MBMBaM 783: Spidey Spaghetti

Summary

Podcast Summary

Podcast: My Brother, My Brother and Me
Episode: 783 – "Spidey Spaghetti"
Release Date: October 6, 2025
Hosts: Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy

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Episode Overview

In this episode of MBMBaM, the McElroy brothers dive into their signature mix of absurdist comedy and offbeat life advice, riffing on topics from government shutdowns and air traffic control to the philosophy of collecting rubber ducks, and culminating in a deep (and deeply silly) exploration of Wendy’s new “Tendies” chicken tenders. The show features classic bits like Munch Squad and plenty of banter about food branding gone haywire. Expect rants, wild hypotheticals, and lots of loving mockery.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Government Shutdown & Trav Nation (01:10–09:00)

• Opening Banter: The brothers address the real-world government shutdown with anarchic humor, wondering aloud if they should be podcasting during such times.
• Trav Nation Proposal: Travis offers to envelop the US under "Trav Nation," promising to reopen national parks and make every bear a citizen.
• Air Traffic Control Bit: The trio grimly jokes about unpaid air traffic controllers, proposing to improve their work conditions (ex: letting the Property Brothers decorate control towers, giving them race car beds).
• Funding Scheme: Travis suggests selling decommissioned tanks to American collectors (after removing ammunition) and letting kids ride them at “Tank Town” amusement parks. The others laugh at the daredevil logic.
• Superman Bomb Disposal Debate: A tangent leads to questioning Superman’s wisdom in throwing all nuclear weapons into the sun (“Did he talk to any science guys about that at all?” – Justin, 06:44).
• Political Frustration: The brothers ridicule certain politicians' handling of the shutdown, with several expletive-laden rants aimed at Mike Johnson (“I hate how much oxygen I share with that absolute fucking choed wrinkle” – Griffin, 09:21).

2. Advice Questions

A. Rubber Duck Collection Gatekeeping (10:07–17:18)

• The Dispute: A listener feels that their 15-year, 300-duck collection is being cheapened by casual collectors.
• Brothers’ Take: Reluctantly engaging in “gatekeeping,” they define a real collection as something more significant than simply having a handful.
• Tactics for Subtle Dominance:
  • Peacocking: Ostentatiously displaying ducks or having a phone wallpaper featuring the collection.
  • Carry ‘Burner Ducks’: Use less valuable duplicates as props when challenged (“These are literal trash to me. This is gravel” – Justin, 13:24).
  • Social Pitfalls: Griffin warns that announcing your collection leads to an avalanche of boring, basic gifts.
• Display Ideas: The brothers imagine an adult carnival-style rubber duck display involving a circulating ring of water.

B. Popsicle Etiquette at Work & “Spidey Spaghetti” (17:34–27:16)

• Listener Query: Is it okay to bring fruit popsicles to the office?
• Diving Deep: The trio analyzes popsicle etiquette, flavors, and pitfalls of office snack theft.
• Homemade Popsicles: Griffin suggests making your own, perhaps with herbs, to project adult sophistication, but wonders if that would earn you “office popsicle guy” status.
• Theft & Shrinkage: “Anything individually wrapped in a box of more than four, you could totally lose one of those just to theft.” (Griffin, 23:00)
• Parent Life: Anecdotes of dividing food precisely for picky kids segue to lamenting about cartoon-branded foods that don’t taste any better—such as Spidey Spaghetti (“He won’t make it taste how Spider Man feels to you, to see him” – Griffin, 21:57).

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Munch Squad: The "Tendies" Discourse (31:49–51:28)

The Segment (Munch Squad intro at 31:49)

• Big News: Wendy’s is launching “Tendies” (chicken tenders), and issued a bombastic press release.
• Sign of the Times: The new sign just swaps the “W” in the Wendy’s logo for a “T.” (“You can tell that’s what happened because the kerning is, like, fucked up.” – Griffin, 33:17)

Press Release Satire

• Mocking the Hype: The brothers lampoon the overblown, jargon-laced copy, comparing the 18-month development cycle to vaccine development and ridiculing claims of “bold new sauces.”
• Mixing Sauces: Wendy’s allegedly discovered young people like to mix sauces (“Flocks to sauces”—Travis, 40:17).
• Sauce Names: Phony experimental sauce ideas (“They didn’t like mummy piss, guys. They did not like mummy piss.” – Griffin, 42:09).
• Product Packaging: “Tendies come in vessels built for dunking with a dip cutout…a reflection of how consumers want to eat.” (Justin, 46:10)
• Existential Dread: Griffin wonders aloud if the press release is even true since the website simply lists “tenders,” not “tendies.”
• Final Thoughts: They conclude the launch is a non-event disguised as innovation: “18 months spent: people like chicken tenders, dipping in sauce, sometimes they mix them. And have you ever noticed that Wendy’s sounds like tendies?” (Travis, 45:55).
• Self-Referential: The brothers note the similarity between the QSR press game and their own: “That’s the podcast game we’ve been playing the whole time.” (Justin, 48:40)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Gatekeeping Rubber Ducks:
  “Have a bag of 20 to 30 discreet ducks on you at all times...These are literal trash to me.” (Justin, 13:15)
• On Popsicle Office Etiquette:
  “Anything individually wrapped in, like a box of more than four, you could totally lose one of those just to theft.” (Griffin, 23:00)
• Superhero Logic:
  “Do you think he talked to any science guys about that at all?” (Justin, 06:44, on Superman throwing nukes into the sun)
• Wendy’s “Innovation”:
  “Have you ever noticed that Wendy’s sounds like tendies?” (Travis, 45:55)
  “Tendies come in vessels built for dunking with a dip cutout...It’s a reflection of how consumers want to eat.” (Justin, 46:10)
• AI Press Release Satire:
  “I think AI wrote this and it’s putting me in a headspace, like, maybe it’s all a…AI Matrix human battery, and I’m asleep...” (Griffin, 43:27)
• Product Tie-ins & Grousing:
  “You don’t like spaghetti? I’m not giving you the ragu with the battle bus on it.” (Griffin, 21:47)
  “He won’t make it taste how Spider-Man feels to you, to see him.” (Griffin, 21:57)
• The Aftermath:
  “Thank you, Wendy's, for making me think about Popeyes.” (Travis, 51:00)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamps | |------------------------------------------------|--------------| | Government Shutdown, Trav Nation | 01:10–09:00 | | Superman and Nukes | 06:10–08:09 | | Gatekeeping Rubber Ducks | 10:07–17:18 | | Popsicles at Work/“Spidey Spaghetti” | 17:34–27:16 | | Munch Squad: Wendy’s “Tendies” | 31:49–51:28 | | Notable Quotes/Bit on “Tendies” press release | 43:00–47:10 |

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Overall Tone & Takeaways

• Language & Tone: Irreverent, energetic, and always in service of the bit; full of inside jokes, pop-culture asides, and casual swearing.
• Humor: Much of the comedy arises from taking mundane advice questions or PR releases to their logical-extreme parody.
• Utility for Listeners: You won’t get expert advice, but you will get permission to make your collection (ducks, or anything else) as Extra as you want. And you'll never look at fast-food innovation the same—especially if it's called "Tendies."

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For anyone who missed this episode: You’ll get the McElroy brothers at the top of their goof game, offering laughs about the state of the government, collecting ducks, office etiquette, and the wild world of corporate food branding—plus a withering takedown of bland product launches everywhere.

Transcript

[Griffin McElroy]

The McElroy brothers are not experts and their advice should never be followed. Travis insists he's a sexpert, but if there's a degree on his wall, I haven't seen it. Also, this show isn't for kids, which I mention only so the babies out there will know how cool they are for listening. What's up, you cool baby?

[Theme Song Singer]

It's the start of something beautiful A.

[Justin McElroy]

Small acquaintance has blossomed it's ripened into.

[Theme Song Singer]

A precious friends I could have never seen what was coming for me Hangs at the skate park Hangs by the beach My life, it feels like it's better it's better with you My life, ah. It's better it's better with you this is who you are it's better, it's better with two it's better with you.

[Justin McElroy]

Hello everybody, and welcome to My Brother, My Brother, Me and advice show for the modern era. I'm your oldest brother, Justin McElroy.

[Travis McElroy]

What is up, citizens of Travnation? It's me, your middlest brother and brave leader, Travis Big Dog. Woof woof room. McElroy.

[Griffin McElroy]

What's up, Trav Nation? It's me, your sweet baby brother. 30 under 30, built for tough Griffin McElroy. I'm not sure, guys, if I'm even allowed to be doing this right now.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, dude, you should be taking the day off. Propping your feet up like all of our government employees. Cause anarchy in the usa. We have no government.

[Travis McElroy]

Fear not.

[Griffin McElroy]

And that's Fear not.

[Justin McElroy]

The worst.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like, obviously bad in a lot of ways, but considering so many ways, so.

[Justin McElroy]

Many ways of joking of the show.

[Griffin McElroy]

But for the joking of the show. I'm just saying the government's not been great lately.

[Travis McElroy]

Well, you're welcome certain parts of it. Trav Nation. I want to use this platform to extend the offer of encompassing what you guys call the United States of America.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, let's just go down the list. Trav Nation. Cause I really, you know, help would certainly be appreciated. We've burned a lot of bridges lately. The folks down on Capitol Hill and the White House, actually, I should say primarily. They are also civic. All the. And the courts. So the parks are closed.

[Travis McElroy]

We'd open those back up.

[Griffin McElroy]

How?

[Travis McElroy]

Just unlocking the gates, mostly.

[Griffin McElroy]

You don't think you'd get in trouble doing that?

[Travis McElroy]

Well, we'd start paying the employees. So then who's going to stop us? The employees.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's cool. Yeah, no, you can definitely do that.

[Travis McElroy]

And also, every bear is actually a citizen of Travnation. Automatically.

[Justin McElroy]

Every bear.

[Travis McElroy]

You said Every bear.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's cool.

[Travis McElroy]

Even the weird ones.

[Justin McElroy]

The one that I need you to focus on, Trav and Trav Nation, because it is the one that I hate.

[Travis McElroy]

The most about the shutdown, I think.

[Justin McElroy]

Is that our beloved air traffic controllers will continue to work.

[Griffin McElroy]

Right.

[Justin McElroy]

But will not be compensated for that work. That's the exact headspace I want them at, baby.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, for sure.

[Justin McElroy]

That's exactly where I want them. I want them ragged, bone tired.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

And broke and.

[Justin McElroy]

And broken angry.

[Travis McElroy]

Here's my plan for that. I'm gonna start.

[Justin McElroy]

Thank goodness.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. I'm gonna start paying them and I'm gonna hire more of them and I'm gonna give them breaks and comfy like stuff in there. I'm gonna redo a lot of this.

[Griffin McElroy]

That'll do it, man. No, Monster.

[Travis McElroy]

Get the Property Brothers up in there and have the Property Brothers fix, like.

[Griffin McElroy]

Make the tower cute.

[Travis McElroy]

That's cool. Fix all their shit. Give them race car beds.

[Griffin McElroy]

That'll do it.

[Justin McElroy]

Tell me the next 10 words and I'll drop out of this podcast right now. You know, Travis, like, sounds nice.

[Travis McElroy]

I gave you a lot of words, Justin.

[Justin McElroy]

How are you funding it?

[Griffin McElroy]

He's going to help out too. Land in the plains, Travis. Break off a little bit of how that sounds if you were in the tower.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, give me a little to the left. Little to the left. Oh, yeah, you got it. Now kiss those wheels on the ground. Smooch them right down. That's a good plane kiss. That kind of thing.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, for sure. That kind of thing. For sure.

[Travis McElroy]

That ought to get boys and Blue downstairs. What I'm going to do, Justin, to raise the money to pay for it, I'm going to sell the tanks. Now I know what you're wondering. No, I'm not going to sell them to other countries. I'm going to take the bullets out of them.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes. Good. Smart. The bullets are so big in the tanks.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm going to take the bullets out so there won't be any bullets available. Don't get it twisted. And then just gonna sell them to American collectors. I think that there's gonna be a real market for these things. We could put them in parades. Just put em all over the place. Let kids drive them if they want to. Maybe set up like an amusement park area with a Corndorf. Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Take down for kids with corn dogs tanks.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, you can drive the tires.

[Griffin McElroy]

The tanks shoot corn dogs out super fast. That's cool.

[Travis McElroy]

And I'm gonna let Trav Nation citizens pay a dollar each per vote to vote on what we're gonna name each tank.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hey, Trapp, can I talk to you over here for a second?

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

You notice how uncomfortable Jess is talking about political?

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, man. Here I am talking about selling.

[Griffin McElroy]

What's that all about? I feel like we're over here having a good time talking about tank Town. Obviously, it's a fucking horrifying situation 100% of the time all around Tank Town. But, like, it's our job as jokesters to say things like, a tank that shoots corn dogs. Justin's over there looking like he has diarrhea and it doesn't know what to do about it.

[Justin McElroy]

No, I was thinking.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I got lost in my own head for a second because of all my.

[Griffin McElroy]

Good ideas, because of how it was.

[Justin McElroy]

It was when you were gonna get rid of all the tanks.

[Travis McElroy]

Not get rid of, sell. Sell them.

[Justin McElroy]

Good.

[Griffin McElroy]

This part's important. Good collectors.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

When you said you wouldn't. Okay, here's what.

[Travis McElroy]

Tanks can neither be created nor destroyed. So I can't get rid of or.

[Griffin McElroy]

You need to know.

[Travis McElroy]

I could sink them in the ocean and make reefs out of them for the fishes.

[Griffin McElroy]

Cool.

[Justin McElroy]

That's a good idea.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hang up. Juice. About tanks.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, no, it's just when Travis started talking about not selling the tanks, I started talk thinking about that time and Superman went and scooped up all of our weapons and threw them in the sun.

[Travis McElroy]

Really?

[Justin McElroy]

Part of Superman 4, a lot of people don't talk about it, but yeah, in Superman 4, Superman scoops up all the nuclear weapons on the planet. She knows about. Yeah, X rays. Okay. So he gets all the nuclear bombs on the planet and then he throws them in the sun.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Do you think. I mean, Superman's great and indestructible. We love it. But do you think he talked to any science guys about that at all? Because, like, I'm not a bombologist for sure, but, like, it does seem wild that he just kind of made that call.

[Travis McElroy]

Do you think, too, when he landed back and he was like, I got rid of all the nuclear weapons. Like, the science guys and stuff were like, oh, my God, you got rid of all the nuclear weapons and all this stuff to make more nuclear weapons? And he was like, oh, shit.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, no. Whoops.

[Travis McElroy]

I'll be right back. I gotta go get one out of the middle.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think Supes probably did some back of the napkin math. According to they might be giants. A million earths could fit inside of one sun, and a million nuclear bombs can fit in one earth.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

So that's like a Google bombs. I think it would take quite a lot to blow up the sun, but it would have been nice to know if he had done like a press conference beforehand, even shortly beforehand, like, hey, I'm Superman. I'm take your bombs. There's nothing you can do to stop me. I'm going to throw him into the sun. If you happen to be a sunologist and you know stuff about how that could be disastrous for the whole solar system, hit me up and he has.

[Travis McElroy]

Like a puffer right now. I'm going to pick them all up. I'm going to park them on Saturn as a placeholder, and then you guys tell me it's cool, I'm going to take them to the sun. If we want to do them one at a time, just as ten at.

[Griffin McElroy]

A time I think is okay, we'll do ten at a time. If there's like a crazy flare, I'll be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yowza.

[Justin McElroy]

Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. It's like, yeah, it's exactly what you're doing, Superman.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hi, Jiff Jiffs, Daily Planet. Couldn't you just throw them anywhere else in the whole gal? In the whole universe?

[Justin McElroy]

No, because if he throws it once, if he throws it and he doesn't throw it far enough so it comes. It falls back down to earth.

[Travis McElroy]

And also, you know, like doomsday's out there and Megazord, all the other Superman bad guys and they could collect those things up, you know what I mean?

[Justin McElroy]

You hit the guardians of the galaxy with that, then where are we at?

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, you gotta be careful with that. Captain planet told him to do it and he was like, yeah, let's do.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is a bad idea to talk about this, considering that it is. I mean, four or five days before the episode comes out. While we record this, we don't know what the situation is. I did see Mike Johnson on the news this morning. That absolutely fucking chode penis wrinkle up on a stage saying if the democrats don't get it together, we're going to have to start laying off federal workers.

[Travis McElroy]

You hate that shit, don't you, Michael?

[Griffin McElroy]

Michael, that's your favorite.

[Travis McElroy]

Going to have to start.

[Griffin McElroy]

We hate laying off federal.

[Justin McElroy]

Fuck off choed nuts.

[Travis McElroy]

Get him.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, get him. Griffin, who's.

[Griffin McElroy]

I hate how much oxygen I share with that absolute fucking choed wrinkle. Fuck that dude.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. Is he one of the big guys or what's up?

[Griffin McElroy]

He came out, someone came up to him and was like, hey, your president's embarrassing himself, man. And he's Like I didn't see the whole military speech thing.

[Justin McElroy]

Eat both of these nuts.

[Griffin McElroy]

Mike Johnson, you fucking chode.

[Travis McElroy]

Did he see the thing where Trump posted an AI video of himself saying a thing? You never said, Michael. I did it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Didn't see that one.

[Justin McElroy]

Did see it.

[Travis McElroy]

They're all true. I was watching the new season of the Bear. I know I'm a little behind, but I haven't been keeping up with current events. I only read Le Mans. Isn't it Lamond?

[Justin McElroy]

This is an advice show. I want to help you, the people I collect rubber ducks. In recent years, this has become pretty common, and they're popping up in more and more stores as a result. When I mention my collection nowadays, I. I'll get a casual. Oh, I have a friend who collects them too. Or something casual like that. The thing is, I bet you've used casual twice in two clauses, my friend. I know exactly what your problem is with this new wave of duck collectors. Huh? It couldn't be that they're casual. Huh? The thing is that I've been collecting for about 15 years.

[Griffin McElroy]

Fuck yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

And have about three. I didn't even finish the fucking question. I knew had your number. Not that exact number. I would have guessed 300 unique ducks. How can I casually assert my dominance as the inevitably superior collector? That's from Buoyancy Bother in Virginia.

[Griffin McElroy]

We're going to have to put on the hat of someone who celebrates a sort of gatekeeping, which is not our usual position to take. But I do think I do fully, fully understand why it would get your hackles up. My oldest says that he has a rubber duck collection because he gets a rubber duck every time he goes to the dentist. My friends. He has like nine. And then some of them are cool. He has one big glittery one. I like that a lot. That's a cool rubber duck. He's got a whole spot in his bedroom where he displays them. That's great. But come on, man.

[Travis McElroy]

I don't know. I don't listen. I'm gonna gatekeep gatekeeping for a second. I don't know that differentiating a collection versus I have several of those. That's more of like, let's make words mean something more than it is gay. If you said, I like rubber ducks and you said you don't like rubber ducks. I like rubber ducks. Cause I have 300 of them. But if you're like, yeah, my friend collects those. And you're like, how many do they have? And they're like five. It's like no, they have several of them.

[Justin McElroy]

But it's just like everybody feels like a phony all the time, man.

[Travis McElroy]

Not me.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's true. And Travis doesn't. Some people, Okay, a lot of people.

[Justin McElroy]

Feel like a phony all the time. You don't have to do anything to make people feel like a phony. Right. I understand the compulsion, but if you peacock a little bit.

[Griffin McElroy]

It'S a different bird. Travis is right on this one. It's a fully different bird. They don't even make anything.

[Justin McElroy]

You are ostentatious.

[Travis McElroy]

Thank you.

[Justin McElroy]

With your ducks. Then I think that they're going to fill in the blanks there and they're going to see what a. What a joke they are, recognize themselves for the jabroni that they are. They're going to know that you're superiority there. They're gonna know the tip of the flying V, such as it is.

[Travis McElroy]

Now. Let me ask you this, Justin. Is there a scenario in which question Asker is talking about very proudly, their duck collection, and then one of said jabronis tries to steal a little bit of that limelight of like. Yeah, I also do that.

[Griffin McElroy]

No. If they frame it, like, no big deal. I also do ducks.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, everybody does that. That's when you have to drop. That's when you should.

[Travis McElroy]

Okay, yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

There is one pretty good option here, and that is to have a bag of 20 to 30 discreet ducks on you at all times.

[Griffin McElroy]

Burners. Not your faves.

[Justin McElroy]

Keep moving. Not your faves.

[Travis McElroy]

No, no, no, no.

[Justin McElroy]

You need to be able to toss some on the ground and walk away. That's how good your collection is. These are literal trash to me. This is gravel.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hold up. Like a special limited edition, like Christina Aguilera dirty era. Sort of like cross promo record launch duck. And they're like. You're like, pretty cool, huh? And they're like, holy shit, where'd you even get that? You say, and you crush it in your hand, you throw it in the garage. You say, doesn't matter. I have 30 of them.

[Justin McElroy]

I got 30 of these.

[Theme Song Singer]

I have 30.

[Justin McElroy]

I want you ducks all over my floor.

[Griffin McElroy]

We're probably the first people to make that. Sometimes it feels like I feel an energy in the room and it's like, we're definitely the first people to ever make a rubber duck collection based Christina Aguilera Dirty joke. Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I feel like after we do it, sometimes we take like two beats.

[Griffin McElroy]

We take a breath. That was cool.

[Justin McElroy]

For the historians to write it down to clip it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Awesome.

[Justin McElroy]

Clip it out.

[Travis McElroy]

Clip that too.

[Justin McElroy]

It makes it easier for history to find it when history is trying to find it later.

[Travis McElroy]

The big ones, those little parentheses around.

[Justin McElroy]

The joke, they go a little parenthetical, a silence parenthetical.

[Travis McElroy]

That was when they changed everything.

[Justin McElroy]

That's one of the times when they changed everything that week.

[Griffin McElroy]

This was the episode the music died. We'll all remember. I think a great solve for this, and this is one that you can use for so many fucking things that you want to use as a conversation starter or a subtle means of displaying your superiority in your duck collection is set it as your desktop on your phone, your wallpaper, whatever you call it, people call it different things in different countries. Your desktop wallpaper on your phone, make it all of your ducks. People are gonna see that. Cause it's bright and colorful. They'll be like, wow, it's a lot of ducks. You say, thanks, they're mine. Do you want to see more photos of them? Don't tell me about your friend. They'll be too embarrassed. They'll know if they see it. They'll know that it's not appropriate to bring up their friend.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, I just feel like if you've already dropped a bag of 20 to 30 discreet ducks on the Griffins is.

[Griffin McElroy]

Just a whole lot of, well, mine juice. You think about how many times you're doing that a day. They only have 300 ducks, so they could pull off this gambit approximately 10 times. You are.

[Justin McElroy]

You have to go back for your boys. You got to get.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, you can.

[Justin McElroy]

You can fly off the river.

[Travis McElroy]

You know what I mean?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah, you can drop them in a flourish. But ducks fly together, man.

[Griffin McElroy]

Holy shit, though. I almost think because of my prioritizing, avoiding uncomfortable social scenarios, it would be worse to have this be public information because do you know how many fucking scroudy row basic ass, canary yellow rubber ducks you are going to get sitting on your. You come in, they know it's your birthday, they put a basic ass rubber duck, like enjoy. What the fuck am I gonna do with this? I do this platonic ideal of a rubber duck.

[Travis McElroy]

There is an early level of intervention though, where you set that up. Like, listen, I love receiving ducks if. If they are like appropriate for the collection. And now you've given your co workers or friends like the hunt, right, where they're gonna bring it like, what about this one? I've done, this one is special. And when they get the approval on that, that's when it feels so good. And it's like, yeah, that's worthy. You nailed it. That's great.

[Griffin McElroy]

If you had a big rubber duck collection, wouldn't you want to display it in like a huge, like, hook a duck rotating aquatic display. Like, you would have a whole room in your house and you walk. People would walk in and they're just going like. They're not sitting on a shelf collecting dust.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, yeah. They're like in a ring of moving water.

[Griffin McElroy]

They're in a ring of moving water. Like a carnival game. But these are absolutely not child's prizes. These are adult collector's items. That would be so cool.

[Travis McElroy]

Man. I hate the use of the word adult before things. It just is. I think it's been ruined for me the second you say adult collector's items, I'm like, ugh, yeah. What's up with these ducks?

[Griffin McElroy]

They are butt ducks.

[Justin McElroy]

I love popsicles. And I was thinking about maybe bringing some to work. Is a delightful afternoon snack. There's a freezer and the popsicles are individually wrapped. What's the etiquette on bringing these treats into the office? For context, I'm specifically speaking about the frozen treats on a stick, not the flavored ice in a sleeve or iced cream. The flavor would most likely be fruit flavored. So no bomb bombs.

[Travis McElroy]

Thank you.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're really building this fucking plane while you're flying it, aren't you, Bob?

[Travis McElroy]

These are important details, though. In a box. They are important details.

[Justin McElroy]

Maybe it would be better. What the fuck do you think bomb pops taste like?

[Griffin McElroy]

Bomb pop. Give me a. It's a cadoozy. Give me a fucking A push pop. Maybe that would be unconventional. I might, I might.

[Justin McElroy]

They're all fruit flavors. They're all kinds of flavors.

[Travis McElroy]

But Justin, you have to recognize in a professional setting. You see Derek from accounting bust out a flute flavored popsicle.

[Justin McElroy]

Sorry, sorry, you said flute.

[Travis McElroy]

So we have to flute what's playable? Like those candies, you know, like Too sweet from Bang Bang.

[Justin McElroy]

Fuck, I'd destroy a toot sweet right now.

[Travis McElroy]

We all would. But you see that and it's like, now that's almost a professional affectation. I see a bomb pop, I'm like, that's a child working an adult's job.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, what's the adult? I guess there are like those fucking fancy chocolate ones that you see where they like really drizzle on that good chocolate stuff.

[Travis McElroy]

But it's not an ice cream one. Griffin. It is a fruit flavor.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're right. It's not an ice cream. It's a fruit flavor. You're right.

[Travis McElroy]

There is the ones we've tried to do this where it's like. And there's pieces of real fruit inside. And, like, give those to our kids. And our kids are like, what do you think I want out of a Popsicle experience? Because, Father, this is not it.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's not the world's hardest strawberry, I'll tell you that much.

[Justin McElroy]

It's just, like, the gap between. It's like the biggest gap in the world is the gap between how kids think they feel about smoothies and how kids really feel about smoothies.

[Travis McElroy]

Correct.

[Griffin McElroy]

For sure.

[Justin McElroy]

Kids are obsessed. Cause we had a lot of. We had a lot of cartoons that were in their age that were, like, trying to popularize, you know, healthy eating, right? Like, you gotta eat smoothies. Like, Daniel Tiger, like, went apeshit for it. And they love. Conceptually love smoothies.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, that was. He was doing protein. He was protein packing. Cause he wanted to get huge like his dad. He wanted to get huge like his dad. That was the whole thing where the. Do you remember the, like, the chunk of Episodes where the lion moved into town and, like, took. He, like, walked up to Daniel Tiger's dad and, like, fucking punched him in the face and then took his watch.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Took his house and his wife and his watch.

[Justin McElroy]

And it's like, his dad is like, the powder's not gonna call it.

[Travis McElroy]

Daniel.

[Justin McElroy]

If you want real gains, you gotta eat a gazelle.

[Griffin McElroy]

So he had the protein pack on. You remember that? It was the one Prince Wednesday did die. He died from the lion attack.

[Justin McElroy]

Kids don't like smoothies. That's all I was gonna say. I can't. Where are you guys at with popsicles? Cause I bring these flavored treats out to the pool. My kids love them. I can't. I don't like any popsicles.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's cool. That's. I understand.

[Travis McElroy]

I like any popsicles.

[Griffin McElroy]

They give me a tummy ache, weirdly. Especially the ones in the plastic sleeve. It's just like straight sugar water.

[Justin McElroy]

Now, you say weirdly they contain carbon. So I don't understand why it is weird that they give you a tummy ache.

[Griffin McElroy]

I will fuck absolutely with a Philly Swirl. Sometimes those come in cups with a stick. But they do make them in popsicle forms. Those are so lit. Justin, you tell me.

[Justin McElroy]

People, Philly swirl people, please make a box of the cotton candy ones. You only put two in there, and.

[Travis McElroy]

It'S ruining my life.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, please. I mean, it's my least favorite, but for the kids, the kids gotta have.

[Justin McElroy]

Box of kind of kids.

[Travis McElroy]

Hey, as long as we're on this. I see you all out there, Popsicle makers. The animals, all y'. All. You know, you got one good flavor and one shit flavor. And you do combo boxes to get that shit flavor out of the warehouse. Cut it the fuck out.

[Griffin McElroy]

Cut it out. We're onto you.

[Justin McElroy]

And stop putting people they like on. Stop putting people they like on flavors they don't. Yeah, I'm tired of telling my kid I can't get him Olaf's horseradish crunch. Because my son, my son Jeremy despises horseradish. I can't buy it for him.

[Griffin McElroy]

You don't like spaghetti? I'm not giving you. I'm not giving you the ragu with the battle bus on it.

[Justin McElroy]

Dude, I'm getting Spidey spaghetti. You don't like spicy spaghetti yogurt.

[Griffin McElroy]

You hate spaghetti. You love Spider Man. He won't make it taste good. It won't taste how Spider man feels to you to see him.

[Travis McElroy]

I know the spaghetti's like webs, but it doesn't.

[Justin McElroy]

It doesn't translate, honey.

[Griffin McElroy]

It doesn't. That doesn't taste.

[Justin McElroy]

I can't make the pasta look more like Spider Man. There's only so much I can make it look. I know it fell apart with your spoon, sweetie. You're supposed to.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's supposed to.

[Justin McElroy]

You're supposed to eat Spider Man.

[Griffin McElroy]

I like it. Cause I like spaghetti. But you don't.

[Justin McElroy]

You don't.

[Griffin McElroy]

I get to enjoy Spider Man's flavor, but you don't because you don't like it.

[Travis McElroy]

And I bought the family size pack of it because we both thought it was gonna be a thing and we committed to it. Now watch me eat it. You gotta label your box of popsicles, first of all. But you also gotta know that with individually wrapped popsicle, you are creating a very stealable situation. It's one of the more stealable foods.

[Griffin McElroy]

Anything individually wrapped in, like a box of more than four, you could totally lose one of those just to theft.

[Travis McElroy]

Shrinkage.

[Griffin McElroy]

Shrinkage is what they do Call it. What if you made your own popsicles? This is a fun summertime activity. And it's not really summer anymore, but it is fun to make a popsicle. And then no one's gonna really go after those. And I think if they see you eating them and they see, like, little herbs and shit floating around in there, it does lend it a certain, like, I don't know, veneer of adulthood.

[Justin McElroy]

Wow.

[Griffin McElroy]

You guys fucking hated that idea.

[Travis McElroy]

No, I liked it so much you despised that idea. I was picturing in my head, Griffin, when I'm Anytime we talk about, like, an office behavior outside of any regular, established procedures. Right, right. I start to think. And how does this translate to? Oh, that's Tom, the blank guy. The office blank guy.

[Griffin McElroy]

The office Popsicle.

[Travis McElroy]

The office Popsicle guy. Okay. I can see it. Every day, 1:30, he has a popsicle to get him over that hump and make it to five o'. Clock. We love that. Probably good bespoke popsicle guy who makes his own, like, basil lemonade popsicle.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think that's cool. I think that's kind of cool.

[Travis McElroy]

That's what I'm trying to determine.

[Justin McElroy]

I'd get into it.

[Travis McElroy]

Okay.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I think we might have a solution to this problem from Wheeling, West Virginia, with our own budget saver. That company is the company behind Twin Pops.

[Griffin McElroy]

No way.

[Justin McElroy]

Twin Pops might be just the thing. Cause imagine anytime someone goes to the freezer and they come out with one, you have a little bell.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes.

[Justin McElroy]

And it's like, ah, ah, ah. Hello, Kotch. What are we here?

[Griffin McElroy]

You will not get much work done. You will be primarily watching the kitchen to see if someone comes out with one of these pops.

[Justin McElroy]

But when they come out, it's like, ah, ah. Splitsies.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes.

[Justin McElroy]

You know, two fur. There's two there. One for me. Thank you. One.

[Griffin McElroy]

One fur, one for me.

[Justin McElroy]

One. One fur. One fur. Two fur.

[Griffin McElroy]

Two.

[Justin McElroy]

One fur. We're splitting two.

[Griffin McElroy]

Two for us, one for me.

[Justin McElroy]

We're splitting them.

[Griffin McElroy]

Have you ever tried to split one of those in a clean half? Not doable Twin pops. We should get up to Wheeling because we could. We could probably access that factory.

[Travis McElroy]

You need perforation.

[Griffin McElroy]

Just perforation, please. That's all I'm asking.

[Justin McElroy]

I get a. Get a daughter. Get a daughter that cries if you do it wrong. You'll learn. You'll get a real. You'll get fucking. I got, you know. No shit. I got Martin Yan's crazy butcher knife above my stove for when my kid wants a twin pop and I can't deal with the breakdown. And I need perfect. That perfect precision, that perfect carbon steel.

[Travis McElroy]

We don't talk about the weird 15 degrees of. I've gotten carbon steel. I've gotten so good at eyeballing splitting a drink into two cups. Like, I'm like, mmm, I bet it's to the micron. You know what I mean? Like, we got a.

[Griffin McElroy]

We got a pizza delivered earlier this week and something happened to it en route and it showed up. And when we opened the box, it was like half squished into, like one half of the box. It was a tragedy. A lot of cheese had just, like, come off. Almost all the slices that had all kind of like, squished into each other. It was a horrible situation. And Gus is so picky about his pizza. If he sees any sauce through the cheese stratum, he will not. He will not fuck with it. So this is me in the fucking kitchen, hovering over this pizza mush, trying to create a solid layer of cheese coverage on one of these reconstructed slices. And then, like, putting it in the. In the broiler for a second to try to melt the cheese. Because if he knows it's patchwork stuff, he's not gonna fuck with it.

[Justin McElroy]

We can rebuild him.

[Griffin McElroy]

The most degrading moment in my entire life.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, Griffin. Oh, Griff, buddy.

[Griffin McElroy]

And then, of course, you know, me and Rachel had to eat the slop because the kids got the slices. Gotta eat the slope.

[Travis McElroy]

Parenthood.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's dinner, baby. Can we go to the Money zone?

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, dang it. Gravy. I was gonna say it, and then.

[Griffin McElroy]

I technically didn't say I said a series of syllables.

[Travis McElroy]

Can I tell you what's wild? I'm already there.

[Justin McElroy]

Laurel.

[Griffin McElroy]

Shit.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm in the Money Zone.

[Justin McElroy]

Travis, who's in there with you?

[Travis McElroy]

You too.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, I. Travis, those are. Travis, that's not us.

[Justin McElroy]

What? That's not us.

[Griffin McElroy]

Travis, get out of there.

[Theme Song Singer]

It's better. It's better with you.

[Justin McElroy]

You know why I like doing ads for Squarespace?

[Travis McElroy]

Why?

[Griffin McElroy]

Nothing.

[Travis McElroy]

Why?

[Justin McElroy]

I like a sponsor that is all about creation. That's what Squarespace, for me, it is a creative tool. You got a project you want to do, you don't know the best way to get started. A website is a great place to get going.

[Travis McElroy]

And I bet that if Squarespace was around at the dawn of time, God would have used it to create the Earth.

[Griffin McElroy]

Probably with these best in class templates. Absolutely. He would have.

[Justin McElroy]

But the problem is that they're created by world class designers. And I don't think there were any world class designers before God made Earth.

[Travis McElroy]

Okay. That's the first thing you would have made. Then the designers.

[Griffin McElroy]

In the beginning, there was designers.

[Justin McElroy]

You all took it from here.

[Griffin McElroy]

The word was designers, and the word was with designers. Thank you so much. Squarespace. Oh, there's more space.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah. You gotta say more about it or else people are kind of a little bit confused. Still, you can use these websites. They're not just vanity things. You can use them to sell stuff. Yeah, you could use them to sell your products if you want. You could use it to organize events, whatever you want to do. The website Squarespace makes it really easy. Head to squarespace.com mybrother for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code mybrother to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm ready to launch right now. Into savings. Whoa.

[Justin McElroy]

With rocket Money.

[Griffin McElroy]

Fuck.

[Travis McElroy]

Imagine rocket Money is like a defense system with little rockets targeted at your unused subscriptions. And when those unused subscriptions try to hove into your bank account, it's like.

[Justin McElroy]

Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew.

[Travis McElroy]

And it takes those unwanted subscriptions out, takes them down.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's a little.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Wow. That's such a violent way of thinking about it.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't know if Rocket Money would like that.

[Travis McElroy]

Like, for me, I was thinking more like the Space Invaders video game. You know, not. There's no Gore. There would be no Gore, Griffin. Is that what you're concerned about?

[Griffin McElroy]

So you're like, you have your Fart Piano Deluxe subscription that your son signed you up for. Cause his fingerprint, I guess, is close enough to yours.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

And it zaps that. But there's. But no blood or anything.

[Travis McElroy]

No, no, no, no, no. Just pixels. Just pixels.

[Griffin McElroy]

And then I don't have to pay $6.99 a fucking week because rocket money helped me out. And now I'm, like, saving buku bucks every year and meaning all my financials.

[Justin McElroy]

Wait, Buku bucks? Are you serious?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, man. Buku bucks. It was buku bucks a week. Rocket money also, it shows you all your expenses in one place, and it helps you lower your bills and reach your financial goals and grow your savings. And they have a grown up. Like a grown up.

[Justin McElroy]

They've got over 5 million members that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Have saved over a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, with members saving up to $740 a year when they use all the app's premium features.

[Travis McElroy]

So cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com MyBrother Today, that's RocketMoney.com MyBrother RocketMoney.com MyBrother.

[Griffin McElroy]

Now, everybody knows that the Greatest Generation has always been Max Fun's. Go to podcast for old Star Trek recaps. But what my theory presupposes is, what if it isn't? In a shocking turn of events, Greatest.

[Justin McElroy]

Trek, the comedy podcast covering new Trek.

[Griffin McElroy]

Has gone through a temporal wormhole back to the very beginning. Because we are now reviewing Star the Original Series. That means when you subscribe now. You'll get episode by episode recaps of all the 1960s style action and intrigue, along with all the jokes and fun that make Greatest Gen and Greatest Trek the number one Star Trek podcasts out there. Subscribe now to Greatest Trek on MaximumFun.org all right, I don't want to wait.

[Justin McElroy]

For the next segment to begin because.

[Travis McElroy]

I gotta start right now.

[Griffin McElroy]

That was so cool.

[Justin McElroy]

I want a Munch squad. I want to Munch Squad.

[Griffin McElroy]

Timer intro.

[Justin McElroy]

Welcome to Munch Squads Podcast is in a podcast profiling the latest and greatest in brand eating.

[Travis McElroy]

That was a little bit like when Frampton runs the tube from his mouth into his guitar.

[Griffin McElroy]

The talk box, baby.

[Travis McElroy]

And he talks to it.

[Justin McElroy]

That was a really good Peter Frampton top box impression. Trash. Thank you. Who knew? Okay.

[Travis McElroy]

I can never do it again.

[Griffin McElroy]

Never again.

[Justin McElroy]

It's rare that almost. It's rare that like an entire movement can be summed up in one image. And it's even rarer that I would do that in an audio format, but. Huh.

[Griffin McElroy]

We've made it.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, looks like we made it.

[Travis McElroy]

Can I say.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can I just say what isn't? Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

So this is Trav, what we as modern day human beings might at first mistake for a windy sign.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, big Wendy's sign up in the sky.

[Travis McElroy]

So admittedly, without any of the excess stuff on it, just the Wendy's picture. And then where it would say Wendy's, it says Tendies.

[Justin McElroy]

Right?

[Travis McElroy]

And there's a godlike beam of light shining upon it from the outside.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's a weird number of God rays in this picture. They basically just swapped the W with a T. And you can tell that's what happened because the kerning is like, fucked up. Like, you can tell a W was supposed to go there, not a capital.

[Justin McElroy]

T. Yeah, but this is the headline without context, though.

[Travis McElroy]

I just want to say Tendy's doesn't read like chicken tenders to me so much as like, we're going to treat you tenderly here at Wendy's.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I could see that.

[Justin McElroy]

There's the headline, guys. A new chicken era dawns at Wendy's. That's the story from.

[Griffin McElroy]

We are still cleaning up after the last chicken era. The fact that a new one has.

[Justin McElroy]

Settled this quickly has already begun.

[Travis McElroy]

This is going to be the future paleontologists who dig up all these chicken bones.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, for sure. There was a whole extinction event that they're not even going to see.

[Justin McElroy]

Wendy's Fresh Never Frozen Square Burgers holds deep roots in chicken too, with its spicy chicken Sandwich arriving in 1995, a good 24 years before the so called chicken sandwich wars envelop the category on social media.

[Travis McElroy]

Okay.

[Justin McElroy]

But U.S. cMO Lindsey Ratkoski and the team recognized more pressing trends swirling in recent years. Guys, we're eating a wild amount of chicken. We can't get enough of this stuff. That's the thing. And they cannot sell enough of it through the traditional method. Hence Tendies.

[Griffin McElroy]

What is that, Justin? Because so far it just looks like they're announcing they photoshopped a sign for Wendy's.

[Justin McElroy]

Radkoski says the brand had two choices. As is often the case when it elevates into a frenzy. It could race to join in, or it could watch, learn, and arrive to market on its own terms.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's fucking great. It's so cool for a restaurant to put out a press release saying we're smart. Yeah, we are very smart.

[Travis McElroy]

These other dummies rush to market to make money off the trend. We waited until the trend started to die down and now we're gonna try to scrape up all the money that's left.

[Griffin McElroy]

The fixes, the leavings.

[Justin McElroy]

Radkoski says Wendy spent more than a year, quote, probably closer to 18 months on development of the COVID vaccines. I didn't think.

[Travis McElroy]

You don't know.

[Griffin McElroy]

You don't have to correct. You can fix that in the press release.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, no, yeah, 100%. They should know exactly how long that they did. This is a news story though.

[Travis McElroy]

Did you say on the development of COVID vaccine?

[Justin McElroy]

Justin, I was just reflecting on how it was a similar time frame to create the first COVID vaccine.

[Travis McElroy]

These Tendies will kill Covid in laboratory conditions.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Wendy's involved franchisees and tested through a couple of markets. In addition to flavor and appearance, it wanted to pilot Tendies in the real world. Guys. They took 18 months to come up.

[Griffin McElroy]

With to change the one letter. Yeah, yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

They got six sauces. Wendy's signature sweet chili, scorchin hot creamy ranch honey barbecue and honey mustard. Can we, can we not have a little bit more originality in the sauce department, guys? 18 months to come up with what.

[Griffin McElroy]

Tendies they could have changed.

[Travis McElroy]

Spent that time going to the Los Angeles convention center, trying the chicken tenders there, which are my favorite chicken tenders I've ever eaten.

[Justin McElroy]

Really good chicken tenders and just recreate.

[Griffin McElroy]

Those, just make those.

[Justin McElroy]

Returning to the broader theme for Wendy's, Radkoski says it would have been easy to look around and observe the chicken surge.

[Travis McElroy]

And maybe smart. Maybe we should have done It a good idea.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

We don't know.

[Justin McElroy]

Wendy's wanted to begin the process with customers, quote, why are they eating more chicken now than they have? And as we started to do the work on our menu more recently, as we were looking at the next chapter for Wendy, staying modern, relevant to younger QSR customers, as we refine our consumer target. So that's why. And then she says, simply, core menu or innovation? Quote, we've done a lot with chicken.

[Griffin McElroy]

Extremely sinister, no doubt sinister.

[Travis McElroy]

Most of which we couldn't tell our priest about. Let's put it that way.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, it's evil. There's a wickedness there. We're really known for flavor. She adds. So when we thought about what's out there right now, the choices consumers have and the unique place we believe Wendy's can carve out, it wasn't only about the tender itself, but the sauces became a huge part of the conversation. And really where we saw a lot of excitement when we did work with the customers. If you can get excited about honey barbecue at this point, I don't know what to tell you.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're on a whole nother thing than I want to get on your level. That's cool.

[Justin McElroy]

I was on TikTok today and I saw an ad for Garbage Pail Kids books written by R.L. stine. That just happened, right?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

And you want me to get excited about Honey Mustard?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. And even that, I assume juice. A very small reaction from you. Like, that's what it takes to even.

[Justin McElroy]

That got a. Interesting. Can I say that Honey Mustard.

[Griffin McElroy]

To be nutting over Honey mustard is crazy.

[Travis McElroy]

So far from this press release, what I have gathered is they spent 18 months determining that people like to eat chicken tenders with sauces.

[Griffin McElroy]

I literally still do not know what the news is here. What is the action item for me as a consumer of Wendy's?

[Justin McElroy]

Well, I mean, I did clarify that the entirety of the story was contained within the image. And I was not. I mean. Tendies, guys.

[Travis McElroy]

Tendies, Tendies, they have chicken tenders. They decided to not make them taste like shit. And people like dipping them and stuff.

[Justin McElroy]

They had a press release.

[Griffin McElroy]

They didn't have chicken tenders before. They didn't. These are new chicken tenders. They didn't have chicken before.

[Travis McElroy]

I said that with confidence.

[Griffin McElroy]

I didn't fucking. I didn't know that. So, like, who gives shit? Wendy's. Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Griffin. But then. But so they go on.

[Travis McElroy]

They go on.

[Justin McElroy]

There's many paragraphs. Here's another quote from Radkovsky. You think about A portfolio.

[Travis McElroy]

What?

[Justin McElroy]

How do you maximize reach and grow coverage with consumers and have things that are very unique and distinct to Wendy's?

[Travis McElroy]

By having honey mustard.

[Justin McElroy]

One example is sweet chili. Wendy's could have unveiled a sweet and sour sauce and stayed pedestrian, she says, but this presented a chance to unroll an updated tape shot. There's more fire, intensity and balance. And it's relevant to a Gen Z category that flocks to sauces.

[Travis McElroy]

Flocks to sauces. That flocks to sauces.

[Justin McElroy]

Something else Wendy's noticed. And guys, this one is really going to trip you up. They noticed through research and hands on tests where customers, again with a spotlight on younger cohorts, like to mix sauces and make meals more personal. They combine ranch with scorching hot, for instance. That mixability, it really leads to endless ways you can create flavor with Wendy's sauces. But what was in mind when we thought about how the sauces complement each other within the lineup as well?

[Griffin McElroy]

That's cool.

[Travis McElroy]

So then was it.

[Justin McElroy]

You had a good think about, like, but what about.

[Travis McElroy]

What if they mix creamy ranch with it?

[Justin McElroy]

What if they mix creamy ranch in there?

[Griffin McElroy]

Originally, all of our sauces were sort of chemically repulsive to each other. Like oil and water. They would not actually mix.

[Justin McElroy]

But we realized one of them was.

[Travis McElroy]

Baking soda and vinegar. And guys, that was a mistake.

[Griffin McElroy]

That was not a good sauce.

[Justin McElroy]

Wendy's signature is Wendy's signature creamy sauce with hints of black pepper and hot sauce. I mean, credit to them. I'm not gonna put that in my body. Like, I don't know. Do you guys? Okay. Okay. I have a. I have a big idea for you.

[Travis McElroy]

Okay.

[Justin McElroy]

They recently did.

[Griffin McElroy]

You gotta get this fucking picture of chicken tenders off my screen, Jesse. It is making me hungry.

[Justin McElroy]

So hungry.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, the.

[Justin McElroy]

The. They did a Wendy's Wendy's promotion recently with Wednesday where it was like a bunch of wild sauces and they were all colored so you couldn't really tell what the sauces were. And you had to kind of guess.

[Griffin McElroy]

And they had names like blood from a. From a dog.

[Justin McElroy]

Here's my theory. This is my fan theory. I think that those are all the sauces that they made for tests. And then they were like, fuck, no. This all is too crazy. We can't. Well, let's just keep. Let's just keep the normal ones, okay?

[Griffin McElroy]

They didn't like mummy piss, guys. They did not like mummy piss.

[Justin McElroy]

They hated mummy piss.

[Griffin McElroy]

We gotta get rid of that.

[Justin McElroy]

I told you we should've done chipotle mummy piss. That's where the youth cohort is at. Chipotle Mummy piss.

[Griffin McElroy]

These young freaks like it's spicy. They don't care that it's piss. They don't care that it's piss. It's the spice that they crave.

[Justin McElroy]

There's a reason Wendy's dropped six options instead of one. Radkoski admits it's a crowded space, but being distinctly Wendy's in a sea of fast food options is nothing new to the brand's marketing ethos.

[Travis McElroy]

Okay. Like, none of that means shit. Like, those are just words. Those are words put in an order that our human brains ascribe meaning to and yet say fucking nothing, guys.

[Justin McElroy]

Hey, speaking of, would you like a full quote about why it is called this?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Because you are probably wondering about it, right? Like, how could you? We like to have fun and it doesn't have to be super serious.

[Travis McElroy]

Okay.

[Justin McElroy]

Our name so easily lends itself to a nickname for the product.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

And the way we're gonna talk about it is our tenders are so bold and juicy and crispy and the sauces are so amazing. You're going to want to know them on a first name basis.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is beyond. I think AI wrote this and it's putting me in a headspace of like, maybe it's all a. Like maybe it's all AI Matrix, human battery, and I'm asleep and. Cause there's simply no way a human being got a hand on this particular ball. That is a profoundly wild thing to say.

[Travis McElroy]

I've never been eating any food and thought, I gotta know this food's first name.

[Griffin McElroy]

Mm.

[Justin McElroy]

Do you want to hear a sentence from the boss of Wendy's about the people that made up the Wendy's defenders? I can geek out on some of what the team went through. She says of the ideation process. It takes time. And we had conversations once we knew what was happening competitively. We said we're not gonna rush it, we're not gonna change our launch date. We're gonna do it our way. The boxes don't say tendies, they say Wendy's. I don't ever wanna go there again.

[Travis McElroy]

Did it take em eight months?

[Griffin McElroy]

It sucks, dude.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't ever wanna go there again. Who is.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can I ask a serious question? And we've talked about this obviously on Munch Squad a lot before.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're plugged into the QSR space. How many just unwilling captive. Just rough estimate how many major news publications, how many verticals are out there covering the QSR space that would need the Help of a full press release to write the story. Wendy's has chicken tenders.

[Justin McElroy]

Now, QSR is not. It's not just for Marque and Griffin.

[Travis McElroy]

It's about.

[Justin McElroy]

It's a historical document. You know what I mean?

[Griffin McElroy]

So, like three or four maybe top publications. Okay, so this is a job for someone.

[Justin McElroy]

Is to write this whole thing.

[Griffin McElroy]

The whole thing for those four places and you.

[Justin McElroy]

That's crazy.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's like really bespoke service journalism.

[Justin McElroy]

It's really wild that they're doing. It almost feels like vanity journalism. Like, we'll name a star after you. You know what I mean? Like, we'll do a. We'll do a long feature story about how you came up with tendies just so you can frame it.

[Travis McElroy]

I can't stress that this looks like.

[Justin McElroy]

I think this is just so they have something to frame in the offices. Right.

[Travis McElroy]

You've shared the details here with us. Justin and I once again have to reiterate a little bit of telling on themselves. Once again, 18 months spent. People like chicken tenders dipping in sausage. Sometimes they mix them. And have you ever noticed that Wendy's sounds like tendies?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. So I want to look at the packaging real quick. I know. Griffin, can you just clock. If you just look at the packaging, they don't do.

[Griffin McElroy]

And I gotta say, pictures of chicken tenders without dip are repugnant to me. This does nothing for me.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, it's really rough. It's really rough. They need to be dipped in something.

[Griffin McElroy]

Looking at them.

[Justin McElroy]

By the way, this is a core product offering.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay. They're having a picnic out on a picnic table. They've got their fries sort of splayed out, and it looks like the fries are just raw. Dogging it on the picnic. And that's.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't want you to look at the fries. Don't look at the fries right now. We're sorry. The fries are touching our picnic table. It's great.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's crazy, man.

[Justin McElroy]

So you look at the packaging there. The details work down to packaging. Tendies come in vessels built for dunking with a dip cutout. Vessels built for dunking.

[Travis McElroy]

That's a submarine. A submarine is a vessel built for dunking.

[Griffin McElroy]

Take upon yourself this sacrament. Take the vessel, the empty vessel.

[Travis McElroy]

In a way, my children, we are all vessels meant for dunking. Come get baptized.

[Justin McElroy]

Cut out. It's got a dip cup cut dead shot din. It's got a dip cup cut out. That holds sauces. Quote. It's a reflect. It's a reflection of how consumers want to Eat.

[Griffin McElroy]

I feel like I'm looking in a fucking mirror. Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

It's a reflection of how consumers want to eat. We want to enable a better elevated experience of a little perforation or a cutout for the sauce. I think those are things that take.

[Travis McElroy]

A little bit of time.

[Justin McElroy]

Travis. An 18 month timeline in total. And then producing for 6,000 restaurants in the US at scale training our system. We wanted to do it the right way. Which we didn't want to crush it. Derek said, let's get it out there.

[Travis McElroy]

We fired him.

[Justin McElroy]

This is what she's. Which maybe meant it wasn't maybe the fastest. As you think about some of our competitors and other things that have launched recently.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm looking right now at the Wendy's online website at the menu for placing a delivery or pickup order at Wendy's. And this particular menu item is found under tenders. And you can get three piece tenders or four piece tenders. They don't even call them Wendy's tendies on the menu.

[Justin McElroy]

I've never thought of this before.

[Griffin McElroy]

I never thought this of a press release. But it's lying.

[Justin McElroy]

It's lying.

[Griffin McElroy]

The press release is actually lying. And none of this is actually true or happening.

[Justin McElroy]

So the chain often frames their approach as not outspending the other guys but outplaying them.

[Travis McElroy]

Which is 4D chess.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, man. Don't tell us about that. That's the podcast game we've been playing the whole time. Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

Being late to trends do them very poorly.

[Justin McElroy]

You see it everywhere from sass on social media to collaborations such as its spongebob Krabby Patty setup to the more recent Wednesday meal of misfortune. That is. Please take all these grody sauces.

[Travis McElroy]

We don't know what to do.

[Justin McElroy]

The landfill smells weird and we can't.

[Travis McElroy]

Put any more in the landfill.

[Justin McElroy]

The landfill guy said we couldn't put any more there. He said no more.

[Travis McElroy]

So we got it.

[Justin McElroy]

You gotta eat them. Please.

[Griffin McElroy]

He said rats have been crawling out of the landfill. Wrong.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. Because we've been looking into like a cave system in Nevada where they said we could store these things for up to 50 years.

[Justin McElroy]

But I thought he said they've been crawling out strong. So I do feel a little bit better. I feel a little bit better about wrong than strong. I guys. Delicious and smoky.

[Griffin McElroy]

But incorrect from a physiological sort of standpoint.

[Justin McElroy]

This is. I'll tell you how this ends. Because it really does go on. Like, we will make it really fun and bring to life a craft that went into the development of the product itself, the experience, the sauces, so that people can experience it in a hands on, immersive way. That's because the Tendies locations are going to have a red carpet feel. There's going to be Tendies restaurants. You see a red carpet feel. Tendies experience. It's a playful takeover approach.

[Griffin McElroy]

Where are these going to happen? Because if I don't fucking see it, I am not going to believe it.

[Justin McElroy]

Probably California, man.

[Griffin McElroy]

They got all the fucking fun stuff, man.

[Justin McElroy]

Probably, yeah. And one thing Radkoski wants to make clear, however, is Tendies are not a fleeting moment in the product timeline. They're joining Wendy's central offerings and giving the brand another anchor to leverage a chicken category that's driving growth and occasions throughout the segment. And again, she says that's why we took the time to do it right.

[Travis McElroy]

To leverage our tenders.

[Justin McElroy]

I want to eat chicken tenders. So.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, dude.

[Justin McElroy]

So bad.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, not these, maybe, but like any. They're all kind of the same.

[Travis McElroy]

Well, there's a Popeyes by my house that I think I might order lunch from now.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

Thank you, Wendy's, for making me think about Popeyes.

[Justin McElroy]

Thank you, Wendy's, for reminding us about Popeyes.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, I do need to, like, we can joke, but, like, you guys still like Wendy's. You guys still like Wendy's, right?

[Travis McElroy]

Not again, Griffin.

[Justin McElroy]

Nice try, Trav.

[Griffin McElroy]

Justin would have.

[Travis McElroy]

I would have got. I know Justin would have, but I can see into the deep, dark pit of your soul, sir.

[Justin McElroy]

Thanks, Travis. I appreciate it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, baby. Let's wrap this. Let's wrap this up. I'm tired.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm. Travis.

[Justin McElroy]

Hey, thanks so much for listening to our podcast. I hope you're enjoying some Wendy's chicken tenders. Grif, do you like Wendy's?

[Griffin McElroy]

We got some new merch up in the merch store [e-mail] there's a Taz Hunger beanie with some rad eyeball design. It's going to keep you warm and spooky in these cold and spooky months. And 10% of all of our merch proceeds this month will be donated to Border Angels, which offers services like educational programs, water drops in the desert day laborer outreach, Familias Reunite US Immigration bond fund program, and shelter aid support in Tijuana to aid migrants and asylum seekers in need. It's again mcelroymerch.com and hey, we got a few more shows coming up. Not much. Not many opportunities to come see us if you live in or around Salt Lake City or San Diego. We're coming up there in just like, I don't know, next week, I guess, something like that.

[Travis McElroy]

We've also got the TAZ show we're doing on that tour is going to be our 50th Taz live show. So to celebrate, we're doing a balance show with Erika Ishii as a special guest. And Griffin is going to be running that one.

[Griffin McElroy]

So much fun.

[Travis McElroy]

Tickets are on sale now. You can go to Bit Ly McElroytours. Also, Champions Grove is coming back for its third year for Memorial Day weekend in May.

[Justin McElroy]

Travis, didn't you say it was gonna be sponsored by Wendy's?

[Travis McElroy]

No. And the tickets for that are gonna go on sale November 3rd at 12pm Eastern Time. Get all the [e-mail] or by following Championsgrove on Instagram.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Hey, thanks to Montaigne for the use of our theme song, My Life Is Better with youh. It's a great album. Great, great album. That new album, it's Hard Be a Fish. All of Montaigne's music is so great. I love to listen to it at home. It gives me a break from listening to Imagine Dragons on my sort of public house speakers. Juice, do you like Imagine Dragons?

[Justin McElroy]

Griffin, do you have the Montaigne album on cd?

[Griffin McElroy]

Do you like Imagine Dragons? Justin.

[Justin McElroy]

Do we have a fear?

[Griffin McElroy]

Justin looks like he's been killed. Justin looks like he's been killed in his chair.

[Justin McElroy]

Do you have the Montaigne record on cd?

[Griffin McElroy]

I just. I. Yeah, I have it on cd.

[Justin McElroy]

CD spills. CD spills.

[Griffin McElroy]

I feel like not. I feel like not. Okay, Trav, do you want to do. Do we have a fear?

[Travis McElroy]

We do. I'll read it.

[Justin McElroy]

CDs nuts.

[Travis McElroy]

This year I will live faster than my fear of witnessing a tense social situation in public and being approached by John Quinones after I've failed to intervene.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's fucking good and true and powerful.

[Justin McElroy]

My name is Justin McElroy.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm Travis McElroy.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm Griffin McElroy.

[Justin McElroy]

This has been my brother. My brother may kiss your dad square on the lips.

[Theme Song Singer]

Is better with you, My life, it's better it's better with you. It's better My life, it's better it's better with you. Is it true? It's better it's better with you.

[Griffin McElroy]

My life.

[Theme Song Singer]

It'S better with you.

[Justin McElroy]

Maximum fun.

[Griffin McElroy]

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