RIP Toucher and Rich Show ... It was fun while it lasted
- Thread starter HomeBrew1901
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I’m sure he loves sounding like shit. What do you want him to do if the stuff his doctor gives him doesn’t work? People are acting like he’s actively choosing to sound like this for some reason. It sucks his job involves talking, but it is what it is. I saw an Instagram post from him today that he’s going back to the doctor, so hopefully they can give him some magic steroids to fix it.
Maybe get a new doctor? Get a second opinion? He uses his voice for a living. It’s been three months and it still sounds like shit.
I also think he doesn’t give a shit that he sounds like shit, hence why he’s been sounding like this for months. Plus he can point to his voice to call out sick every Monday - it’s benefits him lol
He literally said earlier this week he’s going to the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor this week and he’s been trying to get an appointment for awhile.
I’m gonna be honest, it’s weird listening to the show right now. I’ve gotten to know these guys over 15+ years and Fred, voice issue or not, is really going through it. He seems distracted, extra defensive, dark and generally just not sharp. It comes and goes but it’s noticeable. He’s in recovery, in the middle of a separation and has had a litany of annoying health issues. It makes complete sense for him to be this way. We’re rooting for him to find his way through, but it’s not clear if he is. I think a lot of the weirdness here is people trying to express concern and support without sounding too obsessive.
These guys are in my ears 10+ hours a week. I know how they sound. I’m starting to get a “can’t go on like this” vibe from a lot of the show (the suicide talk on Friday is a good example - more the way Fred conducted himself than the topic). The voice thing might make it seem worse than it is, but it seems to me like the other guys have been picking him up a lot lately. I want to put this concern in the right context - it’s a radio show, and things come and go, but I’d be truly bummed if something changed with the show or with Fred. He’s one of the most original comedic voices I’ve heard, and his traditional chemistry with Rich is really pretty astounding. Just pulling for the guy to find some stability.
Working from home for three years, I’ve barely listened to them. The few times I have in the past five months or so, I think this is all directionally correct.
In reference to dirtynine's post , that was uncomfortable.Fred talked about the best way to commit suicide with Rich who felt uncomfortable in participating and 20 minutes later still wasn't dropping it. Fred said it's just busting balls and good show content, similar to how he welcomes social media criticism when you know it bothers him.Rich knew this and refused to participate
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It would be hilarious if the folks getting on him for the throat was really just Wallach and Nick creating accounts to shit on him. He'll feel better when they're back to serve as the occasional outlet for rants over their various fuckups.
On a semi-serious note, Rich was right though about getting off all of this stuff. I deleted Twitter and it feels great even as a non-public figure that nobody cares about. It can just be so negative all the time. Reading outlandish rumors about myself here and on social media would be that multiplied by a million, but it's probably easier said than done as evidenced by every athlete ever that reads and listens to everything said about them.
Fred and Rich couldn't work with Joe full time. They openly mock his betting takes and have said several times its good radio in small doses.
It wouldn't work as a permanent thing
Yeah, more Johnston and less Murray. It can be pretty entertaining when T&R get Murray talking about food, but the gambling talk and shouted hot sports takes are just terrible radio.
I like Joe, but he's not capable of handling a daily 4-hour show. If anything, he probably would get burned out fast.
Rich: "Then where are you seeing the bad stuff?"
Fred: "...you gotta poke around."
Hey, Fred!!
Oh, and if he is -- in fact -- reading this -- I hope the ENT check-up goes well and you get better soon.
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Fred sounded horrible today, but his voice was like Mel Freakin Torme compared to Scott Ferrall's normal voice, so I'm not complaining too much.
I like Joe more than most
I don't think he can be on any of the first 3 shows. I think he actually could do the nighttime show because it's more schticky. From DAs space ship and mario nonsense, the dong report etc. I think his "style" could work 6-10
As I was driving my son to school today he said "you're gonna need to change this, I can't listen to his voice". It doesn't bother me, but it made me realize that some people may just have a viscerally negative reaction to the constant phlegmy hoarseness.
Funny enough, I couldn't bear listening to Ferrell. Granted, he would have sucked had he sounded like Don Pardo, but his voice was nails on a chalkboard to me.
Ferrell's voice on TOP of having metal music blaring in the background was certainly an experience!
Kind of a bummer that they think the discussion in this thread is just people trying to troll Fred.
Yeah, Fred was saying that the ENT has to put a camera down his nose and Rich asked if he had to take anything for that so he wouldn't freak out.
I've actually had that camera down my nose and the doctor told me that they have a numbing spray that they use but some people don't think it does anything. I didn't notice much of a difference with or without it after a few appointments, so I guess she was right. The exam didn't hurt at all, but it triggered some response where my eyes were watering like I was watching Old Yeller for my entire appointment.
The thing Fred read at 9 wasn't from this thread, was it? I do think he stops by here because he's mentioned the board before, but that didn't sound familiar. I hope he knows that this is a place full of supportive, appreciative and generally smart people. I definitely hope he keeps us out of the "haters" column. Got nothing but love for Freddy T. With Carr off the board for the Jets and various QB shoes* about to drop around the league, this should be a fun week to hear his thoughts.
*mmmhmm, yesyes
That’s exactly how the majority come off commenting on everything he does.
What the people need is some shooting the breeze from the T. Maybe kicking the feet up (no shoes of course hmm yes yes) will make everyone forget about this silly throat nonsense.
Shooting the Breeze is why I love T&R. What other “sports” show would do something that goofy, whimsical and fun?
It reminds me of a podcast, but they somehow manage to do it 4 hours a day. I think Russillo's life advice segment is kinda similar to T&R by making me laugh at everyday situations, but he only has to do it 2-3 times a week for 20 minutes a pop.
Does Fred still smoke cigarettes? If so, "stop smoking" is literally the answer to his whining "what do you want me to do? I don't know what you want me to do".
I assume most of us probably think he quit since he doesn't mention smoking at all when it's the most obvious thing that would affect someone's voice. I'm not a MD myself but I can't imagine an ENT doctor telling him "it's all good man, keep rippin those butts!"
Now if he's actually quit smoking this is moot and we should just lay off him. I strongly suspect this isn't the case or he would have mentioned it over and over. I think he hasn't quit and either isn't telling the doctors that he smokes or isn't telling the listeners the part about "other than smoking, nothing you're doing is contributing to your laryngitis" that the doctor told him. Maybe it's that my understanding of tracheal health is so far out of date that cigarettes are OK now.
I assume most of us probably think he quit since he doesn't mention smoking at all when it's the most obvious thing that would affect someone's voice. I'm not a MD myself but I can't imagine an ENT doctor telling him "it's all good man, keep rippin those butts!"
Now if he's actually quit smoking this is moot and we should just lay off him. I strongly suspect this isn't the case or he would have mentioned it over and over. I think he hasn't quit and either isn't telling the doctors that he smokes or isn't telling the listeners the part about "other than smoking, nothing you're doing is contributing to your laryngitis" that the doctor told him. Maybe it's that my understanding of tracheal health is so far out of date that cigarettes are OK now.
Sorry if it's weird if I quote a lot of you guys. I'm trying to teach myself this system. I have been reading you guys for a long time and I respect your opinions. I like Shootin the Breeze too. I really miss the Sarge Sucks stuff. I think Sarge could have raised his profile by leaning into that.
You could hear pretty much the exact moment when Fred crossed over from working the bit to being personally pissed at Rich for ruining it and it was just uncomfortable.
They need each other, though. There's nothing interesting about Rich's sports takes, and he almost always has to resort to phoners to gin up comedic moments or kill radio segment time. I don't dislike Rich's phoners as much as some here do but the callers are vastly inferior to Fred randomly talking on just about any topic as long as he's not begging for sympathy after one of his off-air meltdowns. Fred is also somehow one of TSH's most interesting baseball analysts. Both are fantastic on music in different ways and I wish they would do more music segments but they're probably not allowed.
I have an idea for a song about that Wellesley thing by the way. They should do "Don't Fear the Reaper" and replace the cowbell sounds with pickleball sounds that all have slightly different pitches, so it sounds like a fast pickleball game going on in the background. They could play the lady talking about how it's an existential crisis inside the song, and they could have the old dude saying how he recorded it and trying to play it as the intro.
...whatever, I thought it was funny.
Stop smoking. That's all. Get the nicotine some other way.
This is exactly what I've been trying to say, but you're much better at saying it without sounding like a fanboi weirdo (I have made my peace with sounding like a fanboi weirdo). That "how would you commit suicide? You're not playing the game right!!" segment...OK Fred used to have such good instincts on when to push through resistance. I think I know where he was going with it - he wanted to be like "that's the wrong way to commit suicide..." and give a funny criticism of all the things wrong with it. He probably could have gotten some decent laughs to make the bit pay off. The problem is Rich takes shit like that seriously. We all know why. I'm surprised Fred didn't catch on just move on to Mike or whoever else is willing to speak on the air and play along with the bit.
You could hear pretty much the exact moment when Fred crossed over from working the bit to being personally pissed at Rich for ruining it and it was just uncomfortable.
One thing that consistently works against Fred is how much more of a grown-up Rich seems to be with the off air stuff. He is always on time for work (Fred was late again today for example), knows how to manage his exposure to the garbage people like me write on here, makes the most of living in New England by taking up winter hobbies, and just sort of has it together generally. I believe a lot of us wouldn't be talking so much about Fred's self-destructive tendencies if it were the "Fred N Crash Morning Sports Pileup" (I don't see that show lasting 6 months, let alone 15 years).
They need each other, though. There's nothing interesting about Rich's sports takes, and he almost always has to resort to phoners to gin up comedic moments or kill radio segment time. I don't dislike Rich's phoners as much as some here do but the callers are vastly inferior to Fred randomly talking on just about any topic as long as he's not begging for sympathy after one of his off-air meltdowns. Fred is also somehow one of TSH's most interesting baseball analysts. Both are fantastic on music in different ways and I wish they would do more music segments but they're probably not allowed.
OK I have said my piece and got it out of my system. Thanks for reading if you got this far.
I have an idea for a song about that Wellesley thing by the way. They should do "Don't Fear the Reaper" and replace the cowbell sounds with pickleball sounds that all have slightly different pitches, so it sounds like a fast pickleball game going on in the background. They could play the lady talking about how it's an existential crisis inside the song, and they could have the old dude saying how he recorded it and trying to play it as the intro.
...whatever, I thought it was funny.
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I love these old mother in law stories and family stuff, but don't you guys think it's weird that Fred will say that "I can scream and yell at my parents and they can scream and yell at me and it's over and we don't hold grudges" and then recounts almost to the letter an argument that he had with his dad when his daughter was born and starts to relitigate it?
Same as when he has talked about how his mother acts around him. It seems clear to me that she's afraid of him blowing up on her so it's not "no big deal". I'm paraphrasing, but as I recall she'd say "Freddie, I don't want to make you mad. You're not going to get mad are you?" and gets him all keyed up and then she says "but I just want you to know... ...they were out of Jif so I bought Skippy..." Now he's really mad and starts going off because she got him all worked up over nothing. It's like an O Henry story.
It's hilarious and it makes for good radio but it's not great for his outlook if he thinks that kind of thing is harmless. Even if he were like "we yell at each other a lot; it's probably not that great" it would be better.
Same as when he has talked about how his mother acts around him. It seems clear to me that she's afraid of him blowing up on her so it's not "no big deal". I'm paraphrasing, but as I recall she'd say "Freddie, I don't want to make you mad. You're not going to get mad are you?" and gets him all keyed up and then she says "but I just want you to know... ...they were out of Jif so I bought Skippy..." Now he's really mad and starts going off because she got him all worked up over nothing. It's like an O Henry story.
It's hilarious and it makes for good radio but it's not great for his outlook if he thinks that kind of thing is harmless. Even if he were like "we yell at each other a lot; it's probably not that great" it would be better.
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He's got nothing to worry about from me. I live several states away.
I wish I could say something like "haha! It is I, Sarge, slowly whittling away at your sanity!". Nah, I just carried the love for T&R with me when I left Boston and I listen to the podcast* at work and occasionally hear something I think is odd. When I finally work through what strikes me as odd my writing looks like the obsessive rantings of a stalker. Oh, well; sunk cost. [< Post Reply ]
*except the bankroll boys, that shit does not interest me at all
What I find fascinating or irritating or whatever emotion is motivating me to write all this is that other than the tremendous comedic talent that gets Fred paid so much and makes him so interesting to listen to on a daily basis, we all know guys like him who consistently make bad decisions and seem to have no idea why things don't work out. You can't go up and say "...listen dude," because it's not polite. Like "why are my mechanic bills so high?" (owns a Jaguar) "why did my vacation suck?" (went on vacation with ex-wife) "why does what people say about me make me so angry?" (continues reading what people say about him).
Rich actually did do it a little bit today with the whole dating reply thing, where he asked what Fred expected to achieve by calling the sense of humor lady an old hag. Rich's suggestion was to ghost her. That is what a grown up would do. I would suggest replying with something like, "if you really want to be disappointed come over and check out my dick". It's not Richard Pryor or anything but it might get an outraged response that's funny to read on air. Anything short of sending a dick pic is better than getting angry and pulling a IncelReplies.
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Whenever I get back into town I really want to go mill around that Stah Mahkit and see if I can get that lady to yell at me. Bonus if 5 Sectah Guy is there...maybe I don't want to meet him.
There’s a better than average chance that this guy is designing a Fredskin suit as we speak.
#putthelotioninthebasket
It’s definitely Fred. I’m getting a big Trump calls Page 6 to say a certain real estate tycoon’s massive penis was seen entering various supermodels in the VIP room of Soho’s hottest nightclub vibe.