the dark underbelly of seemingly innocuous media imprisoning its readers like the octopussian "Trusts" of the gilded age.

Tom and Scott take on the daunting task of redefining and updating the "American Dream". The "American Dream" used to be a house in the suburbs surrounded by a picket fence, but now it's more vague and still somewhat exclusionary.

In a stirring public statement Tom declares he has "done nothing wrong" and that any accusations of illegality that may be made against him are completely fabricated. Why he is professing his innocence is shockingly different from the many public figures who have made the same clasim of innocence in years past.

Knicks win leads to surprising discovery.

Why a compassionate effort to spread the joy of perfect weather in New York to other less fortunate climates won't work, but deserves acolades anyway.

A chance get together with Scott, Tom and their girlfriends leads to fascinating speculation: could Scott live at the Morgan Library.?

For years Tom has podcasted frome the "Flatiron district" of Manhattan. But what is the story of the Flatiron building after which the district is named and why was it called a "folly"? This is the first episode where we attempted to video the actual building, as seen from the ;podcast studio.

Time is moving too fast! What can we do about it? We take on the problem, and in the process answer Hillel's famous question "if not now, when?"

A quickly aborted exploration of pavement turns into a spirited discussion of why someone in North Korea with a laptop can turn off America's electric grid.

Scott tells of his recent trip to Maine where he at old inns. Tom hopes the matter of fact travel tale can turn into a "tall tale" or a "shaggy dog story" with a rollicking kick-ass ending that hadn't been created yet! Would they pull off this anecdotal knuckle biter?

Quite simply, we reveal the fatal flaw with AI, in how it's like a nerdy would-be friend who actually doesn't get you.

When wil the fashion industry join forces with the security industry and create bulletproof riot gear for everyone, enabling the average Joe casually walk into into even the most dangerous places without fear?

Finally an insightful appreciation of lunch. From stories of TV writers obsession with the lunch break to a chilling warning of what could happen if all lunches "went away" and there was no noontime meal for anyone anywhere -- and how we must perhaps learn to navigate a world without lunch.

The swiffer is an excellent cleaning device, that but has Scott thrown his girlfriend "under the bus" by blaming Ginger for making him think the name is actually "Swifter". This leads to a discussion about guys puffing up their friends credentials as Tom describes Scott as "President of Macy's worldwide" even though he was once only an advertising copywriter for the famed department store chain.

Tom speaks to the people listening to the podcast 1000 years from now and asks them an awkward question: why haven't you used your time machines, which will be commonplace by then, to come back to our time period and help us build the first time machine? This discussion evolves into another uncomfortable conversation that Scott would have to have with his girlfriend Ginger about whether they should try to open an In and Out Burger on the planet Saturn.

Scott reveals his shocking true story from when he was a Northwestern student in the 1970s and he was in charge of an campus event but the guest of honor -- a stripper -- didn't show up. What he did next made local TV news.

What with half of all office workers still working from home even five years after the pandemic, what to do with those huge empty office buildings? It's not an academic question, as they are becoming so inexpensive it may be that we will have no choice but to buy one. Then what? Tom thinks the only possibility is to turn them into giant indoor water park, but the very question somehow leads to a discussion of chewing gum.

A spur-of-the-moment get together of four friends for dinner redefines the traditional "dinner party" and in the process unearths memories of The Sophisticates, a group of culturally advanced friends from Tom's middle school days.

Tom's eight hour road trip to Columbus Ohio with 20 year friend yields another podcast, this time about political influencers, once known as pundits. This leads to a revelation that dyi-eschewing Scott used to play a tool-belt wearing carpenter for an advertising campagn!

Tom describes a historic 8 hour road trip from New York City to Columbus Ohio with a 20 year old dude -- a meeting of boomer and gen z guy that thrillingly bridges a vast generation gap.

Tom takes listeners through a micro-history of "wayward youth" in America, ending with a surprising twist as pandemic-traumatized Gen Z reportedly cower from social life and eschew parties, dating and sex. Will Hollywood make B-movies about wild older "Boomers" like us like in 1950s drive-in films about teenage juvenile delinquents? And will humans die out from lack of reproduction?

Is the crazy weather in New York, changing from cold to hot to cold, a harbinger of hyper changable weather patterns to come? Scott and Tom muse about a future of snowy freezing mornings that become tropical by noon, forcing skiers to shed clothes halfway down the slope and everyone to always carry massive suitcases filled with coats, sweaters, shorts and swimwear!

A middle of the night call from the police in Windham New York requires Tom and his fiancee to drive 220 miles to their second home in the Catskills. In so doing they become victims of international events on the other side of the world!

A Flaneur In LA. That what Scotty was last week, and that is the title of what may someday be an award winning movie or a beloved 10-part Netflix series about Scott's experience of walking uphill in 90 degree heat from Beverly Hills to Westwood, passing virtually no other pedestrians, and discovering something amazing about himself.

In a local coffee shop Tom sees someone he is sure is a literary star and great wit, but doesn't specifically recognizes him. Should he approach him?

Scott recieves a birthday offer for a free dessert that would normally cost $14. The problem is, the restaurant is in the Virgin Islands, over a thousand miles from his home on Manhattan's Murray's Hill neighborhood. This results in a dilemma that will some day be studied on the graduate level at The University of Chicago's Kenneth C Griffin school of economics, and no doubt will be referred to as "Blakeman's Choice".

Tom is puzzled by the slogan on the sign of a neighborhood Pizza Parlor, leading to an exploration of what makes an advertising slogan hugely successful.

Lots of snow in New York makes Scotty worry thgat complaining about it will years later make him look "old". The conversation evolves into a study of why nothing should make anyone feel old, ever..

As scrupulously honest and transparent hosts, who accept no recompense(not even cows), for their praise of products, Tom and Scott hope the day never comes when betting will taint the podcast world with hosts tipping off their friends about what they're going to talk about.

The Flaneur in Winter. As the foremost flaneurs in America, Tom and Scott stroll with no set purpose or destination in mind. But how do they navigate their flaneuring under freezing conditions?

Tom fears wearing a scarf. But more shockingly, Scott not only embraces scarf wearing, but he recently bought one that feels so soft on his neck that he feels like a million dollars. Which is different than actually being a millionaire.

Facial tissues are nothing to sniff about. Scott never leaves the house without them, and we explain, rather persuasively, why you should too.

Tom hasn't slipped on the ice so far this winter, but will celebrating that fact tempt fate?

Scott announces that he is adding a new profession to his resume which already includes comedian, comedy teacher, self appointed unelected co-mayor of Irving Place in Manhattan, and of course Nobel Prize deserving podcaster. What is this profession and how will he work it into his busy schedule? The answer may surprise you.

Skiing is expensive, difficult to learn and causes injury, so we propose a teturn of long neglected winter sports, and lavish resorts exclusively for sledding, tobagganning, and making snowmen.

A trip to the nations capital and a particular exhibet at a huge museum yields a brain storming event about how to make using the dishwasher, taking care of a demanding cat and even shaving extremely fun and creative.

Scooping legacy media, Tom and Scott vividly describe a birthday dinner for 10 in Chinatown's best restaurant that was completely ignored by the press. The event, managed ably by Tom's fiancee Sandy, is likened to a festive scene in a Bob Hope-Bing Crosby road picture. But that reference raises a dark question: what if, as in those old films from Hollywood's "golden age", we were actually being fattened to be eaten by cannibals? The truth is wonderfully reassuring.

The entire news media, from The New York Times to youtubers with selfie sticks, ignored Tom's birthday -- and he couldn't be happier. This leads to a discussion of a bizarre birthday tradition affecting children in the Midwest during Tom's childhood. Trigger alert, this could be traumatizing to older, extremely sensitive listeners.

Scott tells a riveting and important story of how he recently opened an old earbud case and found a wad of cash which he had forgotten about. Tom suggests this powerful true life account could warm the hearts of every human, even criminals. This leads to exciting speculation about Scott reading his podcast intro to convicts, a la Johnny Cash singing at Folsum Prison!

Cable news pundits have discovered that "two things can be true at once" but we start out by making fun of obvious truth and wind up telling true stories about chicken feet in China.

Scott's annual proclamation in earlyJanuary heralding the beginning of slightly longer days also inaugurates the season invented on this podcast of "pre-spring". Tom predicts our little tradition will one day become a world-wide week of wild celebration -- but will sarcastic "snarkos" spoil the party?

Under garments thrown at celebrities leads to a realization Scott could be a CEO for any company at least for a year. We also explain the potental dangers of "the golden parachute".

Socks have gone missing for centuries, but Getting Through This reveals one man's lonely but determined effort to get to the bottom of the neglected problem and track down missing socks as if they were missing people.

On this podcast we tell a true-life modern Christmas Story about four adults and their effort to enjoy a Christmas meal in New York City. But will "Twas A Dinner In Chinatown" take it's place in the pantheon of 'Christmas literature alongside such enduring classics as "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"? Or will our story evaporate from the public consciousness like snow on a warm weekend in March?

Two vacation trips, one idyllic, with Scott lolling in the Carribean with his girlfriend Ginger while Tom and his fiancee Sandy's trip to Lisbon runs into a road block: a general strike in Portugal means all flights are cancelled. No trains either. But Sandy and Tom don't give up -- which in this case is rather costly.

Finally our "podcast of record" deals with Artificial intelligence, but as always the conversation evolves, and the discovery of a new pleasure and source of secret pride: being the "first laugher".

Tom reveals he is not on Facebook and tells why in a devastating rant that could end social media in general. But then he drops the other shoe, in a twist that will flummox media experts.

A possibly historic SNAFU resulted in the 800th episode of GTT turning out to be episode 801! But if that weren't shocking enough, in an important and serious twist we imagine the world leaders gathering in Tom's Fiancee Sandy's 9 bedroom bed and breakfast in the Catskill Mountains and working out their differences over one historic weekend. But would Putin be happy with the "Gazebo Room?" or would he still complain? More questions than answers, but still lots of shocking answers.

We're back! The historic four week long blackout of our podcast due to technical difficulties has finally ended. And in the returning episode we reveal the folly of lamenting something that never happened.

Scott is back from Italy, and describes how he decided against doing the podcast entirely in Italian since he doesn't know more than a handful of Italian phrases. This turned into a spirited ongoing conversation about whether travel stories need to be primarily about travel mishaps and disasters, and if so, does jet lag count? Jet lag as an excuse for extreme or even criminal behavior is discussed, and as always our discussion results in a workable solution to a problem no one else is talking about for which we should receive a Nobel Prize.