Story for Another Time Podcast · Story for Another Time Podcast

The Dick Butkus Phone Voice

July 24, 2023·29 min·1 clip

Joe opens by stumbling over his line, then introduces John Jacob and gets things moving. The conversation starts with a North Carolina trip tied to helping Joe's son move into his house. The wedding itself gets a quick nod as amazing, perfect, beautiful, and sweet. Joe says the only real complaint was the DJ, and that becomes its own little running joke. From there, John brings up the flood of texted ideas that came in on the ride back. One of those ideas is a Home Depot PSA. Another is a bizarre warning about not cleaning eating and drinking utensils with undergarments. The two of them lean into that kind of complaint because it sounds exactly like the sort of thing that has been bothering somebody for a long time. The fireworks story takes over after that. Joe describes July 3 in Morton, parking near Grace Church, walking out to the soccer fields, and settling in with chairs, blankets, lemon shake-ups, and the whole family-night setup. The mood shifts when people around them start leaving early to beat traffic. Joe cannot understand why anybody would walk away before the finale. John plays the useful counterweight and keeps the argument from turning into a sermon. The complaint widens beyond fireworks. They compare early exits at concerts and ball games, and the same question keeps coming back: is five minutes in the parking lot worth missing the best part of the night? The back-and-forth stays light because both men are willing to be corrected. Details get teased out, repeated, and adjusted as they go. That looseness is part of the charm. Near the end, they pivot to the way people talk on the phone. Joe says he would use a calmer tone if he were delivering bad news to a parent. John says he does not really have a full radio voice, even if people expect one from him. They talk about nasality, about the extra little um that can sneak into an opening, and about how some voices feel more deliberate than others. The whole exchange lands as a mix of complaint, memory, and affectionate teasing. It feels like two familiar voices circling ordinary life until the funny part comes into focus.

As heard by us

A loose, small-town gripe session that turns errands and fireworks into easygoing comedy.

Story for Another Time keeps things loose in a way that mostly works. A drive back from North Carolina, a Home Depot PSA, and a July 3 fireworks night in Morton all get folded into the same easy, funny back-and-forth.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a loose, front-porch gripe session that spins a wedding trip, July 3 fireworks, and a few daily annoyances into comedy.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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