Give Us the Launch Codes

The Blacklist interview series concludes as Tom manages to score an interview with an officer of the law - Officer Thomas. And no, we're not doing a bit where Tom interviews himself as two different characters with similar first names; WE SWEAR!

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

Clips Cited

• “Chris Rock | Police don’t earn enough” YouTube, uploaded by kom3dy, 5 December 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv1L4WDUBfc.

Our second installment in the Blacklist Interview Series features Tom interviewing a longtime fast-food worker who goes by "Brit". Together, they talk about the highs and lows of working in food service, how COVID changed everything, the changing attitudes of employees, and how fast-food could become a career rather than just the starter job that it's stereotyped to be.

CORRECTION: Wendy’s still sells Chili and Baked Potatoes: https://order.wendys.com/category/103/fries-sides?lang=en_US

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

Tom interviews Jester, a retail employee who talks deeply about the rip-roaring world of retail! All the things you ever wanted to know about the people behind the shopping such as industry trends, stores in times of crises, and the emergence of self-checkout.

Also, the web series Tom was referring to was IKEA Heights: https://youtu.be/y0_AVTnVljE?si=kTN1HdclsNVpmyno&t=152

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

Tom and Travis have been sitting a couple of weeks on America's latest elephant in the room - the assassination of a prominent political figure - with hope that by the time they record this episode, they would be calm, controlled and nuanced. The results.... well, you'll be the judge.

CORRECTIONS:

• 38:03: As you might have surmised afterwords, Travis meant to say “MLK” not “JFK”. However, anti-Catholic prejudice was (and still is) common down in the South at the time and Kennedy being the first Catholic president was significant for the time.
• 50:54: When Tom and Travis meant to say “conspiracy”, they meant to say, “Conspiracy THEORY”. Just to be clear, GUTLC doesn’t support conspiracy theories that suggest Israel was behind Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

Clips Cited

• “Bill Maher Hilariously Mocks Trump’s Antifa Terrorist Label” YouTube, uploaded by fxcEatvideo, 22 September 2025. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eW27MDACChE
• “Cheers to the Tin Man” Creature Commandos, written & created for television by James Gunn, directed by Matt Peters, DC Studios, 2024.
• Hamilton, directed by Thomas Kail, performance by Jonathan Groff, Walt Disney Pictures, 2020.
• The Patriot, directed by Roland Emmerich, performance by Mel Gibson, Columbia Pictures, 2000.

Music Cited

• “Instant Karma (We All Shine On) (Ultimate Mix)” by John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Apple, 1970.

Tom & Travis talk about the lack of hope among their peers - younger and older. Is the world getting worse? Can we do anything about it? If not, what can you do instead?

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

This week, Tom and I get a little more local (just a little, we promise) by talking about their state governor and God-help-us future President Gavin Newsom... and his glorious new congressional maps that Travis & Tom have to vote on come November. Watch as they lament being dealt a bad hand but also realizing that crying over a bad hand is a losing strategy.

(And on a serious note, we recorded this episode while Charlie Kirk was still alive. Kirk comes up only briefly in the episode but he was alive at the time when Travis & Tom were talking about him.)

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

Clips Cited

• “Gavin Newsom splits with Dems on trans athletes in women’s sports, seeks advice from Charlie Kirk.” YouTube, uploaded by New York Post, 6 March 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdd42MAu4_o&ab_channel=NewYorkPost
• The Patriot, directed by Roland Emmerich, performance by Mel Gibson, Columbia Pictures, 2000.

This week, Travis comes back from a two week vacation and he & Tom discuss the weeks he was away in a non-heavy, stream of consciousness conversation. Topics range from vapid sports talking heads to Lex Luthor to children's movies to rock band recommendations to Vegas being a soulless city.

CORRECTIONS:

• Stephen A. Smith’s movie scene was actually in Creed III, not II. And the quote referred to “THREE years ago”, not “four”.
• Travis meant to say that Dukat bedded BAJORAN women (hence why he coughed “RAPE!”).
• The team that Travis forgot that’s also in the NFC West division is the Arizona Cardinals. In retrospect, he understands why they were forgettable.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

Clips Cited

• A Bug’s Life, directed by John Lasseter, performance by Kevin Spacey, Walt Disney Pictures, 1998.
• “Chris Berman’s WHOOP and HE COULD GO ALL THE WAYYYY! NFL Primetime 2020.” YouTube, uploaded by firshad, 21 September 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYXqI7nrV40&ab_channel=firshad.
• “Comes the Inquisitor” Babylon 5, written by J. Michael Straczynski, directed by Mike Vejar, performances by Wayne Alexander & Bruce Boxleitner, Warner Bros. Domestic Television, 1995.
• “Jalen Rose on new NBA playoffs format suggestion: I love it.” First Take. ESPN, 20 February, 2018.

Music Cited

• “SportsCenter Theme” by John Colby (ESPN, 1989)
• “SportsCenter Theme” by Trouble Funk (ESPN, 2022)

BLAM! POW! BAM! Travis and Tom manage to stumble into both talking about military shooting things. One's a series of video games about shooting (among other forms of violence) Nazis with mechs. The other is a TV/Film franchise about the US military shooting at ancient aliens who built the pyramids!

(Oh and it should be noted that Travis technically didn’t give an answer when asked, “Do you like killing Nazis?” Suspicions be raised….)

CORRECTIONS:

• Both the original Castle Wolfenstein and Wolfenstein 3D in 1981 and 1992 respectively. The first Doom was released in 1993 and thus neither could technically be called a “Doom clone”.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

Clips Cited

• “The Nox” Stargate SG-1, written by Hart Hanson, directed by Charles Correll, performance by Christopher Judge, MGM Television, 1997.
• “Secrets” Stargate SG-1, written by Terry Curtis Fox, directed by Duane Clark, performance by Richard Dean Anderson, MGM Television, 1998.
• Stargate, directed by Roland Emmerich, performance by Kurt Russell, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, 1994.
• “The Warrior” Stargate SG-1, story by Christopher Judge, teleplay/directed by Peter DeLuise, performance by Richard Dean Anderson, MGM Television, 2002.
• Wolfenstein: The New Order, directed by Jerk Gustafsson & Jens Matthies, Machine Games/Bethesda Softworks, 2024.

Music Cited

• “End Credits Theme” by Joel Goldsmith (Stargate Universe, MGM Television, 2009-2011)
• “Stargate Atlantis Theme” by Joel Goldsmith (Stargate Atlantis, MGM Television, 2004-2009)
• “Stargate Infinity” by Mike Piccirillo & Jean-Michel Guirao (Stargate Infinity, MGM Television, 2002-2003)
• “Stargate Overture” by David Arnold (Stargate, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, 1994)
• “Stargate SG-1 Theme” by Joel Goldsmith and David Arnold (Stargate SG-1, MGM Television, 1997-2007)
• “Zug nach Hamburg” by Die Schäferhunde (Wolfenstein: The New Order, Bethesda Softworks, 2014.

Thomas & Travis found an ORIGINAL Hollywood movie that did well at the box office. This inspires them to talk about not just the movie in question, but also about original movies, how they fair at the box office, and what can we do to get more of them again!

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

Clips Cited

• Armageddon, Audio commentary by Ben Affleck, directed by Michael Bay, Touchstone Pictures/Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 1998.
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, directed by Mike Newell, performance by Jeff Rawle, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2005.
• Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler, performances by Hailee Steinfeld and Michael B. Jordan, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2025.

How do you do, fellow zoomers? Travis and Tom bring on returning guest, Travis's wife Denise, to talk about FX's new comedy about young twentysomethings living in New York City (gee, this sounds familiar). Is this the voice of the current generation? Is this the next Friends? Is it even good??? Or is this just another item in the streaming pile? And coming up - what's wrong with TV today and other wild topics!

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/GiveUstheLaunchCodes

Travis’ IG: @musicalnotextr

Clips Cited

• “Disaster” Star Trek: The Next Generation, story by Ron Jarvis & Philip A. Scorza, teleplay by Ronald D. Moore, directed by Gabrielle Beaumont, performances by Michael Dorn & Rosalind Chao, Paramount Domestic Television, 1991.