Too Beautiful to Live

Infobox Radio show
show_name = Too Beautiful to Live


imagesize =
caption = The logo used for the TBTL podcast in iTunes
other_names = TBTL
format = Informal Talk Show
runtime = approximately 2 hours
^{3 hours with commercials & news}
country = USA
language = English
home_station = AM 710 KIRO:
Greater Puget Sound area, Washington
syndicates = FM 97.3 KIRO
television =
presenter = Luke Burbank
Jennifer Andrews
Sean De Tore
starring =
announcer =
creator = Luke Burbank
writer =
director =
senior_editor =
editor =
producer = Jennifer Andrews
exec_producer =
narrated =
rec_location = 710 KIRO Headquarters Seattle, Washington
coord|47|38|8|N|122|19|29|W|
first_aired = January 7, 2008
last_aired = Present
num_series =
num_episodes = 190 (as of October 10, 2008)
audio_format = Monaural Sound (Mono)
opentheme = "Catch My Disease" by Ben Lee
othertheme =
endtheme = "Words" by Doves
website = [http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=93 www.mynorthwest.com/tbtl]
podcast = [http://www.mynorthwest.com/rss/tbtl.rss RSS Feed]
[http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=273773140 iTunes Audio Podcast]

Too Beautiful to Live (often abbreviated to TBTL) is a radio show originating from Seattle, Washington. It airs on 710 KIRO AM / 97.3 KIRO FM from 7-10 PM (Pacific) weeknights and at the same time on Saturdays for the “Best Of”, which includes clips from the past week’s shows. The show is an attempt by KIRO and Bonneville to draw a younger audience to KIRO, which has an aging listener base like many AM talk-radio stations.

Format

The show begins with the song "Catch My Disease" by Ben Lee, and humorous sound clips accumulated throughout the show’s run thus far are played over the music. Host Luke Burbank welcomes the listeners and starts the show by revealing his weight and commenting on it, followed by a questioning of his on-air partners, producer Jennifer Andrews and engineer Sean De Tore. They reveal their weights and compare it to the previous show’s total and often recount their activities their previous night or weekend if the show is a Monday. Luke then announces the upcoming stories and segments to be discussed through the next three hours.

The show ends each night with the song "Words" by Doves. Often, Luke will try to squeeze in one of the many topics they often do not get to during the show and then promises to talk about the topics on the next show. This is ironic because he often he states that he doesn't have enough to talk about at the beginning of the show.

Fans of the show are often referred to as "The Tens" or simply "tens", stemming from an early episode where Luke would mention how they only have "tens" of listeners, rather than "hundreds" or "thousands".

Hosts and Related Persons

Luke Burbank

Luke is the host of TBTL. On the show, he often bemoans his weight and inability to grow facial hair, albeit in a self-deprecating manner. He frequently mentions his girlfriend and daughter, bringing them on the show on occasion. His parents (as well as Jen’s and Sean’s) make occasional appearances on the show, and Luke will sometimes reference his large family. He is a hipster with musical tastes in "indie" rock and hip-hop. He loves offbeat, irreverent humor, such as on the TV shows 30 Rock and Arrested Development.

Jennifer Andrews

Jennifer is the producer of TBTL. She usually mentions her “Andrews diet”, which involves her and her husband going out to a restaurant for lunch and her drinking red wine, which somehow manages to keep her weight in check. Luke often calls her a “granny” because she doesn’t like for certain things to change (i.e., the new name of Crayola crayons). However, she doesn’t seem to mind this moniker, and brings up topics regularly that enforce Luke’s nickname for her. She is known for worrying about many aspects of the show, but manages to keep them under control.

ean De Tore

Sean is the engineer of TBTL and "Japan's #1 mixer". He is silent for most of the show, but he usually interjects witty phrases or speaks in a foreign accent, which never fails to make Luke laugh. Sean is very proud of staying fit, and is known to do “prison push-ups” and to go “hooping” with friends. He competed with a listener named Nikki in a push-up contest, but lost. He is a fan of “Trivia” at a local Seattle bar, and often recounts how his team usually finishes poorly.

Jamie Griswold

Jamie is a former intern for TBTL. She was one of the youngest persons to appear on the show regularly. Jamie is a member on the Bonneville Badgers kickball team, which is comprised of staff from the radio station. She describes her position on the team as “second lead bunter”. Jamie and Sean are both raising betta fish. Hers is named “Ki” after KIRO, and Sean’s is named “TB” after TBTL. Jamie has been nicknamed "The Grizza" and recently had her ears gauged.

She left the show on July 17, 2008 but has returned from time to time to sing karaoke songs.

Nick Larzalere

Nick is a former intern for TBTL. He was with the show for a short time, starting in June 2008. He was referred to as “the quiet man” and “silent Nick” by Luke because of his shyness. However, he became very talkative when talk turned to filmmaker Werner Herzog, as well as his massive Netflix queue. He was mentioned on the show prior to becoming an intern because of a [http://www.mynorthwest.com/index.php?sid=40663&nid=78 poster] he designed for the aforementioned push-up contest (see Sean's bio.)

His exit interview was on September 11, 2008, although his final show as intern was on the 19th, and his going-away party was on the 22nd.

Robin Turner

Robin is the third TBTL intern, following Jamie and Nick. Her first show was on September 30, 2008.

egments

Regular

*AwesomeNotAwesome:A run-down of some news stories, both serious and humorous. If a story is “awesome”, a soundbite of Luke's girlfriend saying “Rawr!” (a nonsensical word used as an interjection) is played. If a story is “not awesome”, a soundbite of Will Arnett as G.O.B. Bluth saying “Come on!” is played. The topic of the stories discussed are often: politics, music, movies, television, internet sites, videos, and ephemera. The theme song to this segment is "A-W-E-S-O-M-E" by Reel Big Fish.
*Web Gems:Luke reports on a new website or various items of interest he found on the internet. Such items are usually posted on the show’s website, which is where Luke directs the listeners to go if they want to read for themselves.
*Listener Mail:Luke read e-mails (and the occasional letter) aloud, and discusses them with Jennifer and Sean. These emails are usually related to various topics delivered on the show, while some address things listeners want to hear about, or to critique Luke if he has made an erroneous statement.
*What Up Dog with Darby Reed:KIRO’s promotions manager Darby Reed will come onto the show every Thursday and give Seattle listeners information about concerts, restaurants, movies, and other events occurring over the upcoming weekend.

emi-Regular

*Call Takers:Despite its format as an AM talk radio show, TBTL does not take calls nightly. Rather, it usually occurs only several nights a month, and only for an hour. The lack of calls taken during the show is due to both Jennifer’s hesitation about obnoxious callers since the calls are not screened and because Luke does not see the need to do so regularly, as they are a show that strives to be different than the standard talk show. However, if Luke notices that someone is calling in, he may take the call if he feels the person is calling about the topic they are discussing at that particular moment.
*Mystery Solvers:A mystery will be introduced at the beginning of the week, and by Friday, it is usually solved. Examples of mysteries solved include: The mysterious disappearance of local restaurant the Twin Teepees and the identity of a girl who played the orphan Annie at a theater in the early 1980’s that Jennifer’s husband vaguely remembers. Theme music for this segment comes from the 80s TV show The Bloodhound Gang.
*Why It Mattered:The hosts discuss a topic, usually a movie or TV show, and recall their experience with said topic. Examples include: Pulp Fiction, Waiting for Guffman, Little House on the Prairie. Other topics have included the Oscars, the Olympics and Elton John. These usually have variations on the title ("Why It Matters" and "Why He Matters"). Prior to the discussion, the "TBTL Players" join the show for a dramatic reading of a scene or to recite lyrics. Luke often claims that the TBTL Players are actors brought in from around the world, but they are really Luke, Jen, Sean, and a guest on occasion.
*Blinding You With Science:Luke, Jen and Sean discuss various science-related news, usually of a topic that is interesting to them (e.g., meat grown in a tube).
*Wednesdays with Gary:Created following actor Gary Busey’s strange behavior toward Jennifer Garner and Ryan Seacrest at the 2008 Oscars, Wednesdays with Gary is a segment usually incorporating audio of Busey from a film role or interview. At first, a clip from said sources was played with humorous comments interjected by Luke and Jennifer. Lately, the segment has become rarer, and is usually just audio from an interview with Busey that is played, and then paused so that Luke can “ask” a question. Also, the segment can be a reason to discuss new stories that include Busey’s often bizarre public behavior.
*Comment of the Day:Luke will read a comment from the show’s website and congratulate the poster on having the “comment of the day”. This announcement is always followed with a soundbite of fanfare.

Irregular

*Granny Time:Jennifer will explain how something is being changed, usually in an attempt to “modernize” it. She defends her views on such issues, even though Luke disagrees with her, and often light-heartedly makes fun of her for it.
*Top Ten Lists and Mash-Ups:Every once in a while, Luke, Jen and Sean will make a top ten list of various things, such as must-see movies.Also, when discussing musical artists that they love, they will sometimes decide on-air the top five songs by those artists, then play all five songs at the same time. Mash-ups for Madonna and Prince have been played on the air, with Madonna’s in a particular becoming a part of show lore. Luke said the following after the mash-up: “…That is actually the exact sound that will open the gates of hell.”

Book Club

TBTL also has a book club where listeners and the hosts get together to discuss a particular book. Currently the book club is reading Alan Moore's Watchmen. In the past, the book club has read Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Fans of the show are starting a petition for the next book to be Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume.

External links

* [http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=93 Official website]
* [http://youtube.com/toobeautifultolive YouTube channel]
* [http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewIMix?id=281321829&s=143441 iMix of music played during the show, Part 1 (iTunes)] and [http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewIMix?id=292451934&s=143441&v0=575 Part 2]
* [http://www.justin.tv/toobeautifultolive Live Video Stream (7:00-10:00pm Pacific)]

Articles regarding the show

* [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/television/2004114328_lukeburbank09.html The Seattle Times]
* [http://distributedrepublic.net/archives/2008/04/20/too-beautiful-to-live Distributed Republic.net]
* [http://www.seattlemag.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=3E1DA341B2834604B64A1EB3BA74CCFB&tier=4&id=EDDFC447DD4A4FDCBDB6B0F563269795&AudID=42bff54af0444b8f92e1c3e1a324650e Seattle Magazine]